At least she hadn’t shot me down.
After dinner, we walked the long way back to her place, along the river. She seemed more relaxed than usual. I reached out, with my right hand, and took her hand in mine. She didn’t pull away.
“It’s a lovely night,” she said.
“It is lovely,” I replied but I wasn’t looking at the sky, I was looking at her.
We wandered until we got to the same seat we’d sat on last time. I needed to put my feelings into words and hoped that those feelings would reach her.
I put my arm around her. “Gina, I love you.”
The words tumbled out of me. Words I’d never said to anybody. I froze, waiting for her response. She faced me, her eyes glowed.
She kissed me and that was my answer. I’d work hard to make her life happy. No matter what she wanted I’d try to give it to her. I sunk into her kiss, knowing this was my chance, my only chance in this life.
Then I jumped up.
She stared, her eyes wide with shock.
“What’s wrong?” she said. She didn’t look at me and I realized how bad it must seem, me jumping away from her as she kissed me
“My hand. I’ve got pins and needles.”
“Sorry.” She got up and started walking away. “I just thought...”
Shit, I’d done the wrong thing. “Gina, don’t walk away from me. You promised.”
She turned back.
“Why did you say all those things if you didn’t want me to kiss you? Pins and needles in your hand? What a pathetic story.”
I grabbed her by the shoulders.
“You don’t get it.” I held up my left hand. “Pins and needles, it means the feeling’s coming back.”
I put my arms around her waist and spun her around.
“It was your kiss that did it.”
“Phht, that was just coincidence,” she said.
Chapter 39 Gina
JACKSON TOOK ME TO the club to see Alex’s band. It’d been a while since we’d been there. Jackson found it hard being around the booze when he couldn’t drink.
“No point having the temptation in front of me.”
I wanted to support him in that but I did miss seeing Carlie and Drew and everyone. It’d be good to catch up on the gossip.
The only time he went there now was for Drew’s guitar lessons. Even though he pretended to hate it, you could tell he was proud of Drew.
“He’s going to be a great guitarist one day,” Jackson said. “But I’ll be buggered if I’ll tell him that. There’s enough big egos at that club.”
“You should tell him. He needs to hear it. It’s not like he’ll end up like Alex. He’s not that type.”
Jackson just harrumphed, though.
The two of us walked, hand in hand to the club. I’d been staying over at his place a lot lately and he wanted me to get rid of my apartment. It seemed stupid to be paying rent when I hardly used it. I was thinking about it, seriously. I wanted to go back to study. I’d never considered university when I was younger but now, I wanted to do something more with my life.