Always Been You

by Tracy Luu

  Letting out another smile as my eyes landed on Matt, who was laughing at something Devon had said, I decided to continue with dinner and headed back into the kitchen. However, once I turned on the tap to wash the vegetables I had in the sink, Jacob suddenly appeared behind me, spun me around, and pulled my body flush against his.

  “Hey, beautiful,” he whispered.

  “Hey, to you too,” I whispered back.

  “Having fun?”

  “I am. You?”

  “I will be in a sec,” he said and leaned in for a kiss.

  He knew he was winning my undivided attention as I let out a sigh, and he smiled against my lips. But then, just as he wrapped his arms tighter around my waist and deepened our kiss, we were interrupted by a loud “Ahem”.

  “Am I interrupting something in here?” asked Amy.

  “Go away, Amy,” Jacob growled against my lips.

  “Don’t listen to him,” I laughed, lightly swatting his arm.

  “I never do,” she grinned. “So, is there anything you want me to do in here?”

  “How about you leave the kitchen so I can continue kissing Jenna?” said Jacob.

  “How about you leave the kitchen so Jenna can finish up with dinner?” said Amy.

  “Just because your husband has a never ending stomach doesn’t mean he can’t wait like everyone else,” he said.

  “Jacob, how about you let me finish up in here while you go and see what I’m giving you for Christmas?” I interrupted before Amy got a chance to retort. “It’s on the bed.”

  He looked at me curiously for a moment when recognition dawned on his face. With his eyes widening and both eyebrows shooting up, Jacob was grinning like a kid on Christmas morning as he quickly rushed out of the kitchen and towards our room.

  “Who would’ve thought the sexiest guy in school can easily be turned into mush by you?” said Amy, taking a seat on one of the chairs. “What did you put on your bed anyway?”

  “That see-through, silk lingerie you made me buy,” I grinned.

  “I thought that was your Christmas gift to him?”

  “That’s a bonus.”

  “Can’t wait to see what his reaction will be once he sees it,” she giggled. “By the way, everything smells great in here. I still can’t believe Jacob’s such an amazing cook. You’re lucky you have someone who loves you enough to prepare delicious meals for you every day.”

  “I know how much you enjoy his cooking too. Didn’t you send Matt over here late last week so you could polish off his chocolate cake?”

  “Once you’re in my position, you’ll understand what craving actually means. Hey, that reminds me. Did Jacob…?”

  “He made a fudge chocolate cake with extra frosting. He even made vanilla ice cream and extra chocolate fudge sauce just for you.”

  “Is there also…?”

  “We also have some fresh raspberries and real whipped cream to go with it.”

  “Can I have some of that cake now?”

  “And spoil your dinner?”

  “Hey, I eat like a pig now so there’s no way I’m going to spoil anything.”

  “How about you get the gravy going for the turkey, and then I’ll let you have some?”

  “Fine.”

  I was amazed that she gave in so easily, but as I started to peel the carrots, I couldn’t hear the rustling sounds of pots getting pulled out from the cupboards or even utensils getting taken out of the drawers. Wondering if Amy had left to use the washroom, I spun around to find half of Amy’s body sticking out of the fridge.

  Letting out an exaggerated fake sigh, I placed the peeler down, walked right up to her, and tapped her on the shoulder.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Just sampling,” she said, licking her chocolate covered fingers with great enthusiasm. “You know I can’t resist. Besides, he’s not going to notice anyway.”

  “How can he not?” I said, pointing to the cake. “There’s a huge void in it.”

  “He won’t question it when he knows what happens if you anger a pregnant woman with overreacting hormones,” she said.

  Casting another furtive look at her as she headed to the stove with a smug grin on her face, I then went back to the sink and picked up the peeler. A quick second later, she was rustling around in the fridge again.

  “Amy, would you stop that?” I said.

  “You’re no fun, Jenna,” she whined, as she shut the fridge door. “Does Jacob ever complain when you channel your mother like this?”

  “Not when I’ve been getting extremely good use with all the lingerie you keep making me buy.”

