Flash Fiction – “New”

Previous chapters  1  2  3  4  5  6  7

Chapter 8 – New

My first vision about Josh that wasn’t about his death showed up about three weeks into our relationship.  The image I’d had in my head when Miklos spoke about his family’s cottage stopped showing up and my visions went back to usual business and only showed up in my sleep.  My mom and aunts had even looked through the family history to see if there was any way that Miklos’ grandma was one of us, but they hadn’t been able to find anything.

Josh and I hadn’t exactly said that we were dating but it was obvious to everyone, and ourselves, that we were.  He came to see me at the coffee shop all the time, and it always made my day.  Evenings were generally spent hanging out with Krypto at Josh’s place as long as he wasn’t working, but there were a few times that they’d come over to my tiny little apartment too.

Flash Fiction – “Woman in White” (and a bonus chapter!)

Remember how last month I was going to post a new chapter each week so that by the time this prompt was due I would be up to date?  *nods* That never happened.  Mostly because work and life got in the way and I needed to add a chapter so that later chapters would make sense.  But I didn’t get any time to write for fun until Saturday.  So I changed up the plans a little. :p

I added this week’s photo to my new chapter and I’ll be giving you bonus chapters after that.  Then hopefully by next month we’ll be on the right track again. 🙂

So here’s the next chapter of the still untitled Jensen story. 🙂

If you missed the previous chapter, click here.

Previous Chapters can be found here: 1  2  3  4  5  6

Chapter 7 – Woman in White

After our second meeting, Josh and I were suddenly a thing.  We saw or spoke to each other every day and it was all kinds of exciting.  Each time the bell above the door at work chimed I looked up like an expectant puppy hoping that it was him that would be walking in the door.  I went from being someone who could go almost all day without checking her phone, to keeping it in the pocket of my work apron so that if it vibrated with a text from my adorable new guy friend that I could immediately check it.  He had a habit of sending me photos of every heart-shaped thing he came across in the day and would write his interpretation of what the heart meant.  Usually his theories were incredibly goofy and nothing to do with what the universe had to tell us, but it was a fun addition to my days.

Another really great thing that showed up in my life after meeting Josh was his best friend Miklos.  Miklos was a beautiful, tall, pretty, man who looked like he was fresh out of a men’s fashion magazine.  He was one of those guys who you had to take a second and third glance at when you first saw him because he was just that good looking.  He and Josh met in med school and eventually became roommates and besties.  He too worked at the children’s hospital but was a surgeon.

Flash Fiction: The Key & Bonus Chapter!

Hello darlings!

It’s time for another flash fiction photo piece which means a new chapter of my Jensen story.  I really need to think of a title for this bad boy, but I’m not one of those people who gets a title right away. The next several chapters of this one don’t have photos attached to them so I’ll be posting them in between now and next month’s photo prompt. 🙂  I’m throwing in Chapter 6 today as a bonus, just follow the link at the end of this one! 🙂  I’ve got to do a little tinkering but my hope is to post a new chapter each week this month so that I can be read for the next photo in October. 🙂

Previous Chapters can be found here: 1  2  3  4

Chapter 5 – They Key

I’m not sure how long we sat by the fire and talked that night, but when the fire had pretty much died it was definitely too late for me to be walking home by myself so Josh offered to walk me home.  Krypto woke up and came along as well; ridiculously happy to be out on a leash.  Ever the gentleman, Josh held his hand out to me, “May I?”

I smiled and took his hand, “You may…”

We walked along quietly, sometimes laughing at Krypto’s never ending excitement as he inspected everything that he could get his cute little nose on.  I thought about the things I’d learned about Josh that night and my head went a little crazy with all of the new information.  He’d been such a mystery to me for so long that anything and everything new that I learned was so damn exciting.  I wondered if I could get one of my aunts to meet him soon and shake his hand to see if they had any visions about him.  I also wondered what that night’s visions would bring, if anything.

“So…” he said and squeezed my hand in his.  “Do you work tomorrow?”

