34

Sean Peterson
Avoiding her was pure torture to me.
Watching her go in and out of my office repeatedly never felt so painful. I couldn’t flush her out of my system. The more I noticed her the more I fought the urge to go and kiss the daylight out of her and make her realize that she liked me too.
But a notable distance was needed to make things work. I didn’t want her to feel forced. If she wanted me she would come to me without me making any move.
I couldn’t understand what exactly was happening to me. I had never been distracted by a woman as much as I was by Lauren. She had imprinted herself in my every thought. It was only her I had been thinking about even during work.
Could a simple attraction flip my heat, mind, and soul? Does attraction have so much power over the mind? I doubt it!
Or maybe it wasn’t an attraction anymore? Maybe I had developed a strong liking for her? Or could it be love? No! How could it be love? Well, how would I know? I had never been in love before.
I became restless when this ‘L’ word knocked on my thoughts. My breathing became ragged. I tried to calm myself down by squeezing a stress reliever ball but when it didn’t calm me even after five minutes I threw it back on my desk in agitation.
It was good for me that Lauren had already left for home because if she saw me bubbling in frustration she would have asked for the reason to which I had no explanation.
But I needed answers! Who could have I asked? Grandma? Nah! She would become overexcited and will direct the topic to love advice.
Ariana and Eloise? They could me the answers but they still weren’t on a talking basis with me.
Now, only two close people left who will tease me to death but will give the right answers since they had already found their loves.
God, I had never thought I would ever seek their help regarding this matter.
Without further ado, I called and asked them to meet me in a restaurant near our office then I left for the restaurant.
Hope neither of the two ends up in hospital tonight. Eloise and Ariana will never forgive me.
“Will you two stop laughing?!”
I growled looking at the two fuckers who had been laughing like maniacs for the last ten minutes.
It was a terrible idea to ask for their help.
I told them about my strong feelings for Lauren and since then they had been laughing as if they never urged me to find a woman for myself.
“I am better off single!” Daniel tried to mimic me while laughing.
“I don’t have feelings for her or anyone! Remember you said that?” Xavier asked while trying to control his laughter.
“Will you stop laughing and tell me what I asked or should I leave?” I grumbled but it didn’t have any effect on them. Huffing, I stood from the chair. “Fuck off!”
I almost left the private room of the restaurant where we had decided to dine when I was stopped from exiting and was forcefully dragged back to the table.
“What the hell you two are doing?!” I snapped and yanked myself out of their hold. “Apparently, you don’t have an answer to my question then let me leave!”
“Don’t be grumpy, Sean babe. We will give you the best advice you could ever get. We were just having a little fun.” Daniel said as he patted my back.
“Yes. If not us then who will help you?” Xavier grasped my shoulders and dropped me on the chair. They both sat in their respective places and stared at me.
“So, what you want to know?” Xavier asked. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Only if they had listened to me properly before teasing me.
“I have already told you my concerns. I just want to know what this feeling actually is. I mean you both are married and you both must have gone through this phase.”
Xavier nodded his head and Daniel being Daniel nodded his head while stuffing his mouth with Lasagna he had ordered for himself.
“Alright, I get it.” Xavier sighed and leaned on the table. “I’ll ask you some questions; answer them honestly then I’ll tell you what this feeling is.”
“Alright…” I agreed hesitantly.
“Do you care for her?” He asked.
“I have started to,” I mumbled sincerely.
“Can you sense or feel her pain? Emotional pain.” The next question came.
Immediately, her tear-filled eyes when we were at her parents’ flashed before my eyes. In all honesty, I did feel her pain and my heart clenched imagining her cry again.
“I can. And…I…I don’t want her to feel hurt.” I muttered while looking at my hands. “I only want to see her beautiful smile. It suits her crazy and lively personality.” I added without raising my head.
“Do you like talking to her or you easily get bored?” He asked another question.
A chuckle automatically escaped my throat. “I could never get bored with her. Though she is a chatterbox and most of the time talks nonsense, I don’t want her to stop. Before I couldn’t stand her super talkative self but now I can listen to her for hours.”
Because I get to kiss her when she talks.
“Mmhmm… That’s quite strange coming out of a silence loving person like you.” Xavier chuckled and earned a sharp glare from me. He shut his mouth instantly and raised his hands in mock surrender.
My gaze then landed on Daniel who had been like a pig. I shouldn’t have called him. Xavier would have been enough to talk to.
“Alright, here comes the next question. Do you like holding her in your arms?”
“Yes!” It slipped out of my tongue without giving my brain time to think.
“Then I am sure you like kissing her as well, don’t you?” He asked playfully.
“Yes!” I coughed hard after replying. I wasn’t supposed to say it out loud.
“Here, take this…” A glass of water was passed to me by Daniel who still had his eyes on the food. I accepted the glass and drank the water.
“Ahem…so, do you feel jealous when she-”
“I do!” I replied before letting him complete the question.
“Okayyyy. So do you-”
“Oh, stop it, Xavier.” Daniel finally looked up. He then placed his fork back on the plate then he wiped his mouth with the tissue. “Stop asking questions for fun, Xavier since you already know what it is.”
