A Heart Healed

As she quickly scrubbed herself and washed her hair, lectures on tidiness that she had received when she was younger started playing through her head. Her mother and grandmother had given those in great amounts whenever she hadn’t made a bed that she had slept in or forgotten a coffee mug on a counter.

They really stuck with a girl, no matter how old one gets.

Her brother, on the other hand, seemed to be allowed to get away with everything short of murder and that was probably why he still left a mess every time she allowed him to visit. However, she couldn’t dwell on that now. Time was going, and she needed to get dressed. She could ignore her legs for next time.

Grabbing the nearest matching set of clothes from her closet and pulling on some of her nicer underwear, she pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans and a casual white off-the-shoulder blouse that was long enough to just fall until the top of her thighs. Pair those with a pair of ballet flats, and she was dressed for breakfast out. At least she had reached the age where she had mastered avoiding messes on her white shirts.

She had just managed to finish combing through her hair – it managed to grow another inch or so over her ears – and pulled the covers of her bed straight before her cellphone began to ring from the living room. Naomi quickly checked out of the window, seeing another one of those black cars they had taken last time waiting in front of her building.

Quickly tossing everything in one of her handbags and retrieving her cellphone from the couch, she gave Iris a quick goodbye rub before heading out of the apartment building.

Once she got outside, she found Marc sitting in the driver’s seat this time, smiling at her.

“You can drive?” she teased as he climbed out of the car to greet her.

“Well, good morning to you too,” he huffed before moving in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling her against his chest for a quick hug. “I do have a license so yes, I can drive.”

“And yet, no ridiculously expensive sports car?”

He chuckled. “I’ll save that for another date. I thought we’d take it easy for the sake of my heart right now.”

Cars still make him nervous, she noted as he released her to open the passenger door.

“After you.”

Soon enough, they were both in the car and on the road.

Naomi directed him out to one of the coffee shops she had found online that Marc had only mentioned was about a block away from his office building when they already arrived. After parking the car, they took a quick walk to the café’s entrance before he nudged her arm.

“There it is,” Marc said before pointing out one of the buildings peeking out over the others across the road from them.

“I didn’t plan this, I swear,” she said once she spotted the large letters spelling out the company name on top of the building. The headquarters for Octave Media was surprisingly smaller than she originally imagined. Sure, it was a large building with glass panel windows around it, but the height of the structure itself made it look like it was shorter than the hospital.

“It’s all right, Naomi.” He shrugged before offering her a smile. “It’s not like I was dodging the place entirely after all.”

She pulled out her cellphone and opened the maps application. “I still should have checked.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He moved, taking her hand in his and placing a quick kiss on her knuckles. “Just focus on us. We’re on a date for the whole day, remember?”

She swore her brain short circuited a little once again with the feel of his lips on her skin. The mental image of them anywhere else on her body made her stomach clench a little in anticipation. Oh goodness, how would she last the entire day with this?

“Let’s go eat,” she said before pulling him inside the coffee shop. The smell of roasted coffee beans and vanilla immediately enveloped them in warmth once they were inside the French styled café. Black and white photographs in wooden frames decorated the walls as they looked over a number of wooden tables with plush seating.

With the bookshelves in a couple of the corners, Naomi thought this place was much more her style than an expensive restaurant.

“Well, what do you think?” she asked Marc.

“If it put that smile on your face, I may just have to buy it,” he teased. “In all seriousness though, it is quite nice. Let’s hope the food matches your expectations.”

They had both taken the omelets, hers with the works while he chose to settle for bacon, mushroom, and extra cheese. As they sat and waited for their food, they found their hands move back towards one another over the table with shared smiles.

It was perfect.

*****

The sun was already down for the night when Marc and Naomi pulled up to her apartment building. He looked over at her to see her dozing in the passenger seat, the excitement of the day had finally caught up to her usual energy level. After breakfast, she had insisted that the two of them look around for something fun to do so after what felt like a city wide tour, Marc insisted that it was time to go.

He would probably say it was as soon as she started yawning and he was right.

She looked like a real Sleeping Beauty like this in his mind and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to wake her up. The problem with trying to carry her inside would be that he didn’t know which apartment she lived in or where she had her keys. He wasn’t about to go through her things without her permission.

There was no other choice but to wake her up at this point.

“Naomi,” he said gently as he tried to nudge her awake. He tried calling her name again, but she didn’t seem to want to budge, swatting his hand away and turning to face the window with a groan. “I know you’re tired, but I can’t let you sleep out here.”

He tried again before she opened an eye. “Where am I?” she grumbled, raising a hand to rub the sleep from her eyes.

“Outside your apartment building.”

She turned to Marc and smiled lazily before touching his thigh. “Hey, handsome, when did you get here?”

He just laughed. She was certainly a lot more open with her affection like this. It was actually rather cute in his opinion, but even her nervousness was endearing in its own way.

“You want to come upstairs for some coffee?” she offered. Marc wasn’t sure if that was such a good idea. There were people who would try to take advantage of her state of mind while she was like this, but he wouldn’t be one of those assholes. Not now, not ever.

“I’ll help you get upstairs but that’s it, okay? You need to sleep.” He climbed out of the car and after a large struggle, managed to carry her from the car into the building. She was lighter than she looked. Was she not eating or something?

Marc didn’t work out as much as she used to in the past, so it wasn’t his strength here. She was just really light as she curled up against his chest, one of her hands gripping onto his shirt.

“Naomi,” he said. “You either have to walk or tell me what apartment you live in.”