The Friends Zone

by Tarrah Anders

  “On those hard days buddy, you know where I am.” I offer. This is the most we’ve talked lately and before either of us spoil it, I stand and say, “C’mon, let’s not kill the kid.” I say standing. We gather the folder from my office with all the stuff we’d need and we approach the elevators.

  “I texted Sterling earlier today to make reservations for the 4 of us at the steakhouse to celebrate Lukas’s promotion.” Max says.

  “Perfect. Glad one of us is thinking!” I smile elbowing him as the elevator doors open and we step out.

  “Thanks Talia.” I say with a wink as we stride past and approach the conference room.

  Unplanned, both Max and I stop just in the doorway and hover. Lukas looks up and his face pales.

  ***

  “So you thought these two boneheads were canning you?” Sterling laughs in between wiping her tears and her loud laughter.

  “You should have seen them in that doorway. I almost shit-a-brick!” He smiles as he cuts into his prime rib and takes a bite.

  Sterling continues to laugh loudly as Max and I smirk at one another. Lukas accepted our offer and now we are out celebrating.

  “His face went from elated to oh shit to crying like a baby, it was like a cartoon!” Max laughs as he slaps the top of the table. He’s on his 4th scotch and he’s getting louder and louder, but it’s a night for celebration so I won’t be a Debbie downer as I continue to watch him carefully out of habit.

  “You guys looked scary, and then you made me happy, it wasn’t like I could control it!” Lukas says in his own defense. “I swear, I almost needed new underwear!”

  “Well congrats again Lukas, you have worked hard and deserve it. Especially with having to put up with these two all day long. Trust me when I say, you deserve it.” Sterling loudly whispers.

  “Hey now, you realize that you’re marrying me, right, that’s for the rest of our lives.” I say pretending to take offence.

  “And because you’re marrying him, you’re sort of stuck with me too, for.the.rest.of.your.life!” Max mocks. Sterling rolls her eyes and I kiss her knuckles.

  The evening slows down and after we drop off Max at his house, I take the long way home. Sterling’s head is resting against the glass as she gazes out the window.

  “Hey.” I grab her hand and squeeze. “You okay over there kid?”

  “Yeah. Just, I don’t want to plan a wedding.” She says void of emotion out of nowhere.

  My heart almost stops and my foot finds the brake as I pull over. I put the car in park, turn on the hazards and turn to her.

  “What are you saying?” I ask, afraid of what her answer will be. Is this her breaking up with me?

  “Wipe that look off your face. I just am blocked when it comes to the planning. Honey, I still want to marry you, madly. I just, I hate planning it now that Betsy isn’t here to help me with all the girl things. My mom and your mom are too far away, and Candace is in Costa Rica!” She whines.

  My rapid heartbeat has slowed down now that my initial fear is swiped away.

  “Baby.” I start taking her face in my hands. “I know how fragile life is, and I honestly don’t care about a wedding. I want you. I want to be married to you. I don’t care how it happens as long as it does. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. I wouldn’t spend another minute without being married to you.” I kiss her softly.

  Her hands grip my hands on both sides of her face as she angles her head allowing the kiss to get deeper. She pulls back suddenly.

  “Let’s do it!” She breathes.

  “Do what?” I ask trying to pull her face back to mine.

  “Let’s get married, right now!” She declares.

  “The courthouse is closed.” I say with a straight face.

  “Vegas is always open.” She tips her head.

  “For reals? You would have a Vegas wedding?”

  “Just like you said I don’t care how it happens, as long as it does.” She says repeating my declaration back to me.

  I smile. “Okay.”

  “Okay?” She repeats.

  I pull her back and kiss her hard. “Call Max and Lukas, tell then to pack a bag, then if we leave in an hour, we’ll be there around 4 or 5am. Call our parents and tell them to get on the road too.”

  “Why in an hour, let’s just go now?” She asks.

  “I want to fuck you first, maybe a few times!” I sneer as I grab the steering wheel, shut off the hazards and put my blinker on.

  She wasn’t expecting that reaction, but she did as requested, we would pick up the guys and be one the road, right after I fucked her one last time as my fiancé and then tomorrow, she would be my wife!

  “By the way, Elvis won’t be marrying us.” I say pulling into the road and pressing on the gas to get us home quicker.

  STERLING

  Dane kept his promise as soon as we got home. He drove into me against the wall with our clothes still on and his hand gripping my hair as he declared how much he loves me, it was divine. He then gently made love to me on our bed before we left the house and that made me completely blissed out.

  Neither of our parents were appreciative of our phone calls telling them that they needed to start driving to Las Vegas as soon as we hang up, but they did it anyways. Lukas and Max were beyond stoked, to go on a small road trip; it was almost as if we were extending our celebration of Lukas’s promotion.

