I Don't Do Lonely Well

“How long are you home for?” Virginia wonders, picking at her salad.
“A few months.”
She smiles widely. “Really?” I nod. “Do you know what that means?”
“What does that mean?” I laugh.
“You won’t have to miss me, duh. I don’t know what you were thinking.” We share a laugh, and Virginia glances at her watch. “Well, I’ve got to get to work. Come visit me?” She winks and picks up her trash from Panera, tossing it in the garbage.
I laugh to myself and shake my head as I watch her leave. “You’re a very lucky man,” I hear an old voice behind me say. I turn around to find an old man sitting alone at the table next to ours. “She’s very beautiful.”
“Thank you,” I respond, a smile on my lips. “I think I’m pretty lucky to have her, too.”
“She looks like my wife did when I was your age…lost her to cancer last year.”
“Wow, I’m really sorry.”
He just smiles. “Don’t feel sorry for me, son. I got to spend my life with the woman I love and my best friend.” The tone of his voice entirely peaks my interest.
“May I?” I point to the chair across from him, and the man just smiles and nods. “How long were you two married?”
“Sixty years.”
“When did you two meet?”
“When we were twenty-two. She actually had a boyfriend when I met her, but she broke up with him for me. She said I was a bad boy type, and she loved those.” He laughs to himself. “I was in a band.”
“Wow. When I met Virginia, she had a boyfriend, too,” I marvel. “I’m in a band as well.”
The old man laughs as well. “I know who you are. My granddaughter loves you. I’m glad I can pass on the message that you’re well-mannered enough to sit down and have a conversation with a lonely looking old man.”
“You didn’t look lonely,” I disagree. “You had a story behind your eyes, and it really interested me.”
He smiles. “Tell me about her.”
“Her name’s Virginia, and she’s from California. She’s here in Baltimore for school, and she’s…she’s amazing, and I’m absolutely in love with her.”
“What is she studying to do?”
“Counseling. She wants to help people just like she was in high school.”
“She seems like a great girl.”
This man and I spend two hours talking, hearing how we met our partners and everything about them.

It might be against my best interest to not visit Virginia at work tonight, but I think the time was far better spent. I asked Cody if he would mind staying at my place for the night, in which he agreed without question. I’ve laid out candles all over her apartment, called her mom for her favorite dinner recipe, enlisted Cody to help me cook it, and set up her dinner table for two.
The lock on the door turns just as I set down the final touches on the meal. I stand next to the table and watch her walk in, drop her things, and then look up to find what I’ve spent the night creating. “Alex…” she marvels.
I smile and gesture her over, pulling out her chair for her. She smiles as she sits down, and I pick up the bottle of wine and pour her a glass.
“This is all so nice.”
“I wanted to do something nice for you.” I shrug. “I hope this is okay.”
“This is perfect.” She lifts up her wine glass and holds it up. I clink my glass against hers.
“To us.”
I watch her lips tug into a smirk. “Long live the reckless and the brave.”

Virginia shrieks with laughter as she stumbles into me. “Maybe that whole bottle of wine was a bad idea,” she giggles.
I laugh. “Why’s that?” I can hear the slur in my words, and if I’m this drunk, I can’t imagine how drunk Virginia is.
“Because,” she lowers her voice to a whisper, “wine makes me really horny.” She clasps her hand over her mouth and giggles.
“Oh, does it?”
She nods, her hand still over her mouth. “You’re not going to take advantage of me, are you?” She tries to be serious, but the laughter quickly overtakes her.
“I would never.” I capture her lips, and her hands slide into my shirt, already pulling it off of my body.
Now, I’m not saying that we don’t have good sex. I’m just saying I probably should have thought of the wine idea a little sooner because apparently it gives her all the courage in the world.
Her breath is heavy as she slides her fingers through mine and leans down to kiss me. As our lips are connected, I push her back under me. She squeals in surprise, but the surprise is nearly instantly transformed into a moan and one of her hands leaving mine to tightly clutch the corner of the mattress.
Hello, confidence boost.
My lips trail down to her neck, and her hand grasps mine tightly. “Alex.” She reaches for a new place to grasp other than the corner of the bed, and I feel her nails drag across my back. It doesn’t really faze me. I only feel the overwhelming sense of her. All of her.

I wake up to a pounding head, aching body, and a dry mouth. Virginia is still asleep with her head on my chest and an arm draped over me. I can’t help but smile at how peaceful she is. And how perfect she is.
She inhales deeply and lifts her head off of my chest. She looks around for a moment, reaches for my phone to check the time, and collapses back onto my chest. “My body,” she groans. I chuckle as she basically resituates herself on top of me. “I’m still drunk.” She rests her hands on my chest and her head on her hands.
“Yeah, me too.”
“The entire bottle of wine…” She smiles and just looks over my face.
“You look like you want to tell me something.”
“Other than that was the best drunk sex I’ve ever had?” My lips pull into a smile. “I love you, and I can’t believe that, out of everyone, you wanted to be with me. I’m not perfect, and that’s what you deserve.”
“You might not be perfect, but you’re absolutely perfect for me.” She smiles and buries her face in my chest. “And I am so fucking in love with you.” She looks back up at me. “I just want you to know, okay? I know we get in stupid fights, and we say stupid shit to each other. But, at the end of the day, I’m glad it’s you that I come home to. I know you’re dad doesn’t care for the fact that I’ve got tattoos and that I’m basically transforming your brother into a musical legend.” Virginia lets out a laugh. “And I know you hate my favorite pair of ripped jeans…but I’ve never loved anyone like I love you, and if I lost you again…”
She presses her lips softly to mine. “You’re not going to lose me, okay?”
“I don’t mean like breaking up. I mean at all…” Her eyes get a little teary. “If you live to be one hundred, I hope I live to be one hundred minus a day,” I quote.
“So that I never have to live without you.” A tear rolls down her cheek. “You won’t have to.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“You’ll never have to live without me.”