Fire Down Below

by Andrea Simonne

  The song “Snow (Hey Oh)” comes on and I turn it up, singing along. I’ve been listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers a lot since Ben and I started dating again, though I never listen to Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik and haven’t for years. In fact, if a song from that CD even comes on the radio I always turn it off or change the station immediately.

  I pull up into Lauren’s driveway and park right behind Suzy, who has just arrived herself. When I get out of my car, it’s gray and rainy and the air smells like wet pavement.

  “Hey Suzy,” I say, walking up to her as she waits for me, so we can go to the door together. She smiles and it strikes me that she looks exceptionally pretty. Her green eyes are practically glowing with health and happiness.

  Lauren answers the door all smiles and, after we take our shoes off, leads us back into her kitchen/ great room area, which is where we usually hang out when we come over. Her house is all done in pinks and creams—very feminine, and is so perfectly decorated it’s like something out of Better Homes and Garden. Sometimes houses that are too perfect make me uncomfortable. I’m worried I’ll spill something or mess it up somehow, but I don’t feel that way at Lauren’s. I think it’s because I know if I ruined something, she’d shrug it off.

  “I was hoping we could sit outside and do nachos and margaritas,” Laurens says, pulling some bean dip from the refrigerator, “but obviously the weather isn’t cooperating. Does that still sound okay though? We can hang out in here. Oh, I got some Piña Colada mix for you, Kate.”

  “Sounds great,” I say.

  “I’ll just have ice water,” Suzy says, taking off her jacket, “but nachos sound good.”

  Both Lauren and I look over at her in surprise. She loves margaritas and I don’t think I’ve ever heard her turn one down. I figure she doesn’t feel like drinking, but then Lauren suddenly shrieks.

  “I can’t believe it!” She reaches down, grabbing Suzy’s left hand where there is a sizable diamond now sitting on her ring finger. “When did it happen? You’re pregnant too—aren’t you?!”

  My eyes grow wide as I take in Suzy’s grin. It’s obvious Lauren has completely nailed it. I feel a swell of happiness for her and when our eyes meet I know she’s made the right decision. Whatever misgivings she had are gone and she’s full of joy.

  Suzy wears a confused smile and waves her left hand around. “I don’t know what happened. I woke up with this diamond ring on my finger the other day. Isn’t that weird?”

  “Oh stop!” Laurens laughs. “I knew you’d marry him the first time I saw you two together.”

  This gives Suzy pause. “Really?”

  Lauren nods. “You looked like you belong with each other.”

  “It’s true,” I say, remembering the way Lauren had leaned over to me during our first meeting with Luke and told me—I’ll bet this one sticks. “She predicted it when we all had dinner together.”

  “That’s interesting.”

  “Are you really pregnant?” I ask.

  “I am,” Suzy gushes, something I’ve never seen her do before in my life. “I took a pregnancy test a couple of days ago and it came out positive. Isn’t that crazy?”

  “It’s wonderful!” I give her a hug, feeling totally thrilled and if I’m honest maybe a teeny bit envious too. “Although I can’t believe you waited two whole days to tell us!”

  “I know, but I wanted to tell you both in person, plus Luke wanted to tell his parents first.”

  “Kate and I are going to be aunties!” Lauren says, joining in so the three of us are hugging one another and laughing at the same time.

  When we pull apart Lauren gives Suzy the once over again. “How are you feeling? Have you been throwing up or anything?”

  Suzy shrugs. “No, I feel fine. And please don’t start treating me like an invalid. When Luke told his parents at dinner last night they acted like I was too delicate to even go to the bathroom by myself.”

  “Have you told your parents yet?” I ask.

  Suzy shakes her head. “No, though we told them about the engagement a couple of days ago. I figure I’ll tell them later. My mom is in heaven now that she finally has a daughter getting married and a big wedding to plan, though we haven’t set a date yet.”

  “I wouldn’t wait too long.” Lauren gets out the cheese, avocadoes, and black olives from the fridge. She hands me the block of cheddar and a cheese grater and then hands Suzy three avocados.

