CHAPTER 18
By the time they had got back to the dock, they were both drenched with the rain and sea spray that had washed over the front of the boat. Brian had asked Skye to get the blanket to put over her, trying to keep her a little drier, but she refused to budge from her seat. He saw the relief in her eyes when they docked, and he said a silent thank you that he had gotten them both back without any major incidents. He had been in worse conditions before, these not being too bad yet, but those times he didn’t have someone with him who was scared of the ocean and what it could do to you.
The storm front was moving closer, and Brian wanted to get her home before it hit. It looked like a wild one judging by the sky in the distant, and it could come at anytime. He still guessed he had maybe 45 minutes before it reached which was ample time to get back home. “Skye. We’re here. Come on,” he said to her, urging her up. The rain was still falling on them and he had to get her out.
She stood up slowly and looked up at him. Her hair was plastered to her head, the water running down her face, but she still looked beautiful to him. “Thank you Brian.”
“Don’t thank me now. Lets get out of the rain. Come on,” he said guiding her to the edge of the boat so they could climb on to the dock, no easy task with the boat swaying from side to side in the swell. He led her to the car and helped her in, laying the blanket over her to try and warm her up. She was acting almost like she was in shock and it was scaring him.
He raced over to the boathouse and finished all the required paperwork before racing back to his car and climbing in. In that short space of time she had fallen asleep and for now Brian thought that was the best thing for her. He turned the car on and manoeuvred it out of the parking space, heading it towards home.
Once they had got there, she was still asleep. He had no key to her house and the house was in darkness, so he guessed Jay wasn’t home. He would have to either wake her or take her to his house. He looked down at her, and thought of the two of them in his house, snuggled up away from the wild summer storm and that held more appeal than waking her and leaving her at her house, so he continued past her house and on to his own.
As he tried to get her out of the car, she stirred only slightly, staying asleep as he lifted her into his arms and carried her in. Where would he lay her for now? The lounge would be the safest place, both for her and for himself as well. If he saw her lying in his bed, he didn’t know what it would do to his sanity.
She needed to have some dry clothes, so he went into his room to gather up some sweat pants and a t-shirt. They would be too big on her, but it was all he had for now. He took a set of clothes out for himself too.
“How did it go? I have been so worried watching that storm front arriving.” True concern laced the grand mothers voice and Brian imagined her standing by the window, wringing her hands together with worry as she watched the skies. He felt sympathy for her.
“It’s okay. We survived. It was a wonderful day, all your suggestions a huge hit with her.” He chuckled at her reaction to all the things he had planned for her. He started to change out of the wet clothes, hoping prying eyes wouldn’t watch. He would never know anyway. “She showed me her special cave…”
“Really?” she interrupted. “She would let no one in there with her. She always called it her special place,” she told him and Brian smiled at that piece of information.
“Yes, but she noticed the waves in the cave getting wilder and we came out to find the storm fast approaching. We had to get out of there quick and her fear returned. Luckily we got back without any major incident. But she’s scaring me now. It’s like she is in shock or something.”
“Give her time. Let her sleep for now. It’s probably for the best. She will trust you now.”
“Yes.” Brian looked out the door towards her sleeping form on the lounge. “She should. Nothing went wrong, and I let nothing happen to her.”
“But did you kiss her?” came the mischievous question. Brian grinned but didn’t answer. “You did, didn’t you? Oh that’s wonderful.” Her voice was full of glee.
“Yes, I did. And I think she liked it.”
He heard a soft sigh, one you might make if you were happy with something and he smiled again. It didn’t take much to make this ghost happy.
“Brian?” he heard Skye calling. He hadn’t heard her waking. “Are you talking to someone?”
“I’ll be there in a minute Skye.” He turned to no one in particular. “You are going to get me in trouble one day,” he said and left the room carrying dry clothes for Skye. “You’re awake. You had me worried.”
Skye looked embarrassed. “I guess that storm was just a little more than I could take. I’m sorry Brian, you were so wonderful today. Thank you for making me face my fears.”
Brian sat down next to Skye and lifted his hand to her face, his fingers tracing down her cheek softly. “It was my pleasure Skye.” He continued to gaze at her until he saw her shiver. “Here, I brought you some dry clothes. They’ll be too big, but they are dry and warm. You can take a shower if you like.”
“I think I might do that,” she said taking the clothes.
