“What if this…we don’t last, though? We have only spent two days together.”
“What if it does last, though? Are we going to let this pass and wait for another ten years to pass by? Wait ten more years to kiss each other?”
She laid back onto the grass and looked into the sky. She was thinking, hard.
“Okay,” she said, softly.
“Okay?”
“Okay!” She grinned from ear-to-ear and leaned to face me once more.
“Okay.” I smiled and kissed her, hard.
I couldn’t believe that all that time, all of those short-term, unfulfilling relationships, the empty feeling I always had, no matter how successful I became…all that time, I was just missing her.
I needed her all along.
* * * *
The next day, I cancelled my flight and we got a small moving truck. She didn’t have much, thankfully. I called my editor and set up an interview for her. She already had the job, but we had to go through with the formalities.
When we arrived at my condo, she was as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning.
“Oh my God, you have a cactus in your front yard?”
I laughed at her and nodded. She was awed by everything. She loved the kitchen island. The glass doors to the patio. My office—our office now.
“Look at this bed, my lord!” She jumped onto my king size bed and sprawled out. “There is so much room!” She started making a snow angel and I cracked up.
“You are too fucking cute, babe.” I jumped onto the bed with her. Her face got serious and she stared at me. “What?” I worried that she was regretting her decision.
“You called me ‘babe’,” she said, slowly.
“Yeah?” I was confused.
“That’s the first time you called me that in ten years.” She had a small smile on her face. Bashful, almost.
“Well, babe,” I drawled out, “You better get used to it, babe.”
“You are so stupid,” she chuckled and I crawled towards her.
“What, babe? Why would you call me stupid, babe?” I grinned and leaned in to kiss her. She dodged my kiss and I was appalled. “Excuse you, babe.”
She laughed and grabbed a pillow, covering her face.
“Oh no, you don’t.” I grabbed the sides of the pillow, pulling it away from her grip and planting little kisses all over her face, resulting in a giggle fit from her.
This was the happiest I’d been in a very, very long time. Every other time I had a girl in this bed, I couldn’t wait for her to get out of it. Yet, with Veronica, I never wanted her to leave the bed. I never wanted us to leave the bed. I wanted us to stay there for days, curled up in the covers, making love, watching stupid movies, laughing and flirting, wasting hours and hours.
“This is crazy, isn’t it?” she asked me, with a smile on her face.
“Yes, absolutely,” I agreed and kissed her once more.
“You know how we used to always tell each other we loved one another?”
“Uh, yeah?” Of course we did. We were two teenagers who thought we knew what love was.
“How long do we have to wait to say it again?” She got timid again. I know I should have thought it was too soon. It should have scared me away. This whole situation was insane.
“Why waste any more time?” I simply replied. And I meant it. “I love you, Veronica.”
“I love you, too,” she said so softly that I almost didn’t hear her. She was looking down at the blanket, not my face. I put my finger under her chin and had her look into my eyes.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I just don’t want this to be a dream. I don’t want to wake up.” Her eyes flittered away from mine, focusing on a bare spot on the wall now.
I pinched her side.
“Oww, what was that for!” She looked at me, bewildered, rubbing the skin that I had pinched.
“See? I pinched you. It isn’t a dream.” I smirked at her and she slapped me in the chest.
“You are so stupid, oh my God.” She couldn’t help but laugh, even though she was trying to remain mad at me.
That night we ate pizza in bed. We watched terrible horror movies on Netflix, which made her cling to me. We talked about the differences between Indiana and New Mexico and how she was going to ‘get so tan.’ We kissed. We made love. She fell asleep on my arm, which was numb from her weight on it, but I didn’t care. It was worth it.
* * * *
“So, here is your office. Congratulations on the job, by the way,” my assistant Sean said to Veronica.
“Oh my God.” Her eyes were wide whenever she saw the room. It was small, but it was well-appointed. The glass walls, the big desk, brand new computer, and the best part—it was adjacent to my office.
I spent all day making silly faces at her through the glass. It flustered her, because she didn’t want to make a bad impression on the first day.
She finally walked into my office and over to my desk, leaning against it. I pretended to be engrossed in my paperwork.
She cleared her throat and I looked up at her, taking my glasses off. “Yes, Miss…Schuler, is it?” I tried to keep as straight a face as possible.
“Real funny.” She pretended to be annoyed, but I saw a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “You need to stop your shenanigans. I’m trying to impress everyone today. They won’t take me seriously if I’m gawking at you.”
“Hmm, gawking at me? Very unprofessional, Miss Schumer,” I looked back at my paperwork.
“Schuler,” she said, flatly. I glanced up at her. She was trying to go along with the façade, but her smile was betraying her.
“Oh, yes. Sorry, Miss Schuler,” I smirked.
“You…”
“I…” I mocked her.
“Are so…” She leaned over my desk and whispered into my ear. “Stupid.” She planted a small kiss underneath my earlobe onto my neck and pulled away. It gave me chills. “Anyways, thank you in advance.” And with that, she sauntered away to her office. She returned my smirk after she sat in her chair.
