Hey Guys,
I know it's been a while, and I apologize but things have been crazy hectic.
A heartfelt gratitude to all the votes and comments, it's the reason I'm continuing this story, y'all convinced me. I was just going to leave the story where it was for the time being, but after all the comments and messages I knew I couldn't.
Thanks for the heads up on the 'Brian' vs. 'Brain' fiasco; I would have never caught that one by myself.
I will be the first to admit I have done absolutely no research on this story so if there are any inconsistencies or inaccuracies, it's all on me. Typo and grammatical errors are my fault too.
The stunts in this story are performed by professionals in a controlled environment and should not be attempted at home.
Just kidding, go ahead and blow your rectum out for all I care.
I know I've ended this one with a bit of a cliff hanger but I'm already working on the next chapter so hopefully it should be up soon.
Please vote after you finish, I'd appreciate if you leave a comment, and of course most important of all, don't forget to Enjoy!
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Melissa stood before me with tears balancing in her eyes. You know the ones, where they gather on the bottom eyelid, glistening in the light, and you just wait for them to spill over but they somehow manage to stay contained.
Shit, what have I done now?
Was my first thought.
I quickly rewound the hard drive in my head and sorted through the last few days to try and see whether I had done anything stupid that would upset her. Let me correct that, I tried to check whether I had done anything more stupid than normal, since I was basically a walking disaster most of the time.
"Liss? Are you alright? What happened?" I asked to buy time as I approached her cautiously.
She had called me over to her place, sounding frantic on the phone, and I had left work and rushed over like a bat shot out of hell. I just told my boss I was going on a site inspection and skedaddled. This was the first time I had been to her house since our dinner together when she'd left me with a massive case of the blue balls. We were standing in the middle of her living room and I was still sub-consciously wary of all the glass and crystal pieces that decorated the area. For me it was like walking through a mine field.
She was still looking at me with those soulful eyes brimming with tears and I was now starting to get concerned. My brain was on overdrive, trying to find the cause of her distress because I was totally convinced it had something to do with me. Was it because I hadn't called to wish her goodnight yesterday? Or was it because I'd dropped and broken her phone last week? Or maybe it was because I said her auntie Muriel looked like a witch. Which is why I'd dropped the phone in the first place, her picture scared the shit out of me. Yes, that must be it, you don't go around calling people's aunts old hags.
"Mel, please, say something," I put my hands on her shoulders and searched her eyes for some kind of clue.
"Brian, I..." she started, then stopped.
"Is it because of your phone? I'm really sorry Mel, I shouldn't have called your aunt a scarecrow,"
She looked confused for a second, "What? No, it's not about that." She thought for a moment, "Wait, when did you call her a scarecrow?"
"Let's focus on you for now," I evaded quickly, "what's wrong? Talk to me,"
She shook her head and continued, "Brian, its Jenna..."
I should have known.
"What did she do now? I can tell you right now it's all lies, I never said anything and I deny all allegations."
"It's not about you silly,"
"Oh... then what?"
Now I was really curious, what could Jenna have possibly said to bring Lissy close to tears?
"She asked me to be her Maid of Honor at the wedding," she said softly, as if she didn't believe it herself yet.
"Uhmm..." I stalled because I was totally confused and at a loss of what to do. This was a good thing right? "Are you ok with that? I mean with being her maid of honor?"
"Yes!" she nodded, "It's just that I wasn't expecting it. I've never been one you know? Amber and Kelly were each other's maid of honor so I was left out," she said, referring to her older sisters, "it's a very big responsibility."
It looked like this meant a lot to her. Women were funny. I was obviously Nick's best man but our conversation had happened while playing Rally on PS4 and had gone something like
-
Dude, you're my best man,
-What's in it for me?
-21 year premium aged scotch
-I'm not that cheap. Hey get your piece of shit car out of the way.
-You also get to plan my Stag and give a speech about me at the wedding.
-Deal.
It was a bigger deal for Lissy so I had to treat this delicately, no wrong moves or insensitive jokes here.
"I don't know why she picked me," she was saying, "we've only known each other for a couple of months. I mean, I don't even know if I'll be able to do a good job."
Aha! Now we had reached the crux of the problem. She was nervous that she'd not live up to expectations. Fortunately I was a veteran in that department and I knew every argument and every version of self doubt from years of experience, and how to handle them as well. Besides, it was much easier to give advice as opposed to following it.
"Jenna is an only child so she has no sisters she can ask Mel, and she doesn't have that many female friends, it's usually been us guys she hangs around with. Sure there are acquaintances but since I've known her, you're the only one who has gotten so close to her, and she really likes you. You're perfect for the job."
