Sunshine Kisses

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Of course you do; you watch sports.’

Erik stuck his tongue out, grinning widely. Abby returned the expression, smile equally bright. That her mother noticed, and she was summarily scolded for her rudeness. Any annoyance vanished when Erik flashed her a wink. Abby had missed this. Missed talking a mile a minute, interrupting and chatting over each other and somehow not missing a single word that was said. Missed annoying their parents together, then sharing a secret smile. Missed the warmth and comfort of Erik’s knee brushing hers under the table as he leaned in excitedly, or the slight roughness of his hand on hers when he wanted to emphasise a point.

She’d missed him.

‘Still want that drink?’ Erik ducked his head to Abby’s ear as they left the dining room.

She hesitated for a moment.

The day had been long and stressful. She wasn’t ready to say goodnight to Erik, but continuing to sit in a room full of people, makeup on and this dress cutting into her side, was suddenly less than appealing. Rest, comfort, quiet, and the company of her favourite person in the world: that was all she needed.

‘I don’t think I’m up to it,’ she admitted, her heart tensing as disappointment flitted across his face. It crept into his voice when he spoke again.

‘Oh. That’s fine. We’re here for a whole week, right? Plenty of time to hang out.’ He looked straight ahead as they boarded the lift heading to their floor.

‘I said I didn’t want to go to the bar. Not that I want to go to bed.’ Abby touched his arm gently, increasing pressure until he turned to meet her eyes. ‘You know, we never got to have our annual double feature at Christmas…’

That tiny smile—the one that always elicited a matching pair from her—appeared on Erik’s face. ‘Movie night? Fuck yes. Sounds perfect.’ Instead of opening his own door, he followed her into her room, watching with amusement as she wobbled on one leg, lifting the other foot to unbuckle her shoe. ‘In a scenario with three options, namely: sitting down, asking for help, or whatever the fuck that just was’—Erik knelt in front of her, making quick work of the strap she’d been struggling with before moving to the other shoe—‘why on earth would you choose the latter?’

The snappy response that had come to mind evaporated as Abby looked down, taking in the sight of Erik smiling up at her from his knees. She’d played off the handsome comment earlier, but he truly had no business owning a face like that, or those eyes that currently felt as if they were cutting straight to her soul. He’d been surprised by the way the woman on the plane was looking at him? Had he passed a mirror recently?

His eyes dropped away from hers, seeming to fall somewhere in the vicinity of the thumb still resting on her ankle. Erik pulled his hand back quickly, and the spell that had her wondering if he might drag his fingers any higher was broken.

‘My room in ten minutes?’ he asked, still avoiding her eyes as he stood again and crossed to the door.

Abby nodded slowly, willing her heart rate to return to normal as she dug under her pillows for the pyjamas she had stashed.

Unsurprisingly, it took them an hour to settle down enough to actually start a movie. In addition to their foregone double feature, they’d missed gift-giving at Christmas.

Erik’s eyes shone as he unwrapped his: a signed hardback of the fifteenth and final volume in a fantasy series he’d been obsessed with since they were kids. Abby had long since given up on it, finding the prose dense and dry. The author had somehow managed to make dragons boring, and that was simply unforgivable. Erik had stuck with it though, devouring each book almost as they released. While she no longer had any interest in the series, she loved his passion for the story.

As usual, Erik had gone overboard.

Her first parcel contained a care package of her favourite treats, including the imported cinnamon bun Oreos that were only available from specialist shops, and at a price so obscene that her PhD stipend rarely allowed her to indulge. It was followed by a beautiful silk pashmina in a rich emerald green—‘to match your eyes’. The final, smaller gift made her eyes prick. Abby snapped open the red velvet box to reveal a beautiful gold locket bearing a delicate etching of a sun.

‘Erik…’ she breathed.

‘I found it in an antique market. Couldn’t resist.’ That small smile was back, along with a shrug of his shoulders. ‘I know it’s a little tarnished; I had it cleaned and polished but I think that’s—’

Abby shook her head, still fighting to keep her tears firmly in their ducts. ‘It’s perfect.’

Her love of old things was well known to him. She could wile away hours imagining the stories behind jewellery, trinkets, and clothes. Couldn’t walk past a second-hand book without flipping the cover open to see if it had an inscription. The more worn an item was, the more proof that it had been used and loved. This pendant—with its shallow scratches and light scuff marks—had probably had daily wear. And now it would again.

Erik gestured for her to hand it over. She leaned further into him as she did, lifting her hair so he could fasten the dainty clasp behind her neck. It brought her close enough to smell him: the fresh linen scent of the fabric softener his mother had used throughout his childhood—the one he was still committed to, even seven years after moving away from home—and the light soapy smell that somehow clung to him even hours after a shower. It was gentle, familiar, comforting. Him.

‘Does it open?’ she asked, pulling back and fiddling with the clasp.

‘They lost the key,’ Erik said with a tight smile. ‘Sorry.’

‘Don’t. I love it either way.’

Despite Erik’s protests—‘They’re for you, Sunshine’—Abby unloaded her box of treats as the opening scenes of The Princess Bride played on the excessively large TV. However he did grab the box containing her preferred brand of Earl Grey and jump up to brew a cup for each of them, resting his head close to hers on the mound of pillows when he returned. They had journeyed as far as the Cliffs of Insanity when Abby’s eyes began to close, and she slowly fell into darkness.

Abby woke in a dark room, a comfortable weight and warmth covering her. It took her a second to find her bearings, but she remembered she was at the hotel when she considered that her duvet at home wasn’t this deliciously snug. It also didn’t…breathe? That point was more disturbing, as she drifted further into consciousness and became aware that the solid mass behind her was moving in slow, rhythmic motions. It seemed to be attached to the equally solid weight strapped tightly around her waist.

Erik, she deduced, her eyes snapping open and glancing down. This made more sense than a living blanket. His arm lay across her middle, fingers spread wide over the pink cotton camisole covering her stomach.