Holly and David

Chapter 1

His hands slid over her soft skin, his fingers then digging into her side, pulling himself closer, his lips almost touching hers. His eyes opened at the sound of her drawing in a shaky breath, meeting hers. A deep brown. She always looked at him that way. Like he was her everything. He closed his eyes and closed the distance between their lips to show her he felt the same.

***

"Want some coffee?"

"Hm?" David had just entered the kitchen still in his boxers. It was too early to be making sense of words. Outside the window the darkness taunted him the same way his alarm had. He'd need to wake up. Coffee should do the trick. Coffee. "Coffee. Right. Yes please."

Holly was at the counter, also in her underwear, with a leapord print bra she knew he could never take seriously. She had already put on a pot, bless her. How the hell had she gotten up this early? She was usually one to sleep in. Her job didn't start until after David had to be leaving for classes. He often would stay in bed as long as possible without being late to watch her sleep. Eventually he'd have to get up and drive to campus. But not before leaving her scrambled eggs, toast, or a note to wake up to.

This morning they had both woken up early. David was on summer break and Holly had the week off.

David glanced at the stove clock to confirm. 3:13. "Ugh."

"Hey, it'll be worth it, right?" Holly threw him a crooked smile and held out a coffee mug. He took it from her, sipped. "You're the one who spent ages convincing me to go. I can't have you drop out now, because there's no way in hell I'm doing this alone." She laughed.

David set down the mug and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in. He felt her belly press against his. "Today will be incredible baby."

***

"This is the worst day ever!" She moaned.

David laughed and paused to look back at Holly. They were almost fully up the mountain trail now. Her headlamp blinded him for a moment.

"Babe, you've got this! Just a bit more."

"You're lucky I love you. This is no easy task."

Indeed it wasn't. The hike was three miles uphill at night. It was hard for David, he was a little out of shape, but a rather slight young man.

Holly on the other hand was about two of him and she panted hard and struggled to keep up so he'd find himself slowing down for her.

They had arrived. A flat rock ledge jutted out, the valley lay before them. Dimly illuminated by the pre-dawn sky.

Holly took a long swig from her water bottle. "I'll concede. It is pretty." She wrapped her arm around David.

"Wait till you see the sunrise."

The two took a seat on the rock and waited.