Destroy Rebuild

I barely slept at all the night before our flight. I had too much anxiety about flying with Will. I could only hope that he wouldn’t be too fussy and piss off the other passengers and have me being the receptor of all the unpleasant stares. I was also really excited about finally getting to go to California for the first time. I’d been dreaming of going ever since I found out such a place existed. But mostly, I was just excited to see Alex.

I took all precautions that I deemed necessary, like pumping five bottles worth of milk and making sure Will’s diaper bag was fully stocked and acceptable as a carry on. I had to do research to find out if he could fly in his car seat or if I would have to hold him the whole time. Thankfully, my arms would get some relief during the five-hour flight. It would be a waste of the seat next to mine that Alex booked specifically for Will’s car seat if he couldn’t.

Alex informed me that the weather in California was beautiful, sunny and in the high seventies. I made sure to pack accordingly, and decided to brave the brief Maryland chill until we got to the airport. I figured I needed to look the part for the city, so I threw on some high wasted shorts, my favorite Kurt Cobain tank, my converses, one of Alex’s flannels to keep me warm, and the ever so dreaded “bug eye” sunglasses. Every chance I got, I made sure I didn’t look too ridiculous.

Megan’s boyfriend, Luke, was volunteered to drive us to the airport and help me get all our luggage situated once we got there. Megan was a little upset by the fact that I was going to California without her, since we’d made a pact to go together someday, but she seemed happy for me nonetheless. It was, after all, her idea for Luke to help us. He didn’t seem to mind too much, probably since Alex granted him total access to the house, which meant total access to the sixty-inch television in the living room. Boys will be boys, I suppose.

Will did so much better than I ever imagined he would. I didn’t even think about how convenient the flight time was, considering just half an hour after we took off he was ready for his mid-morning nap. He slept peacefully for about an hour and I made sure to keep him happy and occupied while he was awake. We only had one small outburst, but thankfully everyone in the first class cabin had ear buds in and couldn’t hear him. I made a mental note to thank Alex for his timely consideration.

After landing, I put Will back in his car seat and waited for our turn to exit the plane. Embarrassingly enough, I struggled so hard to maneuver his bulky car seat through the skinny isle. Thankfully a kind man behind me offered to carry Will out for me. It seemed harmless enough, but part of me was still worried he was going to run off with my baby once we were off the plane. People are strange.

I thanked him once he handed Will back and started towards baggage claim. Alex said he’d meet us outside our terminal, and since I was directionally retarded, I figured baggage claim would lead me to him. I trudge down the long hall, my arm feeling like it was going to fall off from carrying Will for so long. But finally, I spotted Alex at the end of the hall, a hand-written sign that said “WHITNEY + WILL” on it held out in front of him. I giggled and picked up my pace. Once I reached him, my left arm slung around his shoulders while my right arm hung numbly to my side.

“Mmm,” Alex sighed, and I felt him take in a deep breath to smell my hair.

“Hi,” I sighed back. His arms never felt better.

He pulled away and gave me a long kiss. I could feel my knuckles turning white, and before I could control it I was visibly cringing. Worry set in and soon he noticed my arm twitching and grabbed Will’s car seat from me.

“Why didn’t you put him down?” he laughed.

My arm started tingling as it was coming back to life. “I thought it would look bad.”

He shook his head and wrapped the arm not attached to a baby around my waist. “You just showed some serious mom super strength.”

“You scared?” I asked as we slowly made our way to baggage claim.

“Eh,” he shrugged. “Kind of turned on, actually.”

“I missed you,” I laughed.

He smiled the sweetest smile I’d ever seen and leaned over to kiss the side of my head. “I missed you more.”

We got our stuff from baggage claim and Alex led us out to his rental car. What would have been a twenty minute drive to his condo turned into an hour long one when I begged Alex to drive down Hollywood Blvd. I simply couldn’t wait for that experience. He seemed annoyed by the idea, but drove in the stop and go traffic for me anyway.

We arrived outside of his condo and I climbed out of the car. It was a cute little place, very modern exterior. The sun was beating down on me and I could feel beads of sweat pricking up on my back. I took the flannel off and wrapped it around my waist before going to the trunk of the car to help Alex get our stuff out. He was pulling one of the suitcases out and stopped when he spotted me, eyeing me up and down slowly. His tongue flicked out over his bottom lip and pulled it between his teeth as he nibbled, a sly grin pulling at the corners of his mouth.

“What?” I asked as my body temperature made a dramatic increase.

He shook his head, handing me the duffle bag. “I know I tell you all the time, but I don’t think you really get it. You’re so goddamn beautiful.”

I blushed and stood to the side as he pulled Will out of the car and followed him when he headed inside. He gave me a very brief tour of the place and soon we were in the bedroom where he’d set up a crib for Will. He sat him down by our bed and soon had me tight in his arms. One of his hands rested on my cheek while the other slid into my hair. His lips pressed to mine hungrily. He parted the kiss and his tongue slid into my mouth and I felt my hands gripping at the back of his t-shirt. He kissed me hard before pulling away and rested his forehead against mine, his eyes remaining closed.

“Finally,” he sighed.

“Have I told you that I missed you yet?” I whispered.

His eyes flickered open and he grinned before kissing me again. “Yeah, you did.”

I pulled him closer to me, my arms wrapping tight around his waist and I rested my head against his chest. “I guess it’ll never feel like I’ve said it enough to be able to exemplify how much I did.”

A low throaty chuckle vibrated against my forehead and he backed towards the bed, pulling me with him. I stopped to take Will out of his car seat, but once I noticed he was sleeping I left him alone and climbed onto the king size bed.

“I guess all the traveling wore him out,” I smiled.

Alex motioned for me to come lay with him and I crawled to his side, pressing my body as close to him as possible.

