Promise Me This

by Sarah Ashley Jones

  I sat on the edge of the bed with my acoustic guitar resting on my lap, while the faint sound of the running shower echoed through my ears. It was bad enough that my mind constantly wandered to Charlie, but knowing that she was naked and dripping wet less than five yards away from me was absolute torture. She was like a drug to me, and I was addicted. Not that I had to worry, because I knew from the way she touched me that she felt the same way.

  I continued to strum the strings of my Taylor with the accompanying vocals playing only in my mind. I drowned out the sounds around me as the music pulsated through my body and into my ears. It was a long time since I felt inspired to play something from the heart. My muse stood in the next room, and no matter what horrible things I experienced, I knew that I must have done something right for her to end up here with me.

  Charlie’s body was still steaming from the shower as she drew in close to my bare back and snaked her hands around my waist. “When are you going to let me listen to this super secret song you’ve been working on?” she asked. I grew to love how she always wanted to hear me play. It didn’t matter where we were or what we were doing. She would happily lie in bed, on the couch, or outside in the yard while I sang to her. She was the one person who actually enjoyed my singing.

  “I told you - it’s a secret for a reason. But I promise that you’ll hear it when it’s perfect.” I turned to kiss her cheek, which rested just inches away from mine over my shoulder. The soft vibrations from her laughter traveled all over my body.

  “Let me try, then.” I got up to face her on the bed. She sunk back onto her heels, giving me the most innocent and pleading look, and grabbed the guitar from my hands.

  “So what? You think you’re Taylor Swift now?” I looked down at her as she returned my question with a convincing pout.

  “Don’t hate me ‘cause you ain’t me,” she teased back. She adjusted her legs beneath her so that she sat cross-legged. The light chestnut outline of the guitar hid just as much of her body as the threateningly loose towel wrapped around her chest did.

  I walked around the bed, careful to never let my eyes fall from her body. She ran her fingers down the strings, attempting to imitate what she watched me do countless times. The sounds that came from her fingers were nowhere close to being classified as music, but it didn’t matter to me. Every second she played around without my help gave me more time to admire the sight in front of me.

  I took advantage of the sudden lull in her strumming to climb onto the bed behind her. I felt like a tiger stalking his prey. If I didn’t keep myself in check, I would be down one less guitar, because all I wanted to do was throw it and the towel off of her and make her mine again.

  “Put your fingers like this.” Even though I was taller than her, I knelt on my knees behind her to give me enough room to easily reach around her shoulders. My hands guided her fingers around the neck of the guitar. “Good. That’s called a G. Now strum,” I spoke into her ear.

  She did as she was told, and created only a slightly off-key sound. She turned her head up to mine and flashed me her best ‘I did it’ grin. When she moved, I said a silent thank you for remembering to wear a belt, and rubbed it against her towel. It created just enough friction to make it fall loose around her waist. “Oops!” I held both my hands up in the air. “It wasn’t me. I swear.”

  “I know your game now, Tattoos, and you really gotta get some new moves.” Her attention turned back to the guitar. “Teach me another one,” she demanded.

  I gave in with a sigh. I would never admit it out loud, but she sure knew how to wrap me around her tiny little fingers. I leaned against her completely exposed back to reposition her fingers in a new chord. “That’s an E.”

  She picked the strings again, but this time the sound she produced was unrecognizable. “I’m terrible.” She exhaled loudly and slumped her shoulders against my chest.

  “Throwing in the towel already? Don’t leave me feeling like a failure as a teacher.” She tilted her head to the side, exposing the soft skin of her neck. She knew my weakness and I took the bait, planting tender kisses right under her ear.

  “I think I just like it when you play better…” She let go of the guitar, and I tore my concentration away from her delicate skin. Catching the neck in my hands, I swung it around her body to rest next to me. “Your turn.” Charlie flashed me a satisfied smile as she slipped her undressed body beneath the white sheets. She laid her head down directly in the middle of the pillows, which left me only a tiny spot next to her top half. She wasn’t a stranger to this routine that seemed to happen at least every other night.

