Maricela was transferred to my crew about a year ago, and I was quite happy with her. In a male dominated field, she more than held her own. She kept up with all of the guys, in many cases out performing them. When she was given grief, for whatever reason, she was able to give as good as she got.
It didn't hurt her cause that she was very attractive, either. She had a great, warm smile to go with a pretty face. She also had a nice, plump set of lips that I'm sure most of the guys imagined wrapped around their dicks. At about 5'3", Mari seemed to have a decent body, although she kept it hidden under her work clothes.
Because of her exceptional organizational skills, I had her working closely with me a lot. She had a great sense of humor, and could diffuse most situations quickly and easily.
Enjoying a little down time at the end of one day, I could tell that Mari was troubled by something. When I asked her what was wrong, she answered me with, "Do you remember me telling you about my cousin's wedding?"
I knew that Mari came from a rather large Mexican family, and that her cousin, Juanita, was getting married in a couple of weeks. Mari told me that she had to find a babysitter for her kids, since she usually relied on her family when she needed one, and the whole family was going to be at the wedding.
"Yeah," I told her. "She's getting married to the contractor, right?"
"Right," she responded. "The wedding is in two weeks."
"Ok, so what's the problem?" I asked her.
"Well, the problem is," she started, "that I need to ask a big favor from you."
"Hmm," I teased her, "it's a problem that you have to ask a favor. I'm not sure how to take that."
"You haven't heard the favor yet," she told me.
"Mari, we've been working together long enough, you should know that you can ask me anything, although asking me to watch your kids might be pushing it," I joked with her.
"I've already found someone to watch my kids," she answered. "I need a bigger favor."
"Ok, ask," I told her.
Taking a deep breath, Mari started.
"My family thinks that I'm dating someone, and I'm supposed to bring him to the wedding," she told me.
Sensing where this was going, I pushed Mari a bit. "What does this have to do with me?" I asked.
"I've kind of told them that I'm dating you," she finally confessed.
"Why me?" I asked.
"Well, first, you are the only white guy that I know that speaks fluent Spanish," she started. "I also couldn't tell them that I met a man in a bar, or in church, since we all go to the same church, so I had to meet a man at work. You were the best candidate that I could think of under pressure."
"I was the best that you could think of under pressure?" I teased her. "You sure know how to flatter a guy."
"Please?" she pleaded. "If nothing else, you'll at least have a good dinner. The reception is at Casa Blanca. You'll have good food, and an open bar."
After working out a few details, and making sure that I had the date open, I agreed to be Mari's escort for the festivities.
The day of the wedding, I picked up Mari at her apartment. When I knocked on her door, I heard her yell out for me to come in. From a back room, she told me that her ex had picked up her kids already, and that she was just finishing up getting ready.
Finally, after a few more minutes, Maricela walked in to the room, dressed and ready to go. I was stunned at how she looked. As I said earlier, I knew that she was attractive, and I sensed that she had a good body, but I had no idea at exactly what she kept hidden under her bulky work clothes.
Mari walked in to the room wearing the proverbial little black dress. It was a sleeveless, low cut dress, ending about mid-thigh. Mari was showing a lot of cleavage, hinting at a pair of breasts that she kept well hidden during the time that I knew her.
With her make up and hair done up, she was a vision. She topped off her outfit with a pair of heels that really showed off a nice pair of well muscled legs.
"Wow!" was all I could say as she walked out. "You look incredible," I finally managed to spit out.
"Knock it off," she replied, clearly blushing. "It's a wedding. I have to look good."
"Well, you have succeeded at that," I assured her, and we left for the church.
I have to admit, I felt a bit guilty about the thoughts that I was having, and the way that I was looking at Mari while we were in the church. The bride was beautiful, the bridesmaids were all attractive, despite the gaudy dresses, but none compared to Mari.
After the ceremony, and all of the requisite picture taking, we headed to the restaurant. As soon as we walked in and found our seats, I headed to the bar to get us a couple of drinks, and Mari went to talk with relatives.
While I was at the bar, I was approached by a couple of Mari's male cousins, including a couple who had come up from Mexico for the wedding. After apparently passing muster with them, I went back to our table, where I discovered that we were sitting with Mari's parents and grandparents.
Fortunately, Mari and I had worked out all of the details for our story beforehand, so passing the familial interrogation wasn't too hard. I knew that the tension was lifted when I busted Mari's grandmother talking about me in Spanish, not knowing that I am fluent. After laughing at herself, she felt at ease with me, mainly because she was uncomfortable with her English.
The dinner was very good, the conversation flowed, mostly in the form of questions asked of me, and time started to pass. Eventually, dinner was over, and the bar re-opened, so I took drink orders from everybody at the table, and went up to the bar.
During dinner, Mari warned me that her brother and cousins would try to corner me again, trying to protect the baby of the family, so I wasn't too surprised when I was approached by Paco, Mari's oldest brother, along with another brother and two cousins.
As I was waiting for our drinks, Paco started in with his interrogation. When I told him that he would have to wait a couple of minutes, he started to become upset, until I informed him that I had drinks for his sister, parents, and grandmother, and that was more important than getting his approval of me. I could tell that he didn't know whether to be angry because I was walking away from him, or happy that I was taking care of his sister and his family.
As I brought Mari her drink, I excused myself from the rest of her family, telling them that Paco and the boys wanted to have a talk with me. Mari's father offered to intervene, but knowing that this would eliminate any respect from Paco, I told him that I could handle it. Mari's grandmother tried to warn me about her cousins, too, but laughed when I told her, in Spanish, that they would be pussycats in my hands.
Just for effect, I gave Mari a kiss on the cheek, telling her that I would be right back, and I heard the grandma tell the rest of the table that she liked me, that I was a "True man." At that point, I knew that the rest of the evening would be a piece of cake.
