Love and Skate (21 page)

             
I reigned my thoughts in while I was with her, afraid that I would allow them to come out of my mouth.  I wanted so much more than for her to be my wife. I wanted a family with her, even though she was already my family.  The thought of a very pregnant Nellie with blue
or purple or green
hair made me laugh.  She was right.  She would be the most kick ass wife in the history of wives and she was mine. 

             
My last class lasted from four p.m. until six p.m. and she had World History from six p.m. until
seven fifteen p.m.  I went to
pick up some dinner and wait
ed
for her. 

             
She was in a mood when she got home and I could tell because she slammed her keys and threw her bag in the middle of the kitchen floor. 

             
“
Another rough day?” I asked.

             
“Worse than Monday.  So I get to Chemistry Lab today and we got broken into pairs which will last until the end of the semester.” I dished her plate up as she talked.  I put her plate down and she pulled me in for a quick kiss in between words. “I get paired with this guy Ayden.  We all
had
to swap seats to sit by our partners and he gets all flirty with me asking if I had a boyfriend.”

             
I stopped eating at the word ‘flirty’ and I looked up at her swiftly.  Mr. Ayden was about to get his ass beaten.

             
“So I told him that I was engaged, flaunted
my gorgeous ring
and he finally shut up.
The nerve of the guy.  I mean, I had known his name for all of three seconds and he’s asking personal questions.”

             
“So you’re gonna tell me if he continues that stuff right?” I was serious as a heart attack.

             
“
Aww
, are you
gonna
beat up the little flirty guy?”  She cooed at me.

             
“If he’s really little I might just push him.” I said.  I tried to be cool about it but my inner caveman was livid.

             
“He’s about your height but skinny, like a skeleton.
”  She laughed.

             
“Ok, I don’t want to talk about
Skeletor
over dinner with my girl.  I
wanna
talk about something good.”

             
“Like?” She had put her real food aside and dug into her cheesecake first.

             
“Like Hawaii or Mexico.” I couldn’t help but smile.

             
“I would be happy with the houseboat.”  She smiled and then blushed at the memories we made there.

             
“Mom and Dad offered to pay for the honeymoon, you know that right?”  I didn’t want her to pick the houseboat just because of money.

             
“No way.  I just talked to Sylvia today and she didn’t even say anything.”

             
“Oh, I see how it is.  You called my mom today and not me?  I see the hierarchy coming together now.”  I acted offended but really it made me so happy to know that she and my mom talked on the phone like they were already family
or friends or both
.

             
“I thought it was cute.  I got to talk to my mother-in-law-to-be about wedding type things.  She’s the closest thing I’ve had to a nice mom since
Cindi
.  Be nice.”  She pouted out her lip.

             
“
I was just kidding.  I love that you think of my mom as yours.  You’re family now.  You’re my family.”  I said plainly as it was the simple truth.

             
“And you are mine, Owen.  I mean it.  You’re staying tonight right?”

             
“How could I leave after you just said that?”

             
“Ok, I’m going to clean up, you go shake a tower.”  She got up and began collecting plates.

             
“Shake a tower?”
She laughed a little that I asked.

             
“Yeah,
my mom used to say it when I was a kid.  Instead of take a shower, she would say shake a tower.  That was before they were living in a mansion with chefs and such.  She was really nice then.
  She was normal.
”  She turned to the sink and I felt as if she had revealed a piece of her soul to me.  A secret that she told no one else. It was then that I realized I would be her secret keeper for the rest of our lives.  Her confidant, the one she whispers to in the dark, her best friend—and I was honored beyond belief.

             
Owen got up to shower while I cleaned up and I had just confessed a memory from my childhood to him and it felt—right, natural.

             
I finished the dishes and walked into the bathroom and started brushing my teeth.  I turned to lean my back against the sink as I scrubbed and thought about the day and the things Sylvia and I had talked about.  I wanted a simple wedding
but I wanted it at a church.  She said that one weekend she and I would take a trip to a town about an hour away that had a beautiful white church that was begging to hold a wedding.  Then she insisted on having the reception at the restaurant, no ifs ands or buts. 

             
“What are you doing?” Owen stuck his head out of the shower and looked confused.

             
I turned around to spit and said, “writing a dissertation.”

             
He shut the curtain and even with the water going I could hear him say ‘smartass woman.’

             
I knew exactly what he was talking about.  I never went into the bathroom while he was in there.  But we were planning a wedding, I could brush my teeth while he was in the shower right?  I heard the water turn off and leaned back on the sink to see how this would all play out.  His towel was right next to me on the counter and there wasn’t another one in reach. 

