Zane
Trying to find a movie in Hattie’s collection is tough. She has mostly romance movies based off Nicholas Sparks novels. I see she has the first season of a zombie show and decide it looks like a safe choice. I don’t want to risk anything romantic. I’m trying to show her we can be friends. The last thing I need is for her to think I am trying to seduce her by picking something overly romantic. Holding the DVD up to her, she gives me a thumb up as she orders us a pizza. Delivery charges for here at the trailer park can get a bit pricey, but it’s well worth it. Papa’s Pizza has the best sauce in all of Deadman’s Drop.
I can’t help but notice Hattie keeps looking through her messages on her phone with a pained expression on her face while the previews play. “Hey, you okay?” I squeeze her knee gently. “I can go if you aren’t into this.” I can tell her mind is a thousand miles from here right now. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. I already scared the shit out of her by barging in the bathroom on her. I wouldn’t have just gone in on her like that. Kiesha told me to go on in and said she is in the back. I didn’t know she was in the bathtub. My mind instantly flashes to her breasts all wet and soapy.
I look over and the top she has on is pushing them up. Fuck, her tits are nice.
I just want to suck on them while she rides me.
Quit thinking about her tits dude or you are going to get hard, I scold myself mentally.
“No, I’m sorry I am being so rude. I want you to stay.” She puts her phone on the side table and smiles weakly.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really…it’s my fiancé.” I stiffen, and she corrects herself by throwing in that he is her ex. “I was so blind. I was so stupid. We’re friends, right?” I am not sure if I really want to hear about her and some other dude. She did say he was an ex, but they were engaged, so it must have been serious. He must be the loser that hurt her. I need to put my feelings aside and be here for her. I meant what I said about being her friend.
This is my chance to prove it to her.
“Of course, whatever it is, you can talk to me. I’ll listen.” I try to reassure her. But the thought of her with another guy pisses me off and makes me want to punch him. I know I haven’t spent as much time with her as say a fiancé would, but I care about her.
She hits pause on the show and turns into me. “Well, since you are a dude maybe you can give me some perspective. Justin and I had been together since middle school. He was my everything. My first kiss, my only boyfriend, all of it, there was only ever him. As we got older, he would put me off when it came to intimate things. He would, ya know…God, this is so embarrassing. We would fool around but it never went further than kissing and touching on occasion. Eventually we had sex, but it wasn’t that all-consuming passion I had always imagined. Then he cheated on me… and I walked away. Now he wants to talk.”
A knock on the door interrupts her story. I get up and pay the guy while she gets plates ready. We get our slices and settle back on the couch.
“Any man that would ever step out on you or even look at another woman when he had you is an utter fool. Hattie Mae, I have seen you. You’re kind, smart, and so damn beautiful. Any man would be lucky to have you.”
“I guess that was the problem, he didn’t want me. He wanted someone else.” She looks away from me. “The day I picked up my father’s ashes I walked up on him kissing some dude outside of our apartment.”
I was not expecting that, at all, but it explains why a man would cheat on a girl like Hattie. “Damn, that had to be rough. But you must know his sexual preference had nothing to do with you. It doesn’t mean there was something wrong with you. You know that, don’t you?” I scratch the back of my neck, unsure what to do or say. I’d love to kiss her and show her that a man would appreciate what she has to offer. Fuck, I’d show her that I could appreciate her. Make her feel wanted. Show her desire.
“I do know that, Zane. You know that night I first came here, when I kissed you? It was because I wanted to see if I could get a rise out of a man like you.” Her cheeks are painted red right now, but it so damn sexy.
I brush her hair back from her face. Our show has long been forgotten and I am sure the pizza is getting cold.
“What kind of man am I?” I ask in a husky tone, fighting the urge to claim her lips and her heart right now. I know it’s too soon though, but God do I want to kiss her again.
She turns her face toward mine. My heart is hammering in my chest. I am going to just go for it but then she cuts me off. “The kind that better eat his pizza before it gets cold,” she says, grinning and starts the show back.
Her phone continues to vibrate, and she eventually powers it off and shuts down any further conversation about this ex of hers. I feel that I should say or do more, but I don’t want to push and freak her out.
The way I feel about Hattie is strong, but I don’t know how she feels about this ex of hers and if it has messed with her head so much that she isn’t willing to trust anyone. I decide to keep my mouth shut and enjoy my time with her. Now that her phone is off, she is back to being relaxed and comfortable with me.
By the end of the third episode, she is asleep on my lap and I hate to move her, but I have an early shift tomorrow at Rowdy’s doing inventory. I slide out from under her easily enough. Her arm curls around the pillow I place under her head. I go into her room and take the blanket from her bed to cover her with and I turn the TV off for her. Flipping the lights off, I lock her door from the inside and pull it shut. “Goodnight, Hattie,” I say quietly into the night.