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This story contains graphic scenes, language, and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words, and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racism, racial language, violence, rape, or violence against women. Any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.
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Chapter 4 - Abby Gets Curious
When I awoke the following day, Dan was still asleep beside me, the rise and fall of his chest slow and steady. Not wanting to wake him, I lay there, watching him quietly for a few minutes before I decided to check my phone to see if Mandy had replied. She had.
"Don't wuss out on me. We both know you want to. It's time you started to put your foot down with Dan. See you next weekend!"
I sighed quietly to myself as I reread her message. She was probably right, there was no reason I shouldn't be able to tell Dan that I was curious about the party, but I needed to figure out how to do that without it turning into an issue. I put the phone down and dozed off again next to him until he woke a half hour later, giving me a sleepy kiss on the forehead.
"Good morning, babe," I said as I snuggled against him. "You wanna get up?"
"Not just yet."
Dan kissed me again, pulling me closer. We embraced for a few minutes until he stretched lazily and offered to make me his special French-style scrambled eggs. Dan's scrambled eggs were to die for, but the recipe used way more butter than was probably healthy for anyone.
"I'm going to have to hit the gym twice as hard later," I thought.
We made small talk over coffee and eggs before separately heading out to take care of our Saturday errands. I had to get my weekly groceries and go to the gym, but I decided first to stop and visit my parents for a few minutes.
My parents had lived in the same small bungalow they had bought when we moved here from South Africa, and stepping inside was like stepping into a time warp to the mid-nineties. The appliances and electronics had all changed, but the paint and wallpaper needed a facelift badly.
When I arrived, Mom was doing her weekend baking while Dad was in the garage, most likely doing some woodworking. When I was still in high school, and Mom and Dad had needed a bit of extra money, Dad would craft various wooden items to sell, like small shelves for nicknacks or paper towel holders with animal designs on them were popular at the time. Since then, he had switched to doing larger projects for people, like lawn chairs and wishing wells that people would paint and put on their lawns during the summer.
Mom and I made small talk over fresh biscuits and coffee, which mainly consisted of her telling me about the latest gossip from their church until she inevitably came around to the topic of Dan and me like she always did.
"Have you and Dan decided on a date for the wedding yet?"
"Not yet, and you just asked me last week," I answered, avoiding the urge to roll my eyes.
"Well, people keep asking me at church. I don't know what to tell them..." she trailed off.
"Maybe tell them it isn't really any of their business," I said flatly.