WAITING
We're waiting. We've been waiting for hours. And we're hungry. My roommate Davis and I have been waiting for his sister Ginni to arrive at our house in Boone. She lives about three hours away in Cullowhee. We've been waiting for her so we can go out and eat dinner, but she should've been here over an hour ago. Davis has been pacing around the room for nearly twenty minutes.
"Dude, I just don't understand where she is," he says with a face of irritation. "Yeah," I say, "and she's not even picking up her phone."
Finally, we hear the front door open. We both look at each other with surprise and wonder it's her. We peak around the corner and see her walk through the door.
"Sorry, I'm late," she says. "Traffic was jammed because of a car crash and my phone was dead."
Davis still appears frustrated with Ginni, but I can't seem to stay mad at her. When I see her I become overwhelmed with joy, although I refuse to express it. I was never one for expressing my feelings, but today something about her makes me want to. I stare in awe at the way her curly blonde hair trickles down to her shoulders. After Davis is done yelling at her, she greets me. I try to hold a conversation with her, but her subtle freckles and her light blue eyes continually distract me.
Davis quickly interrupts the interaction and urges us to get into his car. I can tell through Davis' anger that he's starving, so I lead the way outside. Then, Ginni quickly runs past me and calls shotgun. We pile into the car, this time with me in the back, and make our way to Our Daily Bread, the best deli in Boone.
On our drive there, Ginni turns on some music. Together we sing along, although she is better at singing than me. Davis sings along in bursts, stopping suddenly when he realizes his hunger, and starting again when he succeeds in ignoring it.
After a short car ride filled with whale noises, we arrive at Our Daily Bread. Today the restaurant's atmosphere is especially calm, with us practically being the only customers. As we walk in, a skinny waiter with a bushy moustache spot us and appears almost surprised that we are there.
"Sit wherever you'd like", he says, and we make our way to a booth. I make sure to sit next to Ginni in an effort to connect with her more. We each order waters, Davis orders a panini with soup, I order a toasted sandwich with potato salad, and Ginni, who doesn't like bread, orders a salad and a chili.
When we get our food, I attempt to make Ginni eat my bread.
"I'll give you five dollars if you eat this bread", I say.
"No," she responds, "bread is disgusting, just like you."
I counterattack Ginni's insult, "I hope you spill that hot chili on yourself and get third degree burns."
Ginni and I have always had an interesting relationship. We have a rivalry like that of a brother and sister, yet I have very strong feelings for her. She's weird, but she's fun, and when I'm with her my heart feels just a little bit lighter. Davis knows I like her. I confessed it to him a while ago, but I'm pretty sure he figured it out long before then. I'm not exactly sure if he approves of it, but he knows that nothing will come of my attempts to flirt because she simply lives too far away. Deep down I know it too, but it never hurts to try.
Throughout the meal I try my hardest to make Ginni laugh. She has a beautiful smile that reminds me of all the joy in the world. It's one of those smiles that makes other people smile. I feel like I've won an award whenever I see it.
We each finish our meals and pay our bills separate. We make our way back home, but this time we're all so full that we've grown tired. Ginni and I both pat our stomach's and talk about our food babies. I tell her that I hope mine is a girl, but she says that she's waiting until the food baby is born to see what sex it is.
When we get back to the house, we go into Davis' room and try to find something to watch on TV. Ginni and Davis argue about what they want to watch, until I finally mediate the situation by turning on a nature documentary. At first Ginni and Davis express their opposition but are soon mesmerized by the cinematography that captures the majesty of our planet.
We all watch the documentary together and let the TV play through the series. Before we know it, the sun has set, and it is late at night. Ginni and Davis start to fall asleep, so I excuse myself. As I begin to walk out of the room, Ginni tries to get me to stay.
"The night has only begun," she claims. I chuckle at her statement and at how sleepy her voice sounds. I can barely make words out of her murmurs. I walk out of the room to no resistance.
I go into my room and get ready for bed. I brush my teeth, wash my face, and strip down to my boxers. I then turn the lights and lie down. As I stare at the ceiling, which now looks like a black abyss, I think about how good my day was. I had fun with Ginni and Davis, and I hope tomorrow is even better.
My mind then wanders to just Ginni. I think about what my life could be like if she lived near us or if I lived near her. Maybe we would date then, or perhaps we would have never met. Slowly, my mind stops thinking and I trail off into slumber…
What seems like a few hours later, I am woken up by a very strange feeling. Someone is crawling into bed with me, and I can feel their smooth legs brushing up against mine. Amongst my fear and confusion, I feel a tingling sensation in my spine. I mutter out a "What?" and realize that the culprit is Ginni. She snuggles up to my shoulder and quietly shushes me. The feeling of her curly hair on my bare skin is satisfying, but something tells me that this is wrong. This is my roommate's sister after all.
"What are you doing", I whisper to her. With her eyes closed, she responds with, "I missed you."
Part of my brain is alert and wants to put an end to this scandalous event, but another part of me knows that this is all I ever wanted.
I try to mutter out a few words. "I…uhm…I don't think…" Before I finish my disaster of a sentence, Ginni embraces me and gives me a light kiss. She finishes it of by rubbing my nose with hers, like a signature.
"Sometimes you talk to much", she tells me.
I then stop worrying and close my eyes. We each lie our head on a pillow and begin to relax our minds. As I'm getting ready to fall asleep, I feel her hand touch mine. She interlocks our fingers and grabs my hand tightly for a second before easing up.
I begin to fall asleep again, but my mind is thinking again. I wonder if she'll stay the whole night with me or leave so we don't get caught. I wonder what Davis would think of all of this. I wonder if this encounter with Ginni is a onetime thing, or something I can look forward to in the future. I then silence my mind and decide that these questions can wait until the morning.
With Ginni's hand clasping mine, I fall into a deep, relaxing sleep.