  “So he still hasn’t figured out a way to evade your tactics?”

  “Actually he has better tactics than me. I really don’t know what you would’ve walked in on if you hadn’t interrupted us.”

  “It didn’t look like you were fighting him too much,” she laughed. “I take it things are going well now that you two have moved in together?”

  Making sure we were completely alone as I poked my head into the hallway, I then grabbed her hands and quickly blurted out, “Ohmygodthesexisincredible!”

  Amy stood frozen on the spot, staring at me with a confused expression on her face while trying to puzzle out my words. When she finally realised what I had said, she broke out into a huge grin that stretched from ear-to-ear.

  “I knew Jacob was a man of action,” she said.

  “I never knew I would get this much action,” I said when she began to frown. “Ames, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” she sniffed. “I’m just so happy to see you like this. And I know you’ll be happy even more once…”

  “Once what?”

  “Um, nothing.” She quickly avoided looking directly at me and headed back to the stove.

  “Does it have something to do with my Christmas gift?” I asked her.

  “Not a chance, Chow!” she grinned.

  “What if I told you Matt’s deepest darkest secret?” I offered.

  Her eyes widened, but she didn’t cave in like I thought she would.

  “I’d like to find that out for myself, thanks,” she said. “Besides how do you know I don’t already know what it is?”

  “Because he was drunk when he accidentally spilled it out to me,” I said. “But that’s not the point. Can’t you just tell me what Jacob’s getting me for Christmas?”

  “Well…”

  We were interrupted by Jacob storming into the kitchen.

  “What’s the idea of putting something like that on the bed for me to see?” he grumbled, walking right up to me.

  I could see a fine sheen of sweat across his brow. I knew it was due entirely due to what he had found lying on our bed. But instead of giving in to the intensity of his smouldering glare, I bit my lip, slowly leaned in closer, and gave him an innocent look.

  “What? I thought you’d like it,” I said.

  “I do,” he said, his voice taking on a heated tone of need.

  “Then what’s the problem?” I asked calmly.

  “You are such a tease,” he muttered, his eyes sparkling with desire.

  “You’re only upset because you can’t take Jenna back to your room and have your way with her right now,” Amy grinned at Jacob.

  “Since you’re not busy, why don’t you start mashing these potatoes?” I interrupted; thrusting a bowl at her as she giggled at Jacob’s reddening face.

  “Th…that’s not the only thing that gets m…mashed around here,” she laughed.

  “You know,” coughed Jacob. “I think I hear Matt calling me so I guess I’ll see you two later.”

  Giving me a chaste kiss on the cheek, he then quickly left and almost stumbled into Katie and Nikki as they headed into the kitchen.

  “What’s wrong with Jacob?” she asked.

  “He looks a bit flushed,” added Nikki.

  “He’s probably feeling the effects of seeing the nightie Jenna got for him lying on their bed!�
� giggled Amy. “Boy, does he want her.”

  “Weren’t you and Matt like that when you started having sex?” asked Katie.

  “Sort of,” said Amy. “Weren’t you?”

  “Not like this. Alex never was this attentive, even though we’ve been engaged for six months.”

  “Neither has Devon,” said Nikki. “You could almost feel the heat radiating off Jacob just from the way he looks at Jenna.”

  “But the difference is Jacob and Jenna have been going at it for a few years now, and it still seems as if they only just started having sex,” smirked Amy.

  “And I think we should stop talking about mine and Jacob’s sex life and continue with dinner,” I said, feeling my face rapidly heating up.

  Once dinner was eaten and the dishes banished to the sink, everyone then retreated into the living room as I got out the dessert. As I began passing slices of warm apple pie topped with vanilla ice cream, and a huge slice of chocolate cake topped with strawberries, whipped cream and drizzled with fudge sauce for Amy, I noticed this strange look on Nikki’s face as she gazed at my tree.

  “Um, Jenna, is your tree crooked?” she asked.

  “Hey, you’re right,” said Katie, as we turned around and saw that the tree was slightly slanted to the left.

