The Way You Look Tonight

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   Thursday had rolled around quicker than the week had started. Kadie and I spent most of the day trying to pick out the perfect outfit for her date. It wasn't until late evening that Adam came by to pick Kadie up. I was so tried from my last two days of orientation that I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the night lounging around in my pajamas.

    I ordered in some Thai and caught up on some of my shows when my phone started vibrating. It was Jonah. We had been texting back and forth. Jonah was working late this week so I hadn't gotten a chance to see him since our date. 

  “What are you up to?”

“Nothing, watching Mindy Project. How bout you?”

 “Thinking about you. About to get off work. Want to come over?”

“Sure. I'll grab something for us to eat and be there in a few” (I wasn't about to waste all this food)

 “:)”

   Even his smileys made me swoon. Thank god I ordered enough Thai to feed an army. I packed it up in a bag and quickly threw on a casual dress and some boots. Jonah texted me his address and I made my way over. He lived in Greenwich so it wasn't much of a commute.

   I was so happy to see Jonah I couldn't stop myself from smiling. I stood outside his door for a good couple of minutes trying to bite my cheeks before I finally knocked. A few seconds later Jonah opened the door.

   “'Hey beautiful!” he looked just as excited to see me. Jonah gave me a bear hug to the point that he was practically picking me up. I laughed and playfully pushed his arm. 

   I walked into his apartment and I was amazed at how clean it was. It was an open floor plan and the furniture looked high-end. The back wall of the apartment was all exposed bricks with floor to ceiling windows that rounded off at the top. The second floor was visible from downstairs. It looked exactly how a bachelor pad should look.

   I walked over to the kitchen to put the bag of food down. I couldn't help but notice the stainless steel appliances. The fridge had a glass door so you could see inside. I ran my finger down the side of the glass and looked over at Jonah,

 “So, this is what being a writer gets you, huh?”

 Jonah laughed as if he were embarrassed “Well, no. This is what being a head writer of a popular late night show on a top rated network gets you” he smiled back and winked.

I threw my hands up accusingly “Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Head Writer!”

Jonah laughed again and walked up behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned his head down to my neck. I felt his lips lightly move from the base of my neck to the back of my ear. His breath touching my skin gave me chills.

   He whispered,“Don't get it twisted.” I laughed and turned around to see a grin on Jonah's face. I wasn't use to such a funny, playful guy.

   I couldn't help but think of Joshua in that moment. He was always so serious. He never joked around. All work and no play. It was refreshing to be friends with Jonah. I felt like I could finally be my fun-loving self when I was around him.

   After we ate dinner Jonah tried teaching me how to play Foosball. It definitely isn't as easy as it looks. An hour of failed attempts went by before Jonah rendered it a lost cause. But, it's okay, because I ended up creaming him in a game of pool.

   We went back to the kitchen where Jonah poured both of us a drink. As he was cleaning up I couldn't help but walk around the living room and notice a wall of cubed shelves filled with hundreds of vinyl records. I flipped through a few before Jonah joined me. 

   “I didn't realize you were so into music.” There were records that I could see Jonah owning as a teen like, Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Beatles, Ramones, The Clash. But then there were a few that were older like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. Jonah noticed the confused look on my face from the random genres of music he had.

   “A lot of these are my dad's” Jonah walked over to an old vintage credenza. He lifted up the middle of the table top and it opened up to a record player inside.

  “When I was a kid, There would be some nights I would wake up to the sound of blues music and find my parents dancing in the living room.” He began pointlessly twisting the knobs on the record player as he went deeper into thought.

  “Whenever I'm having a bad day, I just remember the way he would look into my mom's eyes. I've never seen such pure love before. He loved his blues music and he loved her."

   He paused and stared down at the record player for a moment before turning back towards me. “Anyway, he died when I was younger so I've collected records in his memory since.”

