CHAPTER 13
I slept pretty well on the couch in the living room area. It was comfortable and long so there was plenty of space to stretch out. I woke up at about six in the morning and went to the bathroom.
On the way back I looked into the bedroom. Jamie was lying on top of the sheets asleep. To my surprise she was wearing a pair of black panties. I furrowed my brow briefly wondering why she had any clothes on at all. At first, I wondered if she just liked to wear something while sleeping, then the more likely option occurred to me.
It must be THAT time.
That explained why she had wanted me to give her lower abdomen a special little rub and also why she had wanted to spend the night alone.
Happy that I had some understanding of why she had wanted to be by herself I went and laid back down on the couch and slept for a while longer.
When Jamie got up it was about eight in the morning. I was sitting on the couch watching the morning news when she came into the living area. She was wearing a small pair of black shorts and had put the Tweety Pie shirt on.
"Good morning." She said as she entered. She walked over to me, kissed me on the lips, and sat on the other side of the couch.
I really enjoyed the kiss. I liked how spontaneous it was as well as the fact it just seemed "normal", like it was something that any couple did first thing in the morning.
There was no other way to interpret it other than it symbolised that we were, finally, in a relationship.
"Rough night?" I asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Oh that," she said, looking down at her shorts. "I'm really sorry about that."
"Nothing to be sorry about Jamie, are you ok though?"
"Ergh, I get the worst abdominal cramps at this time," she observed. "Really, really bad."
"Have you got anything for the pain?"
"Enough to get me through one day, I'm going to have to ask you if you can get me some more Panadol or something for tomorrow if that's ok?"
"Of course it is, Jamie." I smiled at her.
"I tend to become a bit of a hermit when this is going on. I normally just stay in my room or whatever. I really don't feel like walking out and about at a place like this especially."
"It's fine Jamie, I can get you whatever you need. I was going to go and have some breakfast, is there anything you would like me to get for you?"
"Could you get me a few slices of buttered toast with a little bit of Vegemite on it."
"Ok," I said, standing up. "No time like the present."
I leant over to Jamie. She lifted her face up to mine and we kissed. I was really starting to like this.
She reached out to my hand and held it. "Thank you, Michael. A lot of guys are not understanding about this."
"It's my pleasure," I said, smiling back at her.
By the time I reached the dining hall it was really starting to fill up. I stood in line and picked up and plate and filled it with bacon and mushrooms for myself. Before I had time to sort out Jamie's toast I noticed that Martin was seated nearby and waving for me to join him. I decided I would have a quick chat with him over my breakfast and then I would get Jamie's food.
I sat down next to Martin. The rest of our table was empty.
"Good morning, kind sir." He said.
"How's it going, Martin?"
"As well as can be expected."
"How are things going with Tamara?"
"Well, you probably couldn't tell from the other night, but we are a bit of an item, believe it or not"
"No kidding," I said wryly, "What a surprise."
"It's just courting, at the moment, nothing too serious, yet." He said with a big grin on his face.
"I'm happy for you, for both of you. How did you get the chance to meet her?"
"I just went right up to her and started to chat to her after a very nice volleyball game." He declared proudly. "I think a lot of guys just do that admire from afar crap with her. In the last few days I've been keeping a bit of an eye on her and nobody seemed to want to talk to her. No males at least."
"You weren't watching her to try to figure out if she had a boyfriend or girlfriend or the like, were you?"
"No," said Martin, looking at me and rolling his eyes. "I'm not like that."
"Of course not."
"So, how are things going for you and that ex-student you've been hanging around with lately? Haven't seen either of you for a while?" He said and then he started to drink from his glass of orange juice.
Timing my words so he would have a mouthful of orange juice, I said, "Well, she moved in with me last night."
Martin, of course, started to choke on his drink. Half the drink ended up back in his cup and the rest was sprayed over the table. He leant over to his side away from me and started coughing. I patted him on the back as he cleared his throat. A curious little crowd gathered around us to see if they could help but I waved them away.
After he cleared his throat, he turned around to face me in his chair and simply said
"What!?"
"I said she's just moved in with me. Yesterday."
Still looking stunned he said "That's what I thought you said, you could have at least told me!"
"I just did." I said smugly.
His reddened eyes opened even wider at that. "What the hell happened?"
"Short version of the story, I found her boyfriend, in town, cheating on her with another girl. I relayed this information to her and now he's out the door and she's with me"
"Is she with you, or is she WITH you?" he asked incredulously.
"It's just courting, at the moment, nothing too serious, yet." I smirked.
Martin sat back in his chair and stared off into the distance. "Faaaar out!" he exclaimed. "Sounds like something out of Penthouse Letters!"
"This ain't porn," I chuckled.
"So where is she? Why isn't she here now?"
"She's not feeling well this morning, so I'll be taking some breakfast back for her when I'm done."
"Oh, ok."
"Where's Tamara?"
"She had breakfast a while ago and went to walk the length of the beach."
I raised my eyebrow.
Seeing my quizzical look, Martin continued "She reckons she enjoys at least an hour or so of solitude each day. We're meeting up later this morning."
"Fair enough." I observed. I gulped down the last bite of my bacon and mushrooms. "Anyway, I'm going to head back to my room and take Jamie her breakfast, old man."
He winked at me as I stood up. "Good work."
"You too," I said winking back. "Same time tomorrow?"
"Sure thing."
"You were gone for longer than I expected." Jamie said when I returned to the room, brandishing a plate of Vegemite toast.