Right in Time
By Dahlia Potter
Chapter One
“Chair sex.” Taylor quipped. “Chair...sex?” she questioned once again in a volume that showed she either didn’t care or was oblivious to the numerous other people in the cafe around them.
“Yes!” Maggie shot back, her tone hushed and urgent, hopefully bringing this conversation back to being just between the four of them. Sure, she was the one that brought it up, but she had no intention of sharing the details of her recurring dream with the few choice strangers who had shot them questioning looks, with one guy even craning his neck to try to hear more. Not going to happen, buddy, she thought to herself. Apparently even sounds of coffee bean grinders, milk frothers, and other patrons can’t drown out people’s curiosity when they hear the word sex being discussed. Maggie Sloan now found herself sitting at the small round table, her friends looking at her expectantly. I guess, ultimately, she couldn’t not go on.
“Okay, okay. Yes, chair sex. I don’t know but I keep having this dream. I didn’t think anything of it the first few times, but now there’s been like half a dozen of them and it’s the same thing.”
“Uh huh. Details, please.” Piped up Callie.
“Yeah, like was this your standard kitchen chair or one of those office types with wheels? Because that could get dangerous. Oooh, did it have an ergonomic pad thing you see in the doctor’s waiting room? Handy. Leverage.” Shot Taylor, never one lacking in sarcasm. Maggie always chopped up her fiery wit to her fiery red hair.
“Guys.” Alexis cut in, ever the voice of reason. Sure she was eager to hear the details like the rest of them, but she knew when they needed to cut it out and get down to business.
“It’s just a metal kitchen chair,” she started, shooting look at Taylor who just smirked in response, “and I don’t know...it starts off differently sometimes. But usually it involves me...you know...with my hand...and then he pulls me around so that I’m on top of him and we basically just have sex.”
“And that’s it?” Callie asks.
“Well, yeah. I know, nothing earth shattering, but...the orgasm sure is.” She added in a quiet, almost embarrassed tone that had her friends howling.
“So, who is this guy that rocks your world...and buggers up your hardwood floors?” Taylor asked with a chuckle.
“See, that’s the thing. I don’t know. I never see his face.”
A thoughtful “huh” escaped Callie’s lips as they turned to look at her.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. I just think it means you need to get laid.” She responded in a serious tone. “And badly.”
“Gee, thanks Doc.”
“Hey, it’s true. I learned in Psych class at college that dreams are partly wish fulfillment. So, deep down you’re wishing for a big ol’ coc...”
“Don’t.” Interjected Maggie.
“You know, I agree with Cal.” Added Taylor.
“You would.”
“I kinda do too.” Cut in Alexis in an almost unsure tone. Mainly unsure as to what wrath Maggie would bestow upon them.
Growing up in small town suburbia, Taylor, Alexis, and Callie had all known each other since the time they attended the only elementary school within a ten kilometer radius of their homes, and when Taylor moved and ended up transferring the first year of junior high, meeting Maggie, she infiltrated their close little group, fitting right in. Despite their differences, the four of them were thick as thieves and because of that they supported each other to the end. But that didn’t mean they weren’t honest with one another where it counted. Even if they didn’t know what reaction might be waiting on the other side.
“What?! Okay, you know what? Conversation closed. Forget I even brought it up.” Maggie waved her hands in defeat, hoping that one of them would pick up on another conversation path and forget about her dream analysis. She herself wasn’t even sure what the big deal was. Why she was so offended at the prospect that she just needed to have sex. Release some endorphins.
Maggie had never been that vocal about her personal life. She had been a very careful person since birth her parents told her. She chose her words, her career, and most importantly, the people that she allowed in to her life very carefully. For her friends, sex wasn’t that big of a deal. Yes, when it came down to the time for them all to lose their virginities, some made a big hoopla about it, while others didn’t even share that it had happened until it was just casually brought up over drinks one night. For Maggie, she wanted a special person to share that with. She wasn’t a prude at all and sure, she had done things; risqué and otherwise, but with the way she lived her life, she looked at every option and every possible outcome. Only one guy had ever entered it that made her want to jump in head first. However, before she could, he pulled the rug out from under her so fast she didn’t know which end was up.
Chapter Two
Maggie was ecstatic to have made it out of the cafe with some of her dignity left intact. She was also ecstatic to not have had her dream occur again the next few nights; this time imagining them rolling across the floor on a wheeled office chair, slamming head first in the wall. Talk about a mood killer. Thanks, Taylor. Instead, she shelved any of the analysis her friends provided and dove head first back in to her work.
Sole pastry chef and owner of a little studio called The Sweet Tooth, Maggie produced custom cakes and pastries that rivalled those in magazines. On this day, even though it was approaching 7pm, the sun still shone brightly through the windows that framed the front of her store. Drinking it in, she relished in the fact that despite the hour, it was still bright outside for it made the long days more bearable. She sighed as she sat alone in the front of the shop, finishing up the paper work for the wedding cake order she had just received, the heat that started coming when late Spring was getting ready to turn in to Summer hitting her just right.
