“Mmm, good morning.” She said, smiling. She propped herself up with her elbow allowed herself to drink in the handsome look on Taylor’s face.
“You’re in a good mood this morning.” Taylor noted. Simone let a short amount of worry come over her, but she thought quickly.
“Why shouldn’t I be? I mean, come on, I’m waking up beside the person I love most in the world. Isn’t that reason enough to be in a good mood?” she asked him. He smiled. She returned his smile with her ever-so seductive look. Taylor knew what that smile meant.
***
Simone thought that she was over what had happened the previous night. However, when she went downstairs to get something to eat for breakfast and she saw Zac in the kitchen, fluttering butterflies raced through her entire body. He was standing in front of the refrigerator looking for something to eat. She had already gotten a bowl and poured cereal into it. She went to the fridge to get the milk.
“Pardon me.” She said as she reached around Zac to get the milk. Their eyes met and she flashed him a reassuring smile. She couldn’t help but smile. Thinking back on the whole situation, she knew it was wrong. He knew it was wrong. But neither of them did anything to stop it. She also couldn’t help but want it again. Even though she knew it was wrong, and that she felt that she didn’t want it when she was with Taylor earlier that morning, she couldn’t help but feel extremely attracted to Zac.
“So, how was your night last night?” Zac asked Taylor as he eventually meandered his way into the kitchen.
“It was good,” Taylor said, taking a seat next to Simone at the breakfast nook, “but it would’ve been better if you could’ve come with me.” He finished his sentence with a loving touch and stroke to Simone’s arm. She smiled. “How was yours? Do anything with Angela?”
“Nah, I stayed home last night...” Zac trailed off.
“Hey, if you don’t mind me asking ... have you ever, ya know, gotten lucky yet?” Taylor came out of nowhere with the question. He knew that Zac had been thinking about trying it with Angela and he was just curious.
“Yeah, I guess you can say that.” Zac replied, an amused look on his face. Simone could feel her cheeks flush and darken. She took a sip of her morning tea and didn’t say anything in response.
“Way to go, little brother!” Taylor congratulated him, giving him a low kind of high-five. Zac smiled, but looked ashamed at the same time and let his eyes sweep over to Simone. She was busy not paying attention to him. She knew that if she would look at Zac, the look on her face would give everything away.
Taylor changed the subject. “Hun, when are we going to set a date for the wedding?” he asked Simone. She thought for a moment, glanced wearily over at Zac, then focused her attention to Taylor again. She took a deep breath.
She knew that it was Taylor that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. He made her happy without even having to try. He was the first person that loved her, and that she loved. It seemed like a fairy tale ... marrying her first love.
“We can talk about it today over lunch.” Simone finally concluded, making eye contact with Zac, for what seemed to be the millionth time that morning. Zac nodded, knowing what her eyes were saying. She was pleading with him, trying to make him understand that it was Taylor that she in love with, not him. He seemed a little disappointed and stood up to leave.
“Ang and I have plans to go bike riding on the trails near the river today and we’re leaving soon. She told me to invite you guys to come along, but since you’re going to be discussing such important matters at lunch today, then I guess that I shouldn’t really invite you now.” Zac said.
“Actually,” Taylor said, giving Simone a skeptical look, “whaddya say? Wanna give the trails by the river a go?”
“But like Zac said, they’re leaving soon and I don’t want to keep them waiting. I still have to shower, and everything.” Simone thought quickly. She did not want to spend the whole day with Zac and Angela. She would feel so incredibly guilty about the previous night.
“Oh, don’t make excuses. I’m sure Zac and Ang wouldn’t mind waiting a few extra minutes for us, would ya? I don’t think you could handle the trails...”
“Oh, you don’t, do you?” Simone challenged. Taylor shook his head. “We’re going.”
***
Since Simone didn’t have a bike with her at the Hanson’s, she had to use Isaac’s. She didn’t really mind, but she wasn’t exactly comfortable on a bike that she was never on before. However, even though she was having some difficulty with the bike and adjusting the seat and handle bars, she ended up passing Taylor up, winning the challenge he had proposed earlier.
“You’re such a loser.” Taylor said in gasping breaths as he reached the top of the hill at the end of the 23 mile long trail.
