by Arizona Tape
Cara shook her head disapprovingly, but I saw a smile on her lips. She closed the car and wrapped her arm around my shoulder, warming me up with a soft kiss on my temple. ‘Let’s get you inside then.’
We walked up to the porch and I dug into my pockets for my house keys. With a little jingle, I happily swung them in front of Cara’s eyes, making her giggle.
‘See, am using your keychain. I haven’t lost my keys for a whole week now.’
She gently kissed me again, pressing me against the door, her warmth engulfing me completely. Autumn had nothing against Cara’s kisses.
‘Mmmm…’ I softly moaned, biting my lip in excitement. How she managed to turn me on so badly after all this time, I still hadn’t figured out.
‘Are you gonna ask me inside?’ Cara muttered against my lips, pressing more soft kisses down.
I chuckled and lightly shoved her shoulder. ‘You live here, smartypants.’ I snorted, a laugh rumbling in my tummy. She never failed to make me smile.
‘I know.’ she chirped happily, taking the keys from my hand and opening our front door, pushing me into the warmth of our home.
We hung up our coats, took off our shoes and I started walking towards the kitchen, deciding that hot cocoa would be fantastic right now. And that was not me admitting defeat against autumn, I reasoned it was always a good time for hot cocoa.
I pushed open the door into the living room when Cara pulled me back against her. She placed two fingers on my lips and cheekily shushed me.
‘Shhhh, your cat is sleeping.’ she grinned, her eyes lighting up in amusement.
‘Yeah, yeah. Very funny, but you are wrong. I am not drunk this time.’ I sang, shaking my head. She never failed to tease me about the imaginary cat I thought I owned, as soon as I got tipsy.
Cara pressed her lips on mine again and flicked my nose. ‘No, really, shhhh, your cat is sleeping.’ she said, in a serious voice.
‘Yeah, sure.’ I whispered, amusing her by getting on my tippy toes and walking inside our house as quietly as I could, pretending for her sake.
And there on our giant couch, wrapped in a cosy little blanket, was a tiny ball of fluff asleep.
I stopped dead in my tracks, pointed at the sleepy fur ball, turned to Cara with a confused look on my eyes, turned back to the kitty and pointed at it once again.
‘Errrr…What? Huh…What…?’ I spluttered out, making Cara chuckle behind me.
She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. ‘Happy anniversary, sweetie.’
‘You got me a kitty?’ I whispered excitedly, stating the obvious. Of course, she got me a kitten, it was asleep right on our couch.
‘This way, there will actually be a kitty asleep when drunken you stumbles into the house.’ she mused, scratching her head in an adorable fashion.
‘I hope you are okay with us having a pet though.’ she thoughtfully added, looking a bit uncertain of herself.
‘Are you kidding me? Of course, I am okay with it!’ I exclaimed, pulling her in for a hard kiss.
‘Gosh, I love you, woman.’ I gushed, skipping towards the couch. I scratched the kitten tenderly between the ears with one finger, just as it woke up and yawned.
‘Awwww.’ I cooed, dying inside from the cuteness overload.
‘It is a girl.’ Cara said, crouching down beside me and rubbing the kitten her belly.
‘Oh, what a cutie. She is adorable.’ I mused, happy like a kid on Christmas morning.
The kitty opened her eyes, flicked her ears and looked curiously at me. She was mostly grey, but had dark stripes over her whole body like a tiger and three of her little legs had white socks on them. She let out the cutest meow that just had me squealing from cuteness.
‘She looks like a little tiger.’ I grinned, petting the kitten on her head, which she seemed to love. With another yawn, she curled up into a little ball against my hand and purred in satisfaction as I kept petting her.
‘What are you gonna name her?’ Cara asked, grinning proudly. She always had that smug look on her face when she knew she made me extremely happy. And I had come to love that smug grin of hers.
‘I am not sure yet. Can I think about it?’ I asked, looking at the kitten, not sure what I should name her. Tiger seemed a bit too simple for my taste.
‘Of course. There are a litter box and food in the garage. I picked it up earlier for her.’ she said, sitting down on her side of the couch, leaving a big enough spot between her and the kitten, for me to sit down.
‘How did you get her in here? We were out all night on our date.’ I asked, finally wondering how she had gotten a cat inside our house when she had been with me the whole evening. And I was sure she couldn’t have hidden the kitty in our house before we left, I mean, I would have noticed a cat walking around, even a tiny one, that is.
‘Rube kept her in his house for a couple of days and I gave him keys so he could bring the kitty over when we were out.’ she explained, looking rather smug with herself again. ‘You had no idea, did you?’
I shook my head at her, rolling my eyes in amusement. ‘No, I didn’t. You completely fooled me, honey.’ I admitted, knowing how she loved to surprise me. She enjoyed sneaking around and doing things in secret.
