We were going crazy with all the sneaking around and we wanted to get away for a weekend. It was going to be our first weekend getaway! We were both SO excited and SO in love! So, we planned a weekend at the beach. I knew of a perfect hotel that I’d stayed in (with my dad) before and there was a view of the beach. We separately came up with an excuse to tell The Salesman for not being there for the weekend. I parked my car at my parent’s house, he picked me up after about an hour and we headed out.
We drove straight to the seawall, hopped out of the car and went down the steps to the sand. As we were talking about where to eat, we took off our shoes. Sparkles was looking up something on his phone and tuned me out. “Are you ignoring me?” He kept scrolling. Hmm… I don’t like being ignored. I decided to have a little fun with it. I scooped up our shoes and slowly started strolling down the beach. He never looked up, so I kept going. I’d look back every few yards, but his head was down and he kept scrolling. I grinned. He’d notice eventually. I got about 50 yards down the beach and he suddenly snapped out of his google trance and looked up. I turned back around just before he spotted me. Here he came. As he got closer and closer I sped up more and more. The last few yards were a full blown run until he caught up with me. He wrapped his arms around me in mid stride and swung me around by my waist. I squealed with excitement and delight as he spun me around! He said, “You left me!” We kissed. “And you stole my shoes!” I said, “That way I knew you’d come for me!” We walked back playfully, hand in hand.
I told him I was craving Oyster Rockefeller from Landry’s (my FAVORITE) and only my dad could make it better. So, we went. We decided to enjoy the outdoors and have dinner on the patio. We ordered drinks and artichoke dip. As we were munching on our chips and dip, a storm blew in. The wind picked up and we were desperately trying to keep our chips from flying away. The temperature dropped and we were being heavily misted by the wind and rain. He asked if we should give up. I told him nothing would get in the way of our weekend. This was all just part of the experience. I told him it would be a great story to tell our children. We laughed. He was impressed. We finished our meal in a delightful misery. The waitress brought the check and informed us we were not allowed to order anything else. We both gave her a puzzled look. She showed us the ticket. “Total: $77.77” She said, “It doesn’t get any luckier than this.” We took it as a sign and I paid the bill.
On the way to the hotel, I told him I forgot something and needed to run into the store. He stopped and I had him wait in the car for me. I was being sneaky. I hopped back in the car and we drove to the hotel. He said something sarcastic and witty, I don’t remember what it was but he got me. I didn’t even think about it and very jokingly said, “Oh my god I hate you!” He got soft and boyish and said, “Don’t tell me you hate me.” My heart went out. I wasn’t trying to hurt him. I’d be sure to watch out for that in the future. I apologized.
We checked into the hotel and settled into our room. I opened the bag from the store and showed him the Cosmo magazine with Zooey Deschanel on the front cover (I knew he thought she was hot). I made him take some cheesy quiz and read him some tidbits. We had a lot of laughs. I had him close his eyes and open his mouth. I fed him a peanut M&M. He grinned. “How’d you know those were my favorite?” I didn’t. We had a LOUD, amazing night. We laid together and relished in the fact we didn’t have to hide or sneak around for an entire weekend. We weren’t looking forward to going back home.
I woke up later in the night with terrible cramps. I’m talking the fetal position, toe curling, jaw clenching, whimpering kind of cramps. I couldn’t move and didn’t even want to breathe they hurt so bad. It woke Sparkles up. He was concerned and asked if he could do anything. I could barely bring myself to speak. There was nothing he could do. I just had to wait it out. He asked again and again. There was nothing. I needed a rice pack and that wasn’t going to happen at a hotel in the middle of the night. He was desperate to do something and asked, “How about a warm rag.” I thought to myself, “This guy is the sweetest. He’s trying SO hard to make it better and needs to feel like he’s doing something useful. He’s so adorable. I’ll give him a break.” I said, “K.” He immediately got the rag and ran it under hot water in the sink. He brought it back to me all proud that he helped. It was adorable. I thanked him, took the rag and laid it on my tummy. It did nothing but, that was what I was expecting. But, HE felt better and it shut him up so I could writhe in pain in peace. Eventually, I fell asleep.
The next day, my pain had eased. I apologized for ruining the weekend. He said it wasn’t ruined and he was glad he could help. I rolled my eyes and told him the absolute truth. He said, “Well, I TRIED..” I said, “I know! You’re a-DORK-able!” We laughed. We slept in and snuggled until we were too hungry to lay there anymore. We went to a cute little place for brunch that was tucked away on the island. The food and atmosphere was so fresh and so AMAZING! We hadn’t stopped grinning since we left town. We were ridiculously happy in love. We finished brunch and headed back to the beach.
We were slowly strolling, hand in hand, letting the waves rush our feet as we talked. He started talking about God’s will, his purpose and “the truth.” I held my breath and remained silent. Then, he asked me my views on religion. I knew this was going to be a defining moment. We were at a crossroads and I knew I had to be honest. I sucked in a deep breath and with a quick sideways glance I softly said, “I’m Atheist.” I didn’t breathe and neither did he. It was a long silence. Our minds were racing and anxiety was building. This could be a deal breaker and we both knew it.
After a few long moments, he slowly started flooding me with questions and I kept answering the best I could. He deserved to know what he was getting into. It’s been my experience that Christians fear the unknown. Since I understand this, I try to be sympathetic to it. It’s not always reciprocated. I’ve been accused of worshipping Satan… Umm… It doesn’t work that way. If you don’t believe in God, then the devil doesn’t exist either. I’ve had people not want anything to do with me or feel the need to try to change my mind. It doesn’t work that way. I don’t shove my beliefs on others and appreciate the same respect. I kept answering his questions. I told him I’m a “closet atheist”, meaning I don’t tell people. He said he wouldn’t want his family or his kids to know. I agreed. We started talking about what would be said if they asked. I told him I always do my best to keep my opinion out of it. I don’t feel comfortable talking about religion because my views make others uncomfortable. I told him I’m still the same person and I’m not evil because I don’t agree with every view. I don’t need some guy up on a cloud to tell me right from wrong. It just didn’t make sense to me.
We walked in silence for a while. He said, “I’m not sure if I’m able to accept this.” I said, “I hate that you feel that way but I’m not going to change my mind. As much as I would dislike it, I will understand if this is a deal breaker.” I waited in silence as I fought back tears. I loved him. “Please, don’t let him reject me,” I eternally screamed; not to any god, but to the universe. We walked back to the car, neither of us saying much. I was giving him his head space to mull over the boulder I gave him. I knew I’d given him a lot to think about. We were driving back and he finally said, “Ok.” I beamed and gave him rapid kisses on his cheek. He laughed.
We were discussing something about directions or something trivial I can’t recall and he thought he was right. I’m always right. Haha. So, he said, VERY condescendingly, “Ok, Karaaa.” I stopped, blinked a few times and looked at him. “Did you just use a CONDESCENDING tone with me? Really?” His breath caught in his throat. “Yeah, I guess I did.” We were howling with laughter. “Have you ever seen that TV show, ‘Whitney’?” I derailed him. “What?” “I’ll have to show it to you when we get home” and I smiled. He was confused. “Ok.”
We got back to the house and I pulled up Whitney Season 1 Episode 5: The Wire. He watched in disbelief. It was HIM. He sounded EXACTLY like that. He laughed, held me, apologized, and thanked me for loving him through his flaws.
***
I absolutely LOVE the TV show, Whitney.
Black Eyed Bride 