Chapter 7
Blaine
I was more than excited to get to Josie’s for our date. I had been up most of the night thinking about her, wondering where all the walls I had built went. Apparently, from the first time I laid eyes on her, they’d all come crumbling down. But I wasn’t scared about it anymore, and I knew that I had to give in and see where this all went. This girl was amazing in every way that I could imagine, and I wasn’t going to let my past dictate my future anymore. I pulled up out front of her house and got out of the car, feeling waves of nerves and excitement billow through my chest. I knocked hard on the door and waited, expecting her father to answer. To my surprise when the door opened, Josie was standing there, looking sweet as always. She invited me in so she could grab her bag, and I looked around for Pops, but he was nowhere to be seen. I figured maybe he was in his room, locked away from the poker for a few hours.
When she came back out, she was gleaming, smiling from ear to ear. Her gorgeous dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her makeup was subtle and illuminating, and she was wearing jeans and v-neck shirt that showed just a hint of that amazing cleavage I knew she had hidden under there. It took everything in me not to cancel the zoo trip and jump her right there in the living room. We left the house and climbed into my car, putting the top down on the gorgeous September day. It was almost fall, but you couldn’t tell for a second out here in sunny Florida.
I usually hated crowds, especially crowds of children, so to say I wasn’t excited about the zoo would be an understatement. However, I couldn’t help but feel content and happy at the look on Josie’s face. She was so adorable at the zoo, just like one of the kids. She pulled me from cage to cage, exploding with excitement when one of the furry, adorable animals stuck its head up. It seemed they liked her as much as I did because every time we went up to an enclosure, all the animals’ eyes were on her. There was even a moment where a small baby monkey played on the edge of the cage where she was standing. Her enthusiasm was catching, and I found myself having a really good time with her by my side. The way she interacted with the animals and the children made me realize why she was a school teacher. I could imagine she was probably a pretty damn amazing one, at that. We bought elephant hats and walked around laughing at each other and eating ice cream. It was like a perfect day I never imagined I would be included in.
When we were done at the zoo, we were both starving, so I drove us to dinner at an upscale beachside restaurant that I had been to with my parents when I was graduating high school. The place was beautiful, but the views and the sounds of the waves were what I came there for. After we had ordered and the wine had been poured, we sat back, looking out over the ocean. The sun was setting, and the sky was a mix of oranges and blues. It was absolutely stunning, not to mention the scenery on the other side of the table was pretty fantastic, too. I could tell she was thinking about something as I watched her run her finger around the top of her glass.
“What’s on your mind?” I asked.
“The future,” she said, sighing. “I was just thinking about all the things I want to do, if my dad gets better that is.”
“Oh, yeah?” I asked curiously. “Like what? Tell me about your dreams.”
“I want to start a non-profit,” she said, smiling. “As a teacher, I see kids from all walks of life. As a teacher in West Palm Beach, I see children that don’t have anything. They come to school without supplies, clean clothes, shoes that fit, and a whole slew of other things. As teachers, we try to do what we can to help, and we give our kids what they need to be academically successful, but we all know those aren’t the only factors that come into play. It’s hard to learn when your shoes hurt your feet or you
come to school hungry and cold. I want the non-profit to raise money to donate to these kids. I don’t want to donate money to them. I want to donate the supplies, clothes, food, and whatever they need to have a healthy and bright start in their education. Otherwise, we will have another generation of dropouts, high crime rates, and poverty. We have to break the cycle somewhere.”
Her spirit and generosity were so admirable, and I couldn’t help but be inspired by her willingness to give to others. There had to be a way that I could help her achieve this dream, a path I could help her get on to make this non-profit something that would actually work. My thoughts ran quickly through my legal knowledge. I had a background in all areas of law, but I’d grown up with a financial set of parents. There were so many things that she could do, and knowing her, she wouldn’t want to take a cent of the proceeds for anything for her own use. It was very clear that money was not the first thing on her mind. In fact, it didn’t even seem to be on the list of top ten things she cared about.
“How about you?” she asked.
I looked up at her with surprise, realizing that I had never really thought about it. She took me extremely off guard. My life had been pretty much set up for me with no real option to stray from it. I had spent so many years being forced into what my future was that I hadn’t ever really taken the time to think about what I wanted. I felt that it was a frivolous thing to think about since I didn’t feel that I had much choice in the matter, so I pushed it to the back of my brain and left dreaming for other people. I realized, after getting to know Josie, there really wasn’t a perfect situation for dreaming. You either chose to follow your dreams, or you laid down and took what society set up for you. I guess I had laid down and taken it for so long that the idea of dreams had become somewhat of an enigma.
Before meeting Josie, I hadn’t thought about anything other than the fact that I had no path. I was wasting away in an endless cycle of booze and pussy, and I hated everything there was about the law firm. I didn’t want to practice law, at least not for the schmucks we had as clients. I didn’t want to deal with the constant influx of rich, stupid people in my life. Most of the people I knew never felt what it was like to go through hardship, to be pulled from the brink and be given a second chance. Josie definitely got my wheels turning. I thought about it for a few minutes, sipping my wine and looking out over the ocean. Josie could see I was lost in my thoughts, so she smiled and waited for me to work it out in my mind. She was so damn patient, it was amazing.