  We arrived in Vegas at 5:30am. Our parents grabbed last minute rooms at MGM for our group, and even got Dane and myself upgraded to a fancy suite. We caught a few hours of sleep and re-grouped at noon for lunch inside the mall at Caesars Palace, in front of a fountain.

  “You two!” My mother says walking briskly towards us as the four of us approached and then hugging Dane and myself.

  Max and Lukas partied almost all night as they wore their sunglasses snickered, and then promptly received some ridicule from Dane’s parents.

  “So, a Vegas wedding. What about all the planning you guys have already done?” Rebecca, Dane’s mom asked with her hands on her hips.

  “We hadn’t placed down any deposits yet, and we never really made any of the concrete plans. So why not?” Dane shrugs with his arm around me as we all sit down at our table.

  “Did you order your wedding dress?” She asks me and I shake my head.

  “I couldn’t bring myself to go dress shopping again…” I trailed off cutting a glance at Max, who thankfully wasn’t paying any attention.

  Rebecca understood what my meaning behind my statement was and nodded.

  “Everyone at this table are people that would be coming to a wedding anyways, so why not have it in Vegas.” Dane says smiling.

  “Cheers to that!” Max slurs in holding his empty glass up!

  “I’ve arranged for someone to marry you guys in front of the Bellagio, during their water show at 6:15pm.” My mom says from across from Rebecca.

  “Elvis will not be marrying my baby girl!” My dad says chiming in.

  Dane and I laugh.

  “You boys go find something better than shorts and t-shirts to wear tonight and we’ll take Sterling to find something suitable to get married in, also for you two to sober up.” My mom says holding out her hand for the credit card.

  “Mom, we came to Vegas to get married, we don’t need new clothes for that.” I protest.

  “Oh hogwash!” She exclaims closing the subject.

  There is no arguing with her once dad’s credit card is in her hand. I smile at Dane and he shrugs. What can ya do?

  ***

  Rebecca is curling the last section of my hair and then steps back to admire her work. As a little girl, I used to love having her play with my hair. Since she didn’t have any other kids aside from Dane, she doted on me with all things girly. My parents didn’t mind, in fact they encouraged it. With my mother holding up the cream tea dress they found at a shop in one of the hotel malls, she smiled with tears in her eyes.

  “I’m really sorry that Betsy couldn’t be here
for this day dear.” She says handing the dress to me.

  I give her a weak smile and nod my head as I turn to dress in the bathroom. The dress is beautiful, and I really feel like I’m getting married, like this isn’t just a whim of a trip. I do wish that Betsy is here with me, for this moment – however deep down I do know that she is. I step out of the bathroom and both mothers gasp. Dane’s mom starts to fan her eyes and mumble something about her makeup as I approach.

  “Oh honey. You are such a beautiful bride.” My mother says with her hands on my shoulders. I smile and look at Rebecca who hasn’t said a word since her mumbling. She takes a step up to me, and cups my cheek.

  “You’ve always been my daughter.” She sniffs.

  “Okay, Okay, let’s get the show on the road before we all cry away our makeup. We have 30 minutes to meet the guys at the Bellagio.” My mom starts to clap to get us on the move. I ease into my shoes and take one last look at myself in the full mirror next to the closet.

  I’m marrying Dane Crawford tonight!

  DANE

  My palms are sweating again; they are sweating worse than they did when I proposed. I cannot properly swallow, I keep feeling like I have forgotten how to or maybe my tongue has grown in size. I keep fidgeting with my buttons on the dress shirt that I purchased. To forego the extreme part of dressing up, I am wearing a very light green dress shirt with the sleeves folded up to my elbows, because I know that is a look that Sterling is hot for, and dress slacks.

  Max and Lukas are sipping on bottled water; at least I hope that is what they’re drinking. Max is my best man and he’s currently holding the solid diamond band that goes with the Asscher cut engagement ring that I purchased over a year ago. Lukas is standing to my other side and he is holding a floral bouquet for Sterling to hold.

  I look at my watch, it’s 6pm. Max clears his throat and elbows me. I look up and it’s almost as if the crowds purposely parted for her. My mouth is dry and my sweaty palms have immediately dried up. My jaw drops and I hear either Max or Lukas whistle their appreciation. Sterling is approaching wearing a knee length off-white dress. It’s astounding on her, she has minimal make up and her long brown hair is curled and bouncing as she walks towards us. I look her up and down and immediately notice that her shoes match my dress shirt. Whodathunk! I smile and take a step forward. She has a coy look on her face as she looks up at me through her eyelashes when she approaches and is within my reach.

