Dress

My Rebounds

The trip was winding down, and the uneasy-ness was settling in. Tomorrow was their last full day in the Keys, and the look on Maren's face must have given it away.

"Hey" Brian said in a soft voice which brought Maren back to the current moment. He squeezed her hand and she brought her eyes to his.

Clearing her throat, she stared off, "I'm scared to go back."

Brian shrugged. "I'm sure you have a ton of emails. We both probably do. We work too much." He said and laughed.

Maren realized he didn't understand what she meant. She nodded. "That we do. But I meant .." she looked in Brian's eyes.  "I'm scared that our lives, our jobs.. the fans.." she shook her head and looked away. " I kinda don't want to go back to it all." Her eyes got wide and she turned to him, matter of facty, "I  mean let's just buy one of these adorable little cottages, and own some chickens and just never go back. We can change our names and just own scooters never put on like adult business clothes again." she said with a twinkle in her eye as if she figured it all about.

Brian smiled lovingly at her. She was adorable when she got flustered and excited all at the same time.  It meant she was nervous because she was laying her heart out on the line. He wondered if he would always be surprised by how wrong he was about her. He squeezed her hand again. "Maren, I know this is all a lot. It is for the both of us," now he looked away as the waiter came and cleared the table. Brian asked for the check.

Maren shrugged and looked slightly defeated. "So, no chickens??"  Even though she knew this was completely out of the question and she only said it half serious, the knots in her stomach at the thought of them going back to New York sunk back in.

He laughed at her comment, then turned serious again. "Do you wanna know the moment I knew I loved you?"

Maren got goosebumps at the sound of his voice saying that sentence.  Her eyes grew big and she could feel her cheeks become red. Yet again, this man was completely able to relax her. No longer thinking about life when they leave this 4 mile wide x 1 mile long island. And of course, he continued to surprise  her. She too wondered if she was always gonna be surprised by how wrong she was about him.

Even though he had already said the words she never heard a man say before first, I love you, he managed to one up that moment, by realizing  the moment it happened. That's some fairytale shit. Brian didn't believe in fairytale shit.

She narrowed her curious eyes at him, "That sounded like some fairytale shit Quinn.. and you know, I distinctly remember you telling someone they shouldn't believe in fairytale shit!" Maren said throwing her napkin at him.

Brian's smile grew devious and his eyebrows hit the ceiling. He shrugged, "Oh yeah, is that right?! Oh ok.. well that's fine Mar. I know you aren't dying to know or anything," he joked flinging his balled up linen napkin right back at her.

"Aww... Bri.. no I was kidding. Tell me!!" She laughed giving him pleading  puppy dog eyes.

Brian shook his head. "Nah. Put those gems away. I'm definitely not tellin you now." He said as he gestured towards her eyes, then stood up and picked her up and flung her over his shoulder.

"Oh my god Brian stop we're in a restaurant," she said banging on his back. She was half embarrassed and half giddy at how much fun she was having.  It wasn't a super fancy restaurant and it wasn't crowded at all but Brian didn't seem to care. Maren was worried though that she was flashing her butt to the other diners out on the balcony overlooking the water.

He shook his head and continued to walk out of the restaurant, "I know we are, but what are we gonna do with that mouth of yours. I mean, Maren you really need to learn that just cause you hang around 4 comedians all day, doesn't make you one." He said as he finally put her down once they were outside the restaurant.