I hate being short. I absolutely hate it. And being with Justin only seems to make it worse, I mean it’s fine when we’re sitting. But once we stand up, I can’t help but notice the difference. And let me tell you it’s a big difference. I’m a mere 5’2" barely tall enough not to have to be officially labeled a midget and meanwhile Justin is 6’1" (or 6’0"…depending on which magazine you’re reading).
Us standing side by side is like having Mini-Me stand next to Mike Myers. The difference in heights is that much. He’s practically a foot taller than me. I hate it! And I almost never initiate a kiss cause it’s too embarrassing to have to tug on his arm to get him to bend down while I stand on my tippy toes. I always feel like a little kid who’s pestering their mother for something when I have to tug on his arm to get his attention. And I swear the boy can be so dense sometimes that it can take a hell of a lot of tugging to even get him to look down.
He looks down while I look up. Yet another thing I hate. That’s why I don’t like talking to him when we’re both standing up. Call me crazy but it starts to feel a little condescending having him always looking down at me everytime I’m trying to talk to him, while I’m craning my neck in unnatural positions to look at him while I’m talking.
I’m about two seconds from saying fuck eye contact. It’s overrated anyway. He can hear me just as well if I’m looking at my toes as he would if I was looking up at him.
Up at him. Up, up, up and away.
Justin had been babbling about something, but when I finally looked at him I realized that whatever he’d been saying must have been a question because now he was staring at me expectantly, the way someone does when they are waiting on an answer. And rather than disappoint him, I offered one. "Okay, sounds good."
Safe answer, right?
Wrong!
He frowned and repeated what he said probably in the hopes of me giving him a better answer this time. Somehow, I dunno how, I didn’t hear him again and rather than admit that I hadn’t…because lately he seemed forever complaining about how I don’t listen to him---go figure---I decided to just try to answer again. A less than confident "I agree" fell from my lips and was received warmly by yet another frown on Justin’s face.
Frowning and complaining…Justin must have been preparing for a contest that involved both of those skills because he seemed to do a lot of both lately. Maybe he was just practicing. He is a perfectionist you know.
"Okay, I’m sorry. I wasn’t listening." I finally said. I distinctly heard him mutter "obviously" under his breath so I figured a little more groveling wouldn’t hurt. "I’m sorry, J. I’m listening now. Say it again please."
He rolled his eyes. He was pouting. I resisted the smile that nearly took over my face at the sight of him pouting like a child, if only he knew how adorable I thought he looked when he did that and that it was no longer a way to get over on me.
“You’re spacing out a lot lately, even for you.”
“Huh?” I said, purposely focusing on the TV instead of on what he was saying as I flipped through the channels, past all the pay-per-view channels advertising different movies like “The Notebook.”
“Very funny.” He said, not laughing.
Watching the commercial for The Notebook, I instantly wanted to watch it again. “How come you never leave notes and flowers on the bed for me in the morning?”
“What?” He said, confusion clearly written across his face. “How did we get from what I was talking about to notes and flowers on the bed?”
Continuing as if he hadn’t said a thing, I asked, “Why don’t we dance in the street? Or lay in the middle of the road?”
“Huh? You wanna lay in the middle of the road?”
“How come you don’t row me out on a little paddle boat to a place on the lake where all the ducks meet?”
“Paddle boat? Lake? All the ducks?” He asked, confusion was still his best friend. “K, you lost me…”
I sighed. “I’m just talking about The Notebook.”
“Again?”
“Again?” I echoed, innocently, knowing damn well I’d probably brought this movie up at least four times since I’d seen it…much to his annoyance. “What do you mean again?”
“I mean, why are you talking about that movie? …again.”
“When have I talked about it before?”
“Every other day since I went to take you to see that damn movie, I gotta hear ‘Why don’t we go dancing in the street? How come you don’t recite any poetry to me? Would you write letters to me if I’d moved away like that? Or what about that house, would you have restored a house for me like the one Noah did for Allie?’ That’s all I hear is Noah did this for Allie, Noah did that for Allie…damn woman it was just a movie.”
“I know that!” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m just saying…it was sweet, is all. And it’s movies like that make me wish…” I trailed off, with a sigh.
