Wes and I never did talk once he came back on Sunday. I was a procrastinator, and I had left off all my homework the entire weekend until Sunday night. Not that it bothered me, since for no particular reason I was a little peeved with Wes.
The week was shorter than the rest, since thanksgiving break was that coming weekend. Both Wes and I had all our classes cancelled on Wednesday, so we both could leave after just two days that week. I couldn't wait to go home, since I hadn't been home since I came to school in August. But Wes was about to throw a wrench in my plans.
We had one last dance practice on Monday night before break. We had the annual Winter Show coming up, and Wes and I were performing the duet we'd been working on since September. It was pretty much perfect in my opinion, but Mona wanted one more practice before the long weekend, just to be safe. I'd actually wanted to avoid seeing Wes for a while, hoping space would give me a break from all this craziness that was happening to me. That failed.
We didn't talk much when we were at the theater, since all both of us wanted was just to get out of there. But when Mona finally let us go, I dashed to the Women's dressing room before Wes could pin me down. My efforts worked until I walked out of the dressing room and found Wes waiting for me.
"Tia. Hey." He said, awkwardly.
"Hey." I replied.
We stood in silence for a bit, just watching each other. Wes spoke again.
"Listen, I know you've been avoiding me ever since I came back. I don't get it... Why? You know I just want to help! I'm worried about...."
I cut him off by holding up a hand. "Wes, I have no idea why you're so worried. I'm dealing with this myself. Don't worry about me." I smiled, hoping to placate him.
Apparently it worked, because his shoulders relaxed and he moved closer to me, wrapping his arms around me. I returned the gesture, burying my face in his unzipped jacket. He ran his hand up and down my back and pressed his cheek into my hair. He spoke after a few minutes.
"I have a question for you Tia..."
"Mmmf?" I mumbled into his chest, not willing to lift my head.
"So I know how excited you've been to go home, but I was wondering... well, if you wanted to have thanksgiving with my family instead?"
At this request I lifted my head to look at him and pulled away just a bit, still keeping my arms around him. "Have you not been listening to me, Wes? I haven't been home in FOUR MONTHS. I'd love to meet your family, but I need to see mine first. I'm sorry."
His face dropped a bit, but then regained his previous enthusiasm. "What if I came with you instead?"
I was shocked. "Uh... well... I don't know." The truth was, I hadn't even told my parents about Wes yet. So how would it sound if I called home now and said, Hey mom, Hey dad, so I have a boyfriend that I'm going to bring home for thanksgiving. Yeah we've been dating a while, I just didn't want to tell you! But the idea of bringing him home sounded right to me. I made a choice.
"Sure Wes. I'd like that. I'll call my parents and tell them now."
"Great!" He beamed down at me and let me go so I could pull out my phone.
I proceeded to pull out my cell phone and dial home. I had forgotten that my brother was home too until I heard his voice answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Jessie? What the heck are you doing there?"
"I'm already off, Tia. You knew that!" He laughed. "So what's up?"
"Oh right." I laughed too. "Um get Mom and Dad on the phone too."
"Kay." There was a pause, then some yelling, and after a couple seconds, both my parents picked up a phone and joined the conversation.
"Okay, well. I don't really know how to put this. Um... Well I sort of have a boyfriend. His name's Wesley, and I was wondering if he could come home with me for Thanksgiving?" I closed my eyes and clenched my other hand around Wes'.
There was silence on the other end. Then three things happened at once. My brother started laughing, my mom started asking millions of questions, and my dad just said 'Well sure!'
I laughed with my brother again. "Wait wait wait guys! One at a time!" I told them.
My dad spoke first. "Sure, Tia. He can come home with you. We'd love to meet him."
"So how long have you been dating?" My mom asked.
"Well... it'll be a month... Oh my god!"
"What?" my entire family said, in sync.
"It'll be one month tomorrow!" I hadn't realized we'd been dating for a month already. It had seemed to fly by so fast.
"Well congrats, Sweetie. We're all excited to meet him!" My dad told me.
"Thanks, guys. We're actually about to go work on some calc stuff, so I've gotta go. I'll see you soon!" I bid each one goodbye separately, promising my brother I'd call him later that night.
I finally hung up and turned back to Wes. He looked at me expectantly, although I knew he already knew it was a yes. Our eyes met, and a smile spread across our faces simultaneously. He squeezed my hand, and tugged a bit, pulling me towards the door. I followed along, feeling happier than ever that it had gone over so well with my parents.
I spent the night at Wes', not feeling motivated enough to go to my own room. I felt like I needed to be around him even more than I'd ever felt before. The feelings I'd started the day out with had been replaced by nothing more than simple devotion and love. We were in a better place at that moment than we'd ever been before.
We got back to his room, and he changed into sweatpants, leaving his shirt off. He never slept with one, and I was just fine with that. I stole a pair of his shorts and a white t-shirt of his, and when I came back into his room, he whistled at me.
"What?" I asked confusedly.
"You look so beautiful in my stuff." Wes said, and grabbed me around the waist. He pulled me down on the bed on top of him, and I squeaked in surprise.
I playfully hit him with the bundle of my clothes still in my hand. "Wes!! At least let me put my stuff down!"
He laughed and let me up to put my things down. I took my hair out of it's messy ponytail and shook it out. I turned back to Wes, still laying face up in the bed, his arms behind his head. His hair was messed up from dance, and his perfectly defined muscles dazzled me. Our eyes met again, and a silent exchange passed between us. We didn't have to say anything. We just knew at that moment neither of us had been happier.
How did I get so lucky? I thought to myself as I laid down on the bed beside him. I snuggled up to his bare chest, and he wrapped both arms around me. We fell asleep like that, wrapped up in each other's arms.
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