Show Me What I'm Looking For

“Ali, emergency back home.
No time to explain. Be back in a couple of days.
We love you. Mom and dad.”

I set the note back on the kitchen counter as I took another sip of coffee. Saturday morning. There was nothing like sleeping in and watching Funny Face as I ate my pancakes. The house would be mine for a couple of days, but I couldn’t help but worry about the “emergency” back home. Still, I decided to enjoy these few days without nagging parents. Since we moved, I had been begging my dad to paint my room. I was growing tired of my white walls, so I decided that over the next few days, I would take the initiative and paint my room a very lovely shade of cranberry and cream, my favorite color combination. Just then, my phone rang and sure enough, it was John.

“Hello?”

“Good morning baby, how are you?”

“Eh, could be better—“

“What’s wrong?” He asked, his voice overwhelmed with worry.

“I don’t know. I woke up this morning and my mom left me a note saying that they were out of town for an ‘emergency’ and I’m worried.”

“Ali, come one; it’s probably nothing and I don’t want you bummed out for three days. So, what do you want to do today? We’ll spend the day together,” he suggested.

“Are you sure you aren’t too busy with the album?” I asked. Since The Maine got signed about a month ago, they were in the studio every weekend, sometimes even on weekdays, after school.

“Yes, I’m sure. Come on now, what do you want to do?”

“I was actually planning on painting my room…”

“Great! I’ll pick you up in 20 minutes and we’ll go buy the paint and start moving your furniture around, alright?”

“Yea, that’s perfect!” I responded, excited beyond belief that I would be seeing him today.

“I’ll be there in a bit. Love you,” he added. Oh, how I loved hearing it.

“Love you too! Bye!” I shut the phone, put my dirty dishes in the dishwasher and ran up to take a quick shower. Once I was done, I dried my hair and put on some short shorts and a tucked-in t-shirt. Just as I grabbed my purse and sunglasses and slipped on my shoes, John rang the doorbell. I opened the door and crashed my lips to his.

“Hello, what was that for?” He announced as I pulled away and smiled.

“I missed you, that’s all,” I responded as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“New sunglasses?” he asked.

“Yes, you like them?”

“Beautiful, just like you,” he added. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yup, where do you buy paint, exactly?” I asked as I locked the front door and walked to the car.

“How about the Home Depot?” I nodded and we drove to the store about 15 minutes away.

“Hi, can you tell me where the paint department is?” John asked the man with the orange vest as he grabbed my hand.

“Follow me please,” the man said as we started following him. He brought us to the paint aisle and helped us pick out what we needed. I picked out my cranberry paint while John gathered up all the rollers and brushes we would need. We checked out at the cash and made our way back to the car. John loaded the paint into the back of the car. Just as he sat in the driver’s seat, my stomach started growling of hunger. He smirked.

“Do you want to stop somewhere for food before we head over?” He asked.

“Why? Did you hear that?” I blushed.

“Yes and it was really funny. Are you hungry or not?”

“Yes, I am. Where do you want to go?”

“Panera, is that okay?” He asked. Oh, his love of Panera. I simply nodded and he drove us there. We got out and walked to the door which he so kindly opened for me.

“Welcome to Panera can I take your order?” The guy at the counter asked.

“Hi, can I get an Asiago Roast Beef sandwich please?” John ordered. As John moved up the line, I was next.

“Hey, what can I get you?” The same guy asked as he looked me up and down. Weird.

“Um, hi, can I get a Chicken Bacon Dijon sandwich please?” I asked, rather uncomfortable.

“Sure. So, what’s your name?” He eyed my chest. I instantly pulled up my shirt and crossed my arms.

“Alicia,” I responded dryly as I moved down the line as John paid his sandwich and walked to a table. I shot him a look, hoping he knew what I meant. Sadly, he wasn’t looking my way.

“Hot name, hot girl. So, do you come here often?”

“Excuse me?” I raised my voice causing the restaurant to go silent.

“You know… I would like to see more of you. If you know what I mean,” he said once more, slightly leaning over onto the counter.

“Well, in that case, it sucks to be you. You see that guy over there? That’s my boyfriend and if he finds out how much of a tasteless, disrespectful jackass you’re being, well he won’t be very happy, so stop this right now,” I stated as I moved down the line, handing the girl at the cash my debit card.

“I like a girl with attitude,” he managed to say once again, raising his eyebrows up and down.

“Fuck off and grow up,” I simply stated before walking to our table, annoyed.

“Took you long enough,” John added in between sandwich bites as I sat down.

“You’re already done?” I said staring at his plate. He looked down and smiled.

“I was really hungry too. Babe, why are you pissed?” I guess he sensed the tone in my voice.

“Because people here are assholes.”

“Why?”

“Because guys here look at me like I’m a fresh piece of meat, that’s why. I hate it,” I said as I took a sip of my Arizona iced tea.

