~ Chapter 36: NYC = Gospel, sing and dance in the subway, Times Square at night. ~

(A/N: Hey guys! So on the right, in the external link, you can see what inspired me for Damon and Leah's hotel room in New York. Oh how I wish I were there intead of studying for my exams! Well not really studying actually more like procrastinating while having the little voice in my head repeat "Hey, you should be studying and not watching videos on Youtube" ('m not crazy I swear). Anyway, enjoy this chapter and please don't forget to vote/comment :) )

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        We finished dinner around eleven. It had been really god and my stomach was full for a whole week. After thanking Damon’s parents multiple times, we left the house and hopped in Damon’s car.

“So, still want to go to New York?” He asked as he put the key in the ignition.

“Yes!! Oh my god I’m so excited!!”

“Me too.”

“Shouldn’t I be driving though? You’re going to be tired and the last thing I want is for us to have an accident before arriving!”

“Mm, I would argue with you but I love you too much to put your life in danger. Are you sure you’re not tired though?”

“No, I could drive all night. Come on, move your pretty butt.”

We switched places and I drove away from Damon’s parent’s house. He put Sam Smith’s song on and I sang with him while laughing about how we were ruining the beautiful song. Sometimes, Damon would clench at his seat and close his eyes shut for a few minutes while breathing slowly and I couldn’t even take his hand because I was driving.

“Maybe we should smoke more of this marijuana.” I suggested playfully to try to make him smile.

“I wouldn’t be against it right now.” He breathed between clenched teeth.

“Is it your head again? Do you want me to pull over and turn off the music?”

“No, it relaxes me.” He didn’t look anything even remotely closed to relaxed. “And pulling over won’t be of any help. Just…” He breathed out. “Talk to me. Distract me.”

And that’s how I started a long, long ramble of the erotic things I would do to him when we would arrive at our hotel room. I had never talked like that in a car drive, just like I was telling him about the weather. But it seemed to work. Sometimes, he would laugh, others I would see him gulp or blush, which was the most adorable thing ever. I was getting very turned on so I asked the efficacy of this plan but kept going.

“Well now I want you to pull over so that I can make love to you right there, right now.” Damon whispered, still in pain.

“You and me both. But the wait will be worth it.”

I went on and couldn’t believe I was capable of keeping a straight face and tone while saying the dirty things that were coming out of my mouth right now.

“You’d be a good employee on the sex chat line.” Damon joked, smiling a little now.

“Shut up!” I took my hand off the wheel for a slight second to punch him playfully in the arm.

“But luckily your filthy mouth is all mine.” He added.

“Feeling better Mr. Hollins?” I inquired.

“Much, much better and wide awake and very, very turned on right now. You have a real talent Ms. Clark.”

“Why, thank you! I’ll give you a shout out when I’ll do interviews on the red carpet about my hidden talents.”

He smiled widely this time and had to fight the urge of pulling over before stripping him off his clothes. He turned the volume of the radio louder and sang the chorus of One Direction’s No Control.

“I never pictured you as a fangirl.” I teased him.

“Jenny was listening to it once and I liked it. I didn’t know it was One Direction but it’s good, I like it. Their new album’s pretty cool.”

I smiled, glad that my boyfriend didn’t mind admitting he liked a boyband. We had been driving for two hours now and we weren’t too far from New York. I stopped to rest a little and go to the toilets then we went back on the road. Finally, about an hour later, we arrived at our destination. I stopped in front of the hotel and lent the keys to the valet. Damon hadn’t picked the cheapest hotel. We stepped inside and held our breath at the sight of such fanciness (not a word, I know, but there was no other word to describe the place).

“Wow.” Damon whispered, looking around him.

“Yeah. Wow.” I approved.

We walked to the reception and took our room keys while checking in. We took the elevator with our two bags up to the last and highest floor. Then we looked for the right room and Damon slid the card in the door, which opened just as the light turned green. We switched on the light and said “wow” again when we saw our room (which was called the Deluxe room – West Tower so I guess we should have known what to expect). The room was decorated in beige and light brown tones, all elegant yet modern, there was a huge king sized bed with two big armchairs on both sides of a big wall-sized window that gave us a breathless-worthy view on New York at night. There was also a little desk, in the same color tones, facing the bed on the opposite wall.

