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At a few places while underground, Max would linger back from the group and take a moment to kiss me sweetly, with a quiet note of ‘for remembering’.
Once we emerge on Main Street, the fresh air awakens me as the bright sky blinds me. We thank our tour guide and say our goodbyes and begin on our way.
After an Uber trip, we’re dropped off at the Space Needle. I’ve only seen it on television, it’s bigger than I was expecting, but defiantly not as big as our first stop of the day. I look to a dome-like glass structure and I have a sudden change of plans.
“What do you say about, instead of going to the Space Needle, that we go there instead?” I ask him pointing to the structure.
“I think that’s a garden, I’m up for it.”
We walk in and look up at the creations of color. The explosion of color and beautiful art created throughout the space is breathtaking and something that I’m so happy that we came here for instead of going to the Space Needle. We take our time walking through the small space and looking at all the towering displays of glass.
Over an hour, we’ve spent here, immersing ourselves in the experience that once we leave, we both feel like new people.
I look at him, and he looks just as happy as I do.
MAXWELL
I see a lot of places, a lot of attractions in the city day after day, but nothing quite like the things that Peyton planned for us today.
I’ve lived here in Seattle for my whole life and not once did I ever stop to see some of these places before, outside the car and on my own time. It’s like I’m enjoying the city for the first time, and I can’t believe that I’ve missed seeing my home this way.
With Peyton being here, I’ve been a tourist today in my own city. She’s made it easy and effortless to explore. Despite stepping in dog crap, it’s been an excellent day. Peyton has made it so easy to do everyday normal things and so far, she’s brought out a different side of me. A side that not that many people can bring out.
The human side.
When normally, I would rather get a ride back to my condo, I suggested that we walk back to my place.
Hand in hand, through the streets back to The Emerald. We make small talk, with her talking more than I and I couldn’t be in a better headspace. Until she asks about my past relationships. I know she is concerned about the long-distance thing, and regardless of telling her we can do it, it may take actually doing it day by day, rather than just talking the talk for her to believe it. I also don’t want to tell her about my last relationship since that was, toward the end—a long-distance relationship that ultimately failed because of the distance.
But to be fair, the distance was across the entire country, from Seattle to Miami to be exact. I dated Marisa for three years, and when she got a job in Miami in the third year of our relationship, I swore that it would work, and we did make it work for a few months, until she stopped calling every night. Then every night turned into every few nights, and then once a week. When we dwindled down to every other week, until I went to her and we had a conversation that resulted my meeting her new boyfriend.
I was devastated and haven’t really had a relationship since.
But in the long-run, I believe that she did us a favor. While I thought I loved her, I don’t really think that I did. Sure, I liked her. I loved her in a way, but I didn’t love her completely.
Do I love Peyton? It’s too soon for me to even ask myself that question.
Can I see myself loving Peyton? I can indeed. And for that reason, I would like to see if we can try.
“I’m going to be honest with you, and that’s because I believe that one of the fundamental parts of any relationship is honesty, my last relationship made me learn a lot.”
Our arms are swinging playfully, and I notice the moment that it slows.
“What does that mean?” She swings her gaze in my direction.
“Well, we were great for the first two and half years, but the last few months were a little more difficult.”
“Continue,” she directs.
I want to put off on telling her all the details and I spot a cafe that is currently empty which would be perfect to divulge my biggest failure in.
I point in the direction, “want to grab a light dinner?” I ask.
“That would be great, less of a mess to clean up at your place,” she nods.
We walk across the street and get a table right away. After we order, I place my arm on the back of her chair and pull her closer to me, so she’s sitting beside me, rather than adjacent to me.
“I’m going to tell you about my last relationship, but I don’t want you to try to search for any parallels to what we have.” I say to her.
