Last night was a bit different from the night before. The night before was slow and sweet when last night as hard and fast. It might have been from the wine or the fire that gave my living room a warm glow or the floral lace teddy that Thea was wearing that really set us on a fast paced course. Last night Thea was in control and I loved every second of it. I didn't want it to end but we eventually couldn't keep going any more. Thea wrapped her arms around me as the fire died down and we fell asleep.
I woke up still wrapped in Thea's arms and a blanket. I could already feel my body aching from sleeping on the floor and all the love bites Thea left as a reminder of last nights activities. I looked up at Thea and smiled to myself.
"That's pretty creepy you know." Thea mumbled and opened her hazel eyes.
"What is?" I asked not taking my eyes off her face.
"You watching me like that when I was asleep." Thea said and moved me out of her arms to stretch out.
"I was only watching for a little bit, it's so hard not too, especially with what you were wearing last night." I said as flashes of Thea's dress came to mind.
"Looks like you are going to have me dress up more often." Thea said and rolled onto her side to look at me.
"Oh 100%" I said and gave her a smile.
"Breakfast?" Thea asked.
"In a minute, I'm not done taking you in yet." I said and moved closer to Thea and gave her a kiss on the lips.
The kiss didn't last long and I just looked up at her. Thea wrapped an arm around my waist and I cupped her cheek.
"I still find it hard to believe that this is real." I said quietly wanting to keep that thought to myself. Thea heard it though and took my hand off her cheek and place it over her heart.
"It's real babe." She said and gave me a kiss on my forehead.
I closed my eyes trying to rein in my emotions and not let any tears escape. I was successful and moved out of her arms to get up. I told Thea I was going to put some clothes on as I walked up to my room to get a moment to myself. When I was dressed I walked into the bathroom to freshen up and met Thea downstairs. She was dressed in my Salem high sweatshirt along with a pair of basketball shorts.
I made my way over to my piano and sat on the bench and watched as she came over to me. Thea took a seat next to me and I rest my head on her shoulder.
"I'm not the best when it comes to sharing my feelings out loud, so I wrote you a song. You said that my words deserved to be heard and I want you to hear this okay?" I said and picked my head up off her shoulder to look at Thea. She just nodded and kissed my forehead.
I sat up straight on the piano bench and opened the new notebook that I've been writing in. I found the page and ran my hand over it starting to feel nervous about pouring my heart out. Just as I took a breath and placed my fingers over the keys Thea pressed her hand to my lower back. I smiled and started hit the first keys.
I can't count the times
I almost said what's on my mind
But I didn't
Just the other day
I wrote down all the things I'd say
But I couldn't
I just couldn't
Baby, I know that you've been wondering
Mmm, so here goes nothing
In case you didn't know
Baby, I'm crazy bout you
And I would be lying if I said
That I could live this life without you
Even though I don't tell you all the time
You had my heart a long long time ago
In case you didn't know
The way you look tonight
That second glass of wine
That did it
There was something 'bout that kiss
Girl it did me in
Got me thinking
I'm thinking
One of the things that I've been feeling
Mmm, it's time you hear em
In case you didn't know
Baby, I'm crazy bout you
And I would be lying if I said
That I could live this life without you
Even though I don't tell you all the time
You had my heart a long long time ago
In case you didn't know
You've got all of me
I belong to you
Yeah you're my everything
In case you didn't know
I'm crazy bout ya
I would be lying if I said
That I could live this life without you
Even though I don't tell you all the time
You had my heart a long long time ago
Yeah, you had my heart a long long time ago
In case you didn't know
In case you didn't know
Thea didn't move her hand off of my back throughout the song. It was the silent push I needed to get through the song and not stop. This was important for me to let Thea know that I'm in this with her. I want to build a relationship and possibly a life with her. I think that I'm in love with her but it's way too early for me to say that out loud. So for me this song was my way to let her know that I'm crazy about her. I looked at Thea and gave her a smile.
"Song writing is the way I vent and is the outlet I need to process my emotions. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to you but I wanted to let you know how I'm feeling. You're everything to me and I don't want to lose you. Will you be my girlfriend?" I asked before I lost my nerve.
"Yes baby" Thea said with tears in her eyes before she crashed her lips to mine.
Before we could get carried away I heard my phone start to buzz from its place next to my notebook. I let it go to voicemail not wanting to break away from Thea but when it started to ring again I broke away.
"Answer it, I'm not going anywhere." Thea said. I sighed and picked up my phone to see it's Eli.
"This better be good Eli." I grumbled as Thea got up off the piano bench. I watched her walk into the kitchen as Eli started speaking.
