Driven to Distraction

My eyes fluttered open and I squinted as the sun blinded me. I sat up straight and glanced to my left, seeing John still reclined in his seat, sleeping. I smiled and reached my hand out to his face, gently laying it on his cheek.

After the wedding fiasco, we ran out of the church, straight into his car, and took off for Lake Havasu. It was nighttime by the time we reached, and we stayed up until nearly three in the morning, talking about our pasts and sharing kisses, missing the feeling of it all.

“John, baby, wake up,” I cooed.

He stirred for a moment before opening his eyes and squinting at me. He immediately smiled and pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me. “You know, for a moment, I thought last night was nothing but a dream,” he chuckled.

I smiled and shook my head. “Not at all,” I said, kissing the crook of his neck. It was quiet for a moment before I shifted in his lap, looking out of the front windshield. “I think I’m gonna go for a swim.”

“A swim?” he questioned.

I nodded my head and opened the door, carefully stepping onto the rough gravel. “Come with me,” I stated, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the car.

He stretched his long limbs and let out a yawn. “It’s too early to swim, Key.”

I smiled. “I think I might be able to change your mind.” I quickly shed my shirt and pants, only then realizing I had been in my work clothes all night, leaving me in my bra and boy shorts. “Come get me, O’Callaghan!” I sang, running as fast I could out into the lake.

The water was a bit cold, but it was an immediate relief from the heat. I dunked my head underneath, and as I resurfaced, I ran my hands over my now drenched hair. I looked out at John, who was quickly swimming toward me. I turned around to swim further out into the water, but I wasn’t able to get too far away. His arms encircled my waist and I giggled as I felt his breath tickle the back of my neck.

“Gotcha,” he said and I could feel his lips smirk against my skin.

“You did,” I breathed, tilting my neck to the right, making it easier for him to kiss where he pleased.

His kisses were fervent and pleasing and when I felt his tongue flick over a certain patch of skin, a soft moan escaped my mouth. His lips stopped moving and he turned me around, looking me in the eyes.

“Ketely, before we … do anything, we need to talk,” he stated.

I nodded my head. “We do,” I agreed.

Hesitantly, he let me go and we both swam toward the shore. Once we were out, I wringed out my hair, and John shook his head like a dog. I couldn’t help but to laugh.

“You know, that short hair really suits you.”

He smirked and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I figured it was time for a change.” He laid his black dress jacket down on the ground and gestured for me to sit down. I quirked my brows. “What?”

“Wasn’t that expensive?”

He shrugged. “It was a rental. Just sit down.”

I smiled and did as he told me. He took a seat next to me, and I leant back on my elbows. “So … where do you want to start?”

He crossed his legs, leaning back on his palms. “Where would you suggest?”

I twisted my mouth to the side, thinking. “What’s her name?”

“Scarlett Hendricks,” he said, not missing a beat.

I scoffed. “She even has a beautiful name …”

“What does that mean?” he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes. “She’s practically a model. I mean, if she at least had an ugly name, I could tease her about it.”

He smirked. “She was born with a third nipple.”

I gasped and smacked his chest. “John O’Callaghan, you don’t go around telling people things like that!”

He laughed and rubbed his chest. “I’m not telling people! I’m telling you! And she had it removed when she was fifteen, anyway.”

I rolled my eyes but laughed nonetheless. “You are horrible.”

His smile fell and he looked down at his lap. “We met two years ago. It was actually the night that we played in Bismarck … She was at the bar we ended up going to after the show and she spilled her beer on my shirt. She kept apologizing, but it was really my fault. My mind was … on other things. She, uh, she was easy to talk to and we got along good enough.”

I looked at him, the question that I had been dying to ask him all night on the tip of my tongue. “Why didn’t you tell anyone about the wedding, John?”

He looked at me and let out a humorless laugh. “You want the truth?”

“No, lie to me,” I said sarcastically.

He smirked and grabbed my left hand, running his fingers over my knuckles. “I didn’t really want it. I mean … I thought I did at one point, but I never really got over you, Ketely. Everyone kept telling me that I had screwed up so badly and that there was no point in holding onto something that was never going to happen. So, I convinced myself that Scar was the best I was going to get, and I asked her to marry me.” He turned my hand over, tracing the lines inside of my palm now. “She was happy, of course, but I couldn’t have cared less. I convinced her that I just wanted a small wedding, and she went along with it, inviting only her close family.

She did all of the planning and I just went through the motions. I didn’t know how to tell anyone that I was getting married to her. I thought that the longer I waited, the easier it would be, but it wasn’t. Eventually the guys figured out that something was going on, but I kept denying it all. I denied a lot, in fact. I guess I just hoped that if I kept denying it, that if I didn’t tell anyone, it wouldn’t happen. But, of course, that didn’t happen and I ended up pissing everyone off as always.”

I smiled and closed my palm, holding his hand. “You do have a knack for pissing people off, baby.”

He laughed lightly and slowly, his gaze drifted upward, eventually meeting my eyes. “Ketely, I know that I’ve said this a million times to you, and I know that it’ll never be good enough, but I’m so sorry for everything that I did to you when we were younger. I was scared and I was an idiot.”

“Please stop apologizing, John. I told you yesterday that I’ve forgiven you for everything that happened in our pasts.”

He nodded his head and reached his hands out, grabbing me and pulling me onto his lap. “Did you … date anybody in college?”

I laughed and shook my head. “No. Kelsi and Bree-“

“Bree?”

“Oh, right, you don’t know her. She was the girl Kelsi and I got roomed with at UND.”

He nodded his head. “Go on.”

“As I was saying, Kelsi and Bree tried to set me up on dates but it all just felt so pointless. I knew that no one could ever compare to you and it didn’t feel fair to the others to lead them on or make them believe differently, so I eventually just stopped going out on dates.” I cradled his face in my hands, pressing our foreheads together. “I’d already had the best of what love has offer … why would I settle for anything less?”

A genuine smile graced his lips and his arms tightened around me. “Everyone might be pissed that you ran off with me.”

“Everyone can kiss my ass.”

His lips curled into a smirk. “That’s one place I’d love to kiss.”

“Shut up and kiss me, jackass,” I laughed.

“Gladly,” he said before pressing his lips against mines.