Under the Dome

"We Can Pretend"

It has been almost a month since the whole town went underground to find another passage out of the dome. Unfortunately, all they found was an apparition, from the things controlling the dome using Melanie's image.

She told them to follow her home. Much to the town's dismay, she led them back through the tunnel and up to Chester's Mill again. Seemingly, the controllers of the dome had restored the town. All the physical damage caused by the magnetization, earthquakes and whatever else has been going on was cleaned up. They found out that their risk of famine and water loss was gone; food supply was restored and the polluted waters cleaned up.

They got the instruction they had been looking for, the fake Melanie told them just before leaving, "Take your second chance here and live in harmony".

With that very clearsend-off, people had no idea what to do. While nothing drastic had happened, there was definitely no harmony to be found in Chester's Mill.

It was a regular morning, about two months since the dome came down. Well, as regular as mornings can get these days in Chester's Mill. Norrie sat across from Joe and Ben, eating breakfast in the diner.

"It's getting a little weird around here man," Ben says through a mouth full of eggs.

"That's very insightful Ben. Thanks for that waste of breath," snaps Norrie, a little more bitchy than usual.

"He is right though," Joe offers, hoping to calm Norrie down a bit. "It's great that my house is back to normal and all but after Angie… its just, weird." While Norrie keeps her angered face on, she reaches for Joe under the table, taking his hand and squeezing it. The two of them have become even closer, if that is possible, in the past month. They returned to living in Joe's house with Carolyn, so the young couple gets to spend nearly every waking moment together. Carolyn is cool about it, mostly because she knows Joe is a good boy, but Norrie knows she's always watching like a hawk.

"Dude, you want to talk about weird? My parents are freaking out that we are going to be stuck here forever! Since we have enough food and water now, they are picking out the places they want to be buried," Ben says, wincing a little at the end suddenly realizing the insensitivity to the position his friends are in.

"Yeah, well your parents aren't the only ones freaking out," Joe tries to diffuse the tension again, giving Norrie's hand an extra squeeze. "So many people are thinking the same thing. They might start going stir crazy and do something insane."

"Yeah that'd be new," Norrie rolls her eyes. Joe is getting concerned about her. She's usually sarcastic like this but something changed a few days ago that he still couldn't figure out. She hasn't pulled away from him; their constant hand holding and occasional, amazing make out sessions are not affected. But there's something about her that makes her… not quite Norrie.

"Hey kids," says Carolyn once she comes up to their table with refills for their drinks. "What will you all be getting into today? And if it is something out of this world again, I'd actually rather not know."

"Nothing like that," Joe says with a laugh while also gently letting go of Norrie's hand under the table. The last thing he wants is for Norrie's mom to be uncomfortable with the two of them together. "Just more of the same, trying to figure out this harmony thing."

"Well be sure to give yourselves a break sometime," Carolyn says with a warm smile. "Especially this one," she says gesturing toward Norrie whose face turns even harder than before.

Joe, thinking he's found the root of Norrie's bad mood, asks, "Why especially Norrie?"

Before Norrie can interject Carolyn announced, "It's her 17th birthday tomorrow!"

Joe spun his head to look at Norrie, definitely the source of her bad mood. In a flash of red hair, Norrie got up and ran out of the diner. Joe turned to Ben who wordlessly looked back down at his food. So he turned to Carolyn for help, she simply nodded towards the door encouraging Joe to go after her.

By the time Joe walked out the door, Norrie was nowhere to be seen. But he knew where to find her. He couldn't help the smile that came across his face as soon as he could see her sitting on the swinging bench by the pier where they first kissed. She did this sometimes, he'd find her down here, just thinking, looking beautiful. He's never told her but seeing her sit there makes him feel more connected to her than any of the dome stuff.

Joe sits down next to Norrie as she stares ahead in complete silence. "Why didn't you tell me your birthday was coming up?"

Norrie turns her head to see Joe's caring look and sweet eyes staring back at her. She can't say no to him, can't keep anything from him. "I didn't want people to know, especially you."

"But why?" he pleads. He doesn't see why it needs to be such a secret but waits patiently for Norrie to answer.

"Birthdays were a big thing back home. My moms loved it. They always went all out. Especially Alice," Norrie says trailing off as she looses her voice to sadness.

