Intoxicated

by Stacey McCoy

  “Farting of course.”

  Jake starts his tickling assault on my ribs again.“Okay, okay, I’m sorry for laughing at you too.”

  “Well I’d say after that, we’re even, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah I suppose.”

  Slowly I calm down and begin to breathe with ease again.

  “You can’t tell any of the girls about my scar and I won’t tell them you farted in front of me. Deal.”

  “Deal.”

  Chapter SEVEN

  My phone rings. It’s Simone.

  “Hey girlfriend. How are your legs?” Simone says.

  “My legs? My legs are fine. Why do you ask?”

  “Oh we just thought you might be a bit bow legged after having a massive male stripper stuck between your thighs all night.”

  I can hear all the girls laughing. I thought Chrissy would’ve had my back, but no doubt after telling the girls what she’d heard, the story may have gotten a little bigger and wilder every time it was told.

  “Ha ha ha. We’re all good here, thanks for your concern Simone. Now where’s lunch going to be so we can come and meet you?”

  “Shit. Is he still there?”

  I begin to move closer to the bedroom door. It was bad enough that I made Jake feel uncomfortable with my doubts about his chivalry, he doesn’t need to cop it from the girls too.

  “Yes he is. He ordered breakfast and we’ve spent the morning talking.”

  “Well bugger me, isn’t he full of surprises. Okay we need a major D&M. Meet you on the river at The Boatbuilders Yard at one.”

  “Done. Can you text Alex please.”

  “Dirty skank. How’d she do?”

  “She did Liam and did him well from what I can gather.”

  “Shit I knew it. Man I thought I might have a story or two to tell Johnno when we got home, but this is pure gold.”

  “Just ease off on telling everyone just yet please. Jake and I still have a bit to work out yet.”

  “Yeah I’m just teasing, you know I can keep a secret babe. I’ll text Alex and see you soon.”

  “Thanks love. Catch you all later.”

  I walk back over to the table and start to clean up. Jake nestles in behind me, grabs my waist and says quietly into my ear, “Honey for the price you paid for this room why don’t we leave this for someone else to clean up.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  ***

  We freshen up, well I freshen up. Jake would look gorgeous in a hessian bag for crying out loud. You wouldn’t even know he was still in last night’s clothes. He smells divine. He smells like sex. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but he smells likes sex to me. I need to stop thinking about last night before we have a repeat on our hands and we’re late for lunch. Wouldn’t the girls have a field day if we were late? It wouldn’t matter if we were, or weren’t, having sex, they’d still give us heaps.

  We head downstairs. Jake naturally attempts to hold my hand, but I deflect and rummage around in my bag while we walk down the street toward the restaurant. His second option is to place his strong palm on the small of my back instead. It’s nice, but it’s depressing too. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m about to be caught doing a bad thing and Sam’s going to find out that another man is staking a claim on his girl.

  Jake moves his arm and again attempts to take my hand. He’s quick to pick up on his mistake and he apologise then places his arm around my waist instead, pulling me close to his warm, muscular body.

  I don’t want to give Jake the impression he can’t show physical affection to me while we’re in public, but it feels weird. I just had sex with the guy last night yet his constant need to hold my hands makes me feel weird. I know it sounds silly, but Sam was a proud and possessive man and he showed it by holding my hand everywhere we went. If only there was some sort of sign from Sam to tell me that all of this is okay.

  Sam truly was a great man. The impression he made on me from the moment we met was unforgettable. He wasn’t an overly tall man, but he was strong. You could tell he was muscular even when he was fully dressed. He only ever spoke when he was spoken to, that was testament to the way he was raised. He could enter a room unnoticed, but as soon as he left people would ask, “Hey, where’s Sam?” which was usually followed with, “Argh the bastard owes me a beer.”

  He had short blond hair, which I’d cut for him, and deep caring blue eyes and he would hold my hand every chance he could.

