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“I just wasn’t expecting Justin Timberlake to be thrown in there. Sorry, it really wasn’t funny, it just got to me for some reason. I promise I’m not making fun of you.”
“Good, because I am serious about JT. If you did make fun of him, I would be out of here and this new friendship would be terminated,” she says with such meaning that I get the feeling she isn’t joking.
“JT’s cool . . . friendship still intact.” I say as I pretend to wipe my brow with relief.
I turn to look at her and she just sticks her tongue out at me and I can’t help the laughter that comes rolling out of me again. She. Is. Fucking. Adorable.
As the sun slowly begins to rise in the East, the realization that the two of us have been sitting here in the sand and swinging on the beach swings for hours, talking about everything and nothing at the same time hits me. I have spent all night with this amazing, intelligent, beautiful woman and I haven’t even kissed her. And I’m fine with that. Tonight was perfect and I hate that I know it has to end.
“Well, I think the sun is our cue to head back. Let me walk you to your hotel?” I ask as I stand up and hold out my hand to help her up.
“That’s probably a good plan,” she says as she takes my hand and stands up. And there it is; that connection. It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before and she just stares at me for a brief moment because she feels it too. She seems to catch herself, lets go of my hand and pretends to wipe the sand off of the back of her dress.
Not much is said on the short walk back but as we near her hotel I say, “I’d really like to see you again.”
I can sense her hesitation and would hate to end the night with her shutting me down so I say, “Talk to Cami and the girls and I’ll talk to the guys and we’ll meet up later today. Cami has my number so just let me know where you want to meet after you get some sleep.”
She starts to walk into the hotel lobby but turns around and says, “I had a great time tonight, Jonathan. Thank you.”
“See you in a few hours, Gracie.”
Give Me A Try
Emily
After slinking into our suite—feeling as though I’ve just spent a wild night of debauchery and am doing the walk of shame—I manage to sneak into the hotel room and then quietly into our bathroom.
I’m exhausted and know that I’ll never get to sleep if I wake Cami up. She’ll want to hear all about my night and besides needing to get some sleep, I just don’t want to share it. It was perfect and I don’t want to analyze it to death and ruin it. Cami might be right after all . . . maybe I do deserve this week, and maybe this week should be spent with him. I just know that it’s wrong and if he knew about my life and the mess I have to contend with he would run as far away from me as possible. I’m not sure Afghanistan would be far enough.
After changing, washing my face and brushing my teeth I’m just slipping into bed when Cami mumbles from deep beneath the covers, “We are so talking about this when we get up.” With that she rolls over and goes back to sleep. Well, at least I’ve delayed the inevitable, for now.
I’m not sure I’ll ever fall asleep. I’m filled with despair yet am giddy with happiness all at the same time. When I close my eyes to fall asleep I keep seeing him with his hands in his pockets walking backwards away from me and hearing him say, “See you in a few hours, Gracie.”
Gracie, he called me Gracie. I feel like it should bother me. It was such a special thing between my grandparents, but when he said it, I felt a warmth flood inside me that touched a part of my soul that I didn’t even know existed. I haven’t even kissed him and I feel completely connected to him. I can’t even imagine what a kiss would do to me if his words alone do this kind of damage to the wall I thought I had built up around my heart.
I feel myself drifting off to sleep with the silliest of grins on my face. No more despair for now, I’m only letting the happy in. I’ll deal with the rest next week. It’s with that thought and his beautiful face in my mind that I finally fall asleep.
I jerk up in bed as the covers are pulled off of my warm, content body.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I yell at Cami.
“It’s noon, Em. Time to get up, Buttercup.”
“Ugh!” I say as I lay back down and attempt to pull the covers back over myself.
“Oh, no you don’t, Em. You are going to wake up and tell me all about your night. I already went and got you coffee. I’ve got Ales here on speaker phone.”
“Morning, Em!” Alex’s voice chirps from Cami’s phone.
“So sit up, take a few sips, and start talkin’ girlfriend!”
With the promise of coffee, I reluctantly sit up in bed, and think about what to tell Cami and Alex about my perfect night. What do I say? That I met an amazing guy who is beautiful, funny, kind, respectful and I feel like I have known him my entire life?
Just drink your coffee Emily. You can do this. I tell myself.
After taking a couple of drinks of coffee, with Cami staring at me the entire time, I take a deep breath. “Oh, you guys what the hell am I going to do?”
“Well, you could start at the beginning and tell us about your night and then we’ll go from there.”
