Author's Note: Well, here's my first contest submission. I hope you like it. Please don't forget to vote and as always, I welcome any and all comments. Happy reading! -MC
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Nearly every day, just about an hour before I get off of work, I can count on receiving a text message from my boyfriend, Matt. Sometimes they're sweet, sometimes they're naughty and often times they're incredibly private. He just wants me to know that he's thinking about me and can't wait to be with me. In fact, he's been so consistent that nearly all the women in my office await the sound of my message alert and pester me to tell them about them. When the texts are sweet, I share and revel in the jealousy. When it's the other kind of message, I just blush and let them use their imaginations.
As this trend developed, I let Matt know that his messages had become the office soap opera and he just laughed and said it was good for his PR. He offered to tone down the naughtier ones so that I could share all of the messages, but I let him know, in no uncertain terms (aka a really great blow job), that I wouldn't accept his censorship. I can't help it. The man has a perfect penis. Not that I'd be willing to share or anything, but I'm pretty sure even prudish girls who make scrunched up faces at that the thought of giving head would be unable to resist.
I used to have each of his texts saved in my phone, but then the inbox got full, so I just locked the four most important ones:
1) "I can't stop thinking about you. Call me when you get home." -- the day after our first date
2) "I hope your clit misses me as much as I miss it." -- My favorite of the naughty texts
3) "I really meant it. I can't imagine my life without you." -- the day after he told me that he thought he was falling in love with me
4) "I hate fighting with you. Let's talk tonight. I love you." -- three weeks ago, after I stormed out of his house, angry that he wasn't going to be able to attend my company's Fourth of July picnic.
I honestly thought that the messages were going to stop on the morning of that fight. I didn't deserve them. I knew that I wasn't being fair, but I just couldn't seem to stop myself from lashing out at him in my disappointment that my co-workers weren't going to be able to meet him. How was I supposed to remember that he and his 3 best friends from high school go to Vegas that weekend, every year? He'd only mentioned it once in passing when we'd first started dating!
On one hand, I loved him even more for being a man who honors his commitments, has a life outside of me and doesn't waver in his decisions just because I ask (or try to demand). On the other, I hated the fact that I wasn't going to get my way and my respect for his choice just made me that much more irritated with myself which I, in turn, took out on him. I'm afraid I threw a bit of a temper tantrum, calling him names and accusing him of not loving me. I'd finally stormed out because I just couldn't bring myself to admit how ridiculous I was being.
That day, I was a complete wreck. I called him three times to apologize but got his voicemail every time. By the time I'd gotten his text message, I'd already arranged to leave work early. I knew that if I didn't receive one, I'd need a drink and that if I did, I'd be speeding toward his house to attempt to make up for my poor behavior in every way that came to mind. I can only guess that I was able to make the depths of my contrition obvious because he stopped by my office before his trip and dutifully met his admirers.
"Wow," Karen mouthed to me as he walked away. I knew she was checking out my boyfriend's ass but I didn't hold it against her. She's my favorite co-worker.
This is not to say that he's perfect and that my moments of irrational behavior are the only blips in our relationship. I just happen to be really happy with him right now, as a result of last weekend and that sort of blocks out the little moments that don't matter as much.
Last Friday, I was having a truly terrible day. Matt had been out of town for a business trip, which meant I'd slept alone in the bed in my apartment which had long since stopped feeling like my bed. Somehow I managed to burn toast, causing billows of black smoke to fill the kitchen and set off the smoke detectors. By the time I managed to turn them off, my apartment smelled like an ashtray, though I'm proud to say that I quit smoking almost a year ago.
As if that start to my morning hadn't been bad enough, the air conditioning in my car went out on the way to work. The drive from my apartment takes a good forty minutes and by the time I got there, my hair was plastered to my head and my button-down shirt and pencil skirt were clinging to me at odd angles. I managed to straighten myself out in the women's restroom, but ended up running10 minutes late to a fairly important meeting.
I was flailing and I was beginning to feel a bit like a comic strip character, set up on purpose for the amusement of some bigger audience I couldn't see. I quickly sent an email to Matt describing the foibles of my day. He usually finds the humor in these types of events and shares it with me and I had the sense that what I really needed right now was the opportunity to laugh at myself. I didn't hear back from him, but I wasn't expecting to immediately, as I knew that he would be on a plane home.
The rest of the day seemed to drag on as I worked on
finishing a report.
"Fifteen minutes 'til the Matty Moment!" Alexis, a particularly over-interested coworker, broadcasted. She is the one responsible for coming up with the god awful nickname for my favorite time of day. I have Never called Matt "Matty". Ick. Nonetheless her declaration caused a flurry of activity as several women tried to get whatever they were working on to a viable stopping point.
These announcements always make me a little nervous though. What if Matt forgot to send me a message? What if, heaven forbid, he was busy or not feeling particularly creative? We'd been together about 6 months -- how long could he keep this up?
Fifteen long minutes later, the chorus of the song Love Stoned began to play and Annoying Alexis clapped her hands with glee. Matt added the song, as the alert for text messages from him, a few months ago and it makes me smile. Justin Timberlake might very well be the only man for whom I could ever leave Matt. I flipped open my phone casually, as if there weren't several pairs of eyes watching me and saw the animation of an opening envelope and Matt's name beneath it. I've come to adore this almost as much as the messages themselves.
"Summer heat -- boy and girl meet but oh oh the Summer Nights... Tell me more, tell me more: My house, 5:28. Do not go home, do Not pass GO, just meet me by the pool."