I nodded, “Yep.  My next day off isn’t until this weekend.  I think I actually have the whole weekend off, but I’d have to check my planner.  How about you?”

“I’ve got two more twelves then I have a week off.  I usually work seven on and seven off.”

“Good lord, you must be exhausted.  Why did you stay up so late?”

He chuckled and shrugged, “Good company.  I’ll feel it tomorrow but it’ll be okay.  It was worth it.”

“Come in before your shift, I’ll make you something with a ridiculous amount of shots in it.”

He laughed, “Sounds like a plan.”

I spotted something shiny just off of the path and stopped to look at it.  There in the grass was a beautiful old fashioned key.  It looked so much like the key in the blue door of my visions that I knew the universe had put it there for me.  The big difference was that the end of the key was shaped like a filigree heart.  I picked the key up with a smile and showed it to Josh.  “Do you know what this means?”

He raised an eyebrow at me, “That someone dropped a key?”

I rolled my eyes at him but laughed, “No.  When you find a key it represents the opening up, or unlocking, of new things.  It means that good things are on the way.”

“So what does it mean when I lose my car keys?”

“Most likely it means that you’re a slob and forgetful…” I said and giggled.

He laughed too, “Both true statements…”  He reached out and took the key from me to look at it as we resumed walking. “Actually, this is a really cool key.”

I nodded, “You have to pay attention to the little signs that the universe sends you.  There are clues all over the place, but most people ignore them.”

“But you don’t.”

“Nope.  I can’t ignore them.  I see them all the time.”

“Are they ever wrong?”

“No.  You can interpret them wrong, but the signs themselves are never wrong.”

“You’re sounding very Long Island Medium right now.”

I chuckled as he gave the key back to me, “Yeah, I suppose.  But it’s true.”

“So what other signs are there that I’m missing?”

I thought of the burned paper heart that I’d found the day we met.  “Hearts.  Anything heart shaped is about love.  But the condition of the heart is what you have to pay attention to.  A broken heart pretty much always means heartache, but you can have a perfectly shaped heart mean heartache too if it’s made out of something weak that can easily fall apart.  A heart shaped rock means a strong, solid love, but one made out of a thin dying leaf is more fragile.  It’s like saying that there’s definitely going to be love in your life but it’s delicate so you have to be careful.”

“Okay, that makes sense, but what about when it’s February and hearts are everywhere?”

“For one thing, it means that love is on the minds of more people than usual.  But you also have to be careful because not every heart-shaped thing is a sign.  I mean, if you buy a bag of heart-shaped red hots, they aren’t all signs that you’re going to fall in love.  But if you spill your coffee and before you clean it up you realize that it’s in the shape of a heart, that’s a sign that’s made for you, not just a random reminder of love in the world.”

He smiled at me, “I’m going to be looking for hearts everywhere now.”

I chuckled, “It happens… But don’t try too hard.  Just let them come to you.”

“Wait a minute…” he said and stopped walking.  “That key has a heart on it.”  I grinned as I watched him making the connection.  “So that means that love is unlocking for you?”

“Most likely, yes.”

“And all of those little holes in the heart… is that bad?”

I shrugged, “Maybe?  It’s not always something you can figure out right away.”

“But it’s a pretty strong key too, so that’s a good sign right?”

“Yep…” I said, still smiling and pulled on his hand to get him walking again.

“My last name has the word hart in it.  It’s spelled wrong, but what does that mean?”

“That you’re a lover not a fighter?” I teased with a giggle.

We walked along in silence for a moment before he looked at me again, “You’re kind of amazing.”

“It comes naturally…” I said and giggled.  We approached my house and I smiled, “This is me.  I’m on the top floor.”  I lived in an old house that had been turned into a duplex.  My place was a sweet little one bedroom apartment over a single mom who had adorable twin boys.

“Very nice…”

“I’d ask you to come up but I know how utterly messy it is up there right now.  Plus you need to go to bed.”

He nodded, “It’s true… maybe next time?”

“Definitely.”

