The Space In Between

by Melyssa Winchester

  “I will, Emery. You two enjoy the weekend.”

  Lifting the counter, I slide out as Mr. Potter comes in and slipping my hand into Emery’s the second we’re side by side, I wave and head out, but not before I touch my pocket to make sure that my pay check is safe and secure.

  A paycheck I fully intend on cashing and using at least part of to take this crazy girl to dinner. A date that I’ve been spending way too much time this week counting down the minutes for.

  Making our way out the door and over to her car, she pushes me up against it and pressing her body to mine, picks up where we left off inside, reminding me again why she’s the one for me.

  “How about instead of helping you get off, we climb into the backseat and I help you get on instead?”

  Emery

  Who knew teasing someone could be this fun?

  It started when I went to see him at the end of his shift and carried on when after he told me to leave my car in the lot in favor of taking his truck, we’d gotten in and innocently drove to dinner, which is hands down the funniest part of the night, and it’s nowhere near over.

  *****

  “Pick a place, any place, because once I cash this check in a couple of minutes, I’m taking my girl out to dinner.”

  Pulling into the plaza across the street and parking in the spot closest to the check cashing place, he leans over and places a gentle peck on my lips.

  “I mean it, Ems. Anywhere. The sky’s the limit.”

  Already knowing my answer before he even steps out of the car, I wait patiently as he does his business and once he slides back in and turns to face me, I waste no time giving him.

  “McDonalds.”

  “I’m sorry, I must not have heard you right. Did you just say you wanted me to take you to McDonalds for dinner?”

  “You heard right.”

  “Why?” he asks, staring at me incredulously.

  “Because I have a craving for a Quarter Pounder?”

  “Do you wanna try and answer without turning it around into a question?”

  “I’m a cheap date, Christian.”

  “Well, as of about thirty minutes ago, I’m not, and I really want to take you someplace nice.”

  “McDonalds is nice.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since now.”

  “Emery…”

  “No, Christian. I know what you’re trying to do and I also get why, but I told you, I’m a cheap date. I don’t need a whole lot of fancy. In fact, it makes me feel weird. So if you’re serious about me choosing where I want to go, then you have my answer.”

  Turning the key in the ignition, he starts the truck and after driving for about twenty minutes to a part of the city I’m not sure I’ve ever been, he pulls into a McDonalds and instead of going through the drive-thru the way I expect, he pulls into a vacant spot and puts the truck in park. Hopping out and making his way over to my door and opening it, he extends his hand to me.

  “If you’re not going to let me take you somewhere nice, then you’re damn sure gonna let me treat you nice.” Is his only reply when I slip my hand in his and allow him to pull me down to the ground.

  “You always treat me nice.”

  “Then consider this me pulling out the big guns.”

  “Duly noted.”

  “So a cheap date, huh?” he inquires as we make our way in and head to the front of the line to order.

  “Yep. I thought with us having puzzle and movie dates at home, you would have figured that out by now.”

  “To be honest, I just thought you were putting up with it because I couldn’t afford to take you out anywhere nice.”

  “You thought wrong. I’m more comfortable when there’s not a whole lot of money being spent. In fact, this might be the best date night ever.”

  “And the night we binge watched Dexter?”

  Ah yes. I remember that night fondly. We’d been so interested in exploring the inside of each other’s mouths and feeling each other up that we’d maybe only watched one episode total. He’s smart bringing that night up, because up until this very second, it was my favorite.

  Taking things at a comfortable pace and getting to know each other physically, but not pushing things past a certain point has been great. What originally scared me the night I went over for our puzzle date easily became a thing of the past when I saw how true to his word Christian was. He didn’t just say the words he thought I wanted to hear and then push himself on me after. He proved it and himself.

  Which with as much time as we spend together made getting closer physically a lot easier. More natural.

  “You’re right. That was one of my favorites, but getting to see your face when I asked for McDonald’s, and how you’ve been trying to wrap your mind around why I’m not like every other girl on the planet ever since, makes this one better already.”

  “Am I really that bad?” He asks as the person in front of us finishes his order and moves out of the way as we step up. Holding back my response as he orders his food, and laughing as he deliberately makes his voice louder when he asks for my quarter pounder meal, he slides a twenty out of his wallet and pays, which when he accepts his change and we move out of the way, gives the opening I need to answer freely.

  “Sorry, Mikey, but yes. You are that bad.”

  “What if I told you that I’ve been thinking over your snowman proposition and have decided I want to do it?”

  “I would say that you’re trying to negotiate my frugal ways and warn you not to bother because you’ll never win.”

  “You are no fun.”

  “Yet here you are with me despite it.”

  Grabbing the tray once our food has all been piled on, we make our way through the tables filled with people all the way to the back of the store to a secluded booth in the corner. Sliding into the seat as he places the tray down, I immediately grab myself a handful of fries and shove them into my mouth, moaning as the salt hits my tongue and earning me exactly what I’m after as his eyes practically bulge out of his head.

  “Is there anything you won’t do that for?”

