“Yes, I can, January, seeing as we’re the only two people in here,” I joshed back, the lump in my throat only getting bigger.
“Oh good. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to find me.”
“Your jumping up and down helped.”
We settled into our seats and she rested her head on my shoulder. I swallowed my fear and tried to control my shaking.
“This isn’t the film you bought the ticket for,” she accused quietly.
“Yes, it is,” I said, turning to meet her face.
“Then what took you so long?”
“Nothing, I just got a bit lost. I don’t speak the language, remember?”
“You’re lying,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I am not,” I said, lying through my teeth. “Here,” I said, removing my ticket.
She took it and studied it, confirming what I’d already told her. “Hmm,” she teased. “You pass, Christopher Lloyd, but something’s still wrong, I can tell.”
“Okay, Huey Lewis, I swear there’s no news.”
“You forget, I’ve got ‘the power of love.’”
“It’s a curious thing,” I added dryly.
“Yeah,” she said, “It’s tougher than diamonds, rich like cream.”
“Stronger and harder than a bad girl’s dream,” I continued.
“Oh my God, I don’t know what’s scarier, the fact we know these lyrics or the lyrics themselves.”
“But it might just save your life, January. That’s the power of love.”
“Oh my God, I love you,” she proclaimed.
I swallowed the lump away. “I love you too,” I told her, kissing the top of her head.
And just like that, Jonah and what he’d told me melted away.
After dinner and the movie, I kissed her at her door and barely controlled my feet as they apparently had their own thoughts and began to make their way toward her bed with her in my arms. I abandoned her quickly, kissing her once more and sprinting to my own door. Inside my room, I dialed Harper, one of my best friends and Callum’s wife.
“Yo, yo, yo!” I heard on the other line, making me smile.
“Harper Tate. What’s new?” I asked her.
“Oh, besides the fact that it’s seven in the morning here?”
“Oh, shit, sorry.” I said, picking up the nearby alarm clock and trying to do the math. “I didn’t think about that. I just needed to talk to someone.”
“It’s all right, buttercup. It’s been over a week since you called. We were getting worried so it’s all good. Why?” She sounded concerned. “What’s wrong? Is it Kelly’s wedding again?” Callum and Harper were the only ones who knew about my little Kelly issue. I heard a mumbling then Harper’s muffled response. “No, it’s cool. It’s Tom. I think he’s depressed again about Kelly.”
I rolled my eyes. “Harper, please tell Callum that I am not depressed about Kelly. I told you, I am so over Kelly it’s not even funny. She’s a friend and nothing more.”
“All right, then what’s up, man?”
“I’m, uh-” I cleared my throat. “I’m, uh,-”
“T-t-t-today, junior!”
“Shut it, Harper.” I took a deep breath and just spit it out. “I’m in love.” There was a long pause. “Harper?”
“Oh my God, with the girl? January?”
“Yes. But I know what you’re thinking and this isn’t Kelly-love, Harper. This is-this is...it.”
“And you know this for sure?”
“I’d bet my life on it.”
“I’d say that’s pretty damn sure.”
“It is.”
“So what the hell is the problem then?”
“I’m having some trust issues, it seems.”
“You sound like a chick, Tom.”
“Christ, I know. It’s embarrassing as hell.”
“Well, grow a pair, dude. Suck it up. Because Kelly really didn’t wrong you, you wronged yourself. If you’re insecure, it’s because you made yourself that way and there’s no reason you should tiptoe around yourself because you’re the toughest bastard I know.”
“Damn, Harper, that was harsh.”
“Well, I’m sorry. You needed to hear the truth and I love you too much not to be honest with you.”
“Thank you for that, truly.”
“Of course.” I could hear her run and bounce on their sofa, then I heard Callum yell at her to stop throwing herself on the couch because it was scuffing the wall, then I heard her smile and roll her eyes. Okay, I didn’t hear that, but I definitely knew her well enough to know that it’s exactly what she did. “You’re not my dad, Callum,” I heard her say.
“That’s not what you said last night,” I faintly caught.
“I’m outta here,” I told her.
“Don’t! Stay! Hold on! Do you say that shit to embarrass me?” she asked him.
“Yes,” Callum answered as laughter faded away.
“Anyway. Tell me. What’s she like?” she asked, the giddiness returning to her voice. Girls ate this crap up.
“I told you. Gorgeous, cool.”
“Oh my word, boys are dumb. I’m gonna have to pry every detail from you aren’t I? How tall is she?”
“I don’t know, five-foot ten?” She’s exactly five-foot ten.