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yep…” I said with a smile and then scooped Krypto up into my arms.  He licked my nose which made me laugh, “Crazy boy.”  I placed a kiss on the top of his head and then said goodnight to him and told him to behave for his dad.  Josh watched me the whole time with a big grin on his face.  I handed the puppy to him and smiled, “You behave too…”

He chuckled and held up three fingers, “Scout’s honor.”

“Goodnight, Doctor.”

He leaned in a pressed a soft kiss to my lips that made me feel like I was floating.  “Goodnight, Jensen.”

“Text me when you get home?  Otherwise I’ll worry.”

He nodded, “Will do.”  He kissed me one more time then smiled, “Til tomorrow…”

I watched him as he walked away and just like the day I’d met him, he turned around after a few steps to take another look at me and waved before resuming his walk.  I felt like I was suddenly alive after just going through the motions for so many years.  Like I’d been standing in the bushes looking through a window on life but had never actually been invited inside.  I’d never understood how people’s lives changed so much when they fell in love with someone, but in one evening with Josh, I finally figured it out.  I desperately needed to know more about him.

But wait, there’s more! 🙂
Chapter 6 – Meeting Place

Feedback is always appreciated! 🙂

Bronwyn | Kris | Jess | Jessica | Kayleigh | Gwen | Paige

Flash Fiction – “Meeting Place”

This is a bonus chapter, make sure you read The Key first. 🙂

Previous Chapter

Chapter 6 – Meeting Place

If I’m not dreaming about the future, I don’t dream at all.  When I tell someone that I don’t dream they always look at me with this sad look and tell me that they’re sorry, they’ll insist that I actually dream but I just don’t remember the dreams, or they’ll think I’m just strange.  What they don’t know, though, is that if I’m not having a vision, I’m not just sleeping with a blank mind.  What happens is that if I don’t have a vision, when I’m asleep it’s like I’m in a different level of consciousness.  I’ll suddenly be in a house that doesn’t exactly exist in the waking world.  It’s like the place that all of the Jensen women go to relax when we’re not having visions.

It’s a beautiful old house full of soft light and the most comfortable couches, chairs, and beds to relax on.  If I happen to be asleep at the same time that one of my relatives is asleep and they aren’t having a vision either, we’ll both be in the house and can interact with each other or not depending on our moods.  We fondly refer to it as The Meeting Place.  Occasionally I can force myself to go to the Meeting Place so that I can seek out advice from my relatives, but I can’t always do it because at twenty-three my power is still considered young and not very strong.

The night that I’d had dinner with Josh I wanted to go to the Meeting Place so badly that I fell asleep in record time and without having to try I awoke in the house.  I was sitting on the couch and my mom looked up from a knitting project she was working on.  It always seemed weird to me that she would knit in her sleep, but she would just tell me “People need hand knits whether they’re asleep or awake, honey.”

She looked up from her needles and smiled, “Well hi…”

“Oh my god, Mom… I saw him again.  After I called you I was walking home and he was just there.  He lives in one of those brownstones that I love so much.  He’s been there for three years.  Three years and I’ve never run into him!  And he has a Frenchie named Krypto.”

“From Superman?”

“Yes!” I cried and bounced with excitement.  My dad had been the biggest Superman fan that I’d ever known.  I had tons of Superman memorabilia because it reminded me of him.  Emerald had even made my work apron out of vintage Superman comic book fabric.

My mom smiled and rested her hand on mine, “I’m so happy for you, honey…”

“He even said that he felt like he’d known me before and that he felt like he’d dreamed of me.  Honestly, that kind of freaked me out, but holy crap, Ma… He’s so… wonderful.”

“I can’t wait to meet him.”

“I want the twins to meet him too, but I also don’t want to spring the whole family on him.  I need to see if they can read him now that he’s real.”

“That’s actually a really good idea.  I’ll do the same, of course. “

I nodded, “But in the meantime I’m hoping that maybe finally knowing him will trigger more visions including him.  Something that’ll help me understand how long I’ll have with him before…”

My mom squeezed my hand, “Try not to dwell on that.  Enjoy this part and the rest will be dealt with when you get to it.”

