| Wattpad Editor's Choice | Jason Lovett, a no-nonsense guitar-player, is leaving New York to get to a career-making gig in LA. But before he gets far, his car breaks down. Being stranded without a car or money and running short on time to get to th...
"To travel is to take a journey into yourself." ~ Danny Kaye
•••
Della attempted to help me do the dishes. I specify with attempted because at first she did actually try to help... But by the time it was over, she was just playing with the soap bubbles and blowing them into my face and giggling uncontrollably when they got caught in my hair. And if I'm being perfectly honest, I did too.
After she'd made fun of my 'bubble crown' to her heart's content, she began to wind down and slowly make her way down to the couch in the den, where she curled up in a fuzzy blanket and just laid there, bundled like a bear in hibernation. After I finished putting the dishes away, I followed her down soon after, pausing near the fireplace.
Della's eyes and rosy nose were the only bits of her that I could see peeping out of the blanket, but I could tell she was smiling sleepily beneath it.
"Are you cold?" I asked, inching towards the fireplace.
The entire bundle of Della shuddered. "A little."
I instantly went to work, piling up the bits of firewood that waited in the grate, fumbling around for matches, and starting a tiny flame on the hearth. Before long, there was a roaring fire blazing in front of us and I silently stood back to admire my handiwork.
There's just something about building a fire—watching a tiny flame burst into a massive glow of heat and comfort... It's both invigorating and terrifying, knowing that you have that kind of power in the world.
"Better?" I turned to Della, who was still wrapped up, though not as tightly as before.
She nodded through the blankets again, her hidden, tired smile still reaching her eyes.
I finally fell onto the couch next to her, not minding in the least when my hoodied shoulder brushed her thickly-covered one. And the strange part is, I don't think she minded either. It felt nice being that close to her. Being here in this place felt nice too.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
We didn't say much on the couch that night. It was mostly small talk—boring stuff that anyone could say to anyone and it not mean anything. But it meant everything to me. Every word had meaning in its meaninglessness, and that's what I loved about it.
Maybe that's what I loved about her...
CRAP. NO WAY. LOVE??
Did I, Jason Wyatt Lovett, think of the word 'love' in reference to Della Rae?
CRAP. OH, CRAP.
I am in way too deep...
You know when you hear people talk about the moment when they knew they had met the person they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with? Typically they give the cheesy "Oh, we just knew," line... But that had always pissed me off. Like, how did you know?? When did you know?? What made you know that you knew??
A moment of that sort came for me in that quiet conversation on the couch with Della Rae in the mountains in Colorado. There was nothing insane about it, nothing spectacular, no fireworks exploding in the background... just me finally realizing that this was the person I had feelings for. Maybe it wasn't "true love" or anything. At least, not yet. But in that particular moment, all I knew for a fact was that I felt something and I never wanted it to end. I wanted to sit there by Della's side until the other side of eternity came and went, doing nothing but talking in hushed voices and watching the fire smolder until it was nothing but glowing embers.
As the night dragged on, Della's eyes began to droop, her quiet laughter waned, and her head began to slump over. When she had finally nodded off completely, my shoulder was there waiting to catch her. Leaning against me, she snuggled in close, burrowing her head into the crook of my neck. Her breath was warm against my cheek.
Drifting off to sleep myself, I hummed a little snatch of a song I didn't quite recognize, but at the same time it was familiar and made perfect sense to me.
••••••••••••
Hey, loves! I HAVE MISSED YOU ALL TERRIBLY!! I'm finally on Winter Break, so hopefully I will have time to get P+P under wraps for you all, so you don't have to keep waiting for weeks at a time for a chapter... I apologize for that. *cringe*
But anyway, I realize this chapter was a bit short, but I wanted to be sure you guys had SOMETHING to read soon. Buckle up, though! The next chapter is a doozy! ;)
Be sure to vote, comment, and share this as much as possible!! It helps me out tremendously & gets P+P trending, which helps it reach more people.
