“You are on your own with that pie.” I patted my full belly and thanked him then sat up when a realization struck me. “Oh, I forgot. Yes, I totally got the agency job! I love Adam and Marcy. They are amazing! Thank you so much for setting that up for me.”
He smiled and pulled me to him on the couch. “You’ll be good for them.”
“I hope so.” I leaned into him, my head on his chest as he grabbed the remote and turned to me.
“You have two choices.”
“Always two choices with you,” I smiled.
“We can bond on the surface, criticizing shit reality TV or,” he said with a grin, “we can start a serious relationship with Netflix, which technically would keep us glued to each other until it’s over. No cheating, it’s a commitment.” He smiled down at me and promptly added, “Tell me, baby, you think you are ready for that kind of commitment?”
His eyes shone with curiosity and I stared at the beautiful indent in his chin. “Sure,” I chuckled as he locked his eyes onto mine. He brushed his lips against mine and when he pulled away I felt the draw, my instinctive need for him. It was electric, tangible, and felt amazing. Butterflies began to circulate as he slid his hand up and down my arm, warming me. Affectionate and attentive, this man had my full attention.
“Okay.”
He shuffled through the Netflix menu and after few minutes of debate, we finally settled on House of Cards. The hours began to fly by as we took turns speculating the plot and for some odd reason we laughed every time Kevin Spacey faced the screen to perform direct commentary to the audience. Together, we both found it hilarious, even though the series was suspenseful and dramatic. Something about it set us off as we laughed hard, sharing our odd sense of humor. We also both delighted in the fact that the evil politician was from Gaffney, South Carolina, which was only about thirty minutes away from where we lived. We were even more amused as we realized that one of the plot points of an episode was the fact that the Gaffney water tower was causing highway accidents due to the fact that it looked like a giant vagina but was supposed to have resembled a peach. The tower was easily seen for miles from the highway and apparently was a cause for concern.
“It totally looks like a puss,” I agreed as I looked on.
“It does. Let’s go see it together when the series is over.”
“Totally, we’ll make a day of it. I mean, that is the day our relationship ends.” Jayden looked at me with sudden concern, then it dawned on him I was referring to our Netflix commitment.
“Nah, we’ll just find something else.” I turned to him as he held me tighter.
“Sounds good to me.”
And that’s when I knew that we had indirectly decided to start something. I was bursting inside with hope as we continued to get more and more wrapped up in the story unfolding.
“Netflix is crack,” I noted after our fifth episode. His arm still around me, he began to feather his fingers through my hair in a soothing motion. Reveling in the feel, I made slow circles on his chest with my fingertips.
Jayden would look down at me from time to time and I could see the heat building in his eyes. I was almost disheartened when I realized the hour and told him I should go so he could get some sleep for work the next day.
“I had fun,” I told him at the door.
“Me, too,” he said softly as he leaned in and I braced myself for a kiss. His answer was only a whisper of his lips and I found myself entirely deflated as he pulled away.
“Do I still fit the criteria, Jayden?” I asked curiously, revealing a hint of insecurity.
“God, that was rude of me. I sometimes say shit I don’t mean. I have a problem with my filter. I mean, it’s the truth, but with you sometimes I overshare. It can make me seem kind of like an asshole.”
“I happen to like it that you’re so honest.”
“Give it time,” he said with a look of dread. I wanted to depart on a good note, so I changed the subject.
“It’s cool. I was just wondering why the other night I was practically half naked in your truck and tonight you gave me a good bye kiss I would expect from my ninety-year-old grandmother.”
He burst into laughter then pulled me into his arms. After a few minutes of simply holding me at his door, he whispered into my temple, “I like you, that’s why.”
“I’ll take it,” I whispered back, pulling away to look up at him. “I like you, too.” And that’s when he captured my mouth, fulfilling my need for his touch. He kissed me long, hard, and thoroughly, letting me know that a kiss had been just as much on his mind as it had been on mine. My panties soaked and my mind on all things Jayden, I stood, hoping for an invitation he delivered.
“How about Wednesday?” he whispered as he tapped his lips against mine one last time, easing us out of the fog. I nodded in response.
“Goodnight, Jayden, and thank you for dinner. So good...all of it.” His dazzling smile muted me as I tore myself away, but not before memorizing his features, and tucking them away.
“Night.”
I spent the next day organizing my life. I paid all the bills I could afford to, cleaned my apartment to white glove inspection worthy, and even managed to spend a few hours organizing my closet. Something inside me knew things were about to change for the better, and in a way I was preparing myself for it. In less than a week, I would be starting a new job that I was excited about. With the toss of the shoebox full of old boyfriend memorabilia in the trash, I knew with that gesture I was ridding myself of my baggage. I would keep my scars—I’d earned them—but I didn’t need a ten year old ticket stub to remember them.
Gerri came home from the lunch shift and plopped herself on my bed as I continued to throw piles on the floor outside my closet that I intended to discard.
“What’s with the nesting? And why is the house so damned clean? Is your mother coming?”
“I decided to get rid of a few things, and no, I just felt like it.” Stepping into my closet, I discreetly lidded my NSYNC memorabilia and tucked it away from Gerri’s view. No one needed to know I had my first orgasm thinking of Justin Timberlake in the Gone video, or that I had gone to see them twelve times in concert, some of them back to back, if I begged my mother enough to drive to the neighboring cities. My box was all I had left out of thousands of dollars’ worth of memorabilia I’d collected. And I wasn’t parting with it, ever.
She gave me a sideways glance as I braved a look at her. I wasn’t the world’s tidiest roommate. Gerri actually had me beat in that department. She often bitched about the large amount of auburn hair that was embedded in the bathroom floor, and my lack of shared garbage duty.
“Well, it looks awesome,” she said, picking a shirt up out of my discard pile and tucking it at her side.
“Sooooo,” I said with big eyes. “Are you going to make me beat it out of you?”
She shot up on the bed and started bouncing excitedly. “I know I shouldn’t have slept with him so soon, so before you start preachin’—”
“No way, I swear. I must have been a real bitch to you when it came to him and for that I’m sorry. No judgment and tell me everything. But before you do, I have a confession.”
“Yeah?” she said with a sweet smile.
“I kind of was excited about my first date with Jayden and walked in on the two of you. He’s got an amazing ass, but that’s all I saw, I swear.”
Her eyes bulged a bit before she burst out laughing. “No wonder you were scarred!”
“Yeah, if I hadn’t just had a full on session with Jayden, it would have been a hell of a lot worse.”