“Make you wish what? That you had a Noah to do all those ‘sweet’ things for you? Cause the good for nothing man in your life doesn’t ever do anything for you.”
A small smile upturned the corners of my mouth. “What have you done for me lately…” I sang.
“Plenty o’ things, so you won’t be hearing any ‘I’m Miss Janet’s outta me.”
“Plenty o’ things huh?” I said, mimicking him. “Plenty of things, like what?”
“Plenty…I mean, there’s the time when I…” He trailed off as his mind drew a blank. “Or what about the other time when I…” He knew he’d done something, just at that moment for the life of him he couldn’t remember. “Dammit woman, I ain’t Noah. That’s hollywood’s spin on what love is, what romance is. It ain’t nothing but a fairytale and you Miss I-don’t-believe-in-soulmates, I would have thought would know that.”
“I do know that. I know it, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t wish for different things.”
“What’s so wrong with what you got now anyways?”
“Nothing, I suppose.”
“You suppose?”
“I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Okay…nothing’s wrong with it.”
“No, no, if there’s something wrong I wanna know.”
“Nothing’s wrong. I mean, how could it be? I got the Justin Timberlake, what more could a girl ask for?” I teased.
“You know, if I didn’t know any better I’d think this is your sly way of saying that I’m Lon and you’re about to run off with Noah.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lon…er, I mean Noah.” I laughed, as he rolled his eyes. “Aww c’mon you can’t seriously be mad.”
“Why can’t I?”
“Because…” I started, before pausing to think. “Because you just can’t.” I sighed. “You can’t because, I love you. Doesn’t matter than I don’t go the sappy route and tell it to you every five minutes, because you should already know without me having to constantly say it. You can’t because, you’re my Noah and we don’t need to dance in the street for me to know that.”
“So does this mean that you won’t bring up The Notebook anymore?” He asked hopefully.
“Nope.” I said, smiling back at him. “It just means that when I bring it up, you don’t have to be mad. It also means just because I don’t need those things, doesn’t mean that I can’t still want them.”
“Well I wanted a woman who would dress up like a French maid while she cleaned the house, who could also cook and you don’t hear me complaining.”
I pouted. “I thought you said you love my cooking.”
Smiling, he cooed, “Aww, baby you know I love it. Of course I love it! Burnt or slightly undercooked, I love it all.”
“Shut up, Blue.” I said, playfully pushing him in the chest while rolling my eyes. “I’ll remember that the next time you ask me to make you something.”
“What did I say?!” He asked, grinning. “Hey, since the cooking is out, you could still do the French maid thing, right?” He said, pulling me down into his lap, his arms wrapped securely around my waist.
“How do you say…” I said in my poor attempt at a French accent. “Hell no!...in French?”
Before he could respond, the phone rang. With a sigh, he postponed his thoughts verbalization as he moved to answer the phone’s shrill wailing.
“Hello?” There was a pause, which caused my nosey ears to perk to attention. “Oh hey.”
With those two words, I knew it was her on the other end. Okay, I wasn’t sure which “her,” mind you, but I’d narrowed it down to two. Either it was Britney or Sandy. If he put his index finger up and motioned for me to give him a moment and walked into another room…it was Sandy. If he stayed it was Britney.
My eyes automatically rolled as I watched him raise the pointer finger as his body began to slink away into the background.
Perfect. Just perfect.
Of the two blondes, I would have definitely preferred it to be Britney. At least I knew what to expect from her, whereas Sandy was a question mark, an unsolved mystery, an enigma, a… I think you get the point. I couldn’t figure out her motives, because until a day ago I didn’t even know there was a Sandra D. Owens to figure out. All of which caused to be all the more suspicious of her relationship with him.
But I wasn’t going to play the jealous girlfriend. At least not yet anyways. No, instead I’m going to stay calm and reasonable like. Make him believe I’m comfortable with it. So then he’ll be comfortable with it around me, therefore allowing me to see exactly what their relationship was like…in all its comfortable glory, so to speak.
Ten “ no, closer to twelve minutes later he was back, phone held loosely at his side.
“So what were you going to say before?” I asked, purposely not asking him who he’d been on the phone with.
“Huh?” He said, as if he was just now noticing that I was in the room. “Before when?”
He was flustered. Not a good sign. Not a good sign at all.
“Before the phone rang.”
