“Yeah, I knew you loved them.” I sat down next to her and turned the television on. “Anything in particular you want to watch?”
“No, whatever you put on is fine. I’ll be surprised if I stay awake through the whole thing anyway.”
The TV had all the streaming apps, so I went to one and found an action comedy to watch. I wasn’t in the mood for any romance or any sexual shit, so I figured action would be the safest bet.
The whole time we watched the movie, Tumy hardly said a word to me. She would laugh when something was funny, but that was about it. She didn’t even cuddle against me like she did any other time we watched movies together. No matter what we watched, she always found a way to be under me. Her not wanting to be in my skin felt foreign to me. I ran my hand down my face as Tumy laughed at something in the movie. She didn’t know the turmoil I was in. It seemed like she didn’t care that things were awkward between us. Or maybe she tried to play it off the same way I did.
“Maybe you can do a little hunting now that the snow has melted some,” she said as the credits rolled.
“Maybe. It still might not be safe enough just yet.”
“Oh, okay.”
After that, we were quiet, and I turned on another movie. At some point, Tumy got up to fix dinner. While she did that, I lit the fireplace and watched sports highlights.
I did offer to help her, but she declined. For dinner, we had chicken parmesan sandwiches and French fries. We did eat in the kitchen like we’d been doing, but just like everything else, it was different.
Once we finished eating, we cleaned the kitchen together, but conversation was kept to a minimum. There were no deep conversations, no questions about what happened next, or an exchange of numbers. Nothing but talking about some random shit one of us saw on social media.
We found ourselves back in the living room with another movie playing.
It didn’t take long for Tumy to yawn.
“I think I’m going to head to bed.” She stretched and yawned again.
“Okay. I’m not tired yet. I’ll be in soon.”
She looked down at the floor like she was nervous, but then she turned and walked away. Deep down, she and I both knew that I’d lied to her. That was the first and only lie I told her since I met her, and I didn’t like the way it made me feel.
Once I heard her go into the bathroom, then to the bedroom, I got the pillow and comforter I used the first night and tried to get as comfortable as I could on the couch.
I wanted to go in there with Tumy and hold and kiss her at least one more time, but I knew it was better that I didn’t blur the lines any more than they were.
As I stared at the ceiling, I thought about the last couple of days. Maybe I just liked her because it was something to do to pass the time. Maybe the shit wasn’t even real.
It took a long time for me to try to rid my thoughts of her and to get comfortable, but eventually, I fell asleep.
Pressureon my chest forced my eyes to open.
“Hey, buddy. Are you hungry?” I rubbed the top of Sparrow’s head. He pushed his head toward my chin. “Give me a minute.” I tried to whisper because I didn’t want to wake Major.
Sparrow jumped down, and when I looked to the side of me, Major wasn’t there. I stretched and felt that his side of the bed was cold and looked like it hadn’t even been touched.
The last thing I remembered was Major telling me he would come to bed later, but I guess he never did. I didn’t want to read too much into it, because maybe he fell asleep on the couch. Deep down inside, I knew that wasn’t the case. Major had acted weird toward me the night before. We didn’t cuddle while we watched movies like we had any other night. Hell, we hardlyeven talked. The vibes were just off between us, but neither of us bothered to address it.
I wanted to ask him for his phone number to see if we could talk once we left, but I was too afraid he would reject me. If he wanted to communicate, he would have asked to.
I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. The living room was quiet, so I wasn’t sure if Major was still even here or not.
When I reached the bathroom, I noticed his toothbrush on the counter, so I figured maybe he hadn’t left. I wasn’t prepared to face him, because who knew how things would turn out.
It was my last day in the cabin, but I planned on staying inside the room until it was time to go.
“Maybe I can go out back and take some pictures.”
I did what I needed to do in the bathroom, then went into the kitchen to feed Sparrow and find myself something quick to eat.
I peeked at the couch and found Major sleeping with one hand behind his head and the other inside his pants. A shiver ran up my spine when I thought about the things he did to me with the weapon in his pants. Major was going to make it hard for me to have sex with anyone else. I didn’t even want to think about meeting someone else, let alone have sex with them. I refused to have disappointing sex again. I’d rather be celibate.