Joe's heart drops, suddenly understanding Norrie's behavior for the past few days. At a loss for comforting words, he settles for putting his arm around her and pulls her close. "It just wouldn't be the same here, in this stupid fishbowl!" she exclaims after finding her voice again. "I just knew if you found out, you'd want to be sweet and do something so dorky for me because that's who you are. But I'm not sure I could handle that right now."

"Of course I'd want to do something for you, I definitely wouldn't want to see you like this for your birthday," Joe says, forcing Norrie to look him in the eyes. She looks so sad and heart broken, he can't help himself. So he leans closer to her, putting his left hand behind her neck to pull her to him while his right is still wrapped around her back. Slowly, her eyes flutter closed as she feels the warmth of his lips gently pressing to hers. It's a small kiss, charged with their energy just like the first one they shared in this same spot.

"And I love you for that," she says softly. "But the family tradition just can't live on without a part of the family."

"What about a new tradition?" Joe offers.

"What?" she looks at him confused. "Joe, no you don't have to do anything–"

"I know," he cuts her off, "I want to. Do you trust me?"

"Of course, idiot. But–"

"Then I promise, you'll love it," Joe says determined to make his idea a reality. Sometimes, Norrie just cannot believe his devotion to her, it's unreal. What has she ever done to deserve this kind of love from him? She can see that love so clearly in his eyes looking back at her right now. Again, she can't say no to him.

"Fine. We'll do it your way. But nothing crazy. Okay, nerd? And not too many people, you know how I feel about all these weirdoes–" Joe cuts her off with another kiss, this one more forceful than the first. So much so that Norrie loses her train of thought completely and her mind is only filled with him, his lips, the feeling of his strong hands on her back.

Joe pulls back to see Norrie's dazed face and his heart stops for a second seeing the affect he had on her, "I know all of that, you just have to trust me."

"Okay," Norrie says, still spinning from the kiss. She looks deeply into Joe's eyes, "I do."

She blinks quickly and looks away, sitting back against the bench and pulling away from Joe as she hears the weirdness of what she just said.

"Well then," Joe says standing up from the swing completely oblivious to Norrie's discomfort at her own words. "For my plan to work, you have to give me the day to prepare," he says while pulling Norrie from her thoughts and from the bench. "It'll be hard on such short notice but I think I'll manage," he smiles at her and suddenly she knows there is nothing to worry about. "We have to go back to the diner though."

The young couple walks to the diner hand-in-hand both blissfully content with the moment they just shared. Once at the diner, Joe forces Norrie to sit in the corner by herself while he explains his plan to Carolyn. She is more than happy to help and takes the day off to spend with her daughter as Joe sets up for the next day.

It is noon on Norrie's 17th birthday, which she is lucky enough to spend in an apocalyptic town trapped under an alien dome. Best birthday ever, right? Well, thanks to her sweetheart of a boyfriend, she got to spend the whole day yesterday with her mother and woke up this morning to a full breakfast feast made entirely by Joe. Now the two of them are slumped on the couch stuffed with food and happily in the other's company.

"Okay!" Joe suddenly jumps from the couch, apparently full of energy now, "We have big plans for today so we have to get going."

"Joe, the food was really good and its nice and all that you want to go and do stuff but I really don't want to see people today," she says determinedly from the couch.

The lean boy kneels down by her side of the couch, "I know that, today is going to be like any other day. You and me, exploring the town like we always do. The good stuff will come tonight," he says in a deep voice with a sly smile that pulls up only one corner of his mouth.

"Joe!" Norrie yells hitting him in the chest because of his insinuation, but much to her dismay, he barely budges.

"No! No! I don't mean like that! It's just the new tradition I've come up with, okay?" he says softly hoping to calm her down. He moves to sit next to her on the couch, taking one of her hands in both of his, "you know I'm not like that. I would never– I mean, I don't– I couldn't–"

"Joe! I know. I get it. It was just a mix up," she pauses. "I trust you. You know that, right?" He nods, relieved that she's not mad. "Look, we'll get to that, when we get to that. Now, what were we doing?"

"Oh, right. I thought we would just walk around for a while, maybe swim in the lake? We haven't had the chance since it's been cleaned up," he says.

"Yeah but I don't have a bathing suit. I was just passing through, remember?" she says with her classic DUH!-face.

"That's okay, I'm sure you can just borrow one of…Angie's," he slows at the thought that his sister is no longer here to claim the clothes that were restored to their childhood home.

