Chapter Two
After Isabel had gone, Maria took a quick shower before getting dressed in her favourite low rise jeans and a dark pink, slash neck sweater. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she applied a soft pink colour to her lips. Grabbing her jacket and keys, she then drove over to Michael’s apartment and was now sitting parked across from his building.
Any other time, she would have been out of the car and already at his door within a few short minutes but now...now she was trying to pluck up her courage to do what she’d done so many times before. What if he refused to open the door to her? Okay, so she had the key he had given her but it didn’t feel right letting herself in after what had happened.
Maria continued to sit there for a few more minutes until finally she took one last deep breath and then opened the car door and stepped out. The walk between the car and his apartment was a very slow one as she tried to avoid seeing him for a bit longer. That wasn’t quite true, she did want to see him but she was just scared of what would happen when she saw him after all this time.
Once at his door, she stared at it before eventually raising her hand and knocking.
* * * * *
Michael was just finishing up in the bathroom when he heard the knock at the door and he froze at the sound. When he had heard Max’s last words to him through his door earlier that night, he hadn’t totally believed him about her coming over but feeling more and more fidgety as the minutes ticked by, he had finally gotten up to take a shower. He told himself he was just trying to relax himself but deep down he knew it was for another reason altogether, especially when he decided to have a shave as well.
Grabbing a clean T-shirt, he pulled it on over his head and straightened it out as he walked towards his front door. Taking a deep breath, he opened it and for the first time in six weeks he saw Maria. He couldn’t help noticing how small she looked standing on his doorstep, using her hair to help shield her face from him. However, when she glanced up at him he saw the nervousness etched on her face and took in how her green eyes seemed to have lost their usual sparkle.
“Uh, hi.” Maria said, her hands twisting together nervously. Her eyes met his for a brief moment before quickly looking down again and focusing on the floor. “I guess I should have called first or something but, uh, I...”
For the first time in weeks, the tightness in Michael’s chest seemed to lessen and he felt like he could breathe easier. Listening to her familiar babbling, he couldn’t help it when his lips curled up in a small smirk. “Do you want to come in?” He asked, opening the door wider.
His question stopped her rambling and she nodded her agreement. “Thanks,” she told him as she crossed the threshold.
They stood there awkwardly, refusing to look each other in the eyes. The tension between them was so strong you could physically feel it. Their fingers itched to touch each other, but they somehow managed to refrain from doing so.
“Can I get you a drink?”
“No thanks.”
“Okay. Can I take your jacket then?”
“Oh, uh, sure.” Shrugging out of her jacket, she handed it to him and when their fingers brushed against each other’s, they both gasped at the sensation. The jacket dropped to the floor as they laced their fingers together and finally daring to look into each other’s eyes, they inched their bodies closer.
Michael’s free hand immediately went to Maria’s cheek and he cradled it tenderly as his eyes dropped to her lips. Lowering his head, his lips touched hers for a millisecond before she pulled back.
“Shouldn’t we, like, talk?” She asked against his lips, her voice filled with longing.
“Later,” he told her before his lips crashed onto hers.
They kissed ravenously, desperate to make up for all the lost time. Their arms wrapped around each other; Maria’s around his neck and Michael’s around her waist. They held each other tightly as their lips devoured one another.
They broke apart minutes later gasping for air, their foreheads resting together. Michael watched as Maria’s eyelids slowly fluttered open, her emerald pools coming into view. He smiled and gave a small sigh of relief when he saw they were once again sparkling.
“I missed you...so much,” he confessed to her and he watched as a beautiful smile graced her face.
“I missed you too. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and...I-I’ve felt like I’ve been in a daze these past few weeks. I wanted to call you but...”
“But what?” He asked, brushing away a tear that had fallen.
“I was scared. I was scared you wouldn’t want to talk to me.”
Michael took a deep breath. “That will never happen. I’ll always want to talk to you,” he told her adamantly. Pausing for a moment, he finally said what he knew she needed to hear. “I called you a couple of times. I was desperate to hear your voice so I called and just listened to you.”
“That was you? Why didn’t you say anything when I picked up?”
“Because I was scared too. I don’t think I could have taken it if you would have hung up on me.”
Maria held on to him tighter and she rubbed the tip of her nose against his. “I’d never do that to you. I couldn’t. I’ve been a basket case without you.”
“Yeah, well I’ve been a mess without you. I haven’t been able to think of anything except you,” he admitted.
“Ditto.” Bringing a hand up to his face, she stroked her thumb back and forth along his cheekbone. Noticing the dark shadows under his eyes, she asked, “Have you been sleeping?”
He shook his head. “No, not really. I’ve had a few hours here and there but...” he trailed off quietly.
“Same here. You wanna try and get some sleep now?”
“With you?”
She smiled at him. “Yeah, with me. We can talk about everything properly tomorrow.”
He smiled back at her. “Okay.” Taking her by the hand, he led her towards his bedroom.
Once inside, Maria released his hand and went over to the nightstand and turned on the small lamp so that a soft glow illuminated the room. The unmade bed dominated the room and her eyes left it to look at his face and she remembered Isabel’s words about the TV always being on. She knew without a doubt what he had been doing while they had been apart.
