Oh, man. I'm in big trouble. I haven't been able to stop thinking about that kiss. Every time the memory floated into my head, my pulse galloped and my balls tightened, and all I wanted to do was kiss the crap out of her. But instead of capitulating to my lustful needs, I pulled away and asked for Davina to meet me in two hours.

Romantic relationships were like two-cart trains. During my childhood, I only observed the crashing and burning kinds of trains. They whirled into a ditch just to find each other in the morning and begin the process all over again. My parents, like the trains, stretched apart, but when divided into individual carts, they were messed up; they depended on each other.

I didn't want those downsides in my relationship.

I wanted those hopeless fantasies from those classic rom-com movies. I wanted a book-worthy confession that would make our children swoon the day we told them the story. Wow, I'm really jumping the gun by mentioning kids already.

I spent years spoiling a girl who might've taken advantage of me. She probably didn't even realize it; Lana was always pretty clueless, but I pampered her with so many gifts and food. It's time for someone deserving of it.

So, I hurried to the closest decorating store and brought everything I needed to impress Davina. I couldn't fight the grin that stretched across my face when she popped into my brain. It would be a miracle if I could get this all done before the second hour was up, but I'll be damned if I failed to make her smile again.

Once I finished adorning the rooftop for a magical evening, I peered at my watch to see about ten minutes to show and change. But I needed another second to admire my masterpiece. fairy curtain lights hung around the base, the bright illuminating lights radiating off the white blankets.

White sheets were used to make a cozy fort furnished with thick blankets, pillows, and a table stocked with food. Davina's favorite wines were snuggled by the pillows with the crystal glass flipped upside down. The hardest thing was getting the projector functioning with an HD screen so we can stay up all night watching movies.

Or just talking.

I loved listening to her ramble.

I glanced at my clock again. Shit, I've wasted three minutes admiring my hard work. I doubted I had enough time to run down those stairs, but luckily gym was the only class I was skilled in. I had the fastest mile run record until Declan's class and he beat me by two minutes. He could never let me have one thing.

After showering, I threw on straight blue wide-legged jeans with a standard beige hoodie to compete against the cold during the night. With sweat glistening down my forehead, I dashed up the stairs, not having the patience to wait for the elevator. Even at my fast pace, I didn't fail to catch the door already open.

My heart skipped a beat at the sight of her. Her soft, luscious curves perfectly shine through her super super super short emerald-colored dress. It had cutouts on her shoulders, leaving only her arms to be covered by the fabric. Davina's breasts were on complete display, having multiple silts up until her belly button, and another row of silts down her rounded hips.

To ease my nerves, I scratched the back of my neck before shyly looking her way. Her cheeks were slightly colored, and her eyes moved wild and frantic. I'm starting to feel a tad bit underdressed.

"You look perfect," I whispered.

Pink shined through her foundation. "I didn't know what you meant about surprise, so I panicked and threw this on. It might be uncomfortable to lie in but as long as you don't mind me flashing, then everything should be good."

A smirk curled onto my lips. "I'm obviously all for catching a glimpse of the other Davina."

Davina playfully rolled her eyes and it's fucking sexy. Damn it. Why was it twenty times harder to keep myself under wraps? I had to readjust my pants about three times already and we had only been together for five minutes.

Her ocean-blue irises lit with amusement as they traveled across the illuminated area. A million knots tugged at my stomach as I silently waited for her response. When her eyes crinkled as her smile stretched wider, I knew I had done something right.

"This is the best thing anyone has ever done for me," Davina said, her eyes impersonating crescent moons.

Heat rushed up to my cheeks. "Really? I don't know if that's a compliment or you just haven't been treated right."

Davina cocked her head to the side. "Probably both. Colton never did any of this extravagant shit. I thought maybe I just was one of those girls not really into these but it feels awesome knowing someone cares enough about me to go through all this."

"Colton didn't deserve you," I mumbled bitterly under my breath.

Her perfectly arched eyebrow hiked up. "And you do?"

"No... but I'll do everything I can to prove I do."

Davina dragged out a loud gag. "Gosh, could you get any more cheesy?" The distaste on her face didn't distract away from the rosy pink color on her cheeks.

Slowly, I inched closer, interlocking our fingertips together, feeling a jolt of electricity shoot through my arm. I dragged us over to the opening side of the fort and waited for Davina to settle in before I jumped in with her. The second I dived in, the pile of movies I stacked tumbled onto my body.

"Any suggestions?" I asked, picking up a random movie disc.

Davina shrugged. "I'm not picky."

"Alright," I said, spreading out my discs. "Do you want a tv show or a movie?"

"It really doesn't matter. I'm fine with either," Davina stated, her eyes skimming through the rows of movies.

