Vacation to Remember Part 3
I was hoping I’d have Saturday up by this past weekend. Now it’s Monday and I’m just beginning to write. That really is the basic structure of my entire life. I’m a procrastinator with too many things on my plate. The things that don’t affect my grades or future are what get pushed back when I’m in a time crunch. I crunched. I pushed. Now I’m writing. Forgive my tardiness.
Day 1
Day 2
EDIT: Now it’s Saturday night after Monday and I’m still writing! AAH! Sorry! But as I’ve taken so long to get this part out, I’ve decided to dedicate this entry to burningeden. Get well soon, hun!!
EDIT x 2: ZOMG! It's Monday after Saturday and I'm JUST getting this baby out! Sorry for the delay. And it's rather long. Expect most to be about this long from here on out. Our days were busy.
Enjoy!
Our hotel offered breakfast every morning and it had been one particular part of our vacation we were both looking forward to. The waffles in particular. We both love food. We both love a lot of things, actually. The amount that we have in common is a little absurd and was one of the delightful facts we discovered about ourselves over the first four months of our relationship. When over 2,100 miles separate you, there isn’t much to do other than talk. So we had the chance to discover many random facts we had in common. These facts came to be known fondly as “non-arguments” for reasons that should be obvious. A love of food happens to be one of our non-arguments.
Nine o’clock rolled around on Saturday morning and we were both awake. Snuggling warm under the covers. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I really had no desire to get out of the bed. Love, however, wanted waffles. Not quite having reached the ultimate comfort level with each other yet, I didn’t give her much of a hard time. I believe I even spared her my “fake mad” bit that is cute more than anything and will some day have absolutely no affect over her, I’m sure. We meandered downstairs, following the delicious aromas that belong strictly to breakfast. Already I knew I didn’t want to eat. My stomach had been cramping and achy since Thursday night. I have come to find that major stress leads to severe stomach cramps and getting to this point could be defined as major stress. I forced most of an english muffin past my determinedly closed throat while Love had her waffle. I’m pretty sure she was beginning to believe my eating habits suffer from unhealthy decisions though I assured and reassured her that I normally can and do put away three times the amount of food I’d been eating at every meal. At the end of our meal we were fed but relatively unimpressed. Which didn’t give us much motivation to leave the warmth of our bed and each others arms for the rest of the week. Little did we know as we walked back to our room, we wouldn’t set foot inside that room for breakfast even once more. I wouldn’t miss it.
Saturday night - this night - would be one of the events we’d been waiting for. We were going to see Wicked. We had great seats - 10th row orchestra seats - and it was something we’d had planned since Christmas break. However, as we had been up in time for breakfast, we had quite the block of time before we needed to even consider getting ready. We thought we’d go to the sea lion caves on the coast. It was one of the things Love insisted on doing before leaving. Period. So we thought this would be a good chunk of time for it. According to the website it was less than an hour away. Great! I set Love to getting directions while I went off to the shower.
After turning on the water I…..
Hey! Get outta my shower! This ain’t no free show! What do you think this is? Some kind of smutty fanfic? Go find some Callica if you’re in that kind of mood! My smut is off the market. ;)
When I returned from my shower Love had some bad news. Seems the times on the website were not lined up with the cities correctly and it was really two and a half hours away! We definitely did not have enough time to drive a total of five hours, take the tour, get ready for the show, and then drive another twenty minutes to the show. Shit. So what did we choose to do instead? NOTHING! We spent some time lounging around before realizing Love was in need of food. I was still having problems with my stomach and hunger was not an issue.
On our way to hunt and gather in our rented Yaris, we swung by the local Walgreens. I was in need of feminine products. My girl parts decided to become active two weeks early without warning and I was not prepared. Upon a successful excursion, we thought it would be a good idea to drive around this cute little town we were temporarily inhabiting. Our mission? Scope out the available places to eat. We drove the entirety of the town’s length in under twenty minutes but didn’t stop and turn around. I’ve heard tell of Love’s tendency to jump in the car and just drive, finding out where she’s headed when she gets there. As I know not of one other person who actually does this, I had found it hard to believe. Turns out it’s true. After about our tenth minute of being out of town and in the boonies, she did finally turn around. Whether it was by demand of her stomach, the wisdom that I needed to be eased into such forms of spontaneity, or the worry that my joke about her kidnapping me had honest fear behind it [which it didn’t] I’m not sure. I just know that she soon turned around and headed back to town. For which I was secretly grateful.
