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"I don't want to go." She complained, frowning at the bag in her bed as if she wanted to kick it.
Chad smiled softly at her, she was overwhelmingly irresistible when her childish side came out, reminding him of the good old days when Ghostface hadn't happened yet.
"Hey," He cupped her cheeks and gently raised her face so that their eyes met. "It will be just three days."
“But we just started dating and we haven't had time to do anything because it's only been three days since they let you out of the hospital." Tara muttered, then added with a sigh, "I wish my mom would just stop bothering me, is Sam she should be trying to make amends with.”
“I know,” He said, then brought his face closer to hers and pecked her on the lips. “But she is your mom and she is worried about you.”
Tara leaned into his touch and put her hands on top of his.
“If she is so worried she should be the one flying here instead of booking me a flight."
“Well, parents can be unreasonable sometimes but you are doing this for Sam, remember? She really doesn't want to be the reason why you don't have a good relationship with your mother.”
"Which is stupid because I already told her I don't blame her for anything."
“Yeah, none of us do but guilt doesn't work that way.” Tara sighed, he was right. “Anyways, do you know who else is disappointed about your leaving?”
"Who?" She asked, lips curling into a small smile.
She was only going away for a few days but knowing that he would miss her was comforting in some strange way.
“My mom, aka your mother-in-law."
"How so?"
"Well, since the day they called her because her two children were hospitalized, she decided to buy a plane ticket to come see us, even though she is terrified of traveling by plane, one of the many reasons why she did not want Mindy and I to go to university so far away, but well the fact is that Mindy told her that we were dating, in my humble opinion to make her stop calling her every hour, and she succeeded because now she doesn't stop calling me to tell me how happy she is that I'm dating such a young, smart and pretty girl as you."
Tara felt her cheeks warm, "I didn't know your mom thought so much of me."
“Oh, yes, she has always liked you, unlike-” He cut himself before saying her name but Tara said it for him.
“Liv,”
"Yes, Liv." He said resting his forehead against hers.
“Do you think she would change her mind if she knew that I literally stuck a knife in someone's mouth?”
Chad chuckled, “I know for a fact that she is very grateful that the people who almost killed her son and daughter are dead, but I don't think she needs to know the details of their death.”
Tara grimaced, “Yeah that's probably for the best. I still remember that time you got hurt during a football practice and they had to call the nurse, but it was for your mom because she almost passed out.” Chad nodded and they both shared a knowing smile.
“Anyways, this place will be terribly boring without you.” He pouted.
“You are saying that as if you didn't belong to a fraternity, which means there will be a lot of parties for you in the foreseeable future, you won't even notice I am gone.”
He huffed, "Now that's nonsense."
She raised an eyebrow and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders pressing her small frame against him. Tara didn't try to resist, she sank into his embrace, feeling protected and safe from the rest of the world and buried her face in his chest, breathing him in.
“Hmm, you are convicing and if it weren't for the fact that I've known you since we were children I would have believed you, also your sister already ratted you out.” She said with a muffled.
"She what?" He pulled away and held her at arms length by the shoulders. "Whatever she said I'm innocent."
Tara rolled her eyes, but he saw how a corner of her mouth lifted up before she went back to the bag on her bed to continue packing the necessary clothes for her trip.
"Are you gonna tell me what she said? Do I have to kill her?” He joked, plopping down on the bed, almost causing the bag to fall to the floor. She glared at him and he gave her an apologetic smile.
"She just mentioned the foam party this weekend."
"Oh, right." He lay on his back, looking thoughtfully at the white ceiling of Tara's room. “I had forgotten…”
She hummed, already focused on something else.
"What swimsuit should I wear? The red or the blue one?" He asked looking at her from the comfort of the bed.
“The blue one.” She answered without turning around.
Chad smiled, “Are you sure? Because I haven't had a chance to wear the red one yet and I was thinking that this could be the occasion."
“Yeah, sure, the blue.” She reiterated as she bent down and rummaged in a drawer.
Chad swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry.
“Do you need help?” He asked, clearing his throat before speaking.
“No, I'm sure they're around here." She said unaware of the effect her short pajama pants were having on him.
Chad knew he should look away, but his eyes were still glued to the heart shape of her ass and how good those shorts looked on her, he was just a man after all.
“Perhaps I have already put them in the bag,” Tara thought after a few seconds of searching without results.
“Chad,” She said and his whole body tense up.
"Yes?" He said, grateful when she didn't turn around to speak to him.
“Can you look in the bag and see if my favorite jeans are there?”
"Yeah, one second." He answered and immediately started looking for them, “Sorry, babe, they aren't here.”
Tara sighed and sat up looking at her closet with her hands on her hips.
"Where are they?" She wondered, scanning the wardrobe, only for her eyes to fell on a piece of cloth sticking out of the top of her closet making her eyes lit up.
"Yes, I found them!" She exclaimed victorious, but when she tried to reached for them she realized that she was too short to reach them, but too stubborn to grab a bench.
“Come on,” She muttered as the tips of her fingers brushed the thick fabric, but to no avail until Chad, who had seen her struggle, stifled a laugh and got up from the bed.
"Here." He said from behind, his chest pressed against her back as he easily reached for the item she wanted.
Tara turned around and accepted the garment, her cheeks slightly warm. "Thank you." She said quietly before walking past him.
“You are welcome,” He said and then flopped back into the bed.
"By the way, is Sam going to take you to the airport?"
“It’s Sam, of course she is going to take me to the airport, I think she will experience a little bit of separation anxiety, so could you please make sure she is doing fine from time to time?”
Chad nodded, “Yeah, no problem…but she won't be the only one experiencing separation anxiety.” He said, muttering the second statement.
Tara raised her eyebrows, "If you mean me, I actually think it'll do us good for future practice."
Chad tilted his head back and covered his eyes with one arm.
"Nah, I was talking about me." He confessed, and she gaped at him, feeling warm and fuzzy in the inside.
"God, what have you done to me?" She wondered as she climbed into the bed and straddle him. She has never been boy crazy and she wouldn't say that that's the way she feels about him, but there was something in him that made her crave him, especially when he acted all sweet. Her bold action startled him and he inmediately removed his arm from his face to be meet with her sparkling brown eyes. There has always been tenderness in the way they looked at each other since the events of last year, but at some point in that year, it also appeared a kind of longing and hunger they knew they will have to address at some point.
“I will call every day, I promise.”
“Good, because I was planning on calling you every day and I really didn't want to look like an obsessive boyfriend.”
Tara laughed, “You could never Chad Meeks-Martin.” She answered and actually found comfort in knowing she wasn't alone in the way she felt for him.