All Over Again - Chapter 52: Chapter 52

"Really?" Raffo scoffed, doing nothing to hide the surprising disgust on his face that made her laugh out loud. "That was your break?"
Ruth, having upheld his personal request to know everything of nothing, casually rested in the crook of his arm with a giant smile on her face. She knew her break sounded boring, with absolutely nothing to do, but where could she have gone? Oklahoma City was tainted for her, though she would never admit that to him aloud. Emily was a chill coffee shop type of girl and her cousins were the party hard type, or do nothing at all and shop type. And seeing as how Ruth wasn't the party hard girl, she stuck to doing the casual stuff they wanted to do around town. Though it must have sounded embarrassing, she spoke of her lack of break without an ounce of shame.
"Told you I was boring," she teased, tugging at a lock of his hair that fell over her face when he gazed down at her.
"Should have listened to you the first time you told me that," he teased back, curling his arm beneath her so that he could hold her to him a little better with his hand resting on her shoulder. "Looks like you just have your looks to get you through life now."
"Huh. Think those could get me far?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.
Raffo scoffed loudly and her giggle of delight coasted around her room. "You're the prettiest girl in Oklahoma, Semple. What do you think?"
"Since you put it that way," she drawled sarcastically. "What about you? What did you do?"
Ruth knew he spent most of the break with his friends, Mirana included, so she wasn't completely bothered hearing about their break together now that they were boyfriend/girlfriend once again. He told her about being at the basketball courts most of the time to try to get her out of his head, and when he realized that wasn't working because his friends sucked at basketball compared to Ruth, he hung around town. Despite kissing earlier, and hoping it would lead to more, it was nice to talk and catch up again. They weren't apart for a very long time, but it felt long enough. Long enough to miss his attention, his touch, his comfort, his words . . . him. Anything involving Raffo Leflore, she missed.
And by the way his touch lingered on her skin, or the smile curving at his lips as he watched her gaze up at him, she knew the feeling was mutual.
"I liked hanging out with Mirana . . . but she wasn't you," he murmured when her lashes had unconsciously lowered. His thumb grazing her cheekbone stole her wandering gaze back. "If I wasn't such a stubborn asshole, we could have spent another month I couldn't afford to lose together."
Ruth's stomach lurched. "Raffo—"
"I still want to try," he reassured her honestly, his eyes gentle. "I want to try that long distance bullshit and make it work."
But for how long? Where could they both live together that either would be happy? Would one have to give up the life they always dreamed of living in a preferred state?
Ruth couldn't afford to answer those questions; not yet. Not when she just got him back, and not when he gave her the option she always wanted to hear from him. They could worry about that in the future after she graduated.
Plus, she couldn't deny the way her body relaxed with his confession. "Okay."
Ruth pulled herself impossibly closer to him. He wound her up in his warm embrace and held her for as long as they both needed. His arm was surely going numb at that point, but he acted like he didn't care. Holding her mattered more than the painful tingles of poking needles possibly drifting from his fingertips to his shoulder. Not yet done with being selfish, she tilted her head back and puckered her lips expectantly, earning the deepest chuckle out of it. He wasted no time in trailing his fingers up the curve of her back and moved his head down towards her until their lips met.
His lips were warm and familiar, his touch drawing a heat from her fiery body. Her fingers enclosed around his shirt, desperate to mold against him in every way she could. His smile against her lips was met with a sweet one of her own when their position shifted. She wasn't shy in drifting her leg over his hip, and he wasn't at all ashamed by the movement of himself between them.
"Missed me?" she teased.
"Can't you tell?" he said cockily, pulling her further against him.
"Now who's the perv," she tried to say, but the soft whimper got the best of her. His nibbling teeth tugged and teased her soft lips and angled jawline as she moved under their crawling journey, another whimper of his name bewitching her lips.
"Fuck, I could listen to that sound forever," he groaned against her exposed neck.
His wandering fingers skimmed along her exposed naval, and only dipped beneath the band of her leggings when he got her permission to do so. She shifted beneath the familiarity of his touch and let out a shuddering breath when he found exactly what he was looking for.
She was in for a long late afternoon and she didn't care about that one bit. She had Raffo back, and they could finally show each other just how much they missed one another.
"I want to show you something tomorrow. After school," Raffo said as he and Ruth laid side-by-side. Ruth was still trying to catch her breath and getting her ringing ears to dial down enough to understand what the hell it was he just said. With her bare body propped comfortably over his torso, and her gaze heavy from the last two hours of getting reacquainted, she quickly recounted his words to the best of her abilities.
"What is it?" she murmured, resting her chin on the back of her hand as she took in the long-haired beauty in front of her. It took everything in her tired body not to grip the strands closest to her and twirl the soft texture between her eager fingers.
His smile was gorgeous and lazy, drawing his swollen lips up into an oil painting full of sweet cherries and pale clouds as his teeth glistened behind them. Suddenly, his tracing fingers along the curve of her back enticed her under his captivating trance, and her stomach was clenched into a hard knot.
"Can't tell you. It's a surprise," he said. He laughed lightly at the crinkle in her brow and he easily smoothed it out with his free hand, brushing a stray curl from her face.
"I hate surprises," she partially lied. With Raffo, she could hate nothing. But that was way too corny to admit.
"Well, that's too bad," he said simply. "I love them, and you'll love this one. I promise."
"You sure about that?" she joked, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe I could save you the embarrassment now if you tell me."
There was a playful pause consisting of pursed lips and hopeful eyes.
"I'll take my chances."
"Ugh, of course you would, you cocky bastard."
Raffo deeply chuckled, vibrating his bare chest beneath her arm as he shook his head. "It's nothing big. Just something I was teaching myself when we weren't talking."
Ruth blinked. She tilted her head to the side to make sense of the clue. "Oh?"
"That's the only hint you're gonna get," he warned, and she deflated with a pout.
"Fine, fine. I'll stop pestering you."
"You aren't pestering me," he said, leaning forward to kiss the pout away. She lazily puckered her lips back under his and loved the way he lingered to gather the taste of them for a little longer before pulling back to tuck his fingers under her chin.
A warmth flushed her cheeks at the deep way he seemed to stare at her. As if she were the morning mist on dewy roses, or the sleek across a beating river as it coasted slick rocks beneath a warming sun. He looked at her like she was the break of dawn; like she danced with the stars when they greeted the lonely moon and kept the planets company. She was everything beautiful in the world. Natural. Earthy. Brown. Warm.
And she could only imagine how she looked staring at him, wrapped up in awe.
"I love you," Raffo whispered, the emotion of his words swelling in his expression. His thumb brushed her cheekbone soothingly.
"I love you, Raff. So much," Ruth whispered back, her voice just as soft with the subtlest hint of being tight. He kissed her one more time, this time lingering much longer than the first.
Ruth sighed softly in content against his mesmerizing mouth. When he finally pulled away, he helped her get comfortable and laid her head on the front of his chest. In no time at all, the both of them dozed off together, too caught up in the comfort of their little bubble.