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“Stay here, I won't ask you to wait but I just want you to stay here.” Piper smiles at him, squeezing Jason's hand.
“I'm going to wait”, she whispers.
Even if this is the last time being so close to him she doesn’t mind. Just something about him is so gentle, and tender. The kind of warmth you want after drowning. As if she was drowning and being with him was like coming up for air.
“Okay just wait a few months, and after that we're going to have many more dates.”
She’s not used to the slow burn, she’s used to the roller coaster and diving head first into everything. She is used to throwing caution to the wind. But something about him is familiar and strange at the same time. It’s good that he isn’t familiar, she thinks, because she wants him to be different from all the other guys.
Piper wants this to feel new and exciting, and she can't wait to hear from him again.
He didn't ask her to wait but she goes by the lake where they had their first date everyday, she sits in the spot he sat. Looking off into the water Piper thinks of the painting they tried to make. It was horrible, absolutely ugly but the meaning behind it was something beautiful.
He kept the painting they made, and she kept her faith in him.
She's living off hope, hope of smelling his cologne once again. Seeing his face once again, she is terrified of forgetting what he looks like. But she knows she could never forget his messy hair and beautiful eyes. It's like time stopped next to him, she can't explain it.
"I was thinking we could paint, go by a lake and admire the water. Optional hand holding and cuddling." She smiles to herself she’s watching it begin again.
"Do you like to paint?"
"I've actually never painted before, but I always wanted to try."
He tells her to look up, “let’s try to paint what we see like the water and trees.”
Their shoulders brush, and just for a second she can feel time stop.
"You’re so pretty" he tells her genuinely
The burgundy slowly crept up to her cheeks, flushed like a shy sunset painting.
Looking away she tries to continue the painting. She's had many firsts and with different guys but he feels so strange. There is nothing familiar about him, not one bit.
“Well you should be a natural at this, teach me how to paint.” He asks Piper.
She’s always wanted to paint with someone, filling in the blanks as they went was so intimate.
The more time goes by, the more terrified she is of the day ending. She doesn't want the night to end because when the sun comes up he’s going to leave and she’ll be back to missing his warmth.
She takes out her polaroid, and thinks how is she not supposed to be falling for him?
If she wasn’t already she is now.
He puts his arm around her, kissing her on the cheek and he’s turned her insides to jelly. They take two pictures, one for each of them to keep.
He slipped his in his wallet, and she looks away trying to hide her smile.
"Do you believe in fate?" Piper asked, looking up at him.
They were tangled together in her bed, just comfortable breathing and looking into each other’s eyes. She was always told she’s bad at eye contact, she hates it. But loves it with him, his eyes calm her down and they anchor her.
He pauses for a second then says
"Not really, I think things don't make sense. Everything happens so abruptly and randomly. Have you heard of absurdism? It’s a theory that the universe is intentionally irrational”
She smiles at him
“I get what you mean, but I like to believe that the universe has a purpose for me. It's as though every moment unfolds with meaning. Though, recently, I've found that it’s boring to attribute everything to fate. There's a certain beauty in meeting someone and deliberately choosing them with all your intention.
This time Jason smiles back at her, she's so easy to talk to he thinks. He can just get lost in their conversations.
He pushes a piece of hair out of her face “Would you say our meeting was fate?"
She pauses for a second.
She doesn’t know.
She couldn’t answer that question, for once she didn't have her mind made up.
“I just wanna stay here together until you fall asleep and then I’ll leave.”
She wants to tell him to stay, to stay for just a few more days, postpone the trip or even a few more hours. Just a little longer she wants to say. Instead she settles for a smile,
“It’s okay, let me walk you out.”
“How about I stay for just 20 more minutes.” And he gives her that shy smile, the one that has been making her weak all day.
“That’s okay too Jason.”
Despite her strangeness she feels familiar, her perfume still lingers in his car on the way home. He's racking his brain trying to remember what her laugh sounds like.
He likes to be in the present, but with her she lingers like a tattoo kiss. He closes his eyes and there she is again with her smile.
She believes in fate, he thinks it’s all random and there’s no reason. She’s used to the roller coaster, and all he does is think in the moment.
She holds her breath for everything and needs to know how things end but he couldn’t care less. She clings onto moments and can't let things go but with him she’s letting it go.
The fear, or the uncertainty because she knows, she just knows that she’s going to smell his cologne again.