It's Always Been You

On The Road

A few days later, with exams mercifully finished and the semester finally over, Wes and I were settling into his car to begin the six-hour road trip back to my hometown for the holidays. A mixture of anticipation and dread churned in my stomach as I tossed my bags into the backseat.

Wes turned to look at me as he put the keys in the ignition, one eyebrow quirked questioningly. "You ready for this?"

I let out a small, slightly nervous laugh as I mustered what little courage I could. "As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

"So..." he drawled, keeping his eyes trained straight ahead on the empty road before us, seeming almost hesitant to meet my gaze directly. "Should we get our story straight? You know, have a backstory all mapped out so we're on the same page in case your family starts grilling us with questions."

I nodded slowly in agreement, worrying my lower lip between my teeth. "Yes, that's actually a really good idea." I paused for a moment, exhaling deeply as I gathered my thoughts. "How did we supposedly meet, then?"

A warm smile curved his full lips as he finally turned to look at me, his warm brown eyes crinkling at the corners. "Well, we do spend an obscene amount of time there anyway. I feel like it would be fitting if I 'ran into you' at The Beanery one day."

"Okay, I'm following you," I replied, unable to resist smiling back at his easy charisma. "Let's say I clumsily bumped into you, spilling my coffee everywhere, and you gallantly insisted on replacing my drink."

Wes laughed, the rich sound seeming to vibrate through me as his eyes danced with amusement. "Cliche but I'm all for that. We got to talking and hit it off, then started 'running into each other' more and more over the following weeks."

"And one thing just naturally led to another," I continued the made-up tale, "until at some point we realized we had fallen for each other and decided to start dating for real."

"Sounds perfect to me so far," Wes agreed with a nod. His expression turned slightly more serious as he glanced at me again, an uncertain look flickering across his chiseled features. "But what about...Nate? Your parents know about your previous relationship with him."

I winced slightly at the mention of my ex's name, my chest tightening uncomfortably. I could do without having to think about Nate and rehash those memories right now.

Leaning back in the plush leather seat, I exhaled deeply as I wracked my brain for a plausible explanation I could feed to my prying parents. "I'll be honest with them. Well, as honest as I can be without going into too much detail," I amended. "I'll just say that Nate and I broke up around three months ago, right at the beginning of the semester. We had different goals and priorities, and ultimately we realized we weren't as compatible as we thought."

Wes nodded slowly, seeming to think my story was believable enough to pass inspection. "Okay, fair enough. In that case, how long have we supposedly been 'dating' for then?"

I pursed my lips in thought for a moment before responding. "Maybe we can say it's been about two months? They'll still accuse me of being some kind of whore who moved on too quickly." I rolled my eyes slightly. "But I'll just tell them it was an instant connection, and that you make me really happy."

It wasn't even that far from the truth, I realized with a start.

Wes and I did have an undeniable bond and got along amazingly well. And he certainly never failed to cheer me up whenever I was feeling down.

Wes smiled softly at me, holding my gaze for a beat longer than expected. "Touché," was all he said, but I could have sworn I detected a hint of something deeper flickering in his warm eyes.