This is the fourth story of the Cream Filled series. I am again very grateful to Kumani for editing these stories.
One of the things that I have really come to appreciate about what Stephanie and I have together is our ability to communicate with one another. We tell each other everything, well almost everything and we have developed the confidence to convey our wants, needs and feelings with clarity. Right since we first started dating about two years ago, we've been open and honest about both the good and the bad that has happened between us and I'm convinced it has really helped us grow closer together.
We've even developed our non-verbal skills, our empathy and sensitivity to each other's needs to the point where we can read each other's moods and body language and always just seem to know when a simple touch of the hand is better than a word, or when the right thing instead is to keep some distance. We sense when to be close enough to reassure the other we are there for them if needed or when to give space when one of us just needs to be alone for a while.
Of course the key is putting these communication skills into practice. For example, we know we love each other but we recognize at times we both still need to tell each other. A hug and a kiss is great but it's a basic human need to hear special words too. There are some things that just need to be said aloud. But while I'm good at reading Stephanie and getting better every day at it, I do miss a signal or two from time to time.
Such as the importance of my preference in birthday presents.
For the past few weeks Stephanie had been asking me what I wanted for my birthday without getting much in the way of a firm reply from me. With each attempt her questioning became a bit more urgent as the day was fast approaching and evidently she felt that I still hadn't offered her any acceptable suggestions. She knows my likes and dislikes and has always done really well with the gifts she's given me in the past without getting my input beforehand but this year for some reason it's been different.
It's not that I've been trying to be evasive, I just really couldn't think of anything for her to buy me but you see Stephanie's into birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's and the like. She takes gift giving very seriously and puts a lot of thought into each one. She says it's because a gift is a tangible way of expressing how she feels about the recipient. The cost of the gift itself isn't important, she says, what matters to her most is that it is the right gift for that person.
So each time she asked me what I wanted I answered truthfully, that her love is my most treasured gift and since she expresses that love to me clearly every day in so many ways, nothing else was necessary. Stephanie would turn away with a shake of her head and I'd think no more of it figuring that as in the past she'd just go and pick something out on her own. Instead she cornered me in the kitchen of the donut shop one morning to better communicate her feelings on the matter.
"Look, Asshole," she warned me with fury burning deep in her brown eyes as she jabbed a finger into my chest for added emphasis. "I've been saving my fucking tips for a month to get you a great birthday present and I've been asking you the whole fucking time what to get. Now it's just three damn days to your birthday, so you better tell me right now what you fucking want."
"Steph, I'm not trying to be difficult but there really isn't anything that I want or I would have told you already," I answered somewhat flustered but making a quick suggestion. "Why don't you just buy me a card if you really feel a need to get me something?"
"Why don't I just break up with you?" she responded, leaning toward me enough so I could feel the burn of her anger on my face. "I can always go back to my vibrator and then I wouldn't have to bother with your birthday at all!"
"Stephanie, you are all that I want," I reassured her as I took her by the shoulders and looked deeply and sincerely into her beguilingly beautiful dark eyes.
There really wasn't anything else I wanted all that much. Well, almost anything.
"You already have me," she answered, her tone noticeably softened. "All of me."
"Well, that's not exactly true, Steph" I said, my gaze wandering exaggeratedly down her lithe body as I leaned slightly to one side as if to check out her ass.
She flicked my hands away from her shoulders with disgust and stepped back.
"Do you see a diamond?" she asked impatiently, raising her left hand in front of my face and waggling the fingers.
Ah, yes. The infamous No Diamond, No Anal rule.
Stephanie turned and stormed off and out of the kitchen, the double doors swinging and rattling excitedly in her wake. Its best to leave her alone for a bit I thought, as I turned back to my work table. Within a few moments I heard the doors swing open again but didn't bother to look up. Those doors swing open and closed all day long.
An instant later something thudded against my head.
A donut slid down the side of my face and bounced off my shoulder before hitting the floor as I stood there stunned. Reaching my hand up to comfort my stinging cheek, I felt globs of sticky sweetness covering the smarting skin.
"What the FUCK?"
The doors swung open again and I looked over in time to see Stephanie stride out of the kitchen. A moment later she was poking her head through the service window.
"You're lucky it was only cream filled, you asshole. The next one is going to be jelly," she threatened and started to withdraw her head from the portal before stopping. "And that's a promise."
"Crazy bitch," I muttered as I hurried through the kitchen to the employee restroom to inspect the damage.
Stephanie's temper was a donut shop legend and I was well aware of it even before we started dating. Truthfully that fiery spirit is one of the things that really turned me on about her. Now I'm no masochist but I've found that some contentiousness, maybe more so than variety, is truly the spice of life because regardless of how pissed she gets at me, once Stephanie gets around to forgiving me, if she forgives me, I can always look forward to a reconciliation at least equal in passion to her anger.
Once in the bathroom, I turned the side of my face to the mirror. Cream filling and confectioner's sugar not only covered my cheek but were splattered all in my hair on that side of my head. Fortunately, none had gotten in my eyes but I was definitely going to need a shower to clean the sticky mess entirely off of me.
And Stephanie was definitely going to need some payback.
Of course I would have to apologize first.
Yes, that's right. Despite the fact that I was the one that got hit, once my initial anger and surprise subsided, I quickly realized I was going to have to get Stephanie to forgive me. If I did so before her conscience kicked in, which it inevitably would, she would feel all the more guilty about clobbering me and less likely to anticipate the retribution that I would have in store for her.
Looking in the mirror and seeing the splatters of cream all through my brown hair gave me an idea.
Once back at my work table I noticed Stephanie with seeming urgency stride in and out of the kitchen several times. She was trying to discretely determine if I was all right so she could resume her righteous fury. While she didn't come over to me, I think by the third trip she was satisfied that there was no permanent damage. Waiting until she was busy cleaning off some tables, I walked out into the front part of the shop to talk to her. She stopped her cleaning and looked at me expectantly with arms crossed.
"Stephanie, I'm really sorry," I began with my hands raised some and palms open in the universal gesture of concession. "I know you have been trying to get me something special for my birthday and I shouldn't have treated it so lightly. I know this means a lot to you and I was a jerk about it and again, I'm sorry. So please, don't break up with me, okay?"
Stephanie maintained her petulant silence a long moment, then uncrossed her arms and gently touched my face.
"Are you all right?" she asked with a guilty wince.
"I'm fine. No harm done."
"I'm really sorry, Jason. I shouldn't have thrown a donut at you. It's just that this is your twenty-first birthday. It's a really big one and I really want to do something special for you."
"I know and like I said, I had it coming. Besides I have to admit that was a hell of a throw. You must have been thirty feet away and you hit me square on."
"Anger helps me focus," she explained.
Then she leaned toward me and kissed me softly on the offended cheek.
"I guess I'm going to have to make that up to you later," she said with a coy smile.
"That'd be nice," I agreed. "But about that birthday present, how about a magazine subscription? It's not glamorous I admit but you know how much I like to read and keep up on current events. You could get me a subscription to a news weekly."
"Yes! You are kind of boring that way," Stephanie's face instantly brightened at the suggestion. "It actually would be the perfect gift for you."
"Thanks, on both points."
Stephanie happily kissed me again, this time on the lips.
"You're right though, it's not very romantic. So I'll tell you what, I am going to take you out to a nice dinner too," she continued, now thoroughly pleased. "You just name it. Steak, seafood, anything you want."
"You really mean that?" I asked and repeated the last item in her list of options. "Anything I want?"
