I Think I Love You

I opened my eyes to see the sun peeking through the blinds. I sat up and stretched, then swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I stood up and made my way downstairs to the kitchen. Ezekiel was drinking out of the carton of milk and I cleared my throat. He jumped, spilling milk all down his shirt. I busted out laughing and he joined in. "So, now that you know my dirty little secret, I must kill you," he joked. He tore off two sheets of paper towels and cleaned up the little droplets of milk that had spilled onto the floor.

"You do that." I walked over to the fridge to see what there was to eat for breakfast.

"Are you hungry? We've got cereal."

"I'm good." I shut the fridge and grabbed and apple from the fruit bowl on the island. "I'll just have this."

"Mom left a note for you. Here." He handed me an envelope that was sealed shut with my name on it. I opened it up and pulled out a folded piece of notebook paper. It read:

Dear Nikolette,

I've gone to pick up Stefan from the airport. Quellie decided to come with me, so that leaves you and Ez home alone. Don't do anything I wouldn't do! I'm just joking, you two can do whatever you want, wink wink. Just use protection!

Love, Abby

I blushed as I read the letter and Ezekiel noticed. "What does it say?" I looked up at him and smiled.

"It says I'm in charge while Abby and Quellie are gone."

"Bullshit." I laughed.

"I'm serious!" He started walking towards me, so I bolted upstairs. He of course followed. I ran in my room and shut and locked the door. A few seconds later, Ezekiel was pounding on my door.

"Come on, Nikki. I'll break down this door if I have to."

"Have fun explaining that to your parents!" I ripped the paper into little shreds and threw them on my bed.

"What was that?" I unlocked and opened the door.

"Oh, nothing." I noticed he was looking at the shreds of paper. He looked at me and smiled.

"Okay, so I guess I'll never know what mom wrote. Oh wait, I can just ask her when she gets home!" Dammit. I didn't think about that at all. I sighed and went over to pick up the pieces of paper. I handed them to Ezekiel and said,

"Please, don't ask her. I'm begging you." His smile faded some.

"Okay, I won't." I grinned and said,

"Thanks."

"So, I was thinking we could go to the beach."

"Don't you want to wait for your family to get back?"

"They're going to be a while. Dad's flight doesn't arrive until eleven, then they'll probably go out to eat. It's cool if you don't want to, I was just thinking of something fun to do that would give us a chance to get to know each other."

"No, I want to, I just didn't know what time your mom and Quellie were going to be back. Let me get dressed and then we can leave." He smiled.

"Okay." Once he was out of the doorway, I shut the door and stripped naked. I went over to my dresser and pulled on my bikini, shorts and tank top. I slipped on my flip-flops and slipped my phone into my pocket, then went downstairs where Ezekiel was waiting. He had two towels draped over his arm. "You ready?"

"Lets go."

*

When we got to the beach, Ezekiel set up the towels. I kicked off my flip-flops and took off my shorts and tank top. I caught Ezekiel looking at me, his jaw on the ground. I just pretended I didn't notice, just like I pretended I didn't notice his six pack. I laid down on my towel and closed my eyes, just enjoying the warm breeze. "Okay, so tell me. What's it like where you come from?" I turned my head to look at Ezekiel. He was laying down on his towel, facing me.

"Well, I came from Salisbury, Maryland. We four McDonalds restaurants and fifteen pharmacies. We have three schools within a block of each other and some that you can't even find. We have crack street and alcoholic avenue, then we have perfection place and classy court. Anything else you want to know?"

"Wait. So do you really have a street named crack?" I laughed.

"No, but that's where most of the drug dealers and users live."

"Okay then. Who was your last boyfriend?" I smiled, remembering Luke.

"His name was Lucas Williams."

"What was he like?"

"He was tall and pale with long, brown hair and hazel eyes. He was really sweet and amazing. I loved him a lot." I sighed. "When do I get to ask the questions?" He laughed.

"Soon, I promise. So, how far did you go with this Lucas person?" I looked at Ezekiel curiously.

"What does that have to do with getting to know me better?"

"If you're going to be my wife, I need to know everything about you." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, whatever. Lets see, how far did I go with Luke? Um, well we kissed a couple of times, but I'm still a virgin." I love fucking with people. The look on Ezekiel's face was priceless and I just busted out laughing. "I'm joking!"

"Don't do that to me."

"I'm sorry. I saw an opening and I just had to take it."

"I'm going to get you back." He got up and ran into the water. "Come on!" he yelled from the ocean.

"No, I'm okay," I yelled back. He started running towards me and as he got closer, I stood and ran. Of course, he caught up to me and picked me up. We were both so busy laughing, I don't think either of us realized how close we were getting. When we did, he set me back on the ground and said,

"I'm sorry." I looked down at my feet.

"It's fine."

"Do you want to head home?"

"Yeah, lets do that."