Chapter 15
Gavin took me home a couple hours later. Despite the girl at the restaurant piquing my interest, I had to believe his feelings for me were real. Besides, as Sierra already theorized, perhaps he promised to keep a secret. Maybe a relationship like mine and Matt’s or Nick’s. I wouldn’t want Matt or Nick divulging anything to their barely new significant other about me either. For now, I’d let it rest.
Either way, I’d solicit Jamie’s advice. Also, maybe I should come clean about my relationship with Gavin. I finally got a hold of him Tuesday night.
“Hey, butt-munch.”
“Always good to feel the love.” My brother started calling me butt-munch around the time I turned fourteen, and it stuck.
“So how goes life in up-state New York?” he asked.
“Life is good. California and Silvia?”
“Good. Can’t complain. Silvia is amazing but she’s MIA now. Lame excuse she had some vacation planned before we even met. I’m a little bit offended she didn’t take me with, but I suppose it’d be irresponsible of me to skip out on classes a couple weeks before midterms.”
“How unthoughtful of her to ignore your schedule before taking her annual vacation.”
“Exactly. She should have known the stars would align and we were meant to be.”
“Okay, now you’re being hokey.” I played with the cord of my earpiece.
“Probably. Anyway, how are things with you? Any new love interest for me to beat up?”
“Uh, yeah. No. I mean. Yes? There might be someone but no, if you try to beat him up, I’ll never speak to you again.”
Jamie paused. “No shit, Louie. Is there a guy?”
I winced. “Sort of. His name is Gavin, he’s from California. We’re not exclusive or anything, but um, seeing where things go?” After I told him the abridged version of our relationship, he grunted.
“No kidding. He’s some big shot composition guy. How cool you both have some connection to Korea.” Hell, he wanted to talk about Korea more than I did. Jamie always tried protecting me from asshole kids, though being older than me, our paths didn’t always cross. “Is he treating you well?”
“He is. Though I have a question for you. Please don’t read into this and for a moment try to pretend you are not my brother but a dude I happen to know. Capisce?”
“Okay, although that’s way too many disclaimers for something good to come next.”
“Listen for a second, okay? Say you’re kinda seeing a girl and you like her and you tell her this and promise her there’s no one else. But then you have to take phone calls from someone and terms of endearment like Sweetheart are used? And you’re eating dinner with a person who might or might not be the same person on the phone, but you can’t tell your new girlfriend about her. What would you say is your relationship with this person?”
“What the fuck?” The tone immediately switched from humored his little sister was finally seeing someone to wanting to teleport and kick Gavin’s ass.
“That’s what Matt said.” I groaned.
A few clicking noises proceeded his next question. “How long have you known this guy?”
“About two months.”
“And does he look you straight in the face when he says there isn’t anyone else.”
“Yeah. He’s adamant it’s not romantic at all. But, he can’t go into any more detail at this point.”
“Fuck, I don’t know. I have no idea who the guy is. It’s possible it’s platonic like he says it is. Of course, he could also be a lying bastard. Though you’d think he’d try and do a better job of hiding his other fuck buddies if that’s what they are. Wouldn’t serve him well to be out in public where you could find them.”
“Hmm.” Jamie did raise a good point. If he had cheated on me, he probably would have been a little more incognito.
“I don’t know. I’d say he’s probably telling the truth. If it were me, I’d see the other person in secret. Or at least pretend we were best buds. The last thing I’d do is be cryptic since the mystery would lead to more prying. The fact he isn’t playing it off as a friend, still sees her in public, and is all cryptic, makes it seem like he probably does have a legitimate reason.”
“Serious?”
“I’d still tread with caution. I don’t want to see my baby sister get hurt.”
“Thanks, dude.” We shot the shit a little more about his program, and the new friends he made. Making friends came easily to Jamie, especially when he turned on the charisma.
The next couple weeks were a blur. Midterms were coming up way too fast, and my anxiety levels with theory and sight-singing rose daily.
Gavin and I didn’t get a lot of opportunities to hang out unless we were both in study mode. No, I still hadn’t committed to making us official and no, I wasn’t ready to give up on our make-out sessions either.
We both had massive amounts of work to do, including the first movement of our piece for Mickelson. Consequently, the closer we got to midterms, our make-out fests decreased exponentially in an inverse relationship to the amount of songwriting and studying we did.
