A Vial of Life

“What if you spent one last night here before we took the last of your stuff away?” he asked.

I bit down on my lower lip and looked over at my bed. It was slightly larger than a single bed, but it wasn’t large enough to be considered double. I couldn’t deny that the idea of sharing my last night in it with Caleb excited me. He hadn’t spent much time in my room because we had been staying in one of the mountain cabins. I didn’t know how long my parents would be gone. I took a guess that they’d sit in the Great Dome long into the night with the story they had to tell and the barrage of questions and discussion that would follow. I could just leave a “do not disturb” sign outside my bedroom door.

A coy smile curved my lips.

I looked deep into Caleb’s eyes and nodded. “I’d like that. A lot.”

We shifted the rest of the bags into one corner of the room, and since it was pushing late into the evening anyway, we took a long shower together and got ready for bed. Before we holed up in my bedroom, I took a piece of paper from the kitchen drawer and scribbled “do not disturb” onto it with bright red highlighter. I grabbed some tape and stuck it above my door knob before entering the room and closing the door behind me.

I smiled to see that Caleb had shifted the position of my bed. Rather than have it tucked away in one corner, he’d shifted it to the center of the room and placed a dozen lit candles around it. He must’ve rummaged around in the bags and found them. Although I’d accumulated a large collection of candles, mostly by way of gifts, the truth was I hardly ever got around to lighting them. I was glad that Caleb had taken it upon himself to find a good use for them.

I smiled even more to see Caleb already sitting on the mattress, leaning against the headboard. His bathrobe was slightly parted as it draped over his shoulders, revealing half of his muscled torso.

I doubted he knew how hot he looked leaning there casually, eyeing me steadily from across the room. If I’d been a human, I would’ve blushed a lot more as I crawled into bed.

I moved to lie on my side next to him, but he caught my arms and instead pulled me onto his lap, my back against his chest. He drew up his legs, allowing my lower back to slide down in between his thighs. His hands closed around my shoulders and glided down my arms before resting over my stomach.

I gazed around my bedroom. It looked so different with the bed shifted to its center and the candlelight dancing on the bare walls.

“So,” Caleb began softly, his thumbs brushing against my lower abdomen through my silk nightie. “This is your last night in your room. What would you like to do?”

“Hmmm,” I wondered, even as Caleb’s touch made my skin tingle. “I suppose we could just… lie here and stare at the candlelight flickering against the walls all night,” I suggested, trying to keep a deadpan expression.

“Certainly, we could do that,” Caleb replied thoughtfully, his right hand moving slightly higher and resting over my ribcage, while his left continued to stroke my navel. “Or,” he continued slowly. “We could perhaps… read a book together. Or play a card game. I noticed you have a few in the black bag.”

“Hmm. I think playing a game is a good idea. But I don’t think my card games are very good.”

“Scrabble?” Caleb suggested innocently. “I spied that in the blue bag.”

I twisted over onto my stomach so that I could face him.

“We could play truth or dare,” I whispered, brushing my lips against his jawline. I drew away just before he could catch me and pull me in for a kiss. I eyed him teasingly as I pulled myself up higher over him. My legs on either side of his hips, I knelt on the mattress and rested my hands on his broad shoulders.

“Of course,” Caleb replied, maintaining his innocent face, even as his hands roamed my haunches. “Ladies first, then. Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” I replied.

“Very well,” he said. “I dare you to… dance with me.”

“Oh, come on,” I said, trailing my hands down to his chest and flattening my palms against his bare skin. “That’s not a good dare. I would dance with you anytime.”

“All right,” he said, his brows furrowing as though he were in deep concentration. “I dare you to…”

He was taking too long, and I was already growing impatient with this game. The way his hands roamed my body wasn’t helping. I suspected that was his intention.

“All right, slow poke,” I said, shifting on my knees against the mattress. “I will ask the question first. Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” he said.

My eyes narrowed on him. I’d been hoping that he would choose dare. Now I was stuck playing a longer game.

“Okay. What was your first impression of me that night we met at the beach party in Hawaii?”

A smile crept over his lips, memory clouding his eyes. “You were drunk,” he recalled, his smile broadening. “I could tell that you weren’t used to drinking. When you came stumbling toward me over the sand and asked me to dance… half of me just wanted to tell you to go home.” He broke out in a chuckle.

“That would have been mean!”

“You looked so out of place in that party. Barefoot, clumsy, disheveled hair glued against your sweaty face—”

“Excuse me!” I prodded his chest in mock admonition. “I didn’t ask you to start insulting me.”

“And yet,” he continued, “I couldn’t have found you more beautiful. Your innocence and unworldliness called to me, although I knew that I needed to stay away.” His voice trailed off and his eyes took on a dreamy quality as he gazed at me.