“Me too,” Christina breathed out, her eyes still locked on my midsection.
“We should go.” I held out my hand, and she scurried away.
“Let me grab my purse,” she said before coming back and walking ahead of me, ignoring the hand I held out for her to grab.
Apparently, we were going to be taking this slow. I had to earn my way back into her heart, and I was okay with that.
I had to be.
Show Me Off
Christina
Two things had surprised me this morning.
The first was that Cole had actually followed through on what he had said the night before. I had gone to bed, hoping that he had meant every word, but I wasn’t counting on it. I had fallen asleep, knowing that today would either be a day of extreme disappointment or hope. So far, the latter was winning out.
The second surprise was the roses. Cole showing up was one thing, but coming to get me with a handful of the most beautiful white roses I’d ever laid eyes on was another. I hadn’t expected it. Hell, I’d barely expected him. The roses were a gesture that added to the fact that Cole was truly trying. He wanted me to believe his words, but he was backing them up with action. I’d realized the moment I saw him outside my front door this morning that I needed both.
When he reached for my hand as we left, it took every ounce of willpower to not intertwine my fingers with his and give in to him. The last thing I wanted was to jump in headfirst and pretend like everything was totally perfect when nothing between us had ever been. Cole had to work a little bit harder to break through the walls I’d put up. The walls that he’d helped build.
“So, where are we going?” I asked as he opened the passenger door for me, and I hopped in before pulling my sunglasses out of my purse and putting them on.
“You’ll see,” he said as he shut the door, and I wondered where he would take us to eat in this time between breakfast and lunch.
“Please tell me if we’re going to a breakfast or a lunch spot. I need to get my head right about which meal I’m getting,” I practically whined, and he laughed, but I was serious. Eleven meant that you could get totally screwed if you wanted breakfast and the place stopped serving it at ten. Or if you wanted lunch and they didn’t start serving until noon. It was a serious subject.
“I’m taking you to a dope brunch spot. They have the best Belgium waffles in the area,” he said, and I swore he almost started drooling.
“Thank God,” I breathed out in relief as I lowered my window down partway. “I wanted breakfast so bad but didn’t want to say anything if you had plans for lunch.”
“I’ve been dreaming about these waffles all night.” He quickly glanced at me before looking back at the road. “Well, waffles and you.”
“Don’t do that,” I said, looking away from him, my hair blowing.
“Do what?”
“Don’t say things just to say them. It’s cheesy, and I don’t need it.”
“That’s fair,” he agreed, and I was surprised. I’d half-expected him to argue back, insist that he had meant it or that he wasn’t being corny, but he didn’t. “What do you need?”
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly feeling thick at being put on the spot. “Just the truth.”
“Okay. Me too.” He nodded. “So, if you ever want breakfast when I want lunch, tell me. And we’ll find a place that serves both at the same time.”
I smacked his shoulder with my hand. “Smart-ass.”
“I mean it. Food’s important. Especially waffles.”
“I never knew this about you,” I said with a grin as he kept his hands firmly on the wheel. “About your love for waffles, I mean. How have you kept this from me for so long?”
“I think I told you once.” His voice sounded almost wistful as I searched the recesses of my mind for memories with him, looking for the one with the waffles.
It suddenly hit me.
“You did. Oh my gosh, you really did,” I said, remembering one rare afternoon when we had studied together for finals.
He’d mentioned waffles that his mom used to make and how this one place in town made them just like she had. He’d wanted to go right that second, but they weren’t open.
“Your mom,” I added, and he gave me a slight nod.
“Yeah. I’m not sure why I’ve held on to that memory so hard. It’s almost like she took every other one with her when she left.”
“You haven’t talked to her lately?” I asked, knowing that the relationship he had with his mom was strained, at best.
He had offered up a few details over the years, but anytime I started to dig in too deep, he’d cut me off and slam the door shut.
“Nah.” He tried to sound like he didn’t care, but I knew it was the opposite.
“You don’t have to do that.” I reached for his thigh and gave him a squeeze but didn’t leave my hand there.
“Do what?”
“Pretend like her leaving didn’t hurt you. Or keep those kinds of things to yourself. If we’re really going to give this a shot, we have to talk about the stuff that haunts us. Because those are the things we carry. They affect everything else,” I said like I was an expert on the subject.
“What haunts you?”
I said the first thing that popped into my mind even though it felt sort of small in comparison to his inner demons, “My no-alcohol rule.”
He visibly stiffened, his back straightening. I watched as his knuckles started to turn white as his grip on the wheel tightened.
“You never told me where that came from,” he said, trying to sound calm but I could tell that it was eating him up inside. Cole sensed that the rule had been born out of a bad situation, and he wasn’t wrong.
“I know.”
“Will you?” he asked as the truck slowed, and I looked up, noting the line out the door of a restaurant I’d never been to before.
“Not right now, but yes, I will,” I said, and he calmed.
“Okay. Have you been here before?” He pulled the truck to a stop and cut the engine.
I rolled my window up. “Never,” I admitted, wondering how the heck I’d missed this on my food radar the entire time I’d lived here.
“How is that even possible?” He looked at me like I’d grown two heads.
“I have no idea,” I said as I turned to reach for my door handle.
“Don’t move,” he directed.
I did as he’d asked, knowing that he wanted to open the door for me. I waited for him to reach my door and smiled when he did. Pulling it open, he extended his hand and helped me out. He placed his hand on my lower back, and I felt myself instinctively lean into it.
“I like this side of you.”
“What side? My backside?” he teased, and I shook my head.
“No. Your gentlemanly side,” I said with a smile. “It’s nice.”
“I’m sorry I kept it from you for so long.” He winked, and I wondered if he turned things into a joke whenever he was uncomfortable. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if that was one of Cole’s defense mechanisms.
We walked toward the waiting crowd of hungry eaters, and Cole excused himself to head inside and put our name in. I stood alone for only a few seconds before I heard the familiar sound of whispering. I was thankful I had my sunglasses on as I tried to stealthily find whoever was doing the talking. That was when I realized that there were a lot of students here, and it wasn’t just one girl staring at me but quite a few.