Preface
A huge thank you to all of you who have left me comments or reached out by email after reading "Five Years and Four Days." Your kind words and encouragement have been so deeply appreciated. Here is what I cooked up next for Alex and Jess. Please continue sending me feedback; I love hearing from you!
This picks up roughly two months after the last chapter of "Five Years and Four Days."
--Chapter 1: Arrival--
JESS
"We are about to begin our descent into New York's LaGuardia airport. The local time is 6:57pm. Flight attendants, please prepare for landing."
It was the end of a long travel day. At 7am, I waved goodbye to two colleagues and fourteen students at the airport in Guatemala. Now, ten hours later, I was about to land in New York City.
The two weeks I spent in Guatemala were tiring but fun; I was one of three teachers chaperoning the girls for the annual end-of-year trip for sixth-formers. The faculty rotated through chaperoning duties each year, and the girls voted on the destination. As always, Halsey coordinated with other UK schools on the trip so the two weeks ended up being a fairly raucous affair.
I spent most of my time in Guatemala -- captivating as it was -- counting down the days until my New York detour, the first time since Alex's visit in early May that we'd be in the same place together for more than a week. In fact, we'd have two whole months together until my return to the UK just before the beginning of the school year.
Admittedly, in the beginning, I had a hard time reconciling my hesitance about being in a relationship with how much I wanted to be with Alex. In many ways, the fact that we had to live apart helped me shed that ambivalence. It gave me time to shake my head loose of most of the debris from the disintegration of my last serious relationship.
The distance also had the unintentional benefit of putting our physical attraction aside so we could actually focus on communicating with one another and getting to know each other's day-to-day lives. Alex's work continued to send her to meetings in the UK at a regular clip, so our time apart was happily interrupted by her visits and my trips to the US.
I still have not figured out how it was that I fell so deeply in love with Alex so quickly. My friend Cathy reckoned Alex had burrowed into my heart a long time ago and I just didn't realise it. When I first uttered "I love you" to Alex, I surprised myself by how easily it came to me, and how gratifying it was to discover that Alex felt the same way.
In general, my friends and family embraced the relationship; my parents were surprisingly sanguine -- Alex was charming when she met them one bank holiday weekend -- they even insisted that she join me on my usual late August visit to see them in the Lake District. My brother reacted the only way I expected him to: by continually teasing me for switching teams because of an ex-pupil.
Alex's family was a harder nut to crack. In truth, it was her father who was the most difficult. Her mother tried -- in her own way -- to find some path through between her husband and her first-born -- both of whom were equally stubborn. Alex's siblings were completely supportive; it took some time for Audrey to stop calling me 'Miss Wainwright,' but it honestly annoyed Alex more than it did me.
As the plane made its way to the gate and phones were turned on, multiple beeps and buzzes echoed around the cabin, including a number of beeps emanating from my phone.
"I'm here. Usual spot. Take your time."
I quickly typed back:
"Just getting to gate. See you soon."
As I made my way through customs, I felt like every molecule in my body was on high alert as I anticipated Alex's touch. I wheeled my luggage through the now familiar automatic double doors and into the arrivals hall. I immediately saw Alex with a big smile on her face, standing a little apart from the crowd of people in the greeting area. She looked good enough to eat.
I jumped into her arms and she lifted me up. I squealed with delight.
"You are finally here," she said, and gave me a kiss that sent a spark of electricity radiating from my stomach right through to my scalp and the tips of my toes.
A passer-by wolf-whistled, "Not for nuthin' buddy, but with a kiss like that, you better plan on marrying her!"
We laughed as Alex kissed me one more time, "Come on beautiful, let's grab a cab."
ALEX
Setting aside the fact that Jess would look good in anything, she was a heart-stopping vision coming off that flight. The kicker? She was wearing her glasses instead of her contacts, and it made her look extra brainy and sexy and nerdy and cool all at once, and I just stared and worshipped her face the entire ride home.
By the time we pulled up to my apartment building, we were pretty much ready to rip each other's clothes off. I had my nose buried in her hair as we rode the lift up to my place, desperate to inhale as much of her scent as possible. I still couldn't really believe this was happening.
Jess was here. For two months. She wanted to be with me!
The second the front door closed and her luggage hit the floor, Jess turned and jumped on me, wrapping her legs around my waist and pressing her hips into me. I was halfway to the bedroom and Jess already had her shirt and bra off; her beautiful breasts were tantalisingly out of reach.
"Not fair. You are giving me a mental crisis: carry you to the bedroom, or touch them and drop you on your butt," I protested when we finally reached the bed.
Jess smiled as she reclined on the bed. She took off her glasses and slipped out of the rest of her clothes, "I didn't think you were moving quickly enough, my love, just some positive encouragement..."
Her words spurred me to strip as fast as I could, my eyes feasting hungrily at the sight of Jess, nude, on our bed. The images of Jess that I hoarded selfishly in my head all this time were but poor facsimiles of what I saw in front of me. I soon found my way on top of her. Our touching flesh was a revelation after being so long apart.
"Hi there," Jess whispered, her eyes inviting pools of deep green. This was what perfection felt like: her legs wrapped around me, her arms wrapped around me, her
come hither
smile -- the one she reserved just for me -- dazzling me.
I kissed her everywhere, trying to devour as much of her as possible.
"I have missed you so much," I said, my hands seeking out every contour of her body. It was like getting a fresh lungful of air after being under water for a long length of time.
Jess rolled us over so she was on top and inserted her thigh between mine. I felt the sweet pressure of her body as she started grinding against my leg. Our lips crushed together and opened. Our tongues met again and again as we thrusted against each other, both of us desperate to have as much of our bodies touching as possible. Her body felt like heaven, her breasts pressed into mine, our breathing becoming moans as we moved together.
The deprivation of our physical absence from each other was eviscerated as we both came, Jess laughing with delight as we opened our eyes in the afterglow. Our legs shifted restlessly, tangled in a dance of reunion; our breasts were still mashed together as we clung to each other, arms locked in an ardent embrace.
"I spent a lot of time thinking about this body..." Jess said, as her fingers made a slow journeys up and down my side.
I watched her fingers coast towards my hip, and my whole being tingled with anticipation.
"... and everything I want to do to it," Jess continued. She reached between us, cupped my sex and squeezed.
I inhaled and closed my eyes, lifting my hips towards her eagerly, and Jess did not make me wait. Her fingers were inside me almost immediately, and I felt her shift lower, her mouth enveloping me as I cried out with pleasure. I wasn't sure exactly how she managed it, but Jess had figured out some complex algorithm for stimulating my erogenous zones. I didn't think someone could manipulate my senses quite like this. And she was bringing her A-game. When I came, it was powerful and deep, rumbling through me like thunder.
