Chapter 53: Friends?

Kelly pulls the shirt on over her head. She can still smell him on it, and it makes her feel something, she can’t put her finger on. “Hey, are you warm enough?” He snaps her out of her dream.

“Yes, I was just deep in thought.”

“What were you thinking about?” He asks softly.

“Oh, nothing. So now that you have me trapped here, what shall we do?” She kids him.

“Well, first of all I am going to put your dress and panties in the dryer.” He stands up fully aware of his problem and picks them up. After he returns from the laundry room, he sits down next to her.

“Why don’t we try to iron out your problem. You cannot move on with your life till you figure out what to do. Am I right?”

She scoots closer to him, “You are completely right. I can’t go home till I figure out what I’m supposed to do, and I miss my girls.” Her eyes fill with sadness. “They won’t be coming home till the end of summer, just before school starts. At least they are having the time of their lives with my parents. My daughter Jaime even has a boyfriend. The first one!” She says with excitement in her voice.

“If she is anything like you, she will be a heart breaker.” He jokes and then she punches him in the arm.

“Hey now. That’s not fair. I am not trying to hurt anyone. Every time I turn around, some guy falls for me. I don’t know why, but they do.” She shakes her head.

“Well, if I was to fall for you, it would probably be the fact that you are honest and speak your mind. Of course, it does not hurt that you are as beautiful as a goddess and sweet. You do not seem to care who sees you naked, you are not ashamed of your body. I also need to include that you make a great friend.” He looks out the window.

“Wow. That’s a mouthful.” She whispers, noticing that it is starting to get darker out.

“If I fell for you, it would be because those are all the things, I admire in you and I want in a woman. You do not seem to realize how much men seen in you. That is why you have two guys fighting over you. I’m surprised you don’t have more.” He looks her way and notices that she is staring at him.

So, if I am so irresistible to men, how can you resist my charms?” She asks.

“I may be having a hard time resisting, but the fact is that it wouldn’t help your problem. Would it? So, I’m not going to get into it. If I did feel that way, I surely would not tell you. It would just make things worse, and I wouldn’t be a very good friend.”

She sits there for a few minutes and thinks about what he just said. She has never met a man like him before. He is wiser than his age would suggest. “I can’t think about them tonight. I have had too nice of a day. Can we watch a couple more episodes of E.R.? I got so excited last night when Annie fell for Joe. I have been waiting for that for a whole season. They kept dancing around it and now they are together. Awesome.” She tells him.

He stands up and grabs the remote. As he turns the show on, she gets comfortable. She sits Indian style and wraps the shirt around her. The arms are long, so they drape over her hands. When he sits down next to her, she moves over till she can feel him touching her. He puts his arm on the back of the couch and she puts her head on his chest. She can hear his heartbeat, so she smiles.

As they watch the show, he moves his arm down around her. She wonders what he is thinking, as a commercial comes on. She looks out the window and notices that the storm has stopped. “Hey, it stopped raining.” She pointed out the window.

“Yeah, I know. It stopped about a half an hour ago. Do you want your dress back now? It should be dry. That way you can get back home.” He starts to get up.

Kelly grabs his hand and pulls him back down, “No, if it’s alright with you I would like to stay. I fear the dark. I never walk by myself at night because I freak out.” She looks out at the dark night as it is pitch black.

He looks at her tenderly, “Of course, If you don’t mind sleeping in the bed with me again? I promise I’ll be good.”

She laughs, “O.k. it’s a deal. Thank you.” She smiles, as he wraps his arm back around her.

As they watch the rest of the show, she realizes that she is starting to get strange feelings for Joel. She could never just sit there all night, cuddling and watching T.V. without Aaron and Grayson jumping her. Joel has respect for her and is a great friend. Kelly wonders if he would be as great of a lover as he is a friend.

About an hour later, he asks her if she wants to go to bed. “Bed? No. I want to hear more about you.” She looks intensely at him.

“Me, no. I just thought you were falling asleep.” He looks concerned.

“No, actually I was just deep in thought.” She looks out into the darkness.

“What were you thinking about?”

“That I have never been able to sleep in a bed with a man so incredibly handsome and not have sex. Let alone sitting on a couch alone in the dark with a fire raging in front of me. This is the most romantic situation I could ever think of, and we are not having sex. I don’t know what the matter with me is.” She stops for a minute.

“Aaron and Grayson would never pass up an opportunity to have sex with me. Hell, if we were alone for two minutes, we were doing it. No matter where we were. It just goes to show me, that it is not everything. I am so glad you are my friend.” She says as he listens. She gives him a hug.

While she is hugging him, she feels the warmth of his skin and notices that his hands aren’t cold anymore. “I am glad you are my friend too. You have made me stop thinking of my ex and quit being depressed. I just want to help you get through this. I really care about you.” He tells her while she holds him.

“I feel like I have known you forever. I can’t help thinking that we have known each other in the past.” She explains.

“No, I’m sure that if you were ever in my life, I would have never let you go.” He caresses her cheek with his hand softly. She starts to melt as he looks incredibly sweet. Joel wants to kiss her, but he doesn’t. Instead, he turns to the T.V. and changes the channel.

“Oh, you know I forgot to ask you earlier. Do you ever do nude paintings?”

“Yes, I used to.”

“I have always wanted to be in a nude painting. I don’t know why, just something to cross off my bucket list, I guess. You paint so beautifully. I would love it if you painted me before I leave at the end of the summer. The cost is not a problem. I have millions from Julian that I inherited. I haven’t even touched it.” She uncrosses her legs and places her feet on the ground.

“I wouldn’t take your money. I would, however, consider it my pleasure to be able to paint you. That is, if you could stand me staring at you naked for hours at a time.” His eyes trail down her body and back up. He is fighting the urge to kiss her right now. She feels herself blushing as her face starts to burn, because she sees his eyes looking her up and down. This whole celibacy thing is a good idea, or I would be riding him right now. Kelly thinks to herself.

“Hey, you changed the subject when I tried to find out more about you.” She waits for him patiently, as her fingers run across the seat of the couch. She feels the softness of the suede under her fingertips.

“Well, I was a player for a while. In high school, I seemed to be the most popular boy. All the girls loved me because I am an artist and musician. I used to have a band and I had so many fans it was not funny, then when I got out of high school, I went to college and got my art degree.” He pauses.

She stares at his full lips while she listens. “I started doing paintings for people, then one day an art gallery owner saw my work. She loved it and booked me for several showings. I made millions from it. People loved my paintings so much; they commissioned me to do them. Mind you, a lot of them were old guys wanting me to paint their young wives. Just so they could put them up on their walls in the study.”

“That is why you said that you used to do them.” She touches his hand softly.

“Yes, but I got tired of it. It was not like I needed the money. So, I just quit for a while. The gallery owner was my ex, who at the time was involved with me. I stole her away from her boyfriend when she met me. See, she fell for me because I am an artist. When she saw my work, she knew that I was an extremely passionate man and she wanted to experience that.” His eyes glance at her with sadness in them. She holds herself back as she thinks of ways to make him feel better.

“I thought she loved me, especially when she accepted my ring. It turned out that she only really wanted to marry me for my money. So, when I quit doing my art, she realized that I was not a cash cow and found someone else to leach off. Mainly, my best friend from college, then I sold off all my possessions except my piano and moved out here to get away from it all.”