Page 32 of Moonstruck at Midnight
“Billy, come on. Back off, man,” Tobias said to him with a shove to his arm. “Let’s go. I’m sorry, Billie, have a good night.”
“I warned you, Billie,” Eric said with a chuckle, raising his brows. “He’s—”
“Eric,” William interrupted him again, shaking his head. He placed his arm around Eric’s shoulders and started toward the doorway.
“Ignore them,” Tobias said with a grin, pointing at them with his thumb. “Later, Billie.” He walked away, and I shook my head with a snort.
William looked over his shoulder, shot me a two-finger wave, and said, “See you around, 9A.”
June 3, 2009
A MONTH AND A HALFhad gone by since my first date with Thomas. We became inseparable ever since. His father owned an apartment in the city, and he used it when he came for work. It was also used by Thomas’s mother when she visited him—which wasn’t often. That meant Thomas was free to use it on the weekends on an almost regular basis.
He had a complicated schedule with school and rowing crew. His training regime was grueling. A typical training week for Thomas would be Monday through Saturday, from two to four hours a day. Coming on Fridays to the city was challenging for him. There were times when he couldn’t come to see me.
And I have to be honest—it was tricky. I would miss him so much during the week. We would text like crazy during the day and have our mandatory phone call at night before going to bed.
Although I wished Thomas could stay over at my place during the weekends, that was impossible. I had one too many eyes watching and reporting my every move to my father. I did not want to start my newindependentlife abusing my father’s trust. He’d have me go back to my old room in his apartment in a heartbeat.
We did fool around—alot.Our hormones raged through the week and found release on the weekends when we finally saw each other. But I was still a virgin, and Thomas knew about it and respected it. But we were waiting until I felt comfortable and ready to take that next step.
I honestly didn’t feel like delaying it that much longer. Thomas had me drooling, but every time the opportunity presented itself, I’d chicken out. I told myself over and over again,next time.
There was another issue still pending in our relationship.
I hadn’t opened up myself with him regarding my mother’s death.Since that was one of the most vulnerable parts of me, I was still reluctant to share my burden with someone else—especially with Thomas. He was going through a lot already.
Trust wasn’t the issue. It had more to do with my capacity to take that leap into full and undisclosed vulnerability. He had been so open and vocal with me from the beginning regarding his brother’s death, but I was still afraid of showing myself entirely out of, well, fear.
Being capable of completely letting yourself go like that and showing yourself to someone—that’s powerful. I had many opportunities to talk about it. Still, having so little quality time to spend with Thomas in person, I never wanted to ruin those moments by turning the conversation about me and my traumas. It felt selfish for me to do so.
Thomas was finally done with exams, and I had him all to myself for the summer.
Well … almost.
He still had to train since his team was attending an important international summer competition in August. But that was plenty more time than the usual once or twice a week we’d been accustomed to.
Thomas mentioned how he would typically go back to D.C. for a few weeks during the summer. It was not his favorite season of the year, but he did it for his mother. He hadn’t decided yet when and for how long he would be leaving. He even considered not going at all, and I didn’t get it. I’d go see my parents if I were him. But I didn’t want to meddle when he hadn’t asked for my opinion.
And speaking of going … Thomas and I were meeting my friends for lunch for the very first time. I texted him to let him know we were picking him up and were a few blocks away from his apartment.
Caleb still didn’t like Thomas. He insisted he didn’t trust him. I usually just ignored him or told him that I didn’t want to talk about it. He had no reason to feel that way about Thomas. He worried too much, as always.
CJ and I had stayed in touch regularly and met for coffee or lunch, but I hadn’t seen Nina since that yoga class in April, and I had liked her a lot. I was trying to avoid Juan Pablo altogether, which I thought was a shame.
The only problem was that he was coming with her for lunch. If I wanted to be friends with Nina, I had to learn how to coexist with her boyfriend.
I hadn’t talked to Thomas about Juan Pablo. But I thought I could give him the heads up I wished someone had given me before I met him.
“Hey, gorgeous.” Thomas grinned as he got in the car, looking handsome as he always did.
“I missed you.” I pressed my cheek against his chest and hugged him.
“You look beautiful.” He gave me a quick, soft kiss on my lips.
Let’s say I never found a way to stop Thomas from kissing me and saying all these nice things to me while Caleb was around. So yeah, Caleb and I weren’t as close as we used to be when we lived in Paris. We had these intervals where we talked for a bit and laughed like we used to, but then there would be days where he would take twenty steps away from me.
This was one of those tricky days.
