Claudia was standing in her kitchen with the phone to her ear, listening impatiently to the ringing on the other end. Come on…pick up. I know you’re there. Three rings…four rings. Just as she was about to hang up, a husky male voice greeted her.

        “Hello?”

        She smiled at the sound of his voice. “Hi, Josh. It’s Claudia. Did I call at a bad time?”

        “No, not at all,” he assured her. “I just got out of the shower so I had to run to the phone.”

        A sly smile slowly spread across her face and she silently cursed herself for wondering what he was wearing. She could picture him, standing there dripping wet wearing only a towel around his waist.

        “So what’s up?” he asked her.

        “Well, I was just wondering if you had any plans tonight. Nicole is out with her friend and I’m stuck here alone.”

        “The only thing I have planned is unpacking my suitcase and that can wait. Do you want to go out or something?”

        “Yeah. Are you hungry? We could go out. Or we could order in and rent a movie,” Claudia suggested.

        “Either one is fine with me. I’m actually in the mood for some Chinese. Do you like Chinese food?”

        “Sure, I’m not picky. Why don’t you come over and we can order some?”

        “I can be there in about half an hour.”

        Claudia was relieved that Josh was home from Tennessee. He had only been gone for four days, but she missed him being around. After being stood up by Jacob on Valentine’s Day, she needed to be cheered up, and she knew that seeing Josh would do just that.

