When You Least Expect It

There was a moment. We had a moment. It hits me so hard as to how much I wanted that moment. The more time I spend with Vic, I find myself falling harder for him. This wasn't supposed to happen. Yes, I always had a crush on him. Yes, I always thought he was hot. But I knew he needed someone, a friend and that was my plan; to be his friend. So his friend I am. That's it. That's all.

I know he's going through so much and he's making such strides. I'm so proud of him. I think I made a mistake kissing him, I'm going to regret that. I already am because I know it's something that I can't do again.

We're silent as we stroll over to the large kilns, there's a fence around the perimeter. My neck cranes upward at the brick structures. "Wow!" It comes out low but not quite a whisper. The sheer size of them is incredible.

"Cool, right?" Vic says from my right.

"Yeah. It's so neat and fascinating." It should matter but I need to know. "Did you bring the viper out here?"

"Nah, not her thing." He chuckles to himself and it pique's my attention. I lean on the fence and face him. He's lost in some kind of thought, his eyes on the kiln but not focused. I take in his handsome profile, his dark ruffled hair, the shadows of stubble on his jawline, and his plumb lips. His bottom lip plumper than the top, he has amazing lips. I cannot believe this man was cheated on. What the actual fuck!

If he was my man, no guy would even compare, I wouldn't even need to look elsewhere. Vic seems to snap out of his reverie and faces me with a smile. "C'mon there's these plaques with history and information." He leads me over to the first one, and then the next.

I whip out my phone, swipe open my camera and lift it, "Smile." I snap a selfie of the two of us then study the picture on my screen. Damn we look good together. He flicks my wrist, "Send that to me." and then walks further out as I forward the picture, "What are you doing?" I yell out.

He lifts his phone and seems to be snapping pictures, then returns to my side. He holds his phone out to me, he took pictures of the kilns and managed to actually snap a great shot of me looking at him among the others with my mouth open. "Oh, that's actually pretty good!"

"Yeah." he says with amusement. "I don't think it's possible for you to look bad." My head snaps to look at him, he glances away and rubs the back of his neck. "I'll send this to you."

"Alright."

"You ready to get back?" he glances around the park landing on an older couple walking together. Penny for your thoughts Victor...

We begin to make our way back to Victor's car, "Yeah, I gotta do some inventory count for the bar so I'll be starting earlier than normal. You have any plans for tonight?"

"Nah, probably just me and Marlin tonight. Maybe I'll see what my brothers are up to." He sighs.

I want to tell him he's always welcome to come hang out at the bar and that I would actually love it if he came in. It's on the tip of my tongue but I refrain, I don't want to come off needy. "Probably up to no good." I say amused, knowing that's a hundred percent accurate.