As I sat up, everything inside my head sloshed around, and I felt as though an axe had split it in two. I cradled it in my hands and rubbed my eyes, hoping to get some relief. That was when I noticed the two pills and a glass of water on the table in front of me. I gulped them both and leaned back to allow them some time to work.
Maryellen was sound asleep in her bed. From where I sat, I could see her long blonde hair against her pillow, the outline of her hip under her quilt, and her foot hanging out from the bottom of her blankets. Her breathing was calm and rhythmic.
Thinking back to last night made me feel like a total asshole. In my head, it seemed like a good idea to wait for her to get home. I had the idea she would walk down her hall, see me waiting for her, and fall into my arms. No chance did I think the douchebag would walk her to her door. Did he think he was staying over? They barely knew each other.
The right thing to do was for me to put my shoes and coat on and walk out the door. She’s made her intentions clear.
Instead, I walked to her bedside.
Her journal was on her night table, open. It didn’t seem like a journal entry, but rather an outline for a story. Not wanting to invade her privacy, I closed it before climbing into her bed behind her.
As I wrapped my arm around her middle, she wiggled her bottom against my front and moaned quietly in her sleep. I slipped my hand gently under her tank top, flattening it against the warm skin of her stomach. My entire body relaxed as I held her and drifted off to sleep…
“Chase…”
I heard it, but it was muffled like I was underwater. It wasn’t until I felt her hand on my arm that I really started stirring from my sleep. My eyes seemed glued shut as I attempted to open them for the second time today, but as I did, I was met with the bluest eyes staring down upon me.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Chase.”
Her tone was appropriate considering what I did last night. I sat up against the headboard, ready to plead my case and apologize out my ass.
“Are you feeling OK?” she asked.
She pulled herself up against the bed as well, her hands folded on bent knees, as she looked my way.
“Um, yeah, I mean I have a headache, but that’s all. The Tylenol helped. Thank you, by the way.”
She nodded but remained quiet. I was having a hard time reading the room.
“I’m sorry, Mare. Last night was wrong of me. I shouldn’t have been here waiting for you, especially drunk. It wasn’t fair to you, and I’m sorry.”
Again, she was quiet. She turned toward me in the bed, her eyes laser focused on me.
“You should be sorry. You were an ass last night. And you were way too drunk, like scary drunk. I didn’t like that, either.” She shoved my shoulder. “Do you know that I was up most of the night making sure you were gonna be OK?”
Huh, that was interesting. I couldn’t hide my smile.
“What?” she said, shoving my shoulder again.
“Nothing.” I laughed. “Only I don’t get why you would worry about me since you were enraged by my behavior.”
“Christ, Chase, I wasn’t about to let you choke on your own vomit, even if I was pissed at you. What kind of person do you think I am?”
She started getting out of bed on her side, but I stopped her. Holding her arm, I pulled her to her side and kept her with me, face to face.
“I know what kind of person you are,” I told her. “You’re the kind of person worth fighting for, I keep telling you that. Which was the reason I came here last night. It just didn’t go as planned.”
I stroked the tender skin of her cheek with my thumb as her eyes fluttered closed. But as quickly as they did, they flew open and were full of anger. She flew out of bed and lurched onto the couch, away from me. I sat there, unsure of what my next move should be, as the silence between us lingered. Eventually, I gotup the nerve to join her. I made sure to sit on the other end of the sofa, nowhere close to her.
She broke the silence.
“Ya wanna know the crazy thing about last night?” she started. “The date went great. Like, he’s the perfect guy for me.”
My heart stopped and I groaned at her words, but it didn’t stop her.
“Sorry, but he is. Obviously the biggest positive being we don’t work together. But all night, even as we were having a great time together,youkept popping into my brain.” She refused to look at me. “It was kind of annoying, to be honest. I mean, he’d be talking to me and instead of listening to him, I’d be comparing what he was saying to what I thought you’d say. Or…I was wondering where you were last night.”
