I'm twenty seven and I'm going to Australia. Claire is living there for a year. She said she needed to get away from everything.

If I'm being honest, ever since Claire broke up with Scott I've been restless.

Things have been a little strange between us ever since that Tequila night. I think I shouldn't have been that honest with her. I should have told her I had a crush on her when I was younger, the way an impressionable kid would any beautiful girl that shows any kind of interest in him. I shouldn't have been so dramatic.

But what is done, is done. I just hope she won't hold it against me.

Claire is waiting for me at the airport. I hug her the second I see her. She hugs me back just as fiercely.

"How are you doing?" I ask her.

She smiles at me, "Better now that you're here."

She's got a little apartment with a view on the ocean. With her job as a political journalist she was able to have a job as a foreign correspondent for the year.

She likes it here, even though I can see she misses home.

She tells me about her little routine here, about going for a run on the beach every morning and about her funny neighbours.

"Scott came here about a month ago to explain stuff," she tells me before we arrive at her place.

"What's there to explain? He fucked up. You've moved on," I tell her this confidently but I'm so scared she'll say she forgave him. That she'll take him back. I know I have no chance with her. I know I'll never be with her, but at least if I'm not the one, could Scott the douche bag cheater not be the one too?

"Well, I was owed my break up sex, so now we can say we're officially done with each other," she answers.

I feel a little better and a little worse at the same time. I'm glad she didn't take him back. I'm annoyed she slept with him.

            When we finally reach her apartment block and we start going up the stairs there's an old lady that's also coming down.

            "Are you Westley?" she asks me.

            I'm a little taken by surprise. Frowning, I answer, "Yes, I am..."

            "Westley the boyfriend?"

            I look back at Claire with a smirk and she's biting her lips and looking amused and a little ashamed, while staring at her shoes. "Yes, Westley the boyfriend."

            The lady shakes her head. "I've been trying to set her up with my Chris for months now but she keeps telling me that she already has a boyfriend. And then the no good man came the other month."

            "Scott the douche bag," I offer.

            "Yes!" she pointing at me, shaking her index sternly. "I wouldn't trust him around my girlfriend. You did good to come visit her. She's missed you."

            I'm grinning like an idiot now. "I've missed her too."

            And then the lady starts going down again, but doesn't miss a chance to tell Claire, "He looks nice. You better not have cheated on him with Scott the douche bag!"

            "You heard that?" I tell Claire as we're walking away, laughing. She laughs too, hiding her face on the back of my shoulder, clutching to my shirt. "What was that all about?"

            "The ladies in my block keep trying to set me up, so I told them I already had a boyfriend, which is technically true, you are my boyfriend."

There's warmth in my chest, even if I know this doesn't mean anything. "I am indeed your boyfriend. So you told them about me?"

"Yes."

"That's amazing," I tell her, gloating.

She rolls her eyes. "Moron."

The next days pass in a blur. Claire takes me to all her favourite places and we spent many days just lying on the beach, enjoying the sun. I still love swimming so I spend a good amount of time just floating in the ocean.

Every day that passes makes me feel happy and sad at the same time. It's one more beautiful day with Claire, but one less day with her too.

I don't ever want to leave.

One night, when there is only three days left before I have to go back, the door to my room slightly opens.

"Hey," I say, sitting up a bit.

"Hey. There's a thunderstorm," Claire tells me.

"Yeah, I know," I answer. I had noticed. But I was also trying not to look like a complete loser and go hide in her room.

"You hate thunderstorms."

"I really, really do."

"Scooch over."

I immediately comply.

She sliders under the covers beside me and takes my arms, clutching it against her, her nose pressing against my shoulder.

I swallow. I take slow, deep breaths. She brushes her nose left and right, left and right against my shoulder, her thumb rubbing circles on my bicep.

I've absolutely forgotten about the thunderstorm. There could be an earthquake right now and I wouldn't care.

She kisses my shoulder, rubbing her lips softly against my skin.

I'm going crazy here, but I don't want to read into any of this. She's just doing all of this to comfort me. Nothing more.

But then one of her hands lets go of my arm and rests on my abdomen, her thumb still drawing those maddening circles and her lips start going up my collarbone, trailing kisses.

I don't think she's just comforting me. But I still think I shouldn't be doing anything. I might be imagining this. So I just clutch the sheets and hope I don't start moaning like a moron.