“You know why right?” he responded.

“Because they are pigs?” I hesitated, taking a bite of my sandwich as John watched me eat.

“Exactly, just don’t pay attention to them, are you ready to go?”

“Yea, just let me finish this bite,” I responded as he stood up. I then gathered my tray and walked with him to the garbage can.

“Is that the guy that was bothering you?” John asked as he pointed to the guy at the counter that was smiling at me. I nodded and he smirked. He then took the left over sandwich piece that was on my tray and threw it at him just as we both ran out and sat in the car laughing. As we drove home, I finally got a hold of my mother. She couldn’t talk for long; apparently my grandmother’s house was broken into. Luckily, she was fine, but was being treating for shock at a nearby hospital. However, I was still horribly worried. Fortunately, John was right there with me through it all. It’s in times like these when you see who truly cares about you. I opened my garage door as John parked the car backwards. We then uploaded all of the paint and brought it up to my room.

“Okay, let’s start,” I said as I tried to open a can of paint.

“You have no idea how to paint, do you?” He laughed.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well first of all, you should go change. Second, we have to cover your furniture. Third, we have to tape the ceiling limits and after all that, then we can paint,” he explained.

“But that’s so long! I just want to paint my walls… Fine, I’ll go change,” I then grabbed an old t-shirt and sweats, ran to the bathroom and got changed. When I came out, John had taken off his t-shirt so he wouldn’t get it dirty and left it on the doorknob.

“Okay Ali, we are going to push all your furniture into the middle of the room, alright?”

“But it’s so heavy!” I complained. He convinced be eventually and I helped push everything to the middle.

“Stop complaining and lift it with me,” he ordered as he pointed out which dresser he was talking about.

“You know I’m not you employee!” I reminded him. He sighed heavily and turned towards me.

“I’ve been really bitchy to you today,” he admitted.

“Yea, a little. Did I do something wrong?” I asked as I took a seat next to him my bed.

“No, of course not. Ali, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just under a lot of pressure with Fearless and I don’t know… I guess I was taking it out on you,” he explained.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked as I laid my head on his shoulder.

“Not really; there isn’t much to talk about anyways. I’m sorry for taking it out on you,” he replied once more.

“It’s okay, John. Come on, let’s paint my wall now.” Just as I was getting up, John grabbed my waist and pulled me into an incredibly passionate kiss. We then covered all my furniture and began painting. We decided that it would be too long to paint the entire room, so we would only be painting the wall behind my bed.

“Wait here… I want to paint something on your other wall, don’t look,” he announced as he kissed my cheek, took a gallon of paint and a paintbrush and disappeared behind me. Three coats of paint and 4 hours later, I was laying on the ground from a paint overdose. I couldn’t look at a paint gallon without wanting to kill myself.

“I’m sick of this, I quit!” I whined.

“Hold on, I’m almost done your surprise,” he announced from the other side of my bed, smiling at me. I couldn’t help but smile back no matter how fed up I was.

“Okay, come see now!” He called out to me. I was doing some finishing touches with a paint brush, so I just brought it to where John was standing.

“Okay, close your eyes,” he said as he placed his cold hands over my eyes. We walked a little and then he stopped.

“Okay baby, open them. I hope you like it,” he said as he removed his hands. I looked at the wall in front of me and was amazed. He had written ‘John Loves Ali’ at the very top and under it, the lyrics to a song.

“What is all of this?” I asked, nearly speechless.

“It’s a song I wrote for you when we first met. I finished it a couple of days ago and I wanted it to be perfect, that’s why it took so long,” he added as he got his guitar out of its case.

“But we weren’t even dating yet…”

“Baby, I knew from the first moment that I saw you in that cafeteria that we would be together,” he responded. We then sat on my bed and he got his guitar into position.

“There was a new girl in town. She had it all figured out. And I'll state something rash. She had the most amazing....smile. I bet you didn't expect that. But she made me change my ways. With eyes like sunsets baby. And legs that went on for days,” I smiled.

“I'm fallin' in love, But it's fallin' apart. I need to find my way back to the start. When we were in love. Oh things were better than they are. Let me back into. Into your arms. Into your arms.

“She made her way to the bar. I tried to talk to her. But she seemed so far. Outta my league. I had to find a way to get her next to me. I'm fallin' in love, But it's fallin' apart. I need to find my way back to the start. When we were in love. Oh things were better than they are. Let me back into. Into your arms. Into your arms.

“Oh she's slippin' away. I always freeze when I'm thinking of words to say. All the things she does. Make it seem like love. If it's just a game. Then I like the way that we play.

“I'm fallin' in love, But it's fallin' apart. I need to find my way back to the start. I'm fallin' in love, But it's fallin' apart. I need to find my way back to the start. When we were in love. Oh things were better than they are. Let me back into,
Into your arms.
Into your arms.
Into your arms.
Into your arms.”

