“Why are you doing this? What is in it for you?”
“There is only one thing that I want, Willow, and that’s you. When I told you that I fell in love with you that one night, I meant it.”
She whispered something to herself, unintelligible words that I couldn’t make out, but it seemed as if she was arguing with herself. I stood patiently, waiting for her. I had waited this long, what was a few more minutes.
I watched in fascination as two wrinkles formed between her eyebrows as she took in my words. Love wasn’t something I said lightly, but I knew the moment I had touched her arm in the club that night that she was special – she was the one. Love, at first sight, wasn’t something I subscribed to. But love at first touch? That was something that I could get behind.
“Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll do it all.”
“You’ll come with me? Do your internship? Give me a chance?” I inquired, stepping as close as I could to her. I towered over her petite frame.
“Yes.” She nodded enthusiastically. “I can’t explain it, but something about that night with you was different. I want it all – with you.”
I was on her again, pouring every ounce of myself into her – into this kiss.
“What made you change your mind?” I asked against her lips.
She pulled back an inch so that she could rest her hands on my cheeks and look into my eyes.
“I realized that I might have felt something for you too.”
3
Willow
Eric had dutifully walked me back to the apartment that I shared with Jolee and I was thankful that she wasn’t home. After our eventful night together, I had expected Eric to jump at the chance to be alone with me and whisk me away to my bedroom, but secretly I was delighted that he was the gentleman I had remembered. He simply left me with his business card, personal number written on the back, and a gentle kiss on my lips. A kiss that lingered for hours later.
“Explain everything,” Jolee called out the moment she entered the apartment after her shift at the animal shelter. I had barely moved from the couch in the four hours since Eric left, not even removing my black gown, which draped loosely on the cushions beside me.
“I’m not sure I know how to explain anything,” I replied to her as she plopped beside me, a bottle of wine rattling on the glass coffee table as she sat it down with a flourish.
“I don’t buy it. Nor do I believe we’ll need glasses for this occasion.”
Staring at my cousin, I tried to form the right words to describe my encounter with Eric, but I was coming up short. How could I explain how the man possessed me from the first second of being in his arms? How could I explain that my lack of relationships and dates the last year had been due to the single night I had spent with him? Their tryst had been more than just a one-night stand; it had been a life-changing event.
I wasn’t a prude by any sense of the imagination. I loved men and dating and the sex that would come along with it. But everything up to her night with Eric couldn’t compare. It was as if everything else had been a blimp on her sexual radar, completely inconsequential until her night with Eric.
I was sure it wasn’t just because he was older and more experienced than any of the boys she met at Wellington, but it was definitely a possibility. He had a worldly air about him that impressed her.
“Willow?” Jolee called out, bringing me back to the moment.
“I. . . I don’t know what to say or where to start.”
“How about you start with the beginning. Who is he and how did you two meet?”
I knew that I was going to sound ridiculous once she began to explain their back story, especially since there wasn’t much to it.
“His name is Eric. We met at that club Covert over the summer and I. . .uh. . .went home with him.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. . .oh.”
Jolee grimaced and winced as she asked, “Was it bad?”
“It was incredible. Honestly, the best night of my life. I couldn’t begin to describe it even if I tried.”
“Okay. So, what’s the problem and why was he here?”
“There is no problem. Not really. I just never expected to see him again. And I found out he was here for the ceremony because he is the dean’s son.”
“Well, that complicates things a bit.”
“I know,” I said, covering my face with my hands as I rested back on the couch. The entire scenario sounded ludicrous as I described it. “He also offered me an internship. Or the chance for one.”
“Wouldn’t that complicate things?”
Leave it to my cousin to hit the nail on the head. It would be a major problem, or so I feared.
“Yeah, it would. But it may be my only option right now. I need to turn on the revised internship paperwork by next week to be eligible for my diploma.”
“Do you think you’d be able to work with him and keep it professional?”
She thought back to their night together. How the moment that they were alone, they were tearing at each other’s clothes. The chemistry between them was off the charts and she couldn’t even begin to think that she’d be able to put a lid on their fire.
“Probably not,” she answered honestly. “I guess I should call him and turn down the opportunity. It just sucks. I don’t understand why everything has gone all topsy turvy in my life.”
“I’m sorry, Willow. And I still don’t understand why your parents couldn’t reschedule their vacation and make it to your college graduation.”
“I’m not surprised in the slightest.”
We spent the rest of their evening binge-watching a series on Netflix before Jolee’s boyfriend came down from his own apartment and gathered his girlfriend. I couldn’t deny that I felt a tinge of jealousy when I saw the two of them together. Not that I felt any animosity toward Jolee or Ford. They deserved their happiness more than anyone that I knew. Especially after learning about Ford’s father and the wild lifestyle Jolee had grown up in. If any two people were worthy of love – it was those two.
I just wished that I would have that chance. I was under no illusions that Eric and I would find our way into a relationship. My life just didn’t seem to have that outcome in the cards, despite how fate seemed to be working in my favor at the moment.
Boston was a big city, and trying to find a place to work and live was hard enough, but navigating a relationship when starting off her professional career just didn’t seem like the most intelligent thing.
The night passed by in a blur. There was no amount of sheep to tally or numbers to count backward that could ease my mind into sleep. I was wired and not in a good way. My skin tingled remembering all the places Eric had touched, kissed, and possessed me that fateful night. But while my body was ready for more with him my mind was reeling with the knowledge of his confession. He claimed to love me, and somehow, I had told him that I felt something for him. What that something was, I wasn’t sure.
And that was what kept me up until the sun peeked over the horizon and shone orange shades of light into my window.
It was moments like this I wished that I had someone to guide me. My own fairy godmother or cricket of consciousness. Someone to tell me what to do, because if there was one thing I was terrible at, it was making decisions.