  “Most vegetables, anything with the word sour in it, and ummm, cottage cheese.”

  “Hey! What’s your problem with the cheese?”

  “It looks like someone left a bowl of milk on the counter and let it go bad. Curdles, Christian, really?”

  Pulling my burger out of the box while he tries to mount a comeback, I take a huge bite, humming contentedly as I chew, which only seems to drive him even more nuts.

  I’ve never had so much fun playing with a person in my life. He makes it entirely too easy.

  “If you expect me to be able to eat this, you might need to take a break for a bit.” He admits as his cheeks change from their normal peach shade into a darker pink.

  Score one for Carmichael.

  Deciding to go easy on him, especially with the way I’d teased him before we even left the dry cleaners, I change the subject.

  “Why is it so important for you to take me somewhere nice for dinner?”

  “I just think you deserve it.”

  “Okay, but what I don’t get is why.”

  “You do all of these great things. Go above and beyond for people, and no one really notices it or thanks you.” It’s pretty obvious by the way he ended his statement that he’s talking about Jordan, but he has to know by now that it’s not just me that he’s that way with. Jordan treats everyone like they’re his subjects.

  “I don’t need to be thanked or appreciated. I like doing things for people.”

  “I want to be able to do that with you.”

  “And you think that taking me someplace fancy for dinner, buying me presents or any of those other crazy ideas you’ve got running around like mice in your head is the way to do that?”

  “Well, yeah. I mean, I want to spoil you. You’re my girl.”

  The innocent way he says that, the truth behind it, all of the plans I had to continue teasing him all nig
ht, they begin to fade. I don’t have a whole lot of guy experience, but what I do know is that so far Christian isn’t anything like them.

  He’s in a class of his own. It’s like someone had this dream of the way they wanted the perfect guy to act and by some force of magic it was brought to life.

  Wow. Did I really just go total girl mode and call Christian Cayne a dream come true?

  Eww. I gotta knock that off.

  “Any time I get to spend with you alone, away from school and all of the pressures of classes and stuff I’ve gotta do, is you spoiling me. Seriously, Mikey. All I need is you.”

  “Just me, huh?”

  “Okay, so I lied. I’m sorry. If this is going to continue, I have to be honest.”

  There’s a momentary flash of something that looks like fear that goes through his eyes, but just as quickly as it comes, it vanishes once he sees that I’m not at all serious.

  Thank God I perfected the art of smirking.

  Reaching across the table and taking my hands in his, he winks. “Baby, I only ever want total honesty from you, so lay it on me. What are you keeping from me?”

  “I’ve been cheating on you.” Slipping my hand out, I reach down and pick up the burger, taking another bite before closing my eyes leaning back in my seat and moaning as loud as humanly possible.

  Even through the darkness of my closed eyes I can feel his trained on me, completely transfixed in what I’m doing. After a few seconds of silence passes between us, he speaks, his voice noticeably lower.

  “Who is it? I’ll kill them.”

  “It’s this Quarter Pounder. Its deliciousness makes it better than you.”

  Opening my eyes as he starts laughing and shaking his head, I catch sight of what looks like someone who works here passing by us on the way to the washrooms behind us.

  Reaching out and stopping them with a flick to their hand, they stop and turn, which once Christian sees, causes him to look between me and the employee confused.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but my boyfriend has a question for you.”

  Winking at him, praying that he picked up on my earlier reaction and is going to be able to play along, he rewards me when he points to the burger still resting in my hand.

  “Can I have what she’s having?”

  *****

  “Are you sure we should be doing this? What happens if she comes home early and catches me here?”

  Pulling him into the house once I’ve unlocked the door and entered the code on the alarm, I laugh before heading for the stairs.

  After he drove me back to work to pick up my car, and we drove all the way here separately, I’m not wasting any time getting him alone.

  With my mom most likely out meeting with Nick, it’s the perfect way to end the night. I can have Christian all to myself without a restaurant full of people staring at us if we decide to act like the weirdo’s we are.

  Truthfully though, it’s been awhile since we’ve gotten to curl up together and having him in my room, I know I can make it happen.

  Maybe we can even fall asleep together.

  Pausing at the top of the stairs and looking toward my door before turning around and giving the downstairs another glance, his paranoia over us being here alone on high alert, I lean against the wall with a sigh and wait him out.

  “I figured since she’s out, we could curl up in bed and talk or something, but if you’re too freaked out by the idea of her walking in and catching us, I mean we can just say goodnight now.”

  “That’s not it. I want to be with you. I just don’t want the first time I meet your mom to be when I’m in bed making out with her daughter.”

  “Who said we’d be making out?”

  Leveling me with a look that says he sees straight through my bullshit, I grin as he steps in close.

  Standing here and staring into his eyes, waiting for him to let me know if I can have him for just a little bit longer, I’m struck by the way he is with me. When he says things like he just did, it feels like he’s so much older than he is.