             
Still inside the shower he yelled, “I’m gonna count to five.  Either I have a towel in my hands or you and I are going to get a lot more comfortable with each other—fast.”

             
“You wouldn’t dare.  I could stand here all night and you would still be in the shower.”

             
“One—two—three—four” I let him get all the way to five and before I threw a towel over the top of the curtain.

             
He stepped out and he wore the rings I bought him for Christmas and I could see a drop of water hanging on to each one.  He held the edges of his towel together so tight
around his hips
that his knuckles had gone white.

             
“Aren’t you the temptress tonight?” He said as he got closer to me.

             
I lightly ran my finger over one of the rings hooked into his chest and he visibly shuddered
.

             
“
Those look good. And a
ll I did was brush my teeth.  You’re the one who’s naked.”

             
“Take a shower Nellie, you’re extra dirty tonight.” He laug
hed as he went into the bedroom with his clothes in his hand. 

             
I showered and I thought he would get revenge by being in the bathroom when I finished but I was wrong.  I went out, fully dressed and he pushed past me with a smile and brushed his teeth.

             
I brushed my hair while I sat on the bed when he came back into the bedroom.  I was
kinda
ashamed of tempting him so much, especially after his little speech the other night.
 
Kinda
—but not a lot.

             
He checked his phone and said something about a text message from Maddox about going to a concert with him because their Dad said he was too young to go alone. 

             
I went back to the bathroom and dried my hair.
  I returned to the bed and Owen was out cold on his side facing me. 
 
His arms were crossed right under his chest and a faint smile played at his lips. 
I leaned sideways against the door jamb and drank him in.  His coal black hair, still a little wet, draped over his forehead the tiniest bit.  He complained of needing a haircut and now I could see why. 

             
This guy was mine.  After years of thinking that I would never find someone who treated me well and actually cherished me,
I stood right here watching that very man
a
sleep in my bed.  I smiled to myself.

             
“Who’s the creeper now?” He asked as a full-fledged smile broke out over his face.

             
I let out a long defeated sigh. “Me, I’m
the creeper.  But I don’t care;
I could look at you forever.”

             
“Don’t stand way over there when you say sweet things like that.  Come here.”

             
I climbed into the bed with him and
we talked for hours about wedding stuff and he made goofy suggestions to try and make me laugh. 

             
We spent the next day
skating.  Well, I skated and Owen tried to skate but honestly he looked like the Hulk trying to glide on a Hot Wheels car.  So he finally gave up and sat in the middle of the rink while I skated circles around him. 
The place was closed and we got in with Amber’s keys.  So after an hour or so of skating I plopped down next to him.

             
“I love to watch you skate.” He moved some stray hairs from my shoulder.

             
“Feels like flying.” I said as I watched the strobe lights above me.

             
“Why is this place so empty” He asked.

             
“It’s closed during the week when school is in.” I answered and lay back on the rink’s cool floor.

             
“So we’re alone in this big place?” I knew what he was getting at but played along anyway.

             
“Yep, that means I can skate all I want to without worrying about knocking anyone over.”

             
“Huh” He said as he lay next to me.

             
“Huh, what?” I smiled at him knowing exactly what he was thinking about.

             
“Or we could make out right here in the middle so that every time you have a bout you’d spend the whole time in a full blush.”  He shrugged like he didn’t care one way or the other.

             
“You’d love that
you put that blush there wouldn’t you?”

             
“
Yes. 
Plus, I’m the last person who will ever make you blush like that.”

             
“Sounds good to me.” He sealed the pact with his warm, full lips on top of mine.  Now the skating rink was my favorite place for more than one reason.

             
Weeks passed and we were both super busy.  Between school and learning how to run
Cindi’s
Indie I had little time to myself or with Owen.  We stayed together on the nights we didn’t have class but it never seem
ed to be enough.  February was coming up and we were supposed to go to the cabin but somehow our getaway for two turned into a family vacation and although I loved his family, I needed some alone time.  Owen came by the store a few times when he claimed he ‘just couldn’t take it anymore.’  We had dinner with his family at least once a week and I was starting to think of them as my parents too. 

             
One night Falcon asked Owen if he could talk to him outside and Owen agreed.  They stayed outside a good while and when they came back Falcon left for the evening saying that he needed to take care of something.  I gave Owen a questioning look and he whispered into my ear ‘later.’ 

             
We got back to my apartment and we both got ready for bed.  He lay beside me and told me how Falcon was really falling for a girl at his school and wanted
Owen’s
advice on what to do. 

             
“He couldn’t have asked a better person.  Smart kid.” I said.

             
“
I just told him to go tell her how much he liked her, I didn’t know what else to tell him.” He shrugged like he really didn’t know how to woo a girl.