by Megan Keith
“I am ready.” I speak through my crunchy mouthful just to get under her skin. One of her pet peeves is people talking with their mouths full of food. I do it now because she’s really beginning to piss me off and it’s only the start of the night.
She looks me up and down disapprovingly. What I’m wearing is nothing too fancy but it is only dinner at home. I look down at my best pair of jeans and the flowery gypsy style top. I thought my outfit was flattering. I guess she doesn’t agree. Her eyes focus thoughtfully on my face, devoid of make-up.
“You’re leaving your hair up then?”
“Yep,” I reply, popping the ‘p’. She doesn’t even try to hide her annoyance. I know how she feels about my hair, she much prefers it down. But I hold my pony-tailed head high and do my best to ignore her barbs. It’s getting harder by the second.
“Maybe you should freshen up, dear. You have to make a good impression.”
That’s it! I can no longer hide my feelings. I see red. I don’t know if she’s totally oblivious or just plain ignoring the fact that I’m angry at this point, because the look on her face now, is one of complete indifference. Before she has a chance to insult me further, or I get to retaliate, there’s a knock at the door. I glance at the clock to see it’s 6:25 and I’m pleased that he’s not late – one less thing to hear Mum complain about.
“I’ll get it!” Mum practically pushes me out the way in her rush to the door. “Well, hello there!” She spins to face me. “You didn’t say he was such a looker.” Yep, she has no shame. She doesn’t even attempt to lower her voice. My cheeks flush with embarrassment as I peer over her shoulder to see Seth grinning my way. “I’m Claudia,” she thrusts her hand out for him to shake, “it’s lovely to meet you, Seth. Come inside, I’ll introduce you to my husband.”
She pulls him into the lounge room where a silent Jack makes an attempt to be civil. He stands politely and shakes hands with Seth when Mum introduces the two of them. A second later he’s back on his spot on the couch, silent again and watching the interaction without offering to take part.
“I’m sorry it’s such a mess in here.” Mum neatens a small pile of magazines on the corner of the coffee table as she speaks. “I guess Bianca has been busy and hasn’t found the time to clean.” She speaks in an upbeat voice and smiles my way like she hasn’t just insulted me. I worked my arse off getting this place clean and tidy. It’s bloody immaculate! How dare she! I want to scream I’m so livid. I flinch with pain when I literally bite my tongue to stop myself from doing so. Then I catch Seth’s eye as he looks over at me with sympathy. He winks and I instantly relax. Huh! Isn’t it funny how in tune he is with me already?
“You should see my place then,” Seth jokes. I have seen his place and it’s very clean and tidy so I know he’s only saying that to ease my tension and I’m grateful.
Mum bombards Seth with questions that she already knows the answers to because she’s been grilling me since she arrived - questions about his family and his job - while Jack and I sit idly by. I can’t help but be mesmerised by Seth as he talks passionately about his work and lovingly about his parents and sister. I don’t even mind that Mum is monopolising the entire conversation, I’m just happy he’s here. I want to throw caution to the wind and not overanalyse our relationship. I’m trying awfully hard to stop thinking and just relax with the thought that he’s my new boyfriend, and Seth smiling at me at every opportunity easily helps. For now, at least, he wants to be with me.
Eventually I leave them to it so I can check on dinner. I usually eat in the lounge room or at the small kitchen table but tonight I’ve gone to the extra effort of setting the table in the dining room. Mum wouldn’t expect anything less. When we sit down to dinner she finally stops talking. I’m sure we’re all relieved at that. For me though, it’s not just for the quiet, it also means she’s enjoying the roast beef and vegetables I cooked. Because, believe me, if she wasn’t enjoying it I’d definitely be told. I’m not sure if it’s just because Seth does it first, but she actually compliments me on my cooking. I don’t think she’s ever done that before.