Her hand is going down and her lips are going up and I don't know what to think, I don't know how to think. My eyes are closed shut and I'm biting the inside of my cheeks to try to keep from doing anything stupid.

Her fingertips slip under the elastic of my boxer briefs, not moving, waiting and Claire lifts herself up a bit before trailing her kisses all over my neck, all the way up to my chin to finally rest on my lips.

I kiss her back. I kiss her back fervently, almost feverishly.

My arms wrap around her, going under her shirt but my hands touch too much skin. She was wearing a long shirt, I thought she was wearing panties under there. There's nothing but soft skin.

I'm going crazy and Claire is kissing me so expertly that I really wondered what I've been doing all these years before.

            While we kiss, she slips one of her hands between the mattress and my butt, pulling at my underwear and I need to think for a second before I lose all my brain functions.

I break our kiss, holding her face in my hands. "Wait... do you really want this?" I ask her breathlessly.

"Yes, I really want this," she answers her voice a little hoarse.

And she takes off her shirt. She's completely naked on top of me. My breath catches in my throat. I've imagine this. I've imagined Claire naked a million times. I'm not proud of it, but I have.

I never had enough imagination. Every curve and indentation, ever bump they're perfect. My hands fondle her breasts and they fit perfectly in my hands. My thumbs brush over her nipples, and Claire drags her teeth on my bottom lip, and kisses me harder.

She's pulling down my underwear, and then rubs the softest part of her right on top of the most sensitive part of me. I get so hard so fast I think I could have actually passed out from the blood rush. I also think she wants to rush it, but there's no way I'm rushing any of my time with Claire. I want all of her, each and every inch of her.

            So I flip us around. She started this, but I'm not letting her in charge if she's going to hurry.

I throw all the covers off. I'm actually grateful for the thunderstorm because each time the lightning strike her whole skin is bathed in a blue light making her perfect body even more irresistible.

I kiss every inch of skin I've dreamt about kissing for more than a decade. She has a tiny mole right at the top of her left breast. I suck it.

I brush the hair off her face, kissing her temples, her nose, her cheeks, just showering her with kisses because I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe she lets me. I can believe she chuckles softly at my antic, dragging her nails against my back. I'm engulfing her with my whole body, my arms pressed on each side of her head, my legs trapping hers between them, my chest press against hers. I'm actually feeling two little hardening tips against me.

So I stop kissing her face and go back to her breast. I want to get lost in them.

I want to get lost in her. I can't help my body undulating against hers, moving with hers. One of her legs wraps against my hip and when she does that the hardest part of me brushes against a very wet part of hers. I want to be inside her right now. It hurts how much I'm throbbing but I actually love it. I love it because this is all for Claire.

I trail kisses all over her torso. I kiss her legs, I kiss her thighs. I go right up and taste her. She squirms a little and lets out little moans. I hook my arms around her thighs to keep her where I want her, but there's no stopping her body from moving with every stroke, every kiss, every lap, every in and out.

I keep going until her back arches off the bed and she's moaning my name. Only then do I finally let myself inside her. When I finally do, I press my face in the crook of her neck and stay still for a second. I can still feel her contracting around me. She's digging her fingers in my skin. She's so soft and warm there that I want to stay like this forever.

I also really really want to feel more friction. I start going in and out. Claire's legs are wrapped around me now. Her head is thrown back, her mouth still opened in a silent plea. We move together. Her fingernails in my butt are definitely going to leave a mark. Her whole body is contracting. She moans loudly again and I get out of her before it's too much for me and turn her around.

In all the craziness, I never even had time to look at her back. I try to ignore being hard and wet and throbbing while I kiss along her spine and her butt cheeks. I kiss more urgently than I had before, I kiss more aggressively. I spread her legs and I go back in again. This is already starting to feel like home.

Claire is moaning my name, begging me not to stop myself this time. I don't think I'll be able to as I move around and around and in and out. I bite her shoulder to try to keep myself going a little longer, so she can finish again with me this time.

I put an arm around her head so she doesn't hit it against the headboard. The other is squeezing the life out of her boob. I hear not objection. I just hear yes and my name.

I go faster and faster, we're both sweating and moaning and I can feel she's close but not enough, so I let go of her breast and trail down, going to rub the small mount between her legs. She finishes seconds later, burying her head in the mattress, while I do too, my face against her nape.

I bask in the glorious moment for a few long minutes, the only sound in the room is our laborious breaths and the intermittent thunder.

I think I love thunderstorms now.

