If there's a cloud nine then I'm on fucking cloud nine-hundred and ninety-nine... Thousand.

Million. Quadrillion. Octillion.

I woke up this morning with complete satisfaction from the epicenter of raging hormones in my groin up to the goofy smile that stretched across my lips. Ellie's warm, smooth, naked body next to mine was just the start, which I nearly sprinted back to after I'd brushed my teeth and used the toilet.

The sight of Ellie, bare on my lap, my cock buried tight into her, the warm, smooth skin of her ass nestled against my balls with each pump down, my fingers squeezed into the flesh on her hips while she rode up and down, and my hips canted in coordinated thrusts that bounced her pink-peaked breasts was better than a wet dream...

But definitely a wake up I can get used to.

Our experience was more than just hot morning wake-up sex. The flash of silver-colored platinum that hung between her breasts, near her heart space held all of the assurances of my love, spoken and unspoken, bounced with each upward thrust I drove into her. The flash of determination in her dark brown eyes while she rode me into the mattress, her messy morning hair framed around her slender shoulders, the flirty challenge in her words and tone of voice had me mesmerized.

By far the most amazing part was how a silent aura of confidence surrounded her the entire time she'd straddled my lap. I was honored that I'd not only finally seen the shift in her but felt it.

And she's mine. Fucking finally, I have my Ellie back.

I couldn't have been happier in how she freely confessed her feelings, in particular how she wanted to start from where we were now. Every inch of my body was now indisputably hers, including the organ that thundered from inside my rib cage from the moment she'd first straddled my thighs.

Morning breath was still morning breath, which Ellie wasn't immune to, so she brushed her teeth and I showered while Ellie cooked breakfast. There wasn't an ounce of awkwardness or discomfort between us when I crept up behind her in the kitchen, wrapped my arms around her, and nuzzled my nose into her neck.

"Logan!" Her shoulder scrunched up into my ear but her soft giggle sounded like music. I pushed her shoulder back down with my chin and pressed a kiss into the side of her neck, right below her ear.

"Careful," I murmured into her skin, then breathed in her natural scent and kissed her again. "Or I'll leave a hickey here for while I'm gone."

"When do you leave?" she asked quietly, her hands busy with what looked like vegetable-something omelets.

"Bus leaves at ten-thirty for SeaTac," I replied and stood up, then pulled down two plates and glasses from the upper cabinet right when she lifted her leg up for a counter climb. "Then a three hour flight to Tucson."

"Night game though?" She plated our food, carried it out to the table, and gestured at my chair. Once I sat down, she slipped a plate with an omelet and bacon in front of me.

"Yeah." I nodded between bites of food that were perfectly cooked as usual, with flavors that I couldn't have even guessed at melted in my mouth. "Seven pm Mountain Time, so six here. I don't know when we'll get back but are you going to watch the game?"

"Of course." Her dark eyes shone at me while she took a few bites. "Charlie travels with the PT staff, so I usually watch away games with Monique. But I'll send you off with lunch and some snacks, if you want."

"I think the team feeds us on the plane but..." I paused and grinned at her. "I assume that even your cold leftovers taste better."

"I'll give you extra protein and granola bars then," she promised with a smile that faded the longer she looked at me. I set down my fork at the wistful look that came over her eyes, along with a slight pink tint across her cheeks.

Before I asked what was wrong, she softly admitted, "I'll... actually miss you."

While my ego applauded her honesty, a chuckle rumbled in my chest and I squeezed her hand. "Is it cheesy that I want to tell the whole fucking world that you're my girlfriend?"

"We probably should tell our families... I'm fairly sure my friends here know." Ellie's eyes rolled up to the ceiling, she pushed her chair away, and headed into the kitchen. "They've been telling me pretty much since I got here that I need to put a claim on you like you're some kind of big game hunt trophy. Don't get me started on Wes and Charlie's... bet."

While her choice of words curled up the corners of my mouth, the idea that I was Ellie's claim hadn't phased me at all because I'd come here with that exact intention in mind.