  “Should we fix it?” asked Devon.

  “I think we should leave it,” said Jacob. “You can’t see it unless you look at it closely.”

  “You just don’t want to fix it since you already had a lot of difficulty trying to get it up,” Matt laughed. Jacob slugged him on the arm.

  “What the heck is this?” asked Alex, holding up something brown.

  “This is Mr. Tingles,” I said, getting up from the floor to yank it out from his grasp.

  Mr. Tingles was my reindeer made from a fluffy brown sock. He had a red pompom nose, huge googly eyes that had been glued on crooked, brown pipe cleaners that were supposed to be antlers, light brown felt for the ears, red felt for the tongue that hung out the side of his mouth, a green collar that had a few bells around its neck, and some fake fur I had glued on for the hair and beard.

  “I remember when we had to make it during third grade,” grinned Amy.

  “Are you sure that’s a reindeer?” smirked Alex.

  “Don’t you dare make fun of Mr. Tingles,” I said, narrowing my eyes at Alex. “I’ve always been very proud of him."

  “Yes, I can see you’re very…talented,” said Jacob. He was biting on the insides if his cheeks to keep from laughing.

  Before I could whack him on the arm with my reindeer, Jacob quickly grabbed my arm, pulled me closer, and leaned in for a kiss.

  “Hey!” yelled Matt. “No one wants to see that!”

  “And no one asked you to be a nosy meathead!” Jacob yelled back.

  “But we don’t really need to see you suck face with Jenna all the time,” grumbled Matt, as he got up from the couch to use the washroom.

  “All this lovey-dovey is making us sick you schmuck,” added Devon.

  “So quit it, you shit stain!” said Alex.

  “I’m glad you guys have refined your insult vocab,” I grinned. “Shit stain is your best so far.”

  “With the way the idiot acts, it’s hard not to insult the dickhead,” said Devon.

  “Speaking of idiots, I should tell you what Matt did the other day,” said Amy, as Jacob leaned over and punched both Devon and Alex on the arm.

  “What did he do?” asked Katie.

  “He almost burnt down our house,” sighed Amy.

  “You’re kidding?” gasped Nikki.

  “I wish I was,” said Amy, her lips pursed. “I was resting on our couch when I smelled the smoke. I thought our house was on fire, so I yelled at Matt to check it out. My voice almost went hoarse from shouting at him, since he was so engrossed with the hockey game. When he finally heard me screaming, he then noticed that the house was all smoky and quickly rushed past me and into the kitchen. It was lucky we have a fire extinguisher in the pantry. I didn’t expect to see a burst of flames shooting out of the oven. Once we got the fire out, I then saw what he was making and started complaining why he was cooking bacon in the oven instead of on the stove. Get this. Those blackened strips were actually chicken pies.”

  “S…so how did you get the s…smell out?” chuckled Devon.

  “We had to open all the windows. By the end of the night, it felt like we were in an ice box. The fireplace was on, but it didn’t help warm up our bedroom. My toes and fingers were so numb that in order to get comfortable, I had to put on five layers of sweaters, three layers of jogging pants, six layers of socks, two pairs of gloves and a scarf. In addition to that, I had to add four extra layers of blankets just so I could fall asleep.”

  “What did you do to Matt then?” I grinned, elbowing Jacob in the ribs as he began singing “And a partridge in a pear tree”.

  “I made him sleep on the couch with only a pair of flannel pyjamas on,” Amy stated firmly. “Even though he had the fireplace going too, it was still cold because we had to keep all the windows open, and I wanted him to suffer like the way I was. I even gave him the smallest and thinnest blanket I could find and kept all the extra ones with me.”

  “That must have been brutal when he woke up to pee,” laughed Jacob.

  “Serves him right,” Amy smirked before she too bursted out into laughter.

  “Hey, what’s so funny?” asked Matt, waltzing back into the room.

  We stopped laughing to look at him, but ended up collapsing into convulsions again.

  “You told them, didn’t you?” he muttered, taking a seat next to his wife.

  “Yes, she did,” giggled Katie.

