Runaway Love

by Amber Nation

  “Yeah right, you just love the lead singer, whatever his name is.” I poked fun at her.

  “Well, I am a living, breathing female. Aren’t I?” she replied and laughed.

  “Hell, it isn’t only females who love him. Toby would battle you head to head for even the slightest possibility to meet him.”

  “Haha!” she said instead of laughed. “Somehow I could totally see Toby doing something like that too. He would be the one who got thrown out by Security because he tried to get on stage.”

  “Oh, so you were there at that concert?” I joked.

  “You think you are so funny. But sadly even with as much as I love music, I have never been to a concert. I’m not the biggest fan of crowds and Gio isn’t much into music, so it wasn’t like I was ever going to go by myself.”

  I felt sad for her. But more than that, I was extremely pissed off. How could her parents be such awful and vile people? Her father was deceased so there wasn’t anything that I could do on that aspect. And her mother was currently in an institution. I don’t even think either Maggie or Mason knew that information.

  There was something that I could do and it would be royally selfish on my part but also be completely beneficial to her. I was going to show her that she can be treated right and spoiled like the princess she was and deserved to be.

  “Are you about ready to get out of here?” I asked, seeing if she was ready for the next portion of our date.

  “Sure. I am definitely ready to get off of the ice.” She smiled. I would never tire of seeing that smile.

  I took her hand again as we made our way to the exit of the skating rink. I held on to the edge for balance as she lifted her legs over the lip off of the ice and back onto the carpeted area. We found the bench that had our shoes stored underneath and took a seat. I immediately grabbed ahold of her calve and placed it across my lap so I could untie her skate. I made quick work of unknotting the laces on the first skate, slipped the skate off of her foot, and settled her foot back to the floor before I did the same with the other.

  “I can untie my own skates you know? Although, my brother and my teacher had to teach me how, since my parents couldn’t be bothered helping us with anything.”

  My hands clenched on the lace that I was holding from her skate. I had to covertly mask my distaste from the remark she made about her parents.

  “Yeah, I know. But this was is more fun. Plus it involved me touching you, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite things. So really, the way I see it, it’s a win-win all around.” I winked at her causing her to blush.

  Once I put my shoes on, I stood up waiting for her to put her boots on. She finally stood up for the first time since being in skates and was more than a little wobbly on her feet.

  I quickly moved forward to help her get her balance. “Holy jello legs!” she shrieked, sounding pretty surprised.

  “I forgot you weren’t used to walking after you’ve had skates on. I’ve done it so much in the past that I guess I’ve just become accustomed to it, it’s natural to me,” I replied with a shrug of my shoulder.

  I didn’t mention where we were headed as we began our trek on the next part of our date. I started my car, put it in gear, and went the direction of our next stop.

  I was hesitant on what she would think being I wasn’t taking her to a restaurant.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked, sparing a small glance in her direction.

  “I could definitely eat. All that skating definitely worked up an appetite.”

  Yeah, I had an appetite for something too. But I think she would find me being a little too forward if I explained to her that my appetite didn’t involve eating food. I wasn’t just hungry for Maggie, I was starving.

  I wanted to crack into her shell a little more. I wanted to find a way around all of this small talk and see if she would open up to me a little more. I decided I would try and take a different approach once we were settled and eating our food.

  I made a right into the parking lot of Brown County Park. Her head whipped around to face me and a look of indifference marred her features.

  “We are going to the park?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I know it’s still a little cold out, but I thought we could have a picnic of sorts. I packed sandwiches and a thermos of hot chocolate. But if you’d rather we can just stay and eat in the car.” I was beginning to feel awfully silly for my idea. I was trying to be romantic, but to tell you the truth, it was new to me. I never once had to try very hard with a girl, but Maggie wasn’t just some girl, she was everything. I put in some time thinking about this date, instead of just picking a restaurant and being done with it.

  She was still looking at me, and the one time I wished her emotions would show me what she was thinking, they were perfectly masked. She looked away and reached down, grabbed her purse, and sat it on her lap. Here is where she gets out of my car and walks home because I fucking blew it, I thought. But she surprised me by opening her purse and pulling out a wool-knit hat, and tugged in on her head. Next, she reached into the pockets of her coat and pulled out a matching pair of wool gloves, and shoved her hands in each one, making sure her fingers were properly situated.

  Placing her purse back down on the floor, she clapped her hands together, and said, “Ok, what are we waiting for? There are sandwiches to be eaten, hot chocolate to be drunk, and swings that are calling my name.” She grabbed the handle on the car door, pulling it towards her to open the door and pushed herself out.

  I sat there dumfounded. She was really alright with this. Well, okay then. I reached around to the backseat to retrieve the lunchbox that contained our dinner and followed in Maggie’s footsteps to where she was perched on the closest swing.

  “Gosh, it has been so long since I’ve been on a playground. I forgot how much fun it was!” she exclaimed, as she pumped her legs back and forth to get up her momentum on the swings. I took a seat in the swing next to her and got each of our sandwiches ready.

  “Ok. I don’t know what you like but I made ham and turkey on rye with lettuce and tomatoes. I hope that is ok.”