  “I suppose,” Suzy takes a knife from the kitchen drawer and starts making the guacamole, “the problem is I’m not sure if we should wait until after the baby is born to have the wedding or do it beforehand. What do you guys think?”

  “I’d do it now,” Lauren says. “You’ll be too busy with a newborn to plan much of a wedding, plus do you really want to have a baby and not be married?” She looks over at me. “Sorry Kate, I didn’t mean it to sound like that. You know I’m kind of old fashioned that way.”

  “It’s all right,” I say. I’d told both of them about the whole sperm donor situation and the fight Ben and I had. Suzy, of course, thinks I should go for it, while Lauren thinks I’m nuts to even consider having a baby without a husband.

  “Luke thinks we should get married soon, but I don’t know if I like the idea of a shotgun wedding.”

  I check the bowl to see how much cheese I’ve grated. “It doesn’t have to be a shotgun wedding. It would be a regular wedding. It’s not like you’re getting married because you got pregnant. Actually, were you trying to get pregnant or was it an accident?”

  Suzy smiles sheepishly. “I wasn’t trying, but I decided to go off the pill a few months ago, thinking I should give my body a rest, since I’ve been on it forever. We’ve been using condoms here and there, but weren’t strict about it as I figured I probably wasn’t ovulating yet. I guess I was wrong!”

  “I can’t wait to go shopping,” Lauren says, taking the cheese I’ve grated and sprinkling it over a casserole dish full of tortilla chips. “Think of all the cute baby clothes. Are you going to find out whether it’s a boy or girl?”

  “I haven’t decided, but Luke says he’d rather be surprised.”

  “Hmm, spoken like a man who doesn’t care about shopping.” Lauren opens the oven door and slides the dish inside. “Why don’t you guys go sit down now,” she says, pouring the Piña Colada mix into the blender. “Everything’s almost ready. I’ll bring it out when it’s done.”

  Being that Lauren is by far the best cook out of the three of us and that this is her house, Suzy and I both go have a seat on the couch in Lauren’s great room. I can hear the blender buzzing away and the greasy corn smell of nachos baking in the oven. Suzy tells me her mom is already getting crazy with the wedding plans and wants to invite hundreds of people. Luckily Luke is pretty easy going, but even he’s getting concerned. She’s going to see if her sister Nina can hopefully talk some sense into her.

  After a short while Lauren comes out of the kitchen with a tray of drinks and places them on the large coffee table. Suzy reaches for her ice water and I pick up my Piña Colada. After a few more trips Lauren sits down with us and we dig in.

  “Yum,” I say, “this is so good. I think I could live on nachos.”

  “I know!” Lauren loads up her plate with guacamole and salsa. “I wish it wasn’t so fattening though.” She looks over at Suzy. “So are you having any food cravings yet?”

  “Not really, although for some reason I’ve been craving donuts. Isn’t that weird? I don’t usually eat them. I even did the donut trick with Luke the other night,” she laughs.

  “The donut trick?” I ask. “What’s that?”

  “You know....” Suzy looks at me.

  “No, I don’t.” Both her and Lauren are grinning with amused expressions.

  “You’ve really never heard of the donut trick?” Lauren asks.

  “No, I really haven’t and is somebody going to enlighten me or what?”

  “The donut trick,” Suzy says, “is when you slip a donu
t on a guy’s dick and eat it off as part of a blowjob.”

  I start to laugh. “You’re joking!”

  “I can’t believe you’ve never heard of it,” Lauren says, bending over her plate and taking a bite of nacho. “It was all the rage.”

  “I guess I’m out of the loop. Is it sexy? It’s sounds kind of silly.” I wonder whether I should try it on Ben. He’d probably take offense that I was eating something as unhealthy and fattening as a donut. On the other hand, it is a blow job. Surely that would override all other considerations.

  Lauren grins. “It’s both silly and sexy. I’ve done it on a few guys and no one has complained yet. Usually the donut falls apart before you eat much of it though. Of course by that point they’re so hot and bothered it doesn’t really matter.”

  “What did Luke think? Did he like it?” I ask Suzy.

