Itchy returned from Bali and I told myself to be cool. Not to rush round to see him, I was sure he’d have loads of things to do so I’d told him to just let me know when he was free. Little did I know that he’d missed me as much as I’d missed him. The evening he’d returned I got a message.
Hey, I’m back. I’m going for a couple of beers with the guys I’ll pop over if you’re not busy
My heart leapt at the thought, he’d been back for less than 12 hours and I was one of the first things on his mind. Ok, so beer and his mates were first but I could live with that.
I raced around the apartment tidying. The good thing about working from home was that I couldn’t work if it was messy so I kept it pretty tidy. Then I had to figure out what to wear?? After trying on jeans, shorts, Leggings, and dresses I decided to go for a fitted pair of pale blue skinny jeans with a loose white shirt and a pair of white canvas pumps. Spending so much time around the beach had done wonders for my naturally pale complexion; wearing white really highlighted my now golden skin. Waiting was toture, I tidied, I fiddled with my hair, channel-hopped on the TV, stood on the balcony watching the beach, flicked through a magazine – finally he knocked on the door. I tried to casually open the door but wanted to rip it off its hinges. I was actually nervous, it was like our first date all over again. He stood there in front of me in a casual green jacket, white tee and jeans. He was tanned, as expected from all the time in the sun. After a second of awkwardness, I don’t think either of us knew what to do – a bit like teenagers. He stepped towards me, placed his hands on either side of my face and kissed me.
“Wow” I said “Oh my god, did I just say that out loud?”
“I missed you too” he laughed
He followed me into the apartment
“You want a coffee?” I asked
“I’ll make them” he said “after last time” I’d forgotten, the first time I tried to make him a brew I’d cut my finger.
“Well maybe I want you to do some first aid on me again” I winked.
I sat on the barstool and watched him make the drinks. We went into the lounge area and curled up on the couch. He put his arm around my shoulder and I snuggled into his chest. We chatted about Doris, my blog and his film project into the early hours. That was the first time he stayed the full night with me.
By the time I woke the next morning he was already up and sat on the balcony on his laptop.
“Sorry I came out here so I didn’t wake you” he said
“No, you didn’t its fine” I said leaning down to kiss him “what’s your plans today?”
“Well I hoped we could spend the day together – if you have nothing planned?” he asked
“Well I wanted to go and see Doris but other than that I’m free the whole day” I smiled “Any idea on what you wanna do?”
“Not really, just not the beach, or water, eh? I’ve just spent 4 weeks filming in water and I’m back to work on the beach soon. I’ll just finish up these emails and we can head over to my place” he said
“Ok I’ll jump in the shower and be ready in half an hour. We can head to Doris’s and I know the perfect place for us to go”
We headed over to Itchy’s apartment building and he went to his place to get changed. I went to visit Doris and make sure she had everything she needed. Itchy arrived 15 minutes later and we both stayed with Doris for an hour or so. As we left I wouldn’t tell Itchy where we were going. Just told him to drive and which turns to take. The place where we were going was the complete opposite of the beach.
As we pulled up outside, he looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“Well you didn’t want wet, or the beach” I said “so I brought you here where its certainly not wet or hot”
I’d brought him to an ice-rink. I didn’t know if he’d ever tried it before but I was pretty good from learning as a teen. Our first date had been his domain, our second would be in mine.
“But I’ve never ice-skated before” he said looking a little worried.
“Its fine, I’m pretty good and I can teach you. You taught me to surf, now I’ll teach you to skate” I grabbed his hand and walked him to the entrance.
After we’d picked up our skates I stood, Itchy tried to stand but wasn’t as stable as he thought he’d be.
“Whoa” he wobbled grabbing out for me
I held his arm and walked with him over to the side of the rink.
“Now let me get on the ice first and I’ll show you how to push off. I’ll do it a couple of times and then I’ll come back for you” I explained.
I showed him to put his right foot down flat on the ice and push off with his left. Keeping his right foot down at all times.
“Just think of it like you’re riding a skateboard. You don’t move one foot off the front of the board – you steer with it. That’s the easiest and quickest way to learn” I told him.
He was pretty good and seemed to get the hang of it quite quickly. His balance wasn’t great which I found a bit strange, him being a surfer. Surely surfing involved a lot of balance? I guess being on 2 thin blades was different to one huge board.
I skated behind him pushing him along and eventually once his confidence had built I let go, it took him a little while to realise I had but he was fine on his own. I skated alongside him and we held hands. Just when I thought he’d nailed it someone came flying past us which knocked Itchy off balance. He wobbled along trying to regain his balance and eventually went down – dragging me with him. I landed rather unceremoniously on top of him.
I laughed “Are you ok?” I knew it was probably just a bruised ego more than any serious injury.
“I think I’ve bruised my bum and it’ll need some first aid” he winked
“Well you’re the qualified one” I laughed “but I can always go and get the 50 year old male marshall from over there” I pointed at the slightly overweight, balding guy in a high-visibility orange jacket in the centre of the ice.
“Ahh no thanks. I’ll be fine”
“Well how about a kiss from me instead then?” I leant over and kissed him
“Perfect” he smiled.
I helped him up from the ice – there’s a knack to it so I showed him how not to fall back down again. We skated for about 3 hours and then decided it was time for food. The day had gone so quickly but it had been so much fun. I felt like I’d spent the whole day laughing. In the drive back to my apartment I raised the subject of him staying the night again.
“I’d love to, but I can’t. I have work in the morning – I’m covering for Charlie while she’s filming and I wouldn’t want to disturb you that early.. plus I have some stuff to sort out at my place”
I knew he was right but it was still hard to let him go after so long apart.
