Xander slowly peeled herself off of the keyboard, which up until that time had served as a rather comfortable pillow. She couldn’t believe she had fallen asleep again, third time this week. She had just been so tired lately, and even when she did get home and crawled into bed, it was impossible for her to sleep. They had been together for almost two years now and she still wasn’t used to sleeping without him when he was away; which happened more often than not. But, she had excepted that small inconvenience when they began dating. Traveling was just a part of who he was, and she loved everything about him, even the annoying stuff like his constant absence.
He did make up for it though, he was an incredible person, calling as often as he could and sending out their secret signal to say I love you whenever he could catch everyone else off guard. But this time was different, his job managed pull him over seas this time, Hong Kong or some place, she couldn’t even remember now it had been so long since she had talked to or even seen him. But, Xander refused to let herself dwell on the slowly passing time and distance between them and completely submersed herself in her job, her passion, her non-living baby, and her magazine.
She had come so far in the past four years. Her best friends, now known as the nationwide pop group Jurni, had truly hit it big and she had gotten her brain child off the ground and soaring at an unbelievable pace. Her magazine, although independently ran, was greatly embraced by the Music Television generation. They had their own building and she had her own office, which lately had become her home away from home.
The glow from the computer made Xander squint and the letters smashed together into one blurry image, giving her a headache. She reached over to turnoff the computer and began gathering her papers and notebooks together, As she reached for a piece of paper that had slipped in between her desk and a cabinet, her arm knocked one of her many picture frames off her desk and sent it crashing to the floor. As she bent over to pick it up she recognized that it was her favorite picture of the two of them.
It had been one of those rare nights that they were able to stay home together and just enjoy one another. He had a small break in between shows and Jurni had taken time off to tape their video, so she wasn’t very surprised to see the whole gang standing on her doorstep, just when they had gotten comfortable on the couch and were getting ready to watch a movie. It was the usual scene, Destini and Justin joined at the hip, JC and Risse,… well being themselves, Jen and Joey too busying goofing off and causing trouble to even notice that Chris wasn’t there; he must have taken this time to spend it with Dani at her parent’s house.
After making their way through the doorway, not stopping to ask permission or even ask if she was busy, they bombarded their way to the kitchen and eventually made their way back to the living room where he and Xander had originally made plans to, well, you know.
Although, their little date had been intruded upon, it was definitely shortly forgotten, in the mist of arguing over which game to play and who was on whose teams Xander managed to crawl back up on the couch and right back into his arms, where she felt so safe. She wasn’t really sure how the rest of the night went, because the next thing she knew he was quietly waking her up to tell her to come to bed, and the house was once again quiet, with everyone sprawled out in the living room.
A few days later, Destini came over with a little present for her, apparently she wasn’t the only one who had fallen asleep that night. While they were sleeping, the girls decided to get a camera and take a picture of them peacefully sleeping entwined in one another’s arms on the couch, oblivious to what was going on around them.
It was the sweetest picture Xander had ever seen and immediately had it framed and placed it on her desk amongst all of her other prized possessions. It seemed whenever she missed him the most, she would reach for that picture and it calmed her heart and soul.
A car alarm going off across the street yanked Xander from her daze, and she continued to gather her things and put them in her bag. She sluggishly made her way out of her office and when she stepped into the hallway she was greeted by nothing but defining silence and the faint glow of the street light shining through the window. She shoved her hand deep into her coat pocket to get her keys, and when she managed to pull them out, a small piece of paper drifted lazily to the floor.
“Damn!” Xander whispered loudly as she bent over to blindly search for the scrap of paper. After searching on her hands and knees for about five minutes, she finally found it, under her own knee! She quietly chuckled to herself and shook her head as she climbed back to her feet and quickly locked the door behind her. Then she made her way to the elevator and down to the parking lot.
While she was waiting to reach the ground floor, she realized she still had that stupid piece of paper in her hand. Using the small light in the elevator, she slowly uncrumbled the paper. Moving as close as she could to the small lamp in order to read the almost ineligible writing, she suddenly remembered what it was.
It was a note he had placed in her pocket one morning before she left for the office. She had been having such a horrible week, people at the office and dealing with an asshole who worked for a tabloid. He always managed to give her a hard time, whether it was about dating Lance, or being best friends with Jurni, or even her magazine. He never gave up. But when she had gotten to work and was searching her pockets for her keys to open her door, she found the note, which read...
“Hi babe, its me…I just want you to know that I love you more than anything in this world and when you feel like your world is crashing down around you, I want you to know that I will always be here for you, to make you smile and kiss away your tears…Love, Me"
Finding the note in the most ironic, yet comforting way, made the tears Xander had been trying to suppress for so long, well up in her eyes and eventually flow freely down her cheeks. As the elevator door opened and she made her way out the front door the of the building a strong gust of warm wind blew through her and then it began to rain.
It rained like it hadn’t rained in decades, soaking Xander to the bone in a matter of seconds. Seeing as how it made no difference now how fast she ran to her car, she decided she would enjoy this strange, yet amazingly wonderful winter rain. By the time she made it to her car, she was so cold, her insides shivered, but she didn’t mind, it was as if there was nothing in the world right then, but her.
