I opened the door for her before throwing our suitcases into the boot and following her inside the warmth of the cab. She buckled herself into the middle seat, snuggling into me and I sighed, wrapping an arm around her frame and pulling her closer. She’d kept me on edge the entire flight but since then, she’d been in caretaker mode, and I was no longer the patient.
Not long-ago solitude was my companion, second only to work, but now, even going to the cafeteria was the furthest I’d been away from her since she came back into my life, and it made me uneasy. I was desperate to return to her and I realised how difficult it was going to be when I did have to leave. As if her presence and her vivacious, cheerful attitude somehow made me feel more grounded, more at home even here on the other side of the globe.
“I’m going to need to call Mum tomorrow,” I said, gazing out at the darkened scenery as we drove.
She hummed her sleepy agreement into my chest, and I felt myself relax. A sleepy Shelbs meant a peaceful one. It meant she wasn’tworrying about her brother or her car. She wasn’t sad about the abrupt end to her overseas holiday or anything else she would need to do now that she was home.
I, on the other hand, was feeling a new pressure now we were here and there wasn’t something to distract me. It was only a matter of time until I heard from Old Ed and Mum was going to read way too much into me following my friend back home. The bubble we’d been living in back in Australia, was no longer protected. It was no longer Shelby and I traversing through places where we could be uninhibited and just us. Instead, she had an entire life I wasn’t privy to with people and places I didn’t know. From the other side of the world, in some weird as fuck reality, I could pretend she only belonged to me. That during the times we didn’t speak, time was paused for her and there weren’t other people who got to see her laugh, hear her stories or share in a world I knew nothing about. But here now, in this frigid city where shorts weren’t an appropriate choice of clothing, I was a foreigner, and that made things unpredictable.
I was suddenly thinking about end dates, long flights without the distraction and comfort of my oldest friend and what life would look like when I didn't have her by my side. I never thought homesickness could be for a person instead of a place, but missing Shelby felt more like losing home than leaving the city I’d spent my whole life in and that was a terrifying realisation.
When the taxi stopped alongside a neat row of snow-swept driveways, one house stood undisturbed, its path buried under an untouched blanket of white - an unspoken sign that the owner had been away for the holidays. It was also the only house which wasn’t illuminated with the red, green and golden lights which accompanied the holiday season. I knew Christmas was close, but without my usual routine, it didn’t feel so in-my-face. Seeing it set against the snow felt like something straight out of a movie.
“We’re here. I think,” I said quietly, with a gentle caress to Shelby who was still rhythmically breathing against my chest. My arm had gone to sleep ages ago but there was no way I was waking her earlier, knowing she needed the rest. She sat up and stretched before looking at me with the most adorable sleep kissed face.
“Home sweet home,” she said, looking out the window before reaching into her bag to pay the driver. I really needed to get some cash converted and add some currency to my card, letting her pay for shit didn’t feel right, especially with the ridiculous pile of money Titan paid me that just accumulated. I was surprised I hadn’t yet heard from my bank querying if my card had been stolen with the amount I’d used lately. Other than my mortgage, local grocer and petrol station, there weren’t many things I spent money on. Something which only now seemed entirely depressing.
“Jesus,” I hissed from between clenched teeth. “It’s fucking colder now.” Stepping out of the car, both the driver and Shelby laughed at my reaction.
“That’s usually what happens,” she replied with little sympathy, far more used to this weather.
I grabbed the luggage and let her take the lead up to her gate, which given there wasn’t a clear path, was harder than anticipated.
“Fudge, I’ll need to have this sorted or we won’t be able to leave the house,” she huffed, walking through the ankle-deep powder. I wanted to stop and touch it, build a snowball or admire how my feet pressed through the sponge-like footfall, but I was at definite risk of frostbite.
“Sounds good to me,” I grumbled, fighting feet I couldn’t feel and two suitcases which seemed exponentially heavier with each step.
“You a little tired, Corbs?” She mocked, and I felt my lips twitch. I was never going to be able to remain annoyed when she was around. She made everything feel so much better. Even when I was certain she was hiding the stress lingering beneath her surface. Stress stemmingfrom worries about her brother, her car and anything and everything she couldn’t control.
When she opened her front door, and we stepped inside, it was the happiest I’d been since the plane landed this morning. It’d been nearly thirty hours since I’d slept and with a frost which had frozen my bloodstream, the slightly warmer entry way was comforting. Despite being empty for an unknown amount of time, the concentrated scent of lilies and lychees combined with the knowledge I was standing in Shelby’s home, was enough to set a fire in my heart.
As she removed her scarf and began guiding me through what was a small, yet quaint style home, the saturation on my olfactory system brought forward images of my face in her neck. Her hand on my cock for just over sixteen hours. My face between her legs under the star painted summer sky, the way her head fell back just before she climaxed. All inappropriate thoughts considering I wasn’t sure where we sat now that we were in a different country, on a different continent, with one thousand different worries now surrounding us.
“You’re distracted,” Shelby said suddenly, pausing in the doorway to a room. “And we are about to enter my bedroom,” she flicked her wrist towards me, halting my walk. “So either tell me what’s got you looking so conflicted,” she demanded with mind blowing accuracy, “or tell me your colour.”
I smirked. Standing this close to her alleviated the chill which lingered in the air as the thermostat did its best.
“Inchworm… mixed with a littleRed,” I said as I contemplated everything I was feeling, “andOnyx.”
“That’s a lot of colours and a perplexing mix. Explain yourself, Chambers,” she said as she stepped back, gesturing for me to enter a space I’d seen on camera and only ever dreamed of entering in person. A space which made for a concentrated concoction of all things Shelby and her most personal items.
I paused, a smile spreading across my face at the room which really did epitomise all that she was.
Her bed was unmade on one side, the other hosting a small table with a colouring-in book and a box of crayons and that damn hideously creepy doll, Tabatha, with its missing eye. Adjacent, a white chest of drawers was covered in candles, incense burners and jewellery with no rhyme or reason as to where everything belonged. An open door signified a walk-in-robe and what I assumed was an ensuite, but otherwise, there were shoes in random places on the floor and some scattered clothes.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“Not for a bad reason.” I could tell from the look on her face that was exactly what she’d been thinking which only made my smile grow.
“Then why?” She sulked.
“Because for once, you are predictably adorable,” I admitted, which caused her features to soften.
“I would never be predictable,” she stated, her faux outrage emphasised by her open mouth and hands on hips stance.
“But you are,” I teased, moving into her space. “I could have picked almost everything in this room, down to the random shoes which are missing partners.”
She pouted but it was half-hearted and sent a rush of blood to my crotch. I wanted to take that lower lip between my teeth. To brush her hair back from her face and devour that mouth. To bury myself inside her and remain there for as long as she would allow. I was subliminally impacted by everything she did and not acting on it was getting unbearable.