This was her; always taking the time to muse about what was going on around her. Today, the sun added to her sunny disposition, but on other occasions, this tendency to muse took on a mind of its own in the form of overthinking. Maggie was a logical person; a thinker. Sometimes, too much so. Yet right now, taking these quiet moments allowed her to think about how far she had truly come, but there was still one thing that was missing; a man to share it all with. Life can’t be all sunshine and sugar. Sure, she had a great group of friends supporting her, and they were more than willing to lend her an ear whenever needed, but it was not the same. Cliché maybe, but Maggie was always a fairy tale type of girl.
“One year,” she thought aloud, “one year and I’m still hung up on this.” Frustrated, she groaned to herself, only to be cut off by the familiar ring that let her knew she had a new text message. Reaching in to the pocket of her chef’s coat, Maggie retrieved her phone and slid it unlocked. “You’re still at the shop aren’t you” she read in the message sent from Taylor. Laughing slightly at how well she knew her, she continued reading the text, “We’re all going out to The Blue Room after dinner at The Creperie. Jake’s in town and I want you to meet him! Alexis and Callie are picking you up at your house at 8. Be ready!”
She had it in her right mind to reply back with a large, capitalized NO! But she knew she would never be able to get off that easy, plus she did really want to meet Jake. Taylor had been going back and forth to LA for a while, trying to get her foot in the door of the entertainment industry and on one of those trips she met Jake, a drummer in an up-and-coming band. Maggie had remembered Taylor mentioning a small West Coast tour to her a few weeks back and suspected that now was their Vancouver date. Groaning once again (that seemed to be a trend the past few minutes, didn’t it?), she quickly typed two letters in a reply and hit ‘send’; OK was all it said.
; “Crap!” Maggie called out as she stubbed her toe rounding the corner of her apartment in the hunt for her missing red high heel, tying her long black hair up in to a ponytail in the process. Multi-tasking had never been her thing. Making her way to the couch to check for blood, she caught the current time on the clock in the corner of her eye. “Crap!” she cried out again, even louder. 8:07pm blinked back at her. Luckily, she knew neither Alexis nor Callie were known to be on time so she should be alright, but just as that thought passed in to her head, the buzzer went letting her know they were here.
“Augh! 20 more minutes would be nice, thank you!” she said half-jokingly in to the receiver.
Met by laughter, Callie burst her bubble by saying, “Sorry, no can do. Jake’s band is on at 10, so if we want to get in dinner, we’ve got to go now. We’re late as it is.”
“Fine, I’ll be down in a second.” Maggie responded, hanging up. She stood there for a moment and surveyed the home in front of her. She had lived in the small one bedroom apartment for almost a year, but it already felt (and looked) like she had been there for years. It was a comfort aspect for her. The day she moved in, the minute her family and friends had left after helping her unload her boxes, couch, and bed from the truck, she went to work on putting things away, cleaning, putting up art work. She needed everything in its place and everything ‘right.’ After spending a few weeks at her mom’s place after everything fell apart, she needed to get out, move forward, have a fresh start. And by setting everything up and getting her home in order, she felt that she might be able to actually get the rest of her life in order.
Again.
But it had been taking a little bit longer on the personal side than she had expected.
One tiny speck of red poking out from under the couch caught her eye and brought her attention back to the task at hand. “Aha! Found you!” she proclaimed as she quickly retrieved the missing red shoe, slipping her foot inside as she made it to the door as gracefully as possible. Taking a quick moment to examine herself in the mirror before proceeding, she gave her look the once over. Her naturally tan, olive skin shone and her dark brown eyes popped with her choice of make-up. Her simple black dress hugged, yet flowed over her slim frame, with the once-MIA red heels giving her outfit the pop (and her 5’4” frame the height) it needed.
When she finally made it down to the street, she could see Alexis in the driver’s seat and Callie leaning against the passenger side door waiting for her. The tall leggy blonde of the group who couldn’t help but drive men wild was dressed to impress tonight. Effortlessly so. How the hell did she do it? Maggie couldn’t help but think to herself, her toe still aching from the shoe hunt. When she moved to give her a hug, Maggie caught sight of Paul in the seat next to Alexis. Internally she groaned for the umpteenth time today. She knew Taylor’s boyfriend would be there, but she had not expected it to be a couple’s thing. Pulling away from Callie’s hug, she said hi to Paul over her shoulder as they made their way in to the back seat.
“What? Ben’s not coming too?” she asked Callie.
“Uh, no. Ben was told to start walking weeks ago.” Callie replied nonchalantly.
“What?! Why had I not heard about this before?” Maggie retorted. Sure, she knew Callie wasn’t interested in a serious relationship and had a few boyfriends in the past couple months, but she thought she’d at least be told when they moved on.
“It’s no big deal, really. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I know it was a busy week at the shop for you.” Callie explained.
And she was right; Maggie had been the busiest she has been in a while. Three weddings in four days took the wind right out of her and she barely spoke to her family, let alone her friends. What can you do though? Everyone wants to be a Summer bride.
