Bossy Pants

“No peeking!”

Connor and I had both been having a stressful week at school and work. So, he decided to surprise me with a road trip to upstate New York. Just a mile before we'd gotten to our destination, Connor made me blindfold myself with a scarf. I felt the car stop and heard him shuffle out. A second later he opened my car door and held my hand. After taking a few steps forward he stood closely behind me as he took my blindfold off.

“What do you think?” Connor asked as I admired the scenery.

We stood in front of a cottage that over looked a private lake and miles of tree covered hills The cabin itself was like something out of a traveler's magazine. Rustic, yet modern. We were completely surrounded by these gigantic lush green trees. They were so tall it looked as if they ended at the heavens.

It was like nature on steroids. “It's absolutely beautiful.” I gasped.

“Just like you” Connor whispered in my ear. His hands wrapped around my waist as he hugged me from behind. I turned my head around and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

I continued to look around as I waited for Connor to grab our bags from the car. A sudden calm poured over me. I was oblivious to the stress I'd been dealing with all week when I realized Connor and I were the only humans around for miles.

Connor swung our bags over his shoulder and took my hand again. We walked up a few steps to the front door. I was pleasantly surprised once again as we walked inside. The place was fully furnished. It was like my wildest Pinterest dreams come true. “Whoa, this place must have cost you a fortune!” I whispered loud enough for Connor to hear.

He smirked and furrowed his brow as he let out a slight laugh, “don't worry about it.”

After we'd finally put all our things away we both fell on to the bed in the master bedroom. We laid on our backs, staring up at the ceiling, exhausted. I turned my head towards Connor. He was still staring upwards, lost in his thoughts. I could tell by the concentration on his face that he had work on his mind.

I couldn't help but smile as I examined him. Despite how many times his hands ran through his hair, it was still perfectly made from when he'd gone to work that morning. My eyes traced down to his eyes. It was evident from his lower lid that he lived a stressful life. I continued down to his cheeks. They were slightly rosy from exhaustion. And finally his jaw. It was normally prominent and clean shaven. But, the weekend had began, which meant it was now covered in scruff.

I lifted my hand to his face and ran my finger on his jawline. He turned over with a smile.“You look so handsome with some scruff.” I continued tracing his face, “I love the feeling of it.”

Connor pulled me in close and rolled his body over mine. I began laughing maniacally as he rubbed his face on my neck. His stumbled hair tickling my skin.“You like that?”

“Connor!” I tried gasping for air as I laughed.

He looked up at me with a straight face, “You're not ticklish are you?” the mischievous smile on his face grew as he leaned down and rubbed his face on my neck again.

We wrestled around until I was able to break free from his arms. I jumped off the bed and ran down the hallway. Connor chased after me until we found ourselves in the kitchen. Both of us gripped on to the island. We watched each other intently to see which way the other would run. Connor faked a jolt and I hightailed out of the kitchen only to be caught in his arms. He spun me around and pinned me between the kitchen counter.

Our laughing subsided as we tried to catch our breath. Once we finally had, Connor grabbed my face and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and kissed him back. As we were making out he picked me up into his arms and walked over to the overstuffed couch in the living room.

Our bodies laid intertwined. Our faces were only inches away. My eyes were fixed on Connor's lips as he brushed my hair away from my face. “I like when you're like this...” I whispered.

Connor's finger lifted my chin until our eyes met. “I can't always be like this. You know that” his voice softly whispered back.

“I know, but you always turn into a completely different person when you're stressed out.” My eyes looked back down. I always found it so hard to look into people's eyes during confrontations. “It's impossible to compromise, let alone talk to you when you get that way.”

Connor's face grew concerned. He lifted my face up again, this time leaving his hand under my chin. “Babe, you know you can always talk to me.”

“How can I talk to you when you completely shut off? It's your way or no way. I told you I don't want to fight with you anymore. But it belittles me when you don't try to at least compromise.”

“Shit” Connor whispered to himself as he leaned up on his elbow. “Lynn, I'm sorry” He rubbed his hand on his forehead before he continued. “I never realized you felt like that.”

I unwinded myself from Connor's body and sat upright. “That's the problem, Connor. You don't realize it, and you don't listen to me when I try to tell you.”

Connor pulled himself upright so that his back was in the corner of the cushion and armrest. He sprawled out his arms and gestured towards me, “come here”

I leaned forward until my head was resting on his shoulder. He held my body close to his. “I know I can be an asshole some times...”

“Majority of the time” I jokingly corrected him

“Fine, majority of the time. And I guess it's because my job kind of requires me to be one. I'm always having to tell people what to do and when to do it. Sometimes when I'm so stressed out I forget to shift gears and don't realize who the person is that I'm being a bossy pants with.” I nestled my head into Connor's neck. Although his behavior was inexcusable sometimes, I could still understand where he was coming from. “I told you I'm working on it...” He said apologetically.

“I know you are, Connor. You've been doing a good job of opening up, and I really do appreciate it. You just have to work on compromising. You're not the only one in this relationship, you know.”

“I hate making you feel that way.” He leaned me back so that he could see my face again. “Change is always hard, but I promise I'm trying.” I couldn't exactly be mad at Connor for his old habits. I'd known how he was before we'd even gotten into a relationship. I was just glad that, unlike most people, he was willing to accept that he had a few flaws and was trying to fix them for my sake. “I feel like I should make it up to you”

I crawled off of Connor's lap and pulled him off the couch. “You can start by making dinner.”

He kissed me again before he walked away into the kitchen. I plopped myself back down onto the couch and turned on the TV. I felt a vibration in my back pocket and pulled out my phone. It was a missed call from Kadie.

“Hey” Connor called out from the kitchen. “No cell phones this weekend, remember?” Since Connor had been completely consumed with work these past few weeks, we made a pack to spend a weekend alone without any distractions. I closed my phone and put it on the table before going into the kitchen to help Connor.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

After a relaxing weekend of kayaking, hiking, couples massages, and amazing sex we were finally on our way back to the City.

“You got everything?” Connor asked as he locked up the front door.

“Yup!” I smiled. “Wait! I just want to take one last picture of the scenery.” I stood by the car as I took out my cell phone and turned it back on. A few seconds after the screen had rebooted a load of text messages and missed calls popped up.

Connor packed away the last bag. He sat inside and turned on the car as he waited for me. I tried to exit past my notification screen to get to my camera, but I stopped when I'd seen a random text from Adam:

I think I figured out how to get Poppy

And a multiple texts from Kadie immediately after:

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!

Why the hell are there paparazzi pictures of Adam and Poppy all over the internet??????

Hello Lynn??

Where are you??

What's going on????