        She didn’t want to stay in her apartment alone all night because she knew she would have a miserable time if she did.

 ~~~~~~
        “You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Claudia said when Josh arrived a little while later.

        “I am? So you missed me, huh?” he teased with a smile as he stepped inside.

        Her heart did a little flip at the sight of his gentle smile and the sparkle in his eye.

        “You could say that.”

        “I see you got my flowers,” he noted, nodding at the yellow roses that were still sitting on her table.

        “Thank you so much for those. That was really sweet of you,” she said sincerely.

        He shrugged and hung his coat on the coat rack beside the door. “It makes me feel special to send someone flowers on Valentine’s Day; especially when I go to a wedding where I’m pretty much the only one without a date.”

        “I’m sorry I couldn’t go with you,” she said. “Although I must admit I wish I had.”

        A few days before he’d left, he’d invited Claudia to go to the wedding with him. She had declined, thinking that she would be spending the holiday with Jacob.

        She went into the kitchen and pulled a large piece of paper out of a drawer. “Here’s a menu for some Chinese. Feel free to look it over.”

        He rested his elbows on the counter, leaning over the menu. “Do you know what you’re getting?”

        “Yep.”

        It only took about twenty minutes for their food to arrive. They sat on the floor in her living room and spread the food out in front of them.

        “Not to be a nag, but if you spill anything on this carpet, I’ll have to decapitate you.”

        He laughed. “I can see the headlines: ‘Man executed for spilling on beige carpet; blood stains permanent.”

        Claudia laughed and opened her box of food. “I’m going to attempt to eat with these chopsticks…maybe I should put some newspaper on the floor.”

        “To cover up the bloodstains when you chop off my head?” he teased.

        Claudia found an old blanket in the closet and laid it out on the floor. “There, now I feel better.”

        “Your mom would be so proud,” he teased.

        “Now how do you hold these things?” she asked, trying to position the chopsticks in between her fingers.

        “There are directions on the wrapper,” Josh reminded her as he chewed.

        “Tuck under thumb and hold firmly,” Claudia read out loud. She put one chopstick under her thumb. “Hold second chopstick like a pencil.”

        She followed the directions, and in a moment, she was attempting to pick up her noodles with the chopsticks. She had a difficult time getting a grip on them and once she finally did, they kept falling before they could get to her mouth.

        She giggled. “I feel so silly. How in the world are you so good at this?”

        “Lots of practice,” he answered with food in his mouth. “I used to be on the road a lot; half the time all we ate was take out.” He set his food down and leaned forward. “Here, hold it more like this,” he said positioning her hands.

        Claudia tried again and actually managed to get some food into her mouth. “So how was the wedding?”

        He shrugged. “It was a wedding, what can I say? Kind of boring.”

        “Did you know a lot of people there?”

        “I knew a majority of the people on Justin’s side but there were a lot of strangers.”

        “Did you meet any bridesmaids?” she teased raising her eyebrows up and down playfully.

        “I talked to a few of them but I didn’t sleep with anyone if that’s what you’re getting at.”

        She chuckled.

        “I’m past that stage in my life.”

        Claudia stared at him blankly. “You had a stage where you slept with bridesmaids? What, did you just show up at random receptions and seduce the first one you saw?”

        “Yeah, I have a bridesmaid fetish,” he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “I meant that I had a stage in my life when I slept with a lot of women.”

        Claudia almost choked on her food. She coughed violently and took a long drink before looking at Josh again. “Come again?”

        “I know it sounds horrible and I’m ashamed to say it, but its true. After my parents died, I went into a deep depression. Like I said, once I woke up in that hospital bed, I didn’t have anybody.” He sighed and paused. “I was so lonely, and I wanted to be with someone, but I couldn’t commit to a relationship. It was too hard after the break up with my girlfriend. So instead, I went to clubs, met beautiful women and had one night stands with them.”

        Claudia was shocked. She had no idea that Josh would do such a thing. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

        “I know. It wasn’t me. It was some crazy depressed guy that I became. And after a few weeks of this repulsive behavior, I became ashamed of myself. I couldn’t believe that I had used women that way. I was so disgusted with myself that I would hardly talk to anyone. I couldn’t make eye contact with women anymore because I was afraid they knew. I thought they all knew what I had done and that I’d never be able to rid myself of that reputation. I stopped talking to my family and friends because I was afraid that they’d hate me if they found out what I was really like. I hated the man I had become. I hated myself. And I was that way for a long time…until you came along.”

        Until you came along.

        “Wow,” was all Claudia could say.

        Josh leaned toward her and lifted her chin up with his hand so that she would look at him. “I’m not like that any more, Claude. I haven’t been for a very, very long time. I’ve changed,” he told her sincerely. “You helped me change.”

        “I did?” she asked meekly, overwhelmed by the honesty in his eyes.

        He scooted closer to her. “Do you want to know half the reason I was so rude to you when we first met?”

        “What?”

        “I didn’t want to make eye contact with you either. I had stopped my behavior a long time ago, but for some reason, you made me feel ashamed of myself all over again.”

        “And is that supposed to be a good thing?” Claudia cried in confusion.

        “Well, I’m not sure, really… it’s just that, you were so innocent and beautiful and caring. You reminded me that there were still women out there who would…respect me and let me into their lives.”

        “And that’s a good thing, right?”

        “Yes,” he chuckled. “That was definitely a good thing.”