  “What will it be tonight?” I asked, settling down next to her with my back against the headboard.

  “Ummm…” Charlie put a finger to her lip to think, driving me crazy with the simplest actions. “You pick tonight. Pick a song that makes you think of me.” She smirked. She was delighted with her own cleverness.

  I inhaled a deep breath through my nose, letting the song choices run through my head. I adjusted the guitar in my lap one final time before nodding to her. I knew the perfect song to play. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are grey. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.” I sang to her from my heart, amazed that such a basic children’s song could express so much of what I felt for her. The look on her face told me she felt the same way.

  “Why’d you choose that one?” She narrowed her eyes and rolled onto her side to face me. “My dad used to sing that to me when I was little. It was our own special little ‘thing.’ He told me that one day I would light up the world with just a smile...” Her words trailed off as she got lost in her own memories.

  I set the guitar down next to the bed and climbed to the familiar spot beside to Charlie; my jeans now the only thing between she and I as the sheets settled down around us. I lifted her chin up with a finger, giving her nowhere to look but directly into my eyes. “He was right, you know. I know you’ve got a lot of things going on in your head that you don’t want to talk about right now, but I just hope you understand that I’ll always be here for you, no matter what you need.” I pulled her close to me and kissed her forehead, trying to push all the love I felt into her.

  She grabbed my hands away from her face. “I need a key to the restaurant,” she pleaded.

  I pulled my head back from hers, hoping some space would help me process what she just asked me. “You what? But I…I mean, why do you need a key? We can go there whenever you want,” I said, while trying to control the shocked expression I knew was written all over my face.

  Charlie knew how to get what she wanted. Not in the way that most women used, batting their eyelashes and trying to take advantage of you. No, Charlie went straight for the kill when she wanted something that was important to her. Her lips met mine with such passion, that even I was taken back a little. She raked her fingernails up my arms and around my neck until she found her way into my hair, grabbing gentle handfuls as she explored my mouth with her tongue.

  She broke the kiss first, careful to avoid eye contact in an act of fake coyness. “I just thought that maybe I could start painting the walls or something. The white is so…sterile. It’s like a hospital in there, and they give me the heebie- jeebies.” She wrinkled her nose, causing her freckles to dance on the bridge of her nose.

  “I would love for you to paint every inch of that place, but we still have a lot more to do before painting can even begin.” I tried to let her down as easy and honestly as I could. It’s not that I didn’t want her to have a key, because truly, she was the only woman I could ever have dreamed to be by my side when I finally opened the doors.

  “So that’s a no?” She looked up at me with her bright blue eyes and waited for me to crack. Damn her. She called me out.

  “It’s not a yes or a no. It’s a ‘we’ll figure it out when we get to it’.” I wasn’t used to her manipulation attempts, as innocent as they were.

/>   She sighed heavily. “Fine. But can you at least tell me what your vision is for it? How do you see it a year from now?” I assumed that she gave up, because she was soon snuggled tight against me; her cheek pressed to my chest on the spot right under my jaw.

  I thought for a few minutes and tried to put myself into the future. What did I want? “When I first thought about opening my own restaurant, I knew that I wanted something unique. I want people to have the ultimate experience. Someplace where you can walk in off the street while you’re enjoying a day at the beach, and try something unexpected and new. I want to serve all types of burgers and sandwiches and have a whole wall full of bottled sodas and drinks. Kind of like a modern day burger joint slash deli.” Charlie lightly grazed my chest with her lips, bringing my cravings for her front and center in my mind. Her little tease of a kiss was not good enough for me.

  “That sounds just like you, if only the place sprouted legs and a pompadour,” she giggled. “Have you named it yet?”

