I Choose You | ✓

Chapter 21: Vitamin Sea

S O P H I E W I L K I N S

"Wake up, Shortcake," Andrew whispers in a low, raspy voice. He gently shakes my shoulder, but I shrug him off and roll away from his voice.

"Five more minutes," I groan and snuggle further into the pillow. He leans down and I can feel his warm breath against my neck as he speaks.

"You said that an hour ago, Shortcake," he chuckles. I ignore his words and continue to snooze away.

"I guess I'll have to use another method to wake you up." The mattress dips beside me.  His rough hands wrap around the top of my back and behind my thighs as he lifts me up bridal style and my eyes immediately shoot open, screaming as I fly into the air.

I land safely back in his arms and give him the evil eye as he chuckles at my hostility, pretending to feel hurt after slapping his chest.

"How did you even get in here?" I said as I remembered locking the door last night.

"The lock on the door is broken," he smirks. He continues to hold me and starts to make his way towards the hallway. By now, I'm fully awake and don't feel a single ounce of drowsiness in my body anymore.

"Wait, Andrew. Where are we going? Put me down!" I shout, slapping his chest.

"Shh, you'll wake my mom. If I put you down now, you'll just crawl back into bed," he pouts. I chuckle at his childish behavior as he stands at the top of the stairs.

"Well, I don't think I can go back to bed anymore since I'm fully awake because of you," I glare at him playfully. "But I also can't see because my glasses are still in the room."

"Oh, right." He puts me down and I go back into my room for the weekend to put on my glasses before coming back out into the hallway.

As I look up at him, his dark brown, almost black, eyes gleam brightly and a piece of hair falls onto his forehead. I reach up and feel his soft brown hair as I brush it away.

"Come on, Shortcake. We have things to do," he expresses softly with a grin. He walks down the stairs and into the kitchen as I follow closely behind.

"What time is it?" I ask, rubbing my eyes and raising my arms in the air to stretch. Andrew quickly reaches out and grabs my waist, pulling me closer to him as he leans against the counter. My eyes widen at the move and my heart slowly starts to flutter.

"9 AM," he reveals as I rest my arms on top of his shoulders.

"What?! Why did you wake me up so early?" I pout, sticking out my bottom lip. He chuckles at my sad expression and pats me on the back before releasing me from his hold.

"Because we're going to the beach and the best time to go is in the morning when there aren't that many people around," he explains.

"But I didn't pack a swimsuit."

"We can go and buy you one," he smiles with a cheeky wink. I still give him a hesitant look and he sighs. "I'll buy you ice cream after."

"Deal!" My face instantly lights up and I jump away from him.

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