We polished off the popcorn and cupcakes during the movie and decided to make the last movie a drinking game. With the rules set, I turned on Never Been Kissed. Within seconds we were all drinking and laughing. It was fun and silly and I knew we’d all likely regret it in the morning, but at the time, we were enjoying ourselves.
When the movie ended we were all happily drunk. Sam stretched out on the couch and kicked us all off so she could go to sleep. The rest of us headed upstairs and Claire and Addi headed for my guest room while Xander followed me to my room.
“Your friends are awesome. I’m really glad they liked me.”
“Me, too,” I said as I crawled onto my bed.
“Fuck me, honey. You can’t do that.”
“Do what?” I asked dopily.
“You can’t be on your hands and knees. I might have to have you like that. Jesus, I’ve been hard as a rock pretty much all night and I can’t take you teasing me.”
“Who said I was teasing? For one thing, I didn’t know it would get you going. For another thing, I’ve been just as turned on as you,” I breathed.
I was lying on my back on the bed, watching him when I saw the change in his eyes. They flashed from aroused to possessed in a second. He crawled up the bed, his eyes locked on mine as he got closer and closer to me. He kept his weight on his forearms and I felt his body brush over mine as he moved over me.
I throbbed with need, aching to have him touch me, kiss me, anything. Still fully clothed, Xander circled the faint outline of my nipple and it stood up for more attention. He lowered his lips over it, nipping me through my shirt, and I cried out.
I quickly clamped my hand over my mouth, forgetting we weren’t alone. “I want to see how worked up I can get you before you can’t hold back your screams. I’m going to make you beg me to let you come.”
His words send a jolt straight through my body to the heat pooled between my thighs. I knew it wouldn’t take much when he thrust his cock against me and I moaned softly.
“Did you like that, honey?”
“Yes,” I moaned, arching into him when he did it a second time.
Xander closed the distance between our mouths with his third thrust, swallowing the moan that escaped my lips. He plunged his tongue into my mouth with the same rhythm he used on his hips and I felt myself slowly falling apart.
“Xander, I need to come,” I begged.
Cold washed over me as he disappeared. Before disappointment could settle in I felt him tearing my clothes from my body. My shorts and panties were gone in one economical movement and my tank top was ripped off in the next moment. I still panted, aching to let go of the tension coiled tight around my body.
Xander shoved my legs wide and held them over his shoulders as he dove into me, licking from one end to the other. “Fuck, I’m going to come.”
His fingers plunged deep into me, thrusting hard and making my body swirl. He licked, sucked, and nibbled while he pounded his fingers into me. Just as I was about to come he slowed everything down until the need backed off and I was a whimpering mess.
He started up again, increasing his speed and power and making my body coil tight around him. Just before I fell over the edge he backed off again, frustration gripping me. I grabbed at his head and pulled him tight to me, holding his face against my body. “Make me come, now. You do it or I will,” I demanded.
He didn’t miss the opportunity as he thrust hard into me with his fingers, his face not backing off from me as my body began to thrash around. I bit into my pillow and muffled my scream as best I could as the powerful need to come washed over me seconds before I fell over the edge of the best orgasm of my life.
As I came back to earth, I felt Xander between my knees. I pulled the pillow from my face and looked down on him, lips wet from me and a pleased grin on his face. He was naked and sheathed and I urged him to me with a nudge of my heels. He got the message and leaned down to kiss me, the taste of my own orgasm still in his mouth.
When his tongue thrust deep into my mouth he plunged his erection inside me. I moaned loudly, feeling the delicious fullness I’d gotten addicted to over the last few weeks.
Xander held still inside me, letting me enjoy the feeling of our bodies connected so intimately. When he slid out slowly I nearly wept with the desire I felt for him. He quickly thrust back in, my hips raising to meet him and take him in deeper. I felt the tightening in my gut that I knew meant I’d be coming again with him.
His breathing changed to frantic as he thrust into me, his muscles held tight above me. I wrapped my legs around his lean waist and could almost hook my feet together. I felt the strain in his muscles, running my hands over his arms to his chest. My nails grazed his nipples and he went harder and faster, bringing me closer and closer to the edge.
I panted for air, desperate to come as he continued his torture of my body. I felt the ache between my legs that would remind me he’d been there and the rush of orgasm drowned me. I was vaguely aware of Xander thrusting deep twice more before he shuddered above me, groaning my name into my hair as he came.
He collapsed on top of me without enough energy to move to the side. I let my hands drift over his back, gently caressing the strong muscles there. “God you feel so good. I’m sorry I’m crushing you.”
He made a move to get off me but I held on tighter to him. “I love feeling your body pressed against mine. If I was on you I’d be crushing you, but you’re not as big as I am.”
“Baby,” he cooed as he lifted his head, “you’re perfect. If you were a skinny bitch I wouldn’t want you. I like a woman who likes chocolate and cheeseburgers. You know how gorgeous I think you are. That’s why I want you to meet my family and friends. Next weekend. My parents are having dinner Sunday night and invited us and some of my buddies are having a cookout on Monday for Memorial Day. Drew will be there and I want you to meet all of them.”
