Page 62 of Something New

"Yes."

"And can I fall asleep on your shoulder and you tuck me in when you go to bed?"

"Are you making me let you sleep on the couch?"

"It's an amazing couch, and I want to. I'll put out blankets and make it really cozy. And I have a whole big plan. I want to fall asleep snuggled up while the movie's still on, and then you can tuck me in and turn it off. Then I can wake up in the morning and drink coffee with you. Maybe you can come back over to me and snuggle again."

"That doesn't sound like a terrible plan."

"That's not all terrible. And I have more stuff I want to do."

"You do?"

"Yes, tomorrow. I want to get t-shirts and play carnival games. Can you do one where you punch something or hit some kind of target and win me a giant prize?"

He laughed. "Yes. Find me a game, and I'll win a giant prize for you."

"You will? I'll find it," I said, laughing with him. "We're joking, but if we're not leaving till Monday, I really would like to do something fun in this city tomorrow."

"I'm down for that. In a place this big, there's got to be someplace for me to win you a prize."

"I also want to buy a t-shirt and maybe have our caricature drawn or our picture taken by someone else, and maybe get ice cream and walk on the beach. Oh, my goodness Jn'Michael, I'm not going to be able to snuggle you too long in the morning. We've got a big day coming together—a lot to accomplish."

"We better go get started," he said, setting down his coffee cup.

Epilogue

The following day

I woke up to the smell of breakfast and coffee the following morning. We ate and hung out in the room for the first hour, and then I got dressed and we went out for the day.

We went for a long walk on the beach and then to lunch. We did some shopping and stopped at three art galleries. I bought myself two t-shirts that said 'Miami' and one for John-Michael and Ethan as well. I also bought Ethan a small but realistic dinosaur that I knew he would love.

It was about 4pm when we decided to go back to the hotel. We rested for a while and drank a cup of coffee before going to dinner at a sushi place. Later, we found the small section of the boardwalk with my beloved carnival games. I had scoped it out earlier in the day. I knew it would be so cool to take photos there at night, and I was pumped about going.

We had already played two games—the bottle toss and the one where you swing a heavy hammer and see how strong you are. John-Michael won me prizes at both of them—one small and one medium. I had on a cute skirt with Chucks and one of my Miami tourist shirts, and I was loving life.

We stopped for a minute so that I could eat some cotton candy. I stood there, taking in all the sights, sounds, and tastes. My camera was hanging over my shoulder and all was right with the world. I loved all the noise and action. I had the best day, and I was just so peaceful and dreamy feeling as I stood there taking it all in.

"What's that smile about?" he said. "Are you dreaming about a tattoo?"

"Me? Oh…" I paused and realized I had been staring absentmindedly into a tattoo shop that happened to be in my line of vision. "No, actually, I was thinking about other things… just having fun today, and… " I snapped my eyes up to meet his gaze. "But sometime I might… I wasn't looking at that tattoo shop just now. I didn't even realize it was there. But I do want to warn you, J, I am a little weird. I know I made fun of them for the teeth, and said I thought he was cheesy, but I'm still a weirdo a little bit. I just want to warn you in case you… I won't do any drugs, or anything against God, but I might not always have normal fashion choices."

He tilted his head at me and smiled in such a way as to tell me that he was not at all surprised by my warning or worried about my fashion choices. "You do realize that when we met you had a windshield all the way across your face."

I laughed at the thought of my bedraggled outfit that morning. "So, you're saying you like that I'm weird," I said, teasing him.

He gave me a confident shrug. "If you want to put it that way."

"I do," I said, making him laugh a little. "I heard back from Jonathan when I was heading into the restroom a minute ago."

"Really? Was he being serious?"

"Yes. He's not coming to the airport tomorrow. He's staying. I guess Nick likes his photography or whatever, anyway, he's keeping him around. I don't know for how long, but he's staying for now. It works out because he was having trouble in Raleigh anyway—not making ends meet."

"Is he just staying here forever? Not going back to get his things?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea. His text made it sound like he's never going back. He sounds happy. And I'm glad they have it worked out with the photography and everything from last night. That makes me feel better."