A Hope and a Chance(33)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“Buffy brought me here a couple times the first week we were here. The pizzas are the best.”

I looked over the menu and then set it back down on the table. “How about we share one?” I suggested.

“Sounds great to me.” He reached over and captured my hand. Do you like anchovies?”

I cocked my brow. “Are you being serious? I was thinking olives and pineapple.”

His face contorted. “Eww, that sounds horrible.”

“So does the fish. Maybe we should just order pepperoni.”

He smiled. “With onions. I know you like them at home.”

I nodded. “It’s nice that you pay attention to little details.”

“I pay attention to anything that has to do with you, Hope. I want you to know that. When you think I’m not listening, I am.”

While keeping my eyes on my hands I smiled. My infatuation for Chance was becoming something else, and I didn’t know how I was going to handle it.

“Are you having a good day, Hope?”

“It’s been the best.” It was so refreshing to be with someone who cared about my feelings. Our day was perfect, and although I worried how I’d be when the weekend was over, I felt content knowing that for the moment he was with me.

He squeezed my hand again before letting go. “I agree.”

The waiter came and Chance ordered us a pizza with two iced teas. In all the times I thought he wasn’t paying attention to me, he seemed to have picked up on everything. He knew my favorite topping was onions and that I liked my tea plain.

After our drinks and food came, we continued to stare in each other’s eyes. His smile did things to me; it made me feel like I was the only person in the room, and I loved it.

Even when we’d finished eating, we sat there talking. He shared stories about when he and his sister were children. He told me about a tree house that all the neighborhood kids hung out in, that you needed a secret word to be able to get inside. He said it was there that he experienced his first kiss. To hear him telling me the story was enchanting. I leaned into his words, hanging onto to every single thing that came from his mouth.

Chance talked about his favorite dog, Buttons, who bit all of his neighbors on their butts, but never hurt him. He said he’d take the dog for walks, purposely getting close to the people he disliked. On several occasions he got into trouble when the dog became aggressive. He said his mother had to replace three pair of pants that he’d destroyed.

After paying our check, Chance led me outside. The crisp air hit me immediately, blowing my dress around. We walked around the boardwalk, holding hands and sharing more stories. At one point we stopped to play a couple games. He won me a stuffed frog by throwing rings onto the top of a small jug. I refused to let him put it in the book bag, since I wanted to walk around with the reminder of his hard work. Chance even persuaded me to go on the Ferris wheel with him. I looked down at the people as it circled around. He held me close and kissed me on top of my head. At one point we both closed our eyes when we were stopped at the very top of the ride.

When we began walking back to where he’d parked his bike, he bought me an ice cream cone that I ended up sharing with him. He kept taking it from me and touching my nose with it, leaving some sitting there, so that he could kiss it back off.

Chance made me laugh and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so happy for that amount of time. When we got to the block of the boardwalk where the motorcycle was parked, he pulled me onto the beach. We removed our shoes and held hands as we toddled down toward the water. The waves crashed in the distance before they would come in and reach our feet as we continued on.

We came upon a lifeguard stand and he climbed up inside of it, urging me to follow him. I dropped my things and forged behind him. With little effort he situated me on his lap so we could both look out at the ocean’s never ending skyline. We stayed there watching the sunset, while the cool ocean breeze blew across the beach.

Chance kept taking my hand and pulling it to his lips. He wrapped his arms around me and laced his fingers in with mine. I pulled his arms around me more, wishing we could stay in this very moment forever.

“This is so perfect,” I admitted.

“So are you,” he whispered in my ear.

I closed my eyes and took in the scent of the ocean. It was important to memorize every detail for when all of this was just a memory.

I never imagined I’d find her. It’d never occurred to me that she was what I’d always needed. Today had been effortless; being around her came natural to me. As she pulled my arms around her tighter, I finally felt like I wasn’t alone. She had filled a void that I thought would never be satisfied; one I never really wanted to fill again. Until now.

As the night sky fell upon us, I wished for more time. I didn’t know how I could do it, how I could let her slip away from me. She knew that my attempts to ignore her in the past month were only to hide my true feelings. She knew now how much I wanted her, but, what she didn’t understand was that I needed her. I needed her to listen when I had a bad day, to hold me when I was upset, and to accept me for everything that had happened in my past.

She didn’t know that as we sat in the lifeguard chair I held her close because I physically didn’t want to let her go. If I could have stayed there forever I would have.

A bar on the boardwalk had a band playing and the music filled the air with a beautiful sound.

Before I could stop myself or consider where it would lead, I made an announcement. “Hope, I think this has been the best day of my life.”

She turned around and looked at me. Her eyes glistened from the bright moon above. She slowly pressed her lips against mine. The moment only intensified when I felt her tongue dragging. I opened my mouth greedily and accepted her. Hope brought her legs around and straddled me. I slid my hands beneath her dress, and stuck them inside the elastic of her panties on each cheek. As she kissed me deeper I squeezed, causing her to begin rocking against me.

I sucked on the side of her chin and then her ear lobe, finally licking down her neck. Her hands reached up my shirt. It was easy to push her panties to the side and slide right in. The dark night allowed us privacy as my girlfriend slowly moved above me. I don’t think either of us took a breather as continued kisses motivated the pace at which we were moving. When I felt like I was close I lifted her off of me, making sure she wasn’t left with a mess on our long ride home.

Afterwards I held her again. She leaned her forehead into mine, letting her lips linger so close to my own. “Chance, I need to ask you something.”