"So Darrius won't rearrange my insides?" I teased when she came back with both our phones in her hands. "Because I like them where they are."

"Only if you give him good reason to..." Her lower lip rolled under but her eyes flashed like she held back insider information as she slid my phone across the table and bumped it into my elbow. "Probably don't want to sit next to him on the plane though."

"Why?" I asked and turned on my phone, which buzzed and chimed like a virtual panic mode.

"Good Lord," Ellie murmured when her phone reacted the same way. "What did we miss?"

Before I answered her and opened my text messages or any of the thirty-seven missed calls, my phone rang with a call from Mom.

"No idea." I frowned, accepted the call, and made a mistake when I hit the speaker option. "Hey -"

"Cheese and rice, Logan Thomas Hightower!!" A shrill, screeched version of Mom's voice screamed through my phone, which jolted both Ellie and me in our seats. She gave me a look that matched the confusion I felt inside, but Mom's subsequent words offered absolutely no help at all.

"Shut the front door, you son of a nutcracker! Why couldn't you tell me!? Your mother!"

"Mom -" I started and frowned slightly at Ellie. Based on the question marks that hung in her eyes, she had no idea what Mom meant either.

Mom's continued tirade offered no clarification, "How come you didn't call your own mother back? I gave you eighteen hours of my life giving birth so you'd better start explaining to me right now!"

"Ma -" I groaned at how what she'd just said was wrong on so many levels.

"What did I do? Where do I go wrong with him, Brody?" she lamented with enough drama for the entire state of California and moaned quietly.

Before I reminded her that Brody was probably the last person who helped in the emotional support department, she rushed out, "Jumping Johosafat, Logan I told you I'd better be the first person! But instead, nooooo you just have to go and spill it to some Instagramer Facebooker! Why?"

Oh shit.

"Did she just say Instagramer Facebooker?" Ellie whispered, her wide eyes cast down at my phone screen.

"Unfortunately." I rolled my eyes because Mom's words turned into gobbledygook the more upset she got, but now I knew what she meant. "Mom, Ellie's right here, so -"

"Ellie?" Mom's voice instantly softened like a deflated balloon. "Hi Sweetie! Oh goodness, I can't tell you how... surprised I was once I found out but I'm so, so, so happy. My heart is going to just burst into a song and dance of anticipation here."

"Mom..." I interrupted her sudden shift from downright crazy to elated. "Can I tell you something? That we haven't told anyone yet?"

"Sorry, did someone say Mom?" she chided. "Is my son going to actually share some important news with me? Wait, are you pregnant Ellie? Bit early for that but if anyone can make it work, you two can go but for a quick engagement because the last thing you want is a shotgun wedding -"

For fuck's sake.

"Ellie's my girlfriend again," I blurted out, removed the palm that slapped my forehead, and threaded my fingers in between Ellie's on the table. "We haven't told a single person, you're the first. That's the only news we have."

Thankfully, that update, which was huge in my world, seemed like it was enough for Mom.

"Oh, you lovable, clueless idiot..." Her loud laughs echoed through our apartment. "Everyone knows that already. It's all over the interwebz."

"It is?" Ellie's mouth dropped open and her eyebrows lifted high. She pulled out her phone, then scrolled through her own messages. "It sure is... Oh, shit."

Right then, Ellie's phone rang with her own 'Mom' contact, so she excused herself, left the table, and took the call. "Hey Mom."

Once I saw Ellie's expression completely changed, from a slightly amused smile to her eyebrows drawn together and lips twitched downward, I picked up my own phone and turned off the speaker. "Mom, I've gotta go."

"You call me, Logan," she replied firmly. "But I'm... so happy for you. Don't screw it up this time, my nerves can't take it."

"Bye Ma." I shook my head then hung up. While Ellie paced back and forth with her free hand's palm on her forehead and chewed on her lower lip like a second breakfast, I scrolled quickly through my phone messages before I saw that my social media page was linked in a few texts.

I only needed to go through a couple of the eleven hundred new messages on my Instagram page before I found the source, a posted picture of me and Ellie. The dark, blurry picture was us on a sidewalk, her hands fisted into my shirt and our lips locked against each other. My face was pretty obvious, Ellie's fortunately was well-hidden, but from the picture's angle and perspective, I knew that it was taken...

