Capítulo 55

"You and your sleepiness stress me out," she said simply, rolling her eyes as soon as we reached our floor. "I'm even more excited than you are!"

I let out a spontaneous chuckle, surprised at Anne's sensory capacity. For those who didn't know the worst part, she was actually quite good at kicking.

The classes before the break were boring and superficial. I can't remember anything the teachers said, but it didn't seem to be anything important. At least for me, it wasn't important at the moment, that I can say.

"Lil! "I heard a voice whisper as I was leaving (read: dragging myself out of) the room, as usual, after everyone had already rushed to the limited freedom of the courtyard. I hesitated for a moment upon hearing the call, and took a deep breath before turning toward the next room, from where Steve was staring at me with a mischievous grin.

"Come here, runaway," he whispered, motioning me to come in with a hand gesture, and I snuck into the deserted room with him. As soon as Steve closed the door behind us, his hands went around my waist and he wrapped his arms around me, bringing our lips together in a tender kiss. I had to admit, being with him would never lose its fun. Well, at least not completely.

"I hope you're ready to get out of the house this weekend," he smiled as he broke the kiss, in his own charming way, and I found myself giving the broadest, most spontaneous smile in the last five days. I preferred not to include the involuntary smiles that came to my face when I found myself thinking about Nicholas in that account.

"What are you up to, huh?" I asked, involuntarily infected by the pleasant atmosphere that constantly surrounded him, and he shook his head negatively.

"You'll find out soon enough," was all Steve said, touching the tip of my nose with his index finger and then giving me a kiss. "For now, all you need to know is that my kidnapping starts this afternoon, a few hours after school, and doesn't end until Monday."

I rolled my eyes in surprise, and his smart smile widened.

"What do you mean? It starts today? But already?" I asked, as he tucked my hair back behind my ear. "Steve, will you stop with the mystery?

"Can you stop being so anxious and wait? Not long now, little one," he replied, imitating my impatient manner and making me laugh. "And take advantage of all this excitement to get ready quickly after school, because I want you home by three o'clock. Oh, and if I were you, I'd bring a backpack with some clothes."

"Of course I'll take a backpack, I didn't intend to spend three days wearing the same clothes," I said, immediately then turning my head to the side in a sign of doubt. "But what kind of clothes?"

"Bikinis are mandatory, and some very light clothes," he replied, looking up at the ceiling as if thinking. "But 'light' doesn't mean 'short', much less 'indecent', you hear me? I'll be keeping my eyes open."

I didn't really like the direction the conversation was taking, some flashbacks of facts that I preferred to forget were creeping into my thoughts. I tried to pretend that everything was fine, and soon tried to repress those memories. The excitement for the surprise had finally bubbled up inside me, and I wasn't going to let mere details ruin it again.

"Got it, light clothes," I nodded once, and seeing Steve authoritatively raise his eyebrows, almost making visible on his forehead the words "Aren't you forgetting something?", I rolled my eyes and completed the review. "But nothing too short or too indecent."

"Now you are," he grunted, relaxing his shoulders and making a sulky face that made me grin like an idiot. "You're mine and no one else's, let that be clear."

Steve tightened his hold on my waist, and I felt a lump form in my throat, along with the cold sweat of dread, which was already showing faint signs of life. That's when I decided it was time to let it go.

"I think we'd better go," I stammered, looking as nonchalant as possible and staring at the closed door. "The inspector is going to get suspicious.

"That's right," he whispered, with a fake frightened expression, and patted my buttocks, as if telling me to go. "See you later, love."

I bit my lower lip upon hearing what he had called me, and the lump in my throat began to throb with remorse. He rarely called me that, he said it was "cheesy, but once in a while it felt right. Because I was his love. And it hurt to know that I didn't deserve such a pure and transparent feeling.

"Hey, wait," I whispered, holding his face affectionately and looking deep into his radiant little brown eyes. "I just wanted to say that... I love you. Very much."

Even with all the recent (and incredible) events with Nicholas, I didn't feel false that I loved him. Because it hadn't stopped being true. My heart pumped relief into every corner of my body at my good test result. Nothing had changed. And if I had control over the debauched part of my mind, which I definitely didn't, everything would remain the same.

But even though I kept repeating to myself that everything was intact, there was a low but very powerful voice telling me that I was wrong, that everything was changed. His voice. I shuddered slightly, but fortunately he didn't notice. My internal conflicts would still give me away, a fact. I took a deep breath and pulled myself together, leaving to reflect on my emotional situation at another time.

Steve blinked a few times, assimilating my words, and opened a beautiful smile from ear to ear. He slowly brought his face closer to mine, stroking my cheeks with his thumbs, and just as he was about to kiss me, I could hear him murmur:

"I would do anything... Just to hear you tell me that."

My eyes, which had been staring wildly at his lips, rose up to meet his eyes, intensely tender. I felt a few tears forming, but held them back when he kissed me in that special way, just his. But I was no longer his alone. And never would be again.