-Down for the Ride by Slaves featuring Jessie Abbey-

Denise was in love with Mark.

She stared blankly at the ceiling of the van with a sleeping Rex beside her. She hadn't slept much since Mark's birthday in Washington, D.C. His confession and words were all that she could think about.

He was so sure and unapologetic about how he felt. Mark was ready to take that leap, and here was Denise needing time to think about it. After all, there are a lot of people who loved each other, yet their relationship failed.

Someone else in her place would be ecstatic. Almost every woman and girl in the world wanted to be swept off their feet, rode into the sunset, and live happily ever after.

Yet here was Denise, nervous, self-doubting, and unsure if she could really take this next step with Mark.

She trusted him with her heart, but she didn't trust herself with his.

Mark would be her first real . . . everything.

Denise thought about all the things that could go wrong, but when she thought about their friendship. How close they've become and how well they know each other, she thought about everything that could go right.

Suddenly, her unsure future became clear when she thought about Mark.

The connection that they had was more than feelings. It wasn't just a let's love and live our life together situation. It was a let's grow and build something together relationship.

Just because they step out of the friend zone didn't mean that things had to change drastically. They were already best friends, had seen each other at their worse and best. They could be together and still help each other grow. If they were intentional, they could have a healthy relationship.

Denise came to the realization that she was putting too much pressure on herself. She wasn't going to be perfect, and neither was Mark.

They were always going to be areas that he was stronger in, and she needed a little help in and vice versa.

As long as they were both willing to put in the work, they could make it.

Denise grabs her phone and carefully sits up, so she won't wake Rex. She pushes the power button to check the time.

It was a little over one in the morning, and Mark hadn't come to bed yet.

Taking a break from the city, they had been camping out in Morris, Pennsylvania, for the past few days.

After climbing out of bed, she puts on sneakers and goes to the front seat. Pulling back the passenger seat window curtain, she sees Mark sitting in a folding chair in front of a lit fire pit.

He contently, but thoughtfully stared at the fiery flames.

Denise shook her head at herself; she had done a lot of dumb things in her life. But she'd be the biggest dumbass in the world to let a man like Mark go.

He'd been so patient, letting her figure out if she wanted to take their relationship to the next level. He confessed his love, expecting nothing in return. Just making sure that she knew that she was loved was good enough for him.

Leaving the front seat, she slides open the side door waking Rex. When the pup realizes she's only going outside, he lays back down and goes back to sleep.

Mark looks to see Denise stepping out of the van, "what are you doing up?"

"I never went to sleep," she sighed, walking over. "Thinking too much."

"Yeah, me too," he nodded. "A got good news, though."

"Yeah?" Denise crosses her arms over her chest.

"Guess who hit one million subscribers?"

"What? You're kidding," she was in disbelief. "We haven't even been YouTubers for a year."

"I know," Mark was in disbelief himself. "I can't believe it. We're really reaching people; it's surreal."

"Yeah," Denise chuckled softly.

Silence fell over the two as they thought about how far they've come.

Mark went from an ex-con living a dull and lonely life, to an inspiring person who didn't let injustice keep him from living his life.

Denise went from being a bitter, angry girl, who used men to avoid her demons to a woman who found her worth and is facing her demons every day in front of the world.

They went from strangers to friends and now lovers.

Their lives were changing fast, and if they didn't move, they would be left behind.

"So," Denise looks at him.

Mark looks up at her attentively.

Melting under his gaze, she lets out a helpless sigh, "I'm in love with you, Mark."

A wide smile spreads across his face, causing Denise to roll her eyes and put her hands over her face.

"Please, don't make this weird," she covers her face shyly.

Usually, Mark was the shyer, reserved one while she was bold. But when it came to each other, the roles reversed.

Mark made her feel like she was in a fairytale as cliche as it sounded. Then again, their love story was a unique fairytale of its own.

"Come here," Mark holds his hand to her.

Gazing into his eyes, Denise takes his hand as he guides her on to his lap.

As Mark puts his arm around her waist, she gulps, their faces barely inches apart. "So, is this the part when you ask me to be your girlfriend?"

Mark chuckles before getting serious.

"I need you to know that my mind is made up, and nothing is going to change how I feel about you. I would have never told you how I felt if I wasn't willing to go full throttle. You're right, just because we love each other doesn't mean we have to be together. But if you're not sure -"

"Hey," Denise caresses his face, "I'm more sure than I've been about anything in my life."

She presses her lips against Mark's, the two sharing their first kiss away from all distractions. Just them, the stars, and a warm fire.

Mark tightens his grip around her. Denise naturally falls into his embrace as they explored each other's lips softly yet smoothly.

Mark pulled away first, slowly. He leaned his forehead against hers. "I was going to do that first."

"Gotta be a little quicker than that," Denise shrugged playfully.

"Say less," Mark abruptly kisses her.

Laughing against his lips, Denise falls into his rhythm.

The sparks that she felt was unlike anything she had ever experienced. She knew, in her heart, that she was right where she was supposed to be.

They both did.

Getting a sudden thought, Denise pulls out of the kiss, "Mark, we have one million subscribers who think we're just friends or lying about it."

"You're right," Mark looked away, thoughtfully.

"Look, I love doing this YouTube thing," Denise was honest. "But I don't want our relationship monetized. Or put in front of the world to judge or be in our business. Especially since we've only been together for about five minutes."

"I couldn't agree more," Mark was on board.

YouTube could get really toxic, especially when it came to couples and family channels.

It wouldn't be smart to put social media pressures on the early stages of their relationship.

They wanted to enjoy each other without the opinions of the world.

"But that means we have to be careful in public. A fan could roll up on us at any minute, and if you're seen being handsy, we're outed just like that," Denise snapped.

"Me? Handsy?" Mark scoffed.

"Well, I mean," Denise points to his hands. One was holding on to her waist while the other laid comfortably on her upper thigh. "Not that I'm complaining," she intertwines her fingers with his.

Mark smiles at her and leans in for a kiss.

"And," she puts a finger to his lips, "you gotta stop making googly eyes at me in our videos."

"Kinda hard to do when you're so beautiful."

Denise rolls her eyes, flustered. "Well, we can always edit the videos."

"Exactly," Mark nodded. "But don't worry," he kisses her hand, "we got this."

"Yeah, we do," Denise agreed with a smile.

She wraps her arms around his neck as they share a kiss.

****

I did not plan on finishing or publishing this at three in the morning but here we are! I hope you guys enjoyed! We are definitely entering a new era of the book. 

This book was going to be a divided into two, but I decided to just keep it all in one. So the story is not ending ANYTIME SOON.

As always, thank you guys so much for reading.

I already have started the next chapter, so it should be up, hopefully along with a few others, soon.

Love ya!