Chapter 11 Eden
Eden
Sloane kissing me is like my Christmas and birthday wishes coming true all at once. I wasn’t expecting it. I thought we’d maybe have a couple more dates before we got to the lip-locking stage.
Not that I’d want it that way. Kissing her now is way better!
Sloane tastes like cherry lip balm. Her lips are soft, but I can feel the imperfection from her lip biting. My tongue instinctively snakes out to soothe the bitten area.
“Oh my god, Eden,” she groans against my lips.
Her tongue pushes against mine, seeking entry. My kissing history is as thin as my dating record, so I hope I’m doing a good job. Sloane certainly is. Parting my lips, she slips in, and it’s my turn to moan.
So far, my hands have had a good grip on Sloane’s hips, but as the kiss goes on, they begin to wander. I’ve never felt myself get hot this quickly. Even when I’m taking care of myself, it takes a minute to get in the mood. With Sloane, I’m there in seconds.
Not that we are anywhere near taking that step. I’m no prude, and I’ve never subscribed to the idea that I should wait until I’m in love to finally have sex. On the flip side, though, I want to look back on the experience with fond memories, not regret.
“S-sloane,” I gasp. “We…we need to slow down.”
Sloane rips herself away from me. Her hair is slightly mussed, and her lips are now swollen. I wonder if my eyes are as wild looking as hers.
“Wow. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” she stutters.
“You didn’t,” I’m quick to reply. Not a chance that I want her thinking I didn’t want her mouth on mine. “I promise, I wanted and enjoyed kissing you. Like, a lot. That’s why I stopped us. Um, we were getting hot, quite fast.”
She blushes as much as I do. “Yeah.”
Scratching the back of my head, I take a quick breath. “I…um, I’m not ready to go there. If you know what I mean.”
“Sex,” she blurts. We devolve into laughter.
“Hey, I’m the one who blurts out awkward things. Don’t take that away from me, Bishop.”
She smiles. “My bad. I won’t do it again. And to be clear. I am ready to have sex, but I want us to get to know each other before we go there.”
“Oh, you’re…you’re ready?”
Blimey. We’ve only just admitted to liking each other and now we’re talking about sex! This has to be some sort of record.
Sloane shrugs. “Yeah, but I’m in no rush. I want it to be right. With the right person.”
“Of course. The right person?”
I love Sloane’s giggle. “You did that thing again where you answer something in the form of a question.”
“Yeah, I have a habit of doing that. A lot. But, just to circle back to the whole right time, right person thing. Do you think…maybe I could be the right person?”
She puts both hands on my chest. “That’s what I was counting on, Eden.”
“Okay.”
Me. Eden Sawyer. I’m Sloane’s right person? It boggles the mind.
“Considering you’re standing there looking at me in awe and panic, I vote we table this conversation. Let’s just enjoy our lunch together.”
That’s probably the right call.
Sloane lays out a blanket. We’re only just off the trail. It’s an odd place to sit and have lunch. “This isn’t where you planned to stop, at all, is it?” I laugh.
“No, not really,” she replies with a grin. “But you looked ten seconds from overheating, so…”
“You’re right, I totally was, but I’m feeling better now. We can continue a little longer if you want.”
For the first time ever, I’m ashamed of my lack of fitness. Sloane had something planned and my inability to walk up a small hill has derailed it. Damn it.
“Quit beating yourself up. We’ll keep going after we eat. The view isn’t going anywhere.”
“Has anyone ever told you, you’re a tad bossy?”
I love it. I’m more than happy for Sloane to boss me around all she wants.
She grins and raises a perfect eyebrow. “Maybe. Comes with the territory of being cheer captain.”
“Well, as long as you’re self-aware,” I reply deadpan.
Instead of answering, Sloane unpacks the bag. Tupperware after Tupperware appears.
Sitting back, we look at the mountain of food. Sloane scrunches her nose. “Mom went a little crazy.”
“She made all of this?”
“Yeah. She loves to cook, and you gave her a new challenge. She’s never catered an entirely vegetarian event before.”
“Is that what this is? An event?”
“I think a first date is big enough to be called an event. Don’t you?”
“Fuck yeah, it is.” And then I lean over and kiss her on the mouth. Because I can do that now.
