Only Love

Chapter 17

After we eat, we're eager to walk it off. We hold hands as we walk around. We don't talk much, due to the food coma that we're trying to fight. We return to the hotel. The first thing we do is change into our pajamas. He gets into bed and I sit down beside him.
"Are you going to join me?" He asks.
"No. We leave tomorrow so I want to thank you now for this weekend."
"You're welcome. I enjoyed myself."
"I did too," I say with a smile.
He smiles back. I give him a quick kiss.
"I'm going to bed now. Good night, baby."
"Good night."
I walk over to my bed. I try to make myself comfortable enough to fall sleep. Once I realize that isn't going to happen, I get out of bed and stand beside his. He's also in the process of trying to fall asleep.
"Can I join you?" I whisper.
"Sure."
He moves over to make space for me. I slide into bed. He moves back to his original position and wraps his arms around me. It's much easier to fall asleep in his embrace. We wake up around nine which means that we have a few hours until checkout time. The problem is that I don't want to get out of bed.
"I don't want to leave," I mutter.
"I don't either. I like holding you like this."
I sigh.
"But we have to," I add.
"Yeah."
"We should get moving then."
"Fine."
He kisses my cheek and lets me go. I take a quick shower first then he follows suit. We do a full inspection of the entire room to make sure we have everything.
"Okay. All we need is our room keys," I say.
"Got it," he says, picking it up from the table in the front room.
"I got mine too."
"Let's head down."
I nod and lead the way out of the room. We drop off our room keys and go out to the parking lot. We put our bags in the trunk and take off. We stop for brunch on the way back to the campus. He parks in front of a store.
"I want to get something for my parents as a little thank you gift."
"That's sweet. We should both do that."
"Or we could get something from both of us."
"Either way, I'm on board."
"Okay. Let's go."
We head into the store and look around. Even though I don't know them, I try to think about what would be a great gift. I point to a figurine of a husband and wife.
"Do you think they would like that?" I ask.
"That's pretty. I think they would."
I smile, pleased with myself.
"I want to give it to them."
"Okay. I'll get something now."
He picks a bag of seeds to grow their own roses. He grabs a silver locket for his mom. We pay separately and return to the campus. I give him a hug and kiss before returning to my dorm. Angelique is chilling on her bed.
"Hey," she says happily.
"Hey."
I set my overnight bag on top of my bed.
"So, how was it?" She asks.
"It was wonderful. We had a lot fun."
"I'm so glad."
"Me too."
"Did you have sex after all?"
"No. We made out a few times. We were tempted to go further but we stayed strong."
"I'm proud of you. You knew you weren't ready and you stuck by it."
"Yeah. We obviously want it to be special so we'll just wait for it to happen naturally."
"Of course."
"I'm going to go do my laundry. I'll talk to you later."
"Sure. I'm going to meet up with Brandon anyway. See you later."
I wave and take a bag of my dirty clothes to the laundry room. It isn't too bad all things considered. I see Megan walk in carrying a small white hamper.
"Hey," I say.
"Hey."
"I'm sorry that I haven't come to any of the lgbtq+ community meetings. I was dealing with some relationship drama."
"It's okay. Believe me, I totally get it."
"I'm okay now though. Can I still attend this Wednesday's meeting?"
She grins.
"Of course! We would love to have you. Everyone's welcome."
I grin back at her.
"Great. I'll be there."
There's a small pause as she dumps her colored clothes into the washing machine.
"By the way, do you remember when I said that I was rushing to meet my girlfriend?" She asks.
"Yeah."
"We've broken up since then."
"Why did you break up? Unless that's too personal."
"No. I've openly discussed it so I don't mind repeating it. She said outright that she has no intentions of getting married. I do want to get married. Not just to her but, you know, in general."
"Is there more to the story? Maybe she meant like she doesn't want to do it right now. People say stuff like that then change their mind later."
"I thought so too. But no. She meant it like she never wants to get married to anyone. I still treat her with respect but she doesn't extend the same courtesy to me."
"I hate to say it but it sounds like you dodged a bullet. I wouldn't want to marry someone with that attitude."
"No, you're right. I don't know how I didn't see that side of her."
"You loved her. Or maybe she just showed you her good side."
"It might've been a mix of both. Anyway, I have enough self respect to tell myself that I deserve better. I'll be more careful about who I date in the future."
"That's good. I aspire to have that level of confidence."
"You should. I don't know you that well, but I like you. Just try to do things that make you feel good about yourself. That's what our community does for me. But there are other things like some people feel good after they exercise or do their hobbies. You know?"
"Yeah. I know what you mean. Thank you."
"Anytime. If you ever want to hang out apart from the meetings,  I'm just down the hall."
"I'd like that."
She smile and tucks her hair behind her right ear. We continue talking as we wait for our clothes to wash. I learn that she's trying to become fluent in French so she can say that she's trilingual. She already knows how to speak English and Spanish and figures that French is another good one to learn. She amazes me by saying that Paris is at the bottom of the list of French cities that she wants to visit. She shares her belief that tourists have overhyped it and that there are bound to be  super underrated cities. I agree with her because I can name several facts about Paris but not the other cities.
Despite the fact that her hair color looks natural, it isn't. She used to be blonde. She dyed it red after she eventually got tired of it. She shows me an old picture of her as a blonde and asks which color I like better. I agree that the red looks much nicer. I mean, it fooled me into thinking it's real.
After hanging out in the laundry room for like two hours, our clothes are finally done. I gather my laundry as neatly as possible and walk with her to our floor. I say good night and enter my room.