I guess I got Cara out of the spy company, but I couldn’t get the spy out of her. But I thought it was adorable, because it always ended up in lovely surprises for me, so, I mean, don’t fix what isn’t broken, right?
I carefully sat down in between Cara and the kitten, making sure not to wake her and leant down on my lover’s shoulder.
‘Thank you.’ I whispered, cuddling into her.
‘You are welcome, sweetie.’ she smiled, kissing the top of my head.
I let one hand rest on her upper thigh, while my other kept stroking the kitten, trailing her stripes with my finger, looking for a pattern.
There were a lot of lines and then suddenly, a little dot on the middle of her back. I gingerly poked the dot, making her look up at me with a mildly offended look in her eyes, as to say “ no poking allowed”.
I quickly scratched her behind her ears to appease her and she lazily closed her eyes again and fell asleep right on the spot.
I studied the kitten and suddenly something from a long time ago popped into my head. I grinned at Cara, flashing her a big smile. ‘I know a name.’
‘Oh yeah?’ she mused, studying me and the kitty from the corner of her eyes.
‘Tittle.’
About a Wedding Day
Cara Hemlock
‘You look nervous.’ Ruben said, stating the clear obvious.
‘Of course, I do, I am getting married today and my freaking dress is ripped!’ I shrieked, glaring angrily at him, like it was his fault.
‘It’s just a tiny tear, nobody will notice.’ he casually said, sending me into a fit of rage.
‘I will notice!’ I yelled in exasperation. ‘I never should have gotten her that damned cat!’
That stupid, little cat had found my dress and decided that was the perfect place and time to scratch her nails and while doing so, Tittle had ripped my dress open with her little claws. Stupid, stupid cat.
Ruben shrugged without being bothered and inspected his nails. ‘I offered to keep it at my place.’ he mentioned through his teeth.
I scoffed loudly. ‘You have a newborn at home, so I am not sure how my dress would have come out then. Besides, Lindsey might have ripped it herself out of sheer jealousy.’ I huffed, earning a dirty look from him.
‘Hey, that is the mother of my child you are talking about,’ he meekly defended her, but I no longer cared. He hated her and we both knew it. Besides, this was my wedding day, those things weren’t important right now.
I fingered the hole in my dress angrily, like if I did this enough, it would magically close itself up, but it didn’t.
‘I guarantee you, Lexi is gonna find that tear without even trying and our whole wedding will be ruined!’ I half-sobbed, waving my hands at my f
ace, not allowing myself to cry.
My make-up was done and after poking myself in the eye with the mascara brush, I wasn’t up for a repeat any time soon.
‘Let me help.’ Rube said, rolling his eyes at me. Of course, he wouldn’t understand just how important this was. He just inspected me, adjusted the dress and pulled it down a little.
‘Tadaaaa, boobs. Now Lexi, and anyone else for that matter, will be looking at those, instead of your dress.’ he exclaimed triumphantly, looking rather smug with himself.
In a fit of anger, I repeatedly hit him over the head with my bridal bouquet while shouting in his face. ‘This! Is! Not! The! Time! For! Jokes!’ I yelled, chasing him with my flowers.
He laughed and pulled me in front of the big mirror, making me look at myself.
‘You look gorgeous and Lexi won’t care if you show up in a potato sack or a bikini or your pyjamas, as long as you show up.’ He said, in an annoyingly reasonable voice.
I looked at myself and, as much as I hate to admit it, he was right. The only thing wrong with my reflection was the fact that Lexi wasn’t standing beside me. But I was gonna change that.
Today, I was making her my wife and from then on, I would always see her standing right next to me in the mirror.
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down and exhaled slowly. ‘Okay. You are right. It doesn’t matter. Focus…’
But right when I almost reached a Zen state, he ruined it by grinning, kissing me lightly on the cheek and pointing at my flowers. ‘Not to upset you more, but you ruined your bouquet.’
That comment wasn’t received well and without thinking about it, I lunged the flowers at his head, petals whirling through the room. I was about to wring his neck, but a knock on the door saved his precious air system.
‘It is time. You look wonderful, Cara.’ Manuel said, making me forget all about Rube and his silly games.
More nerves crept up on me and I briefly wondered if she would show up. But then I looked into the mirror again and I realised, I had nothing to worry about. She would be there. I knew it.
I gathered myself and after a couple of deep breaths, I nodded at Manuel. ‘I am ready.’
And not just ready for the wedding. No, I was ready for it all. This was the start of our lives together and I couldn’t wait for it to begin.
Birthdays and anniversaries. Holidays and Sunday mornings. Breakfasts in bed and dinners by candlelight. Starting a family and growing old together.
Hell yeah, I was ready.
I threw a last glance at the mirror, before leaving the room and I could swear my reflection urged me on to go get me a wife.