  She shrugs and takes a sip from her ice water. “Of course, what’s not to like?”

  “Maybe I’ll try it on Ben.”

  “Oh, you should!” Lauren nods vigorously. “Hopefully it’ll loosen him up a little.”

  Lauren and Suzy finally met Ben a couple of weeks ago when we all went out for dinner downtown and they both told me that—while he’s certainly handsome—he’s too uptight. It didn’t help matters when he picked apart my dinner order and then suggested something healthier. I explained that Ben is a great guy who just likes to be helpful, but they seemed dubious.

  “I had fun talking to Declan on the phone the other day,” Suzy says, grinning at me. “He sounds really interesting.”

  “I can’t believe you guys both called him! I felt embarrassed when he told me.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Lauren takes a sip from her margarita. “He was super nice. Plus that accent of his—it’s so hot! I nearly had to fan myself with a magazine listening to him talk.”

  Suzy grins. “I kept thinking he sounds just like Liam Neeson.”

  “Me too!” Lauren laughs.

  I smile to myself. Declan would be groaning with annoyance if he heard this conversation. People are always telling him he sounds like Liam Neeson and it drives him nuts. I can hear him complaining—Is Liam Neeson the only Irishman anybody in this bloody country knows? He isn’t even a Dubliner for Christ’s sake. He comes from the North and we sound nothing alike—nothing!

  “So did you ever hear anything back from Justin?” I ask Lauren, wanting to move the topic away from Declan. She broke up with him recently because he still wouldn’t ‘put out’.

  She shakes her head. “I haven’t heard a thing. Which is fine by me—good riddance. Do you know how many dates we went on? Seven. Seven dates and he only kissed me three times! What was that all about? Do I have cooties?”

  “Really?” Suzy says. “I didn’t realize it was that severe. Maybe he really was frigid.”

  “So have you met anyone else yet?”

  Lauren sighs and leans back against the chair cushions. “No, I’m taking a break from men. Maybe the whole internet dating thing isn’t so great after all. I need to refocus on myself. Did I tell you guys I’ve started a yoga class?”

  She tells us about the beginner’s class she signed up for and how she already feels like it’s helping her cope with some of the stress at work. Listening to her, I wonder if I should try yoga myself. It sounds like something I might enjoy. I ask her where she takes the class and it turns out it’s not far from where I work.

  “You should come take it with me Kate!” Lauren says.

  “Maybe I will.” Truthfully, after spending the last week at the YMCA with the Gruesome Threesome, I’m ready to do anything that would give me an excuse to stop going there. I can’t imagine it will be any better when Ben gets back. “I’m getting pretty sick of the whole YMCA thing. Do you know what Rochelle asked me the other day? She wanted to know what sorts of things Ben and I argue about. She said astrologically we aren’t very well matched. Can you believe that? She keeps asking me all these personal questions about our relationship. It’s bizarre.”

  “What did you say?” Suzy asks.

  “I told her I didn’t think Ben would appreciate my talking about something like that.”

  “She’s crazy,” Lauren says. “The whole thing sounds strange. Why does he even bother going there—have you ever asked him?”

  “I did. He told me he met the three of them in an exercise class he signed up for last year. Apparently all the other people dropped out of the class, but the four of them stayed and when the class ended they kept meeting every morning, even though it was finished.”

  Suzy leans back and puts her feet up. “Just tell him you don’t want to go there anymore. What’s he going to do? I’m sure after you explain the way those women are treating you he’ll understand.”

  “Yeah,” I sigh. Though, I have to admit, that’s not a conversation I’m looking forward to.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Do you want me to drive for a little while?”

  Ben glances over at me. “Nah, it’s all right. I got it.”

  We’re in Ben’s jeep headed down to central Oregon. It’s a six hour drive and the back is full of camping equipment, rock climbing gear, and enough food and other essentials to cover us for the few days we’re going to be spending at Smith Rock Park. There’s a group of us meeting down there—climbing friends of Ben’s that I haven’t met yet. It should hopefully be fun.