"Just wanted to give you a heads up that Halsey's opening act just dropped out last minute and might have slipped her your name as a possible replacement." Eli said in a hurried voice.
"You did what?" I yelled through the phone.
"First of all ow! Second I thought that you might want to test out all the new material on an actually audience instead of just me. I also said you don't have a manager at the moment so she will probably be reaching out to you personally sometime tomorrow to go over an offer." Eli said and I sighed.
"You know I could kill you right now right." I said and tried to rub away the headache that was starting to form.
"Oh save that speech for later. I know you are looking to put music out again now that you can, so why not just hop on a tour and release it along the way? Think about it Ash, you can always say no. I gotta go rehearse though so bye!" Eli said and the line dropped.
"Everything okay?" Thea said and returned with two mugs of coffee.
"Eli just pawned me off to Halsey as an opening act for her US tour since hers apparently just dropped out." I said and took a sip of the coffee Thea made me.
"Don't get me wrong but isn't that a good thing for you?" Thea asked.
"Yes and no. I didn't really want to leave Salem so soon but it would help me start my career again in the direction I want to go in. I would need to hire a new manager and then deal with contracts and stuff and right now I just want to write music and put it out to see if anybody would even like me as me and not the stuff Bobby made me out to be." I said and played with the handle of the mug.
"I think you should listen to the offer; you can always turn it down if you don't like it. I actually have something to tell you." Thea said and put her mug down.
"What that?" I asked curious as to what she was going to say.
"I made sergeant at work." Thea said with a smile.
"That's amazing baby congratulations!" I said and gave her a big hug.
"Thank you, I've been waiting for the right time to tell you but with everything going on the last few weeks I just kept it to myself. There is a promotion ceremony in two weeks and I was hoping you would come and pin my new badge on me." Thea said.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." I said and gave her a kiss.
After I pulled away from Thea I recorded the song, In Case You Didn't Know, and added it to the list of songs I have done. In my office I have a list of songs written down that are done and it's almost to album length. Maybe I should start to look for a new manager.
When I was done with the song Thea and I went out for brunch since we didn't have anything to eat yet. We actually picked up Pat and we all went out together. He was happy when I barged into his house demanding he come with us. At first I was nervous to have him come with us but when I told Thea that he wanted to have brunch with us sometime this week anyway, she made me go next door to get him.
Thea drove us to our favorite brunch spot just outside of Salem, a small hole-in-the-wall place called The Hatch. There are maybe about 20 tables total and often times there would be a wait. Most of the waiters know Pat and I because we are basically regulars here and they sat us right away at our table in the corner. It was weird to be here without Ed though. He loved our weekly brunch outings and it won't be the same without him. I think that Pat felt the same way I did when I sat down next to him and took his hand.
I took a few calming breaths as I watched Thea look over the menu to give us a moment. The manager Jordan came over and gave Pat a tight hug.
"I came to the funeral and just wanted to say that Ed will be deeply missed by all of us here Pat. The meal is on us today, order whatever you like. It's nice to see you again Ashlyn it's been a minute." Jordan said and gave me a hug.
"It has been and it's nice to be back Jordan. Hopefully this time I will be back again sooner than later. Can we start with a round of mimosa please?" I asked.
"Of course, I'll bring out some water too." I watched her walk away and turned my attention to the menu but I already knew what I was going to get.
"It's nice to see you out of uniform Thea." Pat said and looked at the menu for a few seconds before he placed it on top of mine.
"Hopefully you'll get to see me more often out of uniform now with my promotion." Thea said and Mark as he came over and dropped off our water and mimosas.
"Detective?" Pat asked.
"Sergeant." Thea said and smiled.
"Look at you skipping a grade." Pat said and smile at my girlfriend.
"Rory has been trying to get me to take the test for a while now but I didn't want it. I liked being on patrol but when the sergeants test come up last year I thought it might be time to start moving up so I took it and passed." Thea said.
"Well let's make a toast to you and your promotion along with you and Ash finally getting together." Pat said and raised his mimosa.
I choked on my spit and watched as Thea's face turned beat red. Pat just smirked and sipped his mimosa after we toasted. The rest of brunch was spent making new memories at Hatch without Ed. Brunch was definitely tamer with Thea in tow today. Pat and Thea talked a bit more about her service and I like to watch them bond. They are the two most important people in my life and I love that they get along so well together.
After brunch Thea drove us back to my house and I walked Pat home before joining Thea. She was sitting on my couch and I fell right into her. She threw her arm around my shoulders and pulled me into her. Can this be what my future with her looks like?
Song on the side is In Case You Didn't Know by Brett Young.