34: Bagels & Coffee With A Shot Of Love

❝ And I will always love you through every storm, I've never loved somebody the way I love you ❞

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I was expecting to be woken up by the soft, but hot, rays of sun fanning over my face, my arms and legs tangled up in Ray's and a feeling of internal happiness. Which did happen but with the addition of my mom staring down at us both passively. For a second we looked in each other's eyes trying to figure out and stepping around the ticking time bomb that was about to explode anytime, but it turned out my adrenaline took the best of me.

I stumbled over the bed, falling awkwardly down on the floor and tried to put distance between me and my sleeping boyfriend as if it was going to make up for the damage that was already caused. I could swear to God I saw my mom's eyebrow twitch and her lips pulling into a thin line, but I had to give it to her because she held it in damn well.

"Morning, daughter. Dad is waiting downstairs for you to get breakfast started." And with that she left me and my erratically thumping heart on the cold hard floor to pull themselves together. When the fuck had we fell asleep? The coffee didn't definitely help last evening, and the last thing I remembered was us gazing out the window and arguing over what we thought the stars resembled.

When I climbed over again on the bed to wake him up, for a moment, I forgot all that had happened in the last few minutes. The panic faded and was replaced by a sense of contentment spreading like a branch in my chest, flowers blooming along them every second that passed. His mouth was open, drool dried up on the corners of his mouth and his hair was something similar to a pigeon's nest. There were no emotions on his face, and yet it had to be the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen, because he had never looked so much at peace more.

"Hey." I nudged him lightly, tracing my finger over his face. "Wake up." He only stirred, a guttural low groan coming out of his mouth as he turned on his side to face me and pulled me closer to him. My parents were probably pacing the kitchen by now. "Ray, wake up." An eye of his peeked open and he immediately shut it because of the light flooding in.

"What? Lemme sleep."

"My parents are waiting downstairs for us." That had him scrambling to his feet, an expression of utter shock spreading across his face. For a second he only looked around, and a wave of realization hit him, as he groaned loudly.

"We fell asleep, didn't we?" I sheepishly nodded and he sighed, pulling on his shirt which had surprisingly come off of his body in the night. He noticed my look and glared at me. "You seem to forget that it was you who told me that there was a rule to not sleep in one's shirt in your bed. Things you do to see me naked." He walked the room and stood in front of the mirror and desperately tried to fix his hair.

"Well, can you blame me? Work out less in the gym and consider covering your tattoos and then we'll think about calling the rule off." That black, beautiful ink and six packs were a sight for the sore eye and I was rightfully going to dine on what was mine. That made him smile.

"All yours." His lips were against mine, and we shared breath, nevertheless, god awful smelly. I pushed him back in disgust.

"Brush your teeth, oh my god!" A wicked smirk made it's way to his lips and in a moment he was running behind me as I tried to escape him. "Ray—no. NO. Please, no." But before I could do anything, he threw me over his shoulder and we landed on the bed, my arms flailing in a desperate attempt to push him off me, but to no avail, still enticing a string of giggles out of me. "Oh my go—" My sentence was cut off when he pressed his lips on mine yet again for a short but chaste kiss.

"And now we can go downstairs." His throaty sleep voice travelled through my ears, straight to my core and I groaned because this was so unfair on his part. "What's wrong?" He mocked, as I glared at him.

"Having fun, aren't you?" He smiled, pushing my hair behind my ears. My heart melted.

"Can't say I'm not." In a moment his expression had changed from teasing me to looking at me as if I was a new born puppy, as he gently traced my nose rift. My fingers involuntarily travelled up his neck and tangled in his hair, causing him to close his eyes.

"Let's see how much fun you have when my dad meets you downstairs."

"Can you not remind me?" Burying his face in my chest, he sighed, his fingers still playing with my hair. That made me smile—he actually made me smile a lot—as I softly scratched his scalp.

"It's going to be okay; while my dad may come out as little intimidating, I'm pretty sure he is already gushing over you downstairs because mom would have, by now, already relayed about your physical appearance to him. And when he sees how much we love each other, he'll be fine, I swear."

"Well, let's get going then." We both stood up and I twined my hand with his. "Let's take a quick detour to the bathroom first. We both look homeless as fuck."

After a quick round of teeth brushing and hair combing, we stepped out of my room and onto the threshold of stairs which would lead us down to the living room. "Ready?" I whispered, and he nodded, as we descended downstairs, the soft murmurs from the kitchen immediately stopping as our feet made noise.

We stepped into the kitchen and my parents' gaze fell on us, Ray stiffening beside me a little.

"Uhm, morning." Deciding to break the awkward silence, I greeted my parents, to end up not even getting a greeting back. Their eyes were set on the boy beside me, who was squeezing my hand as hard as he could.

"So you're the boy my daughter is seeing." Dad walked up to us, trying to pose his seniority even if he had to look up to meet Ray in the eyes.

"Yes, sir." He stretched his hand forward and dad grabbed it, giving it a tight shake. "Ray Rutherford. Nice to meet you, and you too ma'am." My mom smiled and motioned all of us to sit on the table. Dad impassively sat beside him, the grim expression on his face becoming funny by the passing moment.

"We came in late yesterday, so I couldn't make quite a big breakfast. It's only bagels and coffee, is that okay with you Ray?" Mom placed four bagels in front of us and poured steaming hot coffee in the cups; my mouth watering and my stomach grumbling from hunger.

"It's more than okay. You really shouldn't have taken the trouble."

