Chapter 18 #2
Vee takes picture after picture after having taken tons of photographs from the base of the rock.
“Here. Let me take a picture of you.” I hold up my phone when she turns and smirks. Click. “What was that look?”
“I hate having my photo taken.”
“Why?”
“I just never look like I feel in the images.”
“You’re fucking beautiful, Vee. You should feel like that in every photo taken.”
Her mouth falls open at my compliment and I take another photo of her. Then I step next to her and stretch out my arm holding the phone. Wrapping my other arm around her, I say, “We’ll take one together.”
“Okay.” She leans toward my shoulder and just as I’m about to snap the button for the photo, I turn my head and press a kiss to the side of hers. Click.
She pulls back and stares at me, and with my arm still outstretched, I click a few more pictures of us. I’m not only embracing the moment; I’m capturing it.
We hang out on the rock for a while before noticing trails leading to other rock formations. We descend one geological phenomena and hike toward another. The second formation is slanted like something from a pre-historic time, and Vee stands still in awe again.
“‘What are men to rocks and mountains?’” Vee whispers.
“What?” I turn to face her.
“It’s a Jane Austen quote . She was questioning the purpose of men in relationships to the peace of rocks and mountains.” Vee turns her head toward me. “Or maybe she was wondering what’s the value in a man when rocks and mountains are more stable?”
She laughs, and I realize she’s teasing me. Or is she?
I haven’t been very consistent in how I’ve handled our situation.
“She also said ‘It is not what we think or feel that makes us who we are. It is what we do.’”
I chuckle. “Now that’s something you should have printed on a T-shirt.”
She tilts her head. “I do. And why would you say that?”
“Because you have all those book tees.”
She stares at me in question.
“You know, Cool Girls Read Hot Books.”
Her mouth falls open, like she’s surprised I remember the T-shirt.
“I told you, I remember everything.” I tap at my temple. And I’m going to remember this moment, right here, where I really want to pull her into my arms and kiss her again. Not just a surprise cheek kiss, but an earnest, I want this moment to last forever kind of kiss.
Instead, I swallow down the desire and squint off into the distance where a range of mountains stands tall behind a glimmering city, wondering if I’m doing enough to let Vee know I value her and the time she’s given me.
+ + +
After our hike, we decide to head back toward Vee’s rental for lunch, and later find a local taco restaurant that serves margaritas and beer.
We talk about nothing important and everything random, and I laugh like I haven’t laughed in a long time.
Vee talks with her hands a lot, getting animated when telling a story, especially ones about her girls or her friend Cassandra, who she explains was seated next to her during the first spring training game Vee attended and the one catcalling my name.
I don’t remember her friend, but I recall looking up in the stands and seeing Vee when I typically gloss over the crowd. Looking at no one in particular and everyone all at once.
Vee stood out in that sea of baseball fans. And it wasn’t only that she was wearing that replica Anchors jersey with my number on it. Her bright eyes. Her light hair. Her stunned face then.
However, her smile is what captivates me now. I’m hoping I was able to capture that smile in the pictures I took earlier.
Will I find Vee in the sea of fans at Anchor Field once we return to Chicago? She’ll never be someone nameless or faceless in a crowd to me. Will she look for me as well? Or will we end when she leaves Arizona in a few days?
My stomach knots because I don’t want to think about goodbyes.
When we finally return to Vee’s place, she looks a little buzzed from two margaritas, and I’m drowsy from the physical exertion of the morning hike and the rays of sunshine, plus my two beers.
“Want to sit outside?” Vee asks, pointing toward the brilliant late afternoon sun shining on her balcony.
“Actually, lets nap.” I’m not typically a napper but I’m warm and comfortable as I toss myself on her couch. Plus, I want to be close to her again.
Vee stares at me until I turn on the television, set the volume to low and stretch out on my side. Then I hold out my arm and wiggle my fingers.
“Come here, beautiful.”
Vee chuckles softly, like a dismissive snortle. Like she doesn’t trust this position and I shouldn’t be teasing her. I shouldn’t be tempting either of us, but I just want to hold her for a little while and soak up the remainder of this day.
“Will this count as sleeping together?” she asks, still standing too far away from me, with her hands on her hips and her lip caught between her teeth.
“Sure.” I lug myself back off the couch. “Now get that fine ass over here.” Only, I don’t wait for her to approach me. I catch her around the waist and carry her backwards to the couch, tumbling us both awkwardly onto the cushions.
“That went better in my head.” I chuckle about my vision of a smooth transition to the couch versus her landing on my lap and then her head colliding with my chin before I wrestle us to our sides.
“I’m not certain we fit on this thing together,” she laughs quietly again.
With her settled, her back to my front, and my arm wrapped over her middle, I squeeze her.
“We fit together, Vee.”
And I mean it in more ways than one.