Finding My Way Back

Chapter 2: Sunday Dates

Morning sunlight hits my eyes.

I attempt to turn to escape the glare but get pushed back by the most comfortable cushion. I open my eyes and almost laugh when I see I am lying down on the sectional facing the television. I must have tried turning into the couch.

I look over to the other side of the couch assuming Brian would be there but come up with an empty spot and two neatly folded blankets.

He's gone. I can feel it.

Although we are supposed to see each other today it still feels strange for him not to be here when I expected him to be.

"Left about four this morning. Didn't want to wake you."

I nearly jump out of my skin at my father sitting in his rocking chair drinking what I assume is his third cup of coffee. Dad has been a truck driver all my life and has always needed caffeine to function. He hurt his knee a few months ago and so they have been putting him on light duty, which to him is sissy office work.

"You didn't sleep there all night, did you?" I say while closing my eyes and smiling. Dad can be a bit protective of his little girls. He adores Brian but knows he is still just a regular eighteen-year-old boy.

Brian and I have never gone that far. Call me old fashioned, but the first time he ever makes love to me, I don't want pictures of my family or his, all around us. Brian understood, but that doesn't mean we don't like doing other things while we wait out our freedom.

We have spoken about getting an apartment together or renting a house when we go to college, but of course that can only happen if I get this letter.

Stupid Mail.

"No, he came and woke me up when he was leaving. Said he didn't want you by yourself down here." I can see the twinkle in dad's eyes. It's the same one that appears whenever he talks about Brian doing something he approves of.

"Did he seem alright?" I sit up and wipe at my eyes.

"No, but he never does when he has those family days with his pops." I nod my head in agreement.

"So, what are you two up to today?"

"Don't know, all he told me was to dress warmly."

"Won't be hard for you, only thing you seem to wear now are jeans and long sleeves." He's not lying. I've always been the kind of person to get cold easily. Living in Cheyenne all my life still has not gotten me used to the cold, especially now that it's April and the wind is settling in daily.

"Shut-up." I laugh when he chuckles. Dad knows I'm a cold bug. He always said, he was just glad I was not the sick kid. As cold as I get, I never get sick. Could also be because I am a germaphobe. Another hint that I picked the perfect major.

Dad and I sit and hang out watching television. He has always loved watching the local news since he's had to take most of the routes as a driver. Mom and Chrissy eventually make their way downstairs and the four of us have breakfast together. After eating, I make my way up to my room to shower and dress as 'warmly' as I can think. I wasn't lying to my father when I told him I didn't know what Brian had planned. He said he wanted it to be a surprise.

Thirty minutes later, I'm dressed in a pair of dark jeans with a navy blue long sleeved shirt and black leather jacket. I have on black motorcycle boots and light makeup on. Brian had texted me a few minutes ago and told me he was on his way, so I head downstairs and sit on the couch waiting for him.

"You look beautiful mija." I smile at my mom. She would say the same thing if I came downstairs in a garbage bag.

"Thanks mom."

"Your daddy tells me you don't know where you're off to today." She walks over with her tea and sits beside me.

"No, Brian wouldn't tell. He told me to dress warmly so I figure we will be outdoors."

"That sounds nice. Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm just bringing cash and my phone."

"Nothing else?"

"No, Brian said I won't need my I.D. and he's driving so-." I stop when mom attempts at narrowing her eyes and moving them up and down my body. I want to laugh at her strange face she is making but I don't quite get where she is going with her twenty-one questions.

"So, you're safe with everything?" Oh God. Eww, not really the conversation I want to be having with my mother right now.

"Gross mom." I stand, heading to the kitchen where dad is sitting with the sports page of the paper trying to contain his laugh.

"Funny dad. Sending in your wife to do your duty." I know he set her up to give me the talk. Dad throws his head back and laughs.

"Oh, come on Jo. I did my part. I threatened Brian within an inch of his life and explained to him that whatever he did to you sexually, I would do to him."

Double gross.

"We were just curious Jolie. You two are being safe no?" I roll my eyes at my mother. We had this talk when Brian and I became more and more serious.

"Yes, mom. So, careful that it's not happening."

"Oh, thank God." Dad exhales using the newspaper as a fan.

"Good girl. Make him sweat for it." I laugh when dad looks like he is going to have a stroke at mom's words.

I love my parents.

- - - - -

"You look beautiful." Brian whispers in my ear as I hop into his car.

He closes the door and walks over to the other side and hops in as well. It's cold out, like I figured it would, and even with my warm attire, I'm still freezing.

"So, are you going to tell me where we are going?" I have been trying to get it out of him for days about where we are going today, and he has refused to tell me where. The ass.

"You'll see when we get there. Now kiss you're amazing thoughtful boyfriend." I smile as he points at his cheek. I lean into to kiss him, only to have him turn right when my lips were about to graze his cheek. His lips find mine and I immediately melt.

Our lips move in synchrony as we find our rhythm. His tongue darts inside and meets mine with a hunger I can only describe as torture. I move past my seatbelt and hop onto his lap, making our kiss instantly become deeper. His hands go around from my waist to my ass and squeeze. I grind against him creating a groan emitting from within his chest. He breaks away from the kiss far too soon.

"Holy shit." He leans his forehead against mine and we both smile at each other. "Maybe you should sit in your chair now. I don't think I could handle any more of that. Plus, your dad will probably chop me into little pieces and hide me in the walls if he sees us making out outside his house."