  Her laugh was the final straw. In one fluid motion I rolled her from her side and onto her back, catching her wrists above her head. “I was thinking maybe you could help me with that.” I ducked down and starting to trail wet kisses from her chin down to her collarbone, eliciting a squeal from her parted lips.

  “It’s kind of hard to think when you have me in such a compromising position.” She wiggled beneath my grasp. I never held her hands down too tight or against her will, but I figured out what she liked, and it was exactly that.

  “I could guess one thing you’re thinking about right now.” I let go of one wrist, which left me free to explore the curves underneath me that continued to drive me wild. My hands slid down her chest and side, blazing a trail straight to her thighs. Her unsteady breaths let me know that enjoyed every minute of the sensuous torture I planned for her.

  Charlie’s hand slipped up to my face, and she locked her eyes onto my own; the deep blue color acting as my kryptonite. “I’ve only got one thing on my mind…” The soft pad of her thumb ran across my bottom lip, sending a shiver down my spine. She caught me off guard as she pressed her lips on mine with only the slightest amount of pressure, causing me to breathe in deeply through my nose.

  “How many hours of sleep you’re going to get after I rock your world all night?” I couldn’t even recognize my own voice anymore. It was deep and husky, filled with a kind of need and lust I never heard come out of my mouth before.

  Charlie took my earlobe into her mouth, running her teeth lightly over it before she released my sensitive flesh and spoke directly into my ear. “What bathing suit I’m going to wear tomorrow at the bonfire…”

  I immediately snapped up as the shock of her words set in, which gave her just enough time to slip out from underneath me. She was so pleased with herself; she wasn’t even trying to suppress her laughter. She pulled a dresser drawer open and grabbed a black t-shirt from the folded piles, sliding her arms and then her body into one of my giant band t-shirts.

  I sat on the bed and simply stared at her in disbelief. She just teased me - practically to the point of no return - and now she had it coming to her. She busied herself with her hair and ran her hands expertly through it as she formed it into a braid. I saw my chance as she basked in her tiny victory. I launched myself off the bed toward her, grabbing her around the waist with both arms.

  “Jhett! Not fair.’” She shrieked as she tried to escape my grasp, but I only pressed her back into my chest tighter. This was just another game of cat and mouse to her.

  “Oh, you have no room to talk about playing fair!” I already figured out my plan. I wiggled my fingers into her side, knowing that she was incredibly ticklish. Payback was sweet, especially when it was with her. “Say it,” I yelled between gulps of air and my laughter. “Say ‘Jhett’s the King’.”

  “NEVER!” She screamed, and twisted her body in such a way that made me lose my hold on her. She ran out of the bedroom and down the hall into the kitchen without even looking back.

  I felt like I was back in elementary school chasing the girl I liked around the playground. I followed her, meeting her face-to-face across the island. “You’re in trouble now, Charlotte.”

  She grimaced when I said her first name. “Ugh.” She rolled her eyes at me while we countered each other’s moves for a while; each time one moved, the other would try and outsmart them but would inevitably fail miserably.

  “Say it, and I’ll leave you alone. Last chance, Blondie.” My hands were flat on the countertop as I hovered above it, my elbows forming a perfect ninety-degree angle. Charlie’s ice-cold eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down, and then she took off around the island one more time. This time I had a plan I knew would work.

  I only took a few steps before I collapsed on the floor in pain. I rocked back and forth, holding onto my knee with a death grip. Charlie was instantly at my side, kneeling down next to me in my too-big-for-her shirt.

  “Oh my goodness, Jhett! What happened? Are you okay?” Her voice was ragged with worry as her hands inspected my knee; she tried her best to get a handle on the situation. The concern she showed for me started to border on panic, which almost made me feel bad about what I had done.

  With one fast sweep of my arms I laid Charlie flat on her back again, this time right on the kitchen floor. Her moans of frustration only fueled my desire for her. “Hey, remember - I don’t get even, I get ahead,” I smirked as she crossed her arms in a last ditch attempt to try and get out of losing.

