Page 25 of Waves
Last night after a rather—ahem—heated make-out session, I expected Kai to at least try something. After all, I was a guy. I got it. Didn’t mean I would have said yes (who was I kidding, I totally would have), but I wouldn’t have taken offense if he put the moves on me. I should have realized someone as chill as Kai didn’t rush any aspect of his life.
Even though I got so hard I thought I might combust, we both kind of gradually stopped what we were doing. Once we calmed down, we snacked on a bunch of stuff from the fridge for dinner while watching another special on the animal channel (which I felt so glad to learn he enjoyed as much as me). After I left to shower and simultaneously remedy how horny being around him got me, I redressed and told him we should go to sleep. I actually had to wait a solid fifteen minutes in my room before accepting Kai must’ve gotten lost. Once I marched back out to the living room, I found him still on the couch lying on his back with no blankets or pillows. Ishmael glared at me from Kai’s legs while he rested his chin on the arm of the sofa, determined to keep Kai warm himself.
When asked what he was doing, Kai shrugged and wondered where else he should be. Kai really wasn’t a modern man by any standards. He remained under the impression I forgot about him because, of course, I didn’t mean to imply he could join me in my bed. I actually had to tug Kai by his hand to his feet and despite the short walk to my room, he told me no less than four times that he would happily sleep on the couch if I preferred him there and I shouldn’t feel obligated to let him join me. I almost broke down laughing by the time we reached my room.
Ishmael was happier than a pig in shit to have both of us in the bed, and he flopped right between us with his stuffed lobster firmly lodged in his mouth. He was not the only one happy to be here, either. Kai located plenty of pillows to pick from in my nest and buried himself right under the blankets with a smile. Last night I found myself as happy as them, and my good mood carried over this morning. I could really get used to waking up next to his mess of blonde waves.
Wiggling my hand around on my nightstand, I slid my phone closer until I could yank it off the charger. After snapping a quick picture of the cuteness occurring in my bed, I knew I would keep this one to myself. I posted the other photo I took last night, because I really didn’t see the harm of sharing Ishmael curled among our legs. Once I closed the camera and clicked back to the home screen... oh boy. The app icons lit up with red notifications.
I wasted a few moments scrolling through likes or comments left by friends and followers. Not to brag, but I had quite a few more online than I did here in town. I didn’t consider myself particularly attractive or talented or anything like that to warrant a respectable social media following. People enjoyed seeing a marine biologist’s view of nature, and pictures of Ishmael or various snapshots of the marine ecosystem made up the most of what I uploaded these days. The now nonexistent pictures of Thom and I really boosted my number of followers initially, but after news leaked of our split, I lost even more. I didn’t think Kai would garner so much interest so fast, but the people had spoken, and everyone wanted to know who the heck this mystery guy was. Perhaps some of my followers were interested in more than colorful ocean sunsets and fuzzy seal pups.
Having a little secret to myself felt kind of good, and as much as I enjoyed dangling Kai in front of my virtual audience, I fully intended to keep him to myself for much longer. I smiled while clicking back to my home screen and noticed Mary sent me a string of frantic messages.
Ezra, pls call me right away.
Ezra?
You need to check your profile.
Check all your accounts actually!
Idiot!! Did you forget your shit’s public or something??? I hope you meant to upload that picture you sent me.
I rolled onto my side and shot her a text back one-handed. It’s fine.
Mary replied so quickly, her phone must’ve been in front of her already. Is this the same guy from before?? Your beach Adonis??
Yes.
What happened?!? Did he message you finally??????
We ran into each other yesterday, and he came home with me again.
OMG!
Nothing happened.
Bull fucking shit. You are a lying liar who lies, she replied with a cheeky smiley face.
I giggled at her response and tapped a quick reply. It’s not like that with this one.
So... when do I get to meet him?
Soon.
Today.
No. No way. Way too soon to bring him around you.
Oh pls. It’s been like a month. Don’t act like you haven’t been texting him this whole time.
Still too soon. Maybe next time.
Today @ 12. Lunch special. You better be there with Poseidon.
Fine. See you then, I texted back with an eye roll smiley.
I was about to close my phone when I received one more ding, and a small red badge appeared in the corner of the messages app. I tapped the screen with my thumb, wondering what else Mary possibly had to say.