Maybe This Time…

Chapter 7: Sunday

Author: Knowhere

Rating: Light R

Disclaimer: Nothing.

AN: Thanks for the support…hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did writing it. I tried something new in terms of format and I'm quite happy with its end result.

Once again, thank you to Dorkfish for the initial seed idea that resulted in Timing, and Hallon for helping me nurture it into a full story and then into its sequel.

Please Review

Summary: Maybe this time…Change is inescapable. One week. Seven days. A relationship comes together.

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"One week's end is the birth of another…"
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Sunday: 12:01 P.M.
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He slings the duffel bag over his shoulder and reaches for her hand. She smiles and continues to walk beside him. Her head turns to examine his neighborhood in the clear daylight. "So, tell me again why we're doing this."

His grip on the bag slackens and he releases her hand to hold onto the bag. "Huh?" He glances down at her but doesn't linger.

"I mean, why are we leaving your apartment building?" She lazily slips her hands into her pockets.

"Well," he shortens his stride to accommodate her, "I asked what you wanted to do today and you said whatever I normally do on Sundays." His head cocks to the side. "This is what I do."

Pausing, he steps in front of her to shield her from the passing cars and that little movement brings a secret smile to her lips. She likes someone to take care of her, and whether he knows that or not, she still cherishes the fact that he's protecting her. "Yes, I know. But why leave the building?"

"Because the washers are broken and I've worn practically everything I own, so I need clean clothes."

"Hm." They approach the Laundromat and she holds the door open for him. She watches him plop down his bag on a vacant washer and she slips a couple of dollar bills into the machine for change. Sidling quietly up to him, she makes him jump. Sheepishly, "Sorry. Here you go." Shiny quarters glint off the metal of the washing machine and reflects off the blue flecks in her eyes.

He smiles. "You don't need to do that. It's my laundry; you don't need to pay."

She rolls her eyes. "It's just a couple bucks, Jess." Ignoring him, she slips the coins into the slot and pulls it in. The machine rumbles to life and she helps him pull some clothes to separate the darks from the whites. "Hey…" She picks up a piece of clothing. "What's this?"

He flicks his gaze over to her side and deadpans his response. "It's underwear."

Giggling, she doesn't let him get off that easily. "I thought you were a boxers guy."

"It's not like they're tightie whities." He smirks.

"No, but these are the tight short-like boxers kind."

He halfheartedly listens to her and continues to separate his clothes. "Hm."

Bumping his hips with hers, she tries to get his attention. "Jess."

He speaks to her while measuring the detergent and barely gives her his attention. "Rory, do you own different types of underwear?"

Amused, "What?"

"Do you always wear the same kind?"

"Well…I guess not."

"I'm sure you have different kinds to wear with dresses or nice clothes. Certainly, I doubt you wear the same kind of underwear for when you lounge around the house versus when you go out on a date."

She watches him and wrinkles her nose at his indifferent response. "Okay…"

"So why can't men have different kinds of underwear just like women? You know, for when I have to wear a suit instead of just jeans?"

"Oh." She hops up on the adjacent machine and swings her legs. "Guess I always thought guys were just simple creatures."

He chuckles and leans over to kiss her. Going back to his laundry they stay silent for a couple of minutes. He continues to filter through his dirty clothes and she pulls her knees up and picks at her cuticles. He suddenly speaks up nonchalantly. "So, when do I get to see your underwear?"

Caught off guard, she drops her hands and stares at him for a second. Coming up with the only response in mind, she goes for the obvious. "You've seen it."

"I know. Your date night underwear. When do I get to see what you normally wear?" He pours in the laundry detergent. Slamming the lid closed, he props his palms on the surface and turns to give her his full attention. "Well?" At her silence, he raises his eyebrow to tease her. Leaning over to whisper, he comes close to her face. "How many times do I have to sleep with you until I see your regular underwear?" She bites her lip and looks away. He smirks and presses his lips to her flaming cheeks. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Playfully grabbing fists full of his t-shirt, she pulls him between her legs only to push him away the next second. "Alright, alright." Hooking her arms around his torso, she lingers against his mouth as she teases him with a kiss. "Finish your laundry."