“I know…” I said and nodded.  “I keep telling myself that and reminding myself that he doesn’t know that I’ve known about him for ten years.  I’m trying so hard to just enjoy getting to know him instead of over analyzing everything.  It’s really difficult though.”

“I’m sure it is.  I can only imagine all of the questions that you have running through your head now that he’s real.”

“So many questions…” I said with a sigh and leaned against my mom with my head on her shoulder.

“Is he a good kisser?”

I lifted my head to look at her, not at all surprised to hear that she already knew I’d kissed Josh.  I nodded and giggled, “Yuh huh…”

She chuckled and linked her arm with mine as I put my head back on her shoulder.  “I knew that, but I really wanted to hear you say it.”

I laughed, “So wait… did you actually see us kiss or did you just know it happened?”

“I just knew about it.  I didn’t spy on you, and I wouldn’t want to.”

“Please don’t…” I laughed.  “There are some things I don’t need you to see.”

“Exactly.”

“How old were you when you when you first started to have more control over your power?”

“Actually, I was the same age you are now.  I think the twins were twenty-three when they started to figure out theirs too.  It happens at all different ages, but for some reason twenty-three seems to be pretty common in our branch of the family tree.”

“Weird… I wonder what mine is going to be.  Other than having the same freaking vision for ten years, that is.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see.  But I think your power is going to be special.  I think you’re going to surprise all of us with what you can do.”

“I’m not sure if I like that…” I said and chuckled.  “I’m already the weirdo of the family, I don’t necessarily need my power to be all wonky.”

My mom chuckled, “Not wonky, just different.”

I laughed again, “Uh huh…”

One of my aunts, Gina, walked into the room from the kitchen and sat on a couch opposite of the one we were on, “Well isn’t this a happy little family reunion?  It’s been a while since so many of us wound up here at the same time.”

“Elle met the Mystery Guy…” my mom said excitedly.

“No shit?! Dude, tell me everything!”

We all laughed and I began to get up, “Coffee first, then I’ll give you the whole story, Aunt Gigi.”  Another awesome part of the Meeting Place was that any food or drink we craved while we were there would just suddenly appear as long as we went to get it from the kitchen.

Gina had a thoughtful look on her face as she looked at my mom, “I wonder if I can get Gen to join us… she’ll be so pissed if she misses this.”

“Wait.  You can call her from here?  When the heck did that happen?”

Gina shrugged, “Let me try…”

I stood where I was, totally amazed with my aunt and watched as she closed her eyes and seemed to meditate.  She didn’t speak or move, she just sat there quietly.  I occasionally looked back and forth between her and my mom.  Mom was the oldest of the three, older by four years.  She always had that proud big sister look on her face when Gina or Genevieve used their power in creative new ways.  All of us looked so much alike that when we were together in public people generally thought we were sisters.  We all had dark chocolate brown hair and matching brown eyes.  Our skin was a light tan year round thanks to having multiple ethnicities mixed in our family history.  My mom had the prettiest long curly hair while I had the same curls but would whine that my hair was “too long” if it came within an inch of my shoulders.  Gen and Gina both kept their hair shorter than mine and Gina tended to have pretty radical hair styles like shaving half of her head or daily straightening so that she could spike it.

A moment later my aunt Gen appeared on the couch next to Gina with an excited look on her face, “Tell me everything!”

I stared at her and Gina with my mouth open in amazement, “What the hell just happened?  How did you do that?  That’s astonishing!”

“I honestly have no idea what I did, but it worked.  Get the coffee and then get your ass back in here and tell us about your guy!”

The rest of the evening was spent dishing over Josh and what my life was going to look like with him in it.  We’d been doing that for years, but it was much more exciting to do now that he had an actual name and was really there.  As the sun came up and I realized that it was about time for my alarm to go off, I said my goodbyes to my family and promised to meet them for dinner in the real world that evening.  I woke up in my bed totally refreshed and eager about the opportunity to see Josh again but also a little bit of dread in my heart about how much time, or rather how little time, I would get with him.

