Every Kind of Way

Nighttime swim

"Can you tell me a story?" Mon laughed. I know I sound like a little kid, but I don't care. "What's so funny?"

"Okay, I'll tell you a story." I listened intently, "A long time ago in a big forest, there was a lion looking for food. He accidentally steps on an ant colony. The ant queen asks him to go another way. But the lion is upset that the queen dares to order him. The lion says he will walk anywhere he wants and if they are not happy they have to defeat him. If they are successful, he will never step on the colony again. The queen accepts the challenge and leads an ant army to fight the lion. The lion tries to shake them off and kill them, but more appear. Eventually, the lion gives up and runs away. The ants celebrate their triumph. The end."

"Hm... This story teaches you that... The more you step on them, the more ants there are." Mon laughed again. I didn't say anything funny, that's what I understood. "Why are you laughing?" I pouted a little bit. "Why are you acting like my friends? You always laugh at me."

"Aw, I did not laugh at you. I just find it endearing that you missed the point of the story."

"But that's how you told me the story. What kind of conclusion do you want me to draw?" Now I'm confused.

"This story tells you that unity is strength. If we work together and help each other, we can defeat adversaries." Did she mean at the company? I'm so confused.

"So that means you will stay and help me at work?"

"Lady Sam, I'm talking about the story, not myself. You're missing the point again."

"Oh, I guess I'm bad at getting the point." I feel a little disappointed, usually I'm really quick at getting things. Maybe it's the lack of sleep.

"Aww, there there. I'm just kidding. Please don't be mad at me." I shook the water off my feet, stood up and walked away from her. Mon came after me. I had my arms crossed. I was acting like a little kid again. "Lady Sam." My tantrum was not stopping. "Please don't sulk." She got really close to my face, but I kept my eyes forward. "Let's make up." I poked her sides causing her to squirm. She's ticklish, yes! "Lady Sam." I could hear the warning tone, but I didn't care.

She tried tickling me as well. How dare she do that? I'm her boss. I grabbed her arms to stop her, and she grabbed mine. With all the twisting and turning we ended up falling into the pool. Mon laughed and so did I. I think it's the first time I genuinely laughed in front of her and maybe anyone. I loved these feelings she was provoking in me.

"Finally, I can make you smile." Not an easy thing to do, I know.

Everything changed in a second. Our smiles dropped and we had gotten closer to each other. Mon and I were looking into each other's eyes and our lips as well. Maybe I was misunderstanding things, but her body language said kiss me. I placed my hand on her cheek and caressed it. Her eyes were slowly closing. I inched closer and leaned in. Wait. Not like this. All I wanted to do was kiss her, but this didn't feel like the right moment either, so I moved my head closer to her ear.

"Let's get out of the pool. We'll get sick if we stay here longer." I'm sorry Mon, but I want to do things right with you. I can't mess this up. I swam away from her and got out of the pool. Mon waited a couple of seconds before going after me. As she was walking out of the pool all of my thoughts came flooding out. Are you stupid or something, Sam? Why didn't you kiss her? She was willing to. Sam, be patient. If it's meant to happen, it will.

I helped Mon get out of the pool. The floor was still slippery, so I caught her before she fell. Déjà vu. The words came flooding out of my mouth before I could stop myself from saying them.

"Why does my heart beats so fast when I'm with you?" We just looked at each other without saying anything. I didn't expect her to give me an answer and I don't think even if she had one that she would say it. I made sure she was steady on her feet before grabbing her hand and leading her upstairs. She walked into the bedroom. "You stay here. I'll dry off in the guest room." I left before she could say anything, I needed some time to calm down.

I changed out of the wet clothes into dry ones that I had in the guest closet. I used the hair dryer to finish drying off my hair, looked at myself in the mirror once more and then walked back to the bedroom. I went towards my side of the bed. I kept thinking 'my side' as if the bed wasn't fully mine and Mon had a side of the bed.

Mon came out of the bathroom. She was still patting the tips of her hair dry. She had grabbed another nightdress that I had in my closet.

"Did you blow dry your hair?"

"Yeah. Let's go to bed." Mon nodded. I got into the bed at the same time as her. Our arms touched and we looked at each other rather quickly. There was still tension, but I shook my head and moved myself away from her. We both need to sleep. I think it's almost 1am. "Time to sleep."

We faced each other once more and said good night at the same time.

I'm an IDIOT! I should have kissed her!