        They were silent for a moment.

        “You haven’t lost all respect for me now that you know that, have you?”

        “No! No, of course not.” She put a hand on top of his reassuringly. “I’m shocked that you would act like that, but I understand that that was a rough part of your life. As long as you aren’t like that anymore…”

        “And I’m definitely not.”

        “Then I don’t hate you.”

        “Well, that’s good.”

        Claudia leaned back against the couch. “I’m stuffed, how bout you?”

        “Chinese food is filling, but I’ll probably be hungry again in a few hours.”

        “Me too,” Claudia agreed, standing up.

        They cleaned up their garbage and stood in her kitchen, wondering what to do next.

        “Do you want to go outside?” she asked, the idea coming to her suddenly.

        “Outside? You do realize that it’s February and probably only twenty degrees outside, right?”

        “I have a fire pit, we could build a fire.”

        Suddenly intrigued by the idea, he agreed.

        So they bundled up in scarves, gloves and hats and went outside. It was dark now and the stars were peeking out from behind the clouds.

        As Josh was piling up some wood to make a fire, an evil grin slid across Claudia’s face. She balled up a wad of snow and threw it at him, hitting him on the back.

        “Hey!” he cried.

        Claudia giggled. “Snowball fight?” she suggested.

        He returned the evil grin. “Do you even have to ask?”

        Josh gathered up a snowball and threw it at her. She shrieked and dodged it.

        “Ha ha!”

        But she didn’t dodge the next one, and now it was Josh’s turn to laugh. Before they knew it, they were running around like children, laughing and throwing snowballs.

        Claudia hid behind a tree to catch her breath. She poked her head around and saw Josh several feet away, just waiting for the perfect time to throw his snowball. She hid behind the tree again, then jumped out into the open and made faces at him while dodging his snowballs. Josh finally got her in the face.

        “Oh, this is war now,” she declared chasing after him.

        Claudia chased after him, gathering snow along the way and threw them as quickly as she could. But it was difficult to hit a moving target. Finally, she caught up with him and managed to get a snowball down the back of his shirt.

        He gasped at the cold and straightened his back, trying to get the snow to fall out of the bottom of his shirt. Claudia laughed as she watched Josh jump around, trying to get rid of all the snow.

        When he turned around, ready for revenge, he was surprised to find that Claudia had fallen to the ground.

        “Claudia?” he asked. “Claude, are you okay?” He hurried to her side, worried that she had fainted, or hurt herself. “Claude, what’s wrong?” Suddenly, she began moving her arms and legs up and down in the snow.

        “Snow angels!” she cried.

        He laughed, internally sighing with relief and flopped down into the snow beside her, making his own snow angel.

        It was amazing how Claudia managed to bring out the child in him again. She brought back that giddiness that you always felt as a kid, when the world was brand new. It’s the feeling you get on Christmas morning when you wake up and see the snow glistening outside. Claudia managed to open eyes to that beauty and excitement of the world around him.

        Claudia sighed a few minutes later, and stopped making her snow angel. She lay on her back, staring up at the sky wordlessly. More stars were visible now as the clouds began dispersing.

        “Do you ever wish on stars?” Claudia asked him, growing serious.

        “Not anymore. I kind of stopped believing in that stuff,” he answered.

        “Me too,” Claudia agreed. “You can only deal with so many wishes not coming true before you stop believing.”

        “Yeah and that whole wishing on birthday candles thing? That went out the window when I was like eight.”

        Claudia laughed. “Me too. But I think that’s because I always wished for world peace.”

        “See, you wished for good things. I wished for selfish things like G.I Joe’s and a million dollars.”

        They were quiet for minute.

        “Josh?” Claudia finally said.

        “Hmm?”

        “If you wished on a star right now, what would you wish for?”

        He considered this for a moment. He wasn’t sure how to answer because he knew his wish would somehow involve Claudia and he didn’t want to say anything to make her feel uncomfortable.

        “I’d wish to have my parents back,” he finally decided.

        “That’s a good wish,” she whispered.

        Josh rolled over to his side and propped himself up on his elbow, resting his head against his hand. “What would you wish for?” he wanted to know.

        Claudia remained on her back, staring at the stars. A smile spread across her face and she turned her head to face him. “World peace.”

        They both chuckled and laid in silence for a long moment.

        “I’m getting cold. What do you say about starting that fire?” Claudia said.

        “I’d say it’s a good idea.” Josh stood up and held out his hand for Claudia to take and helped her up off the snowy ground. Chuckling, he picked icicles out of her frozen curls.

        They got a fire going and sat down on the wooden swing where they had sat on Christmas Eve. They swung gently and waited for the fire to warm them up.

        Claudia shivered and wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm. Instinctively, Josh scooted closer to her and put his arms around her in effort to warm her.

        At first Claudia was shocked at his action, but then she was glad that he had done it.

        “I’m sorry, it was a natural instinct. Would you rather I didn’t do this?” he asked with uncertainty.

        “You’ve got good instincts,” she answered.

        So there he was, holding her under the moonlight in front of a warm fire. It felt good, but at the same time he felt awkward, almost as if he would get caught doing something wrong.

        He couldn’t help but notice how adorable she looked at that moment. Even with a ski hat covering her head and ears, she looked cute with her nose red from the cold and her curls coming out from under the hat and resting around her shoulders.

        “Did you know that you look beautiful no matter what you do?” he said before he could stop the words from coming out.

