Love and Skate (23 page)

             
He sat in the hot tub the bubbles lapping at his chest and at first glance I thought he was asleep.  I let the towel fall to the floor and his eyes popped open, immediately focused on me. 

             
“I knew you couldn’t resist.” He smugly whispered.

             
“I never intended to resist.  I just wanted to make you squirm a little.” I laughed as I
climbed the couple of stairs up to the edge of the hot tub. 

             
“How do you manage to get more and more gorgeous every time I see you?” He asked me.

             
“Same way you manage to make me blush from across the room.” I stepped into the bubbling, boiling water and let the heat creep over me.

             
Owen met me halfway across and moved to let me sit where he sat just moments ago. 

             
“That’s the best spot.” He said and as I felt the jets pulsing on my back I knew he was right.

             
He rubbed my feet as he sat next to me with my legs draped over his lap and it reminded me of the library.

             
“What’s so funny?” He said.

             
“It’s not funny.  I was just smiling at you rubbing my feet.  Reminds me of the library.”

             
“You started it
rubbing your feet on my back.  I love it that you were so comfortable with me already.  You trusted me without a second thought.”

             
“Yeah, ‘cause your hands on my thighs sure felt like trust.” I giggled.

             
“Well, if you don’t like it I won’t ever do it again.” He smiled.

             
He leaned over but didn’t kiss me.  He stayed centimeters from my face.  But his hands were moving at the same speed and strength as they did in the library.  But this time there was no skirt stopping his ascension.  I gasped as he ran his fingers under the sides of my white bikini bottom and then back towards my butt.  He stopped short and began a journey upwards
teasing the strings that held my top on.

             
“
One swift move and this tiny
white bikini would be history.”  I could feel the words leave his mouth as his lips moved against mine as he spoke.

             
“I thought I was doing good to bring the white one to remind you of my wedding dress color.  I thought you might behave yourself.”  I was sorely mistaken.

             
“Oh it reminds me.  And then it makes me think about our wedding night and a white dress hitting the floor.”
  His thumbs
now teased
just inside the hem at the sides
of my top venturing to places he’d never ventured to before.

             
“How many months until I can take this off?”  He bit my lower lip after he said it and
I checked to make sure the damned swimsuit hadn’t melted off.

             
“Three? Four? I can hardly remember my name right now.”

             
“Hmm—I love that I do that to you.” He said and finally, finally he took my mouth with his and pressed me against him and I doubted even the water could infiltrate the space between us. 

             
He broke our kiss much faster than I liked and my whole body was flushed and it had nothing to do with the hot tub.  Owen and I together were more on fire than a thousand hot tubs combined.

             
Monday we completely
vegged
out.  We watched movies and I never changed out of my pajamas the entire day.  Owen stayed in a pair of shorts and a Tulane
hoodie
and I had never seen him as laid back and comfortable as I did that day.  He laughed out loud at the funny movies and when I practically made him watch a romantic movie he hugged me to him during the sappy parts. 

             
I started to fall asleep with my head on a pillow on his lap as he played with my hair.

             
“I don’t want to go back to school.” I groaned.

             
“I don’t want to either.  Between classes and studying and your job I never get to see you anymore.  I can’t wait to get this semester over with.  Plus, we know that your chem. Lab partner is trying to steal you from me.”  He laughed at that last part but for some reason his story about Amy came to mind and I wanted to nip this in the bud immediately.

             
I sat up and turned to face him.

             
“Are you serious or joking ‘cause I can’t tell.  And I need to know if I should be pissed or laughing.” I tried my hardest to shoot invisible daggers his way.

             
“About what? That Ayden guy? I’m kidding.  I mean he would be crazy not to want you but…” He was struggling so I decided to finish the sentence for him before he said something that made me really pissed.

             
“But—you know that I love you and you trust me completely so there was never anything to worry about, right?  That
is
what you were going to say, right?”

             
“Totally.”  He said and smiled at me but it was a smile that was superficial.

             
I squinted at him and he chuckled.

             
“It’s not funny Owen.  I’m not Amy. 
I’m yours and only yours for the rest of our lives.”

             
“I know.  And I would never stoop so low as to compare you to her.  Did you know that I never brought her home to meet my parents?  I don’t know why.  I guess I was ashamed of our relationship.  I knew my mom wouldn’t like her.”

             
“I know.  You forget that Sylvia is like my
bestie
.” I said smugly.

             
“I love that, you know.  I love that my mom loves you.”

             
“I’m glad.  It feels like I’ve belonged in this family all along.” I laid back down and buried my face in his stomach and before long, with his hand stro
king my arm, I fell fast asleep.