"It's okay Joe, we don't have to–"

"No, no. Really it's okay. Sorry, it's just that with all this planning and stuff I kind of forgot about Angie. But really, you have almost no clothes here, you're about Angie's size, she would have wanted you to use her stuff. She really liked you," he says, completely recovered now from his brain-fart.

"If you're sure," Norrie says, still a little uncomfortable with wearing her boyfriend's dead sister's clothes. But Joe nods his approval and they both head upstairs to get ready.

They spent some time walking through the woods just talking about everything and nothing. They tried to figure out what this "harmonious living" could mean but no break-through yet. It was just like any other day and it was more than Norrie could have ever asked for.

Now they made it to the lake, after Joe decided it was too hot to be walking around any more. He was so excited to get to the water as soon as they were close; he dropped Norrie's hand and his backpack and started running while removing his blue t-shirt and shoes. Norrie froze, overcome by the sight of her boyfriend running shirtless in the mid-afternoon light. It was like some cheesy scene from Baywatch. But she had never seen him with his shirt off before; unless you count that time she very rudely woke him up in the morning, which she doesn't. Who knew that under his dorky t-shirts and hoodies were abs and the beginnings of a solid chest? No wonder she couldn't push him over earlier and he always felt so solid under her touch. She just always assumed it was all bone since he's so skinny but under his boyish face was truly a young man. Norrie had to drag herself out of her thoughts when Joe finally dove into the water and came up wet and sparkling in the sun. She needed to move before he found her staring; she would never live that down. So she started undressing on the shoreline.

Joe felt refreshed when he came up from the water. "Man this is great, we should do this more often," he said running his fingers through his wet hair to keep it from his eyes. He didn't notice he was talking to no one until he received no response, "Norrie?" He turned around just in time to see his beautiful girlfriend remove her shirt by the shore, "yep definitely more often," he whispered to himself. He couldn't help but stare as her ginger hair fell from her shirt onto her bare shoulders. She looked so beautiful standing there, not just because her shirt was off, she's always beautiful. But now he couldn't believe his eyes, the warm light of the sun allowed him to see the perfect fiery color of her hair and the warm brown in her eyes even from this distance. Suddenly, Norrie was taking off her short shorts to reveal nothing but green bikini bottoms and Joe could hardly contain himself. He realized he'd been staring the whole time with his mouth open and not moving an inch. He quickly spun around to gather himself before he put himself in an embarrassing situation.

Once Joe was ready he turned back around to see Norrie walking up to him in the water, still gorgeous as ever. "You know, I'm thinking about making this a daily routine, what do you think?" he said unapologetically staring at her form.

"I think you couldn't handle it," she says with a sideways smile. She says it to throw Joe off but honestly she's more worried about being unable to handle it herself.

Now they stand right in front of each other and neither one is sure of what to do. "You didn't dive in," Joe finally says.

"Yeah no shit Sherlock. It's too cold," she snaps, still a little nervous about the way Joe is looking at her. His eyes never leave her but she can see them traveling up and down her body. It would make her feel really uncomfortable if he didn't have that adorably dazed look on his face. Then, he's smiling strange; does he know what she's thinking?

*SPLASH*

No, he just decided to force her to take a dip. She tried to struggle from him, screaming his name and hitting his chest but he's too strong for her and brought her down with him easily.

Norrie shot out of the water yelling and swinging, looking to hit Joe and punish him for that. He came up slowly, laughing deep in his throat and his hands holding his flat stomach.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he tried to gasp between laughs and blows from Norrie's hands. "It was a little funny, come on!"

"Joe! I said I didn't want to go under because I would be cold. Now I'm cold. Shocker!" she yelled still angry but Joe could tell she was lightening up a bit.

"Really, I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself, you know?" Oh, she knew very well. "Look, I'm sorry you're cold," he says with a smile that could warm her up in the North Pole. "Come here, I'll keep you warm and make up for it," his arms outstretched to her.

She can't resist his offer, he looks too cute with his apologetic face and too sexy with his wet hair and chest. Slowly she walks over to him, arms crossed but a smile growing on her lips. Joe wraps his surprisingly strong arms around her and can almost tuck her head under his chin, maybe he's gotten taller. "There we go, better right?" Joe asks playfully.

Norrie gives him no answer but unclenches her fists that are squeezed between them and begins to splay her fingers across his chest. As she does this, she can feel him shiver and small goose bumps pop up on his skin in front of her face. "Now who's cold?" she fires back. She can feel his laugh boom through his chest under her hands and face, which is now comfortably situated against his hot skin.