The music started playing as soon as I exited the house. The sky was the brightest crystal blue I had ever seen and the air was clean and crisp. A perfect day.
I willed myself to walk slowly, so I wouldn’t trip over my dress, but I also felt the sudden urge to sprint to my fiancée who was waiting for me at the altar. Luckily with Ruben holding my arm, there was no chance of escaping without him tackling me into the grass and completely ruining my dress.
Then we turned the corner and there she was. The love of my life. Lexi.
She was wearing a beautiful, white dress that made her look like an angel, but I couldn’t stop staring at her face, that held so much love for me, I couldn’t even begin to understand
She looked nothing less than radiant and flawless. A perfect dream and I was wide awake.
Without even realising, a smile appeared on my lips and I couldn’t stop grinning until I reached her.
I was greeted with an equally big smile and for a moment, she seemed relieved I showed up. Guess I wasn’t the only one with nerves, after all.
‘Where is your bouquet?’ Lexi whispered, looking at my empty hands in confusion.
‘I ruined it when I hit Ruben over the head.’ I whispered back, making her snort loudly, earning her a disapproving look from our priest.
‘Ahh, makes sense. Good use, am sure he deserved it.’ she discreetly muttered, making me realise that Ruben had been right though.
She didn’t care about ruined flowers and torn dresses, smudged makeup or falling wedding cakes. She just cared about me.
The priest coughed, breaking up our little moment and started his speech, but I didn’t hear a word. The only thing I saw, was my beautiful bride.
She was breathtaking and as always I got lost in her eyes. Such passion, beauty and love they held for me. I could never get used to the intensity and I don’t think I ever would.
We just looked at one another and I could see my whole future in her and I knew she saw the same thing when she looked at me. And that was the most reassuring feeling I had ever known.
‘Ahem. Ladies. The vows?’ the priest coughed again, grabbing our attention. He was looking at us expectantly, urging us on to continue.
‘Who goes first?’
‘I will.’ Lexi said, taking my hands in hers and squeezing them gently. She took a deep breath and started speaking, in a voice clearer than ever.
‘Cara, my love. What I am about to tell you, you already know. You know how much I love you. And not just the person you are today, right here, right now. But I also love the person you are on your way to become, because I see how much potential you have inside of you. And I know that even though we both will grow and change, that my love for you will only become stronger.
I don’t have to promise you that I will love you forever, because you already know that to be true.
But I will promise you that not one day will go by that I don’t remind and show you how much I love and adore and respect you. I will promise to always try to be the best version of me for you.
I will make sure we have a working fire alarm in the kitchen for when you try to cook and I will always kiss you through your car window even though it is a weird angle.
Cara. I promise that from this day on, your wants and needs will always be as important as my own. I promise I will value you and your opinion, even when we don’t see eye to eye. I promise that every day I will show you how much you mean to me. You are my family and I promise I will give you the happy forever after you always have been dreaming of.’
By that point, I was reduced to tears, not caring one bit if it ruined my make up. All that mattered was the woman standing in front of me, looking at me with what I could only describe as pure love. And I knew right then and there, that the home I had been searching for my whole life, would always lie in her arms. And that too, was one of the most reassuring things I would ever come to know.
As it was my turn to speak, I cleared my throat. I moved my hand to wipe away the tears, but I found Lexi’s hands already cupping my face.
’ No need to cry, my love.’ she tenderly smiled, wiping the droplets away with her thumbs. I briefly shut my eyes and rested my head in her hands. Then I smiled back at her and started my vows, my voice thick with emotion.
‘Lexi, sweetie. All my life I have been looking for love, but I never thought I would so easily find it with you. You make everything brighter. The world is a bit more beautiful and all the flowers smell a little more fragrant.
The things hurt a little less and the burdens on my shoulder don’t weigh nearly as much as before. You are the spice of my life and I can’t imagine being without you.
I know that sometimes you have a hard time believing all these things about yourself, but I promise that one day, I will succeed in making you see yourself through my eyes, so you can understand how utterly beautiful you are to me. I promise that for the rest of your life, you will know how it feels to be loved and cherished. I promise you that I will always treat you the best I can, with honesty and respect, and I promise I will never give up on us, not for one second.
I promise that no matter where we go or where we live, there will always be a kitty door for your sleeping cat and tiger lilies in a vase.
From this day on, we will only use the words “goodbye” and “farewell” in our crossword puzzles
on Sunday morning, because I bind myself to you and you are consecrated to me, in every way possible and imaginable.
This is forever and forever after and nothing that comes on our path will ever change that. I love you more than I ever thought was possible and I can’t wait to start the rest of my life with you.’
I thought I was gonna choke up or forget my lines, but as it turns out, these were the easiest words I had ever spoken in my entire life. As soon as I opened my mouth, my heart took over and it phrased all the feelings I had been experiencing from the moment we met.