The first thing we did, after taking off our shoes and washing our hands, was jump on the bed. It was seriously huge and so damn comfortable! We laughed while rolling around on the mattress then Damon pulled me in his arms and kissed me on the lips then moved down to my neck and I felt I was already short of breath.

“I still have those dirty words of yours printed in my memory.” Damon whispered against my skin. “And I’m even more turned on now.”

I could feel his smile against my lips. Definitely worth the wait.

I woke up late in the morning, snuggled up in Damon’s arms. He was still sleeping and I took a few moments to look at his perfect face, his eyes closed, his mind wandering somewhere else. My eyes moved to his chest rising evenly with each breath. He looked so peaceful, so not-sick-at-all. I knew someday I would have to see him with his eyes closed, only this time, he wouldn’t open them again and his chest wouldn’t rise because he wouldn’t be breathing anymore.

I shook the bad thoughts away and brushed my lips against Damon’s slightly. I could feel a little smile forming on his mouth and he opened one eye, than another. He put his hand on my cheek and raised his chest to bring his lips to mine. He didn’t even have morning breath. Wait. Did I have morning breath? I hoped not!!

“I’m still sore from last night.” Damon said before laying back down and closing his eyes.

“No! Don’t fall back asleep! We said we’d go see the Gospel in Harlem! I checked the website and it’s in two hours! We still have to get breakfast, because I’m starving, and to dress up and to go all the way there, so come on lazy ass, get up!”

He moaned but then stretched and got out of bed. I was still in it though, I had trouble quitting this heavenly mattress.

“You have 5 minutes while I go in the bathroom then you have to get up too.” Damon warned me.

I smiled and took my phone to text Jenny and to write an idea I just had had for my book (I got random moments when I had ideas popping in my head so I would just write them down in my phone until I could have some time to write). Then I got out of bed too very reluctantly and took my clothes from my bag. I put them on quickly then applied just a tiny bit of makeup to make sure I didn’t look too tired. My hair was a mess after last night and the way Damon had played with it while I was falling asleep in his arms so I just tied it in a messy bun.

I realized it had been twenty minutes since Damon had been in the bathroom and the water hadn’t stopped running for a single second.

“Damon?” I knocked at the bathroom door. The idiot had locked it. “Are you okay?”

It took a couple seconds before I heard an answer.

“I’m… on the floor. Having… headache. I… Can’t open.”

“Shit. Shit. Do you have your pills in there with you?”

“… No.” Every word was pronounced in a breath.

“Shit! Ok, Damon, I’m going to call someone who can open the door.”

“…No! Don’t.”

I ignored him and pressed the room service button. It wasn’t what we needed but it’d do.

“Room service, how may I help you?”

“Hello, um, my boyfriend is stuck in the bathroom, the lock is stuck.” I explained, although it wasn’t the entire truth, he just was in so much pain that he couldn’t reach the doorknob. “Can you send someone please? With a glass of water.”

“Of course, someone will be right up. Can I get your room number and name please?”

I told her then hung up.

“Someone’s coming.” I told Damon before taking his bottle of pills and taking two in my hands, ready to give them to him when I could get inside the bathroom.

Luckily, the guy from the room service took only two minutes to arrive. He handed me my glass of water then took his screwdriver out to try and unlock the door. He succeeded rapidly and I rushed inside. Damon was crawled up in the corner, his hand on both side of his head and tears running down his bloodshot eyes. Just seeing him like that brought tears to my own eyes but I ignored them and handed Damon his pills and the glass of water that he hurried down his throat.

“Sir, are you okay?” The man from the room service asked, passing his head inside the bathroom.

“He’s fine, thank you. Would you mind go getting us some breakfast please?” I asked to send him away.

I knew Damon hated for people to see him like that. The man left and I took Damon’s hand, then started singing Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud to try and take his mind off of the pain. He smiled faintly but then frowned again so I guessed the pain wasn’t gone yet. The guy knocked on the door and I left Damon reluctantly to take the tray of food, thank him and give him a tip then he left and I went back to sit next to Damon on the bathroom floor. I began singing Crazy In Love by Beyonce to change his mind and he smiled a little through his pain.

An hour later, Damon started feeling better. He wiped his tears, I helped him up and he washed his face with some fresh water.

