What You Do To Me (Unexpected Love) (35 page)

             
When the guy
approached,
I told
him,
and he looked at me and his eyebrows raised. “That’s a lot of bike for a little lady your size.” At
that
point, I was no longer nervous, but determined to show him
I was
not some little lady and I
could
do anything. I asked him if he had anything in comparison. He said that I wouldn’t be riding that model, but he could find me something
comparable
. The bike was a newer model and they
used
older motorcycles or damaged ones in the beginner class.

             
When I got onto the
bike,
I placed a helmet on my head. A lot of the guys didn’t wear
one,
since Pennsylvania
didn’t
have a helmet law. I wasn’t sure why, but wearing one made me feel
safer,
even though I
knew
I’d be going slow in the parking lot and I wouldn’t need one.

             
In the beginning, I stalled the bike out a lot and my shifting wasn’t smooth. I felt shaky making turns and took many
of them
wider
than
I needed too, but after
awhile,
I felt really comfortable cruising around the course and the parking lot. I enjoyed the freedom I felt when driving the bike. When I
pulled the bike
back up
to the building
and placed the kickstand down Derek and the instructor walked to
ward
me. “Looks like you enjoyed
yourself,
”
Derek said with a smile on his face.

             
“
Oh,
my God, I should have learned to drive years ago.” I was still smiling.

             
“You might want
to
keep your mouth closed on the road or you’ll be eating a lot of bugs. I have to say, it
was
nice to see someone smile so much riding. I think motorcycles are in your blood. Will you be back for the intermediate
class?
We
actually get on the road for that class?”

             
“No, I’m from Michigan and I won’t be around, but I would if I lived here.”
I honestly would
have
loved
to learn to ride on the road.

             
“I think
you’re
ready to get on the road. I didn’t think you would be able to handle the
bike I gave you, but you did really
good.
You’re
a natural.”  We talked a minute more and he thanked me for taking the class. He left to talk
to
the other students who were starting to pull into spots by the building.

             
“Thank
you, Derek.
I can’t thank you enough.”

             
“Dancing your ass off with me tonight will be thanks enough, but we aren’t done. If
you’re
going to be riding a Harley now, you need to have bad ass boots to go with it, come on.” He grabbed me by the hand and pulled me into the store. At
first,
I refused to allow Derek to buy me the boots, but after him making a scene by dropping to the floor and acting
as if
he was making a snow
angel,
I agreed so he would stop. I walked out with more
than
boots. Derek bought me riding boots, a black leather jacket, riding glasses and a cute tank. I hated him spending this much money on me. When I was arguing with him about
it,
he grabbed my face and looked me in the eyes telling
me,
“Shut up, I enjoy spending money on you and the
girls.
I work hard and make too much money to spend on just myself.”  I still felt
guilty, but backed down and allowed him to do
it for
me.

We finally pulled out of the parking lot around eleven
thirty, drove through Chick-Fil-A,
and got on the road to DC. Derek and I had a
little over a
four-hour
drive ahead of us.
We sang and I sang loudly just to annoy him. He told me about the new girl he
had
been seeing at
his
office, but said thing were not serious and probably wouldn’t be. I asked about the museums he got
tickets too and he
finally
told me after some
coercion
. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Corcoran Gallery of Art and if
time,
he wanted to take me to the Library of Congress. I was so happy. I
loved
art museums and
knew
I
had
mentioned wanting to see the Library of Congress and Holocaust Museum
in conversations before. The only thing I couldn’t get out of Derek was what show we were going to see tonight. I figured it was a play, because he knows how much I love plays
,
and living in small town USA, I
di
d
n’t
get the chance to go very often.

             
We finally pull
ed
into the J.W. Marriott in downto
wn DC. I
loved
the location. We we
re
within
walking dis
tance
of
a lot of things downtown and a few blocks from the White House. Derek gave his keys to the valet and we grabbed our bags and
walked
inside.
Suddenly, I
felt underdressed and wanted to change. My jeans, running shoes and tank
were
my usual attire, but walking into the lobby with everyone in suits and dress
clothes,
I felt out of place.

             
Derek walked to the registration
counter,
and he and the lady registering him were talking. I couldn’t make out anything that they were saying, but he looked upset. He ran his hand through his hair,
and then
he nodded and grabbed the keycard holder from the lady. “Well, we are sharing a suite, but the good news is there is more th
a
n one
room in it
.”