“Oh.” There was pause. A normal thinking, I’m trying to remember pause? Or a thinking up a believable lie pause? I dunno, you be the judge. “I can’t remember.”
Sudden memory loss. Bad sign number two.
“Oh okay.” I said, nonchalantly.
He put the phone back on the hook, before looking at me again. “That was Sandy on the phone.”
I didn’t say anything, I didn’t even look at him. I’d already grabbed a magazine and was in the process of flipping through it. Operation I’m-okay-with-pretty-models-from-your-past-calling-you was in full swing.
“Her aunt’s sick and in the hospital.” He continued. “Her favorite aunt. She’d just gotten the news.”
“And she called you first?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He paused then, allowing for silence as if he was expecting me to jump up and say ‘Ah ha! You’re a liar. Cause I know that her Aunt was killed three years ago in the kitchen with a candle stick by Colonel Mustard.’ But when no such exclamation came out of my mouth, he said, “Well I’m going to go over to her hotel to see if she’s okay.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” I said, looking up at him.
“No, no…I think it would be better if I went alone.”
“I see.” I nodded, eyes back on the magazine page.
“So, I’m gonna go…now.” He said, hesitating as if he wanted me to give him a reason not to go. “Okay.” He said with a lilt to his voice which made it almost seem like it was a question. Did he want my permission or what?
Apparently not. He bent down toward me, dropping a faint kiss on my forehead. “Don’t wait up,” were his last words.
“You told her my aunt died?!” Sandy exclaimed, hitting him with the nearby pillow.
“Actually I said it was your favorite aunt and she's not dead yet. Just sick and possibly dying.” He corrected her, to which she responded with more pillow pummeling.
“Well, do you think she bought it?” She asked with a laugh, suddenly the whole situation seemed very amusing to her.
“I dunno, I think so…maybe.” He shrugged. “We’ll see, won’t we.”
“And I wasn’t believing that shit for a moment!”
“But why would he lie?” Nikki asked incredulously.
In that moment I could just hear what would have been Coral’s indignant reply, “Because he has a penis, stupid! All he knows how to do is screw you over.” Shaking my ex-best friend’s voice out of my head, I said, “Because he wants to go over to the girl’s hotel room…without hearing my mouth to do it.”
“I thought you trusted him?”
“I do…I do.” I sighed, switching the phone into a different hand and placing the receiver over a different ear. Yes, I was talking on the phone to my roommate, who was now practically living at her boyfriend, Jason “fine-ass” Carmichael’s place. For all I know she could start getting her mail there. Sometimes we’d go days and weeks without seeing each other. She’d stop by to grab something she needed or to drop something off, then leave again. Then I’d come back to an empty apartment. I was used to things occasionally being empty in the apartment: empty fridge, empty cabinets, empty pantry, empty bed…but not the whole apartment being empty. That was rare…until now. “It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“This whole Sandy thing is throwing me off.”
Laughing, Nicole said, “Mad, cause you found out that some other female friend of his has known him longer than you?”
“…No.”
“Whateva.”
“Okay…a lil’.” I sighed again. How do I get Nicole to understand that it was bad enough when I had to deal with Britney as competition, who had the looks, similar experiences from being in the same dog-eat-dog industry, and romantic past…but now I had the Britney Supreme to deal with, making everything worse.
Sandy has pretty much every plus Britney had “ hopefully minus the romantic past “ and plus she has the once best friend thing going for her. That was supposed to be my little niche. I couldn’t relate to him on what it was like to be judged the way he is in his job, but they could “ Britney a little more than Sandy, but both nevertheless still more than me. And despite all of Justin’s wonderful compliments, I knew I didn’t have it in the looks department either. Now don’t get it twisted I’m not one of those girls who can’t see anything good about her looks no matter how many compliments she receives. I’m just realistic. And realistically speaking when I walk into a room I’m sure as hell not going to get the male response that Britney or Sandy would. Now, sure you’re probably thinking to yourself that’s all fine and dandy for me to compare myself with Britney with whom I’ve seen and know what she looks like, but I haven’t seen Sandy yet.
