*Five Months Later*
"Michael!" Claire yelled out, "Michael, I called a truce! Stop spraying me, goofball."
Claire is someone I met at a bar in downtown Seattle, precisely one month after she left me. I was a lonely, drunken mess and Claire was kind enough to take care of me, although it's still a little fuzzy, she told me I asked her to stay with me, and that's where our love story began.
"It was a sneak attack!!" I yelled, laughing hysterically, "You know I don't play when it comes to super-soaker wars, baby. Plus, you were winning, I couldn't let that happen."
"Yeah, yeah, you and your precious pride." She said, wiping off the excess water that got on her face.
I laughed, "What do you wanna do tonight? I was thinkinggg..." I dragged out my sentence and pulled her in close, "Dinner and a movie?"
"Hmm, I think I'd be okay with that," She said, kissing my cheek, "It was a hard week in the office, so a nice relaxing evening with my man would be perfect."
"I love when you call me your's, you drive me wild, girl," I spun her around and kissed her passionately.
After a few minutes, she pulled away. I frowned, "Come back, my lips are cold."
"I have to get ready, Michael!" She said, wiggling out from my grasp, "Let me go!" She giggled.
"Just one more kiss, please," I begged.
She gave in and finally kissed me again, setting herself free once she distracted me.
"Okay, let's go get cleaned up," She said, taking my hand in her's.
We both ran upstairs, giggling like crazy.
It felt good to have someone again. After everything, all I needed was somebody to love and for someone to love me.
Maria was my first love, my first time, my first date, my first everything. Everything we did, we did together and excelled at. We knew each other inside and out, we knew our quirks, our likes and dislikes, and the way both of our minds worked as people. Yet all I could think about was how she threw it all away.
After Claire and I started getting ready, I felt a ping of anxiety come over me. I started to slow down doing my hair, to which Claire asked, "Michael? You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
I snapped out of my trance, "Oh, yes, sorry, I just got distracted."
I continued scrunching my curls as my heart rate grew higher.
"Is it about Mr. Coffman again? Is he giving you more shit at work?" She asked, rubbing my back to comfort me.
Oh, and everything at work went downhill as well. Bill ended up resigning, my boss had to step down to fill Bill's position, and the cherry on top is that Mr. Coffman, who isn't even an actual doctor, helps run the place.
"Yeah, I'm just ready for something new. I'll have to start looking for some smaller clinics to work for, I don't know how much longer I can put up with that wack-job," I said, powdering my face.
"Anything you do, baby, I'll support you," She said, hugging my torso.
She was quick at getting ready, as I liked to take my time. Every single detail mattered to me, and if it wasn't perfect, I took the time to fix it.
Once I was finally done, we set off to the restaurant where we had an excellent Italian dinner.
One thing about Claire and I is we also had such similar taste in food and in mostly everything. She was so easy to be with, and I loved her for it.
