It's Me, Again

Ch. 41 (Kate)

These damn mosquitoes eat me alive every summer. I'm going to need a whole tube of Benadryl by the end of tonight for all these bites, but this day has been so perfect otherwise. I look at Dylan as he watches "Romeo & Juliet". His cute face and all the planning he did today makes all these bug bites worth it.

The play ends with the Prince speaking about the tragic love of Romeo and Juliet. We give a standing ovation and I clap my hands together just as hard as I slap my ankles covered in bug bites.

"Ready for dinner?" Dylan asks me as he starts to fold the blanket we'd been sitting on the past few hours.

"Yes! I'm starving. Is the restaurant nearby?" I help to collect the garbage.

"It's about a 5 minute walk."

"Perfect."

The walk over to the restaurant was pleasant. The weather held out and it wasn't humid for once. We were walking away from the quieter, residential streets near Central Park and more towards midtown with the bustling streets and high energy. I spotted the Cheesecake Factory logo and glowing sign from down the block. It's close to 10pm, but they don't call New York the city that never sleeps for nothing. The restaurant is still packed, but luckily we got a table right away.

I ordered the mac & cheese balls that I'd been talking about for hours. No need to look at the novel of a menu. I stole some of Dylan's spicy chicken wings and declared that sharing was caring.

As we talked over all the extra large portions the restaurant likes to serve, I thought back to the first night I got back home from Tanzania a week ago. Sarah wanted me to tell her everything and how we finally got together. She claimed it was a no brainer that we'd get together during the trip, but she wanted to know how it all went down.

I told her all about how much fun we had and how every day brought something new that seemed like an out of this world experience. I told her about Dylan finding out Carter and I had broken up and that I kept it from him on purpose for a few weeks. And I told her about the hot air balloon ride. That story still gave me butterflies and made me feel like I was on that basket floating away.

"So how'd you finally realize you were ready to be with him?" Kate had asked me as we ate ice cream on the couch and I was trying to keep my eyes open.

"Deep down I always knew that he was the only person I want to be with. It just took me a while and a brush with amnesia to admit it."

"He also had to realize everything he was missing in his life when he tried to fill his time with girls that could never measure up to you," Sarah pointed at me with her spoon.

"Yeah that too. And I mean," I shrugged, "I just had to get over the fact that he talked to, dated, hooked up with a lot of girls after we broke up. We weren't together and I can't hold it against him forever. If I want to be with him then I need to let go of the past and focus on what we have now."

"Aw look at you," Sarah grabbed my shoulder and shook me playfully, "you're so grown up." She put a hand to her chest and feigned tears.

"Oh shut up," I laughed and jokingly shoved her hand off my shoulder.

"No, but for real, was there like a 'moment' where you were like 'this is it. He's the only one for me? People always talk about 'the moment they knew'," she put on a mocking voice as she said that.

I thought about it for a minute, "No, there wasn't one singular moment. It was more like a culmination of all the moments over the years. I just know that when I'm with him, no matter where I am - if it's here or on a jeep in Africa looking at lions - if I'm with him it just feels like home."