“Hey,” she answered as she poured water into a glass.
“Hey,” came Billy’s voice from the other end, “How was your day?”
“Oh, you know, the usual. It was pretty hot though. Yours?” She pulled the speaker of the phone away from her face as she gulped down the water, instantly feeling refreshed and more alert.
“It was kind of lame, honestly. I was hoping to see you so it wouldn’t be a total dud. Are you up for some company?”
“Of course,” Aria Smiled.
“Cool, be there in a bit.”
With that the line went dead. Aria placed her phone on the counter and poured herself another glass of water before heading to the thermostat to adjust the temperature. She sunk onto the couch, kicked off her shoes, and placed her feet neatly on the coffee table. She sat staring off into space and taking sips of her water with no particular thoughts occupying her mind.
It was a pretty decent way to feel at the end of a workweek. She was tired but not exhausted and there was no high level of stress just waiting to be relieved either. It was an oddly pleasant empty sort of feeling. There was a knock at the door and she turned her head before she came back to her senses and realized Billy had arrived. She pushed herself up off the couch and made her way to the door.
“Hey,” she greeted Billy rather feebly.
She leaned forward and let her lips brush softly against his before taking his hand and leading him to the bedroom and climbing into bed, practically pulling him onto it after her.
“Whoa,” he said as he struggled not to just fall on top of her. He nuzzled himself by her and pulled her into a hug so she could rest her head down on his chest. She always enjoyed listening to the beat of his heart, especially when it would change depending on what they were doing or talking about. She liked comparing it to his breathing.
“You’re so odd sometimes,” he had once told her when she confessed this to him.
“But it’s a charm,” he added before kissing the top of her cheek. She smiled serenely and nestled against his chest, her hand coming to rest on his upper thigh.
He was warm and smelled good. She looked up at him affectionately, feeling completely still and at peace.
“I’m glad you called,” she told him earnestly. He gave her a quick grin and rubbed the top of her head before running his hand through her hair. “Let’s choose a movie,” she said as she reached over for the control and handed it to him. They mindlessly clicked through the catalog and settled on a comedy. They didn’t end up paying much attention to it.
Aria snuggled into his chest again and made a soft humming sound before looking back up at him, her hand running up his stomach and landing on his chest to make little circles with her index finger. She moved it up as she pushed her body up in a sitting position to lean forward and press her lips against his.
Their kiss seemed to be moving in slow motion along with the rest of their bodies, along with time. She slid her hand up his chest and curled it to grasp his shoulder, pushing her body up enough so she could move over and lean against him. They were both warm as was the air around them. She broke the kiss with a soft hum in her voice before tilting her head down to rest it on his shoulder, her upper body still lying on top of his with legs off to the side. She ran her fingernails softly up and down his arm and felt his hand massaging the top of her head. It was all so comfortable. She closed her eyes, not aware of when everything turned black as she drifted off to sleep.
As the early sunlight filtered in through the blinds in the bedroom, Aria stirred and woke up to find she was still cuddled up on top of Billy. He had adjusted during the night, but hadn’t moved her away from him, his arm just barely draped over her waist. In order not to wake him, she moved off him as softly as she could.
She stood up and stretched while mentally going through a list of things she needed to get done that day. Deciding against making breakfast, she made a pot of coffee and sat on her porch drinking a cup while waiting for Billy to wake up. It was nearly an hour later when he finally stepped out onto the porch, steaming mug of coffee in hand and his signature morning smile. That was something she would never be able to imitate.
They sat quietly, sipping coffee and looking out onto the street. There was nothing particularly exciting about the view, but it was adequate enough to spend some time like this.
“It does its job,” she had said the first time he had been over her house.
As the memory of that day played out in her mind, she reached across the table and placed her hand on top of his. It seemed so strange and so long ago when that had happened even though, relative to life, it was not too far off.
They were nearing their third anniversary but there was something about their relationship that made it feel like it should have been a much larger number attached to the anniversary. This wasn’t a bad thing; it was just the way things were between the two.
“I still remember when all my friends and my sisters kept telling me to slow down,” she said out loud. Her comment came out of nowhere to Billy. He turned to face Aria with eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “You know, when we first started dating I distinctly remember being told we were moving too fast. Everyone thought it was a recipe for disaster, but look at us now.” She squeezed his hand before standing to take her mug over to the kitchen sink.
He followed her and washed both mugs as he stood there. Luckily, she had washed dishes the night before so nothing had yet accumulated. She hated clutter and she hated the smell that came from dirty dishes sitting in the sink.
