e i g h t

Verena's pov

How dare he?

How dare he march into my life, causing problems and stirring feelings I worked so hard to suppress.

I sat on the makeshift bed located in a room on the ship contemplating how I was going to make it through this trip with him.

I'll just refuse to talk to him.

But his very presence messes up my emotions.

When I look at him, it feels like I'm at my first senate meeting.

Uneven breathing, jumbled thoughts, sweaty palms, rapid heart rate.

There's no way out of it, it's inevitable that my feelings for Anakin will only develop and manifest.

I cursed under my breath and rubbed my head, sighing as I did so.

I know he returns these feelings, he's acted on them.

Something I wish I could do, but my position permits me from any distractions.

I wish that him and I could work out and be happy together, but thats all it is, a wish made by a hopeless romantic.

And that's all it will ever be.

And that thought is what triggered the hot tears to rush down my cheeks.

My eyes burned and my face flushed, the tears still falling.

I was frustrated, upset, and confused.

Why did an amazing guy like Anakin have to waltz into my life and mess everything up.

Its like the universe knows my deepest unreachable desires and dangles them in front of me, enjoying my pain.

I want so desperately to reach out and grab them, but I know I can't.

My tears eventually cease and my swollen eyes and lack of energy put me to sleep.

I wake up to Anakin's voice.

"Verena, we're almost there, you should probably wake up."

My eyes fluttered open and I was forced to squint at his figure due to the bright lights.

"I'm up" I reassured him.

"Alright, just come into the cockpit when you're ready." And with that he left the room, the sound of his boots hitting the ships floor growing quieter.

I swung my legs from the bed so I was sitting up, my arms supporting my still sluggish body.

My head felt fuzzy and black dots swarmed my vision from the abrupt movement.

I let myself gain focus and gradually stood up, walking towards the cockpit and Anakin.

On my way to him, the ship lurched, I stumbled, and because of my very recent nap, my legs refused to work properly and I fell straight on my butt.

Hearing my fall, Anakin hurried out of the cockpit, bending down to help me up.

If my legs were functioning properly I would have refused his help, but to my dismay, they weren't.

I was forced to grab onto his arm, his other snaked around my waist, hoisting me up.

My face flushed at the contact and I looked down to avoid his gaze.

He let go of me, his hands still out in case I fell again.

I regained my composure and waved him off.

He hesitated but eventually let his hands fall back to his sides.

"Sorry about that, the ship had a bit of a bumpy landing." He explained, scratching the back of neck.

"Yea I can tell." I retorted, a bit cranky.

"Well the planet seems to have an endless downpour, so it's a bit hard to land when you can barely see what you're trying to land on." He said defensively.

I realized how rude I sounded and decided to apologize.

"Sorry, that was rude. I'm still kind of cranky from lack of sleep." I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Anakin cracked a small smile at me and I smiled back, liking the sensation.

It dawned on me that this kind of interaction would lead to nothing good, so I looked away from his enchanting gaze.

He cleared his throat, sensing my hesitance.

"The downpour seems unrelenting, so we'll just have to make a run for it."

"Ok, I hope they have some dryers in this joint." I laughed, the grogginess from my nap finally disappearing.

Anakin chuckled lightly and sighed.

"I hope so too Verena"

Him saying my name sent an unfamiliar feeling shooting through my body.

How am I supposed to ignore my feelings for him when he simply says my name and I'm ready to kiss him again?

Hiding my emotions for him will probably be the hardest thing I've ever done.

I started walking towards to the door of the ship, when Anakin didn't follow, I looked back at him.

He seemed to understand what I was saying and quickly made his way to the door.

He opened it and the deafening sound of rain hit me with full force.

I looked to where the door of the unfamiliar building was, preparing myself to sprint towards it to minimize how drenched I would be.

Anakin had the same idea.

"I bet I could beat you to the door." He challenged.

I raised an eyebrow skeptically, smirking at him with disbelief.

"Oh really?" I asked sarcastically, "Want to put your money where your mouth is hot shot?" I antagonized.

"I don't have any money." He laughed.

