Chapter 20-23

Chapter 20

Bruno walked into Arissa’s apartment to see her sprawled out on her living room floor mid stretch. She was laying on the floor with her eyes closed –one leg on top of the other with her head down silently counting to herself with her ipod on her arm. She was bobbing her head to an unknown song. Her hair was up in a bun with bobby pins in random places to keep her layers from falling onto her neck. Even with her meticulous planning there were still little pieces on hair stuck to her neck.  After reaching the number she needed to she fell back on to the ground and sighed in relief. She looked up with a bright red face and the greenest eyes he had ever seen in his life. Holy….shit. was all he could think. Arissa jumped as she saw him from the corner of her eye.

“Holy crap!” I didn’t know you were back yet!” she responded. She didn’t get up, obviously too exhausted from her exercise to get up to get up to see him. “I ran too much to get up….” she told him. He stretched out next to her moving a piece of sweaty hair out of her face. He kissed her gently.

“I love you…” he told her.

“I love you, too…” she responded touching his cheek feeling his smile through her sweaty hands. It made her melt into her sweaty shirt. He stood up and grabbed her hand to help her get up. “Owwww….” she cried.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” he asked her.

“You…you’re hurting me. You’re too pretty to be in the presence.” she told him kissing him running off into the kitchen.

He walked back toward her to see what she was doing. She was getting something to eat.

“Don’t eat too much. We’re eating something super yummy, tonight.” he told her. “But it’s a secret. I can’t tell you what it is.”

She opened her brownie snack pack, licking the cover seductively. She licked her lips starting, “Bruno, you don’t keep secrets. I’ll know what it is in 10 minutes. Book it.”

“Okay. What are we betting on?” he raised his eye brow then winking at her.

“Hmmm….” she thought. “I’m bad at this, but I don’t think I want you to decide…” she started to laugh knowing that he would come up with something ridiculous and most likely out of this world that would embarrass her.

“Go take a shower. I’ll think of something…” he said slyly.

“Give me two minutes. I don’t want you to have enough time to be that creative.” she told him.

Arissa danced into her bedroom while he got some things out of the fridge. He insisted on cooking for her that night. She was sick of going out and didn’t want anyone else to see them. She had seen a few tweets that day indicating that he was at Tiffany’s which made her very nervous. Yikes…now what am I going to do? He obviously didn’t forget about the sevens. She grabbed her phone to call his assistant and best friend Ryan before getting in the shower. She turned on the shower water and her ihome so it sounded like she was doing something other than calling one of his best friends.

“Ryan…what does he cook?” she asked him after they talked for a few seconds.

“What type of day did you two have? I don’t need details, just like, chill, romantic?” he asked.

“He went out with my sister, I went to work…I don’t know what that would be classified as.”

“He’s cooking you his mom’s chicken and Spanish rice.”

“Thank you. I owe you.” She said.

“You’re welcome. Have a good night!” they hung up.

She stuck her head out of the bathroom without turning down the music and yelled “Spanish rice and chicken!”

Standing near the sink he barely made out what she said, but he knew what she said. Damnit. I don’t know how she knew it, but that’s it. She’s dead.

Arissa saw him running toward the bathroom door and slammed it shut locking the door. “You’re not getting me!” she screamed. She dropped her towel headed near the shower. Before she could get into the shower he grabbed her starting to kiss her neck. “Oh damn. I didn’t lock the other door…” she said.

“No, no you didn’t he laughed wrapping his hands around her bare waist.

“Bruno…I’m so sweaty. It’s gross.”

“Then get in the shower, silly.” he told her kissing her shoulder then moving to her back over to her other shoulder.

“Was I right?” she asked him he continued to kiss her all over.

“Yeah. You were. But, it’s still really good. I promise.” he told her coming around to kiss her forehead moving to her lips. Before he could get to her lips she pulled away a little.

“This is weird. You’re still dressed. Let me help you get undressed.” She smiled at him with her green eyes piercing through his deep mocha eyes. She ran her arms up and down his letting him look at her. He bent down to reach her lips kissing her intertwining their tongues together. He touched her butt lightly making her laugh. “Stop! Not until you’re naked, too.” She backed up grabbing his brown and black plaid shirt unbuttoning it as quickly as possible. She could feel him getting harder as she moved in toward him. She kissed his collar bone and chest as she moved down to each button. He grabbed her forcefully as she got near his skinny red jeans. “Oww. That hurt….” she said loudly.

