Falling Fast and Breathing Hard

The following morning, Kris and I went to pick up Kalea. It was nine o'clock, but I was feeling fantastic. I hoped the smile on my face wasn't too apparent because of Vero, but I knew she'd wanna talk. She, along with Mary helped me pick out the dress and the lingerie. When we knocked on the door, she answered with Kalea in her arms; she looked like a natural... she is a natural. My girl was smiling in her arms. Handing her over, she giggled and reached for me.

"Oh my goodness! Did you miss Mommy?"

She just giggled even more and touched my face.

"How was she?" Kris asked Marc.

"She was perfect! Wasn't she?" she said in a baby voice.

I laughed. Marc looked over and shook his head while trying to keep a straight face. That man keeping a straight face is nearly impossible.

"Yes. She was. Kalea didn't give us a single problem." he said.

"That's my girl." Kris said, tickling her.

She giggled even more.

While Kris and Marc were talking, Vero tapped my shoulder and indicated that she wanted to talk.

"You know, we're gonna talk about last night."

"Of course. I was expecting that when I came here."

"I shoulda known that." she said, shaking her head.

"Yes. You should've."

She pushed me while laughing.

"Shut up."

I laughed again.

"Well, when do you want to?" I asked seriously.

I wanted get this set before the boys were done talking.

"Wanna go out for lunch tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Sounds good. Who picks up who?"

"I'll pick you up at 11:30?"

"Yeah. Artist Cafe?"

That place brings back a bad memory. One I've never told her. One I don't even know if I wanna talk about.

"Sounds good."

Kris nudged my shoulder.

"What?"

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah. So, I'll see you tomorrow then." I said before turning back to Kris.

"K." she said giving me a hug.

And off we were back to the car.

"Well, Vero seemed really happy." he said.

"She did. Didn't she? I'm ready for them to be married and have kids already. How long have they been together now?"

"Oh, since they were 15 or 16."

I shook my head.

"That's amazing."

"It certainly is." he said opening the back door for me to put in Kalea.

"At 15, I had like two friends. One moved the following summer after freshman year and the other I lost contact with after graduation. Can't remember why. Wasn't dating at all. I had my first kiss that year, though. How about you?"

"Well, besides playing hockey? I had my first girlfriend. We dated for a year. We broke up a week before school started up again, sophomore year."

"Why was that?"

"She found another guy who played hockey who was 'more interesting' than me."

"Who's more than interesting than you? That girl is missing out. For sure."

He smiled and kissed me.

"I can't be too unhappy about that. I have you."

"Stop it." I said, blushing.

He kissed my cheek this time.

"I can't."

The following day, I was beyond ready to go to lunch for fun and for some girl talk. When I got there and beeped, she practically skipped out the front door. I decided to let Kris have one on one time with Kalea, since it's such a rarity.

"Well, hi. You seem happy this morning."

"I am."

"Did you get laid last night?"

"Athena! How dare you ask that!"

"Well, did you?"

She blushed.

"Yes. It's true."

"Good for you!"

We both laughed.

"We'll talk more about that later... just like you're gonna tell me about a couple nights ago."

"Ok." I said, nodding before pulling out.

Several minutes later, we arrived. As soon as we ordered lunch, Vero began talking.

"I haven't been here in a while."

"Me either. I used to come here so much when Kris and I started dating." I said before making a face.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing."

"Athena."

"As much as I have been here, I had one bad experience. Remember me telling you about my stepfather?"

"Yeah. You told how much of a piece of shit he was. Why?"

"I never told you that my mom came here to visit. I avoided calling her for I don't know how long after I moved here. Then, one day, I called her with Kris by my side. She was unhappy, but when I told her why... she didn't understand then she did. The reason is how bad of a person he was and how he treated me. She doubted it, then... yeah. We set up a day and she said she'd try and not have him come with her, but it happened. I had a panic attack that day and Kris calmed me down. When my mom finally arrived, I could feel his presence as I greeted her...

Take a drink.

"Are you sure you wanna talk about this?" she asked, noticing the tired look on my face.

"Yeah. I need to talk about it."

She nodded.

"Kris didn't like him the second he met him as did Ronnie. Kris was stern when shaking his hand. When we got to lunch and I answered my mom's question about what I usually get here and how often I come here. His answer pretty much insinuated that I was a gold digger! Can you believe that?! That man had me sobbing in a bathroom stall."

I was on the verge of tears, which was also when our food came. I reached into my purse, so our waiter didn't have to see me crying. Once he left, Vero rushed over to my side.

"Je vais bien. Allez. Mangez." (I'm fine. Go. Eat.)

"Je ne partirai pas jusqu'à ce que vous vous sentez mieux." (I'm not leaving until you feel better.)

"Vous êtes trop bon d'un ami." (You're too good of a friend.)

"Eh bien, je vous remercie. Je pourrais dire la même chose de vous. Certainement." (Well, I appreciate that. I could say the same of you. Definitely.)

I smiled.

After a couple of minutes, I was feeling better and ready to finish the story.

