Page 32 of Halloween Hottie
“Yep, that’s her.”
“She’s beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“You two were so young. How old were you in this picture?”
“Around twenty, I think.”
She gives it one more long look and puts it back, exactly in place. “What’s this about, Jake?”
“What?”
“This, the date, the dinner, the drinks? Coming to the school with flowers?”
“Oh.” It dawns on me that I never laid everything out for her. Guess there’s no better time than now. “I was scared,” I confess and look up at her.
Elizabeth doesn’t respond, but she gives me a concerned look.
“I was scared of having feelings for you. I know it sounds stupid, but I felt like if I allowed myself to have feelings for you, that meant that I felt less for her.” My eyes find the picture of Trish, and she glances down at it. “But then I realized that that isn’t how this works. She’s gone, and I’m still here. I should get to be happy, too. It has been so long since I felt happiness. Then I found you, and I had more fun in one night than I’d had in years. That’s when I knew that you weren’t someone I could just walk away from without trying. I want to try things out with you. I want to do the whole relationship thing. I want to give us a shot because, honestly, if I can’t make it work with you, I can’t make it work with anyone. But I understand if you don’t want to give this a try. I mean, you’re young and beautiful and have a whole life ahead of you. It isn’t fair to ask this of you, and I might fuck it all up, but will you give this a shot with me? Is that something you can see yourself doing now or sometime in the future? ‘Cause I’ll wait if you need more time.”
She laughs. “Stop jabbering. I had a good time with you too, Jake. And I think you’re right. We do owe ourselves a chance.”
“We do?”
She nods. “It’s worth a shot, right?” She smiles and raises her shoulders.
I laugh. “It’s worth a shot,” I agree, standing up and reaching for her. My hands cup her face as I slowly move my lips to hers. They meet and it feels like I’ve been struck by lightning. Every hair is standing on end, every nerve is alive, and my heart is pounding. I don’t want to push her too far or make her think that the only thing I want is her body, so I slow the kiss and pull away.
“Where do those stairs go?” she asks, glancing over my shoulder.
I turn and look. “My apartment.”
“Can I see it?”
I smile. “Sure, come on.” I take Elizabeth’s hand in mine and help her off the desk before leading her up the stairs. I open the door at the top of the landing and step into my kitchen. I hold the door and she walks in, looking around. The kitchen is small, but it has all the basics: a fridge, stove, counters, cabinets, microwave, and sink. There’s a small, two-person table I stole from the bar in the center of the room. The kitchen opens up to the living room, the front half has the couch and TV, and the back half is my bed and dresser.
“Wow, it’s pretty small, huh?” she observes.
I nod. “Yeah, well it wasn’t meant to be lived in. This used to be a shoe factory back in the day, so this area was actually the office. The kitchen there was where the secretary’s desk was, and then this living room/bedroom area was the main office for the CEO.”
“That’s cool. I like knowing the history of places. Imagine the things this building has seen.”
I nod. “Yeah, if the walls could talk.”
She walks over and sits on the edge of the bed. “Is there a bathroom?”
I nod toward the door at the foot of the bed. “Yeah, it’s small. Only a stand-up shower, sink, and toilet.”
“How do you do your laundry?”
“There’s a washer and dryer downstairs in the cleaning room. I bought it just to wash the bar towels, but then when we moved in here, we had to use it.”
“So your whole life is right here in this one building.”
I laugh. “Pretty much. Kind of depressing, isn’t it?” I walk over and sit beside her.
“No, I like it. Everything you need is right here under one roof.”
