Faith was glad that she'd allowed the girls talk her into buying new outfits for the trip to Paris. Walking hand in hand with Devlin on the streets of Paris, it was glaring how stylish and beautiful everyone was.They'd had the car drop them off a little ways from the Eiffel tower so they could enjoy a walk down the quaint streets of Paris and she was loving every second of it.Faith was already in love with the city and they'd only been there a few hours. They took a first class flight to Paris late in the day and arrived at about 5'o'clock. The next couple of hours were spent checking into their hotel room and getting ready for the night ahead.It was currently a few minutes to eight, a perfect time to see the tower according to Devlin. They walked leisurely. There was no hurry, as Devlin had reminded her when she took off at a brisk oace immediately they alighted.But she couldn't help it. She was so excited! Faith had never been to Paris, of course. Her only knowledge of the Eiffe
"Just say it," Faith breathed. She thought she heard her voice shake slightly but she could hardly tell over the roaring in her ears."Faith Donovan...I love you."A sob broke through her lips. "Oh, my gosh!" She laughed through the tears."You're crying? Why are you crying?" "I've never heard you say my last name."He blinked. "That is the first thing you're going to say?"Faith laughed. It came out as a watery sound. She grabbed his face and planted a kiss on his lips. "I love you! I love you too!"Devlin trapped her before she could let go and deepened the kiss. He turned his body, sliding on top of her. He pressed into her, running his hands up her arm.Suddenly, Faith drew back. "Wait!""What?" Devlin asked, his eyes dark as night."I didn't put it on yet."He blinked. "Put what on?""The red lingerie you asked me to bring along."He hummed impatiently. "Don't worry about it. I can't wait." Faith laughed as his lips crashed on hers again. There was no more talking for a very lon
"Sheila, I'm freaking out!" Faith cried."Just breathe, Faith. It's not a big deal.""Not a big deal?" She squealed into the phone, causing her friend to wince. "It's the biggest deal ever. I don't understand why he thinks I should be at something like that.""You would have had to do it eventually.""Eventually is better than right now." Faith fanned herself. She was suddenly sweating heavily despite the air conditioned room."You're just overreacting."Faith stumbled over to a mirror and peered at her reflection. "I think I'm not breathing. My face is turning bright red. What do you think that means?"Sheila rolled her eyes. "Girl, get a grip! I don't want to have to call 922 on you!""I think I'm gonna lay down." Faith proceeded to lay down on the bare floor, the cold tiles immediately cooling her temperature."If you really don't want to do it, you could just tell him you're not going," she suggested."I can't do that! He's counting on me.""Then get yourself together and let's wo
Faith had Devlin's hand in a death grip. She was viscerally aware of it but she couldn't bring herself to let go. Thankfully he wasn't complaining."Dev? You know it's not too late to change your mind, right?"Devlin chuckled. "For the umpteenth time, Faith, I'm not changing my mind. I want you here with me. Just relax. You're going to do great."Faith sighed. "What if I mess everything up for you?""Now how would you do that? Already, you're the most beautiful woman who would be in that room." Faith scoffed at that but also laughed, lightening the mood. "I mean it. Nobody holds a candle to you. Have you seen yourself?"She'd seen herself. She heard the awe in his voice and it was the same feeling she got when she looked in the mirror earlier.In the past two days, she'd been pampered, pruned and plucked to perfection. Her skin was glowing, her makeup was flawless and her dress was gorgeous all because Devlin had spared no expense on getting her ready.She knew she looked amazing but
"I have just one question for you, Mr Banks. Who is your date tonight?" Samantha asked in that bright TV voice that grated on Faith's nerves."Correct me if I'm wrong," she charged on, "But this is your tutor, isn't she? I don't knowww but, not many people bring their tutors along as their dates to the event of the year. So tell us, is she really your tutor or something else?"Faith held her breath. Since they actually got together, this was the first time that they were questioned about the nature of their relationship.In the past, they'd simply told the truth...that she was his tutor. But now, she was more than that. She was his lover. They lived together.But the truth was, their relationship was still as undefined as when they'd set out. He hadn't asked her out yet so she wasn't officially his girlfriend although she could tell he already saw her that way.She'd been suspecting for weeks that he was planning something too. Planning to ask her out, most likely and Sheila and Adele
Devlin couldn't tell if he walked, ran or flew after Sheila. All he knew was that he found himself exiting the hall through a door he'd never even known was there in all his years coming here.The door led outside where the refreshing night breeze hit him in the face. He didn't dawdle to appreciate it. "What were you guys doing outside the hall?" Sheila only shook her head, apparently unable to speak which upped Devlin's anxiety. There were no thoughts in his head, only the word, "Faith! Faith!" repeated on a loop in his head.She led him through a clearing and then into a garden. Why the h*ll had they come this far? Why did they go so far away from the hall?This was his fault. He shouldn't have left her in the hall but there was no way of knowing that the discussion would take that long.Plus, he'd figured she would be fine with Sheila and Adele. Where was Adele anyway? She'd probably stayed with Faith while Sheila went for help.Without even thinking about it, his phone was alread