  “You look… you look…” I can’t even form the words.

  “Hot!” Max and Lukas say at the same time.

  “Beautiful.” Mitch says from beside Max. Sterling looks at her dad in an appreciative way.

  “I agree, but I was going to say stunning.” I lean forward and kiss her cheek one by one.

  “Are you the Crawford and Cranefields?” A voice from behind Sterling asks.

  This must be the officiant. I am in heaven right now; I am tuning everything out from around me as I gaze into her eyes while our parents discuss everything with the gentleman marrying us.

  “2 minutes until Showtime. Are you guys ready?” He asks breaking the staring contest that Sterling and I were transfixed on. We both nod, not letting go of another.

  The music started, Frank Sinatra blared around us and the water show began. A camera starts clicking somewhere, when I realize that our parents took care of that as well. Sterling and I have not taken our eyes off another as the gentleman starts to speak.

  “Do you, Dane Crawford take this breath-taking woman to be your wedded wife?” He asks.

  “I do.” I smile.

  “And do you, Sterling Cranefield take this handsome fella to be your lawful husband?”

  “I do.” She smiles back.

  “I now pronounce you man and wife, you may now…” We didn’t wait for him to finish as we meshed our lips together. I don’t know how long we stood like that kissing, but it was perfect. This whole experience is perfect. My life is perfect.

  Epilogue -DANE

  One-Month Later

  Costa Rica

  We sat in our lounge chairs on the beach with the warm breeze of the Caribbean Sea floating across our skin. The sun was attempting to peak through the clouds, December is generally a windy month, with some scattered rains. We have been most fortunate on our honeymoon to experience little harsh weather changes. But in all reality, we’ve spent a good amount of those moments wrapped up in each other in our bed exploring another’s bodies like it was just yesterday that we broke through the friends zone.

  In the 2 weeks since we arrived, we’ve done everything from hiking, snorkeling, white water rafting, zip lining and even held a sloth or two. We’ve traveled to many of the touristy destinations in Costa Rica as well as spent a few days with Candace as she is working at the Rio Oro National Wildlife Refuge. While we didn’t interfere with her volunteerism, we did get to see what she was doing and that in its own was humbling.

  When we went out with Candace, one evening and she lead us to a restaurant in Playa Hermosa, which seemed to be in the center of all the action. There was live music, a dining area as the three of us sat down facing the beach in mismatched colorful chairs with our feet in the warm sand, and monkeys perched in the branches in the trees above us. String lights glowed within all the branches, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore was mesmerizing.

  “The food here is delicious, but it’s with the atmosphere as in, there’s no rush.” Candace explains removing her satchel. She was an entirely different person sitting in front of them, she seemed at peace and vibrant. “What’s good here?” I ask.

  “I usually get the fish tacos or the Peruvian Ceviche. Of course any of the fish is epic.” She smiled picking up the drink menu.

  Well all perused the menus and after ordering, we stared out on the coastline and listened to the two-guitarist strum and sing.

  “So, Vegas eh?” She smiles.

  “It was a spur of the moment, no holds barred decision. We called up the parents and practically forced them there. But it was so perfect.” Sterling gushed taking a sip of her Mojito.

  “I’m glad you did it your way.” Candace says.

  “I was informed by a good source that there is no other way. And look, we came here. I think I enjoyed planning the honeymoon part over the wedding part.” Sterling laughs.

  I look between the two questionably.

  “Thank you, you know for coming here. I know we joked about that, but it does mean a lot.” Candace looked from Sterling to me and smiled.

  ***

  It’s the last day in Costa Rica, we head back home this evening and we’ve spent the morning wandering the grounds of the hotel. It’s very lush and green here, the beaches are fantastic and the sunsets have been to die for. I think we may need to come back and actually take our time to enjoy the location and experience. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this trip, especially that Sterling is here with me as my wife.

  She is standing with her back to me as she braids her hair overlooking the sea view from our hotel room. She’s wearing a white sundress with her bathing suit underneath.

  “This has been perfect. Best honeymoon ever.” She says as I place my hands on her hips and pull her flush against my chest.

  “I couldn’t agree more, Mrs. Crawford.” I whisper as I nuzzle my nose behind her ear.

  She shivers and turns to face me. She looks up.

  “Say it again?” She whispers.

  “Mrs. Crawford.” I whisper kissing her cheeks.

  “Again?” She begs.

  “Mrs. Crawford. My wife.” I whisper trailing open-mouthed kisses down her neck. She sighs, leans back slightly, and her fingertips dig into my biceps as I slide her dress straps down her arms and place my thigh between her legs widening her stance.

  “Best life ever.” She whispers.

 

 

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