Chapter 7

😃

Flash Fiction – Bonfire

Thank you for your patience while my lonely jump drive was stuck in my car during the massive thunderstorm! 🙂  Here, finally is chapter 4 of my Jensen story.

If you haven’t read the other chapters, start here.

Chapter 4 – Bonfire

My eyes were on the dimples in Josh’s cheeks as he opened the gate for me.  I’d always been fascinated with dimples because no one in our family had them and I thought they were amazing.  I could remember poking my cheeks with the eraser end of pencils trying to make my own dimples as a kid.  In all of the years I’d dreamed of him, I’d never seen his dimples, because he hadn’t ever smiled genuinely.  Each time I saw him smile though, my heart beat a little faster and I began to wonder if falling for him wouldn’t be so bad.

I realized as he I walked into the yard that there was a tiny adorable French bulldog waking up from a nap next to the chair that Josh had been sitting in.  The dog spotted me and came over to sniff my feet and then stood on its hind legs to try and get to me.  “Well hello there, you adorable little thing!”  I squatted so that the puppy could reach me and I could get a closer look.

The puppy then began licking at my hands furiously and Josh chuckled, “Oh, dude… stop with the licking.  I’m so sorry, he’s still a baby and he wants to put his mouth on everything he can find.”

I giggled, “It’s fine.  Hi, sweetie… You’re such a pretty boy!  You can kiss me all you want.”

“You’re marked now. You belong to him.  He’s never going to let you go.”

I smiled at the puppy and blushed, “That’s okay…”  I glanced up at Josh, “Can I pick him up?”

“Absolutely…”

I scooped up the dog and held him to my chest as I stood up.  I rubbed his belly and he licked the air trying to get to my face.  I chuckled again and then looked at Josh with a smile, “Frenchies are my favorite dog ever.  I can’t have pets where I live though, so I just live vicariously through YouTube videos and Instagram pictures of other people’s dogs.”

“He’s a handful, but he’s fun.  He’s only four months old, so he’s kind of all over the place.”

“I bet…” I said a kept loving on the puppy.  I smiled when I saw the personalized tag hanging from his collar.  “Krypto, huh?”

Josh smiled, dimples fully visible, and shrugged, “Big Superman fan growing up.  I couldn’t resist.”

“I love it.”  I rubbed behind Krypto’s ears.  One was standing up and the other was still floppy.  His grey fur gave way to a snow white chest that was simply adorable and he had gorgeous blue eyes like his owner.

Josh led the way, inviting me to follow, and pointed to the seat near his.  “Have a seat.  I’ll grab you a plate.  I’ve got water, Coke, apple juice, Heineken, although with the pain killers you should avoid the alcohol.”

“Water is fine, thanks…”  I sat down with Krypto and kept petting his ridiculously adorable puppy belly.  I couldn’t believe I was about to have dinner with the man I’d been dreaming of for ten years.  It all felt so surreal.  I checked out the view from my seat and decided it was perfect.  If I lived there I wouldn’t even need to have to leave my property in order to sit by the river and watch the sun turn it golden.  “This is a great view…” I said as Josh returned with a plate, silverware, and two bottles of water.  The pizza box and his plate were already sitting on the small table between the two chairs.

“Isn’t it?  The inside is cool too, but this yard and the view sold me. Plus I can walk to work so that’s awesome.”

I smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I live over on Maple so I walk to the coffee shop a lot as long as the weather is okay.”

“Oh cool… yeah, I really love this area.  Did you grow up in Lansing?”

“Born and raised,” I said with a smile.  “You?”

“No, I’m from Minneapolis originally.  But I went to Michigan State and did my residency at Riley and fell in love with it there.  Once they offered me a job I found this place and I’ve been here ever since.  It’ll be three years next month.”

It hit me that for the past three years I’d been walking past his house, sometimes twice a day or more and had never seen him.  That just made things even weirder.  Why hadn’t I met him before?  I cleared my mind and looked back to the now sleeping puppy in my lap, “I love your dog.”