             
“Is that why you are so
upset?
Did
you think I would be angry because
we’re
sharing a room?”

             
“Something like
that,
” Derek replied. I was worried he still felt strange about the whole
situation yesterday.

             
Trying to put him at
ease,
I
pushed
his shoulder and say, “Well, as long as you don’t confuse the rooms after your shots
tonight,
then it won’t matter.”

             
Derek
smiled
, “I thought we weren’t doing shots?”

             
“No, I’m not doing
shots.
I said nothing about you.” We
took the
elevator and
headed
up to our room. The room
was
on the top floor of the hotel and judging from the doors and the space between
doors,
I assumed the majority if not all the rooms on the floor were suites. We walked past a few doors being guarded by security. The One asked to see our key card before he let us through. When we
passed,
I leaned over to Derek, “I wonder if it’s a politician or foreign delegate in that room.” Derek just shrugged and we made it to the door.

             
He slipped the keycard into the slot and we walked into the room. It was beautiful and I couldn’t believe the space. There was champagne in a bucket and chocolate covered strawberries on the table by the window. I
squealed,
setting my bag down and walking over the table. I asked Derek if he wanted to do the honors or if I should. He just shrugged and didn’t say anything, so I popped it open. I poured us both a glass and started to eat a strawberry.

             
“Hey, I’m going to go grab a shower.” Derek grabbed his bag and started walking down the hall towards the rooms. “Abbs, I’m leaving you the bigger room. I’ll see you in a bit.” I couldn’t say
anything,
because my mouth was stuffed with the strawberry.
After two
more,
I grabbed my bag and decided to get ready. I had to get
ready;
because
it was already after five and the show was probably around seven or eight.

             
I quickly showered and dried my hair. I decided to wear it up just in case we ended up at a club. I threw on light makeup and some
lip-gloss
. When I pulled out my
clothes,
I decided on a pair of short black shorts and a white and silver glittery top. I wore a pair of stiletto
gladiator-
type sandals. I felt comfortable and ready for the night. When I walked out an hour
later,
Derek was on the phone and it sounded like he was upset. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but I could
hear
the rise in his voice occasionally. When he saw me walk
in,
he quickly got off.

             
“Is everything
okay
?” I thought I already knew the answer, it sounded obvious.

             
“Yeah, everything is fine, work stuff. Are you ready to go? I thought we could grab dinner in the lobby and head to the show. It’s at the Verizon Center, not too far of a walk.”

             
Just then my stomach grumbled, “
Sounds
great
.”

             
We headed down to the restaurant and we ordered. Derek seemed fairly quiet and
not very talkative. I figured it was due to his work phone call. “Hey, you know if it’s work, we can leave tomorrow, we don’t need to stay.”

             
Derek looked at
me, forced a smile,
and reached for my hand. “No, work is fine. We are spending the day hitting the museums and art galleries. Whatever you want to do.”

             
“
Okay
, but I don’t know if I have ever seen you like this, are you sure
you’re
okay
?” He again
smiled at
me and
nodded
yes. I
didn’t
feel like it
was
though. I
didn’t
push and instead
made
light conversation.

             
We
finished
dinner and
headed
to the Verizon Center. We
rounded
a corner and I
saw
lines and lines of people waiting to get in the doors. I looked around to see what exactly everyone was lining up for and what I was headed
to
and when I
did,
I stopped walking. Derek stopped and looked at me. Looking
over
at
him,
I started to shake my head no, but I couldn’t talk or move my legs. Why was he
taking
me
there
, I didn’t understand. 
“I’m sorry, but this needs to happen. You need to resolve this right and I couldn’t tell you. Please don’t hate me.” I couldn’t believe he went behind my back and did this. I
felt
betrayed. Tears were stinging
my
eyes. “Abbs, say something.”

             
“I hate you,” I couldn’t believe I just said that to him. The man who
had
been my rock and the man who
had
done so much for me and I just told him I
hated
him. In that specific
moment,
I did hate him, but the reality of it
was that
I couldn’t hate him.
I looked
down,
ashamed of what I just said to him.

             
“Abby, I love you and
that
is why I’m doing this. I hate seeing you torn up inside and I thought maybe if you talked to
him,
you could figure things out. Whether you try a relationship or walk away, you need solid closure, not how you left things. Watching you is hurting me and your fake happiness isn’t doing anything for the girls.” I
knew
he
was
right, but I
was
so mad
that
he went behind my back.