Epilogue
“ T one it down, you two. PG-13, remember?”
I rolled my eyes, smiling up at Stephen. “We’re just kissing, Jills.”
“Yeah, well, they’re kids around. And that looks more like groping than kissing.”
I giggled. “Then you obviously haven’t been doing it right.”
Three months of seeing each other daily and having a crazy amount of sex, and we still couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I knew we were still technically in our honeymoon phase, but there was more to us than that. This was it. For both of us.
Jills walked away, shaking her head as she set the table. I knew she couldn’t be happier for us, but it was just hard for her to understand the passion part. Her kisses with Mike looked as dry as my emery board.
“Can we help you with anything?” I asked. She’d invited us over for dinner, and all we were doing was making out in her dining room. I turned around so my back was pressed against Stephen’s chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist. Then I elbowed him in the side.
“Hey! Oh yeah, do you need me to, uh, man the grill or something?”
“Nope, everything’s taken care of for now.” She headed towards the kitchen. “I could use a beer, though. Anyone want anything?”
“I’ll take one,” Stephen said.
“No, thanks. I’m good.”
I watched Daniel and his friend out the back patio door tossing the football around. He’d finally started warming up to me. All it took was impressing him with my mad milkshake drinking skills. A couple weeks back, I brought over a few chocolate fudge extra-large, extra-thick ones from Freddy’s. I bet him that I could chug it down faster than him. He said not possible. Ha. I said just watch me. I ended up winning both the contest and his respect that day.
Jills came back in, handing Stephen a Spotted Cow. “Don’t forget,” I said, “we’re taking you out for your birthday next week.”
“Haven’t forgotten. Looking forward to it.”
“And you’re letting me dress you up.”
“No, you’re not.” She climbed on top of a chair, reaching up to the ceiling fan.
“Aww, come on. It’d be so fun.”
“She’s not a doll, Perry.”
“But she has a smokin’ hot bod, and she should show it off sometimes. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“No, I wouldn’t. She’s my fucking sister.”
“She’s also my good friend, so you’d better get used to me talking like that.” We’d grown so close it was kinda unbelievable. It felt like we’d known each other for years, not months. The way she was there for me, wholeheartedly supported my relationship with her brother…. I was going to make it up to her someday. Wasn’t sure how bu t I would.
“I thought I saw something. How the hell did this get up here?” she said, plucking a fuzzy object off one of the blades.
“Is it a camera?”
“What?” Stephen said just as she whipped it at me and hopped down. It was a little cat toy. “Why would it be a camera?”
“You say the strangest things sometimes,” Jills said.
I started giggling as one of my previous train wrecks popped into my head. I could laugh about it now. I could laugh about all of it because that part of my life was dead and gone.
“I was with this guy once and—”
“Wait, do I want to hear this?”
“Yeah, because it’s just yet another incident that proves how amazing you are and how lucky I am to have found you.” Jills smiled, sipping her beer. “So, this dickwad brings me to his room, failing to tell me about the little camera he installed up in the ceiling fan. That fucker was going to film us without me knowing. Fortunately, we didn’t get too far and all my clothing was still intact before some car lights spliced through the window and I noticed it.”
“So, what happened?” Jills asked.
“I was pissed as hell. I grabbed a chair to knock it down and ended up whacking off the blade. Then I tried to beat him with it. He just held up his arms and kept apologizing, saying he really liked the way my gazumbas bounced or some shit like that and wanted to beat off to it later. I should’ve known something was up when he rolled around on the bed, then started charging at me on all fours making these strange noises. Fucking sicko. Did he think we were shooting an episode of Wild Kingdom ?”
She laughed. “Wow. Can’t say that’s ever happened to me.”
“Consider that a bonus.”
“How do you even find these guys?”
“That’s the thing. It’s the ones who come across as the most normal that you have to worry about.”
“Looks like I have nothing to worry about with you, then,” Stephen said.
“Hey!” I turned my head around and stuck my tongue out at him.
He buried his face against my neck, whispering, “You’d better be showing me that tongue for a reason.”
Fuck, he got me hot.
I didn’t think Jills heard anything, but she excused herself from the room anyway to go check on whatever Mike was doing in the basement.
He planted a few kisses below my ear. “But maybe I should be worried that one of these days you’ll decide that I’m just way too boring for you.”
“Never,” I said. Besides, it wasn’t the craziest encounters that stuck out the most, it was the ones that elicited no reaction at all, positive or negative. Those were the ones that made me the most thankful for having a man like him.
I honestly couldn’t imagine my life any better at the moment. I was content, and that was a beautiful place for me to be. I was sure that eventually I’d move on and find a different path in life, but Stephen would always be on it.
“I’m going to marry you someday,” he said, making me smile. We’d had this conversation before, and my heart never failed to flutter. I loved knowing that he always wanted me to be a part of his life too.
I turned around and faced him. “Promise me you’ll never propose, and we’ll spend the rest of our days happily unmarried.”
He brushed his lips over the top of my head. “If I make you that promise, you’ll regret it.”
“If I ever regret it, that means I’m ready for you to propose.”
“Oh, believe me, Perry. I’m going to have you so ready you’ll be begging for it.”
I hope so . I snuggled against his chest. If ever a man could get me to change my mind, it’d be him.
It had taken love, luck, and countless clusterfucks to get to the fairy tale.
Because of Stephen, I finally believed they were real, and he was my happy ending.
He got me, and I hoped he never let go.