Home. (L.N.)

5. Sounds like a Plan

We arrive at the park. It isn't as crowded as usual due to the chilly weather. Fridas little tail swings from the left to the right pretty quickly. She is clearly very excited. Mason takes the tennisball out of his pocket and let Frida off the line. "You ready girl?", he asked playfully before throwing the ball wide on a nearly empty meadow. Like a lightning the dog sprints after the ball. I smile at the scene before me. This is just adorable.
She comes back with the ball in her mouth. Straight to Mason."Out" and the ball lands in his hand. "Good girl" he smiles and throws it again. "She is really good behaved" I speak up. "Well yes and no. It really depens on the day. Today is a good one luckily." he laughs "but actually she got pretty spoiled by Chloe and I" "Chloe is your ex?" "Correct. She takes care of Frida whenever she wants. But most of the time this little monster is with me." He throws the ball again. Silence is between us. I don't really know what to say. "What about you? Having a special men at home?" he asks without looking at me. I am surprised about his question. He is testing the waters. "No, never had." "You never had a boyfriend?" his head flicks around to look at me. Now he is the surprised one.
Before answering memories are flying back from nearly two years ago. I can see a face in front of me. His face. Feel the heat his fingers leave on my wrist. We are pressing ourself through the crowd of the club. Him in the lead looking back every few seconds to see if I am alright. We are way to drunk. I have butterflies in my belly not completely understanding what I was doing. Again he is turning his head with a smile on his face towards me. His blue eyes meet mine and I know I am falling for this guy.

"I am sorry I didn't want to upset you." Mason touches my arm gently and brings me back to the reality "I just don't understand how such a pretty girl hadn't have a boyfriend." I blink a few times and take a deep breath to process the flashback. Haven't thought about it in months. "It is alright. I am not upset. I just was lost in a memory for a sec. " I explain with a soft smile on my face and look down at his hand still on my arm. He quickly removes it. "I am just waiting for the right one you know" I look him deep in the eyes. And on the look he gives me I know he understands. He doesn't say anything just looks around to track his dog down. She is playing with other dogs nearby. I follow his  sight and we are both watching her for a moment.
"Do you mind if I am heading home? Like I said its not far from here and I have everything with me." I point at my bag. I see a flash of  disappointment appearing on his face but it is quickly gone again. "Of course not. We can walk you home if you want?" "That would be lovely" Frida is running over to us tired of her friends it seems. I crouch down and give her plenty of attention and love. She is clearly very happy about it. But she is more interested of the things in my pocket. "Can I?" I look up at the Chelsea player. He towers over us with an honest smile on his face. With his OK I take a few treats out of my pocket and give them to Frida. She is over the moon and licks every single crumb out of my hand. "She loves you" I hear him say. "And I love you Frida" I whisper crawling her head she thanks me with a lick over my chin. It seems to be her thing to do.

After a bit more playing in the park with Frida we start to walk the way to my apartment complex. We are talking about last night especially about how bad Jack was at snooker. He makes me laugh. A lot. I just enjoy spending time with him. I just start to get to know him but I already know he is one of the few good ones out there.

"Right. We're here", I stop before the building. "Nothing compares to your home right", I laugh. "Well I am sure it is just as cozy."he smiles back. A clinch of awkwardness spreads over my body. What am I supposed to do now? Giving him his jumper back?  Hug him as a goodbye or just giving one of this weird awkward waves.
Firstly I should give him his jumper back so I grab the bottom of the jumper ready to lift it up when his hand stops me. "No leave it on. It suits you way better then me." "Thank you" His hand still touching mine. "Well then I guess I see you on Wednesday?" "Oh yes we will. I will text you the details later alrighty?" "Sounds like a plan. I am excited." "So am I.", he smiles and pulls me into a hug. Because he is that much taller then me I lean my head against his chest and his chin lays on top of me. It is perfect. I hear his heart beat strong and regular. His scent of him is also covering the material of his jumper so I can smell him intensely while we hug. His hands lay on my back giving me a gently rub. My hands on the other side lay on his lower back. I can feel his muscles through the material of his cloths. When we pull out of the hug I have the need to pull in again. He just makes me comfortable. I feel a little blush on my face hoping he wouldn't notice. I scan his face: no sign of amusement just his gorgeous honest smile that I have seen so often today.
I can convince my inner me to stop looking at him for a minute and crouch down to say my goodbyes to Frida as well. She also gives me another chinkiss as a goodbye. "Oh you really do love this don't you Frida." I laugh and stand up straight again.
"Thank you so much again Mason. I really appreciate that you let me sleep at yours. I enjoyed our morning." I put my key into the look and let the door swing open. Ready to go in. One last time I look back. "You are always welcome. I can't wait to show you my second home on Wednesday." he says. I give him a little goodbye smile and see his gorgeous smile one last time for today.
Back in my apartment I jump on my couch. What a day. What a night. I chuckle at the thought of Mason
What a great person. I need to tell Laurie what happened.

I dail her number and only a blink later she picks up.

L: Anna for christ sake. I was worried. I thought you be in an coma or something.
A: Good morning to you as well Laurie.
L: Good morning? Have you hadn't a look on the watch yet? It's half past 3!

Oh christ. I didn't realized it is that late.

L: I take this as a no. What have you been up to all day? Being naughty?
A: No I did not. I was at Masons.
L: WHAT HAPPEND TELL ME!

She nearly yells at me with pure excitement in her voice.

A: Nothing. His dog woke me up. He showed me the video of last night. Cheers by the way for..
She interrupts me l
L: Your welcome. Continue!
A: Well.. OK. So we had breakfast and hang around for a bit. And finally decided to walk his dog. He even borrowed me one of his jumpers.

I hear a gasp at the other end of my phone but choose to ignore it.

A: We went to the park nearby. Actually funny story its nearly in the middle of our both homes so we decided that he is walking me home. And we talked obviously a lot. And also I will attend one of his games on Wednesday. Quite excited about that.
D: Oh you are kidding me.
A: Declan?

I was surprised to hear his voice. But not as much as I should. He loves gossip as much as Lauren. So I figured I was on speaker the whole time.

D: Yep hi there Anna. Well you know what game it is don't you?
A: No he didn't tell me. Just that it will be at the Chelsea stadium. Why?
D:It's the Champions League Semifinal.
A: Okay and?
D: It's a huge deal Anna! They play against Real Madrid. They have a chance to play in the freaking final and become the European  Champions. Oh I am so bloody jealous, this will be an awesome game.
L: Well love, to bad you can't be there but Anna will surely enjoy it.

So our conversation went on and on. Talking about this and that before ending the call around an hour later.
Looking around I reckon it would be time to clean a bit. So I put some music on and get to work.