Josh chuckled and I looked at him in time to see his dimples in the light of the fire.  I imagined kissing his dimples and felt my face blush all over again.  I had to stop having thoughts like that about him, at least while it was still light enough outside for him to see my face change hues.  Josh reached over and ran his fingers over Krypto’s belly.  I watched his fingers and remembered how they’d felt when he’d been examining my burn.  I really needed to stop thinking about his body touching mine.  I grabbed some pizza and busied myself with stuffing my mouth so that I wouldn’t say anything stupid.  I hadn’t been on a date or anything close to it in at least two years.  I had no idea what to do or say considering I was sitting next to the guy who I was apparently destined to fall in love with.

We ate our pizza together silently and then I remembered I needed to take my pain killers and change the dressing on my burn.  “Hey, would you mind if I go inside and change my dressing?  I usually do it when I get home from work.”

“Not at all, come on in and I’ll show you to the kitchen.”

I looked at Krypto sprawled out on his back in my lap and chuckled, “I don’t want to disturb him.”

Josh took the puppy from me with a smile, “He’s a sound sleeper.  I’ll put him in his bed.”

I followed Josh into the house and as promised he put Krypto down in a very cushy doggie bed in the living room.  The puppy didn’t even flinch, just rolled over onto his back and kept sleeping. “No, really, I want that dog…” I said with a giggle.

Josh shot me a grin as he put his hand on the small of my back and motioned toward his kitchen, “I’ll let you visit any time you want.”

“That’ll work, I guess…” I teased.  I put my bag on the counter once we were in the kitchen and pulled out the supplies I needed for my hand.  “I swear, I’m a walking first aid kit lately.”  I picked up one of the Jello patches, “These things are freaking amazing though.”

He nodded, “Yes they are… I had a burn once and those things were the only thing that helped.”  He washed his hands at the sink then dried them with paper towel before reaching for a pair of rubber gloves from a box near the sink.  I smiled watching him and he eventually paused and looked at me, “What?”

I giggled, “I love how you totally went into doctor mode like there was no doubt you were going to be doing this for me.”

I caught a slight blush across his cheeks and he laughed, “Habit.  Sorry, you can…”

“No, it’s cool… you can do it.  I was just teasing you.  You’re way better at it than I am anyway.  I always end up wasting tape because it folds in on itself.”

I slid the supplies across the counter toward him and then held my hand out to him.  He smiled at me and then flipped back into doctor mode as he put the gloves on.  I watched as he very carefully unwrapped the gauze from my hand and then removed the Jello patch.  He looked at the burn and nodded, “Looks pretty good.”

I shook my head, “I think it looks horrible.  I call it The Ugly.  I’m not at all looking forward to seeing what the scar looks like.”

“Actually, I’d be surprised if you get much of a scar.  It’s going to look bad while it heals, but after a while you really should be okay.  The patches help to prevent scarring too.”

I sighed, “I hope so.”  He turned on the sink again and began washing the burned area gently.  I tried not to flinch but it still hurt to be touched too much.  “How long is it going to be hot like that?”

He studied my skin as he rinsed the soap off and then grabbed a paper towel to pat my hand dry.  “It really depends on the person, but I would say probably a week or two.”

I nodded and handed him the jar of medicated cream that was supposed to be put on my burn several times a day.  I didn’t think the cream helped at all considering it was supposed to be numbing the pain, but at least it was cool against the heat of my burned skin.  Once the cream was applied, Josh reached for the Jello patch and placed it on my hand covering the worst parts of my burn.  I sighed at the relief and he chuckled quietly.

I couldn’t help but watch him as he continued to work on my hand.  His fingers were so gentle but very sure of their movements; no hesitation.  I found myself watching his face as he wrapped my hand in new gauze and secured it with tape. When he was done he continued to hold my hand in his and his eyes met mine.  “All set.”

