Someone Else's Ocean

“Something else bothering ya?”

“Nope.”

“So, this friend is nothing more? I think you pretend. I will wait here with a bottle of your banana rum,” he joked as he handed me three fresh bouquets.

A month had passed since Ella left the island and Ian had managed to get back to the States twice. Each time he went I got a taste of missing him. Wanting to believe it was good exercise for my heart, I spent my days alone venturing out of my house, keeping dinner dates with Jasmine. I’d even graced her infamous wine bar again, got drunk off my ass and ended up dancing until the wee hours of the morning. I may have accidentally slipped up that night and borrowed Jasmine’s phone to FaceTime my soon to be ex non-boyfriend.

He appeared on screen with a scowl. It was, after all, two o’clock in the morning.

“What in the hell are you doing, Koti?”

“Just wanted to check in with you, crocky.”

“It’s late.”

“Or early, don’t be such a pessimist.”

He groaned as I tilted the phone down giving him an ample shot of my cleavage. “Try to use your nice words, I might be in the midst of missing you and you’re going to fuck it all up.”

He grinned then as he sat up in bed. “I might be missing you too. A little. But I have to say there are perks of sleeping in my own bed.”

“Yeah, like what?”

“I don’t get slapped in the head every night.”

“That’s active dreaming, totally unintentional.”

“I don’t have a dog trying to lick my balls in the morning.”

“That’s not her fault, they look a lot more fun than they are.”

He lifted a brow. “I’ll grant you that.”

Ziggy Marley sang “Drive” over the radio as I stood and swayed my hips.

“So, I take it Jasmine finally talked you into another night out.”

“Are you proud of me?”

His smile had me melting on the spot I was swaying in. “Very.”

“Well, I didn’t do it so you would be proud of me. Believe it or not, I love to dance.”

“Then we should dance together.”

Stopping my hips, I stood at a nearby stool at the bar. “You dance?”

“God, you act like I’m the Grinch.”

“If the Whoville hat fits.”

He shook his head, giving me that dead stare I’d grown to love.

“I’ll be back in four days. I’m trying to tie some things up here.”

It wasn’t my place to ask what things, so I didn’t. “K. See you then. Night.”

There was a pause on his end as his eyes swept my face, the silence conveying more than we were allowed. “Night, beauty.”