I frowned as I studied them doubtfully. Daniel raised his eye at me and sliding his plate away he leaned on the table.
“You dumbass are in LOVE. End of discussion.”
My jaw dropped and my heart picked up the pace. He didn’t mean that! He was joking, right? Yeah, he was. How could I be in love? I was not convinced at all.
“I…stop playing tricks.” I snapped.
“Tricks?!” Xavier and Daniel snapped. Then Xavier spoke up. “The answers you gave clearly justify your love towards her. How can you be so oblivious about it?”
“Because…I can’t explain if this love. What I mean to say is…caring is bound to happen when …when…you feel something…anything for someone.” I had no idea what I was saying. I just wanted to prove them wrong.
“Exactly Sean…the feeling you are talking about is LOVE,” Xavier concluded.
I blinked several times and rubbed my face with my palm. “I…I can’t explain this.” I muttered.
“Sean babe…psychology says that …when you can’t explain why you love them; you actually love them,” Daniel spoke slowly. “This unexplainable feeling you are having is pure LOVE. Accept it.”
“And if you still have doubt then spend more time with her; get to know her more; then ask yourself what it is,” Xavier suggested.
Could it really be love? Is this how one feels when they are in love? Those unexplainable sensations I had been having…is love? Not an attraction?
Oh god! I was really in love with her!
Fuck!
Now I couldn’t let her go. Enough of avoiding. She might not love me yet and I will not force her but I will not give up as well. I will express my love to her. What if she falls for me?
That’s it I needed to go to her, talk to her. Knowing her she wouldn’t come to me. I had to approach her first.
I stood up from the chair. “I have to go,” I said and made my way to the door of the private room.
“Didn’t take you long to realize your love for her. Surprising.” Xavier commented.
“What, where are you rushing to? What about your food? You didn’t even touch it!”
“You can eat it.” I retorted and rushed out of the room and out of the restaurant.
When I sat on the driver’s seat, I searched for my phone in my pocket to call Lauren but it wasn’t with me.
“Don’t tell me I forgot it on the table,” I grumbled to myself. I was about to get out of the car when my eyes landed on the dashboard. There it was. I instantly picked up my phone and saw six missed calls from Lauren.
Fuck! Was she in some sort of trouble?
Without further ado, I dialed her number. She picked up in three rings and I fired my first question.
“Are you alright?”
“Uh, yeah.” I sighed in relief. “Where-” She tried to speak but I didn’t let her finish.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Uh, at home.”
“Alright, I am coming to meet you.” I hung the call and sped my car to her place. Parking my car in front of her house I rushed out of the car and rang the doorbell impatiently.
When the door opened and I saw Lauren’s beautiful face I cupped her face and crashed my lips on her. I softly pushed her inside the house and shutting the door with my foot I pushed her against the adjoining wall.
I poured all my newly found feelings into the kiss and she too didn’t push me. She too responded to my kiss with the same eagerness.
Hard… Fast… Rough… Deep… we both kept our lips sealed.
She grabbed my collars tightly and pulled me towards her as if I would leave her unsatisfied. My hands slowly slid down her body, feeling every curve of hers, and reached to her butts. I too pulled her closer through her butts. She moaned into the kiss and I groaned in the anticipation to feel her skin.
I, who was dying to feel her smooth skin, without warning slid my hands inside her t-shirt and a sigh escaped my throat. It was the first time I was taking things further and she wasn’t complaining. It urged me to move my hands up and when I did, she moaned sweetly. I rubbed my hand on her flesh and gripped her sides just above her waist. She let go of my collars and unbuttoned the top two buttons of my shirt. Our lips still locked.
No words exchanged. Just kisses. And the intensity of the moment stated that we were ready to give ourselves to each other…against the fucking wall…but guess destiny didn’t want us to lose ourselves against the stiff wall because we were pulled apart when the door of her house abruptly swung open and we heard a sharp gasp.
“Oh, I…I didn’t see anything. See, I have covered my eyes.”
Lauren hid her face in my chest, not wanting to look at the intruder. Breathing heavily, I craned my neck sideways to look at the intruder. She was the same girl I saw with Lauren at the parking lot of the mall. She was her housemate.
She peeked from between her fingers and she saw me looking at her, she turned her back to us and ran inside the house.
“Go ahead. Do whatever you both want. But Lauren, be ready to answer Mr. And Mrs. Harris because I saw them coming out of their house.” She shouted and Lauren unexpectedly pushed me away.
“Fuck!” Her eyes turned wide. “How could you enter inside when you know men are not allowed in? God, I am going to be homeless in a few minutes. I have to go search for a new house. Dammit! I am going to be thrown out. I ”
I silenced her with a quick kiss. “Quiet, Lauren.” When she calmed down the first thing I did was I locked the door. I didn’t want disturbance when I talk to her.
I faced her and moved closer to her. “You are not going to be homeless. No one is going to throw you out. And if by chance this happens; the door of my home is always open for you.”
