62. Chapter 62

This chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be, but I didn't know how to gracefully transition from this to when they make it back home.

Chapter Sixty-Two

The next morning Jessica woke up before Steve, which was pretty normal as Steve was a deeper sleeper than she was.

Her muscles were pleasantly sore from having made love more than once the night before. They had been intimate for eight months now – had first become intimate in this very room – and she was amazed and grateful for the tenderness Steve showed her every time they were together in that way. Even after having been together for as long as they had, Steve still wanted her to enjoy their time together as much as he did.

She turned so she could see Steve, who seemed peaceful in his sleep. His mouth was open slightly and his lips moved when he exhaled.

Neither of them had bothered to put anything on after their sessions of love-making the night before, and Steve was only half under the covers, so she placed one of her hands on his chest, where a light dusting of hair was starting to come in.

She caressed him a few times, lightly enough to make him stir but not come fully awake at once, and he brought one of his hands up to place it over hers.

He looked at her, eyelids only half open, and said, "Morning."

"Mm. Good morning."

She moved to kiss his shoulder and then snuggled in more closely to him.

"What do you want to do today?" he asked, voice deeper and rougher from sleep.

"Bath. Food. Be lazy."

Steve laughed softly. "Sounds like a plan. How about we eat first?"

"Yeah, but a little later. I wanna stay like this for a while."

"We can do that."

Once Steve and Jessica were up and downstairs, they realized that it had snowed a little more throughout the night – enough to have covered the tracks from the tires on Steve's car. They weren't planning on leaving until Monday morning, but if it continued snowing, they might have to stay longer than planned.

Jessica made a mental note to call her mom later to let her know about the weather and the problem it might cause.

At the moment, however, she was standing over the stove fixing up some pancakes for breakfast. Steve had been leaning against the counter at first, but once the pancakes were almost done he'd come up behind her to hug her. His warmth was very welcome as Jessica had only put on underwear and one of his shirts before coming downstairs. There had been no point in getting fully dressed as they were going to take a bath after eating.

"They smell good," he said.

She hummed in contentment before saying, "Grab a couple plates, will you? And the forks."

"Sure."

Steve did as she'd asked and even went the extra mile to grab the syrup and the butter and place everything on the table. He turned the radio on low so they could have music while they ate. An ad for a new TV channel was being played. Apparently VH-1 was going to be broadcast on January the first. It was a music thing, so Jessica would know more about that than Steve.

Once they were done eating, Steve took the plates to the sink and ran water to let them soak. He left Jessica at the table and said, "I'm gonna go set up the bath, okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Jessica switched the radio off before making her way upstairs. There had been a news broadcast about some space mission that would be taking place in the beginning of January. She knew Dustin and his friends would be excited about that – Well, mostly Dustin because even though they all liked science and technology, Dustin was the one who was most interested in it.

Once she got to the bathroom she stopped in the doorway as the smell of lavender hit her. She assumed it was the scent of the bubbles Steve had used in the water.

He was seated on the edge of the tub, shirt off with sweatpants still on, and he looked up when she entered.

"Smells nice," she said.

"The bottle says it's supposed to be calming, so . . . we'll see."

Jessica pulled the shirt over her head and let it fall to the floor. She slid her underwear off and stepped out of them towards the tub. Steve undressed as well and he got in the tub first since she was going to sit between his legs.

Once they were situated Jessica couldn't help but sigh as the warmth seemed to almost settle into her skin.

"This is nice."

"Mm-hm."

Steve wrapped his arms around her, letting them rest under her breasts, and she leaned her head back to rest against his shoulder.

"We should definitely make it a goal to have a tub like this at some point in our lives," she said.

"Sure."

They talked quietly as the soaked for a good amount of time, adding more warm water once so they could stay in even longer.

Once they were washed up and rinsed off they got out to dry, and they wrapped themselves in towels before making their way to their room to get dressed.

