Since my outfit was ready before hand and my hair and makeup was simple, within fifteen minutes I was ready to go.
“You look beautiful today,” Kamdyn said to me as we drove to his house.
“Thank you,” I said, blushing again. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”
“You’re not nervous, are you?” He asked just before we entered his driveway.
“A little, I guess.” I smiled a shy smile. I knew there was no real reason to be nervous, but I was. I had never met a boyfriend’s parents before. Then again, I never really had a boyfriend for long enough, never mind a serious one.
“You have no reason to be nervous.” He said with a big smile.
We pulled to the end of his driveway then and he shut off his car. Turning to me, before he reached for the handle he said, “They already know everything about you, and the way I feel about you.” He gently put his hand behind my head and pulled me close. “All you have to do is have dinner with them, talk with them a little, then we can go and… do our own thing. Okay?” He didn’t wait for me to answer; he pulled me closer and gave me just the barest brush of lips before I had the chance to respond.
“Where here!” Kamdyn announced loudly as we walked hand in hand toward the living room. It almost felt weird walking into his house and having someone else home. I got so used to only Kamdyn being here; it was actually hard to remember someone else lived here.
“Oh good,” a woman replied enthusiastically. “It should be done in a couple minutes, perfect timing.” The woman emerged from around the corner from the kitchen and walked toward us, holding out her hand.
“Hi Trystessa, Merry Christmas.”
“Hello, Mrs. Hawthorn. Merry Christmas. It’s great to finally meet you.”
“Oh, please call me Julie. This is Andrew, Kamdyn’s father.” She motioned to the man not far away, seated comfortably on his couch.
At the mention of him, the man stood and walked over, also reaching his hand out to shake mine. “Merry Christmas, Trystessa.” Reclaiming his hand, he motioned for us to have a seat on the couch opposite his.
Kamdyn sat very close to me and took my hand, holding it tight. I knew he was trying to reassure me and keep me calm, but it sort of made me feel more uncomfortable. I’m not really used to showing any kind of affection in front of parents, even holding hands. I kept telling myself to relax. He told he his parents were aware of how he felt about me, I just wasn’t sure how much he actually told them.
“Kamdyn has told us so much about you, Trystessa.” his mother said as if reading my thoughts. “We feel like we know you already.”
“That’s good to know.” I said peeking at him from the side and rewarding him with a small smile. “I’m glad I’m not a secret.” I said jokingly.
Both his parents laughed. “Anything but,” Andrew said. “We can’t get him to shut up, actually.”
This time I turned completely to look at Kamdyn, displaying my shock. He was sitting there calmly as if we were talking about a good grade he got on a test. He bit his bottom lip slightly and shrugged his shoulder when I met his eyes.
“You know,” Julie started, pulling us back to our surroundings and cutting off our silent exchange. “you’re the first girl he has ever brought home to meet us.”
I tore my eyes away from Kamdyn to give the full weight of my disbelief to them. He dated Samantha for two years and she never met his parents? It made me feel even more comfortable knowing I was that important to him. “Really?” I said as I turned back to Kamdyn. “I didn’t know that.”
He gave a light squeeze to my hand in response.
Julie jumped up after a big smile flashed on her face, and ran for the kitchen. “Must be time to eat.” Andrew said laughing at Julie’s random reaction and silent disappeared. We heard light rummaging in the kitchen, then Julie’s voice floating from the kitchen.
“It’s ready!” she announced.
During dinner, Kamdyn’s parents asked me all kind of questions. Most of them were things I am sure they already knew. They asked about my move here and how I liked school and my classes. They wanted to know all about when I lived in Florida and how different it was from growing up here. They had been all over the world, but had never lived anywhere but in Connecticut.
Dinner flew by, and once it started, wasn’t as stressful as I dreamed it would be. It was actually great. Kamdyn couldn’t possibly have nicer people for parents.
Shortly after dinner, Kamdyn excused us and led me up to his room.
“They don’t care if we are up here together?” I asked, back to being nervous again.