He placed the guitar on the bed and turned towards me and smiled.

“I love you,” I managed to say, still choked up from the song.

“I love you too baby. I’m putting that song on the album. It’s going to be our song, alright?” I nodded and we both stood up, ready to keep painting. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tilted my head up to kiss him, pressing my body against his naked chest. I then remembered that I was still holding the paint brush. I suddenly pulled away.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, catching his breath.

“I think that I might have possibly… painted your back,” I stated as I showed him the paint brush. He ran to the mirror and saw that he had cranberry colored markings all over his back.

“Oh you are so dead!” he said as he took a paintbrush and ran after me with it. Within 10 minutes, we were both covered in paint and sitting on my staircase.

“Okay, you got me. We are both covered in paint. What do we do now?” I stated as I looked at the time on my cell phone. It was almost 7:30 by now.

“How about we get something to eat?” he suggested as we walked down the steps.

“Sounds good, come on; I’ll make us something,” I said, walking into the kitchen. “What do you feel like eating?” I opened the fridge and leaned into it.

“Whatever you make is fine with me,” he said as he kissed my neck. I simply smiled.

“Okay… How about pasta?” I suggested, looking at him for approval. He nodded and I started cooking.

“Okay, get some plates out of the cupboard,” I asked him after I drained the pasta. I got everything ready and placed it on the table.

“Smells good,” he said as he sat down.

“No, no, no! Don’t sit! You’re full of paint and you’re going to dirty the chairs.” He quickly stood up and we both began to eat, leaning over the counter, and once we were done, placed the dishes in the dish washer.

“So, what do you want to do now?” he asked as we cleaned up the kitchen.

“How about we watch a movie?” I suggested.

“Perfect, just let me go bring my guitar back in the car and I’ll be back,” he said, kissing my cheek and running up to get his guitar and back out the door. I decided that I would change into cleaner clothes before he came back in. I then walked upstairs and into my room as I removed my now cranberry t-shirt and sweatpants as I danced around in my underwear and favorite purple bra. I went through my drawers and picked out a pajama consisting of short shorts and this really long t-shirt that looked like a dress. Suddenly, the door to my room flew opened.

“John! Can’t you knock?” I said as I tried to cover myself with the dress.

“Nice chest. I mean dress! Nice dress,” he tried to recover. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t see anything!” He added.

“You’re still starring, John,” I reminded him as I walked closer towards him, slipping on my t-shirt. He didn’t say another word. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me and I simply couldn’t resist. Every inch of my body wanted him closer, longer.

John’s point of view

As I carefully laid her on the bed, the kissing became more and more intense. Every part of me wanted her more than anything right now and by the way she was kissing me, it felt like she felt the same way. As my hand made its way up and down her thigh, she suddenly pulled away.

“I’m ready,” she said, out of breath as she held my face in her hands. “Spend the night.”

“I love you,” I said.

“Me too,” she whispered and crashed her lips to mine. That night, it was simply magical. Our bodies connected like none other. Every move, every sound, every feeling seemed to be amplified. Being with her tonight made all of it perfect.

By morning, the rays of sunlight slowly started to pierce through the curtains. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness of a new day, I looked down at Ali who was still sound asleep in my arms. She looked so rested; I couldn’t stand the thought of waking her. As I tried to tip-toe out of bed and get into the shower, her eyes slowly opened and she smiled.

“Good morning sunshine,” I said to her as she yawned and sat up a little.

“Good morning, how did you sleep?” she asked as she clinged to my chest.

“Great, how about you?”

“Pretty good. I love waking up next to you, you know?” She said as she looked up to me and smiled. I tilted my head down and her lips met mine. As I placed my hand behind her neck, it slowly started to feel like last night all over again.

“Wait, wait, wait,” she managed to say in between kisses.

“What?” I laughed.

“Is this another attempt to seduce me, Mister O’Callaghan?”

“Maybe,” I responded, kissing her neck.

“Stop it… We are never going to get of this bed if you don’t,” she reminded me and of course, she was right.

“What’s wrong with that?” she looked over at the clock by the night stand.

“Well, it’s Sunday and you have band practice in about 2 hours,” she said to me.

“Alright, alright. I love you.”

“I love you too. Now, I’m going to go shower and then you’ll go right after,” she said as she got up and dragged her white bed sheet with her, attempting to cover her body. I quickly got up, picked up my boxer-briefs from the floor and put them on.

“Can I come?” I asked, wrapping my arms around her waist and breathing in the scent of her hair.

“Nope, not today. We don’t have time, go watch TV or something,” she said. She then turned around to face me and pressed her lips to mine. Soon after, she walked into the bathroom and locked the door. Once I heard the water running, I laid back down on the bed and watched TV.