She first looked here and there then she sighed. “I am sorry. I exaggerated. I can deal with my landlords quite well.” She giggled.
“I do not doubt that.” I chuckled as well. We became quiet for a while, looking everywhere but at each other. I rubbed the back of my neck, thinking about how to apologize for avoiding her.
“I-”
“I-”
We both laughed. “You say first.” She urged me to continue. And I did.
“I am sorry, Lauren,” I said as I fixed my gaze with hers. “I shouldn’t have avoided you. I feel bad for doing so. And I am so sorry for acting all possessive with you. Please forgive me?” I pleaded.
“I…I…” She stuttered and I felt dejected thinking she wasn’t ready to forgive me. Maybe I had gone overboard.
“It’s okay, Lauren. I understand. You don’t want to forgive me now? Take your time, think about my apology. I’ll wait for it.” I mumbled lowly and she surprised me stepping closer to me and covering my mouth with her hand.
“You don’t have to wait for anything. And you don’t even have to apologize. It’s me who should be apologizing. I went overboard by kissing him when I knew you were courting me. It was foolish of me. So, I am sorry. Please forgive me?”
The corner of my lips tugged up and I grabbed her wrist and kissed her palm which was covering my mouth. “Guess we both were wrong at our parts.” I kissed the back of her hand. “I forgive you. You forgive me too.”
“I forgive you.”
“We are even now,” I stated and pecked her lips. “Now-” Before I could say anything, someone knocked on the door.
Lauren groaned. “They are way too fast for an old couple. Disturbing elements.” She grumbled.
I laughed, shaking my head. “You are crazy. Anyway, they can’t disturb us since I already locked the door.”
“But they will keep on knocking ” I placed a finger on her lips.
“Let them. I am not letting them in until I am done talking to you.”
“What is it so important you wanna talk about at this hour?” She asked.
“Actually, I want to ask you something.”
“Mmhmm.” She nodded her head in confusion.
“Will you go on a date with me?” I asked quickly as the knocking on the door wasn’t stopping.
She gasped and blinked a few times. “You…” She tried to speak but couldn’t form words. “I…did you just ask me out?”
“Err, yes?” I frowned. Didn’t she hear me clearly? “So, is it yes or no?” I asked impatiently.
“Yes, yes, a hundred times yes!” She jumped up and down then she jumped on me. “I want to know you. Hope you will let me?” She muttered against my neck.
I softly pushed her and kissed her forehead. “I will let you do everything you want to do with me. You will get access to study me inside out.” I winked. She understood my secret message as she blushed deep and slapped my chest.
“Be ready for the date tomorrow. Now, let’s open the door for the impatient people outside.”
She laughed and opened the door and as soon as she opened it, an elderly couple barged in, pushing her aside. “Who did you bring in. Who’s that man, Lauren.”
“That would be me,” I spoke out loud, grabbing their attention.
“Who are you? And what are you doing inside our property? Don’t you know men are not allowed here?” The oldy lady snapped.
“Mrs. Harris-” I shushed Lauren as I knew she would only snap, making things worse.
“I am her boss, ma’am, and I had an important matter to discuss with her that’s why I had to step in,” I said politely.
“You, young man, should have known about the rules.” Mr. Harris spoke gruffly.
“I apologize for that. Next time, I will ask for your permission first then only I will enter.”
Lauren giggled at my sarcastic comment.
“What’s there to giggle, Lauren? Does your mother know about him? She will be disappointed in you when I tell her about this.” Mrs. Harris snapped at her. Ugh, old people! And what did she mean by her mother?
“Excuse me, ma’am.” I again grabbed her attention. “Her mother knows me. I met her family a few days ago.”
If she thought she could threaten Lauren with her mother then she was wrong. She looked at me suspiciously as if I had lied. But I pulled up a serious face, compelling her to believe what I said. Because it was true and moreover, she had nothing to do with us.
“Alright, I’ll talk to her mother. She will tell me if you are lying or not.” She said sharply. “For now, you need to leave.” She pointed at the door.
“Of course, my work is done here.” I then faced Lauren. “Be ready for tomorrow. I will pick you from here.” I announced loudly for the older couple to listen. Then I left.
Lauren Hart
“Why did you let him in?” Mrs. Harris questioned. “You broke the rule. I can throw you out.”
“Mrs. Harris, didn’t you listen to what he said? He had to discuss an important matter with me. And you can’t threaten me because it was the first time I allowed a man inside. The first mistake is always forgiven, isn’t it?”
“But you always break one or the other rule!” Mr. Harris added gruffly.
I huffed. I didn’t want to ruin my mood. “Alright, I am sorry.”
“You better be.” Mrs. Harris exclaimed. I gave her a tight-lipped smile and gazed at the wall clock.
“Uh, can we discuss this in the morning? I have some official work to do.”
Anyhow, they both left and I shut the door after then and I leaned against it, smiling like a fool.
“Would you explain to me what’s going on?” I jerked at christy’s voice.
I first blushed then I squealed.
“I am going on a date!”