Love Under Quarantine

“I’ll drink to that.”

“Now put your TV on. Lord of the Rings is about to start and it’s one of my favorites.” I unmute my TV just as the wonderful opening music begins. God, I love this film.

“Never seen it,” he comments.

“No? Well get comfortable because they’re showing all three so we’re here for the duration.”

“Is this a date?” His voice is a low, sexy rumble. The kind I imagine might come with a saucy little grin.

“Of course, it’s a date. Every time we come near each other it somehow winds up being a date,” I say with a laugh, filling up a fork with gooey carby goodness.

“This is about wizards and shit, right?”

“Yes, it is, and you’re going to love it. It’s such an epic tale. The world-building is amazing. Not to mention that Aragorn is smokin’ hot. For you, there’s some eye candy in the form of warrior maidens and winsome elvish ladies fluttering their lashes. Plus, there’s heaps of battle scenes. Helm’s Deep is my favorite. It’s so full on.”

He chuckles around what I assume to be a bite of food. “Okay, okay. You’ve sold me. We’re watching it,” he says. “Except you know what this means? Next time I get to choose.”

“Sounds fair.”

“And you have to watch a ball game with me sometime.”

“By ballgame do you mean porn?”

“Ha ha. Very funny. You’re watching a sport with me, Sadie. I’ll explain all of the rules and everything. It’ll be fine. You’ll like it. Trust me.”

“Can’t we just watch porn? I think it would be far more educational…for you.” I tease while laughing, knowing he’s going to jump on me like cheese on a hamburger.

“Are you suggesting I might need some sex education? Because I thought I proved everything is all A’s in that department just yesterday. I mean, I made you come without touching or kissing you. I’m thinking that’s some phenomenal prowess.”

“Fine, you win. Still when it comes to the sport, football for me has always been this odd event that happens before and after a cool mini-concert once a year. Lady Gaga was my favorite though Shakira and J. Lo were awesome too.”

“You’re killing me.”

“And we all gather together with drinks and lots of different snacks to watch the mini-concert and cool ads. Then dudes run around a field doing something. I’m not sure what. Never really paid attention to that part of things.”

Evan groans loudly. “You have so much to learn. I would have thought the guys running around in tight pants would have at least caught your interest.”

“It’s true. I do admire their thighs.”

He chuckles. “You’re going to learn about football, Sadie. And you’re going to like it. You can’t date a baller without going to the games. Assuming all of this shit gets sorted out with the pandemic and I get to play professionally again. Someday.”

“It will be, Evan. Do not give up hope. I won’t allow it. You’re a great player.”

“How do you know? By your own admission, you’ve never even watched a game.”

“I don’t care. I know things. Important things. And this is one of them. This whole doping scandal and whoever set you up is all going to get sorted out. Your career is not over, and you will be exonerated! Do you understand me?” My voice brooks no argument with how strongly I feel about this.

A pause. “Yes, ma’am. Hell, I wouldn’t dare disagree. You’re kind of scary when you get going. Sexy scary, but still a little teeth-rattling.”

“I’m sorry I had to use my ‘fuck with me and die’ voice on you. But this is important.”

“You have names for your different voices?” he asks.

“Indeed, I do, and you just heard one scarily close to DEFCON one, my friend. That’s reserved for people who commit true acts of bastardry. Or if someone mildly inconveniences me when I’m hungry or something. It kind of depends on the day. Let’s hope we never have to go there.”

“You know we’re going to.”

“Hmm?”

“We keep this up, I’m going to hear you go ballistic one day. I guarantee it. At some hopefully long off time in the future, I will annoy the living shit out of you. In fact, I’m kind of looking forward to it. Which is a surprise, because I never hung around for that sort of thing before. But with you, it’s different. It’ll mean you trust me enough to go off because you know you’re safe with me. And you’ll know I’ll still be there once you’ve calmed your ass down.”

My heart doubles in size for some reason. It’s pressing against the cage of my ribs, trying to hold in all of the emotions he evokes in me. Any day now it’s going to burst and make an awful mess. There’ll be clingy delicate feelings all over the place. I just know it. And after the year or so of nothing that was my relationship with the ex, the idea of feelings is more than a little scary. “That sounds dangerously like you’re forecasting the possibility of a serious relationship between us, Evan.”