I want to clean us up but I also don't want to move.

I roll on my back to not smother Claire with my weight.

She's still making little content sounds.

I fall asleep like that. I think I hear her going to the bathroom and I'm pretty sure she has the common courtesy of wiping me off a bit. Honestly, I wouldn't care if she didn't. I like being covered with her.

The next morning, I wake up groggy, but blissfully satisfied. My head still feels like it's in the clouds. I'm half asleep.

"Morning," Claire tells me with a smile in her voice.

I can't even open my eyes yet, still in the sweet moment between sleep and awakening. "Morning," I mumble.

She laughs at my weak attempt.

Her voice sounds glorious in the morning. I keep my eyes closed.

She moves around the bed. She spreads my legs and stands between them. She trails kisses on my abdomen, trailing down. Her breasts are brushing against my thigh, they're brushing against my... god I'm so hard again.

I'm anticipating what she's going to do so much that I think I could come right then and there. Her tongue teases me at first. Her hands stroke and probe everything they should. And then her mouth goes around me and I see stars in my eyelids.

I curse and I call out her name.

She knows exactly what she's doing. She's not going to have to do this for too long.

So, I will my eyes to open. I look down at her. She looks back in my eyes. I could die happy right now.

            We stay in the whole day.

The daylight is kind of a blessing. I'm worried that Claire might be shy about it, some women I've been with only wanted to do it in the dark, but Claire has no qualms about me seeing each inch of her skin.

She has a birth mark under the pointy part of her hipbone. I never saw that before. I never saw her without panties. I don't leave that darken patch of skin alone.

We spend the whole day and another night just making love and sleeping in between. We get some left over food from the fridge, but nothing that requires heating or any kind of work.

            No one got me like this the way she does. She knows exactly where to touch, exactly what to do. It's like she knows my body better than I do.

Maybe it's experience. Or maybe it's just because Claire has always known me the best. I should have guess she would have this part of me completely figured out too.

The next morning when I wake up, Claire isn't in bed anymore.

I get up not bothering to cover myself and find her in the kitchen in her fuzzy bathrobe, her hands around a cup of coffee. I smile at the beautiful scene and go to kiss her but something is different. I stop a few feet from her.

She looks at me. There's nothing of the playful and happy woman I spent the last day with. I'm seriously worried.

"What wrong?"

"You and I, it can't work out," she tells me.

This feels like a physical blow. I feel more naked than I already am. "What? Why not?" She can't be serious. After the sexathon we just had she can't possibly say that this is it.

"Do you see yourself telling our parents that we suddenly decided to date?"

My fists clench. "Are you serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she tells me nonchalantly, shrugging.

"Because you seem to be telling me that the only reason we're not together is because you're worried what your parents might think."

"We've got an eleven year gap Westley. I changed your diaper for Christ's sake."

"We've already been dating for like twenty two years. I really don't see what's the problem."

"Come on, that was just make belief."

I take a few steps back from her. "The problem is you don't love me. Why would you? I was never an option. I've always just been a kid brother to you. And that was alright, I was okay with it, I accepted it before. But after yesterday you can't ask me to go back to the way it was. "

"Why not? Why can't you just forget it? It didn't mean anything.  Let's just write it off as some lapse in better judgement on my part."

"I can't forget this because I love you."

"You don't love me."

"Don't tell me how I feel. I know how I feel. I've always loved you. Yesterday meant something. You can't deny that. It changes everything."

"Yesterday was fun. That's all it was."

This hurt so much. I had no idea this kind of pain existed. "I was making love to you... but that was just having sex for you. I guess that's the difference, right?"

"I guess."

"I think I should leave."

"I think that would be a good idea."

I go back to my room, to take the quickest shower I can, pack my things as fast as I can, praying that I could finish shoving everything in my bag before I really started crying. I keep sniffing, and hastily rubbing my hands over my eyes, to keep the water flows at bay.

She's in the hallway when I get out of my room. It looks like she wants to say something but she's completely caught off guard by my watery eyes. She opens her mouth to say something, but I can't hear it. I can't hear her say again that what we did didn't mean anything. I can't hear her say that again. I think it's going to kill me. My heart can't take any more breaking.

"Bye Claire," I say and rush out.

She doesn't say anything back.

I still have one day left in Australia before my flight and I can't get an earlier one. I get a hotel room and cry like a baby.

Claire taught me everything about love. I guess she had to teach me about heartbreak too.