"Feeling free..." (20)

The sun was going down very slowly as the sky became faintly colored with yellow clouds.

Still my head on her shoulder.

Still that warm, fuzzy feeling.

"Let me ask you this..." Bella spoke with an amused tone.

"Did you really not see the signals I sent you?"

I suddenly raised my head from her shoulder feeling like an embarrassed child.

Bella laughed seeing my teased expression.

"I did, actually... but I just... didn't think they were addressed to me..." I whispered.

"That's fair... but it was just the two of us, so..." She shrugged.

Oh, she knew how to maintain this direct eye-contact... while I just became red with embarrassment.

"Am I making you embarrassed?" She asked me as if this wasn't obvious enough...

"No, please, go on, this is fun..."

Bella burst into a laugh.

"I didn't want to tease you..." She said caressing my back.

"I mean..." I whispered lowering my gaze. "I guess I gave you a hard time..." My voice was trembling.

Bella shook her head smiling: "I wouldn't say that..."

Then she looked into my eyes: "Still... it would have been worth it in every way."

My heart was beating so loud, I could almost sense it was trying to get out through my chest.

" Thank you for saying that... and..."

I resumed my earlier position, hiding a shy smile.

"... Thank you... for this place. If it weren't for you..."  I raised my head and smiled gratefully at her.

Her eyes so sweet and limpid I could almost see right though them.

Her breath going slower.

Still the drops of water were falling though her candid skin and her white bikini.

In her face appeared a bright smile:

" You don't have to thank me, Ellie... and yeah, this place is incredible... but being here with you makes it more magical."

Her warm tone of voice. Her warm words.

My stomach was fluttering.

I came closer her collarbone.

"I hate to say this, but the sun is starting to get lower, now..." I whispered.

"It is..."

Time was passing too quickly, I don't want this.

We glanced sighing, as we understood each other, without adding anything else.

"I'd like to come back here..." I said wistfully.

"We'll have plenty of time..."

Her tone of voice more nostalgic now.

That wasn't true but we pretended it was.

Her arms gently wrapped around my back as she understood I was having those bad thoughts.

We did say goodbye, to that place, with melancholy in our hearts and a lump around my throat.

"I promise, we will return." Bella affirmed in my ear as we got back to the boat.

Still our hands intertwined.

As I was smiling tenderly in her direction, something distracted my attention.

I looked at Vincent, the captain of the boat, smiling at us from afar...

I took Bella's arm and confessed one of my sudden worries: "Does he know about... me? I mean does he know that I...?"

I couldn't even finish the sentence.

Why this sudden worry, though?

Bella smiled at me, lifting her eyebrows: "Why do you care?"

I didn't know that either.

My lips stay unspoken.

"I don't think he knows, anyway. Feel free, Ellie..." She answered my question in a calm way.

Feeling free? To begin to turn off the chaos maybe I had to feel free first...

Why is it so difficult to me?

I looked at Bella and she was the emblem of freedom.

She doesn't care about others people's judgment and I can tell that she is confident about herself.

It was the first thing I noticed about her, even before her beauty.

But that place... " The blue moon"... I'd never felt so free.

And I had never felt better than that.

With her.

"Vincent, can you put this song?" Bella exclaimed waking me up from my thoughts.

She giggled in my direction: "No sad music, I swear, I just want to dance a little..."

"Shut up and Dance by Walk the Moon!" She shouted, then dragged me in the middle of the boat.

She took my hands, and guided my pretty clumsy movements.

I stared in her direction.

The way Bella was moving so gracefully and charmingly... her body is pure attraction.

Yet she doesn't seem to mind it, which makes it more... fascinating, somehow.

I was completely mesmerized by her figure.

Bella let go my hands as came closer to my ear: "Now you dance. Pretend like nobody is watching you..."

"What?" I asked nervously.

"Don't be afraid, Ellie..." She affirmed confidently.

When I met her limpid gaze, her amber eyes, I felt in my body a sense of calm and confidence.

I squeezed my eyes, took a breath... and tried to let myself go to the rhythm of the music.