             
We packed up reluctantly on Wednesday and left early in the morning. 
I wasn’t ready to get back to the daily grind and neither was Owen. 
He had been quieter than usual after the mention of Ayden the other night and I could tell that it bugged him way more than he was letting on.  But there were three more months left of the semester.  We c
ould endure anything for a few
more months. 

             
I shook his hand that held mine, “I know how I’m going to remember the boat weekend and I know how I’m going to remember this trip.”

             
He turned to me and smiled and it was genuine. “I know how I’m going to remember this trip too.”

             
“How,” I asked.

             
“Two words baby.  Hot—tub.” 

             
“My thoughts exactly.” I giggled. 

             
“You have to work tomorrow?” He asked.

             
“Yeah, I have to work in the afternoon.  Are you staying with me tonight?  You can do your laundry there.”

             
“Are you going to beg,” he asked. 

             
“Nope.  It’s your turn.” I giggled again.

             
“I have no problem begging.” He kissed my hand and we continued driving to my apartment.

             
I needed to get myself in check.  I had to make myself forget Amy and Lucas and all of that other crap like pronto.  This was the first relationship I had been in since that whole ordeal and it was perfect except for the fact that I was letting doubts and the past and petty jealousy gnaw at me.  It constantly prickled my skin and tapped on my shoulder letting me know it was there.  It was like a shadowy ghost that you could see from your peripheral and feel every second but when you faced it head on it vanished only to reappear in another corner.  I couldn’t rid myself of it.

             
We reached her apartment and if I was honest with myself and her, I needed some time alone to clear my head.  At the same time she was the reassurance I needed to get me through this.  I put on my laundry to wash and she was showering.  Her phone rang and alerted her to a text message and my caveman wanted to grab it and see who it was. 

             
Who in the hell had I become?

             
She came out and I went in behind her and took a long cold shower to make myself come down from my hill of stupidity.  How could I ever doubt Nellie?  How?  I got out of the icy waterfall calmed down and out of my fury.

             
I walked into the bedroom and she checked her phone.

             
“I put your clothes in the dryer.” She said as she punched buttons.

             
“Thanks.  You ok?” I asked.

             
“Yeah, Ayden sent me a text message.” My stomach jumped into my throat at the very mention of his name. “He said something about the report won’t print and he wants to know if I have a printer.” 

             
“I do if you don’t.” 
Real smooth Owen.

             
“I have one.  He can e-mail it to me and I can print it.”  She continued to press buttons.

             
I got into bed on my side and watched her face screw up like she was aggravated.

             
“What in the hell kind of college student doesn’t know how to attach a file to an e-mail?  Seriously?” She worked double time texting back.

             
“Ugh—he wants to meet at the library tomorrow to print it out.  You have to come with me Owen.  I’m gonna kick his ass.”  She was so damned cute when she was pissed.

             
“Yeah, ok, ask him what time.  I’m glad I get to meet the skinny little shit.”

             
She texted a few more times and then slammed her phone down in frustration.

             
“He says we can meet at nine in the morning—lame.”

             
She lay down next to me and sighed.  I took off my shirt and
she put her face on my chest facing me.

             
“Sylvia thinks we should go to Cozumel for the honeymoon.” She said and I could feel the rise of her cheek against my chest as she smiled. I rubbed her back and she writhed like a cat beneath my hand.

             
“It really doesn’t matter to me.  Wherever you want to go is fine.”  And I meant it.  All I needed was my girl.

             
“That was easy.” She said slowly and I felt her body relax and let go in stages.  There was no better feeling in the world than Nellie falling asleep on me.

             
My phone rang sometime very early in the morning.

             
“What?” I yawned into the phone not even looking at the caller id.

             
“Don’t you ‘what’ me Owen Matthew.  I need some help today honey.  Can you come to the restaurant and help out?  Half of the waiters are out sick.  I really need you.”

             
“Yeah Mom, what time?”

             
“I know it’s early but can you come now?  The place needs to be cleaned and prepped for lunch.”  She sounded worried and I hated my mom to sound worried.

             
“Yeah Mom, I’m on my way.  Ok?  Don’t worry, we’ll get it done.”

             
I got
up but not before sneaking
to kiss sleeping Nellie.  It woke her up and she grabbed my arm before I could get up.

             
“Where are you going,” she asked.

             
“Mom needs help at the restaurant.  Everyone is out sick.
” I finally found a shirt and stretched it over my head scrambling to leave.

             
“Ok, tell her ‘Hi’ and after I’m done printing the paper I will come by if I can.”

             
“It’s fine.  Why don’t you come after your shift is over?   It will be less busy.”

             
“Yeah, ok.” She rolled over to my side and buried her face in my pillow as she always did when I got out of bed before her.

             
I approached the bed and lifted the hem of her shirt the tiniest bit to kiss the small of her back while she slept.