by Lena Nicole
“Of course, that isn’t a problem at all. I’ll leave you guys to roam and look around. I’ll be right back with something for you ladies to drink,” she says smiling, leaving to grab our champagne. We are looking at the racks of dresses, trying to figure out what Colby has in mind. When she said she is giving us free reign, she’s not kidding. We are holding up styles and colors and she just shakes her head, telling us to make the decision. All she cares about is that we’re comfortable. Morgan and I agree to get matching dresses and start from there. We pull a few dresses in different colors and head to the back where the changing area is, leaving Colby waiting on the sofa just outside of the curtains.
Hanna returns quickly with champagne and glasses and fills them for us. “Now if you need anything at all, just hit the call button and I will be right in,” she says before smiling and leaving us to it.
“So tell us, Addison, how is it going with the two hunky men in your life? Any new deets you want to share with us?” Morgan asks while sliding into her dress.
“No, Morgan, no new deets. Today is Colby’s day and we aren’t going to ruin it with my current man troubles,” I say, sliding on the same dress Morgan is putting on.
“Oh, don’t worry about me. I could use an update, it’s been a while. I feel like I’m watching a real life soap opera through you,” Colby says from outside the curtain letting out a laugh with Morgan joining her.
“I’m glad I am the source of your entertainment, guys,” I deadpan, stepping out of the curtain. I do a little turn for Colby and she’s smiling, nodding that she likes this one.
“Seriously, tell us what’s it like having sex with two men? Are they different lovers? Is one rough and the other gentle?” Morgan says while Colby laughs. I feel my cheeks flush at her crude comments. Morgan knows how I get talking about this stuff in public. I know they are teasing me and it’s all in good fun, so I hold back my embarrassment and play along for a minute before getting serious.
“Actually, I was thinking of throwing a third into the mix. You know, to spice things up a little. Maybe see if Pierce and Colin want to get together for a little threesome action. I mean, they’re sharing me already. What would be the difference?” They both stop laughing and are looking at my face to see if I’m serious or not. Never been one to have a good poker face, I break out into a fit of laughter.
“Geez, Addison, you almost gave me a heart attack,” Colby says, clutching her chest.
“And here I was going to commend you,” Morgan jokes.
“Honestly though, how is it going? Any closer to making a decision?” Colby asks.
“Every time I feel like I have it figured out, something happens. And lately I can’t help but feel like Colin is pulling away from me,” I say before taking the last sip of my champagne.
“Why do you say that?” Colby asks, refilling our glasses.
“I don’t know. I could just be imagining things, but take the other night for instance. When we went out to eat we went to our usual spot. The conversation was great, we danced, and to my surprise he even had a couple of new moves.” I pause, thinking back to that night.
“But?” Morgan asks.
“But, I don’t know. The whole night I was the one making contact with him. Normally he is so affectionate with me. He kisses me, holds my hand, and whenever we walk he always has his hand guiding me on my lower back. All that was missing that night. I’m probably just being ridiculous,” I say waving my hand in the air dismissively.
“Maybe he was just having an off day. You know how busy his work load is with this case he’s working on. He told Damon how stressed he’s been over it, and he’s been checking in on Colin to make sure he isn’t burning himself out. I’m sure it was nothing,” Colby says in an assuring tone as we head back in to try on the next dress.
No longer wanting to discuss Colin or Pierce, I change the subject.
“Morgan, when do you leave for your shoot?” I ask.
“I still can’t believe you are modeling,” Colby says.
“Again, modeling again. And I would hardly call it modeling. I’m doing smaller ads that are nothing like the big campaigns I used to do. I don’t think I’m quite comfortable with the idea of all the traveling the big ones come with. I want to slowly ease back into it and see if I even have the passion that I used to have for it. But to answer your question, I’m leaving on Monday and won’t be back until Sunday. I still feel horrible I won’t be here to go dress shopping with you, Colby,” she says as we come out with a new dress on.
“Oh, I love that one! It looks great on both of you. Don’t worry about missing my dress shopping. I might not even find a dress that day, but if I do, you will definitely be there for my fittings,” she says.
I look over at Morgan and ask, “Is this the one?”
“I think so. We all love it and it’s comfortable.” The dress is a malibu blue, short chiffon dress that has a sweetheart, ruched bust with an asymmetrical hem, leaving the dress fun and flowy.
Colby jumps up off the couch and gives us each a hug, handing us back our glasses.
“To love; may we all be lucky to find it and experience it for our entire lifetime.” We all clink glasses and drink our champagne.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice your change of subject,” Colby says quietly to me as she places her glass down.
I give her a pleading look with my eyes. “Can we please not talk about this today? I promise we can talk another day, just not now. It’s your day and I don’t want to discuss my problems when this should be nothing but happiness for you. Besides, I want to hear everything you have planned out for the wedding so far.”
“Okay, but under one condition,” she tells me.
“Shoot.”
“When you’re alone and you don’t have any guys around you, I want you to close your eyes.”
“Okay?” I say confused looking over at Morgan who is just as confused as I am.
“When you close your eyes, I want you to picture your life. Think about your husband and the father of your children.”
“And how is that supposed to help me?” I ask still confused.