“Nope, don’t think they do. They are away so often they have to trust me, at least a little. I could do anything I wanted while they were away. You could be sleeping here every night, for all they know.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. You are here a lot by yourself. Don’t you get lonely?”
“Why do you think I am always at your house?”
“You know, I always tell you we can come here, instead of stay in my room all the time. You have the whole house here, I feel less confined here.”
“Being alone with you here, all the time, might be a little…difficult for me.” I felt my cheeks get warm again and looked down, hoping he hadn’t seen it. He lifted his hand, placing it under my chin, pushing it up. Now looking into those amazing eyes he said, “I do love making you blush. It’s so beautiful. And so easy.” He flashed me that smile I loved, that cocky and confident smile.
We were standing in his room now. I turned my still hot face away from his to try and focus on something else. He walked over from where we were standing and closed his door while I moved to sit on the edge of his bed.
“Why did you never bring any girlfriends home to meet your parents before?” I blurted, voicing my curiosity. He walked over to me slowly, brushing his dark hair away from his eyes. They flashed at me, like an animals eyes reflecting the light, as he kneeled down onto the ground. Sitting on his bed, I was just a little higher up then he was.
“I never cared enough about anyone.” He answered it so simply. So matter of fact.
How do I even respond to that?
“Oh.” I said as I leaned forward toward him. “Why do you talk about me so much to them?”
Now he leaned forward, taking my face in his hands. “Because there is nothing else worth talking about.” he said simply, than pulled my face to his.
The kiss started off soft and gentle, but rapidly changed as we lost ourselves. His hands found their way from my face down to my legs, pulling the long thigh length sweater I was wearing up to waist. I felt the tingling on my stomach as he placed his hands on mine skin making my heart beat faster.
They slowly slid up my sides. The trailing tingles sending shivers across my skin. I could feel his smile on my lips as his hands lifted my sweater. As my arms rose above me, my sweater was tossed. Before it hit the floor, his mouth was on my neck. His hands, now free, were wrapped tightly around my back, pulling me so close I thought I would melt into him.
I wanted, needed, more.
I reached down, feeling the ends of his shirt in my hands, as he gently kissed down my throat. I didn’t hesitate as I removed the thin cloth that was between us. The second it was gone, he half stood pushing me backward into the bed, Kamdyn pressing his body against me. He stopped for a second, pulling himself away, and held himself up on both elbows, looking down at me, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face. Without saying a word, he made me blush. Giving him exactly what he wanted, his smile widened. Wicked and beautiful.
I was so lost in the moment that I hadn’t realized his mouth had traveled down to my collarbone. He tenderly kissed across it as his hand came up to move my strap off my shoulder. I could feel his soft lips and tongue making their way across the top of my breast and I shivered. I could feel him everywhere at once. The tingling sensation was shooting through every part of me. How easy it was for me to feel like I’m losing control with him.<
br />
I couldn’t help it when my mind started thinking about all the things that kept me up at night, about Kamdyn. The most evident inhuman thing about him, felt like it was taking me over (not that I didn’t want it to). It almost made me drunk with its intensity, like it was a band that drew us together and pulled us closer when we were near. Right now, it was pulling me so close to the edge, I was just about ready to jump off.
Pulling my thoughts back to the present, I felt electricity shooting up through my hands as they wrapped tightly around Kamdyn’s back. They slowed when I felt the edges of his jeans in my fingers. I toyed with the edges of them, dragging my fingers lightly over his skin, just over the brink of his jeans. His arms tightened around me and pleasing sounds escaped from his mouth. This time I smiled.
My hands tracked their way around his sides, tracing a soft line around his hips. They reached down for his belt. I took a firm hold of the buckle and pulled tightly on the leather. The belt loosened around him, as I pulled on it, finally free. I could feel how absorbed he was in us, in me. His mouth on mine told me exactly what his emotions were. He held nothing back from me. I was drunk off him, completely absorbed in his being, his touch, his kiss. I slowly trailed my finger tips up from his waist, over his back, loving the feeling of his muscles under my fingers. Reveling in the feeling it made, like dragging a match leaving little sparks behind.