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Sunday: 1:44 P.M.
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She laughs in disbelief and takes a sip of her coffee. He smirks and pushes his cup to her. "C'mon and try it." Daintily picking it up, she tentatively tries the liquid and huffs a breath as she finds out it's not as revolting as she thought. He takes it back triumphantly. "See? I knew you'd like it."

"Tea? Never."

He rolls his eyes and takes a bite of his sandwich. "Liar." They're quiet and he tightens his arm around her shoulders. She settles into his body as they continue to people watch the other café patrons from their corner booth.

She turns and sneaks another bite of his muffin. "Hey, I heard about this book fair next week. I saw this flyer for it in this bookstore by my apartment. You wanna go?"

He playfully wrestles the remains of his pastry away from her hands. "Sure."

"Great." She seems genuinely excited by his response and he lifts his eyebrow in a silent question. "Well, it's just that it's been a while since I've had a boyfriend who's as interested in books as I am."

"Oh yeah? Who was the last guy that liked reading?"

Embarrassed, she looks away and sips her coffee while she mumbles. "You."

"Huh." He smirks in triumph upon hearing her confession.

She elbows his stomach. "It's not like I said you had good taste."

"Jeez…we're not going to start up again are we?"

"Well maybe not about your Hemingways, but what about your contemporary choices? You're living in the past, Jess. Wake up and realize all the wonderful literature that's being created in our generation."

He smiles and gets comfortable in his seat as he listens to her passion about books. "You have to understand the past to be able to appreciate what made the classics great, Ror. Some of that shit that's being published these days is not even worthy of being scribbled on a napkin, let alone printed on actual books. Back then writers were writers. Literature was their life and not just some way of making a living by cranking out formulaic books."

She shakes her head but banters with bright eyes and a wide smile. "But notable writers today are taking what made the classics great and making their own work even better by building and layering on their own unique blend. You can't honestly say there's nothing good being produced recently, can you?"

"No, but you can very well argue that those who are building on the classics, like you say, are just ripping off the originals." He smirks.

She licks her lips. "I can't believe you just said that."

"Believe me, writing today has become too much about publicity than the ink on the page."

She leans into his body. "So you're not a sellout?"

"God, how could you even say that to my face?" He grins. "Have you seen the first book? No one read it because I refused to do any publicity. I wanted the words to speak for themselves. But of course these days, no writer can survive long clinging to values like that, so I do the bare minimum with publicity."

She nudges his ribs. "People read them. You phony; you know damn well plenty of people raved about it."

He blushes and looks away at her praise but keeps his arm firmly around her shoulders. "They're okay."

"I still can't believe what you're saying about today's writers. You're one of them, Jess. Are you saying you're crap?"

He chuckles. "Maybe."

"Maybe not." She huffs and takes a sip of her coffee.

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Sunday: 2:59 P.M.
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Her back thumps against the newly closed door and the duffel of clean clothes lands in a heap on the floor. He toes off his shoes and she un-tucks his shirt from his jeans. Holding her face between his hands, he smiles and rubs his thumbs gently over the apples of her cheeks. "I like the making up after a fight."

She giggles loudly but wriggles up against the evidence of his arousal. "We were just having a discussion about books not an actual fight."

"Huh." He attaches his lips to the sweet curve of her neck and busy fingers pluck at the buttons of her jeans. "I'll take what I can get." Lifting his arms he quickly pulls his shirt over his head and walks her backwards towards the direction of his bedroom.

"Hey Mister, don't think you can't just criticize my favorite books and just kiss me to make it all better." She smiles broadly and tries her best to look serious as she point an accusing finger at him.

He smirks and brings her forefinger between his lips. "Oh no?"

