I woke up the next morning smiling. For the first time in so long a smile made its way to my lips. I got up from my bed and went to make my morning routine. I ended up in the kitchen drinking my coffee and smoking my morning cigarette. Only 2 hours and I'll be off to work. God knows what will happen today.
I found myself thinking about Robert and everything he said yesterday. Maybe we can make it work. If it doesn't then I won't be the idiotic girl not trying. I was scared of trying, but there will be no harm in starting taking some risks.
I've always been the shy one. It took me 23 years to notice that I have a voice that deserves to be heard. I graduated college a year ago and I was majoring in journalism. It was always my dream to be the one breaking the news to people. I loved writing since for ever and it was a great opportunity to transform my hobby into my job. I've been working at the same newspaper for the past 2 years and it has been a blast. There were good things and bad things, but I loved my job so much that I never cared about the bad things. I didn't have a huge paycheck but I was working myself around.
I am living in my childhood house because my mom moved in with my now, ill grandmother. It wasn't hard for me to feel at home in here, but something was missing. Putting aside my dream job and the fact that I was doing okay, I knew that something was missing.
It's been a while since I got involved in a romantic relationship. I was starting to become a little rusty and to be honest with you, I missed coming home to a warm embrace and a long lasting kiss.
I started getting ready for work. I took everything I needed including my photo camera and headed to my work place. 2 bus rides later I was sitting at my desk reading the headlines for today.
*Crime, rape, ohhh look another suicide. The police seem to have a hand full today* I was thinking as I was reading different publications. I decided to take a break after an hour and went out for a cigarrete and yet, another coffe. My phone started buzzing in my pocket.
*A new message*
*Hey there lovely. Good Morning! I guess you are at work right now and I wish you a great day. Are we still on for tonight because I can come and pick you up if something. I got a rental car because I want to visit the city a little more. Much love yours for ever.*
*Good Morning Robert! Well of course I am at work. A lot of crimes and suicides today. I gotta go and defend the city with my superpower : annoying the hell out of the police and criminals. It will be fun. We are still on for tonight. I wouldn't miss it for the world.*
"Great super Jo-Jo :)) . See you tonight*
I text-ed him the address in order for him to put it into his GPS system and then got back to work. 30 minutes later my boss came in my office an told me that I have to go write about a crime.
As I started walking to the crime scene everything became clear. There was a struggle because the blood was everywhere. A girl was lying motionless on the floor. The murderer hanged himself and the officers were trying to figure things out.
If you would ask me it was a crime of passion. It's the typical story. The girl wants to get out of the relationship but the guy still loves her in an obsessive way. She tells him that it's all over. She leaves the flat and when she comes back her now, ex-boyfriend, is as drunk as a monkey. He comes towards her with rage and fury. Gets a hold of her body and starts throwing her around. She gets unconscious and he has time to go grab a knife and stab her with it over and over again until all of his frustrations are out. After a couple of hours he sobers up besides his ex-girlfriend body. When he sees the deed he freaks out, starts crying and running around in circles like a chicken without a head. He feels guilty so he commits suicide.
Like I said earlier typical.
"Hello pain the ass" David salutes me.
David is in the forces. He knows me since the first day I started being a journalist, because my first news report was about a suicide. He smiles and hugs me. He's like the big brother I never got to have.
"Hello to you too officer "talks a lot". What's all this about? Another crime of passion? Or just another mentally challenged freak that broke into the poor girls house?"
"Well we went through her phone and it seems that they used to date. That happened until yesterday when apparently she found someone better and wanted to get away from this Simon guy. I guess the crime fits both of your descriptions"
I started asking around and when I had enough information I got back to the office and started to write down the fresh headline "Another crime of passion: Young woman and ex-boyfriend found dead in their flat".
Hours pass and I was right. It was now 8 p.m . After countless news about pretty much everything happening in the world I decided to text Robert and let him know that he can come and pick me up. I go into the bathroom and tried my best to freshen up a little seen as I was wearing the same clothes I did in the morning and I ran around town to catch various news. I wave goodbye to the rest of the crew and head outside.
I light a cigarette and I start thinking about my day. It was okay but could have been better. I had pretty much the most exciting job in the world. I let out the smoke and my lungs felt the need to be filled again. I take another drag and just as Robert was pulling his car I finished my cigarette and stomped on it.
I start walking to him and as I approach him I can see his 2 big brown eyes glowing with happiness.
"Hello there stranger!" He hugged me in the process.
"Hello there Tin Man! How was you day so far?"
"Well to be honest it was great but I need one more thing to make it perfect. Dinner with you, so shall we go?"
"Of course" I said as I got into the passenger sit.
We got to the restaurant and as we were looking through the menus I see him staring at me.
"Well Robert as nice as it may seem I would pretty much want to eat something because I'm starving so why won't you look in the menu. The waiter is coming our way anyways."
He immediately looked down in his menu as if he was ashamed by me catching him. The waiter came and we let him know our choices and we started chatting.
"So how was you day reporter?"
"It was pretty good . Went to a crime scene in the morning"
"Ohhh I hate those" Robert said feeling maybe a little sad.
"Well I hate them too but it's part of my job. A girl got killed by her ex-boyfriend and he eventually killed himself from all the guilt inside him. A crime of passion as I personally like to call it."
"Those are the worst Jo. How can you say "I love you" to a woman daily and then when she feels like her place is not besides you anymore you just go and kill her? It seems like the most hypocritical thing men can do in this life. They just lie them straight to their faces for years. True love means supporting the woman you are with. Whether she will be with you or not. I know I would do that." As the last part came in he started smiling warmly at me and started reaching for my hand.
