Talania: A Trip down Memory Lane
Page 13

“I heard that.” She giggles even more.
I slam the door in the dudes face after barely giving him a tip.
“You enjoy walking around like that?” I smirk and internally groan.
She looks down and shrugs. “What? I’m guessing you’ve seen me naked countless times, right?”
I nod. “Yeah, but we were teenagers then. You woman, me man now.” I point for emphasis.
She just laughs, shaking her head.
“I’ve seen you naked more than countless times…I’m just saying.” I grab two drinks out of the fridge and walk over to the table where she is laying out the food.
“This feels normal,” she says.
I am stunned with her confession. I want her to feel normal, to know that she is normal. I want her comfortable here with me.
“Does it?” I ask.
“Yes. I haven’t felt normal for a long time. Thank you.” She smiles at me, and that smile forces me to close my eyes. I cannot look at her smile when she is barely wearing anything to cover up those gorgeous tits of hers. There is a fire building inside of me and I need her to extinguish it.
“You’re welcome.” I force myself to say as I take a bite of teriyaki chicken on a skewer.
“So when I was in the shower I was deciding on something,” she says, taking a breath and sighing before her next words. “I want to ask you something.” She takes a bite of her egg roll.
“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I cannot stop smiling at her. I f**king love this girl.
“Where do you see this heading? Like, are you trying to win me back using our trip down memory lane or just trying to get me back as a friend? I’m just trying to understand.” She shrugs it off as if this is no big deal.
I know my eyes widen to the size of the Grand Canyon and my breath hitches in my throat.
I drop my food. “Evelyn Beaumont, my heart was ripped to f**king shreds when you didn’t come back for Thanksgiving that year. When I saw you again last night, all the pieces came flying back together. Do you understand?”
“So you’re saying you still love me?”
Her question isn’t hesitant at all. She has always been straightforward.
I flip over my wrist. “Infinity.” I nod.
“Infinity,” she repeats. “Can we recreate all our firsts?” She whispers.
All of them? Even the sandy-ass beach sex? She is crazy, my f**king crazy girl!
“Even the sandy beach sex?” I laugh, trying to play it off, but damn if I don’t want to.
“Yes, even that. Was it important to us back then, to me?”
“Very. That’s where 'Before and After' came from, you know?” I shrug. “Would you like to watch that video next? We can always back track.”
“Can we?” She smiles.
“Yeah we can. Hurry and eat.” I motion to her food.
“Okay.” We eat the rest of our food in silence. I am beyond elated right now. We haven’t talked about it, but she knows I am not going anywhere, and that means a lot.
“Baby, do you want some wine?” I yell from the kitchen.
“Yes please!” She hollers back.
I pour us some wine and shuffle back to the living room with the bottle under my arm. I can't help but smile at the sight of her sprawled out on the couch. Again, I am thankful she feels comfortable here.
“Here, let me help.” She sits up, grabbing the bottle from under my arm.
“Thanks.” I sit our glasses down.
“I already loaded ‘first time’ in the DVD player.” She grins.
“In a hurry are you?” I tease her.
“Yes. If you hadn’t had sex since you were sixteen and you couldn’t remember your first time, you would feel the same,” she whispers.
Now I get it. I am such a dumbass. This is extremely important to her. I am important to her. She wants to remember.
“Well, push play babe.” I hand her the remote.
She smiles and pushes play, snuggling into my chest. That right there, that small movement, causes my heart to start beating rapidly.
Her sweet voice fills the room.
“So we’re calling this before and after. Tristan and I are going to talk separately about how we feel before and after our first time together. He doesn’t want to do this, but he would do anything for me. I told him that one day this might be extremely important; that one day I might need this.”
We both gasp as she pauses the home video.
“I swear I didn’t remember you saying that babe.” I hold up my hands in a surrender stance.
“Oh my god, it’s like I knew or something.” She sits up, curling into my lap more securely. I pray to the heavens she does not feel my raging hard on.
She presses play for the video as she settles in.
“So needless to say, I just batted my girly eyelashes and got my way.”
Boy did she ever!
“So here are my before thoughts before I turn you over to the love of my life. First thought; I’m not scared. He would never hurt me because he cherishes me. Second thought; no, I am not too young to have sex. I love him and he loves me. And third thought; he wouldn’t ever hurt me, so why wouldn’t I give the one guy I know that loves me unconditionally the one piece of me he can have for infinity?” She turns around and points to her infinity tattoo. “See? Infinity! So baby, here are my before thoughts. I love you so f**king much, to infinity!”
The camera shuts off, and comes back on and I appear on the screen.