“But who’s the one huffing and puffing?” Simone asked, kidding him. She took her helmet off and let the fresh warm spring air blow through her hair. She loved the way that it felt to be outside and to know that she was doing something good for her body and mind. Hearing the birds, smelling the fresh air, and seeing life coming back to the trees made her unexpectedly happy.
The scene set itself out pretty naturally. In front of them was the river. This section of the river seemed more like a little wading pool, which had a small, yet big enough to stand under, waterfall, with trees enclosing it, making it seem like a secret hide-away. The noon sun began shining its rays down on the four at full blast. It was hot.
“Oh my gosh!” exclaimed Angela. She took her helmet off and fanned herself with it. “I didn’t think it was going to be this hot outside today!”
“Neither did I.” Simone chimed in, sliding the sleeves of her sweatshirt up over her elbows. She looked back at Taylor and Zac, who had become unusually quiet. “What are the two of you up to?”
“Who? Us?” asked Zac innocently. Simone secretly noted to herself that Zac looked really gorgeous and hot in a mature way when he was trying to play the little-innocent-boy act.
“What would make you think that we’re up to anything?” Taylor asked inquisitively. Simone shrugged her shoulders and turned back to drink in the beautiful waterfall.
Then, both her and Angela were shrieking. Shrieks of surprise, but more of excitement. They both knew what was going to happen, and they were begging for Zac and Taylor to stop. They didn’t stop.
Splash, splash.
“You bastards!” Angela shouted when she surfaced from under the water. The look on her face showed that she wasn’t angry or upset at them. Both her and Simone laughed.
“Cannonball!!!” Zac shouted as he threw his shirt off to the side right before he jumped into the water, doing his perfect cannonball, sending waves of the once calm water all over Angela and Simone. He came up laughing and all three of them began a huge water battle.
“Look out below.” Taylor yelled from a nearby tree branch. They all looked up at him and watched him dive into the water. Not seeing him come to the surface for at least 2 minutes, Simone began to worry.
“Omigod,” she thought to herself, “what if he banged his head on bottom??”
Something grabbed her leg under the water and she screamed. Taylor slowly stood up and let his hands slowly caress over Simone’s body. She couldn’t help but smile, yet she was pissed at him at the same time.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.” She whispered. He smiled, then kissed her. She allowed for just one short kiss because she didn’t exactly feel comfortable kissing him with Zac being so close. She could hear him and Angela talking nearby, but her back was to them. Under the water, Taylor’s hands still continued to trace her body, pulling her closer. She tried her best to push him away. She didn’t want to tell him that she felt uncomfortable, but she didn’t know how else to keep him under control. She looked over her shoulder to see Zac and Ang, who had become quiet. She didn’t see them anywhere.
“Where’s -- ” she started to ask. Taylor brought his finger to her lips to quiet her. Then he pointed to the waterfall. Simone followed the direction of his point. There they were, behind the waterfall. She could faintly make out their outlines; they were standing so so close together. She couldn’t help but stare for a few seconds. They were being tremendously intimate, kissing each other so intensely, not caring that Taylor and Simone would probably see them. Simone felt a little jealously race through her veins, which exited her as quickly as it entered. Taylor started again, this time though, he reached down to unbutton her jeans and she didn’t stop him.
“Don’t you think it would be wild in water?” Taylor asked her just as their lips were about to touch. She only smiled in response, knowing that he already knew what her answer to the question was. They backed far away from the waterfall, into a little corner, which seemed even more secluded than the entire section was.
Knowing that what was about to happen between the two of them was probably happening with Zac and Angela at the same exact time, Simone allowed it. Even though there was no protection, she didn’t care. She even felt sort of ashamed for thinking about Zac a little bit while it happened. She should feel ashamed. Thinking of Zac while making love to her fiancée was horrible.
Taylor was able to bring her thoughts back to him though. He knew exactly what to do to make it extraordinarily erotic. Their lips met and their kisses ignited the fire that burned inside the both of them. After the “in the water” episode, Simone knew that she could not allow anything else to happen ever again with Zac. It was Taylor she loved, Taylor she was going to marry, Taylor she wanted, and Taylor she needed to make her life complete.