I looked carefully at him as his hand started to get closer to mine. I was staring directly into his eyes. Something told me that the friendship barrier will be broken tonight.
"And what about the end of your story Jo?"
"Well after a week my god parents called me and said that they would come and pick me up to give me lift to the hospital. We got there and everyone was crying. I wanted to see my dad so badly that I didn't care about the people behind me shouting *Please don't, you'll only hurt yourself*. I reached his room and he was lying motionless on the hospital bed. He was in a coma. I missed him by one day. I was so angry at my family and at the doctors that in the minute the doctor came in I saw only black in front of my eyes and I attacked him. I punched him right in the face screaming *You son of a bitch. You did this to dad. You KILLED him . Murderer*. It took 4 people to get me off of him. I ran home. I cried. I started kicking the walls around me. I screamed from every part of my body. It ached. My heart ached. It was like a half of it was put on hold the minute I saw my dad in a coma." I was looking down hoping that I won't start crying and that my make up won't be all over the place because the last thing I wanted Robert to see, was my mascara running all over my face.
"My hero was half dead. He was brain dead. He couldn't hear me or see me. I was a wreck. I started remembering how he put me through every sport possible. I did tennis, soccer, volleyball, handball, swimming. He even got me carting. He was my support. He was always there for me. I didn't want to give that up for anything in this world. Another week passed by and they moved him to a different hospital. I went to visit. I entered the room and there were 5 beds. I passed the bed with my dad on it. I didn't recognize him. I didn't recognize my own father Robert. It was my worst nightmare. He lost all the weight and he had a beard now. His eyes were half way open." I started shaking remembering this episode.
"I noticed that his eyes were glued to me. He was moving them as I was moving through the room. I was pacing back and forth because I couldn't believe it. I broke down right there and then. I started whispering *I love you please don't leave me alone* and I swear that for a second i felt his hand move into mine. He weakly whispered *I love you* and he fell back into the coma. I started panicking. I started hyper ventilating. I was losing him." In my rambling I didn't see Robert getting up from his seat and moving closer to me. He put his arms around me and hugged me tight.
"It's okay Jo, I know it's hard for you but I'll try to make it all better. I can at least promise you that."
In all the commotion we didn't notice that our food was delivered. We started eating but instead of enjoying my meal I was thinking deeply about what happened 9 years ago. The stupid kid grew up into a young woman that has her own career. When did I grew up so fast?
When we finished Robert took my hand in his and said "I want to take you somewhere. I saw this place driving by today. I'm sure you know it because it send me a strong vibe about you but I hope you'll enjoy being there with me"
30 minutes later we arrived at the spot. It was near the sea. I knew that place all so well. It was my escape place. It was my escape from reality zone. I loved that place.
"Ohhh Robert it sure did send a vibe about me because this is my thinking place. Whenever I feel alone and sad I come here and just stare at the moons reflection into the water."
We sat down on the edge. It was a full moon. Good thing I had my photo camera with me. I started taking pictures of everything including Robert. Some pretty awesome pictures came out of that night.
"So this is how you lay off the steam huh?"
"Yes. This is my most favourite place in this city Robert. You know, my dad used to bring me here a lot. I loved it and I still do. It's beautiful at night. I have the feeling that my life starts reflecting on the surface of the water and the moon just takes my pain away."
I never noticed how close Robert's face was to mine because as I turned around my nose touched his.
"You really are something else Jo. You know, when I saw you in the park I knew you were broken. I saw that. I just hoped that you would give me a chance to mend those broken pieces back together. I'm happy you said yes." He stopped for a while but then started talking again.
"I've been in your spot. Hell I think I was falling into something else. I knew your life story would be heart breaking but I never knew that it will be filled with so much ache. Such a beautiful young lady with a broken heart. You didn't deserve it but I know that you know that everything that happened in your life had a purpose. Maybe its purpose was to meet me. I feel like I was destined to be right here by your side." As he said that his hands found their way to my cheeks caressing them ever so lightly. They made me feel all tingly on the inside. He looked me deeply in the eyes and smiled. The brightest smile I have ever seen.
There I was near the sea with a man willing to make me happy. Those 25 years old difference that we shared became 0 in an instant. He started leaning towards me. He took a glimpse of my lips and before I knew it his lips crashed onto mine giving me the sweetest kiss in history. He moved one of his hands on the back of my neck for support and we just stood there kissing. The moonlight was falling beautifully onto his figure making him a God in my eyes. We parted and his eyes were shinning bright like a kids on Christmas morning.
I looked over to him smiling. On my inside a thousand fireworks started booming and the rhythm of my heart grew with every second. He didn't know that he had that effect on me. I was bursting with happiness but I was trying to keep my cool.
"I've never thought I'll be here sharing this amazing moment with you. I mean, this feels surreal. It's like a dream I don't want to wake up from" I was sincere about it. I don't want to ever wake up. I don't want him gone. I just want to stay here like that for eternity.
"Well don't wake up from it, because I know for a fact that I won't do that." with that he crashed his lips onto mine one more time. This time his hands found my back, stroking it . My arms flew around his neck carresing his hair. This time we both felt the passion ignite because the next thing I know, he let's me fall onto my back with him along the way. He kept his hands right where they were but, the kiss got deeper. I felt his urge of being loved. He said a lot with this kiss. I knew for a fact that he wanted to be loved as much as I did.