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“I came because your door unit is showing that it’s offline, so it’s not working. Did you have a blip in power today?” I question.
“I, um, yeah actually. The power surged for a moment, but it came right back on.” Sarah remarks trying to cover her chest from view. She picks up a throw blanket and drapes it around her body. I wish I wasn’t making her uncomfortable.
“That’s what happened then. I can show you what to do next time that occurs. I promise I’m not making it a habit of just coming inside your door. I did text you to let you know I was on the way and then I heard you singing, and I had to see that for myself. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.” I say averting my eyes from her.
“Sorry I didn’t see your message or hear it come through. I guess I was a little preoccupied.” She blushes and wraps the blanket tighter and comes to stand next to me.
“You need to be more conscious of your surroundings, Sarah. I understand you didn’t know about the lock, but anyone could have gotten in here. I guess I’m just paranoid from the military.” I reply ruefully.
“Well, you didn’t mention there would be a problem if the power went out. This is all new to me. I also didn’t ask for this if you remember. I think keys are just fine.” She bites out as she gestures to the door.
“It’s the nicest keyless model there is. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. My second in command called me at home to tell me something was wrong. I’ll reboot it and get out of your hair.” I open my bag and get the small pin I use to press the reset button. “I’ll leave this with you in case this happens again. All you have to do is press this small button and then the prompts will tell you what to do.” I go through the steps for her to see and then hand her the small pin. I zip up my bag and turn to leave.
“Since you are here, I was going to order something for dinner. Would you like to stay and watch a movie? I can’t promise you will enjoy the movie,” she says with a quirk of her lips. I don’t even have to think twice.
“I’d love to.” I drop my bag and close the door.
“I’m going to go change. Is there anything you are craving?” She asks as she heads to her bedroom.Nothing but youI think to myself. Tonight is going to be torture. I feel like I’ve definitely been friend zoned at some point. I must be too old for her. I don't feel too old, but who knows what she's thinking.
“I’m good with anything. I’m not picky.”Except when it comes to you.
Chapter 8
8 days til Christmas…
Sarah
I change into some flannel jammies and comb my fingers through my hair. I’m not going to add makeup because he’s already seen me without it several times. He's actually seen me at my worst when I was sick. I looked like death. I hear him call out that he doesn’t care what we have for dinner, so I guess I have to decide. Walking out in the living room, I see him still standing close to the door looking uncomfortable.
“You can sit you know. I’m not going to make you stand through dinner and a movie.” I chuckle as I go to the kitchen to get my assortment of take-out menus.
“It’s not polite to be seated unless invited to do so,” Travis states.
I bring the menus out and slap him in the stomach with them. “You have slept here already. You come when you please. You aren’t a guest anymore. Now, we won’t ever eat if you make me chose so you had better make the decision.” He lets out a chuckle as I leave him there and walk over to the couch and plop down. He follows along and sits at the other end. I guess this is a friend dinner. I mean of course it is. We don’t really know anything about each other. But he doesn’t seem keen to be seated next tome. Like I might bite or something.
Travis shuffles through the menus until he gets to Thai Palace. It’s one of my favorites and I’m secretly hoping he picks that one.
“How about this one? Thai sounds good to me.” I inwardly jump for joy.
“Great, that’s what I was hoping you would pick,” I reply with a fist pump in the air.
“If you knew what you wanted then why did you make me pick?” he asks with a baffled look on his face.
“I don’t know. I didn’t know what I wanted until you flipped to that page then I was hoping you would pick it. It’s a girl thing. We can’t decide shit.” I shrug my shoulders as he laughs at me. I laugh along with him, it just feels right. Him being here seems normal, easy. Maybe we’ll be just friends. There isn’t any pressure then.
We order our dinner and he insists on paying, which I argue with him about for several minutes. When I finally give up, I turn on the TV so we can pick a Christmas movie.
“Are there any Christmas movies that are your favorite?” I ask as I scroll through Netflix. I know he doesn’t want to watch a Hallmark movie. He would probably take his food and leave if I turned one on.
“I guess White Christmas with Bing Crosby is one my all-time favorites. We used to watch that when I was little. They also played it the first year I was in the military.” He looks over at me with nostalgia in his eyes. It’s not my favorite but I don’t hate it and it just so happens to be on Netflix.
I queue up the movie and turn to Travis. “WhiteChristmas it is then,” I say before pressing play.
“We don’t have to watch this. We can watch whatever you’d like,” he replies.
“No, that’s okay. I haven’t seen this one in a while.” I curl up in my blanket my with legs crisscrossed on the couch. “You know you can get comfortable if you want. You don’t have to sit there like a statue. Take your shoes off and stay a while,” I joke. He shakes his head at me with a smile on his face. I don’t think he knows what to do with me. He listens though and slides his shoes off.
“Can I get you something to drink? Water, tea? I think we have beer and I know some red wine, possibly eggnog.” I should have asked sooner. Terrible hostess award goes to me.
