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ONE
Gates
I’ve been shotat and spent months fighting in war zones, and despite all that, standing at the airport, waiting to pick up Dillon, is the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life.
I haven’t seen her in a few years. Not in person, anyway. We’ve done FaceTime or Zoom here and there, but it’s not quite the same as seeing her in person.
Her face still seems to haunt me, though. The photos that she’s done as a model, I haven’t been able to avoid. That may be because every time she does another photoshoot, my best friend, Kye, seems to find out, and he sends me her pictures.
He knows that I’ve been in love with Dillon since I was in high school, and he doesn’t understand why I don’t just ask her out already. None of my friends do, no matter how I try to explain it.
Sometimes I don’t understand myself.
The timing with us has just never been right. When we were in high school, I was her shadow, obsessed with just being near her. She was popular and so nice to everyone. I was the opposite. I was a rough kid who grew up on the wrong side of town and spent my time juggling school and taking care of my mom. I was the one who worked to make sure that we had food on the table and a roof over our heads.
I knew that I wasn’t destined for much, but Dillon was. She was gorgeous; the prettiest girl in school and so smart. I knew that she had the world at her fingertips, and I never wanted to be the one to stand in her way.
There are times when I wonder how my life would be different if I had just told her how I felt the moment I saw her. Would we still be together? Would we be happy? Would I be working some dead-end job, and we’d be struggling to make ends meet?
That last one seems the most likely. I would do anything to make Dillon happy, and if she was mine, then I would never let her go, but the job thing, that would have been the hardest to fix.
There was only one time that I almost broke and told her how I felt. It was at our high school graduation. She had looked so damn beautiful in her cap and gown, her wide smile lighting up her whole face.
The words were on the tip of my tongue, but then I remembered that I was shipping off to boot camp the next day. I couldn’t offer her much of anything besides a life spent waiting for me to come back.
So, I let her go, but I never forgot her.
We stayed in touch, texting and emailing whenever we could, but we were both traveling so much that I never had the chance to visit her.
That all changes now, though.
She’s going to be in Los Angeles too. She just retired and is looking for a house to buy out here, and until she finds something, she’s going to be staying with me. Just the two of us in my small condo. I can’t freaking wait.
Butterflies take flight in my stomach at the thought of her living with me, at the thought of me seeing her all the time, brushing against her in the hallway or kitchen. I want to walk into a room and see her things there, smell her sweet scent everywhere.
It’s finally happening.
I’m like an addict about to get his fix. I’ve been on edge, anxious and nervous ever since her call a month ago. It’s only gotten worse the closer that we’ve gotten to today.
Get it together. You don’t want to seem desperate or obsessive when she gets her, I order myself.
I take a few deep breaths, but it doesn’t help. I’m wound up, aching to have Dillon in my arms again.
I stand at the bottom of the escalator, scanning all the faces coming down for a familiar one with big blue eyes and full cherry-red lips.
No sign of her yet.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out, rolling my eyes when I see Kye’s name on the screen.
Kye:Is she there yet?
Kye: Did you tell her that you’ve been in love with her since high school and want to have her babies?
Kye: Should I get my best man speech ready?
Kye: Jk, I’ve had it ready for years.
I bite backa grin as I text him back.
