Everyone has a Past

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" I asked Ashley for the fifth time as I struggled with the zipper on my overnight bag. I stood back, frowning at the budged zipper. Looks like I was going to have to lose a pair of shoes. 

"Yessss," Ashley replied from her perch in my bed. "I'll be fine. I have plans with Tim tonight."

"Tim?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Ted." 

"Oh!" I replied, while victoriously zipping the bag closed without having to compromise on footwear. "That's good, so he's back for the weekend?"

"Yep," she replied, scrolling through her Twitter feed. Ever since the invitation fiasco the other day she had been closed up and reserved, very un-Ashley. I had suggested she ask Steve what in gods name he was thinking sending her the invitation, but she had vehemently declined. Now, I was heading down to Philly for the weekend and I was nervous about leaving her alone. 

"That will be fun!" I answered with too much enthusiasm. I was desperate for her to show any emotion at all. "What are you two going to do?"

"I don't know," she said flatly. "Since you're out of town maybe just fuck all over the apartment."

I looked up at her, trying to judge if this was a joke or not. She gave away no clues, her steely eyes still fixated on her phone. 

"Well just bleach the counters afterwards," I deadpanned, stealing a glance at my watch. It was 6:45 and my train was leaving at 7:30, so I had to hustle out of there. I pulled on my new cut-out booties and hoisted the heavy bag onto my shoulder. "Alright I'm going to head out, but I'll be back Sunday night. Want to go to that tapas place we saw last week for dinner?"

"Sure," Ash said, unfolding her long legs and following me out to the living room. 

"Okay, well have a good weekend," I said giving her a kiss on the cheek. 

"You too, tell Dyl I say what's up," I heard her say as the heavy door clicked shut behind me.


Two hours later I was emerging from the Amtrak tunnels and into 30th St Station in Philly. The grandiose station was packed with people milling about and the sweet scent of Auntie Annes pretzels reminded me that I hadn't eaten since lunch. I pulled out my phone to call Dylan and find out where he had parked, but before I could hit dial I heard my name being yelled to my left. Looking up, my heart skipped about five beats. 

Dylan stood there looking alarmingly handsome in his work clothes. His car keys were dangling lazily from his left hand as he strode towards me with a knees-melting grin across his face. 

"Hey babe," he said, looping his strong arms around me and burying his scruffy face in my neck. I inhaled his smell, squeezing him tightly and ignoring the tingling I felt down there at just the sight of him.

"How was your trip?" he asked, pulling apart and removing my bag from my shoulder. 

"Easy peasy," I said, wrapping my arm around his waist as we walked. Even with two-inch booties on, I still barely came up to his shoulder. 

He draped his arm across my shoulders and pulled me in to kiss the top of my head while steering me through the crowd and outside.

"What are the plans tonight?" I asked as he opened the car door for me. 

"Well," he started, closing my door and then appearing a moment later on the driver's side. "I have a bit of a surprise for you."

"Oooh is that so?" I replied, leaning back into the supple leather of the seat. 

"Mmmhm," he replied, expertly pulling out of the tight space and zooming down market street. 

"Hint?" I asked, admiring his profile as he drove. 

"You'll see in about three minutes," he replied, patting my knee like an impatient child. 

"Is it a puppy?" I asked, only half-joking. I had spent the week perusing adoptable dogs on the SPCA website and sending him links roughly five times per day. I don't know if it was the baby clock ticking in me or what, but lately I was infatuated with the idea of a dog.

"Yep," he replied, putting on his right blinker. "It's actually three, so I hope Amtrak is cool with you bringing dogs on on Sunday."

"I'll figure something out," I replied with a laugh. Finally we pulled up to his house and he parked, leading me up the stairs.

"Okay," he said, turning to face me instead of putting the key in the lock. "Just don't laugh." 

"Why would I laugh?" I said, intrigued. 

"It's corny.." he trailed, turning around to undo the deadbolt. The door swung open and I peered around his shoulder, trying to see what this alleged surprise was but the house was dimly lit and not revealing anything. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the dining room, where I saw he had set the table with a beautiful looking and incredibly smelling dinner. There were at least two dozen candles around the room, a vase of flowers on the table and two bottles of wine.

"Did you.. did you cook all of this?" I asked. 

He smiled at my unabashed shock. "Yes, I told you I could cook."

Keeping his hand on the small of my back, he lead me over to the table and pulled out my chair.

"My lady," he joked, bowing down in front of the seat. I laughed but sat down, surveying the feast in front of me. There was steak tenderloins, roasted veggies, some sort of orzo dish and fresh bread. My mouth was watering and it took every ounce of will power I had not to dive right in.

"It looks incredible," I said, smiling at him as he sat down across from me. "Are your roommates just like hiding upstairs or something?" 

"No," he said with a laugh. "Mike is out of town and Ryan is at Erica's."

"Convenient," I said with a grin, taking a long sip of the delicious red wine. 

We dug into the food which tasted even better than it smelled. I added another 10 points to Dylan's already high score in the boyfriend department for being able to cook such an incredible meal. 

"So I have a question," I said, the second glass of wine giving me the courage to start this awkward conversation.

"Shoot," he said, stabbing the last piece of roasted zucchini from his plate.  

"On Sunday you said that you'd never been in love.." I started, glancing up at him. His gaze was still fixed on his now empty plate. "Does that mean that you've never had a serious relationship?"

It was kind of pathetic to think that I had been dating him for this long and we had never discussed his past. I mean, he knew about Nick and how long we dated, but we never discussed anything about him besides Kara. 

He looked up at me, fixing his brilliant blue eyes on mine. "I dated a girl in college for about two years, but we broke up when we graduated. I don't think I loved her though, I mean it was college," he said. 

I frowned. Nick and I had been together in college and I had definitely loved him. "What do you mean it was college? I don't think that diminishes anything." 

He shrugged, "I don't know, we were always out drinking. She was a great girl but we kind of both knew it was for the best to end things once we graduated. She was moving to Atlanta, I was going to Philly." 

"What is her name? Do you still talk to her?" I asked. I had thoroughly stalked his Facebook when we first met and recalled seeing multiple pictures of him and a brunette girl from a few years ago. I made a mental note to look at them again on Sunday. 

"Her name is Kensie and no, not anymore. We kept in touch for awhile but it just seemed pointless." 

I nodded my head, knowing that this was probably all of the information I was going to get out of him. It was unsettling how little he seemed to care about this girl who he had spent two years with, I hoped that if we ever broke up he'd talk about me a little more wistfully.

"Hey so Ryan and Erica's wedding is coming up," he said changing the subject. "November 1, and I need a hot date. Know anyone who might be interested?" he asked. 

"I might know of a gal, where is the wedding?" I asked. 

"Here in the city," he said. "I'm in the wedding, so you'd have to be solo for a bit during the ceremony but Laura is going." 

"Great," I said with a smile, already mentally calculating how much I could spend on a dress.

He stood up and walked behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and leaning down. "Want to go upstairs?" he asked into my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

"Always," I said, and he tucked his arms under mine, lifting me up from behind. I squealed out in laughter as he threw me over his shoulder and carried me up the stairs.

**Bonus tomorrow, so check back! xoxo**