Lucky for me, Gavin did carve out some time to help me study for theory and sight-singing. At least the material in both classes overlapped, which made studying a little more convenient and a little less daunting. I got those out of the way earlier in the week with both midterms falling on Monday and Tuesday. Music History was an easy A and a class I never complained about, leaving only Mickelson’s project remaining.
“Gavin?”
“Mmm-hmm?” Gavin’s pencil raced across the staff paper, eyes still focused on his piece. We were at his place because there were less distractions. We both finished all our midterms earlier in the week and tomorrow we’d turn in Mickelson’s assignment.
“Are you going anywhere for break?” I asked, shifting focus from my composition piece to his sculpted jawline.
“Staying here. You?”
“Me, too. I’m staying here.”
“Cool. More time to hang out.” He flashed me a brief smile and returned to his writing.
“Do you have a lot left to finish?” I examined the sheets of staff paper strewn across the table.
“Actually, not too much. But I can’t get this bridge to flow the way I want. I keep thinking if I minor it here and raise it back to the major but up a step?” Simultaneously he scratched his head while he bounced the eraser end of the pencil against his bottom lip.
“I should take a break.” He put his pencil down and stretched his arms overhead, clasping his fingers together above his head. “What about you, are you almost done?”
“I think so. I’m not sure there’s anything I want to change, and if I keep looking at it any longer, I’m going to start doubting myself.”
“Sounds like you’re done. I like it. You cleaned up a bunch, smoothed out some of those transitions, and created some funky harmonies.”
My grin widened. Hearing praises made my insides all gooey. “Thanks.
“You’re welcome. The kudos are well deserved, and I’m sure Mickelson will like it too. He’s into funky retro, which you’ve got going on in the bridge of your first movement.”
“Well, I hope so. I’m sure you’ll be fine, too.”
“I’m not too worried.” Gavin stood up, stretched out his body, and headed toward the kitchen.
“Refill on your tea?”
“Nah, I think I probably should head out here soon. Think you can drive me home?”
“Sure, let me grab my keys and get a refill of coffee.”
In the car, Gavin stroked his fingers against mine, almost putting me in a state of meditation. Rounding up courage to ask him about a break, I breathed a sigh of relief when he beat me to it.
“Hey, Lou?”
“Yeah?” I massaged my temples and waited for him to continue.
“I thought maybe you could spend a couple days with me here at my place over fall break?”
He darted a side glance at me.
“Yeah?” A sleepover? Was I ready for this?
“If you’re ready. No expectations, just spending time with each other.”
I chomped down on my lower lip, letting the invitation sink in.
“Sure. I think so. I think I’m ready. And I’d like to be with you a little more. I mean. I don’t think I’m ready to go all the way but, I don’t know. I don’t know what I mean.”
Silence filled Gavin’s car, followed by a few more hand squeezes. “It’s all good. I know what you mean.”
Well good, because I obviously didn’t. I squeezed back. “What night are you thinking?”
“Tomorrow night might be nice. You know, celebrate the end of midterms.”
Letting the car run idle in my driveway, Gavin caressed the base of my neck as he leaned over and pecked my cheek. His lips caressed, finding my lips and tickling the corners of my mouth where he planted tiny kisses. The kisses became more urgent as my lips opened and demanded his tongue to take over. Gavin participated willingly, and my heart raced.
I started to grab a hold of his shoulders but only made it halfway to rest on his biceps, the muscles flexing underneath my fingertips. His mouth danced with mine, and the butterflies made their way back into my chest, wings fluttering as I tried to catch a breath. What this man could do with his tongue never ceased to amaze me.
He pulled a few inches away. “If I don’t leave now, I’m not going to be able to, and I still have eight measures to finish for Mickelson’s assignment.” Lips transferred to my forehead. “We’ll hang out, and then head to my place tomorrow.”
“Okay, can’t wait.” I gripped the handle of the door and pulled it open, the breeze from the autumn air crisp and fragrant with the smell of falling leaves.
The next morning, I went through my routine, and gave myself a couple affirmations. I silently thanked Mickelson for allowing us to turn in our sole assignment at the beginning of class. When we arrived, Mickelson had his trusty time/date stamp he used on all our assignments. Once he stamped my piece, he met my eyes.