Deciding on Arby’s for our lunch, we headed in that direction. I don’t exactly remember what either of us ate. I think I had some kind of chicken sandwich and curly fries. I remember only eating half of my sandwich. I still wasn’t feeling up to eating much but things were getting progressively better in that department. At this point we were so much more comfortable. There was still a touch of awkwardness from time to time as we both worked out the boundaries. We had no boundaries online. We’d gotten so comfortable writing our conversations that there wasn’t any subject we couldn’t broach. And I know I was feeling as though there shouldn’t be any boundaries in person because of how well we knew each other but didn’t know how to get past the normal boundaries that come with new territory and typical societal expectations. I’m pretty sure this is how she was feeling, too. Added to it was the physical element. As much as we had talked about it, imagined it, and craved it there was no substitute for it. There had been no way to slowly experience it while we were new and still in the early stages of comfort in our relationship as most couples do. So now we had to catch up and it was just strange. The previous day had taken care of so much of that but a bit of it lingered through our lunch. We got up to leave and were almost out the door before I realized I’d left my purse on the floor under the table. My pride couldn’t have handled leaving my purse in Arby’s after having locked my keys in my car just two days earlier. I went to retrieve it, slightly embarrassed and very grateful I remembered before we actually left.
We still had several hours before we needed to get ready for Wicked when we arrived back in our room. This gave us some time to give an update to our girls in the chatroom we frequent. The very chatroom in which our initial flirting beyond the Grey’s Anatomy Message Boards developed into a serious interest. We’d promised to check in and keep them updated on our adventures when we had time. We had time. We kept our promise as we signed in as girlielove - a combination of our usual screen names: girlmystified and makeyoufeelmylove and the names we are called that developed from those screen names: Girlie and Love, respectively. [Now you know why I’ve been calling her Love. Well, aside from the obvious reason.] Ortho was the only person in the chatroom when we signed in. We had a nice chat with her, knowing she would pass our status on later. We were lounged on the bed, the laptop on my lap, Love propped up beside me so she could see the screen. She was slightly above me and I often looked up at her between posts. During the times when I wasn’t typing our fingers were laced. The closeness we shared was exquisite. During these times, when the rest of the world dissolved and we were the only two people in existence, all awkwardness was gone. At these times we were us and all of our online history translated perfectly. There was nothing to worry about.
I looked up at Love during a particularly long lapse between posts. She searched my eyes. She searched me in a way she hadn’t before; a way that captured me. It wouldn’t be the last time she’d look at me this way. She would do it a million times over the next week but in this moment I had no idea what this look meant. I couldn’t break the connection. The strength and the depth of it was mystifying. It was as if breaking it would be committing the most heinous of sins. And yet it was fragile. Unimaginably so. The moment was completely indescribable. And instantaneous. Barely long enough for a heartbeat. I didn’t have a chance to question what the look meant before she lowered her head and gently pressed her lips to mine. It was soft. It was chaste. It was our first kiss. It was my first kiss. It was perfect. When our gaze reconnected I’m sure a smile pulled across my face as it does every time I revisit that moment. As it’s doing right now as I write about it. Love smiled and then kissed me again. Lingering slightly longer but keeping it just as sweet and innocent. It was utterly romantic and I have absolutely no recollection of the time immediately following it. I just know that we eventually finished our conversation in the chat room.
Not long after our first two kisses, Ortho left us to ourselves in order to head to a party. We managed to keep ourselves entertained - by kissing, of course! We had our first of many make out sessions and it was decided quickly that Love had created a monster. As we both had already speculated would be true when the time came. If I could kiss her forever and not have to worry about eating, drinking, or chapped lips, I would. When it was suddenly past time for us to get ready for Wicked - something I’d been looking forward to for months - I was sorely tempted to pull her back down onto the bed and kiss her senseless until she forgot about the show entirely.
Somehow Love managed to convince me to stop kissing her and get my ass out of the bed. We needed to get going if we wanted to be sure to be on time. I quickly came to appreciate how easy things can be when with someone of the same gender. We both got dressed - myself in a new blue dress and Love in the cutest little black dress - and went to do our makeup. Together. And that made me so incredibly happy. There is something about getting dressed up for each other, with each other that makes it so much more fun and enjoyable. Getting to share that, to talk about what we do and why we do it, how our styles are similar or vary was so special to me. It will be something I continue to appreciate and treasure.
We added our finishing touches as I slid on my lacy black ballet flats and Love draped a scarf across her shoulders. Love picked up her small purse that she’d transferred the necessities to, made sure we had the tickets and directions, and we headed out the door about fifteen minutes before necessary. It was a good thing we left with that extra time because after about ten minutes Love suddenly realized that she never switched her wallet into the purse she was carrying. So we were headed out of town and she didn’t have her license or any money. And as the ridiculous tends to be on both of us like white on rice, we’re unlucky times two when we’re together. So the chances of getting pulled over and/or needing money were high. We promptly turned around and headed back to the hotel room. Remember, earlier this very day I almost left my purse in Arby’s. We’re magnets for the ridiculous.