Cue internal smug grin.
“I like that,” she murmurs against my lips. It’s possibly my new favourite thing. I have a feeling there are going to be many new favourite things in my life now.
We spend a couple more minutes snogging. It’s awesome. When we finally pull apart I want to do that sappy sigh of contentment thing. You know, the ones in all the romance books and movies. I’m sure I have heart eyes.
Dialling back a little as to not freak Sloane out, I begin opening containers. “So, what’s on the menu?”
“No clue,” she says. “That looks like hummus.”
Snapping a cracker in half, I taste test three different pastes. “Hummus, aubergine, and I think that’s some sort of pepper dip.”
“Oh, these are stuffed sundried tomatoes,” Sloane says, popping one in her mouth. “Some sort of cream cheese inside.”
“Your mum outdid herself.” I’m not even overselling it. The food is delicious.
“She’ll be very happy to hear that. Also, it will mean you’ll have to come over for dinner. She’ll want to test some more recipes on you.”
“Recipes, plural?”
“Yeah. It’ll be a whole—”
“Event?”
Sloane giggles. “For sure.”
“Then sign me up.”
I’m dying.
Cardiac arrest kind of dying. Sloane has taken me up a fucking mountain, via liplocks and ass swaying. I didn’t realise it was happening until we crested the massive bastard hill, and my heart started beating hard enough to hurt my ears.
I said she was a sapphic witch, and now I know I’m right. My lungs are burning, and I hate it with a fiery passion. Yet I still want to take the last few steps and make it to the summit to collect my reward: one heavy make-out session.
It will be the sweatiest, most breathless in the worst way, make-out ever. But it’s my prize, and by God I will claim it. When I can walk again.
Sloane is standing by the edge of the trail looking out over the vast wilderness, and from the glimpse I got through the sweat dripping in my eyes, it’s pretty amazing.
“Alright over there, Sawyer?”
“Just peachy,” I gasp from the spot where I have collapsed.
Her feet step into my eyeline. Unfurling from my near foetal position, I stretch my back and take in a couple of deep breaths. Her face is one of pure amusement. She stretches out her hand and takes one of my clammy ones.
“Come on. I’ll help you.” She tugs me up and along until we make it to the clearing at the edge. Is now a good time to tell her I hate heights?
“Pretty decent view, Bishop. Not a bad first date.”
She shrugs. “Imagine what I can do with more than a few hours of prep time.”
I whistle low. “You’re setting a high bar. Gonna be hard to top. Although you nearly killed me, so that takes a few points off.”
She turns to me and puts both hands on her hips. “Your lack of muscle and lung capacity did that, babe.”
Ha, she called me babe. That feels really good.
“I’ll give you that.”
We stand there for a while, just taking in our surroundings. Huh. It’s quite nice getting out of the house to see this. Nearly worth the climb.
“This feels good,” I say. Sloane turns to me. “Not the exercise.” I laugh because I can see where her head went. The girl really has her mind on one thing, like all the time. “Being here, with you. Like this.” I hold up our entwined hands.
Her smile is brighter than the sun currently beating down on us. “It is. I’m so pleased we both finally found the ovaries to admit it to each other. I’d have been really bummed to miss out on this before leaving for college.”
Well, isn’t that just a smack to the tit.
“Right.” My smile is tight and I’m struggling to look at her. She’s already seeing the end to something that began a couple of hours ago.
Sloane drops her head. “I just ruined it, didn’t I?” Her sigh is deep and laced with frustration.
“Kinda,” I huff. No point in lying. “You’re right, though. I guess this has an expiration date.”
I’m positive Sloane has her whole future planned out, and me being in it wasn’t in the original design. Maybe if we’d done this two years ago, the outcome could be different. Long-term girlfriends. As is, we will have been dating less than a year before we both leave for college.
So, what is this? What was, or should I say is, the point of starting something? Sure, we can share a few kisses. Maybe be each other’s firsts. That all sounds great. Unless you factor in, I’m probably halfway in love with her already and no doubt will fall harder the more time we spend together.
“I don’t really know what to say, Sloane.”
“Damn it. Eden, I’m sorry.”