“I’m sorry, baby doll. I’m sorry.” he squeezed her tightly asking her to forgive him before they continued.  He slipped off his pants letting her take a break. After they were both completely naked he wrapped his arms around her so tightly she couldn’t move. She pressed her lips into his tasting the gum he had in his mouth. She grabbed it with her tongue. “Did you just take my gum?” he asked her.

“Mmmhmm.” she told him laughing. He pinched her side picking her up throwing her in the shower.

“Eeek. That’s really cold…” she cried. He moved the water to make it warmer for the both of them. He continued to kiss her, moving his hands all over her body. She wrapped her legs around his ankles making sure she didn’t slip on the wet surface. Once the water got to the exact right temperature he pushed himself as close to her as he could without being inside of her. He picked her up to have her wrap her legs around his waist.

“I’ve got you sweetheart. I’ve got you. You’re safe.” he whispered in her ear as he felt her back get a little tense. He moved her forward a bit from the shower tile and hugged her to calm her down. She bit into his shoulder. Oh,oh. She was fine. She was better than fine.

He licked every bead of water off of her ear it dripped down from the tiles. She felt his tongue on her ears. “Oh my god, Bruno. Oh my god.”  She pulled his hair to get him even closer to her then he was, which was darn near impossible. To get where she wanted him to be he grabbed her butt pushing her towards him, matching her force.

“Arissaaaaa…you are so beautiful…amazinnnnnggggg.” he sang to her as they finished. She dropped her legs from around him. He held her gently as she fell down from around his waist. She kissed him grabbing her shampoo.

“I still have to wash my hair…”

“Here....let me help you…” he shampooed and conditioned her hair digging his fingers deeply into her scalp, kissing her throughout the ordeal. I need to keep him just for this. She thought to herself as she wrapped her arms around him from behind.

She turned around to kiss him after he finished washing her hair turning off the water. She grabbed two towels from the bathroom –handing him one.

“Thank you…” he said wrapping one around him taking the other from her wrapping it around her and rubbing her to warm her up.

“No, thank you…” she smiled turning around to hug him a genuine and sincere hug. “No one has ever done that for me….handed me a towel like that.”

“I’ll hand you a towel all day…” he laughed at her.

She walked toward the closet looking at her clothes. She grabbed a pair of green shorts and a thin cotton t-shirt to put on over her black and red bra and panties. He watched her get dressed. He licked his lips as she stepped into her pants.

“Stop doing that, Bruno!”

“Doing what?” he said running his hand through his hair.

“Being all sexy and shit. I can’t deal with it.” She threw him his shirt walking toward his jeans. He put on his shirt looking at her as buttoned it. She picked up his pants feeling something inside them. That’s not his phone…his phone is on the counter….what is this? She buried her hand into his jeans feeling a box. She wrapped her hand around the box. Oh my. Oh shit. I…what do I do? Pull it out? Freak out? Oh no. He sees my reaction! “Umm…”

He walked towards her in his shirt and green boxers taking the pants and her hand. She stared at him in shock. He bent down looking up at her with no words coming out.

“Arissa…the seven wasn’t luck. It was fate. Will you marry me?”

Chapter 21

She looked deep into his eyes trying to read his thoughts. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. It drove her crazy. But, how could she know what he was thinking they had only been physically together for seven days…but she knew he was right. She knew everything he said was the truth. The luck that she had in her life – winning a giant case of gum in 5^th grade, winning a backpack in 7^th, winning a trip to Austin, writing stellar scholarship essays to have most of her school paid for…it wasn’t luck, it was fate. It was her life. It was the way it was supposed to be.

“Yes, Bruno, yes…” she grasped his hand to lift him up from where he was kneeling to kiss him. He didn’t let her get him up; he grabbed the box slipping the ring on her finger. “Oh…I didn’t have the ring on yet…” she laughed at her reaction.

“Come on…let’s go eat, pretty girl.” he said grabbing her hand.

“But you haven’t even cooked yet!” she exclaimed.

“You’re going to help me. This is my favorite. I could eat it every day, for every meal….”

“So I have to learn how to cook it, huh?” she asked him.

“Yeah, and I’ll divorce you if you don’t do it right.”

