Thank you to OG_James for editing this story and offering great advice on how to continue it.
It felt bizarre being back home after spending the weekend with Amanda. It had just been two days but felt like weeks.
I stripped off my clothes and climbed into bed. So much was swirling around in my head that I couldn't fall asleep. I had read one time how while it could take weeks to break a habit, it only took a few days to create a new one. Already I felt myself yearning to be in Amanda's presence again. It was hard to fall asleep without her in my arms. I tossed and turned. When I thought that I wouldn't fall asleep, I finally managed to drift off.
I woke up before noon and saw that I had a couple text messages from Amanda. The first message was around seven AM, saying good morning to me with a kissy-face emoji. A few hours later, she called me a sleepy head and sent a gif of someone sleeping in a big bed.
I had a huge smile as I looked at the messages while waking up. It felt so good waking up to cute messages from her.
It was 11:59 AM, and I waited a minute before replying with a "Good noon."
Amanda sent me an eye roll emoji but then another kissy-face one. It was such a cute little thing that she did, and I loved it.
I texted Amanda as I got ready for class. One of my favorite things about going to community college was choosing when to have my classes. I made sure that I had enough time to sleep in, and if I ever needed to, I had some time in the morning to finish up some reading or a paper for class.
I floated through the day with having Amanda to text. I had an hour gap between classes, I would usually get bored waiting so much throughout the day, but now I stopped paying attention to how much time I had to kill, which made it pass even faster.
I got home around my usual time at seven PM. My phone was near dead, so I put it on the charger and scrounged up something for dinner. When I sat down to eat, I heard my phone's text message alert.
"Do you want to FaceTime tonight?" Amanda asked.
"I would love to :)."
"Ok :). I am going to shower and get ready for bed first."
I felt both nervous and excited. I had never FaceTimed a girl before; I wasn't a complete failure when it came to trying to date. I had texted with and talked to a few girls on the phone before. Texting wasn't that hard for me, sure it sometimes took me too long to think how to reply to a message, but at least that time helped me say the right thing. When I talked on the phone, it was hard for me to respond with something of substance, leading to long awkward pauses. For the first time that day, my old insecurities reared their heads, and I worried that it would be like that when we FaceTimed.
I watched some Netflix in bed on my laptop while I waited for Amanda to call. My phone began to buzz. I picked up my phone, took a deep breath, and then answered it.
When Amanda smiled at me, all my nerves washed away. Now that I thought of it, I finally realized how easy it had been to text Amanda all day. She made me feel so comfortable.
Amanda looked radiant in her post-shower glow. Strands of her damp blonde hair clung stubbornly to her face no matter how many times she pushed it back. Her icy blue eyes and the warmth of her smile stunned me. She was wearing a shirt that looked familiar.
"Is that my shirt?" I asked.
"Maybe."
"It is!"
"You left in such a hurry that you forgot I washed it for you."
"And you had to wear it?" I knew about the joke about how girlfriends tend to steal their boyfriend's clothes. I had never realized how endearing I would find it when it happened to me.
"Yep. It still smells like you... and it reminds me of last weekend," she winked.
"That's not fair. I don't have anything of yours."
"What, to wear? We aren't the same size!" she said mock seriously.
"No. Just like something that smells like you."
"Like a pair of my panties?" she purred, raising an eyebrow.
"I was thinking a shirtβ" I remembered how good she had smelled, and thought about how nice it would be if I could smell her any time. Her suggestion reminded me how amazing the scent of her womanhood was. "βbut if you insisted, I wouldn't say no."
"Of course you wouldn't," Amanda smirked.
We laid in bed talking about our day and filling in the gaps of our knowledge about each other. We both needed to be up early for work, but neither one of us wanted to fall asleep.
I got up to get a glass of water. When I came back, I saw that Amanda had fallen asleep. She looked so beautiful and at peace sleeping. That creeping feeling of just how strong I was starting to feel for her began to surface again. I imagined what it would be like to sleep with her every night.
I tried to be logical. I knew that it was crazy to be feeling this way about her so soon. I was still at the very beginning of our honeymoon phase, and also I was still riding the high of losing my virginity.
I let myself say out loud the words that had been so close to the surface already several times. "I love you." It felt like the burden in my chest loosened, but as good as that felt, I knew that it was only just a partial release of pressure. That it wouldn't be long before it had built up again, and I was dying to say it to her for real.
Her smile seemed to deepen after I said that. I worried for a moment that maybe she had been awake and heard me. I watched her for a couple of minutes, waiting to see if she stirred any more. She must have just been having a good dream. I kept the call going and closed my eyes to get what sleep I could before work.
I woke up early the following day from someone calling my name. I knew that I was in bed, so I was confused about where the sound came from. I looked down at my phone and saw Amanda.
"Ryan? Are you awake yet," Amanda asked.
"No," I managed to grumble.
"It's about time you wake up. Your alarms have been going off for the last five minutes," Amanda said.
I groaned as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I hated working this early, but it was the only way I could still get hours with my school schedule.
Amanda was in the bathroom, finishing getting ready. She wore her pastel blue work uniform with her hair in a ponytail tucked into the hat she had to wear for work. She always complained about having to wear it, but I thought she looked adorable.
"I have to go. Just wanted to make sure you woke up. You're aren't exactly a morning person. You're going to stay up, right?"
The thought of crawling back under my blankets was an appealing one, but I fought it. "Yeah, I will. Thank you for waking me up."
"Thank you for talking to me last night."
"Anytime."
We hung up. Usually, I dragged my feet a lot more, barely leaving with enough time to make it on time, but I felt so rested and ready to face the day that I managed to leave the house early.
Work flew by from having a reason to check my phone other than just to check the time. Since we were both working, we couldn't text each other as much, but every time I felt my phone vibrate, I got happy, knowing that Amanda was thinking about me.
Over the next few days, we fell into a rhythm that I loved. We constantly texted during the day, and then at night, we would FaceTime each other. Sometimes we would leave the call on while we slept. It made me wish that I could sleep with her again in person.
I noticed how much Amanda loved to flirt and tease me, but she never got too sexual. I wanted to continue our sexual exploration, but at the same time, I was happy about having someone to talk to all the time that I didn't want to press her and make things uncomfortable.
On Thursday night, while we talked about what we had to do the next day, Amanda realized that she would have to work a split shift, so she would have an hour in between shifts. It overlapped with one of my breaks between classes, so we made plans to get a late lunch together.
We talked the rest of that night away and managed to hang up this time before falling asleep.