Joe pulls back with his arms still wrapped around her and Norrie meets him with a pout because of the small loss of contact. "Like I said," he responds, "sometimes I just can't help myself." Joe leans close to Norrie's pouting red lips that look so inviting and brushes his against them. The kiss starts slow but soon, Norrie looses her restraint and swiftly moves her hands from his chest to his dripping hair, pulling him closer to her and causing him to open his mouth to her.

Excited by Norrie's fervor, Joe moves his hands from around her back, down to grab her hips. He needs her closer but also can't help but explore her. He leaves his left hand on her lower back to keep her close and draws his right up her spine to make her shiver and finally run his fingers into her hair. Norrie can barely think, thanks to Joe's roaming hands but she can hardly complain because this feels like heaven until she realizes they are in hell, with a giant plastic cover over them at all times in a small town with eyes everywhere.

She shoves on Joe's chest hard to get away from him and nearly stumbles backward. She looks up to see his face hurt and she's afraid he'll think she's rejecting him but before she can reassure him, "I'm sorry Norrie! I'm so sorry. Did I do something? Did I hurt you? Are you okay?" Even worse, he thinks he's done something wrong.

Norrie walks through the water back to him and takes his hands, "I'm okay Joe, really you did nothing wrong. Actually that was a whole lot of right, just in the wrong place," she explains looking around the open area.

Then Joe understands and lets go of a long breath in relief, he was really worried he'd done something horrible. "You're right, got a little carried away there," he looks down embarrassed. Norrie looks down too, at their intertwined hands and imagines the feeling of those hands on more sensitive parts of her body. Joe smiles realizing that their swim time is probably over, "Well, we should probably move on to the next part of our day."

The two teenagers leave the lake and use the towels from Joe's backpack to dry off before heading back into town. Joe leads Norrie to Barbie and Julia's house, and as soon as she realizes where they are going she stops, "Barbie and Julia? Really? I said no people."

"It's just them and your mom. Come on, they helped me a lot with my plan for tonight and they wanted to see you. They are just your distraction while I finish setting up back at the house," he leads her up the front stairs and they go in like they always do.

Barbie and Julia were happy to see her and Carolyn explained that she was staying there for the night while Norrie and Joe got the house to themselves. Norrie was surprised that Joe talked her into that and made a mental note to thank him for it later. But Carolyn also made sure they both knew the rules before Joe left to make his final adjustments: no alcohol, no raging party, no leaving the house in the night, and they better be in separate beds when she gets back bright and early in the morning.

Being at Barbie and Julia's with them and her mom was nice. They just sat around and talked like they were normal people just hanging out, but of course they aren't thanks to the great and terrible dome. But they let her shower there and her mom brought her some clothes to look nice for her birthday evening. Her mom brought her nicest pair of dark green pants. Little does Carolyn know they are the ones Norrie happens to know drive Joe crazy since he told her during one of their hotter make out sessions. And a dark blue tank top Norrie's never seen, must have been Angie's since it is a bit more form-fitting on Norrie than it would have been on Angie's smaller frame.

Once she was ready, Norrie couldn't contain her excitement on her walk to Joe's house as the sun was setting on the horizon. At the house, she wasn't sure she was allowed to just walk in so she knocked and heard Joe yell from inside, "Come in!"

She opened the door and it was strangely dark in the house, the idiot didn't turn on the lights. As soon as Norrie rounded the corner into the living room, she could see candles lighting up the dinning room. Then, Joe emerged from the kitchen with a full-faced smile to greet her, "Happy Birthday!" He was so cute in the candlelight, his perfectly fluffed hazelnut hair, one of his nicer red t-shirts with the buttons that stop in the middle of his chest and his skinny khakis. Perfect.

Joe let his goofy smile take over his face once he saw Norrie standing in his living room surprised by the setup. He was more focused on her, how beautiful she looked in the soft light and the uncharacteristically revealing clothes she was wearing. But he couldn't stare long, he had to play host for his girlfriend, "So this is your new tradition, a classic cheesy date with me. Let's call it, dinner and a movie."

"You're such a nerd," Norrie says with a smile.

"Yes, well, this nerd made you dinner from all the best foods he could find around town. We are having giant burgers with anything you want on it and the best potato chips around. Carolyn even made you a cake for desert," he explained. Norrie laughed and smiled at her boyfriend's thoughtfulness and started to walk toward him, "Oh! And this evening's entertainment is X-men since I now know how much you like it and it was the only decent movie I could find around here–what?" Joe was confused as to why Norrie had come so close to him and was now staring at him with a weird face.

