For all of you dedicated reviewers, here is a fluff chapter, just for you! ;) Sorry it took me so long for this one. You know how life is. I hope it's alright… it took me a super long time to write because I didn't want it to be cheesy or to suck.
Chapter 7: In the Garden
He knew their time together was growing shorter by the hour. Julie's flight was scheduled to depart at 9:45pm on Saturday night, and it was already after 10pm on Friday. He glanced over at her as she laughed at one of Averman's jokes, her blonde hair shining in the bright lights of the game room at Bombay's house. It had been almost impossible to get some quality alone time with her since Connie and Charlie were often around, and as usual, Julie was preoccupied with Connie's life. Portman didn't care that Julie often worried about Connie; he just wanted some time alone with his new girlfriend.
"Hey Jules," he called from the doorway, pretending to be offering her a drink. She excused herself from the conversation and walked over to him, rolling her eyes in reference to Averman.
"I thought I was never going to get away. Thanks," she said, smiling and following him into the kitchen.
"I was thinking we could go outside for a while. I've never seen Bombay's backyard," he said, feeling lame after he'd said it.
Julie feigned ignorance at why he would want to go outside and answered, "Sure."
They were starting to get over the awkwardness that came when they hugged or held hands, but both of them still felt the butterflies that had taken up permanent residence. Julie got the usual swooping feeling in her stomach as she squeezed by Portman, who was holding the patio door open for her. They slowly walked past the large in ground pool and ventured up the path to the garden at the far corner of the very large backyard. They could hear music from inside and Julie swore she heard Averman telling someone the same joke he had just told her. She shook her head and smiled, looking up at Portman. "They're still all crazy," she laughed, nudging him a little.
"Am I still crazy?" he asked, nudging her back a little harder to knock her off balance slightly. She recovered quickly and hurried back to playfully whack him on the arm, taking off running the rest of the way up the garden path. She flopped down onto a bench swing that overlooked the garden and grinned at Portman as he walked the rest of the path.
He joined her on the bench, putting his arm around her shoulders with a smile. "Do I think you're still crazy?" Julie continued, "Of course I do." They both laughed a little, hugging each other and releasing some of the slight nervousness between them.
They sat silently for at least ten minutes, watching the crowd inside the house as they leaned on each other. Out of the corner of her eye, Julie noticed movement in the kitchen. She glanced back over at the kitchen to see Connie and Charlie sneaking a kiss in the kitchen, thinking no one was watching. Julie silently nudged Portman, nodding her head in the direction of the kitchen. "I guess they think no one is watching," he said.
"Do you think anyone is watching us?" Julie asked, looking up at Portman.
"Do I care?" Portman asked, leaning closer to her.
"I don't," she replied, as he closed the distance between them. The wooshing sound filled her ears again as she closed her eyes and slipped her arms around his neck, leaning into his kiss.
In the kitchen, Connie looked out at the backyard. The garden swing was slightly illuminated by the citronella torches that lined the path. "Hey, look," she said to Charlie, who was pouring her a glass of Coke.
"Hmm, I guess they think no one is watching," Charlie said, handing her the cup.
"Yeah, but I doubt they care," Connie said, smiling at him as they walked back out into the game room.
As the minutes passed them by, Julie and Portman sat silently on the swing, his arm around her and her head on his shoulder. They sat in contented silence, the swing creaking as they slowly swung back and forth. The crowd inside the house was getting rowdier, apparently feeling the martinis that Michele was making at the bar. "You want to go back in?" Julie whispered, not moving her head.
"No, do you?" Portman asked, looking down at her.
She shook her head and looked up at him somewhat sadly. "I'm not going to miss them when I leave tomorrow night," she said softly. He smiled back at her sadly, kissing her forehead and pulling her a little closer.
"Do you want to get out of here?" he asked a few minutes later, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.
She didn't respond verbally, but pulled out her own phone. They both brought their phones up to their ears. "Con, I'm going back to the hotel… see you in the morning," she said, seeing her friend answer her phone. Connie looked out the window into the back yard and smiled, hanging up her phone without a word.
"Hey, the lady and I are out of here. See you in the AM, dude," Portman said, nodding through the window at Fulton, who was playing pool with Guy, Goldberg, and Banks.
They silently walked a block and a half down the street to where Portman has hidden his Camaro earlier that day. A few of the other Ducks had parked their cars near Portman's so that they could leave the party separately after traveling to the game in a large group. By now, it was 11:30pm and the neighborhoods were asleep. "This place is so different from Chicago," she said softly, as they sat at a stoplight, "Chicago never sleeps…"
Portman glanced over at her and squeezed her hand briefly before returning his hand to the shifter to take off from the light. "If we can manage to be in Chicago at the same time, I'll take you to some great places. I really miss that place…" his voice drifted off.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he leaned his elbow against the door to support his head. "And it makes it worse knowing that you're there… in my city, on those streets I know so well. I can just see you at Gino's, or Millennium Park… It makes me not want to go back to A&M this year," he said softly as he frowned in thought.
"Well, why did you go?" she asked, something she'd been dying to ask since she found out during their senior year of high school that he and Fulton were going to Texas.
He shrugged, shifting into 4th gear. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. They had a good management school and I was finally going to do something that my parents wanted me to do for once. My dad went to A&M and that's where he met my mom. They were in brother-sister greek houses. It was so "fairy tale," as my mom likes to say," he said, rolling his eyes in disdain.
