Atonement(11)
The furniture was all beautiful and cold. Steel, black and Chinese red seemed to dominate the color scheme but somehow, it all worked. I walked past the black Persian rug and lay on the silk comforter which was a deep red. There was a large forty-two inch flat screen television mounted to the wall and I turned it on if just for background noise. I quickly channel-surfed, caught the beginning of an episode of Sons of Anarchy and smiled at the hotness that was Charlie Hunnam.
Once the show ended, I turned off the television and slipped out of my clothes until I wore nothing except my bra and panties. It was a chilly night so I was grateful for the temperate warmth of the bedroom. It wasn’t icy cold but it wasn’t overly warm either; in fact it was perfect for curling underneath silk sheets and a matching comforter.
I thought about how the day had gone and it wasn’t long before I began to ponder my meeting with Colin. He was a great guy, good looking, rich and seemed to have his shit together. We hadn’t gone into our high school years yet or even university but he seemed like a stand-up guy.
It didn’t take a genius for me to realize I would eventually have to stop living behind Drew. He was my best friend but he also deserved happiness as I did and it wasn’t fair to deprive him of that because I was afraid of being alone or not finding anyone who even resembled the “one”.
Perhaps with him being my first love, it kind of spoiled the whole mystique or maybe my standards were set impossibly high. I certainly was no prize, professional student that I was with a wall of degrees but no real job skills. I wasn’t hopeless of course. If worse came to worse, I could easily find a job at one of the big time companies here in Seattle or if I wanted to do something more noble, I would have absolutely no problem finding a teaching position at one of the local private schools.
My life was my own to live but since my father was gone, it seemed like I had given up and didn’t want to rejoin the living though I knew I had to eventually. It just wasn’t healthy or normal not to want to do anything with one’s life beside pursue degree after degree as a coping mechanism for not having to start “real life”.
I closed my eyes, only to rest them for a moment. Although I could have sworn it was only for a few minutes, when I felt the weight of a body and Colin touched the comforter lightly, I jumped up. I should have had more modesty as I wore my cute Victoria’s Secret bra which really gave the illusion of major cleavage which I didn’t have but I immediately took a defensive position. I pulled my knees towards my body and wrapped my arms around my calves.
“Hey,” he whispered. “Did I wake you? We can talk in the morning if you like?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m okay. Sorry, I haven’t been sleeping very well and I assure you my bed at home is just as soft and comfortable. I’m glad you insisted I stay though because if we’re going to Europe together then we have to set some ground rules.”
Colin’s crystal blue eyes never changed as he smirked and scooted closer to me in bed. “Ground rules, huh? Why can’t you stop being such a controlling chick for a moment and go with the flow? Why can’t we take this at a relaxing pace? We aren’t doing National Lampoon’s European Vacation and there is absolutely no rush. I’m more than happy just exploring city centers and walking into museums or parks that take our fancy. I thought you might like that too.”
My hands raced through my thick silky hair and I breathed deeply. “Listen, I like to be as impromptu as the next person but I also like to have a plan written down just in case. No one said we can’t deviate from the plan but it is never a bad idea to know what you expect out of a vacation.”
Colin glared at me in irritation before he lay out on his stomach beside me and sighed. “Fine, plans and ground rules…me, personally, I usually just go with the flow and I have always been that way. Probably why I used to get into all kinds of trouble with a big brother like Liam.”
I laughed out loud at this revelation. “Liam used to get you in trouble? First off, who is the professional who has the world by the balls and who is the loser brother wasting a perfectly good MBA from Harvard here? You can try to hide all you want but working at a coffee shop and a bar doesn’t make you a better person than that thieving grandfather of yours. So you gave away a bunch of money to assuage your conscience but do you ever plan to use that degree or is it just something you have to decorate the walls of this amazingly expensive condo?”
“Wow. You’re one to talk. You and I—we’re not that different and you know it. So you volunteer at a soup kitchen slash halfway house for abused women but why don’t you become a counselor and you know, get paid for what you do. It’s not like you’re hurting for money either so what stops you from moving on and wanting to live like a young, productive adult?”