"Okay..." He drawled. "What is it?" She could see the trepidation in his eyes. She couldn't imagine why he would be so afraid of this conversation."It's about what happened earlier today," Faith clarified. Knowing what the conversation was to be about should help to calm his nerves, shouldn't it?"Oh...yeah? What about that?" He asked hesitantly. Nope, it didn't help at all. If anything, he looked more stressed.Geez, what exactly did he think she was going to do, bite his head off? She supposed there was some credence to his fear. Hadn't she done exactly that earlier? Almost bit his head off for trying to be nice? She sighed. Better just get it out and over with. "I wanted to apologize actually..."His eyes widened slightly. "You...wanted...to apologize?" "Yes, I did." What was with his reaction? Why was it surprising that she was apologizing. Wasn't that the right thing to do?"For real?"She blinked in confusion. "Uhm...yeah? I was wrong to react like that. I realize that so now
"Cheers!""Cheers!"They all clicked their glasses together at the centre of the table. Faith used one hand to manouver her dress into a manageable position before sitting."Is that good?" Devlin asked, leaning over to check the bunched up skirt. "Should I move it for you?""No, it's good. Thanks, babe," she answered."Awwnn," the older woman at the table, Mrs Willow B. gushed. "You two are so cute! Isn't that right, darling?""Yes, darling," Mr Willow B. said obediently. "I bet you're so happy," she continued to gush."If he's not making you happy, come right over to me. I can make you very happy," Mr Willow B. said jokingly.Faith laughed. "Thank you for the offer, sir, but I'm sufficiently happy.""Just ignore him, honey," Mrs Willow B. said. "The old fart is no longer thinking straight.""Just think about it," he countered his wife, "You'd have one more woman in the house to take care of things. All the work wouldn't be on you.""What work? We have ten maids," Mrs Willow B. rolle
"Dev! Get out!" Faith yelled. "Out! Out!" Sheila yelled too, determinedly pushing Devlin out of the room. "You shouldn't be here. Don't you know that it's a bad omen to see the bride before the wedding?"Devlin groaned. "Come on! I don't believe in superstitions. Can I just see my lovely wife?""She's not your wife yet, mister. Not until the ceremony is complete. Plus, you saw her last night. You too idiots slept in the same bed. I don't understand why you can't stay apart for even a second." She got him out the door and slammed it shut in his face."Done," she declared, dusting off her hands and returning to Faith. There was a short knock at the door and it opened again.Sheila turned around in exasperation. "Devlin, if I have to tell you one more time--"But it wasn't Devlin who stepped in. Adele squealed and rushed over to Faith, pulling her into a hug. "Oh my gosh, honey, congratulations!"Faith hugged her back. "Thank you, Adele. I'm so glad you could fly in.""Girl, I wouldn't
Immediately Faith saw Devlin walk through the door, her heart started beating faster, her palms started sweating and her breathing became heavy.She was scared of how their encounter was going to go, but damn did he look good. He was dressed in black cargo pants and a teal green shirt. His hair was rough and uncombed. He'd obviously come straight from bed.As soon as he entered, his eyes started scanning for her until he saw her and their eyes met. He pressed his lips together and started walking towards her, not breaking eye contact.From the corner of her eyes, she saw Adele pulling a reluctant Sheila away and into the house to give them some privacy.“Faith”, Devlin said softly as soon as he reached her.“Devlin”, she replied, breaking their eye contact now that he was close. It felt uncomfortable to continue to look him in the eyes like that. Also, she was worried her heart would go into overdrive at the sight of him.It wouldn't do to show him how much he was affecting her. Not w
As she drove to his house, she could not help but feel nervous. This would be the first time she was seeing him since they went on the road trip together and he had all but said he’d be fine with whatever direction their relationship took.She had been a friend when he desperately needed one but now that she had offered all the help she could as a friend, she could not continue with that. And even though she was the one who severed their relationship in the fist place, she loved him too much to be able to accept that.She drove like a madman, remembering ironically that she'd called Sheila that just earlier that day. She was mostly nervous and worried for him but underneath the nervousness, she was excited to see him again and maybe that had a part to play in why she drove so fast too.She arrived at his house several minutes earlier than she should have, jumped down and practically ran to the front door. She pressed on the door bell.Devlin himself answered the door, but the sight th