  I’m trying to keep a positive attitude. Ben and I have been arguing since he got back from California. First we had an argument about what time I was supposed to pick him up from the airport. He called and gave me his flight information out of San Francisco, but somehow I wrote it down wrong, so he had to wait at the airport an extra hour. I felt bad and apologized, but he was fuming the entire way home in the car. Then a few days later he found some of the junk food that I bought while he was gone. I meant to throw it away, but I’ve been so busy at work that I forgot it was even there. Ben lectured me about what kind of food I’m putting in my body. I finally yelled that I’m a grown woman and I’ll eat whatever the hell I want.

  Despite all this, the sex between us is still amazing. I’m not sure how it’s possible, but it is. As soon as we touch each other all bad feelings disappear—at least temporarily—and we’re lost in the moment. It’s the one area we have complete harmony.

  When we finally arrive at Smith Rock Park’s camping area there are already a lot of people there. Ben knows most of them and introduces me as some come over and talk to us while we set up our camp site. Apparently the plan is that Ben, along with a few others, are going to go rock climbing tomorrow at a place called Morning Glory Wall. He tells me I can do whatever I want tomorrow and then we’ll go hiking together the day after that.

  “Does that sound all right?” he asks.

  “Sure, that’s fine. I’d like to go over there with you tomorrow and hang out though.”

  “Are you sure? You might get bored.”

  “I’ll bring a magazine and some binoculars. I want to watch you climb.”

  As odd as it sounds, I’ve never seen Ben rock climb. I’ve seen lots of pictures of him doing it, but even when we were together years ago I never went out there with him. In truth I feel embarrassed. How selfish must I have been? So here I am finally being the supportive girlfriend and I’m really looking forward to going along tomorrow.

  “All right, if you want to come with that’s great.” He smiles with approval. “They’ll be other people there to keep you company while I’m climbing, so you won’t be by yourself anyway.”

  “I have my new camera too.” I recently bought myself a fancy digital camera. “It’ll give me a chance to play around with it.”

  “That sounds good.”

  And I think we’re both relieved things are going smoothly.

  ***

  The next morning we’re up at seven. The sun is shining, but it’s early autumn, so the air has a definite bite. Ben encouraged me to dress in layers before we left, so I don’t feel cold. It�
��s strange sitting around eating breakfast with everyone without having so much as combed my hair or put on any makeup. There’s a line to use the shower facilities, so I’m eating scrambled eggs and beans waiting for it to clear out. I notice that many of the women in our group are quite attractive, and unlike me, they obviously thrive in this kind of outdoorsy environment.

  As I sit in my camping chair people—watching and drinking instant coffee, I have to wonder—why didn’t Ben wind up with one of them? What the heck does he see in me?

  I’ve only been here one night and have already screamed twice. The first time was when I found a spider in my sleeping bag. The second time was when I got up to go pee in the middle of the night and a leaf got caught in my hair. (I thought it was another spider.)

  Ben tried to act light hearted about it, but I could tell he was annoyed. I felt silly and apologized, but what does he expect? It’s not like I’m used to camping.

  “Hey there little Miss Muffet!” Josh, one of Ben’s climbing buddies comes over to us. “I haven’t heard a peep out of you all morning. I guess the beasties are leaving you alone, huh?”

  “Yeah,” I say, still feeling embarrassed.

  “Don’t worry, after a while you get so used to them—they’re almost like pets.”

  I groan. “That’s hard to imagine.”

  “It’s true. Just wait and see.” He grins and gives me a wink. I smile back wishing Ben could be more easygoing like this. Josh looks over at him, “Talia says she wants to come with us and do some lead climbing, is that all right with you?”

  “I thought she hurt her ankle.”

  Josh shrugs. “She said it feels better.”

  “As long as she’s all right. It’s fine by me.”

  They talk about the weather a little and then discuss climbing routes with weird names like Zebra and Lion’s Jaw, throwing numbers around, which from what I can gather is the difficulty rating of the various climbs. As I watch the way people interact with Ben it’s clear that he’s one of the more experienced climbers and is definitely well respected by everyone.