        Claudia was surprised by his words.

        “Are you trying to serenade me under the moonlight?” she teased. “I mean, I thought you trying to keep me warm was innocent, but now I’m wondering if you have ulterior motives.”

        “I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly. “It just came out.”

        Feeling embarrassed, he released his hold on her and moved away slightly. Claudia didn’t mind that he moved away. The fire was warming her up now.

        “So how was your Valentine’s weekend?” Josh asked several minutes later.

        “I’d rather not talk about it,” she answered a moment later.

        “Oh,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

        “It’s okay. It’s just that…” she hesitated before continuing. “Jacob stood me up.”

        Josh’s eyes widened in surprise. “Stood you up?”

        Claudia nodded. “Some boyfriend, huh?”

        “Claude, I’m so sorry.”

        “I had this big night all planned for us. I bought a new dress and everything. That night was actually going to be my attempt to win him back.”

        “Win him back from what?” Josh wanted to know.

        “From …from whatever’s keeping him from me. He’s always too busy for me. I was planning that night to remind him that I still love him in hopes that maybe he would change. I thought maybe he’d remember what a patient, faithful girlfriend I’ve been and fall in love with me all over again. Instead, he lied about being stuck in traffic and never showed up.”

        “Have you talked to him about it? I mean, that’s pretty low…standing you up on Valentine’s Day.”

        “He called the next day and apologized a million times, but not once did he give me a legitimate excuse for not showing. So he’ll probably go buy me some diamonds and expect me to forgive him like I always do.”

        “Is that what he does to apologize? He buys you jewelry?”

        “And flowers and stuffed animals… hell, he’d buy me a Porsche if I’d accept it.”

        “I’d accept a Porsche, can I get in a fight with him?”

        Claudia chuckled. “Go for it. My jewelry box will be overflowing soon.” Growing serious again, she turned to face him. “Josh? I want to thank you for coming here tonight. I would have been really lonely if you hadn’t.”

        “And if you hadn’t walked into the studio that day, I’d probably be lonely right now too.”

        They were facing each other, staring into each other’s eyes.

        “So I guess we kind of…saved each other, didn’t we?”

        “Yeah… I guess we did.”

        Suddenly, their faces were only inches apart. The only sounds were the fire crackling and the crickets singing in the night. For a long moment, their eyes were locked.

        Josh’s eyes looked into Claudia’s beautiful green ones and then moved to her soft lips. Hesitantly, he reached out with his gloved hand and cupped the side of her face. She closed her eyes briefly and leaned into his touch.

        Her heart was racing. Her mind was telling her a million things but she didn’t hear a word of it. All she could see was Josh’s soft face, lit by the firelight. And at that moment, he was the only one she would listen to.

        Ever so slowly, he leaned in toward her, his head tipped slightly to the side. Her heart pounded and her mind raced but she ignored it. She was living for the moment.

        Her eyes remained on his lips as he leaned in, moving closer and closer, anticipating what his lips would feel like against hers.

        And finally, it happened. Their lips met, touching so gently that Claudia wondered if they were really there. They felt like golden silk against her cold lips. It was a soft, magical kiss; the kind that sparked excitement and giddiness somewhere in the pit of your stomach; a kind of kiss that Claudia had never experienced until this very moment.

        Of all the times that Josh had imagined kissing her, he never imagined that it could be anything like this. It was a high he had never felt. His world was spinning and he and Claudia were the only two who existed. At that moment everything felt right; and Claudia was the cause of it.

        While he wanted this magical moment to last forever, something deep inside of him told him that this wasn’t right. A voice spoke up in the back of his mind, pulling him out of the moment and opening his eyes to reality.

        Josh pulled away quickly leaving Claudia surprised. She opened her eyes in bewilderment, so dazed she almost couldn’t remember her own name. She leaned against the armrest of the swing, trying to catch her breath.

        “I’m sorry, Claude. I can’t do this,” he confessed. He stood from the bench and paced in front of the fire. “I can’t do this because in the back of my mind I know you’re still with Jacob.”

        Claudia sighed, licking her lips. She swore she could still feel his lips against hers. “I know,” she said quietly.

        He exhaled loudly. “I can’t do this anymore, Claude. There is just too much tension between us, sexual and otherwise. I’ll be the first to admit it; I have feelings for you. And you can deny it all you want but I think you see me as more than a friend too.”

        Claudia nodded, staring at her hands in her lap.

        Josh couldn’t believe that he’d finally gotten the guts to say these things to her face.

        “I thought I could do it. I thought that I could just be your friend, but I can’t, Claude.” He stopped and looked at her. “It’s killing me inside. I can’t continue to be friends with you while you’re still with Jacob.”

        Claudia looked up at him quickly and stared at him for a long moment. “Are you asking me to choose? Are you asking me to decide between you and Jacob?” She cried. “Josh, that is an ultimatum and that’s not fair!”

        “No! No, I’m not asking you to choose. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

        He sighed. A long silence filled the air between them. Neither of them knew what to do or say next.

        “So what do we do?” Claudia asked softly.

        “Maybe we should just spend some time apart. We both have some thinking to do. Maybe it would be best if we just didn’t see each other for a few days.”

        It wasn’t what she wanted, but Claudia knew it was for the best. Reluctantly, she nodded her head in agreement.

        “Well, I guess I should get going. We’ve both got to get up tomorrow morning.” Claudia stood, but Josh held up a hand. “It’s okay. I’ll let myself out.”

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