“Her hair?”
“Long and brown.” The red highlights in it shine in the sun and all I want to do is bury my nose in it when she’s around because it smells like cherry bark.
“And her eyes?”
“Blue.” Like the ocean, blue.
“She’s a scout and your her apprentice so she must have killer taste in music. What else is she like?”
“She plays the piano like an absolute boss.”
“No shit. That’s cool. And her family?”
“She’s the oldest of ten kids.”
“What? That is wicked awesome. Her house must have been a riot to live in! Hey, I just thought of something, if she’s January, then...”
“Yes, their names are the months of the year.”
“Get the truck out of here! I may have to steal that idea. Callum, did you hear that! We’re going to have to bear twelve children but no more than twelve!”
“I doubt Callum will agree to that, Harper.”
“Oh, Tom,” she laughed, “you know so little of my powers of persuasion.”
“I guess not,” I said, smiling at myself. “All right, it’s late and I need rest to sightsee tomorrow.”
“Crap. I’m so jealous of you. Have a good time but not too good a time, if you know what I mean.”
“You’re such a dork.”
“Love you too, Tom. Talk to you later?”
“Yeah, tell Callum I’ll talk to him next time.”
“Okay. Bye, babe!”
“Bye.”
I hung up the phone feeling a lot better about my stupid self-inflicted insecurities. Harper was right, they were pointless. I needed to get over it. I also couldn't wait for Harper to meet January. I had a feeling they would hit it off immediately.
A knock on the door broke me from my thoughts. I thought it might have been our laundry because I informed the staff that they could bring it by whenever it was done, regardless the time of night. I knew how the laundry services worked and since we usually needed to leave early the day after scouts, I always encouraged a "drop off when ready" policy. I opened the door but it wasn’t the stodgy staff member I paid a twenty to have our laundry ready as soon as possible. Nope, it was freaking January MacLochlainn. In a t-shirt. And nothing else.
“Quick, let me in before someone sees me.”
“Jesus, January, I can’t have you in here looking like that.” I tossed the door open and made way for her anyway because I wasn’t an idiot. It was January MacLochlainn. In a t-shirt. And nothing else. I deserved at least a gander.
“I can’t sleep.”
“You definitely can’t sleep in here.” I gulped. “Not looking like that, you can’t.”
“Why not?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip.
“Stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“Worrying your lip like that. Just, stop.”
“Okay,” she said a bit hurt.
I growled. Yes, growled as my eyes traveled her length. “Yup, just as I imagined.”
“I am?”
“Yes, and you damn well know it. Come on, I’m taking you to your room.”
“Fine.” She acquiesced easier than I thought she would but that was good news for me as I didn’t think I could have survived another minute.
When we reached her door, I waited.
She patted her t-shirt clad body. “Oops.”
I smiled and shook my head. “You did that on purpose, you clever minx.”
She opened her mouth as if appalled then lost the expression and shrugged.
“I suppose I should go downstairs and get you another key?”
“No need. I can sleep in your bed...with you.”
I ran my fingers harshly through my hair and blew a breath out quickly through my nose. “You are going to flipping kill me, January.”
“It’d be a pretty sweet way to go, don’t you think?”
“Don’t say things like that,” I told her, distancing myself a bit and shaking my head back and forth. “Now, what was I doing?”
“We were going to your room to lay down.”
“Yes, that’s what-No! No, I was going to get you a key. Yes, a key.”
“Tom,” she whispered, inching closer to me. She angled her face up at mine, our lips inches apart. “Let me sleep with you.”
I blinked slowly, trying to gain composure. My heart beat rapidly and my chest pumped air desperately. “Let’s-I don’t think I can handle myself around you.”
“Yes, you can,” she teased, pressing a light, barely there kiss to my lips. A hand involuntarily palmed her ass as I pressed her into me and kissed her deeply.
“No, I can’t,” I said, pulling away quickly. “Did all the air just...leave?” I asked the stifling hall around me.
“Come on. Come with me,” she tempted.
I followed her like a lost puppy back into my room. “It’s your funeral, kid.”
She shut the door behind us and pressed me against its back. “Does this feel familiar?”
I switched places with her lightning fast, making her giggle. “Now it does.”
I kissed her again but this time slowly, languidly, biding my time, memorizing every curve, every line of her lower and upper lip. And I continued to kiss her until I found us laid down on the bed, her legs wrapped around my torso.
I sat up and shoved myself off. “Get under the covers, January.”
“What?” she asked, surprised.
“Get under those effing covers, right now.”
“Okay,” she said, confused.