“No, I’ll divorce you if you don’t eat my food…” she kicked his ankle as he led her out toward the kitchen.

“Fine. I’ll eat whatever you want to cook me, Arissa.” he wrapped his arms around her as she stirred the rice he had put on the burner.  “It smells good…”

“What smells good? I didn’t do anything, Bruno.” she responded confused.

“You smell good…” he kissed her on the neck.

“Stop, we’re cooking! Something or someone is going to get hurt!” she said calmly. He licked his lips at her concern and shrugged his shoulders kissing her. This went on for about 5 minutes until Arissa cringed and started to scream.

Chapter 22

“Oh my god. Owwwwwwwww owwwww owwwwww.” Arissa pushed him out of the way to get to the sink. She started to cry. Bruno leaned over to see her left hand was bubbling.

“We have to take you to the hospital Arissa. That’s bad…” he cringed at the sight of her left hand getting redder and bubbling. She looked at him with no words coming out. She nodded her head.

“Please…it hurts….pleaseeeeee.” He turned off the stove wrapping her hand in ice and dish towel she had on the counter. He grabbed her other hand in a hurry to get her to the hospital. She directed him to the hospital which was only 5 minutes away.

He parked her car as close as possible to make sure she didn’t have to walk so far. They ran inside.

“Excuse me?” he went up to the first nurse he could find. She turned around to look at him.

“Yes, sir?”

“My fiancé…she burned herself. She has to be seen now.” The nurse looked at Arissa, her face red with the towel wrapped around her arm hanging on him in tears.

“Oh honey…” she responded calmly. “Unless you’re a Spur or Eva Longoria you’re going to have to wait for a while…but first give me this ice. That’s making it worse….” Bruno handed Arissa’s arm over to her to get the ice to her. Fuck, where is Eva when I need her? Bruno thought to himself.

“Oh thank youuuu.” Arissa’s red face suddenly went from burnt red to bright blue. The nurse looked at Bruno urgently.

“Catch her….” Arissa fell sideways toward him. He caught her a few feet before she hit the ground.

“Oh my god!! That’s Bruno Mars!” a little girl screamed as the nurse grabbed a colleague to get a wheelchair for Arissa.

The other nurse stopped dead in her tracks after hearing Bruno’s name.

“Just help her!” he yelled at them. “Please! I need her!”

Chapter 23

Bruno sat in the chair next to her looking at the forms to fill out.

“Damn..I don’t know this stuff...” he grabbed her purse to look for her social security card and insurance card. She should have this in here….at least I know when she was born….lip gloss, gym card, starbucks card, credit card, movie tickets….insurance card….social security…I don’t have that….

“00-145-431” she opened her eyes to answer his nagging question. He wrote it down without realizing she was awake. She tried to reach over to give him a reassuring touch but was caught off guard by the IV in her right arm.

“Shit. That hurt….” she whispered.

“Ris? You’re awake?” he asked her.

“Mhmmm.” she smiled at him as he leaned over to kiss her on the forehead.

“I’m sorry.” he told her.

“You better be.” she responded. “It’s going to take me forever to get my tan on this hand. And forget wearing my pretty ring.” she glanced down at her wrapped hand making a sad face.

“We’ll just put in on with the other ones….” he motioned for her to lean forward. He unhooked the necklace with the emerald and diamond pendants on it looping the engagement ring on the chain.  “There…it’s perf…”

“Miss Henderson?” a nurse walked in to check up on her. “Your parents are here…”

“Bruno! What did you do to my daughter?” Arissa’s dad came in. He was in a good mood, but had obvious questions.

“Dad...my hand just hit the burner while we were making dinner. And I guess you’re not supposed to put ice on your burn…which we did. So I passed out…” Her mom took the forms from the table sitting next to her.

“Oh…he has everything right…” she put the papers down, surprised. Her mom came over and hugged her. “I’m glad you’re okay, pumpkin.”

“I am too, mom.”

Camille looked at her sister’s neck in shock.

“You weren’t supposed to do that until tomorrow, Bruno!” she yelled.

“She found it, Cami.” he explained.

“Awww!” Arissa’s mom was visibly happy for her daughter.

“Well, I wasn’t sure if she would say yes…” Arissa’s father laughed.

“Dad! Of course I would say yes!”