A North Carolina Autumn - Chapter 33: Chapter 33

9:00am comes way too quickly, but the moment I remember what day it is, I'm wide awake. I roll over with a happy stretch, but stop in my tracks when I don't see Rylie in the bed next to me. I sit up quickly as I glance around the room.
"Ry?" I call out slightly anxiously. A moment later, her head peeks out from the bathroom.
"Yes?" Her eyebrows draw in concern as she takes in my face. "You okay?"
"Yes," I reply with relief. "I just..." I didn't know why I'd been so worried.
"Hey," Rylie joins me back in the bed, pulling me into her arms. "What's wrong?" She asks softly.
"I don't know..." But then, I remember my dream. It was another coma dream, and in this one, Rylie didn't wake up. "It was a dream." I finally say, and understanding dawns on Rylie's face.
"A coma dream?" She asks, and I nod. "Damn. I wish your subconscious would get the hint that I'm awake and not going anywhere." Rylie teases gently.
"Me too." I reply with a little laugh. "I didn't even remember the dream at first though, only the awful feelings from it. And then I didn't see you..." I trail off. I felt stupid for letting this get to me.
"Hey, stop that. I know what you're thinking right now, and it's not fair to yourself." Rylie's words are firm but still gentle. "We talked about this back when everything happened with Gabe's attack. Dream feelings are always valid, even if they don't always make sense. We also talked about how, for whatever reason, your dream feelings seem to have a longer and stronger lasting effect."
I swallow the lump of emotion as Rylie speaks. How did she just always know? "Thank you." I say softly. "You always know how to make me see reason."
"I also know when you beat yourself up for things you shouldn't, but I want you to know that feeling these things is okay. And hey," She gently lifts my chin until my eyes meet hers. "I'm okay. I'm awake. And I'm not leaving you, ever." She kisses me softly, transferring reassurance and love to me through the gentle movements of her lips.
"I love you, Ry." I say after a long moment. Then, I draw my eyebrows together. "Wait, why are you even awake already?" I ask with a laugh.
"Oh, I couldn't sleep past 8:00am!" She grins. "So I got up, got ready, and got us breakfast!"
I suddenly notice the plates of food on the table. "Why are you simply the best?" I ask before kissing her again.
"I don't know, just another great thing about me!" She teases before hopping up. She looks adorable in her grey romper and vans. Her hair is down in loose curls, and she tied a matching grey bandana in her hair to keep it somewhat pulled back from her face.
"There are so many great things about you, one of them being how hot you look in that outfit." I tell her as I slip out from under the covers. I grab an oversized t-shirt from my suitcase and throw it on before kissing her and grabbing a Danish from one of the plates. "Thank you for grabbing food. I'm starving after last night." I grin.
"We did work up quite the appetite, didn't we?" Rylie's grin matches my own. "What time do we need to scratch the shuttle?"
"Just before 10:00 am. We have plenty of time."
"Plenty, huh?" Rylie smirks, moving closer to me.
"Not enough for that." I reply, backing up. "Unfortunately." I add quickly.
"Unfortunately indeed..." Rylie murmurs as she reaches me. My heels hit the wall the moment her lips land on my neck, and I nearly drop the Danish in my hand as her fingers slide under the t-shirt to my bare stomach.
"Ry..." My voice is unsteady, and the word comes out shaky.
"Shh, baby. Let me love you." Her breath tickles my neck and I have half a mind to drop the Danish back to the plate before pulling Rylie's hips to mine.
"Fuck..." I whisper as her fingers slide between my legs. She moves her lips to mine and kisses me hard, but I struggle to kiss her back as the nearly overwhelming pressure quickly builds between my legs.
Rylie moves her lips to my ear, and the words that follow are enough to send me over the edge into a wave of pleasure. Her hands hold me steady against the wall until I come back to my senses.
Once I've fully recovered, Rylie kisses me softly before putting the Danish back in my hand. "Now you can finish eating." She grins before walking away.
I stand unmoving for a moment, still trying to recover. Laughter bubbles up in my throat as I push away from the wall that had just supported me through a surprising and unnecessarily intense... moment.
"You are one of a kind, Rylie Hart." I say, using her new last name for the first time. She turns to face me slowly, a large grin covering her face.
"I really like how that sounded coming from your mouth."
"Oh believe me, I did too. And I plan on using it lots more." I reply before kissing her again and heading into the bathroom.
When we step outside a few minutes before 10:00, a curtain of fog still lingers in the air, pushing the humidity down to us and making my effort to straighten my hair pointless. Rylie didn't mind, though. She keeps playing with the little curls that my baby hairs had formed.
"They're so cute!" She grins as she twirls one with her finger.
