by Sarah Doren
“You’re right. And even though I love my own country, I would still have chosen New Zealand. It’s peaceful here. There are lots of things to do, and the people are great here,” Theo said, as he dug his foot into the sand and kicked it away.
“How long have you lived here?” I asked.
“A long time. Five years at least,” he answered.
“Don’t you miss home?”
“Sometimes. But when you’ve lived away from your family for a very long time, you just don’t tend to miss them—well, not as much as I used to anyway. Exploring new things and traveling around the world is my passion.”
“You love it here?” I asked.
“Of course!” Theo exclaimed as if that was an obvious answer. “I’ve lived here long enough to love the country and learn its culture. I might not even leave the country again. You know, I might stay and grow old here.”
I nodded.
“So, when do you go back to Germany exactly?” he asked.
“I’m only here for about a year and a half. Then, I’m off again.”
He looked at me with an inscrutable look on his gorgeous face, which wasn’t revealing a single emotion. I found myself drawn into his big beautiful eyes. And that pair of lips was lush and succulent looking, although not as luscious as Wiremu’s. And his cheekbones were too bony, maybe because he was a little on the skinnier side. Wiremu had at least six pounds on Theo. I shrugged the comparison aside. I didn’t even know why I was bringing him up now and comparing him to my handsome windsurfing instructor, but I was.
“We’re here,” Theo announced, placing a hand in the small of my back. He ushered me in, his fingers still on my skin. I expected to feel a rush of something—passion or electricity that would make me swoon over him. Like the feeling I had in the beginning, when I first laid my eyes on Theo. Nothing came.
“I hope you don’t mind seafood,” he said, as we stepped inside.
“I love seafood,” I said, looking around the room. It was already eight o’ clock in the evening and yet it felt like it was still daylight. A warm stream of sunlight cascaded down over our heads. One of the things I loved about New Zealand was how in the summer daylight continued long into the evenings. Though I learned later that in the winter season it tends to get dark very early.
I stared outside, noticing rows and rows of boats lined up in the water. There were lights on the wooden wall. The restaurant was packed with people chatting and hollering at one another. I smiled at the unfamiliar sight and accepted the hand Theo offered me, once more waiting for some spark between us. Again, nothing came. A rush of disappointment settled over me, as we took a vacated seat and ordered our meal for the night.
“You okay?” Theo asked, breaking into my thoughts.
“Oh, fine. Fine,” I said, distracted.
We ordered our meal and settled into our seats. A comfortable silence fell between us. The atmosphere was warm and cozy, as I gazed around the room. There wasn’t a single person there along, most people in the restaurant were either with their partners or with family. This was starting to feel like a date with my windsurfing instructor. Our meal arrived quickly, and we dug right in. Halfway through my food, Theo began to talk.
“I remember you telling me about going to the university, right?” he asked.
I nodded as I stabbed a forkful of shrimp. “Yeah, that’s right. I’m finishing up my degree in Health back in Germany. I decided to be a rebel and be adventurous here and major in Food and Nutrition instead.”
“Woah, that’s a big leap. Were you a little scared about the paperwork and all that?”
I shook my head as I said earnestly, “I wasn’t scared or anything like that. I thought it would be fun to do something else for a change. I’ve been working on the same degree for the last couple of years, and jumping from Health into Food and Nutrition is really a massive leap. But I wouldn’t know unless I try, right?”
“You’re right,” Theo agreed, as he made a slurping sound devouring his oyster. “Nothing happens if you just keep thinking about it. I would have done the same thing if I were in your place.”
“Did you go to college at all?” I asked, taking a bite of my seafood pizza.
He nodded, as he began to talk with his mouth full. Luckily, everything stayed inside his mouth. “Yeah, I did actually.”
Out of curiosity, I leaned forward and braced my elbows against the wooden table. “What was your degree?” I asked.
“Business and Management,” he responded.
“Oh, what got you into that?” I asked, his answer sparking a curiosity in me.
Theo shrugged as he briefly lowered his eyes to his food. There was something he didn’t want to talk about when it came to his history. It struck me as odd to find him averting his eyes, as I tried to catch his gaze.
“My father was in the business world. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps and take over the company one day, but it just wasn’t for me. I’m way too adventurous for something that boring, you know?”
I would never have pegged Theo as the serious type. I couldn’t imagine him wearing a suit with a briefcase in hand, driving to the office. Not the adventurous Theo I knew.
“How did he take it? You leaving your country, I mean.”
An invisible curtain fell over his face, hiding any trace of emotion as he ate another spoonful of his food. His voice grew hard, and his jaw was tense when he responded back to me. “He didn’t take it well. I’m an only child. You probably can imagine how he felt when he found out.”
“Was he angry at you?” I asked.
He shook his head, saying, “It doesn’t matter. It’s all in the past now. I don’t really talk about it much. It makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it.”
We didn’t talk about much else after that. I ate my meal quickly and didn’t say a word when he paid. I would have offered to chip in and pay for my own meal, but I assumed he wouldn’t take that real well.