  She put her feet on the dirt below to help slow her down since she was swinging so high, her feet forcefully scraping the ground in the process.

  Looking around, it was closing in on night, dark enough for the street lamps to already be lit, which along with the glow of the moon, helped in illuminating Maggie’s striking features.

  “Yeah, it’s ok,” she said, snapping me out of my trance. I handed her over one of the two sandwiches, which she grabbed and took substantial bite. “Mmm,” she said, before taking another bite, “this is really good, anymore when I have a sandwich, its peanut butter and jelly. So this hits the spot.”

  We each ate our food in silence and I still couldn’t quite relish the fact that she was here with me, and she didn’t make a big deal out of not going to a restaurant. That just goes to show how unlike other women she was, in a good way. If I had taken any of my past relationships here when I could’ve taken them to a restaurant, I wouldn’t have heard the end of it. Her sense of difference was very welcoming and refreshing.

  I put our discarded trash back into my lunchbox and began to swing. Maggie decided to do the same thing. I started to open up a line of questioning, just general information about her so I could get to know who Maggie Walker was.

  “So, Maggie, do you like being a nurse?” I figured this would be about a safe of a topic as any to start with.

  “I absolutely love my job. I like the feeling of being depended on, if that makes sense. Growing up, I could only depend on my brother or my teachers and it kind of made me feel lost. So I take it upon myself to be the best nurse that I can be to make the patient feel at home, and to feel like they can talk to me about anything.

  When I was fifteen, my father beat me so badly that I ended up in the hospital. But the silver-lining was that I had the most amazing nurse. For the first time in my life I felt like I had a motherly figure
looking out for me. I know it was part of her job, just like it was with my teachers, but the way she handled me so delicately, and fussed over me. It just made me feel wanted and in an insane way, loved. Here I had bruises marring my face, and not once did that nurse look at me with pity.”

  My heart constricted at the words she was speaking. I didn’t get along with my father, but he wouldn’t ever think about hitting me other than the occasional spanking when I duly deserved it. I couldn’t even imagine living in a home like that.

  “What about you? Do you like your job, Charlie?”

  Shit, this was where I really needed to watch myself. I wanted to spill everything right here, right now. But I couldn’t, not yet at least. “I love working at Emmy Lou’s. Mac and Grady are great bosses.”

  I couldn’t go on with my answer, it just didn’t feel right.

  “What about your parents? Are…” She hesitated a minute before she continued on with her question, “Are they good people?”

  Mulling over my answer, I wondered whether or not I should skirt around that question as well. I decided that I wanted to be as honest with her as I could, apart from my real job.

  “Yeah, they are pretty good people. My mom has been a housewife for as long as I can remember. My father and I, we don’t see eye to eye. We haven’t gotten along for quite some time now. He works with the FBI along with my uncle, and he thinks I should always follow in his footsteps. He played hockey growing up, hence me playing it as well. But the thing with that is, I love hockey, I’m good at it. Being an FBI agent didn’t appeal to me on so many levels. He was always away from home on different assignments, which is why my mom chose to stay home with me. If either of us need the other we always go through mom, which is kind of being a pussy, but it’s better than starting an all-out war.”

  We talked more about pretty mundane things. I told her more about playing hockey growing up and she told me all about her best friend Gio. I had made it a point to contact Severin to find out every piece of information on Giovanni Vincenzo. He seemed to be an upstanding citizen, not even so much as receiving a parking ticket. So at least she had one person in her life that she was able to rely on before I came into the picture. What she didn’t openly talk about with any further detail was her family, including Mason.

  That was a downside. I had been unable to locate Mason Walker after Declan made his appearance at the hospital. No one has even so much as uttered a peep about him lately. It was as if he had just disappeared into thin air. I was prepared to get a call about his body turning up somewhere.

  Maggie and I were still swinging, but it was getting late and chillier outside. I was having such a good time that I wasn’t ready to take her home just yet.

  She stood up from the swings, put her hands in her pockets and just started walking around.

  “I’m cold. Want to join me on a walk?”

  “Sure.” I quickly replied as I jumped from the swing and fell in step beside her.

  “What is your…” Maggie seemed to think about what she was going to ask next, “favorite food?”

  Chuckling lightly, I said, “Seriously? Is this eighth grade?”

  She bumped into me with her arm, rather forcefully. She really didn’t seem to know her own strength. “Just answer the question. This is a first date, aren’t we supposed to ask silly questions to get to know each other?”

  I pretended to ponder this for a minute, just to rile her up. “Would it be too clichéd if I said my favorite food was pizza?” This caused her to lift an eyebrow and roll her eyes at me. “Ok. Ok. My absolute favorite food would have to be Emmalynne’s gooey butter cake. It is Grady’s favorite as well, so she always seems to be bringing it into the bar. I could seriously eat it every day.”