"I'm just… amazed. This is so perfect Joe. It's like–"

"Like we met outside the dome?" he asked. Norrie nodded. "I know, tonight," he wraps his arms around her waist, "we can forget about all that, we can pretend."

Joe and Norrie sit down at the dinning room table, which he made up into a beautiful place for a date. They eat their burgers that Joe happened to cook to perfection and he disgusts Norrie with how much "crap" he puts on his burger. But he insists he needs it as a growing boy. After dinner and cake the couple cozy up on the couch to watch X-men on the wall since Joe was some how able to repair his generator and use a cardboard box and some other MacGyver tricks to make the movie project onto the wall. It was a lot of stuff Norrie didn't understand but somehow Joe pulled it off.

She really does like this movie, and it wouldn't surprise anyone to know she really connects to the dark and brooding characters, but mostly Rogue. And since she made Joe her Wolverine, they must be a pretty good pair. By the middle of the movie, Norrie is basically sitting in Joe's lap. Her legs resting in his lap while the rest of her is to the left of him on the couch. She starts to get cold so she instinctively leaned closer to Joe and rests her head on his shoulder with her arms curled up to his chest. Eventually, he gets the hint and puts his right arm over her shins and his left arm behind her back to bring her to his warmth.

By the time the final battle scenes started, Norrie looses all interest. She becomes swallowed by her thoughts of Joe's kiss from earlier in the day: how strong he felt and the desire in his touch. She could feel him now, wrapped around her a lot like he was at the lake. It is all she can think about and all she wants is to feel that way again. Just sitting so close to him makes her heart flutter and she can tell he's thinking about it too because his steady hands start to move: up and down her legs and back almost slow enough that she wouldn't notice.

Norrie fights with herself, she knows he wants it. Of course he does he's a 17 year-old hormonal boy, or man as she discovered to day. But now she is a 17 year-old woman? Does that count as a woman? Yes, she decided it does. But are they ready for sex really? Norrie knows that Joe is sweet, he loves her, and she loves him, he would never do anything to hurt her or push her into something she didn't want. So she better figure out what she wants before he asks.

"Well, what do you think?" Joe asks out of nowhere.

"What?! What are you talking about?" Norrie is embarrassed if he knows what she's been thinking.

He laughs, "The movie, Nor. I'm asking what you thought of the movie, which is over now if you didn't notice."

Norrie turns to the wall and sees that the credits are rolling then smiles shyly back at Joe, "Oh, right. Well I always like that movie dummy, it's one of my favorites."

"Let me guess, you feel some powerful connection to Rogue?" he asks with a knowing smile.

He knows her too well, as much as she tries to hide her nerdy side, he sees it no matter what. "Okay so you can guess things about me. So what?"

"Well we have a powerful connection too… in more ways than one," he says more serious than he meant to.

"Oh yeah," she teases, "in what way other than synchronized seizures do we have a powerful connec–"

Joe cuts her off with his lips. He knows exactly the powerful connection they have because he felt it earlier today. Thinking of their kiss in the lake kicks Joe into high gear and suddenly both of his hands are at her hips but she is still to one side of him so he begins to lean her gently back to give his hands more to do. All the while the two of them are kissing deeply and can hardly breathe until Norrie is fully on her back with Joe lying next to her on his side. Once comfortably positioned, Joe gets bolder once again and slowly moves his lips down to Norrie's neck leaving a hot trail of kisses along the way.

Once at his destination Joe starts to suck the sensitive skin of her neck very softly. As soon as he does, he's rewarded with a sharp gasp of pleasure from Norrie who is losing her mind and unknowingly takes fists of Joe's hair in an attempt to calm down. But she is already writhing beneath him and he's already moved down to her exposed collarbone. She has to get back in this before Joe gets all the fun. All she's been able to think about today is Joe's chest so she desperately needs his shirt off. Norrie lets go of his hair and starts clawing at the hem of his t-shirt trying to bring in up but can't because he is still lying on it.

Joe understands Norrie's request and shifts his legs between hers with is weight propped on his elbows on either side of her. Now hovering above her Joe takes the chance to kiss the other side of Norrie's soft neck. She can't hold back another sigh at Joe's work but continues to pull his shirt up by running her hands up his broad back. Feeling her hands on his bare skin makes Joe moan into Norrie's neck, the sexiest thing she's ever felt. It pushes her over the edge and she pulls on his shirt until he is forced to take it off with a huff.