  “But we do want to know if you have difficulty getting it up to go to the washroom still,” I teased, making Jacob snort into his wine.

  “Actually I have no problems whatsoever,” he grinned. “If you want, just ask Amy all about our morning rendezvous later on, right Jiggles? I mean didn’t you moan in happiness afterwards?”

  Jacob inhaled some of his drink. “That is way too much information,” he said emphatically, fiercely rubbing at his nose as I pounded on his back.

  “If you don’t want to hear anymore intimate details, then I suggest you drop this subject,” smirked Matt.

  “Okay, then let’s talk about something else,” said Jacob. “So, Jenna, how long have we been dating?”

  “Quite a while,” I said. “Why?”

  “I was wondering if maybe you’d mind turning that ‘while’ into a long time,” he grinned. “You know, maybe like forever?”

  “Seriously?”

  Suddenly, Jacob grabbed my left hand and was on one knee, kneeling down in front of me. Using his free hand, he then reached into his jean pocket and pulled something out.

  “Jenna, ever since the first day I met you, I knew you were the one for me,” he said. “When I hold you, it’s like no feeling I’ve ever experienced. Every time we kiss, my stomach drops and my heart races at how lucky I am to have you. It’s better than any feeling in the world. I love you for being able to stand up to me when I’m stubborn, for your strength when we have our disagreements, for your spirit when I am troubled, and for the kindness of your heart when I begged you for forgiveness at not doing something sooner and taking so damn long in asking you out.”

  Everyone chuckled.

  “I love you, Jenna. I don’t only want to be with you, I need to be with you. For me, I already consider you my wife. And since I’m not letting you go now that I have you, I’m asking if you want to marry me?”

  I couldn’t help it and sucked in a huge gasp of air as Jacob slipped a silver ring with a single princess cut diamond on to my finger.

  “So how about it?”

  “Yes!” I screamed, and quickly pushed myself off the couch and into his arms.

  When I finally finished my assault on him, I was then immediately bombarded with hugs from the girls while Jacob received slaps of congratulations on the b
ack from the guys.

  “Oh, Jen,” squealed Katie. “It’s beautiful.”

  “You knew about this, didn’t you?” I said, pointing an accusing finger at Amy.

  “It was so hard keeping this from you, but I promised Jacob I would.”

  “Is that why you convinced me to buy…?”

  “Yes,” she smiled and started to cry.

  “Oh don’t cry. You’ll make me cry.”

  “T…too l…late,” she bawled.

  “Well it doesn’t matter, I can’t help it anyway,” I said, and let out a sob. “Amy, you have to be my maid of honour.”

  “I…I wouldn’t m…miss it for the w…world,” she sniffed. “Ooh, I can’t wait to design your wedding dress.”

  “Thank you, Ames,” I grinned and turned to Nikki and Katie. “And I want you two to be my bridesmaids. You know I’m not taking no for an answer.”

  “For sure,” they blurted simultaneously.

  “Jacob’s definitely rubbed off on you, hasn’t he?” grinned Katie.

  “In more ways than one,” I said.

  Jacob had confiscated my hand after his announcement and had yet to release it. He only let go of it once finally Amy admitted that she needed to be getting home. Once our friends were out the door, Jacob then quickly lifted me into his arms and brought me into our room. I was surprised at what I saw in front of me when he kicked the door open.

  The bed covers had been replaced with a soft down, cream duvet and some matching throw pillows. The curtains were partially drawn and the fireplace was lit. Instead of our bedside lamps, Jacob had also lit some lavender candles, scattering them around the room and creating a romantic retreat.

  “I still can’t believe you said yes,” he grinned, as I snuggled deeper into his chest, feeling lulled by the warmth of the fire washing over us.

  “And I can’t believe you managed to hide this from me,” I said, holding up my hand with the ring. “Since I started dating you, I’ve notice that your eyes always give things away. This time I didn’t even see it coming.”

  “That’s because I practiced for three months so you wouldn’t be able to tell I was up to something,” he confessed. “My classmates thought I was losing my marbles.”