I avoid making the segments too long but the usual length didn't cover the story moment enough on its own. Note that this section is VERY hot but there are more twists to come!
Despite having a slight hangover, I pulled myself out of bed when my alarm went off at 7:30 AM. I made it a point not to sleep in on the weekends, wanting to make the most use of my time and not spend large chunks of the time unconscious when there was so much of life to experience. I grabbed a robe and put some slippers on, remembering through the haze what had transpired the night before, hoping that perhaps my best friend might not remember or think it was a dream.
Within twenty minutes, I had perked up thanks to a big mug of strong black coffee and was cooking eggs on the stove for the two of us. I swirled the liquid around the pan as it began to congeal, reminding myself that my dear friend liked her eggs with some moisture left on them. I heard the toaster pop so I grabbed the four now-cooked slices of bread and tossed them on each plate. I took the pre-cooked bacon that I had heated in the microwave, silently cursing from the pain caused by overheating it. Gripping the edges for a brief second, I attempted to arrange the pieces as a sort of garnish to make them visually appealing.
"I am going to fucking kill you." a sleep-infested voice groaned behind me.
"Well good morning, sunshine!" I said in an overly cheery voice. Paula was
not
a morning person like me, so I rubbed her nose in it every chance that I could.
"I need some strong--" she started to mumble.
"Coffee is on the table, mixed just the way you like it," I said, my tone calmer now.
I could hear loud slurping sounds followed by a contented sigh immediately after. "Oh, you are an angel, Carli," Paula said, with a little more volume now.
I chucked as I carried the plates to the glass table on the other side of the kitchen bar. "Angel? Fallen angel? Or the good kind?" I knew not to push my luck, but she was just so damned cute at the moment.
"Objection, badgering the witness." she joked, sounding very 'lawyerly.'
"Very funny."
Paula sighed, tousling her hair before shoving a bite of eggs into her pretty mouth. "Hey, thanks for letting me come over and vent last night. I probably overreacted, but I was pretty pissed off," she said in a low tone.
"Nuh huh, hell no, girl! You have nothing to feel bad about. You are allowed to feel however you want."
Paula shrugged. "I suppose so, he just made an offhand comment, I don't think he intended to come across the way he did," she replied.
I hesitated for a moment, tempted to bolster Jackson as the stereotypical ex-athlete that he seemed to be at times. "Well everyone makes mistakes." I decided to say, after some thought.
"Uh-huh."
I reached over and touched her hand, not in a romantic way, but in a manner that a trusted friend would. "Look, I know I talk shit about him, but seriously, he definitely loves you to the moon and back. Like anyone else, he's not perfect, so you might as well just brush the whole thing off." I said, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Paula looked me in the eye and let out a huge sigh. "Yeah, I know he isn't your cup of tea but it means a lot to me that you are trying to keep an open mind. Jackson is probably the greatest guy I have ever been with, but there is always part of me that worries me that we don't connect well enough," she said, biting off a piece of dry toast with nothing on it.
I smiled at her. "Well, that's why God created girlfriends, babe!"
We finished our breakfast at a leisurely pace, and I kept waiting for Paula to say something about our somewhat intimate moment in the hot tub, but she never did. On the one hand, I was relieved, because it meant that she wasn't upset or weirded out about it, but also nervous that she wasn't entirely comfortable about it either. I also wondered if the tequila had obscured it in her memory, but experience told me that even if she didn't recall the facts that the feelings might still come up.
About three or four days later, Paula, her fiance, and I went out to dinner to talk through some points of discussion about wedding planning, as we did every other week or so. Jackson had a fondness for the Olive Garden in town, so we met there and got a booth towards the back that would be a bit quieter.
I arrived first, which was not surprising because Paula had a habit of being perpetually late for everything. I had chosen a navy blue business suit with a white blouse that day for work, so I was still in that outfit when I sat down at the table. As I was checking my phone, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see Jackson Leach, Paula's fiance, sauntering over to the table, wearing an overpriced gray pinstriped suit and matching shirt, presumably also what he had worn to work that day.
"Well, don't you look sharp," I said, standing up and giving him a half-hug.
"Thank you, Carlotta, the feeling is mutual," Jackson said with a smile, seating himself across from me.
Now while I am not attracted to men sexually or romantically, I did have an eye for appreciating the good looks of someone apart from their gender. As guys go, he was strikingly handsome, with rugged features and blonde hair that he kept short, and piercing green eyes. He had kept up the discipline of rigorous exercise and his physique made most women give him not only second glances but third and fourth ones as well.
I raised the glass of red wine I had been sipping on, pointing it in his direction with a dramatic flair. "So once again it looks like our girl is late for her own party," I said with a smile.
Jackson's lips tensed at the exact moment that I used the word
our
, as if it indicated I was encroaching on his territory somehow. '
Oh come on, are you really that easily threatened? It was a joke!
' I thought to myself. He cleared his throat before smoothly replying, "It's a good thing she is the guest of honor, right?"
At times I got the feeling that he thought that my sole goal in life was to seduce my best friend and turn her into my lesbian bride, despite my clear intentions otherwise. I reasoned that he would do that with anyone, man or woman, but it made me uneasy. Unless he cheated on Paula or raised a hand to her, I would do whatever I could to protect their relationship, as any good friend would do. What I would not tolerate, however, was whatever misguided attempts he might try to cut me out of her life. Not content to let things lie, I had nearly brought up the subject a half-dozen times, but always stopped myself knowing that it could set off a conflict that would only have one casualty, and I was unwilling to subject Paula to that.
He grunted and took a sip of water out of the clear frosted glass in front of him, one of several that the server had left minutes before. "Yeah," he responded flatly, spitting a chunk of ice back into the cup.