“Let’s go,” Theo said, stretching a hand out for me to take. I looked down at his extended hand and back up at him. He was looking at me expectantly, as if this was a normal thing to do. Against my better judgement, I let him take my hand and walk us out of the restaurant.
The night had a slight chill to it, and with the wind cool against my bare skin, it made it slightly hard to walk faster. With every movement I made, the breeze rustled my hair and enveloped me. Its icy fingers wrapped around my body, enclosing me until I was shivering and my teeth were clattering.
“You cold?” Theo asked, sounding slightly amused.
I tried to nod, but it must have turned into a fit of jerky movements of my head, because he shrugged out of his sweater and laid it around my shoulder.
“Sorry, I forgot to tell you to grab a jacket. It does get pretty cold here at night. With the beach and all. I’ve lived here long enough that I don’t feel the cold anymore. So, sorry about that.”
I smiled at him reassuringly, though my teeth continued to rattle. “That’s okay.”
We headed back to his car and I hopped in. Theo quickly turned the heater on, letting the warmth flood us in the small compartment until I was no longer shivering down to my boots.
“Let’s get you home,” he said and turned the engine on.
We drove back to the main road. I stared out the window, completely mesmerized at how beautiful New Zealand looked at night. There were large lampposts on the side of the road, lighting up the main highway.
Since I mainly lived in the city, Theo had to drive back to the freeway and make a lot of U-turns before we finally reached the house. I could hear the loud blaring of the TV without even opening the door. I turned to Theo and thanked him for the meal.
“Anytime,” he said, smiling again.
I grabbed my bag from the backseat and opened the door. I was just about to hop out when he reached out to me and clasped my arm, pulling me down to him. I gasped in surprise when I felt his hard lips against mine, his tongue quickly diving into my m
outh. I fought the urge to pull away, but I let him kiss me instead.
I tried to bring myself to kiss him back, but I didn’t feel the familiar spark of passion between us. I evaluated his style and found it...lacking somehow. He was a good kisser. He was so good that it made me think he’d probably practiced it many times.
Eventually, he let me go, kissing me once more, on the cheek this time.
“See you next week?” he asked.
I nodded.
Chapter Five
I closed my bedroom door behind me with a soft click. I padded toward my bed and flopped down onto it, my eyes fixed on the white ceiling. I pressed my fingers to my lips, recalling the kiss I’d shared with Theo. My skin didn’t tingle the way it did when Wiremu kissed me, and my heart barely thumped in my chest when Theo had woven his fingers into my thick blonde hair.
There must be something wrong with me.
I flung my arm across my forehead, as I continued to lay there quietly. I didn’t know whether to feel relief over not being attracted to the second male specimen I’d laid my eyes on, or to feel irritated for getting the hots for Wiremu, but not for my windsurfing instructor. Then again, I had to remind myself repeatedly that I wasn’t here to look for a relationship. I wasn’t here to get tangled up in a commitment that I would leave behind in a couple of months. I was here to have fun and experience the adventurous stuff I’d been dying to do back in Germany.
I rolled over on my side and stared at my wall. I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering off to the way Wiremu’s face had looked when I turned down his offer to go out for dinner. It was for the best. Refusing his offer had been the right thing to do. I didn’t know if I could trust myself not to fall into his lap, and kiss the crap out of him.
I was seriously having a weird obsession over a guy who was going to be married to a woman he didn’t know. Or a woman he barely knew. A heavy feeling settled in the pit of my belly as I continued to look at my blank wall. I didn’t like the idea of seeing him with another girl, to know that he would marry someone else.
“Tina Brown, you’re losing your mind,” I told myself and rolled over to my back again so that I was facing the ceiling once more.
I didn’t know what was going to happen to us now. I wondered also if we were going to have to spend the rest of my time here avoiding each other. Like our time together never happened. Still, he had made it clear what he wanted, hadn’t he? Made it clear that there would be no strings attached. And it wasn’t as though we were a couple, right? It was just a one-night stand, merely acting on a physical attraction between us.
My mind yelled at me to forget him and that one misguided night, while my heart said otherwise. I fell asleep thinking about it.
***
I woke up to the blaring of my alarm. I swung my legs off the bed and rushed to the bathroom, where I took a quick shower and combed through my messy blonde hair. I shimmied into a fresh, clean outfit and grabbed a quick bite of breakfast from the kitchen table. My host dad, Anthony, seemed to have read my mind, because he grabbed the car keys and hopped in the car, and I followed suit. To my great consternation, there was a massive traffic jam in front of us, and my first class was starting in fifteen minutes. No way I was going to get there in time.
I tapped my foot against the floor. My fingers drummed against the door handle. I was growing impatient with the slow progress, and after a few minutes dragged by, the vehicles in front of us finally started to move. A sigh of relief left my lips as my host dad started to drive again.
“Did you get up late?” Anthony asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I was so exhausted from last night’s windsurfing lesson.”
Liar, you were just up late thinking about Wiremu and Theo. No way were you tired from yesterday’s lesson.
