“Well, thanks for being the best date ever.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome.” She looked down for a second and then back up at me. “Thanks for being so… accommodating.”
“It was my pleasure.” I leaned in and kissed her, holding her chin with my fingertips and wishing she’d never pull away.
But she did.
“I’ll call you,” I said.
“I’d like that.”
“Should I wait a respectable three days so you don’t think I’m too eager?”
She laughed. “That won’t be necessary.”
“Good,” I said. “Tell Fiona I said hi.”
“I’ll tell her you ate her cake.”
“Anything for you, Luce.” I stepped off the curb and opened my car door. As soon as she got the door of her building open, I sank into the driver’s seat and sighed.
Damn.
What a smoking hot woman?! I can’t believe we used to be just friends?! How the hell was I going to make up for all that lost time? All that lost sex?!
One night at a time I suppose.
I turned the key in the ignition and pulled out into the road. I wouldn’t say I was normally a nervous driver, but I couldn’t help but notice a distinct sense of calm that seemed to be in the car with me.
It was like even though everything I was passing was familiar, it was different, too. The buildings, the way the light hit them, the way all the red lights seemed shorter than usual. I couldn’t help but feel like something in the air was different, that I was different.
I felt like even Dave couldn’t have been on my level.
And then it hit me. I fucking loved that girl. Shit. I loved her. I loved every hair on her head, every scar on her arm, and every tooth in her cheeky grin. I was fucking smitten off my ass for her.
I shook my head like a wet dog. I needed to get a grip. Nothing had changed. I’d always loved Lucy. That was nothing new. But this feeling was new. This was more than loving her.
I was in love with her. I was smiling at strangers, giving pedestrians the right of way, whistling fucking Dixie in love with her.
I couldn’t believe it. One night with her had changed everything. One night had set us on a course so different from the one we’d been on that I was so shocked I probably shouldn’t have been driving.
I already knew she was hot. I knew she was fun to sleep with. I knew she was funny and smart and talented and kind. But I didn’t know I loved her. Not like this.
And I did. I knew. I could tell. Because I was inexplicably optimistic in a way I’d never been before about- well- everything and anything I could think of.
It was actually kind of ridiculous. Thank god I dropped her off so she wouldn’t see this crack pot manic episode I was having as I realized the truth. I took a deep breath. I needed to calm down. Lucy was already concerned about what would become of our friendship. She’d said as much anyway.
But I could see that she was worried about the wrong thing. She was worried about what we had to lose by taking things further instead of what we might lose if we didn’t.
Besides, I didn’t want to be her friend anymore. There was so much more to her. But how could I prove that to her? How could I prove that even though I’d joked about not being able to guarantee her safety, doing so was actually what I wanted to do more than anything?
How could I prove to her that she should be with me and just me in every way she knew how and hadn’t discovered yet? What did I have to do to show her that I was serious about her in a way I’d never been about anyone before?
It wouldn’t be easy. She thought I was a joker with the attention span of a goldfish. But the fact of the matter was that Lucy had intrigued me and kept me on my toes for longer than anything else ever had- besides Rugby.
But two true loves wasn’t too many, especially now that one of them was more or less out of the picture.
If only I could make her believe what I knew in my heart, which was that she wasn’t a fling and that my feelings for her weren’t going to go away.
It had to be something epic, something she couldn’t ignore. After all, she was the most stubborn, cautious person I knew.
But I would think of something, something special, something big.
I had to.
She deserved that much.