  Her shoulders dropped in defeat. “Fiiiiine,” she sighed. I knew that I had her right where I wanted her. I sat back on my heels and waited for her to admit that I won.

  Without warning, Charlie turned the tables and threw all her body weight against me as I tumbled backwards. It was her turn to straddle me; her bare legs falling on each side of my torso while her hands held my wrists against the cold floor, just as I did to her earlier. Her golden locks were a wavy mess; her braid never stood a chance. But there was a new fire burning behind her eyes that I never saw before. She enjoyed the sudden shift in dominance. In her eyes, she won our little game.

  “Say it,” she demanded, only inches away from my face. “Say ‘Charlie’s the Queen’.” She was challenging me. I should have known to stop underestimating her. She never ceased to amaze me.

  “You’re my Queen, Charlie,” I told her, my voice just above a whisper. It was worth it to give up; it wasn’t often I got her riled up like this.

  I watched her features soften as my words hit her. “That’s…That’s not what I told you to say.” She was flustered as she stumbled to find the right words, causing her hold on my wrists to loosen.

  I sat up, easily breaking my hands free to reach around and support her back, as she sat upright in my lap. She pressed her forehead to mine and closed her eyes in contentment. “But it’s the truth. And you deserve to know the truth.”

  The thing about Charlie was that she was passionate in everything she did. Whether she was happy, sad, mad, or excited; it didn’t matter. It was one of the things I admired most about her, because you always knew how she felt. As her lips crashed down onto mine, there were no words that had to be exchanged. I knew how she felt about me; I could feel it emanating off of her. I only hoped that I could live up to what she needed me to be. I never wanted to be the reason for her to feel anything less than the way she did in that very moment.

  “This was a horrible idea. At this rate, we may not ever make it to the beach.” I detangled my limbs from the pink beach cruiser beneath me. We barely made it a block from the house, and I already fell down more times than I could count. I stood up, threw my hands in the air in frustration, and turned to face Jhett behind me.

  “Is this a bad time to remind you that it was your idea to ride our bikes to the beach?” He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk with both feet planted on each side of his blue bike; his hands still gripped the handlebars instead of helping me. I guess he gave up sometime after the first
five wipeouts.

  I pulled my bike back upright and rolled my eyes. “Yeah. It’s probably a really bad time. Especially when you were the one who planted the idea in my head. ‘Oh yeah - we normally ride our bikes to the bonfires, but we can drive if you want.’” I was bobbing my head from side to side as I mocked Jhett. I didn’t have to turn around again to know that he probably had the biggest smirk on his face. It was no secret that he enjoyed this greatly.

  “Blah, blah, blah,” I heard him say behind me, this time mocking me. “You’re over-thinking it. Just let your mind go free and you’ll be fine. We’re almost there, and then you can relax.” Jhett was just a blur as he took off and passed me, taking the lead in our bike caravan.

  The sun was still high in the sky above us as I tried to follow his advice. I pushed off and peddled forward, making sure that my eyes stayed straight ahead. This time, I let my shoulders drop and I relaxed. With each turn of the pedals under my feet, my mind slipped further and further into the sweet memories of the night before. Apparently that was all I needed to distract me since I managed to stay upright long enough to finally enjoy myself.

  I wove in and out of the busy pedestrians on the sidewalk like a pro. My confidence blew through the roof with just that minor accomplishment. It may have taken me almost a month, but I finally figured it out. I could ride a bike. I could do anything now – even take on the world.

  Jhett slowed down in front of me as he rounded a corner and hopped off his bike with little effort. Despite the fact that we were going to be on the beach all night, he still wore his usual cuffed jeans; only switching up the color of his shirt from white to black. He was busy setting up the locks for our bikes when I finally rode up and hopped off, only slightly less gracefully than him.

  “Did you see me? I didn’t fall once.” I found an empty slot in the bike rack and rolled my bike into the metal grate, kneeling next to Jhett to help him with the locks.