51

KATHERINE THRONE

Alexander slept on the couch just as he had promised, and I took the whole bed. I have to admit, I did feel a little bit guilty about it—the key word there is 'a little bit'; a majority of the time, I was fairly happy about it.

I actually slept very well during the night and occasionally, from my sleep, I could hear him twist and turn uncomfortably on the couch. That's when I felt pity for him. However, the morning soon came and I was woken up by a slight tap on my shoulder.

My eyes fluttered open to see Alexander. I smiled sweetly at him. It's nice to wake up to a handsome face and a pair of beautiful eyes right in front of you.

"Good morning, Alex," I said, a yawn coming right after.

"Rise and shine, babe." He said and my smile immediately fizzled away when I caught a whiff of his awful morning breath.

Babe? That's a new one. He has never called me any sweet name before, this is a first. However, I don't dwell on the thought for long.

I cringed in disgust, waving away the bad air from my nose. "Ugh, did you swallow a dumpster? Your morning breath smells like hell." I teased him playfully.

He pinched his nose and grimaced as well, "I should say the same for you. Yours smells like the dumpster itself." He jeered a comeback and we burst into laughter together. He sat on the bed beside me as our laughter fizzled.

"You're not allowed on the bed, remember?" I said to him teasingly.

"I'm not allowed to lay on the bed, not sit on it." He replied and I smiled. I got out of the covers and sat on the bed, scooting closer to him.

"So, how was your night?" I asked him, trying to start up a conversation.

"It was beautiful. I dreamt about a beautiful girl so that automatically makes it beautiful. It's a bit sad though." He narrated.

My brows knitted together, "Why is it sad?"

He sighed deeply, "I was hoping to kiss the beautiful girl today. But sadly, her breath smells like a dead rat." He explained and that earned him a smack on his hand.

"Hey! What gives?"

"Your breath. Your breath gives me the inability to breathe properly." He replied sarcastically, but he was quick enough to jump out of the bed before I could whack him with a pillow.

"My breath doesn't smell like a dead rat." I paused, clasping my hands over my mouth, and breathed into it from my mouth. I perceived the breath. "Well, it is a bit stale but that's because I just woke up. It doesn't smell like a dead rat." I retorted, not being able to suppress the laughter that threatened my throat.

"Okay, okay. Enough of the teasing, now." He said and walked back to the bed. He sat beside me again and placed a kiss on my forehead. "You were the girl I dreamt about." He added after the kiss.

He had a way of saying the most serious things while staring deep into my eyes, pouring the essence of his gaze and his words deep into my soul. And I reeled in them. First, he had called me babe this morning and now a forehead kiss, this Katherine and Alex situation is really starting to feel real.

Of course, I do not give him the benefit of seeing my flustered state for long.

I rubbed my forehead and stuck out my tongue in disgust, "I should go to the bathroom to wash my head, I don't want any of that dumpster breath sticking to it." I further teased.

"Ha ha, so funny." He said sassily and rolled his eyes. "But you really should go to the bathroom, you need to freshen up. We have a long day ahead of him." He said and got up from the bed again.

"Oh? What do you have planned?" I smiled expectantly.

"Well, first, we have to go to the beach. It's called a beach resort for a reason and we have to utilize it because I spent hundreds of dollars getting us exclusive passes to their exotic beach." Alexander said, and he took out the tickets from his pockets and flashed them at me.

"Wow! That's so nice, I can't wait. But why so early? Is it afternoon yet?" I asked, a bit confused.

"Just because you woke up now doesn't make it morning, Katya. It's past one pm." He said and I aimed a pillow at him and I hit the target despite his attempt to dodge.

"Ow!" He feigned pain as he touched the part of his stomach where the pillow had hit him.

I got up from the bed and put on my slippers, "We'll have to get food first, I'm hungry." I said to him as I went to the wardrobe to get my toiletries.

"Yeah, sure. Definitely. There are good food spots here, you'll love them." He answered and I nodded.

"Alright, I'll go shower quickly," I said and made my way to the bathroom with the bag in my hand.

"Ou, can I follow you?" Alexander asked and winked suggestively afterwards.

"No!" I refused strongly and shut the door. As I did, I heard him snickering outside and I rolled my eyes.

-:-

When I was little, I used to wonder why people showered when they were still going to enter the water anyway. I felt like they were just wasting their time and energy. However, what I'm wondering about now is how I'm going to wear a bikini in front of Alexander.

When Alexander said we were going to the beach, I panicked and went to the store to buy the most exotic of bikinis. Why? You may ask.

I will admit it, and be truthful. I scrolled through Alexander's Instagram page and I saw the beach pictures he uploaded whenever he visited with his friends. All the girls around him wore nice bikinis that made them look good. Even Samantha, ESPECIALLY Samantha. And I felt pressured to look like them while on the date with Alexander.

Stupid, I know.

But I can't help it. Teenage peer pressure is real and hard to deal with. I just wanted to look like the girls he's been with before and not be 'boring ol' Katherine'. I wanted to show Alexander that I am fun, I am not conservative and I'm just as sexy as those girls.

So I bought these bikinis. And now I'm too shy to wear them around him.

"Katherine! We're going to get there late and the other people will get all the good surfboards and I really want to surf!" Alexander yelled from outside the bathroom, but I couldn't care less about some stupid surfboard.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror; my bikini was a flowery patterned blue-themed design. The panties exposed most of my ass cheeks, the bra dipped low enough to show my cleavage and a considerable amount of boobs. I regretted my decision even more this time, seeing how the bikini looked on me.

I sighed, picking up the black cover–up I had bought. At least it would help to an extent. My cheeks would be covered. But what about my legs and my boobs? Well, there was no use panicking about it now; I was the one who saw it in the store and picked it up to buy it. So I had better carry my cross.

I took one last look at myself in the mirror and then sighed again, bracing myself. And then, I stepped out of the bathroom.

"Katherine, hurry up please so we won't be la—" Alexander's mouth hung open when he saw me walk out of the bathroom. He froze in place, his eyes raking through my body as he looked at me with surprise.

Suddenly, I wasn't feeling so confident again. Could it be that he found my attempt ridiculous? Or I wasn't doing it as well as the other girls were.

"Oh my goodness, I've embarrassed myself. I know I look hideous and it seems like I'm trying too hard. You don't seem to like it. I just wanted to dress in a way you'd like, just like the other girls do. Please just give me five minutes, let me go back to the bathroom and put on something else. I'm so sorry about—"

"Katherine, stop talking!" Andreas interjected and I swallowed down the rest of my ramble. "What the hell are you saying? Why are you trying to be like someone else? Who or what put that thought into your mind?" Alexander fired the questions at me. He looked angry, not at me directly but at my actions.

"I just wanted to do it for y—"

"Katherine, you are beautiful and okay just the way you are. You don't have to imitate someone's actions just to impress me. I like you just as you are. Doing things you're not comfortable with just to get validation isn't right, Katherine." He further scolded me, not even allowing me to lay a word in.

He's right. He's completely right. And I was so stupid to even think of something like that, I wished the ground would just open up and swallow me or I could go back in time to not let things like this bother me. I felt so ashamed.

"I'm sorry Alex. You're right, I shouldn't have done something like that."

"Yeah. You can go and change if you want to, but if you're comfortable with this you can leave it on." Alexander said. His stern demeanor fizzled away and his eyes twinkled in admiration.

"However, I think you look very sexy in this Katherine. You're the sexiest woman I've ever laid my eyes on. You're beautiful."