My eyes flutter open when I see my dad hovering over me.
"Geez someone must have stayed out late last night huh?" He doesn't appear to be mad or annoyed. Must've not heard me come in at 5:30.
I turn to my night stand, pick up my phone and look at the time. 11:45; not even six hours of sleep. I grunt because I'm not ready to wake up. Waking up means I can't dream of the amazing night I just had.
"You gonna lay in bed all day or are you going to go to the mall with your sister?"
"Ugh give me a minute, I'll start getting ready," I talk through my pillow.
I toss and turn a few times and stretch my whole body until I finally get up. I walk to the bathroom to brush my teeth and start a shower. I look in the mirror and realize I'm wearing Claire's clothes. Should I wash them and give them back? I take off her shirt and put it up to my nose; my eyes close as I breathe in what is the most delightful and intoxicating fragrance.
As I'm in the middle of shampooing my hair, I look down to my wrist and see a stamp from Pulse. I smile as I scrub it off my skin.
I fold Claire's clothes with the hope I'd have the opportunity to see her again, put them on a shelf in my closet, grab some leggings and a t-shirt, throw a little light makeup on and go to Megan's room.
"I'm ready when you are. Which mall do you want to go to?" I ask with the intention for her to drive us.
"Just the one in Town Center is fine with me. Not looking for anything too fancy."
"Did dad leave you money?" Cause I'm surely not paying.
"Yeah he gave me enough. Just gonna put on my shoes and I'll meet you downstairs."
We park in the structure next to the new indoor mall close to our house and walk inside. Megan is dressed in her usual tight pants, boy shirt and hat. I imagine sometimes as we walk around there are people wondering if we're a couple but it doesn't bother me. I love my sister regardless of how she looks and now I look to her more than ever because she might have an idea what I'm going through.
We walk into Macy's and go towards the men's section. We both browse around and pick out a few things. Knowing her so well, I pick out button ups and ties with colors in the grays, blacks, and blues. We meet a few minutes later and go over what we picked out. She takes a few pairs of slacks, one white, one black, and one gray button up along with a few assorted ties into a dressing room.
As she's changing, I stand outside the dressing room. I look around and see no one in sight.
"Hey Megan, can I talk to you about something?"
"Sure, of course. What's up?" I hear her switching out pants.
"You know who Claire Emerson is don't you?"
"I don't live under a rock dude," She says sarcastically.
"Well last night I was at that club and she was there..." I'm trying to figure out how to say this because how often does anything like last night happen to someone like me?
"Really? Did you get a picture?" Oh Megan.
"Uh well I don't expect you to really believe it, but she asked me to dance and we did, and we had this weird, intense connection, and ended staying out until we watched the sunrise." I realize how stupid I must sound.
For a moment, she was quiet. Probably figuring out whether to believe me or process the fact that her sister could be going through something relatable. She unlocks the dressing room door.
"For a moment I thought you were serious. She's so hot." Of course she wouldn't believe me.
"I am serious Megan," I grab her arm to get her attention and reach for my phone. "Look, she even gave me her number."
She stops fixing her shirt and looks down in shock.
"You're seriously not messing with me?" Her tone turned serious.
"No," I look her dead in the eye. "I can't even describe it. I've never felt this way."
"Did you enjoy being with her?" She sits down on an ottoman and scoots over for me.
"Time couldn't go slow enough." I stare at the floor as I wrap my head around what I exactly felt a few hours earlier. "I felt so liberated and comfortable with her."
"This is so crazy, Parker. You have to text her! I've never seen you light up about someone before."
I tell her every detail of last night. About the body guards, how I borrowed her clothes, how we watched the water show, how her head laid in my lap, and how I chickened out at the end and didn't kiss her.
"I'm trying to wrap my ahead around why you of all people," her seriousness is now humor as I'm sure she's excited for me.
"Just no telling dad, promise?" We get up from the ottoman so she can get changed.
"Promise."
She buys black slacks, a white shirt and a black tie then we make our way to the bookstore where we can grab some coffee and sit down to talk more.
"So, what does this mean? Do you like her, Parker?" She wants to know if I'm into girls or just into Claire.
"I like her, there is no denying that but I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything. And I just broke up with Sean so, I mean, what if this is just some response to that?" My original excitement has turned to doubt as I think about reality. "She's Claire Emerson: movie star, magazine cover girl, big time celebrity. I'm a software engineering student at a school in Reno. I don't know what could possibly come out of this." I take a sip of coffee and see Megan's expression empathetic. "Plus, I have never done anything with a girl besides a drunken kiss."
"I know I'm much younger than you and you're supposed to teach me things but with something like this, shouldn't you just go for it?" Her empathy almost turns to frustration, "I've watched you grow up planning your life out, sticking within the lines, not taking any risks... I think you need to stop thinking about what could and couldn't happen in the future and just fucking live Parker. This doesn't happen to just anyone.
"It's not even the fact that she's a celebrity and you are you. It's the fact that you have never lit up once talking about Sean the three years you've dated like the way you lit up talking about her for three minutes. As for the sexual stuff, it comes naturally if you feel the way you do for Claire. I'm sure she's dated a girl before."
"She has." I guess I did leave out one detail from last night.