“Ooh, but you want to know what?” Callie interjected, cutting off her thoughts. “I’m getting the bass player tonight!” Callie announced in a singsong tone. Alexis burst out in a knowing laughter, while Paul just shook his head and chuckled quietly. It was in that moment when Maggie just rolled her eyes at her friend and looked at the people around her that a huge smile formed across her face. Sure there were things she felt she was missing in her life, but right now her world was pretty damn good.
Chapter Three
Taylor had met the others at The Creperie since she had hung out with the band during their soundcheck. She had always loved the behind the scenes stuff. Hearing her talk about Jake and his music made Maggie so happy for her friend. Out of the four of them, she and Taylor had known each other the longest and she knew well of Taylor’s pickiness, so the minute she got the initial text (and phone call the following morning), she knew her friend had found one that would be sticking around longer than the first date for sure.
Despite all this, there was still a pang in the back on Maggie’s heart. She didn’t yearn for what many wanted; young love, new love. No, she wanted the relationship, the comfort, the man who knew everything about her and knew her little quirks and ticks. Ultimately, she wanted a future. She wished she could be like Callie and just date casually, but they both wanted different things and knew it. Callie didn’t see herself married with kids running around, but Maggie did. Nothing was wrong with either one of these pictures. The only thing wrong was that one of them had what they wanted, while the other did not.
Dinner went by quite quickly, partially because the company was so great and the time flew, but also because it had to in order to make it to the show on time. After throwing in a few drinks to start the night, the four ladies headed down the Vancouver streets towards the venue all following behind Paul’s lead. When he announced for them to follow him, it was due in part to wanting to take control; be the guy, but probably more the latter. He did just endure almost two hours of girl talk, but after dating Alexis for three years, he should have been used to it.
No more than 10 minutes later, the group arrived at The Blue Room and stood to the side as Taylor spoke with Will Call and got her friends their VIP passes that allowed them access to not only the club, but to the backstage areas as well. Following her lead, the all entered and found a great spot right in the front of the balcony that allowed for a fantastic view of the entire stage.
Jake’s band, Alder, was terrific. They sang rock infused pop songs that had the whole crowd dancing, jumping, and singing along. Maggie wasn’t much of a dancer and that was something she admitted to herself, but after listening to a few of Alder’s songs on their website, she couldn’t help but tap her foot along to the tunes that were familiar to her.
After the encore and ovations, Maggie, Alexis, Paul, and Callie all followed Taylor backstage. The minute they saw the guys, Taylor ran to congratulate them all on an amazing show and then proceeded with introductions, paying special notice to Callie and Scott; the aforementioned bassist. After everyone was casually chatting, Maggie pulled Taylor aside and all she said was “Nice work!” Taylor couldn’t help but laugh out loud, knowing what it was her friend was referring to. Jake was 6’2”, slender, light brown hair, amazing blue eyes, and a smile that lit up his whole face and one you couldn’t help but smile in response to.
After eventually moving to a quiet pub down the street, Maggie joined in the conversations of those around her, but mainly found herself an outside observer. Taylor and Jake sat close, sharing little inside jokes and comments, but never separating themselves from the group and Maggie could see that her friend was smitten. She remembered when Taylor had expressed how hard it was to constantly be apart from someone you were falling for, but all Maggie could think was “at least you get the reunion.” Shaking that thought from her head, she smiled softly at the image of one of her closest friends and then moved onward when Callie’s laughter caught her ear and she saw her speaking animatedly with Scott and the lead singer James about one of her biggest loves; music. Callie had never dated a musician and this was something that all of them had questioned. She could name you the artist and song name of practically anything out there, a
s well as what school grade you were in when it was released. It was kind of her superpower.
As Maggie saw Scott, a shaggy haired blond, keep his deep brown eyes on Callie as she talked, she got the feeling that this one might be a different one for her friend. Excusing herself to use the washroom, Maggie took the time alone to ponder the situation. Here she was, out with her friends, two taken by amazing men, one probably moving in that direction, and then there she was all alone. Sure, she wasn’t alone alone since her friends were there, but it wasn’t the same.
When Maggie finally kicked off her red heels that she swore she’d never wear again, she quickly went to the couch and put up her swollen feet. It was just about two in the morning and she was exhausted. After saying goodbye to the band and Taylor, the other three dropped her off at home and she felt like she was ready to crash. Those plans of sleep were put on hold, however, as her cell phone rang and Taylor’s name and picture popped up on the screen.
“Didn’t I just leave you?” she said jokingly in to the phone, not feeling the need for the customary hello.
“Um...duh?” Taylor laughed. “I just wanted to call and make sure you made it home safe and sound...”
“...and to get more dirt on what I really thought of your little drummer boy?” Maggie said, finishing her sentence.
“Am I that obvious? Ah well. So, what did you think?”
“He’s cute, you already knew that.”
“And you liked the band?”
“Yeah, they were great!”
“I didn’t see you dancing along though.”
“Hey! I was tapping my foot!” Maggie retorted as both girls broke out in laughter.
Right in Time Page 1