  The man’s energy levels were boundless. Ashley and Aiden would ask him to play with them when he got home from work and no matter what game they wanted him to play, he’d play it.

  He made sure his affairs were in order too. Sam’s death left us fairly well off. I mean I have no plans to leave work, purely because I’d be bored out of my brain at home all day and I would have way too much time to think, but we could live a comfortable life with the money we have now. We’ve no mortgage and by leasing the farm we have money coming in.

  It’s nice to know the kids will be financially okay in their futures, but they will still have to work hard for their money. Sam wouldn’t want them to become spoilt little brats and I’d never let that happen.

  We had only just finished building our dream home when Sam died. We’d only lived in it two months, but we had already made a lot of memories within those comforting four walls.

  Our home is a large four bedroom stone house. We dug the stone out of the earth from one of our nearby paddocks. It was a lot of hard work, but it meant so much to us to know that we’d personally sourced each and every stone that made up our home.

  It took us years just to come up with the floor plan but we were determined to succeed in designing our own dream home and build it from scratch.

  Our house has a wide veranda all the way around and is surrounded by our three and a half thousand acre property. We farm sheep and cereal crops mainly although Sam also did a little contracting work baling hay for other farmers who didn’t own a baler, or didn’t have the time to bale their own hay. It pays to have different options when it comes to earning income from a farm, after all if it doesn’t rain the crops won’t yield well, but if you’re lucky you may have a good wool clip that year. Often you’re able to counteract a loss with a win by being versatile. Sam was a very smart farmer. He managed our property well.

  Even though it took a long time to build our dream home it was well worth the wait. It probably wouldn’t have taken so long if Sam wasn’t a farmer. Farmers tend to have their own ideas of time. I’d figured that out early on in our relationship. If Sam rang to say he was twenty minutes away, nine times out of ten it meant he was more like forty minutes away.

  I would always factor in the timing disability Sam had when we’d go out for tea. I’d tell him tea was at six, even though everyone else was told six thirty and we’d still end up late, but we were a lot closer to being on time than if I had told him the right time. It was an ongoing joke. If you were late it was because you were running on “McVeigh time.”

  It’s not our fault that some of our sheep would be out due to broken fences or that other farmers would call for a chat just as we were about to walk out the door, but there seemed to always be something stopping us from being on time whenever we had somewhere to be.

  The kids and I are hardly ever late now. Sometimes I make us late on purpose because I think Sam’s mates like to have a dig at me and remember him in that way.

  We get to the restaurant and find Alex and Liam sitting at a table outside. We need to clear our throats to get their attention because their mouths seem to be locked together. They’re clearly not embarrassed to show their affection for one another while being surrounded by other people.

  Alex breaks away from Liam and notices me. She screams and jumps up from her seat. She embraces me in a bear hug and then tries to incorporate Jake into her arms as well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this happy.

  “My god girl, what happened to you last night? Oh no don’t te
ll me I really don’t want to know. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “Oh Kat words can’t explain how happy I’m feeling right now.”

  The boys shake hands and give each other a backslapping man hug. Liam has a beautiful smile and I get the feeling it won’t be coming off his face anytime soon.

  A waiter approaches and takes our drinks order. Just as our drinks are placed on the table I see the other five girls walking towards us, their arms full of shopping bags.

  “Geez girls, you look like you’ve blown up your credit cards.”

  “Yeah maybe, but who cares right? It’s back to work Tuesday to help pay it off, so let’s live it up today I say.”

  “Simone, you’re supposed to be the sensible one,” I suggest.

  The other girls all have a go at me for insinuating that I think less of them.

  A conversation starts about what everyone did last night. I sink into my seat hoping no one asks Jake and me about our night, although it’s obvious to everyone that we had sex.

  Alex starts her story. The girls and I have heard these stories before. Alex never leaves anything to the imagination, she’ll tell her tale in explicit detail the same way she always does. We’ll all know Liam’s shoes size, chest circumference and of course penis size, in inches and centimeters, erect and not erect by the time she’s finished telling us all about her night’s activities.

