4 August 2012
-TIFFANY- "Wake up gorgeous" Nate said to me, shifting in his seat to startle me a little. "Where am I?" I asked, eyes feeling dry and blurred. "We've just landed, the crew were kind enough to let you stay asleep" "Where though?" "Malé, we're on our honeymoon remember?" "I thought it was all a dream" I said, wrapping my arm around his waist and snuggling back up to his stomach. "Come on sweetie, we've got to get off now" "But I want to stay here forever with you" "We'll be spending the whole rest of the holiday together, I promise. Now come on!" He started to get up slowly, allowing me time to sit up myself. The blood all rushed away from my head, making me feel intensely numb and light headed, like I was flying all on my own without the plane to support me. "Are you alright?" Nate said to me, rushing over to put his hands on my shoulder to steady me. "This is why I don't sleep on flights" I said, feeling an impending migraine forming behind my closed eyelids. "Aww baby" he said kissing me on the forehead. "Do you want me to carry you out?" "Yes please. I'll be fine in a minute" I replied, my voice seemingly small and timid amongst the various noises of the airport. "Come on" he said, placing my hand luggage over his shoulder and handing me his to carry. He hauled me up, cradling me like a baby, and rocking me gently with every step he took out of the plane. "Are you alright T?" Oliver asked as we went past. "I'm just tired, that's all" "She just needs her husband, don't you darling" Nate asked, pulling me in closer to his chest, acting territorial again. "alright, well have a great trip!" "Thanks" Nate replied, not once pausing or halting his pace. After Nate's long trek through the airport, we finally reached passport control, where Nate had to put me down so we could be checked. Once we'd passed through, a man approached us regarding our baggage. "Are you Nathaniel Cole?" "Yes, that's me" Nate replied, placing a hand in the small of my back for support. "We've collected your cases, please come this way. Your next transport is waiting" "Thank you" Nate said, virtually pushing me along through the arrivals terminal and out into the harsh sunlight of a Maldivian Summer.
-NATE-
"That's your fourth sigh since we left the terminal, what's wrong? It's not too late to go back and sort things out with Mollie if you need to" I said, looking across at Tiffany. She was slumped slightly against the window of the hydroplane we were taking to get to the island. It was nothing special: every island in the Maldives could be accessed by only hydroplane or speedboat. There was something about her posture though: it gave me the premonition that she was going to be in a less than ideal mood for our honeymoon. "We're here now" she said, her eyes not leaving the window once. "Doesn't mean we have to stay" I said, placing a hand on her knee and gently rubbing my thumb repeatedly over the area where her knee cap started. "Please talk to me baby" "I love you" she said, finally turning her head to look at me. "I love you too, but however much I love hearing that it wasn't what I wanted to hear" "I don't want to talk about it, I'm not going to ruin this trip by worrying about her. If our friendship was built on such a strong foundation then this would never have happened" "That's right. It'll all be fine, she just needs some time to cool down. We both know what she's like" "I love you Nate" Tiffany said, throwing her body against mine and gripping onto me. "Hey sweetheart" I cooed, feeling tears staining through the thin material of my tshirt. "Don't leave me" "I won't, I thought I declared that yesterday in front of all those people?" "Oh god, Nate. You're all I've got left" she said, beginning to sob uncontrollably into my chest. "Shhh, you've got so many people. Please don't cry, part of me feels like it dies every time you cry" I said, placing and hand on the back of her head and pressing it closer into my chest. "About two minutes until landing" the pilot called back, not noticing our painfully emotional embrace. "Thanks" I called, a single tear finding its was down my cheek. I shook my head gently, dispersing it and feeling it dissolve into my skin as I focused on holding Tiffany up. She must have heard the pilot, as she began to slow her sobs and begin to sniffle, sitting up and cuddling into my side. "Here" I said, pulling out my thumb and wiping it across her cheek, making the remaining watery droplet absorb into her skin. "Thank you" she whispered quietly, wrapping an arm around my stomach as we began to land. Very rarely have I landed on water in a plane, and it's certainly a different sensation. From the window beside Tiffany, all that is visible is the small islands, surrounded entirely by crystal blue waters that are approaching us at quite an unnerving speed. I always hold my breath a little, as whenever I think of landing in water, I naturally pin it to an emergency landing. This time, however, was different. Perhaps it was my new found responsibility, but I knew my main priority now was Tiffany and not myself. It wasn't that I was not worried about the possible impending doom of a water landing, but I felt like I should keep her safe before myself. So I pulled her closer into my side, kissing the top of her head and beginning to stand up once I knew the plane was at a standstill. I grabbed all our bags, feeling my hand muscles strained by trying to pull along two wheeled suitcases and carry her Louis Vuitton trunk. She offered to carry her hand luggage bag, but again I carried it. It had nothing on the weight of the three suitcases I was already lugging, and I didn't want her to have to lift a finger on this trip. She stepped out of the plane before me, down onto the wooden platform that acted as a jetty from the island. It was similar to the walkway at our house in the Hamptons in that it was a little battered and broken in parts. I knew this was because my island had been hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, but that fact didn't bother me now. It had all been rebuilt and some of our money had been donated to other islands that had suffered, so the damage was minimal and mainly restricted to this jetty. "Welcome to the island of Nate" I said, chuckling at the sound of it. "Doesn't it have a name?" she asked, grinning as we walked along the crickety wooden jetty. "Not that I know of.. Maybe. We could call it 'Tiffanate' or 'Niffany'" "Oh deary me" she laughed, as her feet met the white sands of the island for the first time. They sank in soothingly, and as she moved, the sand twisted around her feet in glorious contortions that looked like it was parting way for her angel-like feet. "Hang on" I said, jogging ahead and putting the bags down in front of the house before running back. "What are you doing?" she laughed before screaming a little as I spontaneously lifted her up and cradled her. "Mrs Cole, welcome to your new abode for the week. I hope you'll enjoy your stay" I said as I pushed the door open and carried her over our new threshold, just as a newly married couple should. She looked around the entrance room once, before stretching her neck up so that her head could meet mine. She placed one hand around the back of my neck and yanked it gently down, covering my mouth with hers. We kissed like this for a few minutes, before I felt my hands going a bit weak with the amassed passion and the weight of her in my arms. I tensed all the muscles in my arms and then broke the kiss, licking my lips to prolong her taste for as long as possible. "Now, we have a choice of three things we can do now: 1) Go and unpack 2) I can show you round everywhere or 3) we can just go straight up to bed" I said, winking delicately at her. "What time is it?" "In New York it's 5am and here it's 2pm. Why?" I asked quizzically. "Well, at home we should probably be in bed anyway..." she said, trailing off so she could fiddle with the hem of my tshirt that was around my neck. "It is pretty hot in here too" "And they say you should stay out of the sun between 11 and 3" she finished, her mind clearly wandering as she bit on her bottom lip and made her fingers walk along my chest. "Oh god" I grunted, running through the hall way and up the stairs, still with her in my arms as she giggled with glee.
Love You Too: PART SEVENTY NINE • Opuss № I