Nine Years Ago
It had been a month since the night of the concert or to be exact, the night Alex and I finally had sex.
In the space of a month, we fucked God knows how many times in different places and in as many positions that would warrant a Kama Sutra sequel. Alex was insatiable, and every part of me was desperate for more. A few times I was worried we’d be caught, but somehow, we came up with an alibi. That was until the principal contacted my dad about my three absences in two weeks and wanted to make sure I was okay.
“Charlie, can you please explain this?” Dad slid the note across the table. It was a letter addressed to Dad requesting him to authorize my absences at school. “Look, Charlie, what’s going on? You’re a straight-A student. Is Adriana making you skip school?”
I hesitated, looking for a valid excuse. “It’s stupid, and I’m sorry, Dad. There’s this guy at school. I like him, and he kinda said some not-so-nice stuff, so I’ve been avoiding him,” I lied.
Shaking his head with disappointment, he bowed his head while pinching the bridge of his nose. “Charlie, since when does a boy do this to you? I’ve raised you better than this. I see how you are with Finn. No one gives you shit.”
“I know, Dad. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again. You’re right. I need to find my girl power and not let a boy get to me.”
He rubbed his beard and gazed at me before leaning down to sign the letter. “I trust you, Charlie, this better not happen again. You understand me?”
“Yes, Dad. I’m sorry.”
After lunch was finished and the dishes were done, I told my dad I’d be up in my room studying. I had to admit the constant lying was tiresome, but I had no intention of being caught or giving up Alex. I needed to get in contact with him, just a text would be enough. I used our code in case he was with her.
Me: Hi Alex, did Adriana ask you for that book we are studying in English? She said you had a spare copy lying around at home.
I waited impatiently for him to respond, unable to concentrate on studying. I needed him, just for a moment, and then I would finish my history paper.
Alex: Hi baby, I’m off in an hour. Any chance of meeting up? I miss you.
A smile graced my lips. I had no idea how I could get out now with it being a Saturday afternoon and my dad off for the night.
Me: Meet me at the back of the library.
Quickly grabbing my books and backpack, I attempted to walk like a normal human being and not in a rush to meet my married boyfriend. The stairs proved tricky as I nearly fell down the last few steps because my laces were untied.
“Dad, I’m off to the library for an hour or two before it closes. I’ll pick something up for dinner if you like?” I yelled from the front door.
He walked into the living room, awkwardly shuffling his feet. He opened his mouth to say something and then shut it.
“Yes? No?” I asked, trying to rush.
“I, uh… kinda… uh… have dinner plans tonight,” he mumbled.
“Oh, I see.” I chuckled because it was so unlike my dad to be shy. “Okay. Have fun on your date, Dad.”
We met behind the library, but instead, he wanted to take me somewhere. We hiked about fifteen minutes up a trail until it unfolded before me—a beautiful clifftop. It was flat but covered in orchids blooming all around us. The sun shone perfectly on it, and butterflies flew in the air. It looked like heaven, it was so surreal.
“Alex, it’s beautiful,” I gasped.
“Just like you.” He stood behind me trailing kisses down my neck. I closed my eyes, feeling his warm breath against my skin with the scent of the orchids fresh in the air. He took me by the hand and laid his jacket on the ground.
As we both sat, he held onto me, humming a tune.
“Baby?” he murmured into my ear.
“Yes?”
He didn’t realize that simple gestures like calling me ‘baby’ awoke things deep inside, things I’d never felt before. Like he was reaching that part of my soul I was desperately trying to hold onto, a part I knew if I let go, it would be with him forever and no one else.
“Turn around, look at me,” he begged.
I shifted so my eyes met his. A part of me was terrified he was going to tell me what I dreaded all along, that we needed to stop. His eyes shone a bright, beautiful emerald that mesmerized me every time, pulling me into a trance.
It felt like minutes passed as his eyes gazed into mine like playing a game of who’ll blink first, but there was this eerie calm, and neither of us would back down.
“Te amo mi niña, I love you, my girl,” he breathed.
With his eyes still fixated on me, my heart stopped because he’d said those words. Those words that no other person had ever said to me, those words which changed everything about us and who we were and what we were doing. I held my breath unaware I was doing so.
“I love you, my girl. I have ever since we ran into each other the night I came back. It’s you, it has always been you.” He stopped, waiting for me to say something. “You don’t need to say anything. I just needed to tell you. I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”
“I love you, too, Alex.”
“You do?”
“I can’t deny it anymore. I love you so much that it hurts. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, and I can’t be a normal human being. It’s like it has consumed all of me.”
Alex kissed my knuckles with an unassuming grin. He continued to sing, the same song he sang to me that day at the piano. I ignored the painful memories attached to it—it was the day I thought my heart officially stopped beating.
Instead, I allowed the warmth to rush through me as he sang those words, and I couldn’t help but sing along with him. The melody only added to this enchanted moment when nothing else mattered in the world, nothing but Alex and me.
It was there, in the middle of the meadow with the sun shining upon us, that the man I loved and he loved me in return, made sweet passionate love to me.