I'm not much for dancing and I don't have the courage... but when Bella pull me in, I felt a little more brave.

I feel I can do that now.

For the first time, I danced like nobody is watching me.

Excepect for her.

"Who the hell are you? And what have you done with Ellie Golden?" Bella winked at me, rasing an eyebrow and smiling happily.

I blushed, taking her hand back in mine:

" This me having fun, I guess..."

And we kept dancing, singing and laughing like two little girls for the entire boating toward the resort.

I can't even remember the last time I smiled this much.

As we arrived, we said goodbye to Vincent and got off the boat.

"And so I have caught you up in that little dance..." She raised her eyebrows in an intrigued expression.

"Oh, Bella, I tried to... but I did have a lot of fun, though." I laughed.

She stopped walking, so I turned to her.

"I have been watching you, Ellie, and I can tell that you are amazing." She said those words like she meant it.

I smiled astonished in her direction.

" Thank you... Too bad you can't see yourself..." I whispered.

I believe her cheeks turned rosy in that moment.

Bella and I hadn't let go of each other's hand for a moment... as we smiled confidently like if we were still alone, in that cave.

Then, just before we opened the hotel doors, like an instinct, like an unconscious fear, I let go of her hand... but I didn't have the courage to look at her expression as we silently headed to the elevator.

Bella pressed the third button and with a lump in my throat, I turned to look at her.

Silence had pervaded the elevator.

Bella was staring at an indefinite point with an impassible, far too composed expression.

Something was definitely going on.

When the elevator reached the floor I promptly put myself in front of it.

"Are you okay?" She asked me worriedly.

"Yes... of course." I was catching my own breath as I was moving slowly closer and closer to her face.

In that moment I noticed how she was a bit taller than me. Like 5-6 cm at least.

So I had to stand up slightly on my toes.

I gave her a soft, trembling kiss and then I walked away, thinking that maybe she didn't want to.

Bella kept that serious expression, which was definitely distressing me, by now.

A moment later I felt her hand on my neck and her lips pressing against mine.

Gently, warmly, perhaps still trembling.

My messy kisses on the tip of her lips, hers on my lower lip.

Something sweet and innocent about that.

Her hand created a gentle tickle on my neck that was unintentionally seductive.

My hand slipped gently through her long, soft hair.

That particular red hair color of hers was making its way into my mind...

I felt the prelude of a very strong desire,

one of those hidden longing I didn't expect to have.

But she seems to understand it...

My trembling lips parted slightly, allowing her tongue to slip inside.

Our tongues made contact in a slow, sensual swirl.

My heart was going wild.

I felt like losing my mind in the most stunning way.

I was feeling mine- our- breathing growing quickly in intensity.

Then more slowly and rhythmically in a pleasant coordination.

When we stopped, I tilted my head in her shoulder, blushing like a child.

I hesitantly looked up and saw Bella's blissful and playful expression.

And I couldn't help but smile at her.

My stomach was fluttering for that pleasant, warm feeling.

"So... I'll see you later?" I whispered.

My tone of voice was somehow unvolo dreamy.

Bella nodded at me, taking my hand again, I could swear her cheeks were rosy too:

"How much later?"

I smiled spontaneously.

"After taking a shower and the rest. Talk to you by text..."

"Okey... I'll wait, then." She softly giggled.

Bella hesitantly let go of my hand and smiled again, in a more nostalgic way.

And I couldn't help but doing the same.

"Be safe, Ellie..." She said at last in an understanding manner.

Somehow I was mesmerized by those words.

Her reassuring smile was the last thing I saw before the doors closed in front of me.

I raised my eyes, sighing.

I immediately felt like that elevator was too empty and too quiet without her.

I have arrived to my fourth floor, I walked slowly, toward my room, and closing the door behind me... I sat down on the floor.

I took a deep breath.

It seemed to me that even a part of me, without her, was too empty and too quiet-just like that elevator.

A/N

I hope you liked this chapter because it is an important one. ❤️

What will happen now..?

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