Working with her was going to be fun. I daydreamed about taking her on my desk after hours. I wondered how much convincing that would take. I glanced back up in her direction and saw her staring at me. I gave her a wink and she gave me a knowing smile. It wouldn’t take that much convincing.
“Knock knock!” I looked over at my door and saw my assistant standing there.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
Sean was a great assistant. He had been with me for three years now. Honestly, I think he was my best friend. When his boyfriend broke up with him, we would go to gay bars and be each other’s wingmen. We also drank wine at my house when he was in the mood to cry instead of getting laid.
“So, Veronica, huh?” he said in a teasing manner.
“Yes, Veronica, huh,” I mimicked him. I knew him well enough to know where this was going.
“I’ve never heard about this one. You pick up a stray in Indiana? How very U-Haul typical lesbian of you.” He laughed at his own joke.
“No, it’s not like that.” I couldn’t help but smile along with him. “We dated in high school.”
“And…”
“And I was a jackass when I was a teenager and left her.”
“You left her?” He looked over at her. She was looking, too, so he smiled and waved at her. She timidly waved back. “She is bangin’! Why would you leave her? You were a jackass.” He was bewildered at the thought.
“Yeah, I know, Sean,” I snapped back to reality and responded to him.
“All I’m saying is kudos. I guess you won’t be needing a wingman anymore?”
I looked over to her. She was on the computer, filling out her paperwork, I presume. She had a skirt and blue blouse on. It matched her bright eyes perfectly. Her hair was wavy and pulled over to one side. She really was bangin’.
“No. Definitely not.”
* * * *
“So, how was your first day
, babe? Were the kids on the playground nice to you?”
“You know, I love it. I feel like I don’t deserve an office like that, though. I’m just a photographer,” she said and got into the passenger seat of my Lexus. “This car is ridiculous by the way.”
“You know I always wanted a Lexus when we were kids.” I acted appalled before continuing. “Also, you absolutely deserve that office. I would give you a bigger one if I could.” She rolled her eyes at my remark. “And you aren’t just a photographer. You are a very skilled, talented, creative photographer.”
I could see her blush a little. I backed out of the parking lot and started driving towards my house. Our house.
“Thank you for taking the chance and coming out here,” I said to her and meant it. I meant it with every fiber of my being. I didn’t know how I lived the past ten years without knowing that something was missing.
“Thank you for letting me come here. I just hope you don’t get sick of me.” She looked down at her lap and started playing with her fingers. It was her nervous habit.
“Hey.” I put my hand on top of hers and glanced at her quickly before looking back at the road. “Veronica, I am not going to get sick of you. I was a kid then. The love you had for me scared me. That’s why I left. I wasn’t mature enough for something so real.” She smiled a little bit, but I could tell she was still unsure. “And I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry that you had to wait ten years for me. I wish I’d known sooner what I know now.”
“What’s that?” she asked curiously.
“That I was so lucky to have you then, and I’m even luckier now to have you. You are so perfect—”
“I’m not perfect by any means,” she cut me off.
“You are. You are beautiful, inside and out. You are the sweetest person I have ever known. If I were you and I saw me again, I would have told myself to fuck off.”
She laughed and I smiled at her.
“I’m serious. And you are so incredibly smart and talented. You’re funny sometimes…” I trailed off, bracing myself for the slap on the arm that she gave me.
“You’re so stupid.” She was beaming now. I wanted her to feel like this for the rest of her life. I never wanted her to doubt herself again. I wanted to make up the decade I’d ruined for her.
“You really are perfect for me, V. I’m sorry that it took me so long to realize it.”
“Well, to be fair…” She leaned over and moved her mouth to my ear. “You are pretty stupid,” she whispered so seductively that anything she said would have turned me on then.
She giggled when she saw that I had turned into a puddle of mush.
We finally pulled up to our driveway and she grabbed me before I got out of the car.
“You know what?” she asked me, still clinging to my shirt.
“What’s that?” I asked, amused.
“You’re perfect for me, too,” she simply said. It was my turn to beam. My heart felt like it had swelled inside of my body. The butterflies were back. At this was the moment that I fell in love with Veronica Schuler all over again. And this time, I wasn’t going anywhere.
I leaned in and gave her a kiss, wrapping my arms around her, squeezing her as hard as I could without hurting her. I wanted her as close to me as I could get her. I was never letting her go. Not ever again.
We pulled apart from each other and she smiled dreamily at me.
“Let’s get inside our house, so I can show you how perfect for me you are.” She smiled seductively and gave me one more kiss before jumping out of the car. I quickly undid my seatbelt, fumbling a little, and got out, chasing her up to the door.
Our door.
THE END
ABOUT MEGAN E. BEAN
I grew up in Ohio and moved to Arizona at the age of 22. I live with my girlfriend and our three dogs. It has always been my dream to write- whenever I was a young girl, I would type stories up on my typewriter. I am also working as an equipment operator at a golf course. I enjoy hiking, camping, and bike riding.
ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC
JMS Books LLC is a small queer press with competitive royalty rates publishing LGBT romance, erotic romance, and young adult fiction. Visit jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!
High School Reunion Page 4