"But what if-"
"What if nothing. I know you and you're going to do a bang up job. Just be your confident, self-assured self and it'll be a breeze, and if you have any doubts, I'm always here. You have nothing to worry about Liss, just lock her up make sure she doesn't run away, that's all."
That got a smile out of her. She looked down then and I knew she had something more to say. She looked back up at me,
"Brian, you don't mind do you?"
I was honestly touched that she considered my feelings. I really didn't know how I'd gotten so lucky with her.
"Mind that you're stealing my friends? Nah, not at all," I shrugged, "they don't like me anyways since you came along."
"Brian I would never-" she saw my teasing smile and stopped.
"Jerk," she punched my shoulder and hugged me tightly.
Her hands travelled down my back and she grabbed my ass, pulling me into her. Over the past month, since we'd gotten back from the trip, I'd found out that she could be quite aggressive when she wanted to be. In fact, she initiated the fooling around way more than I did. I'd have to do something about that or my man-card was in danger of being revoked.
"Mel, your parents?"
"Gone until tonight,"
"If I remember correctly, we haven't christened your bed yet," I said, wriggling my eyebrows at her, "actually, come to think of it, I haven't even seen your bedroom yet."
"I don't usually take guys who call my aunt a scarecrow up to my room," she said playfully.
"But... but you saw the hat. It had a crow on it!"
She laughed, "For the last time, it wasn't a crow. That's the design of the hat. It's old-fashioned."
"Looked like a crow to me..." I muttered.
"Aren't you expected back at work?"
I looked at my watch. It was already 3:30p.m
"I'm sure they'll live without me for one afternoon,"
"I'm sorry I called you over like that," she looked sheepish, "it was kind of selfish of me."
"You see now, you'll just have to find some way to make it up to me," I said, "I mean what you did was pretty horrendous, I could get fired. I hope you have something good up your sleeve to appease me."
"Come on then, oh great one," she took my hand and led me up the stairs, "I think I know of a way to make it up to you."
There were huge pictures of the whole family on the staircase wall, then some of the sisters alone, and a few of her parents by themselves. All three sisters were attractive but I found Lissy to be the prettiest. Some may say my opinion is biased and to them I say, up yours. Her mom was also very good looking which explained why the daughters were so comely and her dad looked like a retired military officer. I'd never met him but it looked like he was judging me even through the pictures. I imagined his eyes following us up the stairs, as if he knew exactly what I was going to do with his daughter, and it sent chills up my spine. I had to look away.
"Why do you still live with your parents again?" I asked Lissy's butt in front of me.
She looked back at me and saw me avoiding the pictures and smiled,
"It's closer to the hospital, my parents aren't ready for an empty nest yet and my dad is fiercely over-protective of me."
"Exactly how over-protective are we talking?" I asked nervously. I had a vision of a staring down the barrel of a shotgun, with her dad holding the trigger.
"Don't worry," she took my arm as we reached the landing, "he acts all mean but he wouldn't hurt a fly."
Easy for her to say, she wasn't the one banging her father's most precious daughter. She led me to the room at the end of the hallway on the right. It was a typical girl's room. Frilly, clean and way too colorful. It was like a bomb had gone off in a paint factory. There was a queen size bed on one corner with orange covers, a work table on the opposite which had a couple big brown envelopes lying on it, and a few bean bags strewn about. On second glance I noticed the bean bags had several Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Goofy on them. Purple curtains and a green rug on the floor completed the kaleidoscope.
Various stuffed animals were placed around the room, a few even on her bed.
"What do you think?" she asked.
"Did you kidnap a rainbow or something?" I kidded.
"It's a girl's room ok?" she said, dragging me in, "It's not supposed to be black and white."
"Are these the prizes you said you'd won in archery?" I asked, pointing at the stuffed animals.
"Yup. And I hope you've not thrown away the unicorn I won for you,"
"It's never left my house," I said, not meeting her eyes.
Technically that was correct. It was buried under my bed wrapped in old rags where no one would ever find it. It was still within the house though so... Hooray for loopholes!
On a small table next to her bed there was a small stereo and a small six by six photo frame with a picture of her and someone. She went and started fiddling with the stereo and, being the restless dog that I am, I started exploring her room. Next to the work table there was a full length mirror and I spent a minute posing in funny positions and making faces in it before I noticed what was on her desk. I picked up one of the brown envelopes lying on it and pulled out an X-ray image from it. Cool.
Holding it up to the window it showed the usual black and white skeleton of human bones. This one seemed to show the pelvic region of someone, evident from the outline of the hips and the tops of the thigh bones. It was all pretty normal and standard except for one small detail that left me utterly baffled.
"Liss...?"
"Hmmm?" she responded, not looking up from the stereo.
"What's this?" I held up the X-ray.
"What's what?" she was still connecting the new iPhone I got her to the stereo.
