Narcolepsy (A Love Story)

22: Abby

That kiss. That was the stuff of legends.

That was the kind of kiss that transformed the Beast into a man (unfortunately), and brought Snow White back from death.

That kiss should have knocked me flat, left me paralyzed and fighting for consciousness, but it didn't. That kiss woke up Sleeping Beauty instead. Like I said, the stuff of legends.

I hadn't had this much energy in years. I was crackling with power, and in less than 25 minutes I had a duffle bag packed with everything I could possibly need for the next few days — including an entire sleeve of condoms — was showered and dressed and in the kitchen looking for coffee. Blake was on my couch, looking dazed and perplexed as I filled three bowls with food, four with water, and counted off on Lucy's paw how many nights I'd be gone ("three claws, no paws"). I pulled my laptop and cables out of my messenger bag, replacing it with my iPad and extra chargers, then stood by the door, bouncing on my feet, with a commuter mug full of liquid gold. "Let's go, baby. We can't miss this flight."

He staggered to his feet, eyes narrowed in suspicion, and packed up his own laptop and related accessories into his bag. I briefly acknowledged that we had Freaky-Friday'd back in the bedroom, and I was watching myself practically crawl towards the door while standing here bursting with raw energy and impatience.

"Seriously, slow poke, let's GO."

He scowled at me but kissed my forehead as he passed by onto the landing, and I locked the door behind me and grabbed hold of his arm, practically dragging him down the stairs, down the driveway, and out to the street. He boosted me up into his gigantic pimp mobile and I settled against the seat, pulling out my phone and going to work email.

"Whatcha doing?" he asked, pulling away from the curb and making a u-turn back towards the main road.

"I never emailed Rick to let him know I wasn't going to be in today. I doubt he would have started terminating my employment already, but I wanted to let him know I'm going to stick around for awhile."

He smiled over at me, a genuine happy smile, and then looked back at the road. "I took care of it this morning. Let him know we were both going to be out and out of town for the weekend, and were both planning to be in on Monday."

"Uhh, okay. Thanks." That was both sweet and a little bit of an overstep. I hoped this wasn't going to be a regular thing. "What did he say?"

"Well, in the work email, he said okay. In the text he sent me, he said you better not be dead in the chest freezer waiting for the body dump, then he said that if it was you using my phone, I better not be dead in the chest freezer waiting for the body dump. So I told him we were running off to Vegas to get married, and he said whoever is using my phone should be aware that there are security cameras in the garage pointed towards the chest freezer and if anyone tries to remove enough garbage bags to contain the parts of two bodies, he will be calling the police immediately."

"He's so sentimental."

"Really is."

"You told him we were running off to get married in Vegas."

"Yup. Well, I think my exact words were 'going to Vegas to get hitched by a Johnny Cash impersonator since Elvis is so cliché.'"

"I kinda love you right now."

"Just kinda?"

"No, not just kinda." He kept his eyes on the road but was grinning like crazy.

"So now that we're somewhat occupied and unable to get distracted by...stuff. And thangs..." Surge of feels for my geeky boyfriend. "I've got questions."