Her head turned away from the computer where she sat as she thought of the water that sat waiting, cold in the fridge. She walked into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle. Heading back to her work she heard the noise of her two dogs going towards the front door, as if someone were there. She got up from her seat, not expecting visitors, though not thinking it was odd that one might be here. One thing made this odd though, there had been no knock as of yet, and no doorbell. She opened the front door, leaning off of the stair landing directly to its left, outside the porch light had not turned on and she could barely make out a hooded figure, male, outside. He made little movement in the second she pushed the screen door open and said an awkward hi, but she realized who it was soon after.
Grabbing the screen door he pushed it past him and walked through it, her face grew very worried as she saw his, pouted up with his breath held. She grabbed his hand in hers and put her other one around his neck, bringing his head down to her shoulders as her began to cry. Rubbing his back she started to whisper to him that it was ok. Pulling his head away from her body she looked straight up into his face as a tear dripped off of his nose. Still holding his hand she lead him to the couch where she sat down and pulled him down next to her, he leaned his head into the top of her chest as she held him hand, periodically squeezing it to re-assure him that she was there.
She had let a considerable amount of silence go by as she whispered to him, “Nathan, babe, it’s ok, don’t worry,” she paused and breathed in as he sniffled, “when did she talk to you?” He lifted his head from her and wiped his nose with his free hand, her fingers tracing his to show that she cared. He spoke with his voice not coming in quite clearly at first, “she…we talked tonight. She just…” There was no reply as to what was spoken about, because both sitting on the couch knew it. She leaned her head into his and smiled a little, his head pressing back as she squeezed his hand again. She rolled her head a little bit and kissed his forehead, whispering to him that it was ok, and not to be worried.
More silenced followed. Just them sitting on the couch, she rubbing his hand and his thigh when she could, and him sitting there going in between sniffling and crying. He breathed in and paused before he spoke, “Laura, I just, I don’t understand why I’m such a dick.” Her face froze, reacting in pure shock she almost screamed, but managed to speak in a lower tone, “what?!” He looked down even more, kind of shamefully and then pulled away from her, “I should have treated her better…I don’t know, maybe bought her roses or something.” She was almost appalled at what he had said, his demeanor as a boyfriend had been wonderful, a very caring individual who loved his girlfriend maybe too much. Looking deep into his eyes as she rotated her torso to face him she sighed, “hun, you’re the sweetest most amazing guy I know, you did not treat her badly, I swear to you.”
The conversation kept on for a while, she complimented him over and over again, telling him that he was amazing and should recognize it. He lifted his head after a while and told her he should probably go, and that he wasn’t supposed to come over for very long. Letting her strange visitor go she walked him to the door, all the while holding his hand as she gave him one long hug before he left. He looked down, obviously still not hearing all of what she said and walked his way out the door. This time, the porch light turned on. She heard him get into his car, turn it on, back out, and then watched him drive away, her face most likely illuminated by the light from the house.
The next day followed a similar pattern, but in a different setting. The phone rang as she was pouring a cup of dog food into the dog’s bowls. She grabbed the phone and put it on her shoulder, answering in a bright tone, “hello?” The other line spoke back, “hey Laura, it’s Nathan.” she put the cup down, “hey darling, how are you doing?” His response was vague, “um, fine, I guess.” She wasn’t willing to flirt around the topic like the normally did, “you sound better if it means anything.” He took this comment oddly, not really responding with much more than an “oh.” She came back again, “would you like to come over babe?” his voice had been somber when she answered and he paused to think, “well, would you like to come over here instead?” Sensing that he couldn’t come over she replied, “of course.” He questioned her again, “Are you sure you can?” She laughed a little and put the dog bowls down on the ground, “I’m positive, let me feed the dogs and I’ll be right over.”
She drove the 3 blocks to his house in a matter of moments and got out of the car to see his mother, waving. She waved back and in a happy tone said hello, following her inside. From the kitchen he appeared, looking normal, more or less. She hugged him sweetly, though came under the impression that his family might not know of his troubles. Letting him go they spoke for a bit and went upstairs to his room. Hanging around they talked intimately again, she giving him the best advice she could, then were interrupted by his kid sister, 2 years younger than he. She left though, and they went back to talking. At dinner she got to see that while he was in fact pretending to be happy around his family, he was letting it get to him. He would snap at his sisters for making immature comments, or not respond to his father in appropriate ways. His father, a rather entertaining guy, didn’t notice. They sat on the couch after dinner and talked a little, about the atlas she held in her hands as she laid against his chest. Hi father came over and asked some questions. As he spoke she ran her fingers across Nathan's thigh and squeezed it occasionally to let him know she was thinking of him.
They retreated to his room again, talking, being interrupted, then talking again. It became obvious this occupied all of his thoughts. He layed on his hammock above her, he layed on his bed sideways next to her, and then ended up intimately close to her laying the normal way on his bed, spreading the blanket he was under over so it covered her. She rubbed his shoulders, kissed his head in times of weaknesses and ran her hands through his hair as a mother would to comfort a child. At one point he rolled towards her as they talked, he gaze had been moving around but she only slightly noticed as he stared at her chest for a moment and then down to a small white string he saw at the top of her pants. The string was from her underwear, which had been moved a bit during all the bedroom gyrations and now popped out at the top.
They made eye contact again as she smiled worryingly at him and put her hand forward, resting it on his chest, right where his heart lay. He looked back at her and smiled, he leaned in and she become slightly confused, all at once his lips touched hers and pressed together, which brought on a sweet kiss. His tongue portruded first, pressing against her lips as she opened her mouth, letting her tongue start in as his hand went down around her waist and pulled her tight against him. Ending the kiss he moved the small bit of hair that had fallen in front of her face out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear. She blushed a bit, wondering what she had just done. She let it go, and he even continued to talk about her. He called her house and left her a message for her to call him when she got home.
Going downstairs, everyone in the house asleep at this point, she made him a snack and watched as he sat at the kitchen table, staring at the phone. Sitting down next to him she stroked his back, he turned to her and again kissed her, sweetly this time and without as much force. She took it, though began to seriously doubt her actions. Explaining to him some ideas she had on his distress she again ran her fingers in along his palm, trying to let him know that she cared for him. He leaned in again, this time she pulled back just as his lips hit hers, the phone rang, both of them sat there, frozen as if stone. She had no qualms about what he was supposed to do, but he paused before picking up the phone. As he picked it up, she found it was indeed Erin and she stood up and put her glass in the sink. Nathan told the other line to hold on as he put his hand over the receiver, “I’m sorry, um…” she interrupted his speech, “don’t worry, I know where the door is, you talk.”
[To be continued…]