"Ok fine, but you owe me something if I win."

"And if I win?" He asked.

"You get the satisfaction of knowing you beat the one and only Verena Leoet." I replied, putting my hand on my chest.

"Oh no no no, if I win, you owe me something." He smirked.

"Ugh fine." I said, knowing I was going to cave no matter what he said.

"Alright, on 3." He stated, looking at me.

"1"

"2"

"3!" He yelled, sprinting towards the door.

I kept his pace for about half the distance.

I started gaining on him, I pumped my legs faster to increase my distance.

But the only thing the extra pumping did was land me a spot on the wet floor, face down.

Apparently smooth soled flats and a floor slick with water don't mix, who knew?

I fell, arms flailing ungracefully. I attempted to put them in front of me to evade the possibility of my face taking the brunt of the fall.

My plan didn't work and I ended up knocking my head on the floor. It wasn't bad but it certainly hurt.

I groaned and looked up to Anakin, he had just reached the door and turned, smiling wide.

He saw my state and his delighted face quickly turned to one of worry and distress.

He ran over to me and got to his knees, trying to help me up.

"Are you ok? This is all my fault, I never should have made you do this." He said, clearly upset.

"Anakin, I'm fine, I just took a small tumble. And I agreed to this, you didn't make me do anything." I smiled, trying to reassure him.

He smiled back at me and helped me to my feet.

His hands stayed glued to my waist, trying to stabilize me.

He looked me in the eyes, not caring that we were getting completely soaked in the rain.

"I still won you know?" He smirked.

I laughed.

"Only by default, I would have won if it wasn't raining."

"Excuses excuses." He joked.

I raised my eyebrows in a challenging way, I tried to look intimidating but I ended up laughing instead.

"You still owe me something." He stated.

"Oh really? And what do I owe you?" I inquired.

"This." He replied as he collided his lips with mine.

I don't know what made me respond to the kiss, perhaps it was the whole hitting my head ordeal.

At least that's what I kept telling myself.

That I was enjoying kissing him only because I was possibly concussed and not because I was completely infatuated with him.

Though I subconsciously recognized that the latter was real reason I was kissing him back.

I temporarily ignored the torrential downpour soaking us to the bone and focused on Anakin.The kiss was passionate and romantic and certainly better than our last one, probably because I haven't chastised him yet-though I didn't have any intention to do so this time.

His hands were still glued to my hips from when he tried to stabilize me from my fall.

His thumbs rubbed rhythmical circles into my sides, spurring me to intensify the kiss.

He responded to the new ferocity, tilting his head to get a better angle.

He quickly pulled me closer to him by my hips.

The sudden movement surprised me, warranting a gasp.

He used it to his advantage and began exploring my mouth with his tongue.

Had the rain not been pouring on me, I think I might have combusted into flames right then and there.

Not wanting this to go farther than it needed to, I pulled away, panting heavily.

I looked him in the eyes, smiling slightly.

I laid my head on his chest, which was going up and down erratically from his heavy breathing.

He put a finger under my chin and lifted my head up to look at him again.

"We'll talk about this later." He said.

He kissed my forehead and released me from his grip.

I stood in shock for a split second before realizing that I was in fact completely drenched.

I ran after Anakin, careful not to slip again.

I caught up to him just as the automatic door opened, leading us into a bright white room.

To my dismay, there were no heat dryers available.

I looked at Anakin again, he was trying to dry out his long hair.

The sight made me smile.

I had to let him know that I did want this to work-with all of my heart. But sometimes it doesn't matter what we want, it matters what we need.

Part of me argued that he was what I needed.

The other part claimed he was in the way of what I needed and simply delayed me from discovering what it was.

But if he truly was only a distraction, why had fate led me to him?

He was in my life for a reason, he contained something I did need- love.

Hey y'all! I'm officially on summer vacation and I have nothing to do so there will definitely be more frequent updates! Please vote or comment if you're enjoying the story! I don't have very many reads compared to other Anakin fics so if you could recommend this to a friend it would be greatly appreciated:) love you guys!