I squeeze her hand gently. “It’s okay. Best to talk about it now. Before we go any further. We could just stay friends.”
That is a horrible idea, but the safest.
“Or we could continue and see where we end up?” she says with hopeful eyes.
Of course I want to say yes immediately. I pull her into my body and claim her lips. She kisses me back just as hard.
“Is that a yes?” she says after pulling back. Her hands remain on my chest.
“It’s a…can I think about it?”
The look that crosses her face makes my chest hurt, but I need a second to think this through. I’m so close to getting through high school with no damage. Sloane Bishop could be the thing that causes the most damage if this all goes tits up.
“Sure. Shall we head back? We’ve still got an art lesson to get through. Um, that’s if you still want to. No problem if you’d prefer to reschedule.”
Stroking her cheek, I smile evilly. “Not a chance. Let’s go, Picasso. I’ve got some paint with your name on it.”
The art lesson is postponed. No sooner are we back at the car than Sloane’s mom calls, asking her to go home. Something about babysitting the neighbour’s kid due to an emergency.
“Hey, love,” Mum calls as I walk in, feeling less than great. The day started out with Sloane-shaped rainbows and is ending with college-shaped rain clouds. It’s the first time I’m pissed to be going away to school.
“Eden, did you touch my makeup?” Lucifer screams down the stairs.
Ignoring Jenna, I kick off my boots and trudge into the living room. Doing my best impression of my devil sister, I fling myself onto the couch and groan.
Lowering her paper, Mum looks at me above her reading glasses. “Bad day, sweetheart?”
Rolling my head to the side, I look back at her and sigh. “No and yes.”
Mum sits and listens. Oh, and laughs at my vivid description of the state of my health halfway up the mountain. Which, fyi, Sloane said wasn’t a mountain but a large hill. We’ll agree to disagree.
“Eden. Just take a step back from the worst-case scenario you’re currently visiting in your head.”
Fair.
“You could have been dating for years, and it not work out.”
“That’s cheery,” I huff. Mum gives me her famous glare, and I shut up.
“You could also date for a few months, and decide you are each other’s end game.
No one has the answer. The only way to find out is to give it a go.
My darling, you’re not the biggest risk-taker in life.
Maybe this time just go for it. If you end up with your heart broken, think of all the painful art you’ll produce. ”
I can’t help but laugh. “Silver linings, huh?”
“Exactly. E, you’ve pined over Sloane for a long time. Jump in, love. Have some fun.”
We are rudely interrupted from our mother-daughter bonding session by Jenna. She stomps in ranting about her makeup. Her face is all red, and she’s seconds away from exploding.
Sighing, I stand up. “Jenna, give it a rest.”
“How many times have I told you not to go in my room,” she screams.
“Too many to count. I haven’t entered your lair in months, and certainly not to nick your cheap as shit eye shadow. Now, if you’ve quite finished, I’ve got some feelings I need to paint.”
I’d love to lose my shit at her, but it would only spur her on. Plus, Mum doesn’t need the stress.
Walking away from the situation is the best I can do. Jenna knows better than to enter my art space. She’s an arsehole ninety percent of the time, but she’s never crossed that line. Just like she knows I haven’t crossed her line by going into her room.
Lifting a blank canvas onto my easel, I decide what kind of paint day it’s going to be. Chaotic. Like my thoughts. Sometimes the best therapy for me is chucking a bunch of paint and seeing what sticks.
As globs of red hit the canvas, I think of Sloane. Her lovely face and hair. Her smile and the way she kissed me.
Blue paint follows, and with it my trepidation of dating her. I know I’m a girl who likes the easy and quiet life, but I think Mum might be right. If I play it safe with Sloane I’m going to regret it. A lot.
Black and gold get thrown next. I’ve created a mess of swirls and splotches. Stepping back, I smile. Painting never fails to clear my mind.
Wiping my hands down my apron, I pull out my phone.
You: 16.59 p.m.
I’m in. I want to date you. Let’s see where we end up? If that’s still what you want.
Sloane: 17.02 p.m.
See you in the morning, babe.
Sloane 17.03 p.m.
I’m thinking you could change my name to G’friend in your contacts. Just a suggestion.
You: 17.03 p.m.
Done