Norrie lies in awe as her boyfriend leaves the crook of her neck to kneel between her legs and quickly remove his shirt. She can perfectly see the movement of each muscle in the soft candlelight from the dinning room. She stops him from returning to her neck by slamming her hands against his chest and feeling the muscles up and down his abdomen. He sits there patiently while she explores just watching her face and taking in the sight of her messy red hair and flushed face. She is so beautiful and amazing, he cannot believe he is lucky enough to have won her affection. Her hands stop and she looks back up at him, "well don't just sit there, kiss me."

He smiles and shakes his head at her but heartily complies with her request. He leans back over her, taking her lips with his while his hands roam down the sides of her body. There it is, that feeling of his strong hands all over her that makes Norrie crazy. She's never felt so in love with him, he is so good to her: all day, right now, always. Then, Norrie decides she wants it too, that is her answer. Of course she does, no one will be as perfect as Joe, the time will never be as perfect as now, she just has to go for it. She moves her hands from his shoulders and chest, down his stomach to around his waistband. Reaching for the button and zipper on his khakis, Joe suddenly pulls away and sits up, scaring the crap out of Norrie. "What the hell, Joe!"

"S–Sorry, I just had to stop you for a second," he says looking like he's trying to regain self-control.

"Why?"

"Well, we were getting kinda close to…the point of no return," he looks back to Norrie shyly. "Are you sure about this?"

"Ugh Joe, you could have just asked me that without all the theatrics," she says trying to lighten the mood a bit and props herself up on her elbows to meet his eyes.

"Well I just– I don't know, its hard to think straight," he says getting flustered.

"Okay, okay, calm down. You did nothing wrong okay? Look, Joe, I've been thinking about this a lot, especially since our moment at the lake today, you know. And yeah I want to do this. And yes I'm sure. I love you," Norrie calms him down with her words, while stroking the hair on the back of his neck.

"I love you too, Nor," he says in the sweetest, most sincere voice Norrie has ever heard.

"See, it's perfect," she reaches for his face and begins to pull him to her again.

"Wait, wait. Hold on," Joe stops her. "If we are going to do this, we should do it right. Really make it perfect," he says removing himself from between her legs and standing up from the couch.

"Aw Joe. No, don't do anything crazy," she whines, mostly upset that he isn't as close to her anymore. "We were doing just fine."

Joe kneels next to her for the second time that day, "Just fine, isn't perfect. It isn't good enough…" he reaches a hand out to caress her face, "not for you." Norrie can't help but melt at Joe's touching words, she knows he really means it no matter how romance-novel it sounds.

"So what do you suggest?" Norrie asks finally giving in.

Joe takes her hands and pulls her up from the couch, "I'm going to take my beautiful girlfriend and five of these candles up to my room so we can do this right."

In Joe's room, Norrie sits on the bed with her legs hanging off the side as Joe finishes relighting some of the candles he put on his bedside table. She insisted he leave his shirt downstairs, explaining that it made her feel better because it made him a little uncomfortable. But as he is leaning over right in front of her lighting candles for her in his softly-lit bedroom, she sees that her plan has a flaw- shirtless-Joe is far too distracting.

"Okay," Joe says when the candles are all lit, straightening up and turning toward Norrie, "all set up." He claps his hands together and looks down at the floor. He felt quite confident making sure the setting was perfect for his and Norrie's first time but now was unsure of how to pick up where they left off.

"Come here," Norrie says softer than her usual voice as she pats the bed next to her. Joe smiles, thankful that his brilliant girlfriend can take over for him when he runs out of ideas.

Norrie lifts one of her legs up onto the couch and tucks her foot under the leg hanging off so she can face Joe, "I want to thank you for everything you did for me today. It was wonderful, I love my new birthday tradition." Joe's smile widens. "I also made a mental note earlier today to really thank you," Norrie explains as she moves her body closer to Joe's, wraps her arms around the back of his neck and straddles his lap, "for securing the house for just the two of us tonight," Joe's smile disappears as Norrie lets her full weight rest upon Joe's lap, his eyes widen when she seems to grind into him a bit too. Norrie, quite pleased with herself and the number she's done on Joe leans slowly down to his face until their lips are just barely touching, "Thank you," she whispers in her deepest, breathiest voice.

