Always the One (Always and Forever 1)

He reaches over and grabs my hand, delicately rubbing the inside of my palm with his fingers. “He was expecting us to get together. He was shocked we didn’t do this shit earlier.”

This is news to me, when did he say that? Yeah, we were best friends growing up, but we never acted like anything more. Besides the cuddling, sometimes hand holding during scary movies, oh yeah, and the freaking cuddling. Holy cow, maybe we knew the whole time we were supposed to be together—that we wanted to be together—and just buried our feelings deep down inside us. Lana was right. What kind of friends cuddle?

“You know people keep saying that, are we the only oblivious ones?” I ask.

“Well yeah, but I guess the natural chemistry couldn’t be hidden. To this day, I still tell anyone who asks that we were fucking meant for each other.” I stop his fingers from playing with my hand and lace our hands together.

“Really?” I absorb the next few seconds as they play out in front of me.

“Yeah, I do. Too many years and even more time together was missed out on. We were robbed of all that time to be a couple. So, I’m making it up to us, every day.” He really knows how to make a girl feel special, that isn’t something every average Joe would say. He kisses each of my knuckles and it makes my heart warm.

“Me too, handsome, me, too.”

Silences falls on us again, and I know we are both picturing what our lives would have been like if we got together sooner. It’s a somber thought, one that doesn’t fit in with this car ride or our current situation. We can’t change the past but we can enjoy the future.

I want to make this car ride fun; I mean how often will we get to do this? We’re both business owners, so getting a week off is not that easy to do. “Enough with the heavy, how about some music. I’m thinking eighties hits?” He smiles and with a quick nod I flip on my Pandora and select my favorite eighties classics. When the first few notes to Whitney Houston’s “I Want To Dance With Somebody” makes its way through the speakers, Trey instantly shouts and turns up the volume.

“Oh! Hell yeah! This is my jam, babe!” His face is joyous, completely unbashful. It’s infectious.

It takes a real man to admit that he likes a chick song. I can’t stop laughing as he moves his head to the beat, snapping his fingers in sync with the rhythm. Man, no way am I letting this pass up. Grabbing my phone slowly so he doesn’t notice what I’m doing, I open the camera and switch it to video. Hitting record right as the chorus comes on, I hold it at an angle so it looks inconspicuous. He throws his hand up in the air, keeping the other firmly placed on the steering wheel.

He’s singing along, unashamed, and moving his hands down his chest in repetitive motions. I seriously can’t feel my cheeks they are burning from smiling so big, and my abs are sore from all my laughing. I see drivers passing, pointing at him and smiling; yep, that’s my man!

“I want to dance with you, babe.” He’s pointing at me and making a come hither motion, before he goes back to waving his hand in the air. I can’t contain myself anymore, nearly peeing my pants when he starts with the spirit fingers.

“You know you love it when I make you laugh, baby!” he shouts over the music. “Now dance with your man, don’t leave me hanging.” By far, this is the best edition of road trip karaoke yet. Trey always does cute things like this with me. But this takes the cake. One minute we’re discussing relationships and fears, the next he’s making me fall in love harder with his humor, I have the perfect man.

“You’re crazy! Stop!” He keeps pulling at my hands, trying to get me to dance with him. Eventually, I give in and we spend the next five hours listening to eighties music, out-singing each other. This has been the best road trip ever, just like Trey said it would.

Pulling up to the hotel has my palms sweating and my stomach turning. I grew up with Trey and I know his parents very well, but this is different. I’m his girlfriend, and that holds new expectations, and I’m doubting whether I meet those or not.

“You ready, beautiful?” Grabbing my hand, he pulls it up to his lips and plants a gentle kiss that I can still feel when they leave their spot on my knuckles.

“No,” I reply.

He gives me a gentle smirk while he opens his door. “Baby, get out of the car. You’ve got this. We’ve got this.” I feel a little tinge of comfort with his words. Please, let them love me, let them love me for their son. Shit.

Getting out of the car, I follow behind him. Well, actually, I hide behind Trey, my hand squeezing his so hard it’s to the point of breaking it. We haven’t even made it to the lobby yet, and this is only day one. For the next four days, Trey and I are spending time in Park City with not only Lana and Kingston, but also Trey’s dad and stepmom, Kathy. A small smile curls at the corner of my lips when I think of Kathy. She really is like the mom in our group, other than Lana’s mom, Becky, she was the one I grew close with. Kathy’s an amazing stepmom to Trey. Honestly, you wouldn’t even know they aren’t related if you had no idea about his real mom. I’m not worried about her accepting us together; it’s Pops that I want to accept me.

Oh man, I hope this nerve-wracking feeling will dissipate and I’ll be able to remember, for the remainder of the trip, that this is his dad. The man I always called my second dad.

“Baby, it’s okay. Pops loves you and it isn’t any different now that you’re mine.” He moves his hand back and forth between us, signaling him and me. He’s right, I’m overreacting.

“I know, but I just want him to see me as your girlfriend, not the freckle-faced nerd who loved Star Trek and reading. Like I said earlier, the friend, who you used to run around with.” I add more emphasis on the word friend, stressing my point.

“Shay, my dad has seen you in the past ten years. You grew up a long time ago. Besides, I know you still love Star Trek…nerd.” He smiles as a small chuckle leaves my lips.

“Well, can you blame me, that Chris Pine is pr

etty dang sexy. I mean those eyes and those lips, yum, right?” I tease; he looks at me over his shoulder and I chuckle at his irritated expression.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. I’m way fucking hotter than that guy. My eyes are the only eyes you’ll look into, and my lips will be the only lips touching you or tasting you,” he gives back, with a cocky quirk of his brow.

“I mean I guess you are, Chris Pine is probably taken,” I continue joking; riling him up even more. Turning, he drops my hand then grasps me, pulling me to him by the hem of my black hoodie, I collide into his body.

“I’m an insanely jealous man, and I don’t like sharing you.” He leans in and takes my bottom lip between his teeth. Tugging lightly, he sucks it hard before letting it go again. “Besides, no other man can rock you to your fucking core like I can, baby. Lucky for you I know you are joking and you can’t resist this insanely good-looking man, so I won’t even give those comments any more of my time.” Leaving me there, he checks us in and I regain all consciousness while my libido is kicking into overdrive. Holy cow that was hot. He’s so full of himself and that is one of the many things I like about him. It counteracts with his insecurities, letting me know that the real Trey is somewhere deep in there, I just need to keep working on it with him.

Letting my mind wander again, once I’ve come out of my Trey-induced fog, I remember I brought some…select style nightwear for our trip, or for my first time. I’m more than ready to take this relationship to the next level, because all this temporary bliss is killing me and I want the whole package.