Page 27 of Dirty Coach To Go

“What are you doing here?” I ask as he twirls me around. The brawny man sets me down on the ground gently.

“I had to see you,” he confesses. “Being away from you was starting to drive me crazy. I couldn’t sleep, and I couldn’t eat.” The burly man does look like he might have lost a few pounds.

“Me either,” I admit. “I’ve been depressed here without you, Mason.” I place my head on his chest. “I want to go back home and be with you.” I listen as his heart pounds in his chest. I know he wants the same thing, but he would never ask me to leave college to be with him.

“I’m here now. Let’s try to focus on that,” he says as our eyes link, creating a force of static electricity between us. Whoa, I can literally feel the sparks flying. How in the world does he do that? He’s right; in his arms, nothing else matters. I get lost in his eyes, and for a second, I forget that we’re standing in the middle of a bustling college campus. I shy away from being intimate with him out in public, but then I remember Sunnyside is miles away, so I can be as affectionate with my lover as I want right now. We canoodle in the quad, and my knees turn to jelly as he lays one of his infamous forehead kisses on me.

“I can’t believe you drove all the way to Manhattan just to see me,” I say as I entangle my fingers with his. I missed these hands so much, and I longed for his touch every day we were apart.

“I couldn’t stay away any longer. Being without you is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” I can see the agony written all over his face, and it makes my heart sink to the pit of my stomach. I knew he missed me, but I didn’t know he was suffering this bad. This isn’t healthy for either one of us; we’re both in agonizing pain.

In his arms, I feel safe, and I can’t imagine ever being away from him that long again. It was only two weeks, but it felt like an eternity of damnation. I got through freshman year just fine, but that was before I felt his love pour all over me. I was already contemplating not coming back to Trinity at the beginning of the summer, but falling so deeply in love with Mason had sealed the deal. This isn’t where I want to be; I want to go back to my small town and be with him.

“It shouldn’t have to be this way, Mason,” I say with my ear still pressed against his heart. The soothing sound of its beat drowns out the noisy Manhattan streets, and for a second, I almost feel like I’m home again.

“It won’t always be this way, baby, I promise.” He’s right, and I know it, but I’m so scared about what’s going to happen next. When he leaves, I’ll be all alone again here, and the pain will feel like I’m dying. When he leaves this campus, he’ll be taking my heart with him, leaving behind a hollowed chest. I won’t be able to survive without him. A tear streams down my cheek, and with haste, he brushes it away with his thumb. The protective man is quick to catch my tears before they completely fall. His gentle caress on my cheek is exactly what my body has been craving, a simple touch from the man that I love. He flashes that contagious pearly white grin, and soon, I find myself smiling through my tears.

“Let’s go inside,” I say as I pull him toward my housing complex. He follows me without hesitation; I’m starting to believe he’ll go anywhere I go just so he can be with me. I knew since the first day I laid eyes on him that we were drawn to each other like magnets, but now our connection has grown deep. We’ve formed a bond that no one can break.

I’m a bit nervous for him to see my dorm room. I’ve been so depressed without him that I haven’t even bothered with unpacking my suitcase. My walls are barren, with only a calendar that I used to mark the days until he and I are reunited hanging on them. And my pillow is probably still damp from the teardrops I cried all through the night and into the morning. I unlock what has felt like my own personal dungeon and flick the light on, revealing how pathetic the mini apartment looks. He doesn’t seem to mind how bleak and bare the dorm room is, though; in fact, I don’t think he even notices. Ever since he spotted me on the campus sidewalk, he hasn’t taken his eyes off of me. He eases over to me and swaddles me in his arms and his love. His arms are the safest place on this planet; with him, I feel like no harm can come to me.

“God, I missed you,” he whispers almost as if he didn’t mean to say it out loud.

“I missed you too. I don’t know how much longer I can do this, Mason. Every day gets harder and harder,” I confess.

“Baby, you can do it. You’re strong enough to do anything.” He believes in me, but I don’t have the same faith in myself. Everyone keeps telling me that this is what’s best for me, but I know it’s not. I know what I want in life, and although I was scared at first to go after it, now I’m willing to take the risk. I don’t want to be an accountant, and I don’t want to wait for the gawking teenage boys to mature, like Mom said. The Big Apple isn’t for me; my heart belongs to Sunnyside, and that’s where I belong.

“I want to tell my parents about us,” I blurt out, shocking Mason. “I wasn’t ready before, but I’m ready now.”

“Tessa, your parents won’t approve. They’ll think I brainwashed you.” Suddenly, he’s the one who thinks we should keep things under wraps. My parents won’t approve and will probably freak out, but I don't care. They should want me to be happy, and Mason brings me joy like I’ve never experienced before.

“They’ll get over it; everyone will. And then we can finally be together without worrying about getting caught all of the time,” I say.

“It’s not that easy, Tess. What about my job? The Board of Education won’t approve of me dating a former student. How will we survive if I lose my job?”

“We’ll find a way. Our love is strong enough to withstand anything.” Maybe I sound young and naive right now, but I honestly believe that Mason and I can make it through anything. Once people see how truly in love we really are, they won’t judge a softball coach for falling for his former student.

“Tessa, I don’t know,” he says as doubt trembles in his voice.

“Don’t you love me?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

“Of course I do. I love you more than anything else in this world,” he professes.

“So be with me, and anything that comes our way, we’ll get through it together.” I can still see the doubt in his piercing eyes as he becomes speechless. My thumping heart is about to beat out of my chest as I wait for him to say something. Anything. He can’t give up on me now; we’re too deep in this.

I seize the alpha male like Joan of Arc, ready to conquer the man that I love. I pull him close to me and hold him in my clutches, ready to change his mind. My hands gently caress his big, strong back as our lips fervently touch. Our intense kiss shakes the Earth, and I can feel mountains moving. Passion pulsates through us as our hearts beat in sync. My jelly knees can’t hold me anymore, and I swoon, nearly descending to the ground, but my valiant man catches me in his brawny arms. I retract my lips to see if his mind has changed.

“I know you felt that,” I declare. A kiss like that only happens once in a lifetime. His sparkling eyes look straight into my soul, seeing past every doubt and obstacle that may come our way.

“I felt it, Tessa.” His lips brush against mine as he strokes my hair. “I felt every bit of it.”

“Please, we have to tell them,” I plead. Silence fills the dormitory again, and a knot forms in the pit of my stomach. Time seems frozen as I wait for him to open his mouth. Once my parents find out the truth, we can be open about our relationship, and then it won’t seem suspicious when I take the train back to Sunnyside every weekend to stay with Mason. This is the only way our relationship can work, so I need the man to at least give me a nod so that I know it’s alright to tell them. He takes a deep breath as I brace myself for his answer.

“Okay,” he says, as time finally resumes. “I’m ready if you’re ready.”

“You mean it?” My eyes swell with tears as my voice cracks.

“Yeah, it’s time. I don’t want either of us to suffer the way we have over the last two weeks ever again. I’d rather put it all out there and see what happens. Like you said, whatever comes our way, we’ll get through it together.” He gently kisses my hand, and a swarm of butterflies travels throughout my body. He lures me to the stiff mattress, and we climb onto the twin-sized bed together. It’s tight, but that just makes it easier to press my body against his. I inhale his intoxicating cologne as we cuddle on the cot, and I can honestly say this is the most comfortable I’ve ever been in this bed.