I ignored the small voice inside my head and was relieved to see my school a few yards away. As soon as the car lulled to a stop, I grabbed my things and waved at my host dad who quickly drove away from where he had stopped illegally, facing traffic. I rushed to my first class and found Chelsea waving at me. It looked like someone saved me a seat.
“Why are you late?” Chelsea hissed under her breath.
I sent her an apologetic glance and quickly took my laptop out of my bag. “I woke up late. Sorry, but did you take down the first notes?”
“Here,” she said, pushing her MacBook toward me.
For the next little while, the class dragged on and on about some topic and I managed to jot down everything before the professor turned back to his class and noticed anything wrong. It was just after the second class, when Chelsea finally confronted me.
“You look worse for the wear, Tina,” she said.
“Well, thanks,” I said in a dry tone. “I always appreciate it when a friend of mine tells me how horrible I look today.”
She rolled her eyes and huffed as we sidestepped a passing student who was holding a stack of books and still managed to hit me with them. I let out a quiet ‘ow’ and clutched my arm, as we walked to the cafeteria.
“I heard Wiremu’s quitting the game,” Chelsea declared.
“What?” I said, my shock and surprise mingling, as I looked at her.
“That was exactly my reaction when I found out. Come on, we can’t talk about it here. People might hear us,” she said, steering us somewhere quiet.
We found an isolated area in the far corner of the canteen and each took a seat. I turned to Chelsea, who seemed to be waiting for me to have an outburst.
“What happened?” I asked.
She shrugged and started plucking at her expensive top. “I found out from one of the guys from the rugby team that he’s planning on quitting. He said that Wiremu had already had a talk with the coach.”
“That’s crazy,” I breathed.
I knew how much rugby meant to Wiremu. It wasn’t something he’d give up so easily, and finding out about his sudden quitting didn’t sit well with me.
“I know right? We were all surprised too. No one has seen him today. I don’t think he went to any of his classes.”
“Is he home?” I asked as I fished my iPhone out of my pocket.
“Not sure. Possibly,” Chelsea responded as I dialed his number quickly and pressed my phone into my ear. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m calling him,” I said and listened as his phone rang. Wiremu’s phone rang a few times before it went to voicemail. I bit my lip as I wondered what had happened to him. Could this news be true? Was he really leaving the rugby team?
After many of attempts to call him, I told Chelsea that he wasn’t picking up the phone. He must be avoiding me as much as I was avoiding him. Still, I couldn’t just shrug off the news without looking into it myself.
“He’s not picking up?” Chelsea asked.
I nodded. “No, he isn’t. I don’t know why though, my calls just keep going to voicemail.”
“Do you think he’s avoiding people, so that he won’t have to explain himself?”
“Possibly,” I said, as I pondered the thought. Could he really be avoiding people, or was he just trying to avoid me?
I pushed the thought aside. It wasn’t my place to worry about him, he didn’t need me in his life, nor did I have the right to poke my nose into his business again. He hated it when I asked him personal questions. I would have felt the same if someone did that to me.
With lunch break over, I headed back to my class and spent the rest of the day worrying about Wiremu. I continued to bite my nails, even as my last class of the day came to an end. I immediately rushed out the door, barely saying goodbye to Chelsea, and called for a taxi, hopping in a moment later when it arrived. The cab screeched to a stop in front of Wiremu’s apartment building, and I quickly paid the driver. I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked inside.
A horde of people rushed past me, as I took the elevator for a quicker route up to Wiremu’s room. The chrome door glided open, and I stepped out. I looked around the hallway, as I tried to rememb
er his room number, smiling when I managed to recall it.
Hoping it was right, I knocked on the door and waited patiently for it open. I waited for what seemed like several minutes, before it opened and revealed a haggard-looking Wiremu wearing a pair of grey sweat pants and no shirt. The sight made mouth watered, my mind going blank the longer I stared at his perfect body.
“What are you doing here?” he growled.
“I...” I trailed, and somehow my voice left me. I couldn’t tear my eyes off of his fine physique. My green eyes were fixed on the trail of hair that continued down into his pants.
“I asked what you’re doing here?” he said once again.
I looked up at him and noticed that flare of heat in his beautiful green eyes. As always, they made my thighs clench with desire. I swallowed the huge lump in my throat and said, “I came to see you.”
“Tell me something I don’t know, babe,” he said.
“I...I found out that you were quitting the rugby team,” I uttered. “Is that true?”
“Why do you care?”
Ouch. That stung.
“I just thought...”
“Thought what?”
I shook my head. There was no point in arguing with him, if he didn’t want me worrying over him like I was his girlfriend.
“Look, it was a mistake for me to come here okay? Forget it. I’m leaving,” I said as I turned to go.
“Wait!” he called out to me, stopping me in my tracks.
I turned around and said, “Yes?”
“Why did you really come here?”
“I was worried when I heard you are leaving the rugby team. And I tried calling you but you didn’t answer any of my calls. I thought I’d drop by and see you.”
My worry was genuine and I had pure motives, but his face darkened as though I had said something wrong.
“So you listen to the gossips, huh?” he said sarcastically.
