Page 74 of Friendshipped
I give him a farewell wave with the clippers for effect. It’s apparently becoming my trademark. Maybe guys around the greater Dayton area will start spreading the word about the man with the shears and stop pursuing Lexi.
She walks up to me, points at the garden shears and starts laughing and shaking her head.
“You and those loppers!” she says.
She’s not mad. She’s loving it.
Lexi looks me in the eyes, and I am glad I have the trimmers in my hand, otherwise I’m not sure I’d be able to resist this urge to grab her and pull her into my arms.
“Can I have a hug?” she asks.
“You bet,” I say, setting the shears on the porch step and walking toward her.
She melts into me and wraps her arms around my waist.
“Man, it’s good to be home,” she says.
“You made it in one piece.”
“Always a plus at the end of one of my dates,” she jokes back. Then she asks, “Can we just do stars?”
“Say no more.”
I pick up the shears and walk into my side of our home. Lexi follows me. I set the clippers on my washer and grab the blanket on our way out back.
“Trev?” she asks, as I flick the blanket toward the sky and allow it to fall down flat onto our grass.
“Yeah?”
“What will I do if one of these dates turns into the one? I mean, what will we do?”
“That’s not an issue tonight. Not tonight.”
She nods as I lie down on the blanket and she takes her place next to me. Her place. Next to me.
Something clicks inside me like a resolution as we lie quietly side by side on my blanket, looking into the vast expanse of the universe together. I need to do what Rob suggested. I need to enlist Laura to help me find a way to let Lexi know how much I love her, and I need to do it in a way that hopefully doesn’t decimate our friendship.
As I lie in the twilight stillness, the sounds of night insects thrumming and chirruping around us, I think back on how this night started. I thought I was going to lose it lying on Lexi’s bed, surrounded by her sweet, floral scent while she tried on outfits for a date I didn’t even know she had planned. Then she took off with Laura, looking beyond beautiful in my favorite green dress.
I should have my head examined. What guy lies in the bed of the woman he loves, acting like the most neutral, platonic friend she ever had, suggesting she wear the sexiest dress she owns to go out with another man? I’ve outdone myself.
But then she called with an S.O.S during dinner and my whole world fell back into place. Knowing she still hadn’t found her match gave me hope. And I knew she was coming home to me.
I can’t keep going along on this roller coaster ride—watching Lexi seek romance when we might have a chance at something worthy of the history books together.
Lexi and I lie on the blanket for over an hour, barely speaking. The comfort of our relationship wraps around us. Eventually I hear the soft sounds of her breath telling me she fell asleep.
“Lex,” I say, quietly.
She doesn’t stir.
“Lexi,” I say with more volume and a little push to her shoulder.
I repeat her name three more times and jiggle her until she stirs.
“Hmmm?” she says with an adorably drowsy undertone to her voice.
“You fell asleep,” I say, gently.