But I don’t need to see her with my own eyes to know that she’s gorgeous. I’ve seen more than I care to see of her through Justin’s eyes when he talks about her. And it’s not that he’s going on and on about how good or great she looks, but I can see it. It’s all there in his eyes. And that right there is more than enough proof to know that Sandy’s got me beat. She’s a friggin’ model though, so what did you expect?
“Longer…doesn’t mean she knows him better.” I added, talking more to myself than to Nikki. “I mean, she’s been away in Europe for the last five years.”
“So then what are you worried about?”
Finding out if the old saying, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ is really true. “I dunno…” I sighed again, running my fingers through my hair. “Shouldn’t I be worried?”
“I dunno, should you? You would know better than I would.”
Cue loud exhale. “You’re no help, you know that?”
“Yes, I try.” And I could just imagine the little pleased smirk she must be wearing. “Alright, I know what you want to hear so I’ll just say it…and make you happy so you’ll let me get off this phone. He’s cheating on you, girl. He’s messing around with this Sandy lady as we speak. You should have followed his ass like you originally wanted. So instead of him getting some ass right now…you could have been kicking some ass.”
I had to laugh at that. Only Nicole would say something like that. “Whateva. You know that’s not what I wanted to hear.”
“It isn’t? Then how come every time I try to go the other way and show you how he could be doing just like he said he was…you bring it back to how you think “ no, no, how you know he was lying?”
“I dunno.”
“Well that makes two of us.” She said. “And since you don’t know there’s no chance that I’ll know.”
“Well thanks for listening and…kind of caring anyways.”
“Listening to the insane concoctions of a jealous mind…that’s what friends are for.”
“Shut up!” I laughed.
“Bye K.”
“Bye Nik.”
As soon as I hung that phone up, sleep came a-calling. And I didn’t hesitate to answer. I never knew jealousy would wear a person out, but I’d never felt so tired in my life than I had at the moment.
Stretching, I sighed as my eyes glanced at the clock. Dang it was 6:34 pm already. How long had I been sleeping? I’m surprised Justin hadn’t come back by now to wake me up. Sitting up now, my eyes instantly fell onto a piece of half-folded paper with my name scribbled on it. Judging by the chicken scratch I could tell it was Justin’s writing.
Two minutes later I was able to decipher what the message said. It read, “Meet me by your favorite spot at 9 o’ clock. I’ll be the one with the red rose.” He’d signed it “love, Noah.”
What a goober. But I loved him anyway.
It was nine-oh-seven p.m. Only Justin would be late to the romantic rendezvous that he’d set up. I was about to resort to sitting down in the grass, risking grass stains, under the large willow tree when I heard a loud and persistent car honking coming from behind me.
I knew who it was before I even turned around. Walking over to the car, I smiled at the driver. “You know you’re a poor excuse for a Noah.” He leaned over to open the door for me, also opening his mouth to say something before I cut him off with a kiss as I slid into the passenger seat.
“That’s it? I’m late and you don’t argue with me? No yelling?”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Don’t look so surprised, I can be forgiving when I want to.” Looking like he wanted to say something to contrary I said, “Don’t even mention my Baby All Gone doll…some things are unforgivable.”
“It wasn’t my fault that my dog destroyed the doll.”
“Molested her, destroyed her spirit…then destroyed her body.”
“Oh lord…” He sighed, as he turned the car around, heading out the way he’d come in. “You’re never going to let me live that down are you?”
Shrugging, I said, “Maybe. Maybe not. Hey…wasn’t there supposed to be a rose that came with this?”
“There was, but…”
“But what?” I asked. “No, nevermind. It doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“You’re disappointed?”
“No.”
“Mad?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“Mad and disappointed aren’t the only emotions I have ya know.” I looked at him, watching his profile as he drove. I don’t know why, but it seemed the less I saw him, the more I just wanted to sit back and stare at him when I did get to be with him.
He turned and glanced at me, a slow smile crept across his face. “You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”
“What? Spacing out?”
“No…well yeah that, but that’s not what I was talking about. You’ve been staring at me a lot. Is there something on my face that you’re not telling me about? And I’ll have to wait until some little kid sees it and points and laughs at me while tugging on his mom saying ‘Mommie, what’s wrong with that man’s face?’”
Laughing, I said, “You should be used to being stared at by now.”
“I am.” He said, briefly glancing at me. “But not by you.”
“Well get used to it then.”
