I'll Look After You

Chapter Six: One Week

Noel

                The next morning I woke up in Christian’s arms. I smiled and looked up at him, who was still sleeping peacefully. He looked like a lion cub; so adorable, innocent, and calm. I raised my head up a little bit to nudge under his chin, and tickled his belly to wake him. He slowly opened his eyes, and smiled down at me.

                “Hi,” I whispered.

                “Hey.” He kissed my forehead and held my head in his chest. “I don’t want to leave you for a week.”

                “We’ll be okay,” I promised. As a I sat up in the bed, I reminded him, “But, now, we have to get ready and go. We can’t let you miss your flight.” I climbed out of bed, and trailed off to the bathroom. I felt his eyes watching me, so I turned around, and smirked. He had the horniest look on his face, like most guys do when they’re checking out a girl. “If you keep drooling and staring at my butt, then you won’t get to even walk through the doors of the airport, silly.”

                “I’m sure the band can wait. Besides once they see you, they’ll understand what tied me up,” he winked.

                “S&M? Okay, I see where your head’s at,” I joked.

                He came in the bathroom and snuggled up to me from behind. “I just want this to be over with so, I can be with you again,” he said, kissing down the side of neck.

                “I know, me too… But, you make sure you bring me back something nice,” I smiled.

                “It’s L.A. Of course, I’ll bring you something.”

                “Will you miss me?” I turned around, leaning my back on the sink. He placed his hand around my waist and nodded.

                “Of course.” He slipped his hand on my face, and lowered his to kiss me. Our lips connected instantly, our tongues wrestling and playing with each other inside our mouths.

                “Hmmm,” he sighed. “We gotta go before we get too busy.”

                By six o’clock, we got dressed, and got everything together to leave. I drove him to the airport as quickly as possible. When we arrived, a group of familiar faces with a load of luggage raced in our direction.

                “Christian! You made it on time!” It was Maika, the lead singer of Christian’s band. I was stunned to see the rest of them; Jay and Chris, and their whole crew.

                “Guys, this is the beautiful, young woman I was telling you about… Noel.” He looked down at me as he said my name softly. I looked up into his eyes, felt a huge surge of emotion come over me.

                I didn’t quite know what it was. It was a feeling so strong and I never felt it until now. I didn’t know why I suddenly felt it either.

                With an attempt to hide my feelings, I smiled back at him with my eyes.

                At that moment, when our eyes connected, the whole world seemed as if it flew away, and we were the only two things in the universe. I knew him being away from me, even for a week, would make me fall in love with him. I knew at that moment, that I would miss him. All I wanted was for him to stay with me. But, I accepted that this was a part of his life. I had to; I had no choice. The distance between us would be so far in the next twenty four hours but, the connections would always be here as a reminder of our growing passion for each other in the past week or so. Then, he’d be back- back in my arms, back in my bed, sleeping just as peacefully as he was this morning.

                “Hey, there,” Chris greeted first, followed by greetings and introductions from his other friends, and the rest of the band.

After I met everyone, Jay let me know that his girlfriend would be waiting for me after I get off work today at Christian’s house. “You need a girlfriend, you know,” Christian agreed. He finally grabbed his things, and placed them on the sidewalk.

“I’ll miss you,” he said. “You can stay at my house if you want. I know you’ve never really been there but, you can if you want. And go have fun while I’m gone. Don’t worry about me,” he assured, kissing my forehead. He was ready to turn his back and leave, before I called him out. He definitely forgot to kiss me (on my lips) goodbye.

“Ummm, where are you going?”                                     

“Inside, silly,” he said.

“Come back here,” I said, gesturing to my lips. The whole group of his friends laughed and made kissy sounds, but I didn’t care if I embarrassed him. He turned back and walked up for a peck. But, I pulled him in by the jacket collar, and kissed him. I mean, kissed him kissed him. I slipped my tongue in his mouth and battled his, making mine dominant in the process, then pulled out. “Have fun,” I whispered in his ear. “But, not too much.”

He leaned back, and smiled at me, but I knew he wanted more. He bit his lip with the cutest expression on his face as Maika and Chris threw thumbs up at me behind his back.

“See you Saturday, babe.” He kissed me one last time, before backing up into the doorway. “Call me!” he yelled out.

I waved at him and his friends, and got in the car to drive to work. At the first red light, the first airplane took off, its shadow and heavy noise covering my car.

I thought about Christian and how much I’d miss him. I wanted to call him right now, but I wasn’t sure if he wasn’t be on the plane already. Soon enough, he was already calling me.

“Hello?” I answered. Normally, I never answer the phone when I’m driving, but Christian was an exception.

“God, I miss you already,” he said. His tone sounded sincere. If only I could look in his eyes again.

“I know. I miss you,” I admitted.

“Are you driving?”

“Yeah, but I have you on speaker in my car. Don’t worry, you’re not distracting me like you normally do,” I joked as I made a turn on a highway that would led me to school.

“Be safe, okay?”

“Me? You be safe. Make sure you get your entire luggage and don’t forget anything important.” I started to sound like a wife.