From the Zeta house's front yard.

A quick click on the picture brought me straight to what looked like a post within a U-Dub gossip community page. The username 'Lydia_loves' was all I needed before my jaw clenched tight. I shifted back to my page, where most of the messages were positive and seemed like people were curious more than anything at this stage.

"Lydia," I grunted quietly, then with one click of my thumb, deleted the entire thread. I couldn't remove it from the U-Dub site but at least it was gone from my account, where I assumed Mom had seen it. A quick check through my other social media accounts showed it posted there too, so they got similar delete treatments.

"Mom - I know, it's just..." Ellie paced back and forth so much I was surprised she hadn't worn a path in the floors by now. "No, please don't put -"

Her entire face morphed into complete apprehension when she squeaked out, "Hi... Dad. Mmm-hmm... he did, huh? I'll have to thank Jake for that... Yes. Yes we are. Again. Me and Logan. Yes. Yes."

Her eyebrows tensed along with her voice, which shifted into staccato phrases. "Right, but -"

At her side, her free hand's fist tightened. "Dad, I-"

One look at her slumped shoulders showed she fought a losing battle. "If you'd just -"

Her eyes lifted to mine, then she just shook her head. Her mouth set into a firm line and she spat angrily, "Put Mom back on."

With one hand clenched into her hair, she looked straight at me but huffed into her phone, "Mom? Logan and I are together again. You deal with Dad because I just can't right now." Then, with one flip of her thumb, she hung up.

Apprehension flooded through me, not at whatever Ellie's Dad thought but the possibility whatever he'd said upset her. "Is he..."

"About the same, yelling about being blind-sided," she mumbled and sighed. Before she explained further, her phone rang again. Her frown continued the longer she looked at her screen.

"Hey... Jake," she said softly, then rolled her lower lip under again. "Mmm-hmm... Oh you saw that. No, we didn't leak any photos and we obviously didn't take that..."

Ellie's entire body froze at whatever he'd said next, then her eyes lifted up to mine. "Oh. Oh? Oh... No, I haven't. You too... 'Bye Jake."

With each 'Oh' word, her expression shifted. First she looked indifferent, then on the second one her eyebrows shot up and her lips parted, then the third her pupils dilated slightly and her mouth pulled into a soft smile, which she held for the rest of the conversation.

"So Jake knows." I crossed my arms over my chest and braced myself for this reaction.

Pure hatred was an understatement of how Jake felt about me when Ellie and I dated in high school but we actually became amicable after our breakup. I hadn't contacted him whatsoever since an awkward hand shake and Jake's 'don't give up but leave her alone' spiel after Ellie had broken up with me.

Ellie was right though, Jake, and thankfully her parents, was largely absent in her life here at UW. She had instead surrounded herself with two sets of relationships, Wes and Charlie and Darrius and Monique, who to me at least seemed pretty solid.

Guess the real test of Ellie's independence is how her family feels about this.

"Dad obviously didn't approve..." I sighed. "Do I even want to know Jake's opinion?"

"Typical Jake, he gives his opinion whether it's wanted or not," she pointed out with a soft smile. "But he's... I wouldn't say happy for us but he just wanted to hear it straight from me."

With a few steps, I wrapped my arms around Ellie and hugged her against me. She relaxed into my arms, then rested her head against my chest. I pressed a soft kiss onto the top of her head, then mumbled into her hair, "That's a good thing, right?"

"It is," she replied and tightened her arms around me. "But I wouldn't have cared otherwise. It's my life and I'm glad you're in it again."

My only response was I squeezed her back. Even if her family wasn't as excited as Mom, she stood up to them for me. While I wished she hadn't any reason to argue with her dad, I was proud that she wasn't going to roll under his narrow-minded distrust. I had no idea how I'd win Mr. Harrison over because I had no idea what his beef with me was, but for now was glad Ellie dismissed whatever he'd said to her.

That's my girl.