  What he wants when he meets my mom for the first time, I want it too because I want her to be able to see the person I do whenever we’re together, but I also can’t help the thrill I get from having him here when it’s against her rules.

  I’m torn.

  I want to be with Christian the good guy, but also the one that pins me up against lockers and kisses the breath from my body.

  God being a teenager sucks sometimes.

  “I’ve got a compromise.”

  “All ears, Ems, because I’m getting tired of being at war with myself here.”

  “Stay for a little bit. Curl up with me and I promise not to do anything that may head below the belt. Everything stays above board with clothes on. That way, if she does happen to come up here, she won’t want to kill you on sight.”

  “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”

  “Hey, girls can be horn dogs too.”

  “Okay, well a better question. Would she really do that?”

  “Not having a dad around, my mom took it on herself to be both. She’s got a baseball bat in the closet downstairs and one by her bed. So yes, she would.”

  When he gulps, I can’t help but laugh, which earns me a scowl.

  “You tell me that your mom might go crazy on me with a baseball bat and it’s funny?”

  “No. You’re what’s funny. I was joking. Channel your inner Elsa and chill, Mikey.”

  Taking him by the hand I turn the knob on my door and move us both in, making sure to kick it shut before turning to him and grinning, knowing exactly what I’m going to put in motion next.

  “Do you remember asking me what I wanted to do after we’d finished eating?”

  “Yeah and I also remember telling you that I was game for whatever.”

  Moving over to the desk and pulling out the drawer, I grab what I’m after and turn around, tossing it through the air and watching as he catches it.

  “You said that my wish was your command. This, what you’re holding in your hands, is my wish. Think you can fulfill it?”

  As he looks down and takes in the deck of cards in his hand, his eyes lift and when they meet mine, I’m again rewarded with a look that’s just as sexy as all of the others he’s given me tonight.

  Relief.

  “Game on, Carmichael.”

  And with those three words and the kissing session that followed, he made my earlier words come true.

  This night really is my favorite.

  Chapter Seventeen

  December 2014

  Christian

  It’s flawless.

  It had taken a lot of work, altering it from its original state and making sure it reflected how I see and appreciate everything about her, but after a week of back and forth with the company designing it, and then the week that it took to ship here, it’s finally in my hands and looks even better than the pictures.

  A sterling silver layered necklace, containing both her name, mine and a double infinity symbol in the middle. What makes it different from the pictures, though, is the tiny diamond music note that lays so perfectly in the middle of the infinity.

  This wasn’t my first choice. When I went in search of the perfect gift for her a few weeks ago, I’d landed on a website that touted dog tags with a puzzle piece shaped hole, the piece attached to a necklace chain, complete with the words His Only, matching the Her Only that could be found across the front of the separate dog tag.

  It was only after digging a little deeper, clicking on a few links and landing on the jeweler that was selling layered necklaces that I changed my mind and now, holding the finished product in my hand, I’m glad I did.

  All I have to do now is hold out a couple more weeks until Christmas, making sure I keep it secret, while also making sure that when she does get it that she actually wears it and I’ll be set.

  I know how she feels about me spending money on her. I learned it the hard way the night I wanted to
take her out to dinner, and then a couple of days later when I suggested taking her to a movie and trying to pay. She doesn’t know what it feels like to be completely spoiled, so when I try and do it, she fights me every step of the way.

  With this present though, I’m hoping that she won’t fight me and maybe finally realize that as much of a cheap date as she thinks she is, she’s also deserving of being shown that she’s special too.

  Our names fit perfectly together.

  It’s another sign in a list of many that just prove what I’ve known pretty much from the start. Emery Carmichael is the one for me. A piece that connects to mine and completes the puzzle of me.

  “Unless you want her to see it, you might wanna ixnay on the present, man.” Jonah nudges me, and proving himself, points down the hall where I see Emery coming straight for us.

  Lowering it back into the box and bringing my backpack around, I slip it in, Jonah coming around and blocking me as I zip the bag back up and slip it back over my shoulder, moving out of the way just in time for her to reach us and throw her arms around me.

  “I’ve got a meeting with the troll in exactly two minutes, but I didn’t want to go without doing this first.” She says, pressing her lips to mine, only the grunt and clearing of Jonah’s throat after a few seconds of getting caught up in her flowery scent breaking us apart. “Mmmm, yes. Much better. I can definitely handle Jordan’s BS now.”

  “You two need to get a room. It’s nauseating.” Jonah complains once our lips are completely free of each other and she’s moved to take up residence at my side, our hands like always, finding each other effortlessly.

  “Says the guy that I had to pull away from sucking face with April after PE.”

  “But Chris, I thought you liked a free show?”

  “As much as I’d like a bullet to the brain, maybe.”

  “You keep telling yourself that, Cool Whip.”

  “Annnd I’m pretty sure that’s my cue to leave.” Emery interjects and motioning to Jonah to give me a minute, I look down both ways of the hall before pulling her off to the side. If my best friend thinks just kissing her the way we did is nauseating, he’s definitely gonna throw up hearing what comes next.