"Yeah...you know...that whole wedding scene where Hoffman comes in and bangs on the glass and the girl runs off with him."
Brian's face began to turn red, starting with a faint shade of pink and progressing, rapidly until he looked something like a tomato with human features. Then slowly he began to throw words at the fat man, carefully enunciated with increasing force and volume for maximum effect.
"You tuned into a movie in which the bride leaves the groom for another man...at...the...fucking...altar, with Jason Bright sitting there watching; the first...fucking... time he comes out of his crappy little apartment in months? You're more of an idiot than I could ever imagine."
*****************
Jason Bright was lying on his side, taking in the sight of his sleeping fiancé. She was breathing softly, rhythmically, each puff of air from her mouth gently ruffling a tuft of straw blond hair that had fallen across her face. To most observers, Penny Miller was a small, attractive woman who was perhaps a few pounds overweight with facial features that were just a little too coarse to be considered classically beautiful. But here, with morning sunlight striking her clear, pale skin to give it a sort of glowing translucence, she looked like an absolute angel to Jason, a gift of love from God himself.
By all accounts, Bright had been tremendously successful in life to that point. He'd done well in high school, excelling at sports and in the classroom, graduating at the top of his class and then managed nearly perfect grades in a double major of finance and statistics before his masters in economics at the Chicago Business School. After that he breezed into a job at one of the top Chicago trading firms and had moved steadily up the corporate ladder with increasing responsibility and increasing money.
But, he'd never really felt like life was turning out the way he wanted until he met Penny, and that was because, despite all of his success in business and athletics, he'd never had anything that resembled a satisfying romantic relationship. In high school he'd been a nervous teenager around girls, overly anxious, absolutely uncertain about how to approach them to talk, let alone form a relationship. He developed some confidence in college when a couple of aggressive girls saw a good thing and wouldn't allow his insecurities get in the way, but still, this only lead to a series of superficial associations that, with or without sex, didn't amount to anything significant in Jason's mind, a pattern that seemed to continue through business school and for a couple of years into his new job.
But then, he met Penny and everything changed. She was easy to be with, vivacious, talkative, attractive, without pretense or conceit. She wanted quiet, relaxing evenings, a house with a picket fence and children, and Jason wanted her. And so, with a sense of comfortable inevitability, their relationship smoothly developed and strengthened, from casual dating, to nights capped with earnest, passionate lovemaking that increased in frequency such that practicality eventually required them to move in together. And then, on a warm summer evening in a small, neighborhood park by the lake, Jason took a knee and with faintly trembling hands offered a ring to Penny who accepted with tears, a smile and an enthusiastic hug.
In the eight months since then, plans had been made, invitations had been sent, dresses picked out and a church in Penny's home town in southern Illinois had been reserved for a date that was now only 6 days away.
Jason smiled at the recollections and leaned over to gently kiss Penny on the cheek. Her eyes fluttered open and she yawned and then smiled lazily, giving off a contented little moan as she arched her back, the covers falling away to expose her breasts and pale, pink nipples.
"Hey baby." She half whispered, smiling back at him as she smoothly ran a hand down his naked flank to his hip and then to his morning erection. "Did you sleep ok?"
He nodded and started to answer but then was brought up short, responding to her gentle squeeze and stroke, and could only let out a light gasp in response. He shimmied closer, enveloping her in his arms as he kissed her lips, her neck, her chest and then her breasts and nipples, licking and sucking until she whimpered softly, thrusting her pelvis forward to him. He pressed his thigh between her legs, feeling the wetness increase as he pushed against her, retraced his kisses back up to her neck and then to her lips again. She moved her legs apart and rolled to her back, pulling him on top of her, returning his kisses passionately, breathing harder, raggedly. He moved a hand down her back and then over her hip, and then slid it between his thigh and her crotch and then cupped and rubbed her aggressively, pushing and exploring her with his fingers, the movements reinforced by the pressure from his thigh.
It wasn't long before Penny reached down and placed her hands on his hips and began pulling Jason inside her legs which she had moved even farther apart. He broke the kiss and pushed himself off the bed to facilitate her unspoken request. He paused to look at her face, flushed, excited, she was-as always-beautiful to him. She took the hesitation to be a form of teasing and gasped out a whispered demand.
"Please...please...I need it now."
Jason nodded, his own desire essentially overwhelming his ability to speak, moved himself between her legs, reached back and grabbed Penny's hands, extending them above her head, and watched her face as he entered her slowly. Her expression turned nearly desperate and she thrust her bottom half forward, and, with a simultaneous gasp uttered by both lovers, completely encased Jason within her.
A look of lustful relief formed on her face as they began to push in and out of each other, the speed and power of their efforts increasing with each thrust until they reached a nearly frantic pace. Finally, covered in a thin film of newly formed sweat, Penny began to arch her back and let out a long, low moan, signaling her orgasm and resulting in a sensation that made it impossible for Jason to prevent his own as he emptied himself into her with a final series of long, aggressive lunges.
They lay next to each other for several minutes, arms, legs and bodies still intertwined, saying nothing, their faces so close that their noses touched and they were taking in each other's breath. Jason felt utterly content and thoroughly satisfied and found himself drifting back to sleep, his eyelids slowly closing, when he felt Penny's hand on his shoulder, gently rocking him.
"Hey, hey...Jase...don't fall back asleep baby. We have lots to do."
Opening his eyes, he smiled at Penny and stroked her face affectionately for a moment and then sat up, shaking his head slightly to clear his senses.
"What all do we have left Pen? I thought we were in pretty good shape?"
"Not much, just a little last minute packing and a few errands. But I want to get an early start OK? You ready to make the big trip to Centerville? Ready to meet the rest of my family and my old friends?"
Jason smiled again. "I'm ready to do anything as long as it's with you."
"Right answer." She purred, stretching her arms lazily above her head, like a confident cat, before wrapping them around Jason's neck. "Right answer."
****
They were making good time down I-55, listening to music and chatting, Penny occasionally sending out a text to friends or family to update their progress toward Centerville or to make some further arrangement about the wedding. About a half hour away from their destination, she became a little quiet and Jason watched her look pensively at the passing scenery. After a couple of minutes of this, he decided to break the silence.
"You ok sweetie? Problem with the caterer or something?"
She looked back at him with a slight look of embarrassed surprise, as though she'd been caught doing something untoward.
"Oh...oh, no. No, I just...I just guess I was thinking about going home and all the ghosts and issues I left behind."
Jason gave an incredulous little grimace in response. "Ghosts? Issues? What are you talking about?"
Penny gave a melancholy sigh and looked out the window absentmindedly for a moment before answering.
"Well...it's really nothing Jase. But, well...you know some of my old friends and some of my family sort of had a specific idea on who I should be with and they aren't...won't be super supportive of the wedding and stuff. That's all."
"Wait, are you saying that your folks don't like me? I thought we got along really well when they came up to meet us. Both times. In fact I had a great time with your Dad. Did I totally get that wrong?"