“Must have,” he said. “He’s taking his nap pretty early today.”

My forehead crinkled in confusion. “Not really. It must be going on four, right?”

He dug his phone out of his back pocket and pressed the home screen. It was only a little after one.

“Oh, my god,” I gasped. “I totally forgot about the time change.”

Alex winced a little as he placed his phone on the bedside table. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“He’s going to be completely off schedule,” I groaned. “He doesn’t understand that we’re three hours behind.”

“Fuck,” Alex muttered. He was silent for a moment before he said, “What are we going to do?”

I shrugged. “I guess all we can do is live with it. We can’t really push everything that far ahead can we? He’ll be ready for lunch at nine in the morning!”

“Maybe,” Alex paused. “Maybe we can slowly adjust him to the time change. When he thinks it’s time to eat, we wait an hour. And we just keep doing that until he’s on schedule again.”

I nodded slowly. It was going to be a trying experience with all the crying and fit pitching that was bound to happen, but it seemed doable enough.

“Adjusting him back when we get home is going to be a bitch,” I laughed.

“Fuck,” he muttered again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how difficult this would be with him.”

I smiled and shook my head before leaning up to kiss his cheek. “Don’t be. I’m just happy we’re here with you.”

“You got that right,” he smiled. “So how do you like California so far?”

“Not bad,” I shrugged. “From what I’ve seen so far, it’s pretty awesome.”

“You’ll see more, I promise,” he smiled before he kissed my temple.

I sighed in satisfaction as my head rested against his chest. I was feeling a tad bit jet lagged myself, and although I could have really gone for a nap, I bolted upright once I remembered a brief topic of conversation I had with Alex the day before. His eyes grew wide at my outburst.

“The hell?” he asked.

“That single?” I reminded him. “I’d like to hear it now.”

“Christ, woman,” he huffed with a roll of his eyes as he pushed himself off the bed. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

I giggled and took the hand extended to me as Alex led me to the small living room. We sat on the couch and he pressed some buttons on his phone before handing it to me as the music started.

“Don’t take the first part too literally,” he warned. “I didn’t actually wake up in someone else’s bed.”

I rose my eyebrow at him and held the phone up to my ear to hear it better.

“Woke up in a stranger’s bed with pins and needles in my head and the clock ticking off the wall. Oh yeah, oh yeah.”

I gave him an accusatory glance and he rolled his eyes before shoving my leg. With a smirk, I kept listening. The gang vocals at the beginning of the chorus sent chills up my spine and I found myself nodding my head to the beat. I was so captivated that I didn’t even notice Alex staring at me nervously while I listened. If he was insecure or worried that the song wasn’t up to par, he was so wrong. By the end of the song, I was so in awe that my mouth hung slack. Alex’s screaming the title made my eyes bulge out of my skull and my head turned sharply in his direction.

“Dude,” I huffed.

His nervous expression slowly started creeping into a smile. “Good ‘dude’ or bad ‘dude’.”

I shook my head as I giggled. “Such a good ‘dude’.” I tried to find another compliment but I was at a loss for words. I tried again but all I could mutter out was, “Bro.”

“’Bro’ and ‘dude’,” he laughed. “That good, huh?”

I may have come off as a little over eager, but my head nodded frantically. “You have no idea how amazing that was. Like, I’m freaking out a little bit. Seriously, Alex. Is the rest of the album going to be like that?”

He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. “For the most part.”

“Dude,” I said again, elongating the words as my head fell against the back of the couch.

Jokingly, Alex started scooting away slowly. “You’re…not about to go crazy psycho fan girl on me, are you?”

I turned my head towards him and stared for a moment before slowly lifting my middle finger. He looked a little offended, his eyes narrowing in on mine. I cracked the first smile and without warning, Alex lunged himself at me, his fingers tickling my sides. I tried my hardest to keep my voice down while simultaneously trying to get out of his grasp, but during my writhing I ended up lying flat on the couch with Alex hovering over me. I had to cover my mouth to keep my laughs from being too loud and my eyes begged him to stop. He rose onto his knees as he straddled my body and lifted my arms over my head so they were resting against the arm of the couch. His eyes burned black with desire and soon mine matched as his lips crashed down on mine.

Our kissing was fast and hungry. My hips automatically lifted to meet his and he lightly bit down on my bottom lip as they connected. His hands slid from my wrists down to my breasts and he gently massaged each one. As soon as my hands were free they found their way to the bottom of his shirt and I lifted it over his head before throwing it to the floor beside us. One by one articles of clothing were piling up in a mound and soon Alex’s naked body was rested on top of mine, our mouths moving rhythmically in time. His hand traced down my side and to my hip, back around to my butt where he gently squeezed. I moaned into his mouth as his hand started sliding to my front.

“Pause,” he said abruptly, pulling away from me.

I opened my mouth to aggressively protest, but he placed a finger over my parted lips to silence me. I mildly glared at him. Whatever he had to say better have been important enough to stop what we were doing.

“I realized last night that we’ve never been on a real date.”

My head cocked slightly to the side. “Ok…”

“What better time to go on a first date than when you’re on vacation in California?”

“Alex,” I laughed. “Are you asking me out?”

He nodded, a hopeful smile pulling at his lips. “If you’ll do me the honors, I’d love to take you on our first real date.”

I winced playfully. “I’ll have to ask my boyfriend.”

He laughed briefly, resting his head on my chest for a second and picking it back up. “I’m sure he’ll understand.”

As I stared up into his chocolate brown eyes with probably one of the most ridiculous grins plastered on my face, I nodded. “Let’s do it.”

“Yes,” he hissed.

His lips moved back down to mine and he positioned himself between my legs and I had to tear away to moan as he plunged himself inside of me.

Notes