I reached for his jeans again, this time going for the button. Kamdyn’s body tensed up a little, only for a second, than he melted into me. He kissed me harder and…
Footsteps.
From somewhere down the hall, I heard footsteps. My mind, at this point, couldn’t register what to do.
The sounds stopped just outside Kamdyn’s door.
“Kamdyn? Trystessa?” She spoke without knocking. “Are you guys going to come down for some dessert?” She sounded almost uncertain standing on the other side of the door.
My hands stopped in their tracks and my heart raced. It pounded so hard I thought it might explode out of my chest. Kamdyn’s lips left mine in a hurry, as he jumped up, pants unbuttoned and all disheveled. He threw on his shirt and righted his rumpled clothing and hair before I even retrieved mine from the floor. I was throwing my sweater over my head, when Kamdyn opened the door to peek out.
“Yeah Mom, we’ll be down in a little bit, okay?”
I heard her respond too softly for me to understand and heard her footsteps growing fainter as she walked back down the hall.
I was still fixing my sweater, so it sat right over my hips, when Kamdyn threw his arms around my waist, picking my up off the ground before he kissed me again.
“I was already having my dessert,” he said as he pulled away. I knew it was coming, and so did he. His grin grew wider as my cheeks flamed. “I don’t suppose I can get another rain check.”
I smiled but said nothing more than, “It’s Christmas”.
He walked a couple steps, without bothering to put me down, and laid me gently on the bed as he hovered over me. His dark hair fell across his face, blocking my view of his amethyst eyes. I wanted so badly to reach up and touch his face. Here he was, lying with me, and I still wasn’t satisfied with how close he was? I couldn’t help myself, as I brushing the hair away from his eyes. He slowly started lowering himself toward me, leaning over to one side. He stopped just as him lips reached my ear.
“I have a present for you,” he whispered.
As he pulled himself away from me, I felt his hand drag something out from under his pillow, just behind my right shoulder. The present was wrapped neatly, with purple wrapping paper and an elaborate little silver bow. As he sat up, he reached out his empty hand for mine. I let him help me to my feet as I stared at the present he held gently in his hand.
“Merry Christmas.” He placed the little box in my hand.
I slowly untied the bow, and eased off the paper to reveal a little black velvet box. One you would find normally held jewelry. My heart was pounding in my chest, as I lifted the top of the box up to expose an abnormally beautiful ring. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. It wasn’t even designed in a complete circle. It looked like a flowering vine, frozen in ice and grown just right to wrap neatly around your finger. I stared at the amazing piece of jewelry utterly speechless.
“Do you like it?” Kamdyn finally asked.
At first when I opened my mouth, nothing would come out. I swallowed and tried again. “It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” I managed.
He smiled, relieved, and reached for the box. “Here, let me put it on.” He gently pulled the ring out of the box and it sparkled and shimmered in the light. He pulled up my left hand and slid it into place on my middle finger. It fit perfectly. Like it belonged on my hand. Once he removed his fingers from mine, I realized that the ring was tingling on my finger, like Kamdyn was still holding it there.
The vine was long, reaching from my bottom knuckle, all the way passed the middle of my finger, wrapping daintily around and around. The vine of green gems had little gems spinning off here and there, along with leaves to complete the vine. The craftsmanship was unbelievable. So detailed and… perfect. It couldn’t have looked more real if an actual vine had sprouted and entwined itself around my finger.
“It was my mother’s,” Kamdyn whispered.
“This is Julie’s?”
“No,” He stopped and thought for a second. “Julie isn’t my real mother. I knew since I was very young, that I was adopted. I never told anyone… and my parents don’t even know that I know.” He picked up my hand now wearing the ring and rested it in his hand. “Where ever happened with my real parents, I don’t know. I only know that this ring was left with me. I knew it was my mothers. I could feel it when I picked it up. For some reason, the day I first met you, I came home and went right to the ring. Something in me told me you needed you to have it. I don’t know why.