   “I'm sorry to hear that. He sounds like a great man” I picked up a Frank Sinatra album and walked over to Jonah. 

  “He was” He took the album from my hands and smiled as he examined it. “You're a Sinatra fan,huh?”

 “Who doesn't love Franky?” Jonah placed the record onto the record player and set the needle down. He extended out his hand to take mine and just then “The Way You Look, Tonight” began to play. 

  We slowly danced in Jonah's living room. I leaned my head on his warm chest and I could hear every heartbeat. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the smell of his cologne. His tall built frame devoured me as he wrapped his arms around me. It was so calming to feel protected.

   As the music began to pick up Jonah twirled me around. We laughed and giggled as we started moving at a faster pace. Just as the music peaked Jonah dipped me down. As I came back up my hair fell over my face.

    Jonah stopped dancing. He pushed my hair back and tucked it behind my ears. His hand lingered on my neck as we stared at each other. He brought his body closer to mine, leaned down, and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back.

   Jonah walked over to his couch holding my hand as I followed.

 “Jonah," I whispered in his ear as things began to heat up. His eyes looked into mine as if he wanted the same but something was stopping him. He sighed and dropped his head.

  “Lynn, this....this....” He was struggling to finish his sentence. Before I could say anything Jonah walked into his room closing the door behind him. I fixed myself up and walked over to the kitchen. Just then he walked out of his room.

  “You want another drink?” he pulled out a bottle and began pouring fresh drinks for both of us. He hummed along to the music playing in the background. He gave me my drink, sat back down on the couch, and turned his TV on.

   I was still standing in the kitchen confused as to why he was completely ignoring what just happened. I went over to the couch and sat down on the opposite side of Jonah thinking maybe he needed space. He turned towards me smiled and spread out his arm gesturing for me to come over. And so I did.

   We cuddled on the couch the rest of the night and watched a random TV movie. I decided to ignore the awkward moment Jonah and I had earlier in the night. There was obviously something going on and I figured he would open up to me about it eventually.

   It wasn't until 1am that I woke up and found myself in an unfamiliar bed. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I realized I was in Jonah's room. I looked around and couldn't find him.

   I walked out into the living room to see that Jonah had fallen asleep on the couch. He looked so cute and peaceful that I didn't want to wake him. Instead I grabbed my purse and quietly tiptoed out of the apartment.

   When I walked into my place I found Kadie wide awake and sitting at the kitchen table with a big bowl of cereal and her laptop. “Where the hell have you been?!” She practically fell out of her chair as she shouted.

  “I fell asleep at Jonah's. How was your date” I took off my jacket and boots and plopped myself down on our couch. I could tell Kadie wanted to get mad at me for not letting her know I was going to be out but she was just too excited to tell me about her night.

 “Lynn, I had such a great night. Adam took me out to this steak restaurant in uptown and we walked it off at a park and spent most of the night there talking. You were right he's pretty amazing! We had such a great time we even planned our next date!” She hurried to finish her cereal and went into the kitchen to wash her bowl.

  “That's awesome Kadie I'm so happy for you!” I shouted from the living room. Kadie came over and sat across from me.

“What's wrong? What happened with Jonah?” I sat up and made a confused face.

“I don't know what you're talking about”

“I can tell something happened. Now, spill!” I let out a deep sigh and told Kadie what happened that night.

“I just don't get it, Kadie. I always feel like he's holding something back. Every time things get heavy between us he just kind of finds a way to pull away and he doesn't even acknowledge why.”

“Maybe he has a girlfriend and feels bad about cheating on her every time he's with you”

“Kadie!” I grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at her. I started walking towards my room when my phone started ringing. It was Jonah. He must have been calling to see where I was. I looked at the phone and pressed ignore. As hard as I tried to forget about it, I didn't like Jonah hiding things from me. There was obviously something he was holding back. As amazing as Jonah seemed his recent behavior was reminding me of Joshua. And I wasn't going to have it