Sean rushed through the doorway, crossing the front path in seconds, before grabbing Jenny up tight in his strong embrace.
"Jenny! Oh, you have no idea how much I've missed you." Jen had been in the south of France for the best part of four months, working as a volunteer at a childrens home there.
"Sean! Sean! I can't breathe! Not so tight!" she gasped in reply.
Relaxing his grip he allowed her to breathe again. "Sorry, it's just that I've been so desperately waiting to see you again. You've been away so long, and I've barely a day goes past when I haven't thought of you"
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm here now. I missed you too, even though I was away doing all these incredible things, I still missed home and my friends."
Sean's heart sank. It was the reminder he hadn't wanted. Jenny had never felt the same about him as he did for her. She'd always just seen him as a friend, whereas in his mind he saw her as a lover. Foolishley he had hoped that absence would have made her heart grow fonder, but that obviously wasn't the case. Holding her out at arms length Sean once again stared deep into her green eyes, looking for a hint of returned emotion, but only found joy, not love, contained there.
"What's with the arms then?" Sean said with a grin, running his hands down her arms from her shoulders, catching her hands in his.
"What? Oh, you mean the muscles? Well, we spent the best part of three weeks demolishing a wall around the courtyard of the place and shifting the rocks off to where they could be picked up. These were kind of a bonus extra to the whole job." she replied, grinning as well.
"Come in, come in, grab a seat on the sofa, and I'll grab a couple of drinks. I want to hear all about it. Every last detail" he said, gesturing towards his flat
They talked for hours. She'd done so much out there, it nearly blew Seans mind. So many great things for so many people, and all because Jen just wanted to help. She'd always been the one to go out of her way to aid someone, even for the smallest of things, so it hadn't really been a surprise when she'd announced she was going to do a gap year before university, and spend some time abroad. Neither glanced at the time until at a slight lull, Jen had glanced at a clock. "Oh my God!" she cried "It's gone three in the morning. There's no way I can creep back home tonight, not without waking my parents."
"Don't worry Jen, I've got a spare bed you can use. It's not much cop, the springs are slightly dodgy on it, but it's passable"
"Are you sure I won't be bothering you?"
"No, no way. You know my flat is always open to you." "Well.. If you're sure..."
"Jen." Sean replied with a groan, rolling his eyes.
Sean barely got any sleep, his mind and eyes kept wandering towards where Jen was sleeping, a peaceful expression on her face, every feature was engrained upon his memory, each delicate curve causing his heart to flutter once again. Before he knew it the sun was rising and Jen started stirring on her bed. Sleepily slipping into his bathrobe, Sean crept out the room, trying not to disturb the sleeping beauty. "Oh," he thought, "for her to be Sleeping Beauty whom a kiss on the lips would wake her and win her heart."
He was in the kitchen sipping on a mug of coffee when she slipped through the door and sat down opposite him, massaging her shoulder. Her dusty blond hair was a mess, roughly swept back behind her ears, falling just short of her shoulders.
"Morning, any in the pot for me?"
"Sure, help yourself if you want." Sean shuffled anxiously in the seat, trying to hide the tenting of his robe under the table. She was wearing one of his spare bathrobes, and being fairly loosely fastened was providing a rather revealing view of her body, not quite revealing everything, but certainly showing a lot more flesh than she probably realised.