After our quick jaunt back to the hotel, we made it safely to our destination. Without police involvement. We had made great time and were early enough that the traffic hadn’t picked up too heavily. Finding parking took very little effort and we shared a brief kiss in the car before heading to the auditorium. We found our seats with the unneeded help of an eager usher and took in our surroundings.
For those who haven’t seen Wicked, over the stage is a giant dragon that eventually moves in the show. The auditorium was nearly empty and we decided we’d try to get a photo. Before we got the chance to capture a decent photo of the enormous mechanical dragon, an older woman who was presumably an usher showed up. She curtly informed us that photos were not allowed - as if we didn’t already know - and that we could take photos out in the lobby if we wished. I wanted to kindly remind her that there was no giant dragon in the lobby but if there were I would gladly take my photos out there but decided I’d like to actually see the show and not get thrown out for disturbing the peace or committing such a horrendous crime against the theatre as being rude to an usher. Instead, we maturely waited for her to leave before talking behind her back and dubbing her the Picture Nazi - as is the proper etiquette. From that point on, as the theatre filled, every time someone pulled out a camera we dramatically whispered our warnings about the Picture Nazi to each other and watched them get away with the very thing we had been reprimanded for.
The show was fantastic. The cast was awesome and right on the whole time. I didn’t catch a single mistake so if they were there, they handled them perfectly. The actress playing Glinda had perfect comedic timing. She reminded me of Amy Poehler in the use of her body to add to the comic element. She was hysterical! Unfortunately, her voice was pretty worn out and by the end of the show she could barely push out those high notes and her speaking voice was very raspy. Still, she was fantastic. And Elphaba? Wow! The actress was absolutely phenomenal. This next statement is in need of a preface.
Preface:
I realize what I’m about to say is some kind of Broadway blaspheme and some of you may be utterly scandalized. Get over it. It’s my opinion and my blog. ;)
End Preface.
I liked the actress who played Elphaba more than I liked Idina Menzel as Elphaba. Granted, I never saw her play the character but I absolutely loved this actress’s vocal performance more than the original cast recording. Her voice was richer and fuller. It was darker. More like molasses than syrup. It’s really a matter of personal taste and I happen to like the molasses more than the syrup. That’s not to say that the syrup isn’t great. It’s just not my preference.
The show as a whole was incredible. It really was a show. I laughed until my ribs hurt. I got misty-eyed when Elphaba began rising up in “Defying Gravity.” I was in awe of the costuming, the makeup, the staging and the performance by every cast member and every musician in the pit. The whole show ran smoothly and without a hitch so I can only assume the crew was working just as hard and had just as successful a night. Love and I held hands through the entire performance. It was lovely to have the intimacy of holding hands in the dark and sharing the show that way. We decided that it was our first official date. And it was divine.
After the end of the show we joined the hoards of people leaving - all of us looking like a bunch of cattle being herded out into the city. We made our way across the street to the parking garage and managed to locate the rental car. Unfortunately, we weren’t fast enough and we weren’t the only ones ready to leave. We were stuck waiting as all of the cars filtered out of one exit. As we were stuck in the line to move - we’d actually gotten out of the parking space but were sitting there idling for just as long as most everyone who hadn’t - one of the cars started to back up. Right into us! We were all like, “Oh hells no! Not the rental car!” The driver either had super hearing and heard us or looked in the rearview mirror because he stopped. Either way, we were all lucky he did. And thus was born one of our many running jokes - Rental Car. We used it when someone was driving dangerously and as an exclamation. We would just shout, “Rental car!” or say something to the effect of, “Don’t touch the rental car.” We also decided it would be our “safe word.” Thank you ABC for that lesbian joke that we will use forever. Rental Car was not our first “safe word” and I doubt it will be our last. A good fifteen minutes passed and somehow we didn’t all die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Slowly but surely we crawled our way out of the garage and back toward our hotel. Which we found relatively easily even though we did not think to get directions back. It’s a good thing Love has an awesome sense of direction. Mine probably couldn’t be worse.
We went to bed anticipating the next day. Sunday, March 22nd had been a day Love had tortured me with. It was the only day she’d insisted on planning and had reminded me how amazing it was going to be frequently as our vacation drew closer but refused to tell me anything else about it. She assured me that if I didn’t love her before, I would definitely love her after March 22nd. It was, apparently, going to be utterly romantic. As we drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms, I could only begin to imagine what the next day would bring. And I would be totally wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And so we end day three. Sorry this took so very long to get out. I’ve got this thing called school. It takes up a rather large chunk of my time. So I write when I can. I’m glad you’re all enjoying it and I hope you stick it out through the end. It’s worth it!