This seems to set Joe off as he lunges forward, crashing their lips together and wrapping his arm around her middle. He pulls her down to the bed, hovering over her while still cradled between her legs. With an amazing display of strength, he manages to use one arm still on Norrie's back to lift her and move her up to where her head is on a pillow. A gasp escapes her mouth as the feels the power in his body beneath her fingers. Joe pulls back from their kiss quickly, concerned he might have hurt her but looking in her eyes he can see he's done nothing wrong.

Now that they've made eye contact, the both find it hard to look away from the love shown in the other's eyes. "I think I'm wearing too many clothes," Norrie says confidently though Joe doesn't miss the rosiness creeping into her cheeks.

"I think you're right," Joe says, "I've been too distracted by your eyes." Those eyes respond immediately with the biggest roll he has ever seen. Norrie quickly flips them over so she is kneeling with her legs on either side of his waistband. His hands naturally fall to her hips and with that comforting pressure, Norrie is confident enough to hold Joe's star as she slowly lifts her tank top up over her head before tossing it into the darkness of the room. Joe's eyes don't remain with hers long as he stares at her flat stomach that he had a peak of earlier that day.

What he doesn't know is that in that moment Norrie can see all of his feelings toward her in his face. She sees what he sees in her everyday: she is strong, she is smart, she is beautiful, she is his everything. With that, Norrie reaches her hands back and unclasps her black bra and slowly lets it fall off her shoulders and throws it to the side. Joe's reaction is priceless; it is like all of his dreams have come true. Norrie starts to laugh at him, which breaks Joe from his trance, "What? What are you laughing at," he says with a smile.

"You, dorkface," Norrie teases. Joe sits up, which scrambles Norrie's mind as she has front row seats to Joe's washboard abs show. He reaches for her neck and gently kisses her lips, making her melt into him.

"You are a goddess. What did I ever do to deserve you?" he whispers sweetly.

"You lived in the world's most boring town," Norrie jokes, moving her hands to the front of his pants, unbuttoning and unzipping them, eager to move along. She moves slightly off of him and Joe helps remove his khakis still chuckling a little at her comment. But the tent he's made out of his boxers distracts Norrie.

Joe turns back to Norrie again laying her back against the bed and situating himself between her legs. He gently places his hands at the waistband of her green jeans that he loves so much but stops when she jumps a little at his touch.

"Sorry, your hands are cold," she smiles, "Continue."

The young man carefully undoes her pants making sure that she has time to stop him at any moment then with her help slowly removes her clothing. His girlfriend is a vision in simple black lace panties and nothing else with her fiery hair splayed out on his pillow and her amber eyes darkening with desire.

"We should get under the covers," Norrie says quickly, not that she isn't comfortable laying mostly naked before Joe, it's just that Joe kneeling mostly naked before her makes her need to continue as fast as possible. Joe nods; she knows he would go along with anything she says at this point.

The two teenagers move under the navy blue comforter and after a knowing look begin to remove their final articles of clothing. Joe leans to his bedside table and removes a condom from the drawer. He opens the package and rolls it on, quickly discarding the trash.

"Hey you're pretty good at that," Norrie says with a playful smile.

"Yeah let's go with, I know what I'm doing," Joe says with a laugh, eyes cast down.

Norrie turns on her side, placing her hands on either side of his face, "Hey, it's going to be perfect," she assures him. He smiles and gives her a deep kiss, rolling them over to their previous position.

"Are you ready?" he asks, breaking their kiss.

"I love you," Norrie says staring deep into his eyes, her hands playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

Joe gives her a peck, "I love you too, Norrie."

"Okay, just go slow," she moves one of her hands to the small of his back to steady him. He kisses her one more time before positioning himself and slowly entering her.

Norrie writhes as he moves in and gives a pained gasp and shuts her eyes once he is all the way in, "Stop! Stop! Stop!" she breaths. Joe immediately puts on the breaks, hard as it is since he surges with pleasure upon entering her. Her one hand on his back and the other on his shoulder still him.

"Norrie I'm so sorry," he looks at her terrified.

"It's okay. I'm okay, Joe. Just need a second to adjust," she still hasn't opened her eyes. Joe slowly leans down and kisses her left cheek, then the right, then her left ear and the right, her nose, her forehead, her chin, and finally her lips slowly, deeply and wet. Suddenly, Norrie's hips rock into his and she can feel him smiling against her lips.

"Feeling better?" he asks only inches from her face.