  “I’ll have to try it sometime, I’ve never had it. Emmy is an amazing baker, she brought her brownies with her earlier today and they were sinful. And I’ve also had her chocolate chip cookies that I bought from the store.” She immediately snapped her mouth shut, and twisted her face in a look of disgust.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Oh, I just remembered what happened when I bought those chocolate chip cookies. When I ran off?” She looked at me to make sure I knew what she was talking about. I nodded for her to go on. “She was talking about her mother making her cookies for her after school. My mother never even acknowledged me let alone made me anything to eat, ever. Mason, my brother, and I practically lived on Peanut Butter & Jelly and Macaroni & Cheese.”

  I didn’t want her to ponder those inhumane thoughts any longer. “What is your favorite movie?”

  “I don’t watch much TV at all, so I haven’t seen any recent movies. My favorite would have to be Steel Magnolias. I seem to always want to watch it when I really need a good cry.”

  We both fell silent for some reason as we walked back to my car. I walked around to the passenger side with her so I could open the door. The electricity between us seemed to be extremely intense, that I had to do something. I had to get a little taste of Maggie, I needed it.

  I stepped closer to her and grabbed her hips so I could shift them towards me, and pushed her back up against my car. Bringing my lips closer towards her shocked face, I faintly said, “Can I have directions?”

  “Wh…what? Directions? To where?” she asked incredulously.

  “To your heart…” I knew I was pushing it with another cheesy line. But this one was really true. “Open your heart and let me in, Maggie. I promise to take good care of it and preserve it.”

  Her face morphed into a blank slate. She stared at my lips, and took a deep breath, “I don’t know how. Everyone who was ever supposed to love me has let me down.”

  She darted her tongue out, slowly licking her lips. Seeing her pink tongue sweep across her full, sultry lips caused me to inwardly groan with anticipation. I was suddenly so nervous. Here I was thirty years old, about to kiss this amazing woman, and I was getting butterflies in my stomach like some love struck fool. It was now or never, I was going in.

  “Maggie…” I inched even closer to her mouth.

  “Yes, Charlie?” She barely said on a whisper.

  “Can I borrow a kiss, if I promise to return it?” One last cheesy line and I didn’t even give her time to confirm or deny my request.

  I placed both of my hands on her cold, rosy cheeks and leaned in and pressed my closed lips against hers. She tensed, but only for a brief moment before melting into my embrace, and grabbing ahold of my jacket. I licked and nipped her bottom lip, trying to get her to allow me access to the depths of her mouth. At long last she relented, slightly parting her lips just a fraction, but that was all I needed. I swept my tongue into her mouth where I was promptly greeted with hers. This kiss seemed to last hours as we were each actively exploring each-others mouths. She let out the most erotic mewls and moans and I could feel my dick straining against my jeans, wanting to be an active participant. I couldn’t remember a kiss ever being so sensual and gratifying.

  The feel of something cold and wet falling on my exposed skin caused me to break away, interrupting our kiss. Looking up to the sky, I realized that it was snow falling down on us. I bent my head down to where I was looking in Maggie’s eyes and I noticed that they were lust-filled and glazed over. She had the most heartwarmingly smile grace her face, which in turn caused me to smile.

  Then she blurted out, out of nowhere, “I’m a virgin.”

  My smile quickly faltered as I was stunned into silence. No, stunned didn’t even begin to describe the way I felt. I knew by her shyness and the fact that she stated that this was her first date, that she was inexperienced, but the thought of being a virgin never even occurred to me. My demeanor and lack of any kind of response was apparently all she could take, as she pushed me back away from her, whirled around, and got into my car, slamming the door in the process.

  Her statement still hadn’t sunk in as I continued to stand there in the snow, frozen to the ground, almost literally. Shit, if she
was a virgin and this was her first actual date, what if this was her first kiss? And I fucking ruined it with my silence. I knew my expression or lack thereof probably sealed the deal on our fate. I didn’t even know how to make things right, believe me, I knew this definitely wasn’t my finest moment.

  (Maggie)

  Have I mentioned that I hated Valentine’s Day? That statement is still very much true. The endless flower deliveries and ladies gushing about what their plans include with their significant others, it was all quite nauseating. I never imagined that I would end up so cynical but, who really could predict that?

  Every nurse was wearing scrubs with hearts and other designs signifying the stupid holiday. I for one was wearing my plain black scrubs, staying away from anything remotely Valentines related. My color choice in clothing, reflected my mood: somber and empty.

  Today’s common theme: the letter V, and all things that start with that shitty letter.

  Valentine’s Day

  Virgin

  Varicose Veins - they really are quite torturous for people.

  Viagra - the pill of doom for men. No man willingly wanted to take it, only if deemed necessary.

  I personally think we should get rid of the damn letter.

  Bitter much?

  I didn’t necessarily think so, but that’s what Toby said when I texted him earlier, providing my hatred of the letter.

  And what was the reason behind my bitterness, you ask??

  It was the fact that it had been three days since my date with Charlie, and I had yet to hear from him. I guess me and my big mouth ruined it for me.

  I still couldn’t believe that I blurted out that I was still a virgin. What kind of moron does that after experiencing the best first kiss in the history of first kisses? Alright, I may be just a tad bit biased, but it was seriously…magical. And during our kiss it started snowing on us, I really didn’t think that it could get better than that. But now, I guess I’ll never know.