"It's okay, she has a thing for magnificent breakfasts. This is nothing compared to those." I replied instead, between mouthfuls of the delicacy. A small smile fell on his lips at the sight of me, and blush coated up my cheeks.

"Let's eat then, shall we?" Dad's voice boomed, shutting down the chatter.

"Don't be nervous, Ashton tries to act all tough but he isn't. He loves you already." Mom rubbed the cream off dad's mouth as he scowled, brushing her hand off playfully.

"Son don't let her words get to you, my friends back in military have taught me a thing or two about guns and how to use them. Hurt my daughter and I already have a plan ready." We all struggled to not laugh and Ray nodded fast, stuffing his mouth with the bagel.

"I'll keep that in mind sir."

"You do that boy, you do that. My June here is a gift from god, and you better treat her right." His face fell at that and he sighed, his eyes meeting mine.

"I know, she truly is a gift. A wonderful person, and a wonderful woman. I'm the luckiest man to have her beside me." Dad clapped him on the back, and I smiled, my eyes watering up a bit.

"Glad to know."

"Ashton now stop with the questions, let the boy eat." She placed another bagel on his plate. "Eat as many as you want. I can even pack you some." She then ruffled up his hair, bringing out a genuine smile out of him.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Call me Lily, love." She stood up and dumped her plate in the sink. "Eat up June, do I have to feed you now?" Slapping me on my back, she walked up to the door. "I need to water the plants but you kids eat up. Be right back." Shooting us another smile, she left.

"See? You're already my mom's favorite." I stuck out my tongue at him and he laughed, taking a sip of his coffee. "And he was worried about meeting my parents." Muttering under my breath, I finished the last bite of the bagel, licking the cream off my fingers. Ray watched me passively, and I gulped, but kept licking on my thumb as he tightened his fists, all while trying to be normal in front of my dad. Well, two could play the game.

"Tell me more about your family, son." I froze, my eyes flitting to him to see him tensed up.

"Dad!" I nudged him below the table, and he flinched, cringing lightly.

"Oh no you don't have to. Take your tim—" He improvised, only to be cut off by Ray.

"It's just my mom, my little brother and me. Dad passed away when I was twelve, and since then, it's just been us three." He fiddled with the ring he was wearing as dad cleared his throat. "It wasn't easy, definitely, and we took decisions that we shouldn't have out of grief but now we're okay and happy." The last word was said all while he looked at me.

"How old is your brother?" Dad enquired, as he passed him a glass of water.

"He'll turn six next month." A smile took over my face at the thought of Sam, the little boy was too innocent and good for the world. He was a little ball of happiness. "Oh that reminds me, I should get going, he has his appointment in about," he glanced at his watch, "an hour and a half. Mom must be working, so I'll have to take him to the hospital."

"What appointment? Is he unwell?" Dad questioned, as Ray's face fell.

"Not really, he has Cardiomyopathy. We have to do weekly visits and tests because it's a bit severe." Dad sat up straight at that.

"A five year old boy? Did your dad have it?" Ray meekly nodded as dad sighed heavily. "He must've died of heart attack, if I'm not mistaken." He nodded yet again, rubbing his eyes. "How severe is it?"

"He needs a transplant under three months. We're currently fifteenth on the waiting list. The chances are a bit slim," the edge in his voice increased, "but we're doing everything we can in the meanwhile to organize funds for the surgery. It's a lot, but we'll make it happen." A sullen atmospheric layer fell across the room and we all stayed quiet for a bit, before dad decided to speak up.

"Bring the little guy to me. I'll see what I can do." Ashton Williams was the most famous heart surgeon back when he was not yet a military doctor and I could see the splurge of emotions in his eyes as he sighed again and again. This meant a lot to him, to the both of them, and I had to hold my tears back as I watched the conversation between them flow. "Of course, only if you want to, and your mom too. Changing doctor's suddenly can be a hassle and sometimes a bit uncomfortable for the patient, but I promise to do everything I can for him."

"Sir, everyone around Moordale and Southern California know about you and your talent. It would mean a lot to us, especially to Sam. Thank you for doing this for us." Dad stood up and pulled Ray in for a hug as both men clapped each other's backs.

"You're a good guy, son, and it would be my pleasure to help you and your family. I can see you make my daughter happy." Their eyes fell on me and something between a happy sound and a sob escaped my mouth as I hugged dad, who patted my hair lovingly. "Be happy, you both. You deserve happiness."

We deserved happiness.

We did. Truly. Ray did. I did. Sam did. Susan did.

Ray stood there facing me, as I hugged dad, smiling at me—a smile so pure and so beautiful. We kept looking at each other.

He snapped his fingers lightly, catching my attention again. "I love you." He mouthed, and I felt myself falling in a reverie so deep, yet so alluring. It was pulling me, pushing me unimaginably closer to him, and I couldn't be more closer to him than ever.

"I love you." I mouthed back, and we stood there, staring at each, trying to convey everything we wanted to, everything we felt which was so deep and extremely inexpressible.

Some things are always meant to be felt in the moment.

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extremelyyyyy sorry for the late update :( I've been writing the second book I'll be publishing after this, and I got a bit carried away and completed writing about 14 chapters of that book lmfao. then lost track of this book's plot, had to find the motivation and excitement to write a new chapter again, ugh. I'm never doing spontaneous stories again! pre-written chapters are a must, if you're thinking of writing on here! see you guys...soon? :)