After they had breakfast and washed the dishes, they moved to the living room to hang out. The next few hours were full of light-headed conversations while munching on snacks.Sheila suddenly reached out and smacked Faith on the head. "Hey! What was that for?" Faith complained.“We’re going to a pool party. You should come with us”, Sheila said with wide, innocent eyes. But her amused smile gave her away.“Yeah, you should come. It’ll be a lot of fun”, Adele added.“I don’t know. You know pool parties aren’t really my scene”, Faith replied shaking her head. “You guys go have fun.”“Not without you, babe”, Sheila said.“Yes, pleeease”, Adele added pleadingly.“I don’t know”, Faith said. She was not really feeling it.“Come on, you had a lot of fun yesterday, right?” Adele asked her.“Yeah, but that’s different. That was you two. This time it’ll be a bunch of people I don’t know”, Faith replied trying to convince them.“It’ll be a lot of fun. And you won’t be with the bunch of people,
They got to the movies just in time to see a rom-com movie. Sheila wasn’t much for it but it was the only movie left that hadn’t started. They got some popcorn and drinks and went in to the cinema.It was always nice to spend time with Adele and Sheila, though they did not do it very often. A little into the movie, they started started talking to each other, making funny comments about the actors.One of the attendants came up to them and told them to keep quiet. Apparently, someone somewhere had complained they were disturbing everyone. They agreed to keep it down and the attendant walked back up t his post.A little later, they could not help it and just started talking again. Adele who did not seem too enthusiastic about the movie at first started shouting out her comments loud enough for the entire cinema to hear them.The attendant started for them once more but seemed to decide against it halfway and turned back. Maybe because everyone was laughing and no one was complaining. Sh
They ate the dinner prepared by Laura and once again, they offered to wash the dishes. Laura agreed after much persuasion. Once they finished with that, they went back to the living room where they struck up a conversation.“So Faith, how did you meet Devlin," his father asked.“Devlin reapplied to College. He needed a tutor and fortunately for him, I was available--the highest scoring entrant that year.”“Tutoring him could not have been easy. He must have been a pain in the ass. Pardon my language.”Faith smiled. “Oh, don't worry about it. And yes, he we incredibly insufferable. He’s lucky I was patient because I don’t know what he would have done without me.”“Well, thank you for staying by his side even when he’s such an idiot”, he said looking at her in a way that made her feel like he also understood what was going on. Was that something every parent had, she wondered.Devlin didn’t seem to understand since he was just laughing. He looked like he was really happy to be back home
Walking up to the house seemed to take forever. Now that they were here, Faith could not help but be nervous. She was nervous for him of course, but she was also nervous for herself, because she was going to meet the parents of the man she had been dating. Well, use to date.She had no reason to be nervous since they were not seeing each other anymore- for the moment- and she was only supporting him as a friend. Her body however had a mind if its own as she could not stop fidgeting.Eventually, they got to the door but nobody knocked. Devlin seemed to be a little scared so she fought down her own nervousness and knocked for him.A few seconds later, a man who looked exactly like Devlin, except older, opened the door. Immediately he saw who his visitor was, his eyes widened in surprise and a smile gradually formed on his face."D-Dad, its-its been a while", Devlin said looking down unable to meet his father's eyes."Devlin. What are you standing there for? Give your old man a hug."Wit
"So, tell me what happened", Faith said immediately."Well, I got in, and we talked and...""Oh no, my bad. First, what happened at the door?""This is going to be long, isn't it?""Well, the faster you answer, the sooner it'll be over"."How about I just give you a detailed summary of what happened?""Ok, alright." "When I rang the doorbell and she opened up, she was of course surprised to see me. I couldn't tell if she was scared because she sent the letter or was just still angry. Either way, I was still to blame"."She asked me what I was doing there and I told her I just came to talk. Of course, she replied that I was a few years too late and I did not have any right to come into her home after all that time.""Then I remembered what you said about speaking from my heart and I just told her, "I know that I ran away, but I loved your daughter. And it's because I loved her so much, that I risked coming all this way and getting turned back to get a chance to make things right.""By
Two days later, Faith and Devlin were in her car on their way to Isabella's parent's house. They chose her car since it wasn't as flashy as his and conveyed at least a bit of humility.They had left very early in the morning. He had to drive to her house first since she insisted they take her car. He arrived to meet her ready, so they started the journey without him having to enter her apartment.It had been a very silent trip. He was terrified of what he was on his way to do. She didn't quite know what to say to him, so they spent their time doing separate things, her on her phone and he pretending to be focused on driving.After a while, he stopped the car on the side of the road and said to her, "Would you please take over driving. My hands can't seem to stop shaking"."Of course", she replied at once. She then immediately came out of the vehicle and switched seats with him.Once they were back on the road, he turned to her, "I don't even know what I'll say, how to start. I just te