A chuckle escaped my lips as I thought of the perfect movie. "Let's watch this." I held up the movie disc of three young girls laying on the blank background with the teenager in the middle having a tail instead of feet.

Davina's eyebrows scrunched together. "Aquamarine? A mermaid flick? You seriously chose this out of everything in this pile."

I pointed my finger at her. "Hey. You said I could choose, and this just so happens to have a great lesson at the end of it."

She giggled the lighthearted, airy kind. "What are you going to play next Bratz?"

"I do have the DVD." Davina's eyes widened. "Listen Lana, Meadow, Cata, and I would have Friday movie nights and it just so happens that the most voted movie would be the one we watched, and clearly I was unfairly disadvantaged."

Davina tossed her head back happily, her cheeks flushed and eyes shining. She's so beautiful it made my chest hurt. "They did you so dirty! But could you seriously pick a better chick flick like this one?"

The DVD had four girls posing with the villain of the movie modeling in between them. "John tucker must die? Oh, I see you're one of those girls who say they don't care but disagree with everything."

Her mouth fell open. "And is that a bad thing?"

I made a so-so motion with my hand, earning a playful punch from her on my shoulder. "I'm joking, Jesus! You're going to break my arm. If watching that makes you happy, then I'm down for it."

Davina handed over the DVD and I wandered over to the DVD player. The pop of the cork shattered the silence as I struggled to get the projector working. Davina snorted, and I peered back to see Champagne slipping onto her tan legs. The things I would do to be able to trace circles on them.

Finally, the projector loaded to the main screen, showing the buttons like play, bonus scenes, scene selection. I snatched the control and hurried over to the spot by my girlfriend. Damn, I'm never going to get tired of saying that.

My first official girlfriend.

Davina had her arms wrapped around her legs, her gorgeous face laying on those thighs. Her oceanic irises fixated on me, and it brought a nervous flutter to my stomach. It was truly a gift, having someone look at you as if you were the most important thing to them. I hoped she knew. She was just as remarkable to me.

"I called my sister today," Davina burst out.

My eyebrows shot up for a milli-second. "How did it go?"

A half-smile crawled at her pink lips. "Good, I guess. We didn't mention my sudden departure from her life, but I could feel an awkward energy lingering because of it. Apparently, I had a nephew that I never knew about. My mom spent hours gossiping but she couldn't say anything important like my sister giving birth."

My fingers got lost in her hair, tenderly running through it and distorting the slight knots in it. Warmth swelled in my heart as my finger glided against her collarbone, and a butterfly flutter erupted in my gut. The urge to photograph her grew bigger by the second; so I could spend all night painting her.

"What's your next plan?" I asked.

"At first, nothing. But almost dying in that fire changed everything. It was so scary, feeling my lungs drowning in the smoke. For a second, I thought this was it... I was going to die... and I haven't even achieved much. At least things that mattered, like meddling my relationship with Kasey, and my unsolved feelings for you."

Misery shot up my veins. To think in a parallel universe Davina could've died, and I would have to go on living with so much regret. I couldn't see myself picking up the pieces if everything ended so abruptly like that. Decades would be spent of me just replaying our last conversation together.

I placed a soft peck on her forehead. "One out of the two in the span of five hours is pretty good odds."

Vulnerability gleamed in her eyes. "D-do you think... when I go see her... maybe you can come with me? I don't know if I could make it to the front door on my own."

I nodded. "Hell, yeah. I'll be right by your side, silently cheering for you on the sidelines. Just like you always do for me."

She lifted her head from her knees. "Did everything go okay with your Dad? I don't see any bruises but I guess you must've gotten good at covering them up."

An uneasy chuckle departed from my lips. "No, babe, I'm fine. It was mainly awkward as hell. He kept acting passively aggressive towards me as if I'm the one who abused him. I don't think I can hang out with him alone again. The entire time, I felt like I was suffocating, like the walls were closing up on me."

Davina blinked before cupping her hands around my cheeks. "Ambrose, take a deep breath. It's just you and me." I hadn't noticed the slight tremble in my hands at the mention of him. My breathing grew ragged as if a treasure chest had fallen on my chest. "I promise to make sure he doesn't land another hand on you. Ambrose, you don't have to be afraid, I'm right here."

My head collapsed onto her shoulders, my chest rapidly rising up and down. "I hate this feeling. I hate it after all these years... I can't stand up to him. I just want everything to be normal. I wanted to experience that fatherly and son bond just once. But he scares the living shit outta me... I don't know if I can ever out grow this."