“I’ve never really thought about it,” I said, rubbing my chin. “My life has always pretty much been laid out for me. I didn’t have the opportunity to really be given the choice.”
“I don’t believe that,” she said, smiling. “My life wasn’t really what I planned, but in between the moments of darkness, the light was there to give me the ability to dream for the future. In fact, I think that was what kept me sane all of these years.”
“Maybe you are right,” I said, amazed by her intelligence and wisdom. “I don’t know. I do like law. I just really hate the people our firm caters to. I think that if I could take the firm and make it my own, I could bring in some cases for people that weren’t the rich assholes that deserve their misfortune. People that really need help but can’t really afford anyone better than a court-appointed attorney. Those are the people that I really want to see get help. So many of them slip through the cracks, get guilty pleas because they don’t understand the system, and then end up in prison. It's that cycle of degradation that you were talking about, only with crime and adults. I guess it all ties together since those adults were once children, facing the same issues your kids face. It’s crazy to think that the lack of help as a child leads all the way up to these lives where people still don’t give a shit about them.”
“It is sad to think about, really,” Josie said, still looking out at the ocean. “And as a society, we should be standing up for that, but instead, we are too worried about our own pockets and our own lives. What are we if we don’t take care of each other?”
“You’re right,” I said, smiling at her and shaking my head. “I don’t know. I guess those are things I can definitely start to think about.”
I told her I didn’t know, but I knew there was one dream that I wasn’t shouting from the table at the restaurant. There was one dream that I didn’t think I would ever achieve, no matter where my career or life went. I knew at that moment, what I really wanted was to settle down, buy a house, have a family, and live that dream that my father had experienced. My parents were amazing people, and I wanted to enjoy life just as they had, with the family included in that. It was a crazy thought that was floating through my mind, and I knew it was the first time I had ever thought that way. But how could I not with Josie sitting there, listening to me?
Part of me wanted to take her into my arms and tell her just that, tell her how she had blown my mind since the first words that came out of her perfect little mouth. The other part of me knew that we had only been seeing each other for a few days, and getting too serious about our relationship at this point had the potential to chase someone away. Josie was the most amazing woman I had ever met in my entire life, and the last thing I wanted to do was scare her away with dreams like that. So, instead of bombarding her with dreams of grandeur and family, I held it inside, hoping one day that I would have the chance to let her know.
She was the most perfect woman I had ever met. She had these dreams that didn’t benefit her, but instead, benefitted the kids, the families, and the community. She thought selflessly about others, and I could see that she would give the shirt off her back if it promised a bright future for someone else. I wanted to make sure she had all of these things. I wanted to make it so she could have all of her dreams and have a life where she was treated like the queen that she was. There were a lot of women out there who felt like they deserved to be treated like that, but Josie was the first one I had ever met that actually deserved it. What made it even more special, was the fact that she didn’t even know how much she needed to be given those things. One day, I was determined to show her.
Chapter 8
Josie
After dinner and the intense conversation we had, we walked out onto the beach, enjoying the cool air, the sand under our toes, and the crashing of the waves beside us. The ocean had always been such an emotional place for me. The vastness of it made me think about how amazingly small we were. People enjoyed the waves and the water, but it was home for many, a strength that protected us from weather that had the ability to take us out, and a calming push and pull that connected all the way up the moon. I smiled to myself as I shook the thought from my head, realizing that I had gotten deep with that last thought. My hand brushed against Blaine’s, and he grabbed onto me, looking over and smiling as we walked along.
The cool water of the Atlantic rolled up over my feet and almost hit the bottom of my rolled-up pant legs. The sky was beautiful, and the air was the perfect temperature. Blaine and I had spent the evening bonding over more things in life, and I had this feeling in my chest that told me things couldn’t get any more perfect than they were right at that moment. As soon as that thought crashed through my mind, Blaine stopped me and pulled me close, kissing my lips gently. I was absolutely wrong. This was topping the list for the night.
At first, his kisses were tender, soft, and emotional, but as we discovered our bodies pushing against each other, the heat began to rise between us. He opened his mouth and ran his tongue across the crease of my lips, opening them up and inviting himself in. Our kiss grew deeper and deeper, and my hands clenched onto his muscles through his thin, gray t-shirt. Passion erupted between us, a passion even deeper than the one I experienced with him that first night.
The water rushed up to our legs, but it didn’t deter us. Our hands began to run down each other’s backs, and goosebumps ran down my neck as he rested his hand on my hips, pulling them into his. I could feel the outline of his large, semi-hard cock against me. The heat in my stomach quickly moved downward and the juices began to flow, pooling in my satin panties. His cologne smelled amazing, and by the time our lips parted, I was breathless and needy.
He stared deeply into my eyes and tucked the hair blowing against my cheek behind my ear. He leaned in and kissed me again, this time soft and gentle. He moved his lips to my cheek and lingered there, his skin barely touching mine. I breathed deeply, my heart beating crazily in my chest and my mind on something other than conversation. I wanted him so badly, and I was hoping that he would keep walking toward his place, which I knew wasn’t far from there. I wanted him to lay me down and take advantage of my body. I wanted to feel his mouth against mine and his tongue all over my skin as I melted beneath him.