I pushed on his shoulder to get him to roll off me. He laid next to me, his erection shrinking in the condom he used, asking me to meet the people who were the most important to him.
“I don’t know,” I said softly. “What if they don’t like me?”
“How could they not like you? Plus, who gives a shit. I like you enough for all of them. Mandy, I want you there with me. Please at least say you’ll think about it.”
I looked at him, so perfect, in my bed. I knew it was important to him. Meeting his family and friends was as important to him as having him meet my friends was to me. We’d only been seeing each other about a month, but if things were going to continue, we would have to do these things.
What was I worried about anyway? It wouldn’t matter if his friends didn’t love me, right? As long as they were decent people, it wasn’t a big deal.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Thank you. It means a lot to me. I’m glad you asked me to meet your friends.”
“Me too. They really liked you,” I told him.
“They probably won’t like me that much after I finish round two with you.”
I eyed him suspiciously and saw he’d already gotten hard again. He pulled on a clean condom and prowled over me, his fingers between our bodies and closing on me, already making me moan.
It was going to be a long night.
Fourteen
The following Tuesday I was running late, again, for girls’ night. I’d had a late interview with Diana where she told me, officially, they’d narrowed down the candidates to me and Melody. I was excited, but anxious, waiting to see what Melody would do with that information.
I burst through the door to Cooler Coffee and ordered my hot chocolate and cupcakes. I waited impatiently for my goodies, thanking the cashier when she handed them over, and rushed to our table.
I dropped into my seat with a huff. Addi was talking about her week, regaling everyone with a story about one of her students who has gone from wallflower to class clown in a few weeks.
“It’s so hard not to laugh when he tells a joke o
r plays a trick on someone. It’s like he took comedy classes. He’s hilarious, but as a teacher I have to discipline him to avoid letting it escalate. All I really want to do is sit back and laugh!”
Sam and Claire clutched their sides, tears streaming down their faces from laughing so hard. “What did I miss?”
“Oh, just this kid. It’s hard teaching when he’s cracking jokes, but honestly he makes it more entertaining. His joke to start class today was ‘Did you hear about the constipated mathematician?’”
She paused and looked at me expectantly. I shook my head.
“‘He used a pencil to work it out.’”
I burst out laughing. “Holy shit, that’s hilarious! No pun intended. You need to get him to start every class with a joke.”
“He basically does anyway. Even if I try to get started first, he breaks in and tells a joke. It’s helping him socially so I try not to mess with him too much. The jokes are always funny and appropriate, not dirty jokes, so I let it go.”
“I don’t know how you manage so many different personalities. I would go nuts having to deal with kids all day, let alone kids at that age. High school is either an awesome experience or a shitty one.”
Addi agreed. “Yeah, it seems to be that way. I hated high school for the most part. I was a geek who loved to learn so I was the one all the popular kids wanted to copy off of. It only took them a few months to figure out I wouldn’t let them and they moved on to someone else who was more desperate to be in with them.”
“I kept to myself in high school. I had sort of a middle of the road experience. It certainly isn’t a time I look back on overly fondly, but I wouldn’t say I hated it. I joined a few clubs and had my friends, but I didn’t let the populars get to me. I knew back then that I wanted to go into photography so I took every class I could about it or anything remotely similar. I knew getting a jump on my career would help me more than being popular,” Sam added.
“It’s amazing how some people think high school is the only thing that matters,” Addi said. “I watch some of the students, all ranks, who think high school is the best time of their lives. Some think high school will define who they are forever, others think making the right friends in high school will help them in the rest of their lives. Most of the people I know only have one or two friends from high school, if that, and are completely different than they were back then. I want to tell my students sometimes that high school is only four years of your life and you have a lot more living to do.”
Claire was silent during our conversation. I wish I could go back to high school and take away her pain, but I knew it was something that she would always live with. I have no idea the fear she’s dealt with since then, but I knew the conversation we were having wasn’t helping her.
Addi and Sam continued talking about high school and Addi’s students and I whispered to Claire, “Are you okay?”
She offered me a tight smile that said she wasn’t and I rubbed her back. “Any crazy people at the airport today?”
She rolled her eyes but a smile played at her lips. “Always. It’s like people don’t think the rules apply to them. The businessmen think they should be given a pass because they fly so much, the families think they should be given a pass because they have kids, and the rest of the travelers think they should be given a pass because everyone else is. It astonishes me.”
“What’s the strangest thing anyone has tried to bring onboard?” Sam asked, picking up on our subject change.
Claire thought about it while she sipped her coffee. “We get breast milk almost every day. We also get people smuggling alcohol in their 3 ounce containers. We get strange things a lot, but I still think the weirdest one was when we got someone with frozen sperm.”
Sam choked on her coffee and I inhaled a piece of my cupcake. We choked while Addi cackled loudly. When Sam and I finally got ourselves under control I asked, “Why would someone have frozen sperm?”