“When was the last time you slept in here?”
Michael shifted on his feet and shrugged at her question. “Why?”
“I’m just curious.” She told him as she walked back over to him and took his hand into hers, her thumb running back and forth along his knuckles. “So?”
“I, uh, I haven’t slept in here since the night of our fight. After you left I stripped the bed and it’s been like this ever since. I only come in here to get clothes out of my closet.”
“Michael...”
“Don’t.” Removing his hand from hers, he went over and sat down on the edge of the bed. His elbows resting on his knees, he leaned forward and ran his hands through his hair. “I hate that I feel this way when you’re not with me, Maria. I haven’t been able to sleep, I haven’t felt like eating. All I’ve done is sit on that couch with the TV on loud and drink...trying to make myself forget you but I can’t. How could I ever forget you?”
Maria watched him until he became blurry as a result of the tears that had formed in her eyes. She blinked them away and then slowly walked forwards until she reached him before carefully dropping to her knees. “I’m sorry.”
Sitting up, he looked into her face and saw the tears that were running down her cheeks. “You have nothing to apologise for. I’m not blaming you for how I feel.”
“I know but I...I left you and...”
His hands touched her face gently as he caressed away her tears. “I was being a jerk and if I could, I’d have left me too.”
“Don’t joke about this, Michael, ‘cos it’s not funny.”
“You’re right, it’s not. Actually, I can’t even remember the last time I laughed.”
Moving forward, she placed a soft kiss on his lips before drawing back. “I can. It was a few days before our fight. You were trying to watch the hockey game on TV but I was distracting you. You were laughing when you finally picked me up and put me over your shoulder.”
Michael’s lips curled up in a smile. “Oh yeah, I remember that night. But what happened? What happened to change all that?”
“I don’t know. I, uh, I don’t remember what the fight was actually about. I know we’d been picking at each other but I can’t remember what the actual reason for our fight was. Do you?” She was worried about what his reaction would be to her admission.
“I don’t know either. This is fucking unbelievable. We’ve been miserable all this time and neither of us knows the reason why.”
Taking her hands in his, Michael pulled her up off her knees and then situated her on his lap where he cuddled her close to him. “How about we just apologise to each other and leave it at that?”
Maria laid her head against his shoulder before turning slightly so she could bury her face into the nook between his neck and shoulder. She planted soft kisses on his skin before nodding her agreement to his suggestion. Moving away a little so she could look into his eyes, she said, “We still need to talk about this though. We have to make sure we don’t let something this stupid happen again because I couldn’t take it. I can’t be away from you for this long again.”
“Me either and you’re right, we do need to talk about it. But let’s leave it until tomorrow after we’ve had a good night’s sleep.”
“Agreed,” she said jumping off his lap and heading to the cupboard to get fresh sheets and pillowcases to make the bed.
When they had finished making the bed, Michael watched as Maria got undressed. He was totally captivated by the way she shimmied out of her jeans but he knew she wasn’t trying to put on a show for him. Things still felt a little awkward but he was sure that after a good night’s sleep everything would be better and more comfortable.
“Aren’t you going to get undressed too?” Maria asked him, walking over to where he stood by the window. She was dressed in one of his T-shirts and her panties and having releaased her hair from its scrunchie, it was now hanging in waves down her back.
Her words brought him out of his thoughts and he gave her a smile. “Uh yeah, I’m just gonna go and use the bathroom.”
“To get changed? Why?”
“I haven’t got anything on under my jeans and I just thought that...”
“What? That because we’ve just gotten back together I can’t handle seeing you naked? I think I’ve been deprived long enough,” she told him with a giggle as she placed her hands on his belt buckle and made quick work of unfastening it and then his jeans.
Just that simple action was getting him aroused and he took deep breaths to keep calm. He was so tired all he wanted to do was catch up on much needed sleep with Maria in his arms where she belonged. It felt a little strange standing there in just his T-shirt after she had removed his jeans but she soon remedied that by sliding the fabric up his chest and then pulling it off over his head.
Maria’s eyes drank him in as he stood totally naked before her and after taking a few cleansing breaths, she took his hand and led him to the freshly made bed. “Get in,” she ordered and she smiled at his instant compliance. Walking around to her side of the bed, she was just about to get in when she made a decision. Her fingers grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and she pulled it off, dropping the garment to the floor before then hooking her fingers into the waistband of her panties and slipping them off.
“Maria?”
“Shush. I’m not expecting us to do anything tonight, I don’t think either of us are capable of doing anything but sleeping. I-I just want to feel your skin touching mine,” she admitted quietly.
Michael’s eyes roamed her body, appreciating all her curves and pulling the covers back for her, he watched her climb into bed. He pulled her to him and arranged their bodies so every part of them was touching. They each sighed at the feel of their bodies finally being reunited. Maria’s fingers were tracing lazy patterns on his chest and the sound of his heartbeat was lulling her to sleep.
As he felt himself begin to doze off, Michael dropped a kiss onto the top of her head and whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she mumbled as she snuggled even deeper into his body.
Those three words caused his whole body to relax even further allowing sleep to finally claim him and this time he had happy dreams which were filled with images of how they could spend the rest of his vacation..