The Crashing Waves | COMPLETED

Chapter 28: Wisdom

I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. Between the alcohol and the crying, I probably should have drank a gallon of water before I went to sleep.  I looked over at a sleeping Dylan who still had one arm tightly wrapped around my waist.  I slowly moved out from underneath him to head to the kitchen for water, coffee and and an ibuprofen.  I walked out into the kitchen with my eyes nearly closed and my hands on the sides of my head.

I jumped when I heard, "Morning sunshine."

I opened my eyes to see an old sight of TJ standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast with no shirt.  I squinted my eyes shut again and tried to smile.

"You look like death.  How you feeling today?"  He asked while grabbing a glass from the cabinet.  

"Mmmm...." I sat down at the island and laid my head down on my arms.

He filled up the glass with water and grabbed a couple pills and set them next to my head.  "That good huh?" He chuckled and continued cooking at the stove.

I lifted my head to take the pills and drank almost the entire glass of water before I set it back down.  "Do you ever sleep?" I asked looking at the microwave that showed it was barely 7:30am.

"The army ruined me," is all he said and set down 2 plates on the counter with pancakes and bacon.  "Eat.  It will help you feel better." He sat down next to me and smiled.

"Thanks." I started eating and it was quiet for a while before he broke the silence.

"So things are ok with you two?"

I sighed. "I hope so..."

"Well he's still here, so that's a good sign.  You haven't scared him off yet." He laughed.

I let out a small laugh and looked at him. "Gee thanks!"  And then I laughed harder as he nudged me with his shoulder.  

"He's a good guy Cami.  And I mean that."  He looked over at me and smiled.

I smiled back and took a bite of the amazing food on my plate.  With a full mouth I started talking again, "So what's up with you two all of a sudden getting along so well."

He laughed at me but somehow managed to understand what I said.  "Uhh.... Well apparently he stole your phone while you were sleeping and got phone numbers for me, Brooke and Tasha so he could get help planning your birthday stuff." 

I nodded, "Ok."

He continued, "And he called me and we went to lunch on Thursday."

I raised my eyebrows at him, "Seriously?"

He laughed again, "Yeah.  He's a good guy."

I scrunched my face together in disbelief. "Weird."

"What?"  He shook his head as he grabbed our empty plates and walked them to the sink. "We actually have a lot in common.  He was in the reserves and spent some time in Iraq." 

"I know that.  But it doesn't explain why you all of a sudden don't want to kill him."

He leaned on his elbows on the counter right in front of me. "Look.  I saw the way he looked at you the night you were completely oblivious of me sitting in my jeep in front of your house.  That's probably why I punched him, in fact." He paused and laughed again. "And then the night I showed up to apologize, he had the same look." He took a deep breath.  "Cami, he looks at you like Brody looked at you."

The smile faded from my face.  

"Don't look at me like that. It's true."  He shook his head and kept going as I sat there in silence. "I can't stand in the way of that."