After I clear the, thankfully empty, plates (yes, I’m pleased with my efforts, too), Mum again steers the conversation. This time she bombards Seth with details of the cruise her and Jack will be going on. Fiji is what they’ve decided. I must admit it does sound wonderful. I sit back and watch the conversation, or rather, I watch Seth as he talks with her. I know it mustn’t be his idea of fun, but he doesn’t show it. The way he smiles and interacts with her you’d think he was actually enjoying himself. That’s a first. None of my previous boyfriends have been able to pull that one off.
“Mum, Jack, would you like dessert?” I ask, when there’s a lull in conversation.
“Oh, not for me Bianca, dear. I couldn’t possibly,” Mum replies.
“None for me thank you, Bianca,” Jack says quietly. “Thanks for dinner though, it was delicious.” He gives me a genuine smile.
“Actually, we might head off.” Mum stands and Jack immediately follows. She grabs her handbag from the lounge room and gives Seth an impromptu hug. Over my shoulder she mouths, “I like him.” For once she’s discrete. When she turns to give me a hug I find my arms squeezing her tighter than usual because the night was, all things considered, relatively painless and I’m so glad she approves of Seth. Not that I need her approval on who I date, but it sure is nice. Another first.
“Well,” Seth says, blowing out a longwinded breath when the door finally closes on my mother and her almost mute partner.
“I did warn you, Seth.”
“She’s…”
“Overbearing? Obnoxious? Negative? Rude?” I offer.
“Yeah.” He winces like he really doesn’t want to agree. It’s not in Seth’s nature to talk badly about someone, this much about him I have learned.
“That’s her.” I shrug.
“That’s why you went nuts cleaning?” His dark eyes drill into me, his hands rest on my shoulders. “You shouldn’t let her get to you so much. The house was clean yesterday, you know?”
“Argh! I know.”
“I can’t believe that comment she made about the place being messy.”
“Better believe it. She’s always been like that.”
I shrug Seth’s hands off and walk back to the kitchen, filling the sink to wash the dishes. I have an overwhelming urge to share and have a good whinge about my mum. Just like with Scar, things I normally keep to myself have a way of coming out with Seth. I like it.
“When I was younger I had my ears pierced but I wanted second holes. Mum always told me I couldn’t. That one hole per ear was enough and any more than that was trashy. It was an argument we’d had for months on end. But when I was fifteen all my friends did it, so I did it with them, behind her back.” Seth begins drying the dishes as I wash them. We’re working together as I talk; like it’s the most natural thing in the world. “I was petrified I was going to be in deep, deep trouble. I’d never done something so against her wishes until I did that. You know what though? She never even noticed. For weeks I feared the repercussions until I eventually realised I wasn’t going to get in trouble at all. Even now, years later, she’s never said one word about it. It’s an impossibility that she hasn’t noticed by now. My guess is she must have realised just how unobservant she’d been and she didn’t want to admit it had escaped her radar. She was too embarrassed to bring it up. Yet, when it comes to the tiniest speck of dust in my house, she notices.” I shake my head, anger getting the better of me. “She has no trouble pointing out any flaws, no matter how small they may be! She makes me so mad!”
“You know what makes me mad?” Seth asks, his eyes alight with mischief as he crowds me in against the sink. I wipe my hands on the towel and turn in his arms. Who cares about unwashed dishes now? Mum’s not here to criticize.
“What’s that?” I ask with a grin, pleased at his distraction.
“That you asked everyone if they wanted dessert but
you never asked me.” He leans in and presses a quick kiss to my cheek. “What kind of a hostess are you?”
I laugh, loving how he knows just what to do to swing my mood around.
“What is for dessert anyway?” He nuzzles my neck. “Apple pie wasn’t it?”
“Yep.” Of course he knows, he was there when I bought it. “It’s already in the oven, warming. Should be about ready to eat.” I pull from his hold and reach for the oven mitt to check it.
“Let me get it for you. You’ve been flat out on your feet all day.”
His words and his hands stop me in my tracks. “Okkaaay.” Wow! He really is too good to be true – first he survived my mother and now he’s going to take care of me? I pull myself up onto the kitchen bench and swing my legs while watching him pull the pie from the oven. I already have the bowls on the bench and the knife standing by, so he needs no direction from me on where to find stuff. He cuts two huge pieces of pie and places them in the bowls, licking his fingers of sticky pie mixture when he’s done. When I drag my eyes from the fingers in his mouth I find him watching me. Clearing my throat, I say, “There’s cream in the fridge.”