He took his eyes off of the road then for a moment to look at me. I knew he was trying to make eye contact so he could do that evil mind reading trick of his, but I wasn’t falling for that.
“You know, normally what a person does when they miss someone they love is to tell them that. Or find a creative way to show them.”
“So what are you saying, staring at you isn’t creative?” I smiled. “Alright, then I won’t do it anymore. Since it apparently bothers you so much.” I turned away little, so that I could look out the window. Not that there was much to see. Just the blurred greens and browns of the scenery.
“Would you say it, if I said it first?”
“Say what?”
“That you missed me.”
Laughing, I said, “If I missed you…I would just say it.”
Silence tapped me on the shoulder, signaling me to move over a little bit so it can have room to get in between Justin and me. Sitting closer to the window now, I suddenly realized just how loud the motor was. Was it always that loud? Was something wrong it? Maybe I should ask…
When I looked at him, he didn’t look mad. But there was this aura, this change of vibe around him, like silence and him were snuggling up close right now and I shouldn’t interrupt them. So I watched him instead. I knew that the decent time allotted that one could look upon a person before it crossed over to full-fledged staring and long since passed, but I couldn’t help it.
Although, it didn’t take long for me to become tired of that look on his face. His face was just pensive enough looking to let me know that he was thinking about something. But what was he thinking about? And why did he have to look so serious while he did it?
Approaching conversation with my old specialty move, humor, I called his name as a small, hesitant child would. “Justin…” He glanced at me, but didn’t respond. “Are you mad?”
He glanced at me again, a little longer than before. And was that…no, no that couldn’t be, a slight smile on Justin Timberlake’s face. For me?! This must be my lucky day. “No.” He finally answered.
“Sad?”
“No.”
“Happy?”
Rolling his eyes, he said, “Yeah, I’m happy that my girlfriend didn’t miss me while I was gone for two months.”
“Actually it was two months and four days,” I said. “to be exact.”
“So you did miss me?” He said, his face visibly brightening at the thought. I don’t know why I joked around him with on things like this, he could be such a girl sometimes.
“Of course I did, stupid.” I smiled then. “I always miss my Baby Bluesy poo when he goes away.”
Now you would have thought that given the gag-me cheesiness of my last comment that Justin would have said something equally as cheesy or something sarcastic. But being the girl that he is, he smiled and said, “Aww baby, I missed you too. I hate being without my Special K.”
So he’s sensitive, so what? I love him, alright. And did you hear him say he missed me? Not that I doubted that he did or anything, but a verbal confirmation is always nice.
“Are we almost there?” I whined, it felt like I’d been in this car forever. Where did this road lead? Better question, where did it end?
“Yes, we’re almost there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Justin.”
“What?”
“What about now?”
“What about now??”
“Are we there yet now?”
“We’ll be there when the car stops, until then no.”
“Ugh.” I sighed, squirming in my seat. “I gotta go potty.”
He laughed, before looking over at me; the me, who was still squirming in my seat. “So what do you want me do about it?”
“Find a gas station or something.”
“But we’re almost there.”
“Is there a potty there?”
He laughed again as if a junior in college saying “potty” is humorous in some way. “I don’t know. I’ll just find a gas station then.”
“Good. Cause I really gotta go.”
One pit-stop at a BP gas station later and I was ready to go. “On the road again…” I sang, boredom settling in.
“Do you want me to turn the radio on?”
“Is that your way of telling me to stop singing?”
“Yes,” He laughed.
“Alright then, Simon. Turn on the radio.”
“You know you’re my American Idol.” He said, switching the radio on.
“Uh-huh, whatever.”
After a few minutes of switching from one overplayed song to the next, I said, “Justin…”
“What?”
“Are we there, yet?”
“Has the car stopped moving?”
“No.”
“Then there’s your answer.”
“Oh, but Justin…”
“What?” He sighed.
“My booty’s going numb.”
“Remind me to never go on a road trip with you.”
The car finally stopped and as soon as I reached for the door handle, he said, “uh-uh-uh…you gotta close your eyes.”
“Justin the last time I closed my eyes and let you blind fold me, the night nearly ended with the both us in the back of a cop car.”
“But the important part is that it never came to that.”
“No, because the lady cop was sweet on you and decided to let us go.”
