Before I Rise
The Date Crashers

Marcus’s POV

I was nervous. I have spent some one on one time with Em, but not for a significant amount of time. What if we ran out of things to talk about? Would the silence be awkward between us? What if I do or say something cringy again? Well, I’ll definitely probably say something cringy. It tends to happen every time I see her. It’s like my mind can’t function right when I am around her.

I arrived at her bedroom door and took a second to gather my thoughts before knocking. Just as I was about to, the door open and there she was. No matter how many times I see her, she still steals my breath away. So much for calming down.

“Oh perfect timing! I was just about to come replace you. Do you think I need to bring a jacket or sweater with me?” She asked me.

I took a second to look at what she had on. She was wearing a white V-neck Tshirt with a red and black flannel tied at her waist, paired with light blue ripped skinny jeans and some white converse. Her dark blond hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she had only put on mascara to make her vibrant green eyes pop.

“I have an extra sweatshirt in the car if you get cold, but it’s suppose to be a nice day out. You look beautiful by the way.” Pink danced across her cheeks and she slightly shook her head. I reached up and lightly brushed some loose hair back behind her ear, smiling when the sparks shot down my hand. I was still getting used to them.

“Are you ready to go?” She shook her head yes and we started walking.

“You still haven’t told me what an amusement park is.”

“You’ll replace out soon enough.” I said while chuckling.

She let out a groan of frustration. “The anticipation is killing me. Just tell me, pretty please?” She clasped her hands together, stuck out her bottom lip, and made her eyes as big as she could.

I laughed at her attempt in begging and shook my head no.

“Sorry love, but you’re going to have to do better than that.”

“Ugh, fine. I’ll figure out your weakness sooner or later Alpha.” She said with a mischievous look on her face. Fuck, she already figured it out.

We arrived at the front door of the house and walked out to where my truck was parked. Standing by my truck was the people I was trying to avoid seeing to make sure Em and I would spend the day completely alone.

“Well it’s about time you two love birds showed up.” Alicia said while throwing her hands up in the air. “If we don’t leave right now it will be packed and then we won’t replace a good parking spot!”

“We? Who’s we? It’s just Em and I going. Don’t know why the four of you are standing here but go replace something else to do today.” I will seriously rip my hair out if they come. No way in hell was I going to have them crash my date with Em.

“Aww come on bro, it will be just like old times. Besides, the four of us were planning on making a trip to Silverwood in the next few weeks. Might as well just go with you two.” Jacoby threw me a wide tooth smile while he threw an arm around Julie.

“Yeah, and who is watching over the pack while their Alpha and Beta are gone?” No way in hell was I leaving the pack without some type of leader.

“Don’t worry, Luke said he would stay behind. Everything is taken care of Alpha.” Jake said.

“Ok fine, but there is no way I can fit six people in my truck so we are going to have to take two cars up there.” That way I can still get alone time with Em.

“I’ll drive mine! Girls in one car and guys in the other.” Alicia excitedly said.

Fuck that. “No! We will just take the van.” They all started to cheer and clap. My mood was starting to go sour. This was not how I thought today was going to go. I looked beside me to where my beautiful mate was standing with a soft smile on her face, improving my mood instantly.

“Are you ok with this?” I ask her.

“Yeah! It will be fun, besides we can always try to ditch them when we get there.” She said with a wink and began walking towards the van. Hopefully she was right, I just wanted to spend time with her alone without any interruptions.

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After 45 minutes of horrible singing, fighting over the playlist, and threatening to pull the car over and kick them out, we finally arrived at the amusement park. The only reason I didn’t lose it on them, was for the fact that Em seemed to be having fun. Thank Goddess I insisted she sit up front with me. Alicia tried to convince her to sit in the backseat with her, but my wonderful mate agreed with me. Alicia’s face was priceless.

Em’s face lit up when we passed through the gates after buying our tickets. She looked around and then turned back to look at me. “What is this place?” She asked.

“It’s an amusement park. See all those things over there?” I pointed towards the rollercoasters and the drop tower. “Those are what we call rollercoasters. You sit in a seat with a strap and a metal bar that keeps you from falling out. That right there is where you go to the very top and they drop you. If we wait a minute, you can see exactly what it does.”

“Can we go on every single one!?” Her green eyes lit up with excitement. I nodded my head yes and chuckled.

She grabbed my right hand and started dragging me towards the rides. “Then let’s go!”

My arm lit up with sparks. Our hands fit perfectly together as though they had been made for each other. I realized this was the first time we had ever held hands. I tightened my hold on her hand, afraid she would let go. She gave my hand a small squeeze and smiled up at me, making my heart flutter in my chest.

“Dang, if she gets this excited over Silverwood imagine how nuts she’ll be at Disneyland.” Jacoby said as he walked up to us with Julie right beside him.

“Speaking of Disneyland, you have been promising since we met that you would take me and you still haven’t.” Jules said, as she glared at her mate. I rolled my eyes and began following my mate towards the rides.