“Well, Louise. I’m expecting brilliance. After all, you did steal my soundboard partner.” His eyes averted toward Gavin, who stood next to me. “I suppose it’s only fair. You both have a lot of raw talent. Your offspring should be the Einstein of music unless they get some weird gene passed down from the tone-deaf fairy. Well, maybe have at least two, and then at least one of them will get both of your talents.”
What the hell do you say to that?
Mickelson lifted his eyebrows repeatedly at us like Groucho Marx and waved us off. “I have much to do, and duty necessitates you both think about babies. Ah, babies, they’re messy. Too messy. Hmmm, could be a theme.” Mickelson scribbled in his notebook, indicating the end of our conversation.
Gavin and I shared quizzical looks and exited in silence. After the door shut to his office, we both burst out snorting. “How much do you think he smokes?”
“He’s gotta lace his coffee with something.” Gavin shook his head.
“FYI, I’m not thinking about babies at all.” I wanted to reassure him pregnancy and marriage were not even on my radar.
Gavin snaked an arm around my shoulder. “Don’t sweat it. I know Mickelson’s looney sometimes.”
Swanson waited for us in the car, and we drove toward the local falls for a day hike after leaving campus. Throughout the hike, thoughts of Sierra’s pet ferret on a leash filtered my imagination, though I’m certain Maynard wouldn’t think it fun.
After a quick jaunt to my place to rinse off the dirty remnants of hiking, and to pack for the overnight, we finally arrived at Gavin’s. He had a Korean dish called Yukgae Jang cooking all day in the crock pot. Red pepper-based stew filled with thin sliced beef, vegetables, and those sweet potato noodles became my new culinary crack.
Along with rice, my pallet had never been happier. Well, maybe it had, but this experience propelled my taste buds to another dimension.
“This is the bomb. I could eat this every day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“Thanks, I’ll let my halmoni know you like her recipe.”
“Like is a mistake. This is a full out love fest.” I stuffed another bite down, complete with rice.
“All right, love fest girl, I’ll let her know it’s the best thing you’ve ever tasted. Deal?”
I couldn’t respond being mid-swallow, but I did tap my finger to my nose. Bulls-eye.
“And for dessert, we have some fresh strawberries, Asian pears, and whipped cream. I figured fruit and whipped cream might cause a little less stress than flourless chocolate cake.”
“Very funny. And my food freak-out will not happen again. I promise. Or at least I absolutely hope it won’t.” Yes, my food freak-out equaled a total utter fail in my book, and one I hoped I never repeated with Gavin.
“It’s fine, Lou. I was teasing. I’m totally prepared, in case you decide to have another food meltdown.”
“Good. Because that’s what I need.”
“Well, I asked Nick too, because your suggestion of me telling you to shut up and eat the effing dessert sounded a little harsh. But Nick pretty much echoed those words verbatim.”
“I don’t do well with the hand holding. I respond better to a drill sergeant, if you know what I mean.”
“Call me Sarge.”
We brought the fruit into the living room and sat on the couch. “You want to watch a movie, or do you want to talk.” I didn’t care, and finally opted for conversation, because I loved getting to know more about him.
Like the fact he kept his apartment spotless. Or how he hated watermelon. A pity because Jamie and I grew up having watermelon seed fights every summer. I won our annual mouth projectile seed shooting contest.
“Talking’s good.” I snagged a slice of pear and reveled in the sweetness and juices of the fruit, much different from the Bartlett’s of my childhood. “These are amazing by the way. How come I’ve never eaten one before?”
“Can’t answer for you. But I agree, they’re awesome. Sweetness of a pear with the crunchiness of an apple. They’re pretty common as a dessert in Korea, especially during the summer.” He leaned against the side of the couch and snagged another bite.
“Those Koreans are pretty genius when it comes to food.” Maybe I should visit Korea sooner than later. If all the food resembled the dishes he introduced to me, I would be one very satisfied person.
“Agree, it’s good food. And I’m glad you like it.” He swallowed another slice of pear.
“Me too. Makes me think I might do okay visiting there.”
“I think you’d like it. I make a most excellent tour guide if you ever decide to take the leap.”
“Well, duh.” I leaned into him and he pulled me closer, snuggling me against his chest. I practically sprawled on top of him at this point.
Gavin kneaded a spot under my shoulder blade, and I began to melt into him. Using his chest as a headrest, I sighed. “Mmm, feels good.”
He trailed his fingers up my neck and continued his massage, planting a kiss on the crown of my head.
Gavin hesitated. “We can get ready for bed if you like.”