Jessica chose a black turtleneck sweater and black leggings. Even though the heat was up, she was still a bit chilled. She was in the middle of towel drying her hair when Steve told her he had something for her.

She watched him go through his bag to bring out a navy-blue velvet sack – a small one – that was closed by a drawstring. He handed it to her. For the size of the sack, it was heavier than she'd expected it to be.

"What is this?"

"Open it and see," Steve said, grinning.

She did as he'd asked and opened the sack. She didn't immediately look. Instead she put her hand inside only to come in contact with what she knew to be a chain – she could feel the thin links of it – and then further down she felt something round, like a pendant of some sort. It was very obviously a necklace.

She pulled the chain out slowly, noticed that it was gold, and then focused on the pendant. It was a compass, also golden, smaller than an actual compass, but the perfect size to hang off of a chain. She noticed that the little dial beneath the glass moved back and forth a tiny bit.

"Does the actually track directions?"

"Yes." His grin had turned into a soft smile. "Turn it over."

So she did, and saw a small set of words there in pretty cursive.

'I'd be lost without you.'

Jessica's breath caught and her throat began to tighten. Her eyes began to burn.

"Steve?"

"Do you like it?" His voice hinted at panic. "I mean, you're about to cry."

She let herself breathe again and huffed out a laugh before practically throwing herself at him so she could wrap her arms around him.

"I love it, I – it's really sweet and the words were perfect. And I wasn't expecting it."

He'd caught her as she'd lunged at him and he was holding her closely, laughing against the damp hair that had gone everywhere.

"So . . . good tears?"

"The best tears."

She kissed his neck once before nipping at it gently. It caused him to squeeze his arms more securely around her even as he shivered against her.

"It goes both ways, you know," she said quietly. "I'd be lost without you too."

"I think you have a slightly better sense of direction than I do."

"You are my direction."

Steve chuckled. "I should be saying that to you. You're the one who keeps us out of trouble."

She pulled away slightly, glaring at him playfully. "You mean I keep you out of trouble."

"That was the general idea, yeah."

She shook her head, smiling. "I love you."

"Love you too, Jess."

Later that day, Steve and Jessica bundled up as best as they could and went outside just to enjoy the scenery. Steve had to wear sunglasses because the brightness of the sun shining off of the snow made his eyes and head hurt.

They didn't stay out long because it was stupidly cold. The news had been reporting lately about how the temperatures had reached a record low in Indiana and other states bordering it. There had even been cases of people dying from the cold in Chicago, which was notoriously cold in winter anyway.

The Carolinas and Virginia were being hit hard as well, but no deaths had been reported. Florida was even experiencing colder than normal weather and the citrus crops were being damaged because of it.

Needless to say, Jessica was not happy with the weather they were experiencing.

The best thing about going out in the cold was being able to go back inside and have a cup of hot chocolate. She cupped the mug in her hands to help warmth seep back into them.

They were in the living room on the couch now, and she was basically on top of Steve she was so close to him. She was freezing and he radiated warmth, so sue her. It didn't hurt that she liked being that close to him.

The movie 'Christine' was playing on the TV, but neither of them were really paying attention to it. They'd seen it before. They were just using it as background noise, for the most part.

Jessica remembered reading the book when it first came out. It had been so interesting to her that she'd flown through it over spring break the year before. Dustin had read it after her and he'd enjoyed it as well.

After the movie was over, Steve got up to put some music on. The first few notes of "Dancing with Myself" by Billy Idol came through the speakers and Steve began nodding his head to the beat. He came back to the couch and grabbed Jessica by the hands and helped her to stand up.

It was different than their normal type of dancing, which was slow and intimate. This was fast and fun and was mostly them just bouncing around and having a good time, laughing at each other when they pulled a particularly impressive move.

Steve pulled her closer before gently pushing her backwards, still holding onto one of her hands so he could spin her around. Her hair started flying around her face as she twisted away and back and she was smiling widely when he pulled her back in.

This was the happiest and most carefree she'd felt in a long time. It made her wish they had more than one day left before they had to go back.