  Just as everyone is listening to Alex and occasionally Liam, the waiter approaches and asks me for my order.

  “I’ll have the chicken risotto please, but would you mind asking if the peas could be left out please. I hate peas.”

  Sam hated peas too.

  “Yes of course. I’ll take everyone’s orders then I will ask chef and let you know just in case you need to order something else.”

  The waiter has a slight accent. I can’t place his origin. Maybe he’s just putting it on in an attempt to sound more exotic.

  “That’s fine, thank you,” I reply.

  The waiter continues to take everyone’s orders. I tune into the conversation again and to my surprise Alex seems to have left out half of her usual story. The fact that Liam is sitting right beside her wouldn’t stop her from blurting out uncensored details. I’ve witnessed guy’s being so embarrassed by her candour, they usually can’t handle it and Alex, just being Alex, ruins their relationship before it even begins. But this is different. Liam’s smile is still plastered right across his face. He hasn’t taken his eyes off her and Alex is holding back on telling us all of her blunt details about this handsome man. Maybe this time, this relationship with The Son of Sex will be different. I can only hope.

  The conversation moves on to Simone, Mel, Danny and Jess. They did find a karaoke bar, but Sean wasn’t game to continue on as he was tired and had to get home to his wife and kids. Can’t say I blame him. It would take a lot of energy to dance on stage the way these boys do then back it up with a night out with these girls. We don’t get the chance to go out and play up often, but when we do, we do it right.

  Just then the waiter returns and says to me, “Excuse me miss.”

  “Yes.”

  “Sam says it’s okay.”

  Instantly my head spins and my heart suddenly pounds hard in my chest. Is this a sign or what? Well at least that’s how I see it. I asked the heavens above to give me a sign from Sam to reassure me that this, this relationship I’m embarking on with Jake is okay and to me it doesn’t get any clearer than this.

  “What!” is all I can say.

  “Sam, the chef says it’s okay. No peas in risotto, okay.”

  “Oh. Okay yes of course. Thank you.”

  I look back across the table and stare at the faces of my friends in front of me. No one else has heard what the waiter has said to me. It’s like he was never even there.

  Jake who is sitting right beside me turns and asks if I would like another drink. Then he realises that I look like I’ve just seen as ghost. Maybe I have, well at least heard from one anyway.

  “Kat are you alright?”

  “Um yes. Yes Jake I’m fine thank you, better than fine actually.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  Jake takes my hand under the table and gives it a gentle squeeze. “Everything’s going to be okay you know.”

  “Yeah I know,” I say as I return his gentle sign of affection.

  Accepting our contact, I feel for the first time in a long time like everything is going to be okay.

  Chapter EIGHT

  Lunch is wonderful. We’re all happily lapping up the sunshine in the cordoned off alfresco area of The Boathouse Yard, like lazy lizards on a hot rock. It’s a picture perfect day. There’s not a cloud in the sky and the slight sea breeze is just enough to refresh our sun soaked skin. The food has been scrumptious, the wine hasn’t stopped flowing and the fact that we’re all together relaxing and enjoying each other’s company is pacifying. I don’t ever want this moment to end, but as they say all good things must come to an end.

  The waiter approaches us. I notice it’s a different waiter than before. I haven’t seen the original guy since he told me, “Sam said its okay.”

  “I’m sorry folks, but we need to clear the table for dinner service. You are welcome to continue in the bar if you like.”

  Time has gotten away from us. I can’t believe it’s five thirty already.

  “No, it’s okay,” Jake says. “It’s about time we moved on anyway.”

  “Do we have somewhere more important to be Mr Samson?” I ask.

  “Yes actually we do. Well no not really, but I wondered if you might be up for a movie?”

  “Just you and me?”

  “That’s the plan. Unless you want everyone else to join us in your bed too.”

