“This is way more than a scribble.”
“You can just toss it.”
“I want to keep it.”
“You do? Why?”
“Because.” She hesitates. “I just do.”
“Be my guest.”
Alana places the card carefully in the front pocket of her purse. She doesn’t even fold it.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” I nudge her with my knee.
“Yeah. Can we walk down to the park and look at the boats?”
“Of course,” I agree, surprised. “We can go anywhere you want.”
She smiles and hops off the pub stool. How the hell does she balance so well on those freakin’ stilts? Alana shuffles in front of me, and I steal a quick glance at her ass right before we exit the restaurant. She’s so fucking hot I need to bite the inside of my cheek to keep my hormones in check. At this rate, I’m going to need to inflict bodily harm on myself on an hourly basis just to be around her.
We walk down the street hand in hand toward the little park overlooking the river. We sit on a bench near the railing and watch the water turn from blue to pink as the sun sets over the horizon. I stretch my arm across the back of the bench, and Alana snuggles herself into my body. She’s shocking me left and right tonight. I catch a whiff of her hair as she rests her head on my shoulder. She smells so clean. I swear, like bubble bath. As we snuggle, watching the boats careen fluidly across the water, the moment feels so... fulfilling. Like she’s the part of my life I didn’t know was missing. I wrap my arms around her, and she nuzzles her face into my neck. Is this being casual? I don’t really know, and I don’t really care. I just know this is where I want her to stay forever.
“Ryan?” she asks softly.
“Mmmm hmmm?”
“Did you take art in high school?”
“Yup, all four years.”
"What’s your favorite type of expression?”
I chuckle. “Body art.”
She laughs. “Why does that not surprise me?”
“I like a little bit of everything. Abstract, expressionism, surrealism. I’ve always wanted to go to Amsterdam and see the Van Gogh Museum.”
“I was there.” She looks up at me. “It was amazing. I spent last summer in Europe with Emily and her family.”
“Your friend from the club?”
“She’s my cousin.”
“Oh. That sounds pretty cool.”
“Emily being my cousin?”
I roll my eyes. “Spending the summer in Europe. I’ve never been out of the country. I’ve never really been out of the state.”
Which is pathetic once I think about it.
“One day you’ll go.”
“You sound pretty confident about that.”
Alana doesn’t respond. She just cuddles closer to me.