“For a while after we met, I tried to understand what was happening… with us. You know how I feel about you. And I told you how I tried to fight it at first, which was beyond stupid. This ring has always been more important to me than anything, the only connection I have to my past. But you are my future, so I want you to have it, so you know just how important you are to me. I could never have let it go before, now I will never let you go.”
I knew he was telling me the truth. Everything in his touch, his voice, his eyes, even the ring, told me so. But I still didn’t know what to say. Words could not describe the feelings I had. I realized for the first time, that I had lived my entire life half a being and now, I finally felt whole. He let my hand drop from his, and brought it up to my chin, lifting it gently. He was standing so close. I felt his breath on my face as he stared intently into my eyes.
“Tell me you will always wear it,” he said lightly.
“I wouldn’t dream of ever taking it off.”
Kamdyn drove me home a few hours later. Not too long after the ring, we went down stairs to have dessert and ended up watching ‘The Christmas Story’ with his parents. I did watch this movie every year at Christmas, but this year I had a hard time concentrating on it. When ever I thought no one was looking, I glanced down at the vine ring. Whether I was thinking about it or not, I felt the vine there, the slight quiver on my finger. It wasn’t my imagination or an aftershock of Kamdyn’s touch. The ring really did tingle, just like Kamdyn’s skin on mine. My eyes were constantly drawn to it; the elegant curves as they wound around my finger and the glistening of the stones…
Did the vine just move?
I blinked a few times and looked hard at it. It was, it was moving, getting bigger. The vine was growing and winding its way around my hand, wrapping and twirling around fingers, growing leaves and blooming small black flowers until the vine disappeared under my sleeve.
I felt panic gripping me and my whole body tense. My eyes were wide as I took in the unbelievable, my mind not even able to fathom what was happening or what would happen.
I’m
hallucinating!
I have to be.
Kamdyn looked over at me in that second, and caught me staring at the ring, not the movie. I looked up at him, hoping that I had managed to wipe all emotion from my body. He pulled me tighter against him, resting my head against his chest. I let myself relax against him feeling completely safe and protected in his arms. When I glanced back down at my hand again, the vine that had grown and crawled all over me was gone. The only thing that remained was the beautiful ring Kamdyn gave me.
Nothing abnormal.
Nothing moving.
Everything’s fine.
And that’s what I kept telling myself.
By the time I got home, all the lights in the house were off, Kimber and Justin had gone to bed. It was obviously a lot later than I thought. Kamdyn walked me up to the front door to say goodnight. I turned around toward him as I unlocked the door and inched it open.
“I had a really good time tonight. Thank you for introducing me to your parents. As cliché as it sounds, I enjoyed meeting them. Even though I was really nervous.
He took a little step forward, so he was inches from me, looking down into my eyes. “They really liked you.” He said as he smiled with satisfaction. “I guess I do too… a little.” He teased as he bent down to kiss me.
His lips were warm on mine in the late winter night, but just the feel of them sent a jolt of ease through me, like I had just gotten the most intensive and relaxing massage of my life.
He pulled away slowly, his eyes still closed. “I hate to leave right now. I really want to come in. But I can’t.”
He bent down to give me one last, long kiss, before he whispered goodbye against my lips and melted into the shadows surrounding the house. A slight glow of his skin was the last thing I noticed before he vanished into darkness.
I peeked one last time at my hand before I fell asleep that night. The vine remained bejeweled around only my finger. Where is belonged. I wasn’t sure what exactly I thought I saw before. I mean I know what I thought I saw; the vine growing, continuing around my hand and up my arm. The vine growing thicker as it grew, big leaves erupting all over and the most unusual looking black blooms springing out of no where. A real vine? I have no idea. Whatever it was, it wasn’t there now. And who knows if it ever really was.
Beautiful Nightmare Page 17