I graciously welcomed Nick into my apartment and said to him. "I've got plenty of things planned for us but right now all I can think about is how good my bed is going to feel. And as you can see, all I have are two small love seats, and you're NOT sleeping on the floor.”
He understood what I meant and followed me into my bedroom where he peeled off his shirt and stepped out of his jeans. As he slid into bed beside me I could feel the heat radiating off of his skin. I buried my face in my pillow and sighed. Why did I have to be so damn tired?! With my voice half muffled I asked quite nonchalantly, "You don't snore do you?"
Nick laughed. "Not as far as I know."
"Good, cause if you do you'll be demoted to one of those tiny love seats out there."
He chuckled again. "Gotcha."
At some point during the night I must have gotten cold because I woke to discover that I was half in the fetal position and cuddled up to Nick so close that I might has well been on top of him. I saw that his eyes were open so I apologized. In return he said that he hadn't really minded.
I rolled over and groaned as I got out of bed. It was 9am and I had never in all my 29 years been cool with mornings but I knew I only had a day with Nick so I guessed I could deal.
"So now that you're awake and have me here, what are you going to do with me?" Nick yawned.
"Who said I was awake?" I yawned back, then laughed, "You'll just have to wait and find out."
I grabbed some clothes and decided against changing in the bathroom. Might as well break the ice early. I slid out of my sweats, giving Nick a quick view of my black lace boyshorts before sliding into my jeans. Then taking off my shirt I reached into my dresser to grab a bra, briefly turning my back.
"Nice rose…" I heard Nick say.
I turned around smirking, "Thanks, I've got four more."
"Care to share?"
"Maybe later," I winked.
I crawled back on the bed and knelt beside him, touching his bicep. "Yours are much cooler in person than in pictures." Then taking his wrist I said, "However....."
"Yeah, yeah, what can I say?"
Playfully tickling his side I told him he had to get up because we had lots to do and little time in which to do it. While he got dressed I began rifling through my dresser in search of my black silk scarf. I held it up and apologized to Nick saying that he wasn't allowed to see the first place we were going.
He raised an eyebrow as I reached up to place the scarf gently over his eyes and then walking behind him to tie it.
Nick laughed, "This better be good, I feel ridiculous."
"It will be, I promise."
I led him out of my apartment and to my car. He got settled and then I could tell he was trying to figure things out.
"I'm not even familiar with this area," he shrugged.
"Once we get going in the right direction you will be and I don't want you realizing where it is we're going because its a SUPRISE" I said, pushing him over in the seat a bit.
"Fine." he huffed.
I started my car and immediately my stereo kicked in. I laughed when I realized what it was I had been previously listening to.
"Oh I SO feel the love," Nick laughed. And if he hadn't been wearing that blindfold I'm sure the look I'd have gotten would have been priceless.
"It's all about the Carter love," I laughed defending myself.
Nick just shook his head and settled in for the ride.
About twenty minutes later we reached our destination. I parked the car, walked around to help Nick out and then walked him around to the driver's side. I reached up to untie the blindfold and stepped aside.
A smile spread across his face immediately. "This is AWESOME!!" was all he could say.
Although the name and the structure had changed somewhat, there was no denying that the building that Nick stood staring at had once been the Yankee Rebel.
He spontaneously reached out to give me a hug, and as his arms wound around me, he lifted me off the ground. "This is CRAZY!" he laughed.
He closed his eyes and I could tell he was taking a mental walk through the building. Smiling, he gave me another hug and asked if we could walk around some. I looked at my watch--plenty of time. We walked for about an hour and had a late breakfast at the corner diner.
Seeing that Nick was enjoying this trip back to his childhood made me almost reluctant to tell him we had to leave. It was still fairly early but considering that the next drive would be somewhat longer I knew we had better get a move on.
Once back in the car, Nick began rifling through my cds. "Anything good in here?"
"For me, yes, but I don't know about you. Just look, you might find something."
Seconds later he made his choice and popped it in the player. I noticed by the label that it was one of my mixed cds. He hit the seek button a few times and turned up the volume. And then to my enjoyment began to belt out the words, filling my car with his incredible voice. And the words he sang had me shifting in my seat.
"Dig if you will the picture, of you and I engaged in a kiss. The sweat of your body covers me, can you my darling, can you picture this?"
I looked over at him and wiggled my eyebrows. He was making this WAY too easy. The rest of the drive was fun, we both sang (after much prodding from Nick telling me not to be so freakin’ shy. YEAH RIGHT!) to Guns n Roses "Welcome to the Jungle".
"You know where you are?! You're in the jungle baby!!"
I laughed so hard I snorted which made Nick laugh even harder.
We drove into Presque Isle and I decided to park near beach 1. It wasn't as popular as the others so I knew we'd have some privacy...later. I turned off the engine and smacked Nick's thigh.
"Ready for more walking?"
"Where are we?," he asked.
"Presque Isle State Park, Erie's peninsula."
He nodded and we got out and I led him toward the Perry Monument where I decided to give Nick an impromptu history lesson. The monument, I explained was in honor of General Oliver Hazard Perry who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie. I pointed out Misery Bay, so named for the long, hard, winter spent there during the battle. Finally I walked him to a plaque near the edge of the water and then pointed out that there was a sunken ship about a hundred yards from where we stood.
"Really?!" he asked quite intrigued.
"Yep…" I answered and instinctively backed away from the water as I always did when I
thought of that ship.
I took Nick's hand and headed back toward the path. I looked at my watch and led him on a slow, leisurely walk which would take us around the entire peninsula.
We passed other walkers, joggers, and people on roller blades. And once in a while we stopped to look at the water.
Coming back around to where the car was parked I led him up over the hill to the beach and we sat down on a picnic table to talk. Surprisingly, we talked most about what I had told him throughout my little history lesson. It had been the most interest I'd shown in history since 4th grade when I went to Gettysburg. I was having so much fun with him that I quickly lost track of time. The sun was getting lower and I knew we had to leave.
Once again I took Nick's hand and I led him down toward the water. I kicked off my shoes, rolled up my jeans and waded in. I turned around to see Nick still standing along the shore. I kicked some water at him.
"What's the matter? Afraid of a little cold water?"
He immediately lunged at me, sending us both fully clothed under the water. "No, are you?" he asked as I coughed and sputtered for air.
"We gotta go, the park closes at sun down…"
"Perfect!" he said, picking me up and flinging me over his shoulder.
He walked back to the car, sat me down on the hood and leaned down to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer. I could hear the cars passing in the distance but I hardly cared. I undid Nick's jeans and he undid mine, and we both laughed at our struggle to lower them.
"I think the water might have been a bad idea." he laughed.
"Can't imagine why…"
"Oh, you're asking for it!"
"Well, until we get these jeans down, no one's getting it." I laughed.
The struggle proved to be successful as Nick once again leaned me back onto the hood and thrust into me quickly. His thrusts were hard and his pace was frantic. I quickly sat up and matched his pace as best as I could with my jeans just below my hips. He growled with every thrust and I in turn moaned my approval until we both collapsed against each other completely out of breath.
Nick struggled back into his jeans and I literally jumped back into mine. We got into the car and I really didn't care that my seats were about to get wet.
~~~~~
Once back at my place I took Nick's clothes to the laundry room to dry them and we settled into my bed just staring at the ceiling and laughing and talking again. I could feel my eyes starting to get heavy so I reached to set my alarm and then cuddled up to Nick, losing myself to the heat and scent of his body. I must have fallen into a deep sleep because the sound of my alarm startled me. I fumbled for my phone and dialed.
"Dawn, he's all yours."