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“Why didn’t you tell me, then?”
“I didn’t think it mattered how I felt. I didn’t want you to go and you went, anyway. I understand why now, but at the time I was hurt. My best friend left me.”
“I’m sorry,” I said for the second time that day, this time I couldn’t resist touching him. My fingers closed around his wrist.
Dylan’s hand turned and engulfed mine. “It’s okay. I was a self-centered jerk.”
My lips lifted in the start of a smile. “Well, now that you mention it,” I began.
“Oh, I see how you are!” Dylan exclaimed. Putting an arm around me and pulling me into his embrace, only to start rubbing his knuckles on my head like he did when we were kids.
I stuck my fingers sharply into his armpit and he yelled. “Hey!”
His response only made me fight harder to tickle him. Within seconds we were both laughing hysterically, our arms and legs wound up in the covers and each other. He rolled me beneath him and put his face in my neck and started doing a motorboat against my skin with his mouth. It tickled beyond anything I’d ever suffered from him and soon I was screaming in between giggles.
“Stop! Hahahaha! Stop, Dylan! Hahahahaha! I give! I give! Stop!”
He was laughing with me, but after one more round of his torture, and a sharp poke to his ribs, he finally lifted his head and stared down into my face. My breath stopped and my lungs froze as our eyes locked. The room was lit only by the firelight and the television, and the blue of his eyes was darker, his dark lashes framing his eyes so intense, our faces only inches apart. I felt like we were the only two people in the world.
The heat of desire bloomed inside my body. I’d been imagining what it would be like to have Dylan over and on top of me for years and it was finally happening. It was all I could do not to let my knees fall further apart and to arch up into him. I could feel his erection against my leg and so I knew that he was as excited as I was.
I finally found my voice. “You don’t play fair. You’re throwing your weight around,” I said, still breathless from our tussle. “Literally.”
Dylan inhaled deeply. I could feel his chest expand on mine and the warmth of his breath on the chord of my neck as he exhaled. “It’s the only advantage I have over you,” he said huskily.
“Really?” I asked breathlessly. I felt embarrassed by my body’s reaction and couldn’t hold his gaze.
“Yes.” Dylan moved to my side and punched one of the pillows, arranging two of them how he liked them behind his back so he could sit up and watch the film.
We lay, side by side as the movie played, without mentioning the past few minutes. The unspoken question hung between us, yet I was basking in the glow of his closeness and before the Black Widow found the Hulk Dylan’s arm was around me and pulling me close, my eyes were closing in contentment, and I hoped that we’d stay like that the entire night.
His phone was turned off on the bedside table and mine was left on the vanity in the bathroom. Maybe that was a happy accident so that our evening together wouldn’t be interrupted. The last thing I wanted to think about was Alan and how this fairytale might poof on Monday night; instead, I wanted to soak up every second.
My arm snaked across Dylan’s muscular waist, as my head came to rest on his chest. His arm tightened and I felt the gentle touch of his lips on my forehead and his fingers played with a few strands of my hair.
Maybe the three years of separation had made him realize how much he missed me. Maybe he saw me as a woman, finally.
As contented sleep started to overtake me, I pushed all thoughts of Alan to the back of my mind. My focus for the next couple of days would be on Dylan. Even if I wanted to keep my perspective, he totally consumed my heart and there was no denying it.
Dylan
I’d thought I was dreaming.
I woke up, not only in Remi’s bed, but tangled up with her as I had been all night; the scent of her perfume surrounding me. It felt so good that I didn’t want to move. I wanted to bask in the moment, but my body was already reacting to her nearness, and I didn’t need another embarrassing moment.
Resisting the urge to press my nose against the cord of her neck and linger, I reluctantly disengaged from her, careful not to wake her before leaving the room. I had the luxury of looking at her without being observed. She looked so peaceful and incredibly beautiful with her eyes closed in sleep and the lush curve of her dark lashed resting on her cheeks. Her hair was still swept up from her bath the night before, but some of it had escaped to tumble over the pillow.
I could feel my heart squeeze inside my chest as reality hit me. I reached up to cover the tangible pain I felt with my right hand.I was in love with my best friend and probably always had been.
I should have realized before when I was so hurt when she left Clemson, but at the time I was too busy being immature and self-absorbed… and I was so angry at her. Maybe I thought she’d always be there no matter what because she always had been. I guess I didn’t think she’d ever look at another man the way she looked at me. I knew she had a crush on me, and I took her for granted. Now she was with some schmuck I’d never met, so what the hell was I going to do?
I was such an idiot! I swallowed as I gazed down at her again realizing the gravity of my mistake. Now it might be too late. This weekend could be my last chance to spend time with Remi; just the two of us; the last chance to show her how I felt.
I inhaled a deep breath. I was afraid of ruining the fragile reconciliation we had going on, but more terrified of losing her to Alan.
Alan.
Ugh! I thought, running my hand through my hair as I walked to my own room to get dressed. His name felt intensely repugnant in my mind. “Fuck,” I muttered under my breath as I dressed in light grey sweat shorts and a purple Clemson T-shirt with an orange paw print on the front then slipped my feet into a pair of black Vans; the only shoes I’d brought on this trip.
