Fatal Attraction

Dylan and I rarely left the comfort of his bed all weekend, sneaking out only when food was needed. Our Saturday night was spent in bed with wine and thin crust pizza, while watching a slew of made for TV movies. It was absolutely perfect and I tried my hardest to push the Kara incident out of my mind. The only way to trust Dylan was to throw my whole heart into it and hope for the best. What was the point in stumbling across a relationship this remarkable, if I was just going to hold back? I couldn't be afraid to love him for the fear of the inevitable hurt. There was a very real possibility that I would get my heart smashed into a thousand little pieces, but it was a risk I was willing to take. 

On Sunday afternoon I found myself boarding an Amtrak to NYC, fighting my hardest to hold back the tears that I wouldn't let fall in front of Dylan. Aside from Friday night, the weekend had been impeccable. I felt like he was my boyfriend, but we hadn't had the talk yet. I didn't want to be the one to bring it up first but I hoped that he would say something soon. The truth was, Dylan terrified me. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. He was gorgeous, successful, funny and endlessly fascinating. There had to be some hidden secret that I wasn't seeing, like he kicks puppies in his spare time and feeds on the souls of children. 

When I got back to the apartment Sunday night, I found Ash knee deep in brown boxes. 

"What are you doing?" I asked, dropping my weekend bag next to the door and picking up the pile of mail sitting on the table, greeted by an electric bill, victorias secret coupon and Penn State Alumni letter.

"Packing silly!" she replied cheerfully, reaching for another pack of tissue paper to roll up a cup in. 

"But we still have another week," I replied, glancing over the letter from Penn State, pleading for a donation. I gave them four years and tens of thousands of dollars, yet they always hit me up for more. 

"Yes and the movers come this Saturday, so I want everything boxed, labeled and ready for them." 

I always considered myself an organized person, but watching Ash divide, label and wrap each individual item in my tiny kitchen made me look like a disorganized mess.

"Okay, let me take a quick shower and then I'll help," I said, heading into the bedroom. I dug around in my purse to plug in my phone which had died somewhere around Hamilton, NJ. As it booted up, my stomach flipped seeing two texts from Dylan. I opened them eagerly.

I had an incredible time with you this weekend, miss you already.

Then, 10 minutes later, a photo of him... shirtless in front of a mirror, the sink cutting off just before I could see the goods. I felt a heat rush through me at the sight of his perfectly sculpted pecks leading into an eight pack of abs. He was glistening in sweat, presumably from the run he had been about to go on before I left. Should I send one back? I was tempted to ask Ashley for her opinion, but then I knew she would want to see what Dylan sent. Not willing to share the photo with her, I padded into the bathroom with my phone in hand. 

I peeled off my maxi dress and regarded my matching red thong and bra in the mirror, leftover from the outfit I had worn for Dylan last night. Unhooking the bra, I turned sideways in the mirror and used my free arm to cover my breasts. Sucking in, I snapped a quick picture. The end result wasn't too bad, for my first attempt. I hit send before I could chicken out and hopped into the steamy shower.

Dylan's response came 15 minutes later.

God you look so hot. Get that ass back down to Philly ASAP.

I was irrationally turned on, considering I had just spent the entire weekend having sex with him. I bit my lip as I typed back a response.

Oh yeah? What would you do to me if I was there? 

I put the phone down and headed over to assist Ashley. 

"So, you had a great weekend?" she asked, pulling tape across a full box labeled "kitchen appliances". 

"Yeah it was awesome, aside from Friday," I replied, grabbing the stack of kitchen towels and starting to fold them. I had filled Ash in on the weekend via texts on the train. 

"So do you believe this Kara bitch?" Ash asked, giving me a skeptical look.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I mean she definitely seemed vindictive towards me when she said it. It's clear she isn't over Dylan." 

"Well just be careful," Ash replied, looking me dead on. "You're already in deeper than I have ever seen you." 

"I know," I said with a nod. "Trust me, I haven't let my guard down just yet." 

I heard my phone beep just then and reached over to grab it. 

Well, first I'd reenact what happened in the alley Friday night..

My heart sped up thinking about how good it had been Friday, and how risky it had felt doing it in public. I had only been sleeping with Dylan for a few weeks and already our sex life was far more exciting than it had ever been with Nick. 

I was just about to type back when I got a Facebook notification to my phone. Clicking on the app, I saw I had a friend request. Kara Pierce. I showed the phone to Ashley who raised her eyebrows in response.

"Well that's bold of her," she said, handing the phone back to me. "Are you going to accept?"

Of course I was going to accept, I was dying to know what traces of Dylan I would find on there. But at the same time.. I was terrified to see what traces of Dylan I would find on there. 

I nodded my head in response to Ash, while hitting confirm on the request. The page suddenly filled with Kara, her at the beach, her out at a bar, her in her nursing scrubs. I clicked on "about" and saw that she had gone to University of Maryland like Dylan had. She was a nurse at CHOP in Philly, her birthday was in April and she was listed as "It's Complicated". 

"What the heck?" I said, reiterating her relationship status to Ashley. "Does she mean it's complicated with Dylan?" 

"That's weird," Ash agreed, starting to fill another box with throw pillows from the couch. "On an unrelated note, do you think we need a new couch?" 

"Yes, but back to the matter at hand!" I said needily, the knot in my stomach that was now becoming all too familiar. 

Ash walked over to me, placing one hand on each of my shoulders. "Listen D, I love you, but you have got to calm down. You've known this guy all of a fortnight and you're already going mental. Now before you go boiling Kara's rabbit in a pot, just ask Dylan about it. Clearly Kara is trying to get under your skin, and you're letting her." 

I gave her a weak smile at the Fatal Attraction joke, but it did nothing to lessen the growing anxiety I felt. I wanted to ask Dylan but I had no way of doing so without sounding nuts. Instead, I quickly hit "remove friend" before I could do any more stalking damage. 

"Maybe tomorrow," I said, returning to folding the kitchen towels. 

"Good plan," Ash said. She then dove into details of when the movers were coming and what we needed to buy in the meantime. She was rattling off items like light bulbs, swiffer pads, a new mattress for her and I tried my hardest to nod along and pay attention. After all, moving into a new apartment with my best friend should be a source of excitement. And I hated, hated so badly in that moment, that Dylan already had the ability to sneak under my skin and affect the way I felt about everything.