“Which one do you want to go on first?” I asked her. She pointed to the drop tower and all six of us got in line. Alicia looked at our joined hands and wiggled her eyebrow at us. Em chuckled while I sent her a glare. Leave it to Alicia to turn an innocent thing into a dirty one.

The drop tower dropped and the group on it got off. I pulled Em towards the ride and she sat down in the seat. I helped strap her in and adjusted the pullover metal bar until it clicked a couple of times. I wanted to make sure she was absolutely safe and wasn’t going to fly out of her seat.

“Does that feel secure?”

She shook her head yes and I sat down right next to her. I strapped in and grabbed her hand, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Are you nervous?” I asked her.

“No, are you?”

“Nope.” We both sat there smiling at each other, lost in our own happy bubble.

“Gross, we haven’t even dropped yet and I already feel like puking.” Jake faked gagged and Em’s laughter filled the air.

The ride started and we began to move higher and higher until we got to the top. Em squeezed my hand as we were dropped and let out a squeal. Butterflies danced across my stomach and I let out a laugh as I unstrapped myself. I turned to face Em to help her and saw her face lit up in awe.

“LET’S GO AGAIN!!!” I laughed at her and grabbed her hand getting right back in line.

We went on every single ride in the park over and over again. Jake ended up getting sick after the last one.

Em wore a smile on her face the entire day. She also never once let go of my hand, unless it was to get on a ride. And of course I made sure she was safely strapped in for every one. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to ditch the four date crashers yet.

“I’m hungry, let’s go get some food.” Alicia said.

Em lightly pulled my arm, making me look at her. “This is our opportunity to ditch them.” She whispered with a huge smile on her face. Good to know I wasn’t the only one that wanted to leave them in the dust.

“Hey guys, you go get food while Em and I go look around in the gift shop.”

“Why don’t we just meet you two back at the car since it’s getting late anyways.” Julie said, while giving me a knowing look. Thank Goddess she can pick up on clues.

“Ok sounds good. See you guys in about 40 minutes.”

The four of them walked away finally leaving me and Em alone.

“Do we really have to go to the gift shop?” She asked me.

I laughed at the look on her face. She really does not like shopping at all. “No, I just said that because I knew they wouldn’t want to go with us. We can do anything you want to do. Want to go on another ride?”

She shook her head no, “I was actually maybe thinking we can go get some ice cream and then replace a nice bench to sit on. My feet are killing me.”

“I’m down for that.” I pulled her towards a little ice cream stand that was close by. “Can I get two scopes of strawberry in a cone? What do you want love?”

She bit her bottom lip as she thought about what she wanted. Oh how badly I wish it was me biting her bottom lip.

“Can I have two scopes of Oreo in a cone too please?” The man shook his head and started scooping the ice creams.

“Did you have fun today?” I asked her.

“I know I don’t have any memories to base this on, but I seriously had the best day ever. I am pretty sure I have never had such a fun day in my entire life. Thank you for bringing me here Marcus” She leaned up and kissed my cheek. I think in that moment my heart completely stopped beating. I’m pretty sure my face was as red as a tomato, her sweet chuckle confirmed my thought.

“Here you guys go.” The man handed us our ice cream as I handed him some money. We grabbed our ice creams and walked towards an empty bench that was surrounded by a couple of trees.

“This is so good!” Em said as she licked her ice cream. I stopped eating mine for a second, just staring at her tongue and picturing it licking something else. “What, do I have some on my face?” She asked me, catching me staring at her.

I cleared my throat. “No, you don’t. Sorry, just had my head in the clouds for a second.” I cleared my throat again and begged my mind to think of something else.

We sat there for a few minutes in comfortable silence as we ate our ice cream and watched different groups of people walk by.

I turned my body slightly in her direction and asked her, “So, what was your favorite ride?”

She looked at me and started laughing. “What’s so funny?” She took a deep breath to calm herself. “You have ice cream on your face, like a lot.”

“Is that so?” I asked her, as an idea began to form in my head. She started to laugh again as she shook her head yes. She looked so carefree when she laughed. It was quickly becoming my favorite sight in the whole world.

I took my ice cream and slightly smeared some on her lips. She quickly stopped laughing and looked at me in confusion. “Oh my bad, let me clean that up for you.”

I leaned forward and placed my lips onto hers. She froze and didn’t move a muscle. After a couple of seconds of her not moving, I began to rethink this. Maybe she just wasn’t ready?

I started to move back from her, when she placed a hand on my right cheek and relaxed into me. We started moving our lips like we had kissed a thousand times before. Every nerve in my body was on fire and my heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest. It was as though the world around us stopped and it was just her and I. I placed my right hand on the back of her neck to pull her even closer. She gasped slightly, giving me an opening to slip my tongue in. My goddess, she tasted amazing. She let out a slight moan and moved her hand from my cheek to my shirt, grabbing onto it like it was the only thing that was keeping her from floating away.

We both pulled away when we ran out of breath and we each had an ear splitting grin on our faces. I placed my forehead on hers and looked into her deep green eyes. A feeling bubbled in my chest as I stared into her eyes. It was a feeling I thought I would never have towards a female. And I knew, right then and there, in that moment without a doubt I knew. I had fallen in love with her.