Page 9 of Only One Bed: Anthology Vol. 1
“Baby, we’re grown. I don’t care what our families want. I just want you. But I also want you to be comfortable. So, I’m good with whatever you decide.”
“I don’t wanna hide our…whatever this is. What is this?”
“I was hoping for a relationship? Best friends, lovers, partners, a team?” He raised his eyebrows.
“I’d like that.” I grinned at him and I felt my eyes sting with tears. “I don’t want to hide either, but maybe we should wait until after the wedding?”
He nodded and pulled our hands to his lips and kissed my fingers.
The gravel crunched under our tires as we came to a stop in the parking lot of the resort. We unbuckled our seat belts and turned to face each other.
“How do I look?”
“Like you spent two hours getting fucked within an inch of your life in the back of a pick up truck,” he said and I burst out laughing. “What about me?”
“Well, you’re definitely wearing a lot more lipstick than you had on when you picked me up.” I reached out and brushed the pad of my thumb over his bottom lip. His lips puckered at my touch.
“Listen.” He reached out and brushed his palm across my cheek before wrapping his fingers around my neck. “I know this might feel like it came out of nowhere and we’re going from zero to sixty but for me it feels like making up for lost time. I’m ten toes down. I’m all the way in with you.” He used his thumb to brush away a tear that rolled down my cheek.
“Me too,” I whispered. “So what happens when we get back to New York?”
“I don’t know but I’m guessing a lot of that.” He jerked his head at the back window, indicating the bed of the truck. I laughed and bit my lip. “Whatever you want. You can stay in your student housing or you can move in with me in DUMBO. We can travel. We can stay home and read books or watch Netflix. As long as we’re together, I don’t care.”
“That sounds amazing.” I reached out, wrapped my arms around his neck, and pulled him close.
“I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, Nadirah.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you too, Julian.”
He closed the distance between our lips.
“What the fuck?!”
I wasn’t sure how long we were kissing before we heard Wendy’s screech, but we looked up to see her and Marcus standing next to our parents. Julian’s parents and brother were there as well. We had an entire welcome party waiting at the entrance of the resort.
“So much for waiting.” I shrugged. Jules smiled at me before hopping out of the truck and jogging over to my side to help me get down. We clasped hands and walked towards our families.
“So, how long has this been going on?” Marcus asked Julian. His expression was unreadable.
“It’s kinda new,” Julian responded, with the same blank expression. They looked each other up and down before Marc’s face spread with a giant grin and he wrapped Julian in a hug. “It’s about fucking time.”
“Well, don’t even think about doing any dumb shit like getting engaged at our reception.” Wendy crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “But yeah, it was pretty obvious that you two were going to get together at some point. I’m happy for you.” She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and air kissed me because she’d already had her make up done for the rehearsal dinner.
Our parents were equally enthusiastic and my dad joked about still having his shotgun. Julian hugged his brother before he grabbed our bags from the truck.
“So that went better than I expected.”
“It did.” He switched both bags to one arm and reached for my hand. “What do you want to do now?”
“Well, we have to get ready for the rehearsal dinner, but I’m available if you need help tying your tie.” I shot him a sly smile and he squeezed my hand.
“Definitely.”