The drive home went quickly, almost as if she closed her eyes for a split second and she was already pulling up into the driveway. As she pulled her car into garage she could swear she show a glimpse of light coming from inside. “I must really be tired, now I’m starting to see things”, she thought to herself.
Although it wasn’t the first time she had thought he was home, she was constantly wishing for him to be home so much that sometimes her eyes played tricks on her and she would see a light on or his shadow, or something. But it was always the same, she would put the key in the lock, (the very key that had been placed in a velvet box when he asked her to move in with him nearly a year ago), and she would open the door to see that everything was the way she left it the morning before, quiet and deserted. So as she climbed the steps to the front door, she pushed every thought of him out of her mind. She was so tired of wishing to see him and her wishes burning out on every star she wished it upon.
But, this time was different, as she went to place her key in the door, it opened. She could have sworn she locked it that morning when she left, but she guessed in her rush she forgot. Suddenly she became panicked and wondered if anyone had tried to come into the house while she was gone. Slowly she opened the door and every fear of an estranged intruder left her mind as she stepped through the doorway.
The lights were out, but the house maintained an amazing glow, there were candles everywhere! It was so beautiful, she was completely aw struck as she placed her bag down and took off her jacket. As she began to smooth out her long brown hair, which was still soaked from the rain, she made her way up the stairs and prayed to the gods that she wasn’t still sleeping and this all wasn’t a hallucination from a lack of sleep.
When she reached her room, she noticed that the door was almost completely closed, as she stepped forward she was in no way prepared to witness what she was about to see. Again, there were candles strewn about everywhere and there was a soft smell of incense floating in the room. The doors to the balcony were standing open and a soft breeze from the rain blew through the room, causing the sheer curtains to shift slightly and the candles to flicker and almost go out. As she was standing there, amazed at the entire spectacle and still trying to figure out if she was still dreaming, she didn’t hear Lance come in behind her.
He had been lurking in the shadows from the time she first stepped in the house until now. He loved watching her face go from fear to relief to confusion and now finally fear again, that this truly was a dream and she would soon wake up and her life would again be lonely and stagnant.
He slowly crept over to her and placed his arms around her waist and gently squeezed, loving the way it felt to have her back in his arms again. Xander jumped as she felt his arms slide around her waist, and then melted completely into him as she realized that he really was there. She turned herself around in his arms and looked him in the eyes, those gorgeous, mysterious eyes that she had wanted to look into for so long.
She soon became overwhelmed with emotion and a single tear slid down her face and onto her chest. She wanted to say so much to him, how she had missed him so and how she never wanted to let him go again. But before she could form the words he placed a finger on her lips motioning to her to remain silent and enjoy the night.
With that, he bent his head down and kissed her chest where the tear had made its way to. Slowly, he traced the trail the tear had made up her face with his lips, ever so softly grazing her eyelids. He placed a kiss on the other eyelid, on her nose and then her lips. First softly pecking, and gradually growing more passionate, eventually parting her lips with his tongue and exploring her mouth. She groaned in pleasure, relief, and release as she felt his hands softly roam over her body, removing her shirt and unclasping her bra.
He pulled away from her to gaze at her body, reveling in the moment he had dreamt about while he was gone. Almost instinctively he placed his hands on her breasts and rubbed them gently as he delicately kissed her neck and earlobe. Gradually, he kissed his way down her throat and took her nipple in his mouth, playfully licking and sucking. Pleasure shot through Xander like electricity as he made he way to the other breast, paying just as much attention and affection as the previous.
Then he got on his knees and kissed down her stomach and stopped to place his head on her navel and rub her back with his hands. Xander placed her hands on his head and softly ran her fingers through his hair as he continued on his quest.
Gently, but forcefully, he removed her long denim skirt and sheer cheetah panties. He smiled to himself as he remembered how different Xander liked to think of herself when it came to wardrobe. After he had placed soft wet kisses over her entire body he slowly pulled her down to meet him on the floor.
She quickly took lead and tore his soft gray sweater from his body. She licked and kissed and playfully bit at his chest and reviled at his reaction of pleasure and desperation. After removing his pants she ran her hands all over his body, softly scraping her nails down his chest and along his inner thighs. By this time, it was physically apparent that he wanted her and he couldn’t take this torture any longer.
He gently rolled Xander over on her back and continued to passionately kiss her, he pulled away and looked deep into her green eyes, she knew what he was waiting for her nod of approval, so he could fill her completely. She slowly nodded, not for one moment taking her eyes off of his, he gently spread her legs for easier access. With one smooth movement he was in her, and he began to move his hips in a slow and passionate rhythm.
Xander bit down on her lip as pleasure and pain mixed into one life altering emotion, she slowly began to respond to his movement by joining him and matching his every thrust. He gently kissed her forehead and picked up his pace, seeing that neither of them could hold on for much longer. In a matter of moments an electric charge pulsed through their bodies shooting them far into outer space, where they were able to touch the stars.
Completely exhausted they collapsed together, their hearts beating in time with one another and their breathing becoming more and more normal. Slowly, Xander turned to her side and Lance wrapped his arms around her and they melted into one another. Xander still couldn’t believe he was actually there, but she wasn’t about to ruin it and wake up to find that maybe it really was just a dream. All she knew was that for the first time in a long time, she was finally able to sleep surrounded by nothing but him, nothing and no one else existed that night, only her and the man who haunted her nights and her days.