"But you're not your dad," Julie said, knowing this was a seriously sensitive subject for him.
"I know… but I don't want them to think I'm a failure," he said somewhat sadly. "But they will really like you," he said, his hand squeezing hers again, "Mom thinks nursing is a noble and thankless profession."
"Did you tell them about me or something?" Julie asked.
He chuckled and said, "Yeah, she overheard my brother and I talking, so then I got the third degree. They already knew who you were anyway from the Ducks."
They pulled into the Marriott parking lot and made their way up to Julie's room. "We can watch a movie," Julie said, leaning against him in the elevator.
"You can watch it and I can watch you. I want to memorize you before you leave," he said, smiling sadly.
"This is going to be so hard, you know that?" she said, her face buried in his chest.
"I know… but I don't care," he said softly, leading her out of the elevator and down the hall.
Julie was yawning before she could even pull her shoes off, and she crawled under the covers in her bed as Portman searched for the remote. "Hey!" he laughed, pulling off his own shoes and flopping down on the bed to bounce her.
"Sorry… I'm really sleepy," she yawned, pulling back the covers so he could join her in the bed. He flipped to a channel that was showing "I, Robot" and then tossed the remote onto the other bed.
He found himself fighting sleep as he watched Julie, who wasn't even pretending to watch the movie. Her eyes kept fluttering shut as she fell asleep and woke herself back up again and again. He scooted close enough to her to feel her breath as she slept, and he closed his own eyes for a few minutes, enjoying the fact that he was in bed with her. In his drowsiness, he thought he heard her breathing pattern change, and then he felt a finger tracing his cheek. "Are you asleep?" she whispered, her finger continuing to trace his cheek.
"Not really," he whispered in reply, still keeping his eyes closed for a second longer before opening them. She was sitting up slightly, leaning on her elbow and looking down at him. "How long have you been awake? You were out of it a few minutes ago," he asked, rolling over on his back to look at her.
"Not long," she replied, sliding down to lay her head back on the pillow. "You should turn off that light," she said, nodding to the lamp behind him. He looked at her somewhat strangely but rolled over to turn off the light. The bathroom light and the TV provided a small amount of light, but the room was basically dark. He could see her bright eyes staring into his as they silently lay on the bed.
"What are you thinking about?" she whispered, leaning forward to touch her forehead to his.
"Everything," he whispered in reply, not able to resist touching her face. Her cheek was incredibly soft, and she sighed as he rubbed it with his thumb.
"When am I going to see you again?" she asked, tears appearing in her eyes.
"As soon as possible. Fall break? Sooner?" he said, seeing the tears that were forming, "Don't worry, Julie. The time will fly. You'll be busy with school and we'll talk every night on the phone… it's going to be okay."
"I know it will be… it's just going to be hard. I'm going to miss you so much," she said, her throat getting tight as she tried not to cry.
"I'm going to be thinking about you non stop," he said, smiling at her and wiping away the one tear that made its way down her cheek.
"Sorry," she whispered, wiping her eyes.
"It's alright. If you want to cry, you can. I don't mind," he said soothingly, pulling her closer to kiss her cheek. She smiled as more tears leaked out of her eyes. Most people told her not to cry… she'd spent years playing sports with boys who would make fun of her if she'd cry. And now, one of the guys she'd thought would make fun of her the most was now telling her that it was alright to cry. So she did.
He'd never seen her cry from sadness. Not once. She and Connie cried from happiness frequently, but he had never seen The Cat Lady so upset that she was crying. It was strange for him. Yet, it made him want to cry himself; he didn't, mind you, but the thought was there.
Her tears stopped as quickly as they had started, and now they were left staring at each other, wondering what the other was thinking. "Will you stay here tonight?" she blurted out.
"Do you think that's a good idea?" he asked. He wasn't sure how much control he would be able have if they started making out.
"Afraid you won't be able to control yourself?" she whispered with a smile.
He frowned at her and said, "Ha. Ha. You're so funny."
"So will you stay or not?" she asked again, slipping out of bed to grab her pajamas.
"I'll stay. But you have to behave," he said, sitting up to pull off his shirt.
"Me? I'm not going to misbehave," she said, starting to unbutton her pants. "Oh, better close your eyes," she smirked, unzipping them.
Before climbing back into bed, Julie turned off the TV and the bathroom light. The room was now pitch black.
He could sense her location, and he reached out to stroke her hair as she looked at him. She couldn't believe she had asked him to stay, but now here he was, in her bed. With his shirt off. They didn't have to say it… they both knew that tonight wasn't going to be "the night," but they were still both nervous as hell. She hadn't ever spent the whole night with someone, and he'd never spent the night with someone like her. Someone he loved.
She relaxed enough to be able to snuggle up to him and he put his arms around her waist and kissed her forehead. He didn't want to rush anything, especially since he really just wanted to ravage her right then and there. But then she kissed him, breaking the tension and allowing him to kiss her as much as he wanted.
"Julie… I want to tell you something…" he began, whispering in her ear after pulling her body to his, "I keep getting this feeling… You're going to think I'm crazy. But I'm in love with you. Already." She kissed him again, this time softly and slowly.
"That's exactly what I said to Connie on Monday," she said, her hands in is hair as he kissed her neck.
"How could you not be?" he whispered in her ear again, chuckling as she pretended to bite his arm.
"It was inevitable," she smiled, and they both knew that she wasn't joking.
To be continued…