I noticed that the outer rim of his blue eyes was a dark, almost navy, blue.  His eyes were amazing.  “Th… Thank you,” I stuttered and busied myself with cleaning up the old dressing and wrappers.  I didn’t consider myself a shy person by any means but when faced with this man it was like I couldn’t function.  I had no idea how to act around him.  I silently told myself to calm the hell down and not act like an idiot which then made me giggle inappropriately while I searched for his trash can.

He watched me with a grin and opened up the cupboard below the sink for me before tossing his used rubber gloves in the trash, “Everything okay?”

I laughed even harder and nodded, “My mind works in very strange ways.  You’ll get used to it.  Random giggling over conversations in my head that you’re not a part of… stuff like that.”

He crossed his arms across his body and leaned back against the counter.  He had really great arms.  The light green tee shirt that he wore stretched across his biceps and made me wonder what the rest of his body looked like.  “So you’re planning to stick around?”

I shrugged, “I have to if I want to see the puppy…”

“Very true… he laughed.  “You just love me for my dog.”

I felt the smile on my face hesitate for a slight second as I thought that he had no idea how much I would eventually love him.  How much I already loved him.  “Mmm hmm… something like that.”

“Well, if you’re going to be hanging out with my kid I’m going to need to know a lot more about you.  Right now all I know is that you work at a coffee shop, you love Frenchies, have good taste in pizza toppings, and you apparently walk home from work barefoot.”

I chuckled and looked at my feet.  I’d totally forgotten that I didn’t have my shoes on.  “All good observations, Dr. Everhart.  Anything else you’ve figured out about me?”

He stepped closer to me, close enough that I had to look up at him.  He reached for my hand and traced my fingertips with his own sending shivers of awareness through my body.  “You have the softest hands I’ve ever felt.”

I blushed, yet again, but managed to keep looking up at him.  I nodded and tried to think of something clever to say but couldn’t think of anything.  All I could think of was him.  His beautiful eyes, his gentle hands, his crazy adorable dimples, and the fact that all I wanted to do was be with him and learn absolutely everything there was to know about him.  “Cocoa butter.”

“What?” he asked with a laugh.  He stayed close and I really, really wanted him to kiss me.

“My hands… they’re soft because of cocoa butter.”

“Ah…”

“Yeah…”

“And your lips?”

“I don’t use cocoa butter on my lips.  That’s gross.”

He laughed again, “I meant are they soft?”

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of his lips, “Uh, yeah?  I guess so.”  I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts but it didn’t help.  “I think that…” His lips were on mine before I could finish speaking, not like I had any idea what I was saying anyway.  His hands held my face and I found myself fisting his tee shirt in my hands as I held on him.

When he pulled back from the kiss, that smile was there again as he looked down at me, “Yep… pretty damn soft.”

I laughed nervously but kept hold on his shirt on either side of his waist.  I hadn’t been kissed in so long I’d forgotten how great it could be.  I looked up at him and shook my head, “I have no idea what to say right now.”

He laughed too, “That’s okay…”  He took my hand and led me back toward the back yard.  He didn’t release my hand until I’d sat back down.  I hadn’t wanted him to let go but it would’ve been weirdly awkward to hold hands across the pizza on the table.  If only the table wasn’t sitting in between our chairs.

I stared at the fire for a while and pulled my legs up into the chair with me, covering up my legs with the skirt of my dress.  After a moment I looked over to Josh who was watching me silently.  I smiled, “Okay.  Tell me something about you.  Something random.”

He tipped his head to the side slightly as he studied me then spoke quietly, “I’m having the weirdest déjà vu right now.  It’s like I already know you, but I’m just meeting you.  Like maybe I have been dreaming about you forever and you’re finally here.”  He looked down at his hands for a minute and shook his head, “That’s probably ridiculously creepy and I will totally understand if you get up and walk out of here.  But I can’t explain it.  It’s weird.”

I nodded and watched him until he looked at me.  “It’s okay, I know exactly what you mean.”

____

Our group is small this month, many of the girls are on deadlines for books and Jessica is working on a tiny human. 🙂

Kris | Bronwyn

Chapter 5 – The Key