  Jake certainly knows how to put a smile on a girl’s face and clear a table apparently. Everyone stands at the same time and starts making excuses for needing to leave.

  Simone tells me she and the girls are going to dump their shopping, get dressed up and hit the town again.

  This city seems to inject life and energy into people who never knew they had it. Well that is until they pass over its border.

  Alex and Liam are heading back to Liam’s place. Apparently it’s been too long since they’ve shared bodily fluid. I’m happy for her, but I’m worried too. Alex lives up north near me. How is their relationship going to work? I know I’m old school and I know not every hook up needs to end as a happily ever after, it’s just I’ve never seen Alex this head over heels so quickly and Liam looks like a man in love. They’ll work it out I’m sure. I need to have faith. After all that seems to be what’s keeping my head above water at the moment.

  “So what movie do you want to watch?” I ask Jake.

  “I notice Dirty Dancing is on tonight. I’ve never seen it so I thought I’d check it out, if you like?”

  “You what! You mean to tell me you can dance like Patrick Swayze, but you’ve never actually seen him dance.”

  Liam stands and says to me, “Did you know that Jake stole my dance last night Kat? He pushed me out of the way as soon as he knew it was you who was going to be on stage with me and he took over. He’s never even practiced that scene and it showed. You stuffed it up royally mate.”

  “Oh my god Jake did you do that just for Kat?” Alex says.

  “Yes.” Jake smiles at me. “There was no way I was going to let anyone else dance with you.” He turns to look at Liam, “And I didn’t stuff it up thanks mate. I’ve seen you do it enough times, it’s not that hard you know.”

  “Aww Kat. How lucky are you.” Alex has a tear in her eye. She wipes it away before it falls.

  “Wow Jake you did that for me?” I’m stunned. Even after hearing Jake profess his feelings for me, hearing his confession surprises me and warms me to my core.

  “Yep, and I’d do it again.”

  I finish my wine in the hope of calming my heart rate to a normal level. I look Jake in his eyes and kiss him.

&n
bsp; “Thank you. That’s the most romantic thing anyone has done for me in a long while.”

  “It won’t be the last, I promise.”

  With that we all leave the restaurant. Jake and I walk back toward the luxury suite hand in hand.

  Lifting our hands toward his succulent mouth Jake kisses the back of my mine and says, “This is nice. I like this.”

  “Me too,” I say as I do my best not to blush.

  A sense of tranquillity has settled deep within me. I swear I almost hear Sam’s voice above all the noise of the city and he’s telling me, ‘It’s okay. It’s time to move on.’

  Feeling settled I rest my head on Jake’s shoulder. We stop and hold each other right in the middle of the sidewalk for the longest time. This does feel right. It feels good and I hope we can make it work…somehow.

  We get back to the hotel and make out in the lift as it makes its way up to the 22nd floor. When we enter the room we have to step over the girls shopping which has been thrown everywhere. They’re busy swapping clothes and shoes while doing hair and makeup.

  “It looks like my daughter’s bedroom in here,” I yell.

  “Don’t stress Kat. We’ve got till the morning to clean up,” says Jess.

  “Where’s Danny?” I ask no one in particular.

  “She’s on the phone to her kids,” replies Jess.

  I should ring my babies too. It’s their tea time now so I’ll wait a little while before I call.

  Jake and I leave the girls to what seems to be organised chaos. I walk over to the bedside table and flick the TV on in preparation for our movie night. I open the drawer and pull out the room service menu. Jake shuts the bedroom door behind him and heads straight into the bathroom to run a bath. I hope he’s going to let me join him.

  “Would you like to have a bath with me first Kat?” he yells from the bathroom.

  “It’s like you read my mind.”

  Jake appears in the doorway and waves one finger at me as if to say ‘come here.’ I go without hesitation. My doubts about this relationship are starting to ease although I’m still a little worried as to how a long distance relationship is going to work.