"Well, since I told you what happened here. I might as well tell you the last thing that happened. We headed down the Strip and for the whole time, I held Kris' hand. When my mom had to go to the restroom, we were left with him. Once she was out of sight, he mockingly asked if I was alright; I said I was and then, he asked why I had my boyfriend holding my hand the whole time. I got into his face and said if you really love my mom, you'd hold hers once in a while. Obviously, he became angry and tried to hit me. Kris moved in front of me and got in his face. They started to fight and Ronnie back him into the wall and he ended up knocking his head and felt down during the fighting. Once he was down, Ronnie tried grabbing me and pulled my shoulder out of its socket. That's when Kris came back and hit him, knocked him down and told him he'd never hurt me again. In the midst of me getting hurt, my mom saw this and ran over when it was done and said she couldn't believe she married that piece of shit."

"Oh mon Dieu." she said, gasping.

"Yep."

"Je je ne peux pas le croire. Quel gaspillage de l'espace." (I-I can't believe that. What a waste of space.)

"Parlez-moi de lui." (Tell me about it.)

"Mangeons avant notre nourriture fait froid alors nous pouvons parler de nous être licenciés." (Let's go eat before our food gets cold and then we can talk about us getting laid.)

I nearly spit out the food that I had just put in my mouth.

"Vero! Avez-vous vraiment dit cela?" (Did you really just say that?)

"Êtes-vous surpris?" (Are you surprised?)

"Non, je crois pas. Ce n'est pas comme si nous étions dans un pays de langue française." (No. I guess not. It's not like we're in a French speaking country.)

"Exactement." (Exactly.)

After a few minutes of eating, Vero began talking.

"So, ready to talk?"

"Yes."

"How did the other night go?"

"Oh, it was perfect. The best night of my life. It topped the first time we had sex! When he saw me walk down the steps after he came back from dropping off Kalea, his mouth dropped. He said..." I said, drifting off after I told her what he said.

She laughed.

"You should see your face right now."

"What's up with my face?"

"You're glowing and blushing at the same time."

"And I drifted off into space?"

"Vous dériva en rêve." (You drifted off into dreamland.)

I blushed even more.

"Wow. I got it bad already!" I said, laughing.

"Et qui vous fait adorable." (And it makes you adorable.)

"Tais-toi. Il ne fait pas." (Shut up. It does not.)

"Oui. Il le fait." (Yes. It does.)

"Ok. Whatever. I'll go on with my amazing night. On the way, he had trouble not touching my leg. It was hilarious just like several people who saw us together. Obviously, there was negative and positive reactions. More positive than negative with the men and more negative than positive with the women. At the table, Kris said that those negative guys were missing out and I said that those bitches can kiss my gorgeous ass, I look a-fucking-mazing." I said, hushing when I got to that last line.

She highfived me.

"What did Kris say about that?"

"That it was the sassiest he's ever seen me and that it was such a turn-on. He kept looking at me and I told him to stop it and he said that he'd try, but it wouldn't work. I'm uh... gonna tell you this in French. It's not really appropriate for this environment. Vous ne voulez pas ma culotte mouillée. Avez-vous?" (You don't my panties wet yet. Do you?)

"Vous n'avez pas dit ça!" (You did not say that!)

"Oui! Je l'ai fait! Pourquoi vous ne me croyez pas?" (Yes. I did. Why don't you believe me?)

"Je ne sais pas. Je veux dire que tu ne me demandez plus tôt si je suis mis." (I don't know. I mean, you did ask me if I got laid earlier.)

"Vous savez, si vous n'avez pas vraiment me croyez pas, vous pouvez demander à l'homme même. Je suis sûr qu'il sera heureux de vous dire." (You know, if you really don't believe me, you can ask the man himself. I'm sure he'd be glad to tell you.)

I tried keeping a straight face saying that, but when I got to telling her about Kris, it faltered. I knew if she actually asked him, he'd be blushing; I'd pay to see that, but I wouldn't at the same time. I'm sure I got the point across, nonetheless.

"Ok. Je vous crois. Je ne peux même pas imaginer ce que serait sa réponse." I believe you. I can't even imagine what his response would be.

"Moi non plus." (Me either.)

"So, how'd the rest of your night go?"

"Well, when we got home, he had his hands all over me. I stopped him and excused myself to the bathroom telling him what two glasses of wine do to me. I changed into my lingerie and heard the bedroom door shut. I took a peek and saw him facing the other way while he changed. I quietly positioned myself onto the bed; he pounced on me. Let me tell you that was the best night of my life. We've never had sex that great, that rough."

I was off in dreamland again.

"We had a nice moment afterward..."

Then, I told her the words we spoke to each other before we fell asleep. She awwed.

"You two need to get married already."

"You have no idea how badly I wanna be married right now. I'm thinking a couple of months from now for the planning."

She squealed.

"I can deal with that. I can."

"So, I talked about Saturday. You talk about last night."

She shook her head.

"Ok. It was just a typical night, you know... watching a movie, nice dinner... Marc proposing."

"OMG! It's about time!" I said, laughing.

I looked at her hand and didn't see it on her. I thought I was crazy when she tells me and I should've known because of the ring on the finger. That's when I stood up and went to hug her.

"Tell me about it. I wonder how fast we can plan our weddings."

I smiled.

"I wonder that too. Let's work on it."

"Sounds like a plan."

Notes

Chapter title courtesy of Thank You For Being A Friend by Andrew Gold.