“They always come with a note from their doctor. It’s women, sometimes couples, that are using artificial insemination to try to get pregnant. They go to one place to get the sperm but for some reason or another have to use it at their home doctor’s office. It’s only happened a few times, but it always throws us when it does.”
“Wow, I can’t even imagine having to handle that. Do you have to check it? What do you do? Taste it?”
“Eww!” we echoed as Sam laughed.
“You’re gross, Sam,” Claire said, shaking with disgust. “Once we have the note from the doctor we pretty much let them through. We have to x-ray the cooler, but there’s never been a problem.”
“You must be pretty desperate to get pregnant when you can’t even do it in your own town. It seems extreme, but I guess people are desperate to have kids so it makes sense.”
We all agreed with Addi. “It’s got to be a hard choice, to go that far to have kids. At the same time, I know one day I want kids. I guess if I have the option, I’d do what I needed to do to have kids, too.”
“Already talking about having kids? Things with Xander are more serious than we thought,” Sam said.
I shrugged. “I really like him, but it’s not like we’re permanent or anything. Ever since he came over for movie night he’s been asking me to meet his friends.”
“He really likes you then. Guys don’t introduce their girlfriends to their friends unless it’s serious,” Addi said.
“I guess. I’m nervous. Sunday he wants me to go to dinner with him at his parents’ house. I’ll meet his parents and his sister, who he’s really close to. Monday is a barbecue with his friends.”
“That’s a good thing, right? If he wants you to meet the people he’s closest to it’s a good thing. You shouldn’t be nervous, you should be excited.”
“I want to be, you know, but I just worry about them not liking me.”
I wanted to tell them I worried his family and friends would think he should be with someone better looking, someone thinner. If anyone would understand feeling inadequate because of my weight, it was my best friends. In a way I was surprised they didn’t pick up on it right away.
Ever since my first date with Xander, the one I didn’t count, he did everything possible to reassure me about my weight. I never felt like I needed a man’s attention to feel good about myself. I knew I wasn’t physically perfect, or even close, but I was comfortable with who I was. I felt like my happiness had started depending on Xander and the people around him. Like if his friends or family didn’t like me it was because I wasn’t good enough, and it would be about my weight and nothing else.
When I was with Xander I was happy. I liked feeling sexy and beautiful. He told me constantly that I was and a part of me was starting to believe it. To have a man who looked like Xander say he thought I was beautiful, to get so turned on by me, was a confidence boost I hadn’t ever felt.
I started to wonder what it said about me that his opinion had come to mean so much to me.
“Why wouldn’t they like you?” Claire asked.
I rolled my eyes, feeling the prick of tears beginning. “You know why.” I shrugged as though it didn’t mean that much but my friends saw the look on my face.
“Xander wants to show you off. He’s bringing you around to meet his friends and family because he wants you to meet them, but it works both ways. He’s also letting them meet you. That’s huge,” Sam told me.
“If he thought there would be a problem he wouldn’t have invited you. I think you’re overreacting for no reason,” Addi said.
I knew she was right. They both were. Xander wouldn’t put me in a situation that would hurt me. He cared. Perhaps more than either of us wanted to admit. We were starting to fall for each other. It was clear in the tenderness he showed me, the way he made love to me, even in his kisses.
He was anxious to meet my friends, even though he obviously had nothing to worry about. They loved him and I had no reason to think his friends wouldn’t love me.
And if they didn
’t like me, Xander and I would figure out together if it mattered.
“Will it matter to you if they don’t like you? You’re not going to get along with everyone, look at Melody. Do you think it will cause problems with you and Xander?” Claire asked. I knew she wasn’t being a bitch, she was being curious.
But she was right.
“I guess it depends. Like anything else. If we just don’t get along I don’t think it’ll bother me. If his friends are jerks and treat me like shit because I’m fat then I’ll be pissed. And hurt. I don’t know if I could let that go.”
“Would you break up with him because of his friends?” Addi asked. “I’ve seen some of my students, and I know this doesn’t compare, but bare with me… They’ll start dating someone and their friends don’t like him, or her, and they’ll basically ditch their friends. Sometimes it means they keep the relationship a secret so their friends don’t find out. Other times I’ve seen relationships that I thought would work out well go down the drain because of stupid shit friends say or do. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
I nodded in agreement with her and saw Claire and Sam doing the same. “That’s what I’m worried about. If his friends suck and tell him he shouldn’t be dating someone like me, how long will it be before he starts to believe them. And besides that, if they’re good friends, it’ll make me wonder if he thinks the same thing.”
“You said he told you he doesn’t care what size you are,” Sam stated.
“He did. It’s the whole mob-mentality thing though. We act differently alone than we would in a group. Alone he’d never call me fat or say anything to hurt me. In a group with a bunch of friends that maybe used to make fun of fat people, I don’t know. Maybe I just shouldn’t go.”
“This isn’t high school, no offense Addi,” Sam said. “If they’re assholes then call them on it. I’d like to think people mature when they get out of high school and quit picking on people just because they can. If Xander’s friends are like that then maybe you’re right, maybe he’s not worth it. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”
Chubby & Charming (Big & Beautiful Book 1) Page 11