"Keep those kisses up and I'll be feeling great," she smiles at Joe and gives him another grind to encourage him to move.

He starts up a slow and steady pace, which feels good but Norrie is distracted by the concentration on his face. She huffs and takes his face in her hands to pull him down to her. The two start a heated kiss and Joe picks up his pace finding a more natural rhythm that sends them into a frenzy and their hands run everywhere. Joe trails his fingers down Norrie's sides, grabbing at her waist as he tries not to loose himself so quickly because Norrie's hands are going up and down his spine adding his shivers to their wild movements.

Afraid he will come before she is ready, Joe slides his hand up Norrie's torso to her soft breast and cups it roughly causing a sharp intake of breath from her. Joe takes that break from their mouths to leave hot kisses down her jaw and neck while switching his attentions between her left and right breasts.

"Oh Joe! That's it!" Norrie yells, surprised to hear her voice so deep. Her body is in sensory overload with Joe inside her making her legs quiver with the force of his thrusts, his mouth diligently teasing the most sensitive part of her neck and his strong hands massaging her breast in a way that she cannot help but arch her chest into him.

She can't find a way to express how he is making her feel with words, instead she tells him with what comes natural. Her legs tighten around his waist pulling him deeper inside her, getting a rewarding growl from deep in Joe's chest. Her hands continue to run down his back but now it is with her nails scratching into his skin and hard muscles. And her breath his coming out in quick bursts from her mouth that she can't seem to close.

Joe can't believe the response he is getting from Norrie. And he can't help but think that making love to her is all he wants to do for the rest of his life, and hearing her breathy voice call his name is all he wants to hear. He was close to the edge before she even wrapped him in her legs and started tearing at his back. Now he wanted to be sure she would come with him so he tried something new.

He moved to kiss her open mouth while moving his hand down to where they connected. After fumbling around for a few seconds he found her bundle of nerves and began rubbing in circles. Norrie stopped responding to his kiss and quickly arched her back into the bed while thrusting her hips into his hand. She couldn't hold back the primal groan that came screaming from her body. After that, Joe knew he couldn't hold off another minute.

"Joe! I'm gonna–" she cut off when Joe moved his mouth to her peaked nipple and sucked on it hard. Norrie unraveled. She screamed his name again, dug her nails into his back, tightened her legs and around his manhood and she spectacularly gave into her orgasm.

"Ugh Norrie!" Joe came hard, thrusting into Norrie as she tightened around him in every way. He never felt anything like it and couldn't imagine how it could be any better.

Norrie's arm hung lazily around Joe's neck and her feet slid off of him until the reached the bed. She didn't have enough energy to even open her eyes so she panted while she listened to Joe's deep breaths next to her ear as he recovered from his own orgasm.

Slowly, Joe pulled out of her and threw away the condom then melted into the bed facing his girlfriend and wrapping his arm around her middle while she still had her eyes closed and trying to catch her breath.

"Wow," Joe says with a small laugh.

Norrie's eyes shoot open and she turns to face him, "yeah, definitely WOW. I mean that was incredible. Absolutely amazing."

"Really?" Joe asked, genuinely wanting to be sure she actually enjoyed herself.

"Yes really," Norrie, again, took his face in her hands and brought their faces inches apart, "I have never felt that…good," the last word coming out like more of a groan than anything else.

Joe beamed, "It was pretty incredible for me too," he said staring at her, "Happy birthday, goddess."

"Never call me that outside of this room," she said dryly.

"What? You don't like it?" he asked.

"No. I think it's really sexy," she says bringing his face even closer to hers, "and if you say it outside of the bedroom…I don't know how I'll keep my hands off of you."

Joe's eyes darkened right in front of her and he leaned forward to capture her lips in a messy kiss. Norrie pulled back from their kiss and pushed Joe on his back so she could rest her head on his chest as they curled up to each other. She sighed deeply, glad to forget all her troubles. In that moment she was just a girl blissfully happy to be in the arms of the boy who loves her enough to make sure their first time was perfect.

"Don't forget to move to Angie's room before you fall asleep so your mom doesn't find us in the morning," Joe cautioned her.

"Ugh, Joe! Don't ruin it," she scoffed.

"Whatever you say… goddess."

The two teenagers lay in bed, smiles stretched from ear to ear, and truly happy for the first time in months. Little did they know, they had just created the "harmony" that was the mission of the dome and slowly, that night the dome began to fade away.