"They're cute when I want them there. Now is not one of those times." But I can't help but laugh as Rylie plays with the curls. It wasn't fair for her to be this adorable about my annoying curls, because I was actually starting to like them, too.
"I want you to see you the way I see you." Rylie says with a warm smile as her eyes lock with mine. Great, now she's being sweet on top of adorable. There was no possible way to not believe her when she did this.
"I love you, Ry. Even when you try to downplay my flaws." I tease.
"What flaws?" She scrunches her eyebrows before relaxing her face and shrugging. "My wife has a total of 0 flaws. She is simply perfect." A pleased grin covers her face, and I kiss her quickly before the smile can disappear.
"Being called your wife is going to take some getting used to." I grin. A long, shiny black shuttle pulls up to the curb then, and Rylie and I slip on our backpacks as the driver hops out. He's a small man, so I'm pleasantly surprised when he lifts our things with seemingly no effort.
"Good morning!" He calls with a friendly smile as he loads our bags into the space beneath the van that was meant for luggage. "I'm Bernardo, and I'll be your driver today." He gives a little bow, his grin only widening.
Rylie and I introduce ourselves as we load onto the bus, and I decide instantly that I like Bernardo. It helps that his shuttle is nice and more pleasing to look at than the one from last night. The interior is a nice black, while the seats are a tan leather. A small isle leads to the back of the shuttle, lined by four rows of chairs with two seats to each row.
"Is this your first cruise?" Bernardo asks as he slides into the driver's seat. Rylie and I take the two front seats on the left so we can keep talking to him.
"It's my first, but Aspen has been on one before." Rylie tells him with a grin.
"Well, you will love it. I take my wife on at least one a year because she loves it so much. Gotta keep the wife happy, you know?"
"Oh, I know." I murmur, and Rylie throws me a grin.
"Are you sisters? You don't look alike though, maybe adopted sisters? Cousins?" Bernardo grins at us in the huge rear view mirror before focusing back on the road and traffic as he drives.
"No, we're married." Rylie says simply with a beautiful smile. "As of yesterday." Bernardo's eyebrows shoot up, but I'm relieved when his smile grows warm.
"Ah! Lesbians. My sister is one of those." He wags his eyebrows, and Rylie and I laugh. "She has been with her girlfriend for 13 years now, though only me and my brothers know they are girlfriend and girlfriend. Our parents are... what is the word? God fearing Christians. They would not hear of their only daughter," Bernardo makes quotes with one of his hands, keeping the other on the wheel. "Participating in the sins of the world." He smiles sadly. "Our parents are wonderful and loving, but they are not open minded simply because of their own upbringing. But my sister is happy, and to me and my brothers, that is all that matters."
"That's really sweet, Bernardo." Rylie says warmly. "She is lucky to have you as one of her brothers."
"We are lucky to have her. She is the baby but never acted like it, instead she acted like our second mother." Bernardo chuckles. "Your parents, they are accepting of your relationship, no?"
I meet his eyes briefly in the mirror. "They are. It was a long road to get to the point we're at now, but they have been great." I tell him with a smile.
We make pleasant conversation with Bernardo for the rest of the drive, picking up more passengers along the way. While we talk, I mostly keep my eyes on our surroundings as they fly by.
The fog doesn't seem to be letting up, but it's not thickening either, which is good. We can see a good way in front of us before the cars ahead begin disappearing into the fog, and the tops of the buildings around us disappear into the fog. I pull out my camera and snap pictures as we drive over a cool bridge, and get a few more later when it comes back into view with a second identical bridge by it's side.
I glance down as Rylie's hand suddenly grabs mine, but when I look at her, her wide eyes are locked on something in front of us. I follow her gaze until I find the reason for her obvious awe, and grin when I see the cruise ship.
"It's huge!" Rylie gasps.
"I told you." I reply with a laugh.
"You did, but I didn't really think you were serious when you said it's the size of a building on its side!"
"I don't know why you don't believe me when I tell you things like this." I laugh, shaking my head.
"You tease me a lot, Aspen. Forgive me for being cautious about what I believe." Rylie jokes.
"Fair point." I reply, feigning surrender.
The fan pulls into the drop off area and Bernardo hops out to help everyone with their bags. "I hope you two enjoy your trip!" He says as he shuts the luggage area doors.
"Thank you, Bernardo. It was lovely getting to know you!" Rylie says as I pull some cash out for a tip.
"It was so nice to meet you. I hope we can run into you again one day." I smile as I hand him the tip. We say our goodbyes and Rylie and I grab our bags before turning towards the entrance to the cruise terminal building.
"Are you ready for the best experience of your life?" I ask her with a grin.
"Anything with you turns out to be the best experience of my life, so yes." She replies with a laugh. With that, I take her and we step through the entrance doors.