“Good. I’ll make dinner while you dry off. Being out on the ocean sure gives you an appetite.”
************
“Look at them, we have to do something,” the grandmothers ghost said to the grandfather.
“What do you want to do? What are you scheming?” he asked, amusement in his voice. He knew what a romantic his wife had been when she was alive. He doubted she would stop now.
“Nothing sinister my dear, just give them a little push along. I mean look at them. You can practically see the sparks flying between then, but what are they doing? Cooking dinner, with a little touch of the hands here, a gaze into each others eyes there. They need to kiss each other. Then the sparks will fly within them. They won’t be able to resist one another.”
The man chuckled. “You’ll never change will you? What do you plan to do?
“Leave it to me,” she said secretly. “Just leave it to me.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of my dear.”
**********
“This is delicious Brian, you are a great cook.” Skye said taking another mouthful of the spaghetti bolognaise he had cooked while she had showered. She had returned to help him with a salad as the meat and pasta cooked, a comfortable companionship settling between them.
He shrugged. “One of the few things I can cook. Something easy when I am in a hurry.” He leaned back in his chair and lifted the glass of red wine to his lips. His eyes never left hers while he took a sip of the red liquid and she held his gaze. He looked away for a moment out the window at the heavy rain then back at Skye, whose eyes had not left him. “Doesn’t look like it would be wise to go anywhere for a while. How about we watch a movie. I noticed Daniel has quite a collection here.”
“Oh what does he have? Can I choose?” Skye asked him.
Brian merely shrugged. He didn’t care what they watched so long as he got to watch it with her, preferably sitting closely, his arms around her. “Sure you can pick.”
Skye jumped up and went to the video cabinet. “Oooh a DVD player, even better. Lets see. What do we have?”
Skye looked through the DVD collection as Brian began to clear the table, his eyes barely leaving her as she sat on the living room floor. “Make sure it is a romantic movie,” was whispered in his ear. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was or that he wouldn’t see her.
She sat cross-legged on the floor near the TV flipping through the DVD covers, stopping to read one every now and then. Wearing his clothes that were slightly too big for her made him grin to himself. How many times had he said in his personality profiles for the teen magazines that he really liked it when a woman wore his clothes? And here she was. Sitting there in his clothes, the rain falling heavily on the window in front of her, the soft light glowing on her, and she was a vision of loveliness. She tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear and concentrated on a DVD she had found. He felt his body react as he watched her, knowing it wasn’t a good idea right now. He forced his gaze away, giving the task of loading the dishwasher his undivided attention.
“You want her don’t you?” the whispered voice spoke. He looked up to see if Skye had heard it but she sat oblivious to it. “She can’t hear me. Come on Brian admit it. You want to kiss her.”
“I might,” he conceded. “But I will not rush things.” He snapped the door of the dishwasher closed and turned around. “Please don’t give me any advise tonight. Every time you’ve tried to encourage us along, you’ve only confused us. Please let us try on our own for once.”
“We have to do what we have to do,” she said. “But I won’t talk to you tonight. She’s all yours.”
Brian knew there was no point in arguing the point because he sensed she was gone. He signed again. This was no ordinary courtship.
**********
As Skye flipped through Daniels DVD collection she came across the perfect movie for them to watch. ‘While You Were Sleeping’ was not only one of her favourite romance movies, something she longed to share with Brian, but it also conjured up some mighty freaky thoughts. ‘While You Were Sleeping’ told the story of how a woman fell in love while another character was sleeping. While it wasn’t the same as her and Brian’s situation, it was while she was sleeping she was sure she had fallen in love with Brian. Now she knew him in the normal waking world she was doing everything to reaffirm her belief. She was in love with Brian. It was a scary thought as well as exhilarating.
“Did you find something?” Brian asked squatting down beside her.
“Well, I found a few,” she said, “but this is the one I would like to see,” she said holding up the movie she had chosen. She saw Brian look at the cover, a strange look coming over his face. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” he said a little breathlessly. He took the DVD off Skye and placed it in the machine, making a production of it. The same thoughts that had gone through Skye’s mind were now going through Brian’s. He didn’t have to think twice about whether he was in love with Skye. He knew it without a doubt.
Skye got up and walked towards the lounge. Thunder rumbled in the distance and she stiffened. Brian walked up beside her noticing her unease. “Are you okay?”