He laughed. “Yeah and you were jealous.”
“I was not!”
“Was too.”
“Was not!”
“Too!”
“Not!”
Laughing, he said, “Close your eyes.”
“Hmmm.” I murmured, wondering how my luck would hold out this time.
“Do you trust me?”
“You know I do.”
“Then prove it and close your eyes for me, baby.”
Damn him and that voice…it did something to me. I swear it has magical powers or something, which he always uses for evil. With my eyes closed I waited for the blind-fold and the guiding to begin.
“Justin.”
“Yeah.”
“Stop holding my ass.”
He laughed, “My hands are on your back.”
“My back doesn’t go all the way down there.”
“Yeah, but my hand does.” He laughed, giving my ass a quick smack before adding, “Less talking and more walking.”
We walked in silence for a while as I listened to the change of sound from the soft crunch of grass to the creak of what sounded like wood underneath my feet. With another gentle pat to my ass, he said, “We’re here.”
Taking the blind-fold off from my eyes, I smiled so wide that I’m sure I looked like a damn fool. The sun was falling, waving goodbye as it went and sending streaks of pinks, oranges, and reds in its wake, which lent a soft glow to the lake that sparkled with a deep clear blue; so clear you could see right through to the bottom. “Awww, baby.” I cooed, turning around to hug my wonderful, thoughtful man.
“Sorry, I couldn’t get any ducks.”
Laughing, I said, “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“Well I didn’t do this all by myself. I mean, the big guy upstairs did help me out a little with the sunset and whatnot.” He smiled, pulling her into him and sharing a quick kiss before saying, “Let’s take a ride.”
I hadn’t even noticed the boat until he said that. I watched him climb in first before he turned toward me, a single red rose appearing out of nowhere as he offered it up to me.
“Ooh, you’re good.” I said, taking the rose from him and taking his hand before he held me by the waist, lifting and carrying me down unto the boat with him. “And what big arms you have.” I said, squeezing the arms that had so easily lifted me.
“The better to hold you close, my dear.” He said, his arms wrapping around my waist and settling onto their favorite resting spot: my ass.
“We’re so cheesy.” I laughed. “But you better sit down, before you mess around and start rocking the boat. And I ain’t tryna fall in, you know I just got my hair did.” I said, patting my hair for good measure.
After a spin and a half around the lake, I still couldn’t believe that he’d done all this for me. Just because I’d mention once “ or four times “ how cute The Notebook was. And the next thing I knew I was saying, “You know you didn’t have to do all this. I would have been fine with a game of Jenga.”
Rolling his eyes, he said, “Fool me once shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me.”
“I didn’t fool you anytime, fool. You know I’m a simple suburban girl content with simple mundane things…but…” Looking around, I added, “I could definitely get used to this.”
“I’m sure you could.” He laughed, before his phone started to ring.
I watched his face, taking into account every motion no matter how big or small. The smaller, the more attempts to keep it hidden, the more it gives away. It’s not that I didn’t trust Justin, but depending on who is on the other end of the line…I might not trust them. Especially if the “them” winds up being a blond haired, blue eyed super goddess who possibly could be the love of his fate-written life. Sandy’s the type of girl you’d expect to see on Justin’s arm and as far as I could tell from what I’d been told about her, she was like Britney only prettier, smarter and a longer history of knowing him….all of which makes her that much more dangerous.
Ten minutes, he’d been on the phone. Ten minutes chatting away with someone who was able to make him frown, laugh the laugh that only a select few can draw out of him, and appear somewhat pensive for a moment. I wondered how close Sandy and him had been over the years…any secret revendouses? And if they had, how did I compare to someone who at least in my head appeared to be perfect, if not only in the general sense, but for him also? He had to see it. And if he didn’t…
He smiled, that left corner up, right corner still deciding smile of his, but it wasn’t because of what the other person on the phone had said. He was looking at me, those beautiful sky blue eyes had focused on me and his lips were mouthing, “I’ve got to go.”
I could hear the other person still talking and resisted the sigh of relief coming out, when I heard it was his mom on the other end. Good ol’ Lynn; if someone had to interrupt us the Keisha-approved person for the job was definitely her.
