Cracks in Reality

I sat Indian style in the middle of my hotel room; I had hours before James got out of school. I huffed and threw myself on the carpet, how inconvenient is his having to go to class right now? I just want to spend every moment with him since I will be leaving in six days. That’s not nearly enough time to spend with him, and school was making the time seem even less. I sighed even louder and Dixie proceeds to ignore me from her spot on the bed. She was changing channels aimlessly with a bored look on her face.

“Let’s do something.” She finally groans throwing herself dramatically on the bed’s edge.

“James said the Hockaday Museum of Art is a good way to kill time.”

“I don’t care what we do; I just have to get out of this room.” She leaped off the bed and headed into the shower. “Let Nick know that we are going out.”

“Will do,” I send him a quick text and then throw on a pair of Dixie’s jeans, since she packed me none, and I cotton tunic.

Nicky was in our room ten minutes later, dressed and ready to go. He kept picking on Dixie for taking so long, and she told him that beauty is an art. He scoffed but I could see the infatuated smirk on his face. I poke him in the ribs and roll my eyes at him. He gives me the ‘you-are-one-to-talk’ face and laughs. I will be the first to admit that I was over the moon yesterday with James; I even wet as far as to feed him mozzarella sticks. To be honest it was just because he was holding my hand with his dominate hand, and I was not going to allow him to let go. I just wanted to stay in constant contact with him, like his was the magnet I was being drawn to my whole life. I smile at the memory of his kisses, and the sweet way his eyes light up when he looks at me. This does not go unnoticed by Nicky who pokes me in the ribs back, really hard too.

Dixie kicks us out the room so she can get dressed, so we start causing a small ruckus in the hallway. We decided to shout at the door, begging Dixie to forgive us. I could her hear laughter from the other side but our neighbors were not so amused. So we told her to meet us at the car and walked out of the hotel laughing. I knew it was dumb and immature but hey, it made me laugh so that’s all that matters. My mind continually race to James as I watch Nicky and Dixie semi-flirt with each other. I kept thinking of how strong his arm felt, yet how gentle his touch is, the light stroke of his fingers on cheek, lips, and chin. This of course made me miss him even more, as my two friends browsed the art work calmly; I was continuously checking my watch. I just wanted to be with James again, his was worse than waiting for the night so I can dream of him.

I did my best to keep my mind focused on the landscape, and portraits. I was trying to channel my inner artist to be drawn out by some of the truly brilliant pieces. It was hopeless; as I knew that I would be in James’s arms again I could focus on nothing else. When two o’clock came I grabbed us a quick bite before rushing us to James’ school, grateful that for whatever reason he did not have football practice today. We were at the front gates by 2:55 and I climbed out of the car and waiting by the steps. I heard the bell ring and soon students were pouring out of the doors. I stood on my tiptoes and spotted James right away. His height making him easy to spot, he was laughing with a friend when he sensed my presence. I waved my arms back and forth and he ran to me, not ashamed to look foolish. I was up in his arms, being hugged, twirled and kissed all at the same time. I knew we were making a scene but I could care less being in his arms made me feel like I could breath easily again. As if I was only functioning on a half a tank of gas until he got here. Man that was a real country analogy; I guess my baby is rubbing off on me.

“Ruby I missed you so much.” He placed me down, pushing the hair back from my face.

“I missed you too superman.” I curled my fingers round his, feeling complete again. “Where to babe?”

“Anywhere you want to go,” he smiled at me.

“Well then we are already here because the only place I want to be is with you.” I would have gagged if I heard anyone else ever say something as lame as that but that’s because I didn't fully have James yet then. Now I truly understand why people say stuff like that.

He kissed me again, “I love you Ruby. Let’s go to the open field, it’s the perfect spot to do nothing but talk each other’s ears off.”

“Sounds perfect to me.”