He quickly finds it and turns to me with a gleam in his eyes, while holding the spray can of whipped cream. He takes a step towards me instead of the bowls of pie.
“Don’t be that guy,” I warn him, holding my hand up in protest and trying not to giggle.
“What guy?” he asks, with a smirk.
“The one who puts a little cream on the girl’s cheek just for the opportunity to wipe it off and to kiss her. It’s such a cliché!”
“I wasn’t going to do that.”
“You were.” A small giggle escapes. “It’s written all over your face!”
“Well, I’m shocked you think so little of me.” He feigns disappointment before crooking his brow. “I’m more original than that.”
He quickly tugs the front of my shirt and sprays the can down there instead. The cold cream hits my skin with force and I scream.
“I can’t believe,” I let out a shaky, shocked breath, “you did that!”
“Better believe it,” he repeats my words from earlier and I scowl at him. His eyes catch mine and his confidence waivers at my angry expression, so I take the opportunity to easily pry the can from his grasp, catching him off-guard. When his eyes wander to the cream poking out the top of my shirt I imagine how he can clean my breasts with his tongue and my insides clench. To tease him, I stick my index finger into the crevice between my breasts and pull some cream to my mouth. I suck my finger while eyeing him seductively.
“Talk about cliché,” he mumbles before forcing his way between my legs and using his tongue to pull the finger from my mouth, sucking it into his own. I groan at the feel of the heat and wetness surrounding my finger and I push my body to the edge of the bench, closer to Seth’s.
Seth
Her legs open wider as I suck on her finger. Then a loud noise, the depression of the can, is near my ear and the cold cream is dripping down my neck.
“Got ya!” she yells with a laugh.
“Got you!” I call as I move my hands behind her to cup her arse and lift her from the bench.
Her legs hug me as her mouth goes to work on my neck. I carry her to the bedroom and throw her down on the bed.
“This needs to come off,” I say, tugging on her now damp shirt. She sits up, allowing me to pull it over her head. I do it slowly so I don’t get cream smooshed all over her face or in her hair and then she does the same with mine before she scrunches them together and tosses them to the floor. Then I’m on her, my tongue desperate to lick up every single drop that is spread across her skin. I bury my face in her breasts, cool cream covering my cheeks while my tongue gets to work. When I’m satisfied I’ve got it all, and I can’t take another moment of Bianca writhing beneath me with our combined jeans acting as a thick barrier, I lift myself to get undressed. Bianca laughs at me.
“What?”
“Come here,” she instructs, her arms outstretched. I lean down and she places her hands on either side of my head, drawing me to her. “Now you have cream everywhere.” She makes quick work of licking all the cream from my neck, her hot mouth making the crotch of my jeans tighter. She giggles. “Let me, just…” And then she really starts licking me, no longer in a sensual way but like a kid would lick an ice cream, or a cat would lick spilled milk from the floor. I’m overcome with laughter, making it impossible for me to lift my head away from her hands so she continues her assault on my face.
“You done?” I ask, when she eventually tucks her tongue away.
“Yep.” She laughs. I try to lift my head from her grasp but she pulls me back, “wait,” and then she licks my forehead – which I know full well didn’t have any cream on it – in one long stroke, left to right.
“What was that?”
“A forehead lick.” Her blue eyes sparkle with mischief.
“Why?” I laugh.
“Dunno. It could be a new way to greet people.” She shrugs.
“You’re crazy.”
“Just a little bit.”
“Debatable on the little bit.” I lean down to press a soft kiss to her lips. It quickly escalates into a heated one when Bianca’s mouth opens, welcoming me. Our tongues caress as our bodies combine. Skin to skin but not enough - we’re both still wearing jeans.