His phone tucked away in his pocket again, his body was suddenly closer to mine. My breath actually hitched when I realized just how close he was. It was crazy the effect this man still had on me after all this time. I could smell his cologne, the one I’d gotten for him the Christmas before we got together. That seemed like ages ago. It felt like we’d been together forever. Not that I’m complaining or anything, but…
Right hand at the back of my head, curving to the shape of my head like it was always meant to be there, left hand resting gently against my cheek his thumb making small circles, his lips performed feats that left my mind unable to do simple tasks like…say, I dunno…count past…anything, recite the alphabet, or even remember what my name was.
“Sorry ‘bout that.” He said referring to his time on the phone and sounding as breathless as I felt.
“Kisses like that mean never having to say you’re sorry.” I said, biting on my lower lip to pick up the last tastes of him and those delicious kisses.
“Sorry, I lied about Sandy’s aunt dying.”
With one suspicious eyebrow raised high enough to give Rock a run for his money, I asked, “So you didn’t go over to her hotel then?”
“Oh, I did go…but just to run my idea past her…to get her last minute female perspective.”
“So you went over there to ask her, if I would like this? She doesn’t even know me.”
“She doesn’t need to know you. She’s about the same age as you. So I figured…”
“So you figured what one twenty-something female would like, all twenty-something females would like.”
“Not all…that would be generalizing.” He smiled. “Just you.”
“And that’s not generalizing?”
“No.” He retorted. “You and her are a lot alike.”
“We are not.”
“How would you know?”
“I know.” I said, stubbornly.
“You haven’t even met her.”
“And why’s that Timberlake?”
“Oh, lord…here we go.” He sighed. “Can’t we just enjoy the moment without an argument?”
I eyed him wearily for a moment, before giving into his peace offering. Sighing and nodding, my head, I said, “You’re right.”
“Wha-what?”
I rolled my eyes, the slight smirk on my face mirroring the one he wore. “You’re…right.”
“Still I didn’t quite catch that…I’m what?”
“You’re right.”
“I’m right?”
“Yes, you by some incredible miracle aren’t wrong.”
“No, no…I like the way you said it the first time.” He said, smiling. “Say it again.”
“You’re enjoying this a little too much.” I said. “You were right. You’re right! You’re right. I’m wrong. You are right…there, happy now?”
Smiling, he said, “That wasn’t that hard now was it?”
“Whatever.” I said, suddenly realizing how cold it had gotten, while we’d been sitting on the lake.
A few seconds later I was shivering. Being the gentleman that he is, Justin handed me his jacket, before he began to row us back to the shore. When we were both standing on the dock again, I pulled him in for another kiss, which quickly turned into more. Much more, despite the chill of the cooling air around us. Suddenly I went from freezing, to burning up, but then I’m sure you’d get hot to if you found yourself on your back with Justin on top of you kissing you the way he was kissing me right now.
Don’t be jealous.
“Mmm…Justin.”
“Yeah?”
“We should stop.”
“Mmm.” He murmured. “You’re right.” He said, not stopping.
Suppressing an encouraging moan I said, “Despite how good that feels, that’s not what I’d call stopping.” And with a flick of my hip, he was off me…and the dock. A loud splash signaled his sudden meeting with the freezing water below. Moving myself so that I could see over the edge, I smiled and shrugged seeing him dog paddling, “I’m sorry…but you left me no choice.”
“Hmmm, that’s funny cause I’m sorry too.”
“Sorry for what?”
“For this!” He exclaimed, pulling me down into the company of the murky waters below with me.
“Thanks, jackass.” I muttered, spitting out a mouthful of nasty lake water.
“Anything for you.”
“Haha…you’re hilarious. And you’re going to pay for this.”
He laughed. “That’s my girl.” He said, kissing her. “Anything less than that would have been very disappointing.”
When we finally did get out of the water, I was only slightly pruney…my hair was whole ‘nother story unfortunately. But fortunately who would see that besides Justin and me? And it’s not like a frizzy haired, partially pruney me was anything new to him. Okay the pruney part was. Hey, if he wanted perfect, flawless, easy breezy beautiful covergirl 24/7 then he’s definitely with the wrong girl.
I’ll let the Britney’s and Sandy’s of the world struggle to keep up those facades; it’s stressful enough just being me as it is, vertical-challengedness and all, why would I want to add to that for?