"She told you?" Megan is dying to know everything, but I don't even know everything.
"She said she's been with women and to her, it's more," I think of the right word, "connected."
"Fuck yeah, Claire Emerson."
"Okay, calm down lesbo. She asked me to dance, not you." I lighten up and take another drink. "I wouldn't have a clue what to do sexually. That intimidates me."
My sister and I are too close to be uncomfortable having this conversation. Even though we couldn't offer much sexual advice to one another while I was dating Sean and her being a lesbian, now seems like the perfect bonding moment for us. I know she's eager to tell her now possibly lesbian, bisexual, whatever sister about girls.
"Think about what Sean did to you and what you liked."
"Honestly, Sean sucked at oral sex." We both laugh. "But there was Trent that I fooled around with, when Sean and I were on a break, and he was incredible."
"Think of that. Really think about it, but not here with me. That's weird. Like at home. When you're alone. Claire will show you some things too." She smirks.
"You don't even know what she's done sexually, Megan." Being the inexperienced, non-dominant one in a relationship is unlike me and seems intimidating.
"Whatever you do, don't act intimidated or shy. Act like you know what you're doing and be aggressive about it. Don't be a weenie Parker."
"No shit, dude." I check my phone for the time. "You should've seen how smooth I was at the club though." We laugh.
She takes me to my car at Jamie's and we meet up at home. I go to my room and sit on my bed and think for ten minutes how to text hello to Claire in a non-weenie way.
"Hey, it's Parker. Thank you for a great night and please tell Edan thank you for driving." Seems chill.
As I wait for her reply, I figure it's probably time to call my friends who have been freaking out the past fifteen hours wondering what happened with Claire Emerson. I start with Tayler.
"Parker finally! I've texted and called you like ten times. What the hell were you doing with Claire Emerson last night?" She doesn't seem too mad or freaked out.
"I know I'm sorry, I went home and slept in late and just finished shopping with Megan. It was an interesting night," I don't feel the need to tell any of my friends about the rest of Claire and I's night until I figure it out myself, "It was so crazy, I was just coming to meet you guys on the dancefloor when she came up to me asking me to dance."
"Out of nowhere she came up to you asking to dance?" Tayler thinks there's more to the story, but I mean she really did cock block a guy and asked me to dance.
"I have no idea why," I slightly bent the truth because I did know why; she felt something about me, "She just came up to me and asked to dance so I wasn't going to say no. She was really cool." I laugh a bit to lighten the mood.
"Well you must feel pretty special, that's so random! But it is cool. You guys were dancing pretty close, do you think she was into you?" I mean I hope so after the night we had.
"Umm I don't know. I think with her break up and mine, we just kind of let loose you know. It was fun."
"Still blows my mind Claire Emerson was not only there but asked you to dance," We laugh. "You don't experience that every day."
"If she only knew," I thought to myself. We talk a little more about the night and our plans for the week ahead and hang up. I figure I'll have the same conversations with Jamie and Kara, so I just text them.
Claire hasn't responded, and it makes me feel nervous. "It's been seven minutes Parker, chill out."
As I toss my phone on my bed and walk towards the bathroom, I hear a text buzz. I quickly turn around to check and see the name "Trent" pop up. "What a coincidence," I think, as I was just thinking about the things we used to do when hooking up in between breaks with Sean.
"Are you back in town?"
Trent and I have a very different type of relationship from anything I've seen. I knew him in high school, but we never really talked, we both were in our awkward phases. It wasn't until second semester of my freshman year that I found out he went to the same school as me; we had a computer science class together.
I remember thinking how much better looking he got and how much more buff too. I was dating Sean at the time, so nothing ever happened. One drunken night during one of our break ups, I saw Trent out at one of the bars and one thing led to another. We had sex, but it didn't feel weird. It became a usual occurrence with each break-up, but we never felt attached. We just laughed at it. Thinking about it now makes me feel like a horrible person.
I could never see myself dating Trent, and likewise. He's had one relationship and it lasted three months; he's not exactly a romantic or able to connect with his feelings. But for some reason, when it comes to Sean or any problem I have, he always knows what to say and gives great advice. I reply and ask to meet for drinks Tuesday night after work. I don't anticipate we hook up as we've usually done before and that's entirely due to Claire. I still don't have a clue what this is between her and I, but I doubt my attention will drift elsewhere for a while.
After Trent and I coordinated a time and place, I finally received a reply from Claire. Her name popped up and my heart skipped a beat. Maybe two.
"Hi Parker ☺ Thank YOU for an amazing night! Can't say I've experienced anything like that before. Are you free tomorrow night?"
My mouth turns into a huge smile and I feel a tingle throughout my whole body. Like a child waiting to go inside Disneyland.
"I've got a few meetings and conferences, but I can probably pencil in some time for you."
I hope she can sense my sarcasm through text messaging because that's typically how I handle conversations with people I barely know; I find it breaks the ice a lot of the time. I still can't drop the huge smile off my face.
"I'll have my people call your people," I tease her as my smile gets bigger.
We arrange dinner plans and I tell her to wear comfy clothes; I have something fun in mind that would hopefully make this trip to Sin City even more eventful for her.