“Get them off,” Bianca grumbles, trying and failing to undo the button of my jeans pressed between us. I lift off her, undo and tug them down while she does the same to her own. We don’t bother to remove them completely, too intent on taking the next step. Bianca reaches for the drawer and quickly pulls a condom out. She rips it open with her teeth and rolls it on me. I groan with the contact and within seconds I’m guiding myself into her body.
What is it about this girl that drives me so wild and makes me so damn desperate to have her?
Bianca
“Now the pie will be cold,” I grumble when I come down from my high. I yank my jeans back up and toss on a tank top while Seth pulls on his jeans... only his jeans, that are low-slung and incredibly distracting.
“Don’t care. I’ll take it any way I can get it.” The heated look in his eyes leads me to believe he’s talking about more than just pie. I follow him to the kitchen. “You want cream on that?” he asks minutes later, once the pie has been re-heated in the microwave.
“You’d think I’d have had my fill of cream by now, but no. I’d love to have some more.” I too, am not talking about dessert and the quirk of Seth’s lips shows me he knows that. I love how in sync we are.
“How would you feel about meeting my parents?” Seth asks as we sit down at the dining room table to eat our pie.
Um, maybe not as in sync as I thought. I inhale sharply, shocked by his question. “What?”
“I mean, you subjected me to your mother, it’s only fair that I do the same to you.”
“Hey! That was not my idea. You were the one that answered the phone this morning declaring yourself as my boyfriend.” I feel giddy just thinking about it.
“Yep. And I don’t regret it one bit.” He grins widely before shoving a spoonful of pie in his mouth. My spoon still hangs mid-air while I contemplate his earlier question. “I feel like I know you better because of it,” he says. “So what do you say? You want to get to know me better too?”
“What are you on about?”
“Next weekend. Come away with me. I’m going to Melbourne for Kev and Beck’s wedding, leaving here Friday, coming back Monday. Come with me. Be my date.”
“To their wedding? I don’t know…”
“Say yes. Won’t it be great to get away?”
“I guess.” My heart is beating a hundred mile a minute. A weekend away sounds so damn good. I can’t remember the last time I left the city. And to Melbourne? I’d love to … but there’s a niggly feeling in the back of my mind that this is all happening way too fast. Wasn’t it only a week ago that Seth confessed to have loved,
and then recently been heartbroken by, his ex? Now he wants a whole weekend away with me?
“Say yes,” Seth urges.
“I’d love to go, but…” But this is serious business. Should we be rushing this so much? “You’re best man at the wedding, Seth. I can’t just tag along.” It’s just an excuse, even if it’s a valid one.
“Why not?”
“These things have RSVPs and stuff. You can’t just bring along random people.”
“You are pretty random.” He chuckles. “They won’t care. Honestly. It’s a casual wedding, in the park behind their house. It will be no trouble. Here, I’ll prove it to you.” He leaves the room only to come back a moment later with his phone pressed to his ear.
“What are you doing?” I ask in shock even though I can figure out the answer already. I should stop him but I can’t form the words.
“Asking them. Hey Kev! … Not too bad, yourself? All set for the big day? … Uh-huh, I bet … yeah … no worries. Hey listen, I know it’s short notice but can I still bring a plus one? … Yeah…?” He winks at me. “Yeah, I have met someone … She’s amazing. Her name is Bianca.”
Holy hell, I’m going to a wedding in Melbourne! He thinks I’m amazing! He’s amazing! Geez, is this really happening? The twinkle in his eye tells me that it is.
***
We spend the rest of the night curled up in each other’s arms, snuggled in bed, talking and kissing until we both fall asleep. It’s absolute heaven and so is the next day, spent pretty much the same way.
Of course when things all seem to be falling into place something has to come along and ruin everything. The thing that soured my world, or rather, crashed into me at full pelt, leaving me breathless, came in the form of a piece of mail on Monday. I’d just arrived home from work, humming to myself with glee, knowing Seth was on his way over. I was considering what to cook for dinner while shuffling through the mail when I spotted it. How can one little envelope do such damage? By the letter it contained. It was from a lawyer in regards to the ‘Estate of Estelle Williams’.