“Yes, honey,” he teased.

“When are you supposed to arrive?” I said,

“The flight is five hours… And because of time change… I’ll be arriving at eight in the morning over there.”

“Twelve o’clock here,” I calculated.

“We need to figure out how we’ll talk, because you can’t be up late, and we’re performing at night.”

                “Why don’t I Skype you at three your time? It won’t be late here.”

                “Sure. Remember Jay’s girlfriend wants to meet you, so she’ll be coming over at my house. I put my house keys in your purse, so you can check on it and stuff while I’m gone.”

                I reached over in my purse, and found his keys. “Okay, I got them.”

                “Okay, I’ll call you later when you get off work. I’ll probably be in soundcheck, but I’ll take a break for you.”

                “That sounds sweet,” I said.

                He laughed. “I promise a week will be over before you know it.”

                “I hope so,” I muttered.

                “I know, babe. It sounds crazy but, trust me. It flies by.”

                I wanted to believe him but, I knew better. A week alone in a town where I knew no one but him, and his friends seemed like forever.

                But, he promised it would be just a week, and that it was nothing to worry about. Then, we said our final goodbyes and hung up.

                I drove into the parking lot of my school.

                Just one week, technically five days, and you’ll see him again. Five days… one school week. Try to go on like you did without him… You can do it Noel…

                I repeated these lines in my head as I shuffled to the classroom. Don’t worry, don’t think about him. You two will be okay. You miss him, but you’re fine.

                I greeted Ms. Harrison, and told her about my past week with Christian. She automatically said she predicted we’d eventually get together. She asked me all the right questions, like how I felt about him, and noted how much I talked about him. But, she finally hit me with one question. More specifically she said, “Looking at the way you two got together so fast, and made a great commitment so quickly…. It seems to me that you two are in something that may last for a very long time… If you know what I mean, Noel.”

                “Ms. H, no…. No… we’re not even thinking about that.”

                “I know, but it’s still something that he’s thought about, I’m sure, and you have too. I can tell…Or have you not? Have you ignored it?”

                I looked at her with a puzzled expression…. I hoped “it” wasn’t the “it” I thought she was talking about. I mean, Christian was an amazing guy, and as hard and fast as I’m falling for him, there was so much I didn’t know about him. Yet, he… is everything to me, in a snap, just like that. All I want to do is be with him. But, like I said, I had to figure out exactly what Ms. H was talking about.
                “What do you mean?” I shrugged.

                “Is he the One?” She watched my face, waiting for an answer. She somehow knew what the answer would be.

                “I want him to be… And I think he is… but, I don’t know him… I mean, I know him, but I don’t know his family or his background, or whatever else a girlfriend would know about her boyfriend. He doesn’t know those little details about me either… I don’t want to jump into something heart first, without figuring him out.”

                “But, you already are falling for him, so why worry?” Ms. H suggested. It was a thought. Why worry about something that didn’t matter to me two days ago?

                All I knew was that Christian and I cared for each other immensely but, we both knew that there was a lot more to a relationship than knowing each other.

                Although I’ll never doubt for a second he wouldn’t give up on me. He’d always accept me and be there for me. And be my side, in my arms… in my heart.

                Always…

                I started to think deep in myself that day during work… Is he the One? I looked at Charlie, who reminded me so much of Christian sometimes. Especially, when Charlie slept during naptime.
                Christian’s love, honestly, sincerity was all that I needed.

                He was all that I needed.

                And that was all that mattered.

                I went back to Ms. Harrison to get her a proper answer.

                “Ms. Harrison… Yes,” I admitted.

                “Yes to what, honey?”

                “Yes, he’s the one.”

                She smiled at me, and gave me a hug to show her happiness for me.

                All in one week, things had happened so fast. And now, as we started a new week, things started to move along quickly.

                Everyday Christian and I talked on the phone and chatted on Skype.  Tasha and I went out for drinks almost every evening. I managed to call a few friends from home.  I had the basic conversation, “How was your move?”, “How’s the job?”,“How’s the city?”

                I specifically called one of my best friends in NYC, Rose to vent about Christian. But, knowing Rose, she bitched on me about it.

                “You’re ‘in love’ with him?” She repeated.

                “I think so.”

                “Honey, you’ve only known him for what… a week? And you’re telling me this guy’s already been in your bed? You whore,” she joked. She and I had always been very sarcastically honest with each other. That’s why we were such great friends.

                “NO…. We haven’t had sex yet. We’re taking things slow, I guess,” I laughed.

                “We all know you’re gonna be horny as hell, soon.”

                Hell, yeah she was right. I haven’t been laid on my back since Rook. It was taking its toll with Christian not being here.

                “Well, can you say you’re happy for me?”

                “No, bitch! I got shit to do! I love you though,’ she said.

                We abruptly ended our conversation and hung up.

                Knowing Rose, this meant she approved.

                Seconds, minutes, hours, days went by, and I was missing Christian so much. I hoped he missed me too.

                After all it was one week…

 Just one week.