“We can still make it in time.” I told him.

“Let’s not waste any time then.”

We took our things and exited our hotel room before taking the elevator all the way down to the streets of New York. I took his hand in mine and we got down in the subway. I had never been to New York before and I wanted to look around but right now, we just needed to get to the church in Harlem in time for the Gospel. I had never been to church either, for that matter. We got there five minutes before it started luckily and took our seats, excited to see a Gospel live. Being inside of a church wasn’t as intimidating as I thought it would be. This one wasn’t dark or full of stained-glass windows. There wasn’t a big dead Jesus on his cross either, which tended to freak me out a little bit to be honest when I saw it. The people in the choir were all dressed with red gowns with striped of yellow on the end of the sleeves, except for the guy leading them who just wore a shirt and jeans. And then they all started singing and a big smile spread on my face. It was beautiful, heart-warming and so joyful. It immediately took my mind of Damon’s pain this morning and we were both smiling like happy children, listening to the choir sing. It wasn’t the typical Oh Happy Day at first but then someone asked them to sing it, I think it was a foreigner, so they happily did it, which just made me want to sing with them while snapping my fingers in sync and balancing on my feet in the same rhythm as them. When they started clapping their hands, we all did too and the feeling of joy was even more powerful. I looked at Damon and saw his big smile.

When the ceremony ended, we went over to them to thank them and congratulate them. I think they remarked Damon’s dark circles under his eyes because they asked him :

“Are you alright son?”

“Yes. Just a little tired.” He lied.

I asked Damon if he could go and get our coats so he left and I stayed with the people of the choir.

“I know this is a weird request and I am not even really religious, but could you maybe pray for Damon’s soul?” I asked the sisters and the religious people.

“Of course honey!”

“Thank you.”

“Will you be coming back?”

“No, unfortunately we live three hours from here so we won’t be able to. But it was really wonderful, thank you.”

We said goodbye then left the church and headed for Central Park. We hopped on the subway and took the notebook out to tick out See the Gospel in Harlem.

“Hey! We could do that here!” I said while pointing at Dance and sing in the subway with everyone watching and not give a fuck.

Damon smiled and agreed.

“Are you ready right now to do it?” He inquired, getting his phone out.

“Let’s do it!”

Damon selected a song and I recognized Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5. I smiled, remembering the time we had danced on it when we had played Just Dance and completely improvised our own choreography but still hit the best score. The volume was at its maximum and people were now looking at us, some frowning and wondering where the music came from, others glancing madly at us. We started singing and dancing, everybody was watching now but we didn’t give a f. We were laughing while dancing in sync, remembering our improvised choreography and sliding on the subway floor. Luckily, the car wasn’t crowded so we had all the space we needed. At Christina Aguilera’s part, I grabbed the bar and started twirling around it, but not like a stripper, just teasing a little and Damon laughed. Then we danced again, and again, laughing and singing on You’re The One That I Want,until we had reached our station. Some people handed us bills but we refused saying we didn’t need any money than bowed down before going out of the subway, out of breath and laughing like crazy people. At least we had put a smile on the people’s faces in our car and had given them something to laugh about tonight when they’d tell their loved ones about their day.

“This was awesome!!” I exclaimed, sitting on a bench to catch my breath.

“Agreed. Let’s do it again when we go back to the hotel. After all, no one said we couldn’t do the things on the list twice.”

We ticked Dance and sing in the subway with everyone watching and not give a fuck nonetheless then went out of the subway and into Central Park. There were lots of squirrels running around, and I took a lot of pictures of Damon, then Damon and me together, and sometimes just of the park itself.

We did a rapid tour of New York then when it was dark at night, we took a bus to Times Square and ticked together See Times Square at Night. It was so awesome to be there, among the usual crowd walking around. We ate dinner at the famous Planet Hollywood, went into the M&M’s store, took thousands of pictures and Facetimed with Jenny (who conveniently was with Seth) to show them Times Square.

Then we went back to the hotel room, a little tired from all the walking, and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the fluffy pillows.

(A/N again: Just a little reminder: I decided to post 1 or 2 chapters a day and there are 51 chapters in total + an epilogue + Damon's bucket list in the end. Just to let you know when to expect updates. Thanks for reading! :) xx)