As they walked down the street, he gave her a quick sideways glance and took her
hand very very gently. She'd never actually had someone hold her hand
this gently. It was almost as if the two hands weren't even connected,
they were just existing alongside each other. She could only handle a
few seconds, and then grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingers
together. He responded in kind and they got down to serious hand holding
business.
As they walked down the street they ran into her cast, just coming from the same food place they were headed to. They warned them of the large line, so instead they ducked inside another late night restaurant for food.
Once their food had arrived and they had dug in, they realized how burnt out they were on all the noise and interaction. They were introverts at heart, but suddenly after the nourishment they both felt at peace and got back to their long talk. It had been around 3 hours at this point, and it showed no signs of letting up.
They talked about how awesome his new job was going to be, and about how terrible dishonesty was. He told her that he really was nervous to tell her that his job was going to take him away for 7 months during the next year, but knew that he had to make her aware as soon as possible. After all the KSL lies, this honesty was beautiful and romantic.
"I appreciate your honest with that so much, more than I can say. I get that it is important to have that information in order to really decide if we should move forward, even though last time we kind of talked about how we aren't sure where this is going. But I like you a lot. I'm glad I can prepare for a 7 month gap if this ends up going anywhere. It doesn't change anything for me, I'm still in it to see where it goes."
Piz smiled at her. "Me too, me too."
They walked back to the car hand in hand, and he offered to drive her home. She said if it wasn't too much trouble, if not she could just walk the 2.5 blocks to her studio. He said he'd like to drive her home, and so they walked with their bodies close to the parking garage.
He pulled up to her loading zone, and they commented on all the drunk people still out and hanging on her stoop at 3 in the morning. They were loud and yelling, and she commented how the doormen usually don't let people hang out like this, as it makes the geriatrics in her building angry.
He laughed, and she told him she would miss him the week he was gone, and the three days after that when she was gone. She embraced him, and as they pulled apart he kissed her on the side of her mouth, clearly missing what he intended to do. She decided again to take the bull by the horns and just moved slightly and kissed him again, fast enough that he wouldn't be embarrassed by the initial kiss.
He was a good kisser, but there wasn't as much passion as there had been with KSL. She attempted to intensify, use her tongue on his bottom lip a little. He must have been too nervous and never really got terribly aggressive with her.
She knew, even in the moment, that it was unfair to compare anything to KSL. That boy was bat shit crazy and you have to work up to that kind of passion. She enjoyed the kissing, and it felt great to be kissed by someone who actually liked her, maybe wanted a relationship with her. He was straightforward and honest, so he would have let her know if things went too far or she was too aggressive.
"We could move the car and park somewhere for awhile and keep doing this" Piz suggested, almost out of breath. She leaned her head on his shoulder and said "I would love to...but it's really late, and I should get to bed. You should too! You must be so tired."
"A little less tired now, but yeah. Man this is going to be a long week."
"Hey, make sure to keep in touch this week okay? This is sort of our trial run in being apart...let's not let anything die. Text me." She said.
"I will." Piz answered.
They kissed a little while longer, and then she reluctantly got out of the car. She watched the car's reflection in the glass as he drove away, then walked past the drunks into her building.
She fell asleep with a huge smile on her face.
