Dramatic Summer Love Story

Opening Up

"Tay, wake up." A sweet voice whispers lowly. "Taylor, baby," A palm rubs my back up and down in a comforting way, my eyes flutter open and I take a deep breath before I yawn and stretch. I look up and see Thomas smile down at me, his hair is kind of wet like he's just out of the shower. Sitting up I get a glance at Thomas's body and he's just in a towel, confirming my thought. "You sleep well?" His voice is soft. I nod and climb into his arms for a hug,
"I slept fine, and I am fine, just a little traumatized," I whisper into his neck, he squeezes me before we let go of each other. "How long do I have until we have to go?" I ask him and mean dinner, Thomas understands and answers me telling me I have half an hour to get ready before we have to go to dinner.
Thomas kisses me and then I gather the clothes I'm going to wear and then go into the bathroom and turn the shower on, while I let the shower heat up, I untangle my hair then step out of my clothes and into the shower, I run my fingers through my hair and down my body over and over, adding shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel in between my strokes and desperate attempts to focus on the feeling of everything to distract myself from the memories of earlier today. I take my time in the shower but when I get out I try and be as quick as I can be to finish up so I don't have to be alone, I have discovered that in this scenario solidarity is the worst for me.
"Tay, are you finishing up?" Thomas asks through the door after knocking lightly on it, I stare at myself in the mirror, my face isn't like it is always, it's a little swelled up and blotchy after all the crying but I don't really give a shit so I open the door without responding and join Thomas outside of the bathroom. I take his hand once I have my purse and essentials and then drag him towards the door.
But I don't get far, Thomas stops and doesn't let me walk any further with him, I turn to question what he's doing but he pulls me into his arms. "Baby, take a breath, stay in the moment." His sweet voice says. "You know we don't have to go if you don't want to, we can have a night in order something and watch a movie, just the two of us if that's what you want, just say the word and I'll call Chloe right now." Thomas's offer is sweet but I can't he probably doesn't want to do that and the silence that will be between us while the movie plays will be too much, at the moment I can't carry a conversation, I can probably barely pay enough attention to a conversation to participate in one. So I shake my head.
"No, I'm fine, I think I need this but thanks." I smile up at him and he smiles down at me, his smile is tainted with pity and so the corner of his lips doesn't twist up like when he smiles authentically, it makes me sad so I lean up to him and press my lips to his.
We pull away from each other and he takes my hand into his before we exit our hotel room and head downstairs to the lobby. Everyone is already there so we immediately leave to go out and walk down the sidewalks through the lukewarm evening air. The bars are starting to open their doors allowing music to flow out onto the street, the hair sitting on my shoulders dances as the breeze pushes past us. I Thomas are in the back of the group he hasn't let go of my hand since we stepped out of our hotel room, in front of us the girls and boys laugh and joke around while we walk to the restaurant they picked.
When we enter the restaurant we're greeted by the delicious smell of food, we get seated after twenty minutes of waiting, I occupy myself by looking at the menu while the others look at the menu whilst also talking. Ten minutes later, a long time after I have decided what I wanted to eat everyone is ready and the waiter finally comes to take our order. I quickly tell him what I want and Thomas goes after me, he takes the opportunity while everyone is busy ordering to catch my hand again and squeeze it, I give him a smile which he seems unconvinced by.
"Taylor, take a breath, you're okay here, especially with us, your friends." Thomas leans into me and whispers. I fully know this, I just for some reason feel uncomfortable, I'm just a bit distraught but I nod and try and smile. He gives me a kiss and then whispers into my ear, "You better try harder if you want to start convincing people." He teases and it gets a real smile out of me.
"I'll try my best," I say quietly enough so he can hear but no one else. He smirks as we return to the conversation the others are having. I know everyone knows I'm distant but they don't let it affect them and it makes me feel a bit better, slowly I become more and more engaged in the conversation but I still stay quiet and mostly just listen.
Throughout dinner, I zone out a few times and get pulled into the memory of the water encasing me, but when the food arrives the time passes by quicker. The tension in the air is subtle but I know I'm not the only one who feels it.
"I think we should go sneak into some clubs?" Gabe says and looks at Thomas carefully. For a second no one says anything probably thinking but before anyone can respond I answer first.
"You all should go, but I think I'm going to catch on some sleep," I say, we're waiting for the check before we can go.
"Are you sure?" Thomas asks me and slowly looks away from the group and over at me.
"Yeah, I'm fine you all go have fun."
"Okay, but I think I'm going to go to the hotel with you." I and Thomas are now the only people in the group speaking, the others are watching and listening to our interaction.
"No, I think you should go out." I tried to push him away but he kept a tight grip on me and wouldn't allow me to do so, and at the end of the disagreement we paid our half of the bill and separated from the others, and headed to the hotel.
Thomas held my hand the whole time, on the walk we stayed quiet but it was companionable silence. Finally, after a few minute's walk, we stepped into the hotel, and then our room. Thomas let go of my arm, I went to the bathroom to get myself ready for bed, he stood in the doorway and watched me.
"Stop it," I said as I brushed my hair.
"I'm not doing anything," He watched my reflection in the big hotel mirror, I knew exactly what he was doing though, he was making sure I wasn't going to break down all of the sudden, especially not alone, he was only here to make sure I knew I wasn't alone and I did know it so I didn't need a reminder of it. I told him what I was thinking and then started brushing my teeth. I now couldn't talk and so Thomas guided me to the toilet and made me sit down.
"Taylor, baby, something traumatic happened to you today and I know you told us about it but you have yet to talk about it and honestly I'm worried about you," Thomas spoke, and if I wouldn't have had a toothbrush and a whole bunch of toothpaste in my mouth I would have responded with telling him I'm a big girl. "Please tell me about it, of course, if you want to, and I know you have already told us all but I want to hear it coming from you to me, so I'm here if you want to talk," Thomas says and then pulls me to him and kisses me on the head before leaving me in the bathroom staring at myself in the mirror no longer brushing my teeth but pondering what he said.
After a minute I finish up in the bathroom and allow Thomas to go in, I sit in the bed under the sheets looking up at the ceiling with a blank mind while I wait for him to join me in bed. Somehow I have no thoughts or memories of today or anything else, my mind is quiet for the first time in a long time, it's nice but would be nicer if I had music or someone here to cuddle with me, I get the latter a few seconds after the idea passes by me. Thomas walks out of the bathroom and crawls under the sheets to me, I sit up and so he does too, without any thought I get on top of him and hug him for a second, his hands squeeze and hold me tightly until we let go of each other, then I sit on him with the duvet cover wrapped around me, we stare at one another and then when I'm as mentally prepared as I'll ever get I spill out the story in more detail than I did in front of the others in the car before, he listens without saying anything however his tearing eyes tell me everything he's thinking.
After I get the words out of me I feel a bit lighter, Thomas and I shed a few tears but then I cracked a joke and lightened the mood a bit, we turned the TV on and then cuddled for a long time just enjoying each other company and chilling together.