“You’re crazy,” he would often tell her when she complained of a rotten scent only she could detect with the sensitivity of a dog nose. “But it’s a charm,” she would add playfully. He would laugh and nod in agreement, usually topping it off with quick and affectionate peck on the lips. This was the norm of the interactions between them and she never tired of it.
She slumped onto the couch and patted the space next to her for Billy to sit with her. He dropped down and rubbed his hands up and down his thighs, a habit he had after he washed dishes.
“I have some errands to run,” she told him casually. He leaned to the side and gave her a kiss on the lips before standing up. She saw he grabbed his wallet and keys so she immediately sat straight up.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah,” he said as he looked around to make sure he hadn’t left anything behind. “I have some things to get done too. I’ll talk to you later though.” With that, he walked out of the house and left her sitting on the couch. His departure had been rather abrupt, but she didn’t give it much thought.
She stood up and headed to the shower to get ready for her day. It was always best just to get everything over with early on. She threw on some jeans and a simple black t-shirt before heading out to finish everything on her to do list as quickly as possible.
Chapter 2
It was just around 2pm when she got back home and slumped onto the couch. Feeling hungry, she decided to ask Kay over for lunch. “You should come have lunch with me,” she said after Kay answered her call.
“Okay. Want me to pick something up?”
“Let’s just order in when you get here,” she suggested. Kay agreed and let her know she would head over soon. After hanging up, Aria turned on the television and settled on a rerun of a sitcom she watched after work from time to time. There was no point in committing to anything else, given her friend would be arriving any minute.
Sure enough the knock came on the door. “It’s unlocked,” she called out and Kay turned the knob to step inside.
“That’s not safe,” Kay warned.
“Oh please, I already knew you were coming.” Kay plopped down on the couch beside Aria and snatched the control from her. She switched to some entertainment channel airing a trashy reality show she didn’t quite recognize. Once again, there was another big difference between the two. Aria would never watch that even if she had been paid to do so. They settled on pizza and promptly placed
the order, continuing to watch whatever the television show was until it was delivered.
“So Billy was over last night, huh?” Kay nodded toward the coat rack where he had left his jacket. Aria nodded and took a bite of her pizza. Kay wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Aria to roll her eyes. “We just hung out, you know.”
Kay sighed and muttered, “Yeah, I know.”
Aria set down her slice of pizza and met Kay’s eyes with a look of confusion. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Just, you know, you two seem to ‘just hang out’ an awful lot. Mainly do the same thing over and over. I wasn’t entirely joking last time when I made that old couple comment.”
“What? Why do you say that? Just because we prefer to stay in and watch some TV?”
“It’s not just that, you know. You two watch the same show for the hundredth time and it’s just, something. There’s something about how you two get along now that makes you seem like an old couple. Like the way you spend your time together is very uneventful.”
Aria tried to push away the annoyance she felt from her friend judging her relationship. Who was she to judge them? If they were happy and comfortable this way then that was all that mattered.
“Maybe we’re too comfortable,” Aria blurted before really stopping to think about how it would come off. Kay raised her eyebrow at Aria. “I mean,” she quickly said, as if trying to correct a mistake. “We’re comfortable, is that so bad?”
Kay took a bite of her pizza and chewed slowly while she thought of the best way to say what was on her mind. This was clearly a sensitive topic that needed to be handled with care. The last thing she wanted was for Aria to go on the defensive and feel like her relationship was being attacked. That was not the case.
“It’s not bad at all. It’s great you two are so comfortable. But maybe you are too comfortable. Maybe you’ve reached that part of the relationship too soon.”
“What? I was always under the impression the best relationships were comfortable.”
Kay set down her slice of pizza and rubbed her hand over her lips. “That’s important but sometimes it seems like you two have already settled. I don’t mean settle down.”
Aria sighed. She stood up from the table and walked over to the kitchen sink before returning. A part of her felt like Kay was right, but she didn’t want to admit it. She knew her friend was not judging her relationship for fun or out of cruelty. She just cared about Aria and saw her relationship going down a path that worried her. Truth be told, Aria had already had those thoughts a couple times recently but always shut them down and pushed them out of her mind.
Aria shook her head, “Let’s just forget about this.”
She didn’t see Billy again until Wednesday night when he walked through her door with sandwiches from their favorite sub shop. He set them down on the coffee table on his way to the kitchen where she was standing pouring two glasses of water. He came up behind her, put a hand on her waist, and leaned in to give her a swift peck on the cheek.
“Hey,” he said softly into her ear. She hummed a hello before turning to give him his glass of water. “I already picked out a movie,” she told him.