Her fingers tenderly caressed my back, gripping me tighter as tears sprung from my eyes. Who would've thought I would spend our first date crying about my father. But I knew Davina wouldn't pass any judgment over this. Even if it ruined the picture-perfect night.

"We all want to be normal. But I'm starting to think life isn't meant to be normal. Your father abused you for years, you can't just scrub away that history like a dry erase board. It takes time... a lot of time. Maybe even a lifetime but I'll be here with you every single step of the way."

I groaned. "Ugh, I'm so sorry for freaking crying. We're supposed to be laughing, and smiling on our first date not upset."

Davina pecked my nose causing a slight smile to appear on my lips. "Did you forget that we aren't normal? Besides I like a man who isn't afraid to cry on his girlfriend's shoulder. It shows how strong your character is."

"A fake relationship transformed into a real relationship. Wouldn't that be a funny story to share? Too bad we can't expose our contract," I chirped with a nervous laugh.

"I like having this little secret between us."

My stomach fluttered as I broke eye contact to look away briefly. Blankets dipped over the cardboard box containing my gift for Davina; I almost forgot about it. Davina made my whole mind spiral like a tidal wave and lose its state. In a good way.

Crawling over to the outside of the fort, I grabbed the cardboard box and use the knife to cut through the tape. Blankets ruffled as Davina squirmed around the fort, her beige-colored thong peeking through as her ass stuck out in the air. A shudder raked through my body as I admired her perky bum until she covered herself with blankets.

Though in hindsight it was probably better for my health if she was wrapped up. Setting the box on the floor, I dug my hand into it and carried out her gift carefully. Davina cocked her head to the side as her eyebrows knotted in confusion.

"I got you a gift. Well, for us," I said, placing the lantern in between us.

The lantern had a rope contraption holding it from the top so it could hang on anything. A Campanula Rapunculus was carved in the middle like the lanterns Rapunzel waited eighteen years for. Inside was a white plain candlestick and the only thing missing was a flame.

"Since you're a hater of movies I'm assuming you haven't watched Tangled?" I asked, smacking my lips together.

Davina rubbed a hand through her hair. "You're right but who hasn't heard of the iconic lantern scene?"

"Rapunzel envisioned for years to see the lanterns. The lanterns fascinated her and gave her an inch of hope. It connected with the moral of the story; to believe in one's self and take chances and not let anything hold you back from achieving greater things, and finding who you're in life. Maybe it's cheesy..." I shrugged my shoulders, trying to keep my lips from twisting into a grin.

"But I thought the lanterns represented our relationship in a way? We both struggled with believing in ourselves, we still do but together I think we can overcome these obstacles. Together we can find our place in this fucked-up world. I figured when the lanterns glowed in the darkness that would be our..." Shit think of another word besides Love, Ambrose! You can't fuck this up by scaring her off.

"Affection. Yeah... our affection. That even on the hardest of nights when the honeymoon fades we promise to support and fight through the pain. I want to light this lantern with you to signify our relationship, for you to know I'm all in. For you to always remember I'll be here through thick and thin. I don't want to be with anyone else but you, D."

A genuine smile, one of those where her eyes crinkled with her pearly whites on display, lit up her face. "Thank god, I'm wearing waterproof mascara." She softly chuckled under her breath. "Is this really happening? I feel like I'm floating on a cloud when I'm with you, bean sprout."

A small smile curled my lips. "I'm never going to live that nickname down ain't I?"

With a grin, Davina shook her head. "Nope. It's sticking! Now, let's ignite this candle before I cry all over it."

Shaking the matches in my hand, I opened the box and angled it towards Davina to snag one. She carefully glided the match against the side, failing completely only having us erupt into laughter. Once calm, Davina tried again and successfully lit up her match. With the flick of the wrist, orange and yellow brilliance radiated through the cut-out flower.

The illuminating light only brought more elegance to Davina's features. She slowly circled her arms around my neck, pushing her body against mine yet keeping enough space for the light to grow underneath us. Her balmy, minty breath blew against my lips.

It's funny. I've spent years hoping I could kiss Lana. I've spent nights making out with Tinder girls in a way to forget her. They were fun for the night. And some were unmemorable. I've even kissed her before as a tactic to use against Lana. But as Davina's plush lips pressed against mine, so urgent and tender, I don't think I could've ever experienced this with anyone else. This was something out of this world. Something celestial. Like locking lips with Aphrodite.

Perhaps I'm in heaven.

Maybe as Ariana Grande once sang, God is a woman.

Ahhh I love this chapter!! I just love how romantic they can be!! Ambrose has been slacking a bit in his romantic gesture but trust me, he has a lot up his sleeve ;)!!

Hope you guys had an amazing holiday and I can't wait to read your comments!! Love you❤️❤️