"No." Stepping out of her jeans she kicks them off to the side of the couch and accidentally bumps into the coffee table. He leans down to kiss her and she moans as she feels his tongue flick against her lower lip. "Well maybe…"

He chuckles. "You're so easy…" Picking her up she wraps her legs around his waist and her laughter is muffled as they fall onto the bed. "Now about that underwear…"

She giggles loudly and hides her face into his pillow. He reaches up and smoothes down some of her hair. It's ridiculously messy and he bites his lip from saying anything about it. He wishes for more moments like these. Lazy times with slow motion movements that eventually turn into feelings like these. Moments where he feels like he's untouchable. Nothing can disturb what they have right now because she's lying in his bed and he's here to enjoy it. He leaves his hand on the curve of her back…that dip is his new favorite part of her body. She has a little dimple right where the lower back meets her bottom, and he's only just noticed it. The skin is impossibly smooth and she's extra sensitive to that area. He discovered that yesterday. He smirks as he remembers her shuddering against him as he traced his tongue down the path of her spine.

Her hand worms out of the covers and cups the side of his face. Snuggling up to his side, she presses her nose against his shoulder and kisses the joint. His finger tilts her head up and he kisses her softly. She smiles. Now, in this moment, he's glad that he opened himself to the opportunity again. Glad that he took the chance and risked getting hurt again. But even if that were to happen, he'd cling to moments like this and do it all over again without a second thought. No looking back.

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Sunday: 10:29 P.M.
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The room is quiet and their bodies are warm beneath the sheets. She revels in the feeling of her torso and the softness of the sheets against her bare skin. Lifting her head off the pillow, she glances down at him. Lying on his back, his face is turned to the side, but the pale light of the street shows the curves of his face. Not wanting to wake him, she just takes the moment to memorize his face instead of touching him. But she already knows what it feels like. She knows the softness of his skin and the hard plane of his jaw. She knows what it feels like to kiss his heavy-lidded eyes and the hidden scar just below the curve of his eyebrow.

Sitting up with her legs crossed, she leans against the headboard and closes her eyes to breathe in the moment. Scooting back down, she faces him and tilts her head as he shifts in his sleep. She watches as he moves over to rest his head halfway on her pillow. His twists his back as he buries his face into the pillow and mumbles something incoherent. Going back to lie down next to him, she bites her lip and situates herself next to his warm body.

His arm moves and wraps around her lower back. She licks her lips. "Remember that first phone call awhile back?" He doesn't answer as he continues to slumber. "Remember how I said that when we first dated I had that wild thought that somewhere down the road we'd end up together? That night I told you that back then I thought you were the one. Well…" She looks down and her eyes follow the slope of his shoulder back to his peaceful face. "I kinda lied to you. You see, I don't think there ever was a time where I doubted you were the one. Even when we weren't together and I hadn't heard from you in years…I always knew in the back of my mind that we'd end up here." She smiles. "Well, I at least hoped that we'd end back here." Her eyes search for a sign that he's heard any part of her speech. But as his breathing continues to be slow and steady without a hitch, she knows that he's still sleeping.

"I'd never say this to you out loud so soon," she pauses. "Well, maybe it's not too soon. We have after all, known each other for years even if we weren't in touch, we've known each other since we were kids." She shakes her head at her own tangent and reclaims her thoughts. "Anyways, I still don't think I have enough courage to say this to you while you're conscious. Not yet. Maybe not until I know for sure you feel the same. But Jess…" She snuggles into his shoulder and whispers. "I love you. And I know it's taken me way too long to say it, or even realize it, but…I do. I love you." She yawns and looks up. "Maybe I will say it first to you this time…you know, repay the favor after that incident where you randomly blurted it out and ran away." She giggles. "But I won't run this time. And if for some reason you get the urge to run again, even though I don't think you will…I'll go with you this time." Yawning again she turns on her side and backs up until she can feel the length of her body pressed up against his. Pulling the covers up to her chin, she mumbles. "Maybe this time…it's for real."

As her breathing evens out, he tightens his arms around her. Opening his eyes, his vision focuses on the woman lying next to him. Nodding ever so slowly, he kisses her shoulder and lies back down to snuggle into her once again. Certain that she's asleep, he allows himself to drift off as well. "Yeah…maybe."

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Sunday: 10:50 P.M.
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