She shrugged her shoulders, her eyes shooting to the window. “I don’t like storms much.”
Brian guided her to the lounge and pulled her down next to him. “Don’t worry, I’ll be your knight in shining armour.” He smiled at her trying to calm her down. “Come on, Let’s watch the movie. We’ll forget about the storm.”
They both sat and Brian pressed the remote control to start the movie. Soon they were both absorbed in the movie, the storm forgotten. Brian’s arm was around Skye’s shoulder her body pressed up against his, her head leaning into his shoulder. Brian would have been happy to stay there forever. Everything was so simple when he was with her. None of the pressures of his life existed.
The end of the movie when Jack asked Lucy to marry him, then went into her booth to kiss her, Brian looked down at Skye. He wanted to kiss her, more than anything and searched for any sign in her eyes that told him she wanted the same, or didn’t. All he saw in her hooded gaze was longing.
Brian’s lips moved closer to Skye's, her breath on his face warm and sweet. His fingers wound through her hair pulling her close. Her tongue came out and he moaned, pushing him over the edge. He crashed his lips down on hers, pulling her body close at the same time. All thought left his mind at that moment, the warmth of her soft lips on his spinning his mind out of control.
Lightening struck and thunder clapped at the same time, making them jump apart suddenly. Skye’s heartbeat was racing, but she didn’t know if it had been the scare of the thunder or Brian’s kiss. Still they didn’t have the chance to deepen the kiss any further and it was frustrating.
“Sounds like that storm is pretty close,” Brian said in a husky voice. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so.” She looked around, noticing the curtains moving in at the sliding door. She frowned. “Brian is the window open? The curtains are blowing there.”
“I don’t think so. Let me look.” Brian made to move and Skye grasped his arm. “It’s okay. Look, it’s not moving now.
She relaxed and lay back into his arms. “Why did it move like that?”
“I don’t know, the door is closed, I know that for sure.” Just as he said that a gust of cold air past by them both and whether or not the strange night was playing tricks on them or not, they thought they saw something moving around from their left to their right. Skye clutched on to Brian even tighter.
“Did you see that?” She squeaked out, fear evident in her voice. Her eyes squeezed shut tightly.
“Yes I did.” It seemed odd. Brian wondered what on earth it was he had seen and began to wonder if maybe it was something to do with his ghostly visitor. If it was he would be having a few words to her. “It’s okay Skye. I won’t let anything happen to you.” This felt like déjà vu. He was always telling her that. The TV played the sports news in the background, but all Brian worried about now was settling Skye down.
She looked up at him, trust shining from her eyes. Right at that moment a clap of thunder crashed again and the lights dimmed then died. In that brief moment he saw the fear in her eyes. He had no idea she was so scared of storms. She nearly jumped into his lap, not at all a bad idea he thought.
“Shhh Skye, it’s okay. Calm down. It’s just a storm.” His fingers were stroking her hair soothingly. Her breathing slowed and she relaxed into his body again. Her body pressed up against him so intimately was driving him insane. He reached down and lifted her face with a finger under her chin. “I’ll look after you,” he said to her before lowering his lips to hers and sliding them across hers.
Skye sighed, instantly forgetting the storm raging outside. Hesitantly he parted his lips and slid his tongue out to taste her bottom lip. A mixture of a moan and a whimper escaped Skye as she slowly met his tongue with hers. Sparks flew in his head and clichés of fireworks and stars crossed his mind. He wanted her with him forever. He wanted to keep kissing her. His tongue plunged into her mouth, searching, tasting. Their hands roamed over the other’s body, holding each other as closely as possible.
Skye’s mind spun out of control like Brian’s. The moment his tongue had slid across her bottom lip she forgot everything else around them. Her world existed of her and Brian only. She couldn’t get enough of him, her fingers tangling in his hair. As their tongues met nothing else mattered.
In the corner two spirits whispered to one another.
“You did well my dear. Poor Skye was a bit frightened though.”
“But look at the result. That’s the sort of kiss only people who really care about each other would share. I said all they needed was to kiss. It will only be a matter of time now. They will admit they are in love with each other and our job will be done. We will finally be free to join the after world.” They took each other’s ghostly hands and floated away, leaving Brian and Skye to continue to explore their newfound feelings.
Chapter 19
Index
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