Collection of Warnette Short Stories (Shatter Me FanFiction)

2 - Pool Day

Hey hey friends! Here is some warnette cuteness I conjured up this afternoon when I was bored:) I know it's a little short, I might add to it later idk but this time it's from Warner's POV so hope you enjoy and have a great weekend!!!

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"I don't know, Aaron," Ella says as she kicks at the pool water residing just above her ankles. "I've just never swam before. Ever. I could drown."

"Love, you're not going to drown. I told you I'm going to be right here the whole time holding onto you," I reassure her.

Today is the day I finally convinced Ella to try to swim for the first time. She had been putting it off for so long because she said she "didn't have a bathing suit," though I know she was just afraid. She forgets sometimes that I can sense what she's feeling.

I will forever cherish the look on her face when I surprised her with a brand new, light purple two-piece bathing suit this morning and said I'm going to teach her how to swim. She argued with me until I asked her to at least put the swimsuit on, and to my surprise, she actually liked how she looked in it. The garment I picked out was something I thought, no doubt, Ella would be uncomfortable wearing because of how much skin it exposes. I knew she would look incredible in it, but it wasn't my opinion I was concerned with. I know for a fact that Ella looks stunning in anything and everything she wears. I also know that she looks especially spectacular when she's wearing nothing. The hardest part, however, is getting her to believe that herself. Part of the reason I intentionally chose an exposing swimsuit was to attempt to boost her confidence when she saw just how striking it looked on her. Not to say that confidence is solely based on appearance – Ella has far more profound qualities that should attribute to her assurance than just her looks. Nonetheless, I'm glad it wasn't a fruitless effort.

A decent majority of my efforts are fruitless. I know it always helps when I give her my input on how beautiful she looks, but she doesn't need my validation. My encouragement can only go so far if she doesn't believe it herself, and I can always sense when she believes my words are meaningless.

Needless to say, they're not. Ella has always been the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on in my entire life. And I don't think I'm just speaking for myself when I say that.

I can't deny the jealousy and protective instincts that automatically kick in when I see other men looking at Ella. I know it's bound to happen, and inevitably, I do the same. It's honestly hard not to look at her when someone is as perfect as she is. But still – I always have this burning desire for her to know that only I should be looking at her like that. Besides, other people can look at her, but no one will ever experience with her the quiet, tender moments of intimacy the way I do.

And I'm hoping right now could be another one of those moments if Ella would just come into the water with me. The pool we're currently at was cleared out for just the two of us, so there's nobody else around. I'm immersed in the water by myself, trying to coax her from where she's lingering by the pool's edge, desperately wanting to pull her in and hold her close. But I know I have to be patient.

"Yes, I know you said that, but I just-" she hesitantly dips a toe into the deeper part of the pool and then backs away.

"Sweetheart, there's nothing to be afraid of. If you just trust me and let me teach you, swimming won't be that difficult," I tell her.

Ella doesn't seem to be swayed. "It's not that I don't trust you," she says shyly. "It's-" she pauses. Looks back at the lounge chairs at our belongings. "Hey, I think my phone might be ringing. Could be something important?" she suggests, but I'm not falling for it. She's still trying to stall after I already dragged her all the way out here.

I finally emerge halfway from the water and hold my hands out to her. "We're not leaving until you get in here," I say, raising my eyebrows.

She takes one look at my outstretched hands and then looks up at my face, defeated. She slowly starts stepping towards me, and when she finally takes my hands, I start backing up into the water while still luring her forward.

She gets barely waist-deep before I sense her hesitation again. She stops moving, but before Ella has any chance to back out of it, I take a deep breath, fasten a tight grip around her body and pull her into the water with me, fully aware of the earful I'm going to get from her after this.

Frankly, I don't care. I just want to be with her.

"AARON, OH MY GOD-" she screams, as the sound of frantic splashing fills my ears and water droplets go flying everywhere. I hoist her up to keep her face away from the water, and she wraps her legs around my hips and her arms around my neck.

"See love? The water doesn't bite," I say once she starts to calm down. I barely have a chance to look at her, still stunned by my assertiveness, when she reaches down and flicks a handful of water at me.

"I can't believe you! Do you know how long it'll take me to fully trust you again?" she whines, but it's easy for me to see the smile hiding behind her lips that she desperately doesn't want me to notice.

I just laugh and pull her tighter. "And exactly how have I failed to live up to your trust expectations? I don't see you drowning yet."

"Pulling me into the pool against my will was not part of the deal," she says, frowning at me. "You have to know where the boundaries are, Aaron."

"Ah. My apologizes. So how long will it take to earn your trust back, your honor? What's my sentence?"

She taps a finger on her lips while she thinks. "I'd say you're looking at a couple weeks, minimum, for that disloyalty."

"Well, that's still not as long as it would've taken you to get in the water on your own," I tease her.

Before I have a chance to retract that statement, I'm hit with another clean splash of water across my face.

I smile and wipe away the droplets from my skin. "Plus, I think I know a couple different ways I might be able to shorten that punishment," I say before I wink at her. She turns away, but the fading sunlight hits her face just so that I see the rosy blush blossoming across her cheeks.

It's one of the most adorable things I've ever seen. Being this close to her face gives me a chance to see her beauty magnified right in front of me, something I'd like to experience as often as possible. And I never get tired of looking at her because she's more breathtaking every time I see her.

Something I also haven't had a chance to notice until now is the tiny freckles that dot Ella's face. She's never had many freckles because she hasn't been so exposed to the sun ever before; when the Reestablishment was in power, our days were nothing short of cloudy and bleak. Now that the weather has returned to normal at the cost of Emmaline's life, the sun is shining bright, the trees are green, and, as I know Ella likes the most, the birds fly in the sky again. She loves pointing birds out to me whenever she sees them.

Still holding onto her tight, I lean in to kiss her. Her lips are soft and full and sweet, and I feel the fear seep out of her limbs as I deepen the kiss and she melts into me. I barely lift an arm to momentarily readjust her position, but she pulls back with a frightened expression on her face.

"Aaron, wait, no- please don't let go of me," she says quietly as she attempts to cling onto my neck.

I chuckle at her remark and look right into her big, beautiful, blue-green eyes. Her eyes that resemble the whole world.

Because she is my world.

"I won't let go, Ella," I tell her. "I'll never let go." She smiles a sweet smile, closes her eyes, and rests her head on my shoulder, filling my lungs with love and my heart with happiness.

I wish we could stay like this forever – our bodies tangled together, our souls intertwined. Our breaths and heartbeats matching up to the same rhythm.

And as I'm wading through the water with Ella wrapped around me, listening to the soothing ripples of the waves, I spot a bird on a tree not far off from us. It's a bird like Ella has described to me before – a bird she used to dream about. Maybe not exactly what she had pictured, but it's a white bird with gold streaks throughout its feathers.

I stare at it for a long while, mesmerized by its elegance and grace, before it flies off in one swift motion into the sunset.