"Yeah, okay." I smile at him and move over, causing another groan to come from him. I look over to make sure I didn't hurt him and see him adjusting his pants. Oh Boy.

"Alright, let's get going to this surprise, so I can take you somewhere where we can finish that." I laugh but rub my thighs together at the thought of only one more year separating us from getting a place together.

Both sets of parents weren't necessarily happy with our future arrangements of finding an apartment together, but with neither us both wanting to get into the dorm situation and us both having money, we didn't see the problem.

Brian's parents were going to pay for his college, but since he got a full ride scholarship he was going to use the money to live on until he got a job to pay for rent. My grandparents left money for me and my sister to get into college but since I planned on doing medical school as well, I saved the money for that. Once I hear that I'm indeed going to Boise, and that my scholarship was accepted, we can make everything we want to happen.

Almost an hour into the drive I find myself starring at Brian's face. I've never driven this far out with him before, so I'm wondering where we could possibly be going.

"See something you like?" Brian asks still starring at the road in front of us.

"Not if you don't tell me what we are doing out here." We're still in Cheyenne but if I hadn't seen the signs for it, I wouldn't have known. I've only ever been out this far when we have headed to my grandparents' house.

"So stubborn. You will find out as soon as we get to the magical place of wonders."

"How about a blowjob?"

"s**t, you drive a hard bargain Dorent, but no. Jo, trust me, you're going to love it. I wouldn't take you to a Taco Hut or something,"

"I'm not worried I won't like it Brian. I know you would only take me to a place I love. I trust you, I just want to know out of natural inquisitiveness.

He chuckles at that and I lean in and lay my head on his shoulder as he continues the drive. I love this feeling. This aura of peace I have once I feel his warmth. We ride in silence the rest of the way there. We don't talk about our impending future and awaiting letter. We don't talk about what happened last night with his family, or about Monday morning and the chaos of our schedule this week. We let ourselves have this moment.

"Tada." I go from turning the station on the radio to looking straight up.

Holy crap.

"Brian-."

I can't even fathom words for how I feel at this moment.

"You like it? I have to say, you're not the most conventional girlfriend, so I had to do something kind of strange." I hear him laugh but ignore his jab as I practically throw the seatbelt off of me and open my door. Brian meets me on the other side, shaking his head at my eagerness.

"How did you find out about this place?"

"My dad had a client that used to own it. I didn't even know there was one out here but when I did, I knew I had to take you. So, do you like it?"

"Of course, I love it. Thank you, thank you for bringing me here." I jump into his arms and kiss his mouth a hundred times.

When we finally pull apart, Brian takes my hand and leads me straight into the Medical Museum of technology.

"Good afternoon and welcome. You two must be Brian and Jolie. I'm Ruby and I'll be your tour guide. I heard this was a special surprise, so I thought I would bring out most of our fan favorites." My smile must be contagious because Ruby is beaming and so is Brian.

"Yes, thanks Ruby."

"My pleasure. Jolie, your boyfriend tells me you're wanting to go into sports medicine, so I thought we would go through all of those first." I can't even speak, I just leave my mouth wide open and nod, causing them both to laugh and begin the tour.

"I cannot believe you did this for me Brian." I say to him ten minutes into the tour. Ruby has left to greet another person, so Brian and I are just looking around now.

"You deserve it babe. I wanted to do something to show you how much you mean to me." I blush at his romance and continue to look around.

Brian wanting to be a professional basketball player is someone who appreciates what I want to do with my life. He has always supported my dream and it makes me fall even more in love with him. This is just another reminder of why he is perfect for me.

"What do you think they did with this?" I hear from behind me. I turn around and see Brian holding up what looks like forceps except they look to me made of some kind of stone.

"Says here they were used to extract small fragments of bone. So basically-" I grab the forceps from his hands and reach down to his knee. I know doing this is going to freak him out, especially because he is an athlete. "It's like taking a chisel and chipping away at your knee slowly, then once your entire knee cap is broken, I reach in, using the forceps, and slowly take out small bones that I can't get with my fingers."

I look up and nearly fall over with laughter. Brian's face is priceless. His eyes are wide open along with his mouth. He is pale, and his hair looks like he ran his hands through it at least a dozen times.

Poor baby.

"That's not funny Jo. I'm freaking out over here, and why the hell would you reach down to my knee? Is that some kind of premonition or something?"

This time I can't control my laugher as it bubbles out of me. I try to get off the ground, but my deep laughter is causing me to roll over crutching my belly. Eventually I'm able to calm down enough to stand and offer an apology.

"I'm sorry Brian. I'll make it up to you. Thank you for this. It was amazing." I cross my arms over his neck and lean in to kiss him.

"Your welcome babe. But the dates not over yet. I have one more surprise for you." I give him a curious look but am only met with a chaste kiss from him. He leads me to the back of the museum where there is a large door.

"Trust me?" I nod my head and allow him to open the door to a large picnic atop a small green hill with roses strewn around the blanket.

"Oh, my goodness."

"Happy Anniversary babe."

I turn around to him with shock.

He remembered?

"What? You didn't think I would forget, did you?

"I just-I don't know. You've been so busy, and with finals and basketball season coming to an end, plus with applications for college and-. yes, I guess I thought you forgot."

"I love you Jolie. I will always remember the day you finally let me in and let me be your everything."

Perfect. Just perfect. Nothing can stop our love.

At least I thought so.