“Great,” he said as he turned and walked back out into the living room. They ate in silence and watched. Like always, it was comfortable. Unlike always, Aria was all too aware of it and it made her feel weary. For a brief second she cursed out Kay in her mind, blaming her for the way she felt now. But she soon stopped because she knew that was wrong. It was not as if her best friend had just sat next to her and planted ideas in her mind. Aria sighed a bit too loud as she leaned back against the couch and buried her face in her hands.
“What’s up?” Billy sat back and turned to look at her with concern in his eyes. He was a good guy and they were happy for sure, she was just worried they were heading down a bad path. She didn’t want to experience the heartbreak of such a wonderful relationship ending up in a bad place.
Instead of telling him what she was thinking about, she simply rolled to her side and curled into him. He didn’t push the issue any further. He only wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in closer to him. She let out a heavy breath before looking up at him. She leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek.
“Don’t worry,” she said, “I’m really okay.” He looked down at her to make sure she wasn’t lying as if he could tell just by looking into her eyes. But she supposed that he really felt he could, at least on some level, because he smiled softly and brushed the hair out of her face before saying, “That’s good to know.” Then he tilted his head down to give her a lingering kiss on the lips. She hummed in a sweet relief when he did.
“I have to go,” he told her almost sadly, “I just really wanted to see you.”
She nodded. Pulling away from him, she stood up from the couch and walked over to the door to say goodbye. She stretched out her neck and gave him a slow, long kiss goodbye. He looked into her eyes as if asking if she really was okay and she gave a nod with her eyes closed. But before he was out of reach, she grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him back. He looked alarmed. She rubbed his wrist gently before looking at him apologetically for either hurting him or worrying him, she wasn’t quite sure.
“How do you feel about going up to the lake this weekend?”
He raised an eyebrow, looking both surprised and intrigued. “Kay said a small group is heading up there and asked if we wanted to join,” she leaned in and added, “We would have our own room.”
He chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. He looked at her with an odd expression, one she couldn’t determine the meaning of. She gathered it wasn’t bad because it didn’t leave her feeling unsettled. He nodded yes.
She beamed and said, “We are leaving Friday night.”
The left Friday night, meeting up with the whole group over at Kay’s house to carpool. Though it had been decided Aria and Billy would have their own car, everyone wanted to leave from the same place at the same time. They all decided on just having a snack now and eating a late dinner together once they arrived at the cabin so everyone brought over some food.
Nobody would have the energy to cook once they arrived. It was nearly a three-hour drive and the group took off at 6pm. Aria had made a playlist on the drive, which she started to play as soon as Billy and her were on the road. At first neither of them talked. Aria just leaned back against the headrest and looked out the window at the lights of the city glimmering against the backdrop of a setting sun. She enjoyed the music playing from the speakers and thought it perfectly suited the scenery.
After a while she turned to look at Billy and ran her hand gently up and down his forearm.
“I thought you were sleeping,” he told her just loud enough so she could hear him over the music. “I wasn’t,” she told him, eyes going back to look out over the road. They talked about their day at work and then about their week at large. It was all very simple and quite routine. This didn’t bother Aria, but ever since her conversation with Kay she couldn’t help but wonder if this was the kind of thing that would end up ruining her relationship.
“You’re going to drive yourself crazy,” Kay told her in a nearly exasperated tone over the phone just the night before after Aria had confided in her. She knew her friend was right. She was going to end up driving herself crazy and there was absolutely no point in doing that. If anything, she should focus that energy on trying to address the problems in the relationship. Instead, she kept all her thoughts and feelings to herself. Now was the first time she openly admitted anything, the first time she said it out loud. While it was important to have someone to confide in and talk about this, she knew it was not ideal that her boyfriend had absolutely no idea what was going on. She reconciled this by thinking there was no point in bringing it up now just to worry him if she wasn’t even sure how she really felt. Maybe she was just being extra paranoid. She needed to sort out her feelings before she took any action.
As she look
ed back over at Billy, she realized she had a small hope that the trip would help her sort out her feelings about the matter. Maybe then she could finally decide on what to do. It wasn’t as if her relationship were in any real danger, at least this was what she reasoned every time bad thoughts or feeling surfaced. It was more like taking preventative measures and making an already good relationship even better. That was all it really was. And, on some level, she truly believed it.
By the time the group arrived at the cabin they were all too tired to go along with the original plan. So they placed the food in the refrigerator, bid each other good night, and went off to their respective rooms. Something about sitting in a car for hours really wiped people out especially if they had just wrapped up a workweek.
Only You and Me Page 6