When we got back to my dorm, it was still kind of early. We decided to find a movie on Netflix to watch. I got into my pajamas and cuddled up in Henry's arms. Next thing I knew it was morning. It was so nice not having to rush out of bed for anything. I didn't have to work and Henry didn't have to leave for his show till after dinner. For the first time in our relationship, we had the whole day to spend together.
When we finally crawled out of bed, Henry told me to get dressed and he had a surprise for me. Henry wanted to get in the shower with me and I agreed as long as he was super quiet and didn't try anything. Of course, we ran into all my neighbors who did not seem happy about a guy being in the bathroom. Over the past 9 months, I had seen them do some pretty crazy things so I didn't feel bad.
I finished getting ready for the day and we headed out. Henry stopped at a restaurant and picked up a to go order. After we left there, he started driving away from campus in the direction of the waterfall. I hoped that's where we going. The next two weeks were going to be super stressful and spending the afternoon in the woods with Henry was exactly what I needed.
Henry made the familiar turn onto the dirt road.
"I'm so glad this is the surprise. I needed a break from everything."
"Me too. There was too much drama this weekend."
Henry parked and we hopped out of the car. He grabbed the bag of food and asked me to carry our coffees. He opened his trunk and pulled out a blanket. I guess we were having a picnic.
After we made the short walk, Henry spread the blanket out on the boulder that sat on the edge of the creek bed. We sat next to each other and ate the breakfast sandwiches that Henry had ordered for us. It felt so nice to get away. It was easy to get wrapped up in school and my social life. This place reminded me that there was a whole world outside of college. All the tension I was feeling started to slip away. I pushed aside all my fears about the summer and all the problems with Liam and just focused on this moment. I was in a beautiful place with the person I loved. I was so lucky!
After we finished our food, we laid back on the blanket and closed our eyes and listened to the waterfall. I had never felt so at peace. I wasn't sure of how much time passed. It could have been minutes or hours but it didn't matter out here.
"I wish my mother could have met you. You remind me of her."
I didn't know what to say. He never talked about his mom. In fact, the only thing I knew about her was that she died in a car accident when he was younger.
"I wish I could have met her too."
"She was the kindest most loving person. And she was beautiful. I remember her eyes. They were so blue. Everyone tells me I have her eyes. But the thing I remember the most is how she always made me feel safe and loved. And after she died, I thought I would never feel that way again. And then I met you. It's like you healed something inside of me that's been broken all these years."
"O Henry..."
I leaned over and kissed him softly. I loved him so much that sometimes I felt like I would burst. This was one of those moments. His eyes were closed but I could see his lower lip tremble a little bit. He was trying to hide the fact that he was crying. I snuggled close to him and tried to ease his pain. I tried to imagine what it would be like to lose your mom as a child. And I could feel tears come to my eyes as I thought about a young Henry having to deal with such a loss. It must have been devastating.
"I'm sorry you lost your mom."
He didn't respond. He was still trying to keep his emotions in check. I just laid there and let him work through it. After a while, his breathing had evened out. I was starting to get stiff laying on a rock. I sat up and so did Henry. I wrapped my arms around him and he buried his face in my neck. I felt like he had shared so much with me and I needed to protect his heart.
We sat in silence for a while until Henry pulled out of my arms and jumped down from the boulder. He helped me get down and gathered up our trash and the blanket. We walked back to the car and drove back to campus. We both were much more relaxed. I wasn't looking forward to the upcoming week. It was the last week of classes and I had a presentation due. Plus, study groups and reviews of everything we learned in the last four months in preparation of finals. It made my head spin just thinking about it. But our time at the waterfall had made me forget about all of that for a little while.
Henry took us back to my dorm. We spent the next couple of hours in bed. We knew our time together would be coming to an end too soon and we had to make the most of it. I never knew love could be like this. I never knew I could be so connected to another person. Around six, Henry left to go do his show at the bar. Jane came back and we went to Sunday dinner. Melissa spent most of the time talking about her new guy. She got bored very easily so none of us expected this new relationship to last very long.
After dinner, I went back to my room and did schoolwork for a few hours. I managed to make a decent dent in my to-do list for the week. I decided to take a break and text Henry.
"Thinking of you...."
"Missing you....."
"Loving you...."
"I don't think I can beat that. How's your night going?"
"I've gotten a lot of my presentation done so I guess that's good. How about you?"
"Just finished up our sound check and we go on in an hour."
"I miss you."
"Miss you too babe."
It felt weird being in my bed alone. We had slept together every night for a week. I had gotten use to falling asleep in Henry's arms. Instead of going back to my school work, I decided to just go to sleep. I was going to need all the energy I could get to get through this week. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that Henry was next to me. I remembered that I still had his jacket from the first day we met. I jumped up and grabbed it off of the back of my chair and slipped my arms through the sleeves. It still smelled like Henry. I instantly felt more at ease. I got back in bed and I drifted off to sleep.