“Because, Addison, marriage isn’t about making you happy, it’s about you marrying someone to make him happy. You will be giving him a family and you have to think about who you want to be by your side, raising your children with you. I know it might seem ridiculous to you, but please do it for me,” she says grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze.
“Okay, I promise.” I say hugging her. As we pull apart, I look over to Morgan and say, “You know it probably wouldn’t hurt for you to try the same thing.”
“If closing my eyes would solve all my man problems, I would sew them shut,” she jokes.
We all laugh and head out of the shop to grab dinner.
ADDISON AND I are on our way to the airport. As much as I love surprising her, this time I decided to tell her where we were going since she needed to take a few days off from work.
Last year while we were dating, I had bought her tickets to The Price is Right show. We never got to go, given everything that has happened, so I thought now would be a good time. The look on her face makes me smile even now. When I told her we were going to be a part of the show this week, she started jumping up and down, clapping her hands and squealing like a teenage girl. It was really adorable.
I park the car in long term parking and grab our bags before leading her inside to check in. I don’t like to flash my money around and be extravagant with everything, so instead of booking us a private charter like I did for the concert, I got us a couple of first class seats on a commercial flight. I know that sort of stuff isn’t important to Addison anyway, and I love her for it.
We take our seats once they start boarding and I grab her hand and rub the back of it with my thumb. She looks over and gives me an appreciative glance. Beneath that smile, I can see the excitement dying to leak out of her body. She’s practically vibrating. I knew she liked The Price is Right, b
ut I had no idea she liked it that much.
After takeoff, the flight attendants serve us drinks. Once we have ours, I whisper in Addison’s ear, “So, I was thinking we should do a repeat and pay a visit to our mile high club status.” I nip her earlobe with my teeth before pulling away. Her cheeks are flushed pink as she bites her lower lip.
“Pierce,” she admonishes. “You know we can’t do that here.”
“Why not?” I trace my finger over her collarbone, over her shoulder, and down her arm, watching the goosebumps pop up as I go along.
“Well, for one, the bathroom is really small. And two, people will hear us,” she whispers to me.
“Honestly, I don’t think the space will be a problem. I’m sure we’ll figure out a creative way to work around it. As for people hearing us…” I trail off as I place a few kisses down her neck, “you’ll just have to control yourself and be quiet.”
I hear her gasp before she lets out a quiet moan as I continue to nibble on her neck. Running my hand down her side, I place my hand on her hip and squeeze before continuing my decent down the outside of her upper thigh. I start stroking her outer thigh, each pass I make getting closer and closer to the inside. Her breathing has picked up and she’s clutching onto my forearm. Right when I think I’ve got her sufficiently convinced to join me in the bathroom, we hear a throat being cleared.
Quickly pulling away, Addison looks up to see the flight attendant staring us down with her hands on her hips. “Excuse me, but can you both refrain from engaging in—that—kind of activity? I’m sure our fellow passengers don’t want to see that.”
Addison buries her face in her hands after she pushes away from me. The tips of her ears are blood red and I know she’s mortified right now.
“Sorry about that. Sometimes I just can’t keep my hands off my girl. We’ll be on our best behavior,” I say to her. She tilts her head to the side and gives me a look that says ‘yeah right.’ “I swear. Scout’s honor,” I add. She gives me a curt nod before walking away.
I look at Addison and she’s still hiding behind her hands. Gently pulling them away from her face, I say, “Hey, she’s gone.” I chuckle when she gives me a dirty look from the corner of her eye.
“I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life,” she hisses at me.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. So what, we were kissing. That’s not a huge deal,” I tell her as I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. She still doesn’t look convinced, so I hold out my arm and motion for her to snuggle up against me.
She shakes her head. “No, I don’t want to get in trouble again.”
Rolling my eyes, I say, “Get over here. She’s not going to yell at you for lying on my chest. I promise to keep my hands to myself.”
Hesitating for a few seconds, she finally gives in and cuddles up to my side for the rest of the flight. Looks like I’ll have to make arrangements to revisit the mile high club the next time I charter us a private flight. Or when we don’t have such an uptight flight attendant.
THE NEXT day we’re standing in line to enter the studio that The Price is Right is filmed in. I thought the selection process was random, but apparently there’s a screening process before filming actually begins.
“I can’t believe we’re going to a live showing!” Addison says with her arm wrapped around mine, hopping up and down as we wait to be interviewed by the production staff. After waiting for a while, we’re finally ushered back to a room with about ten other contestants. The staff asks each of us simple questions about our interests. It seems they’re looking for the most energetic people, and I’m sure I don’t qualify. I’m excited to be here with Addison and I love watching her light up, but I’m terrible at guessing the prices of items and know I’ll fail epically if I got up on that stage.
After getting our name tags, we’re guided to the inside of the studio where we take our seats. Addison and I talk while we wait for the show to start. She’s telling me about the games she hopes she will play if she’s called. I hope she is called because she’s actually pretty spot-on with pricing items when we watch at home.
Soon enough, the show is starting and the audience goes crazy. The amount of energy and enthusiasm is palpable and the loud cheers are deafening. As I’m standing and clapping while Drew Carey is introduced, I glance over at Addison who is smiling from ear-to-ear and beaming. I’m glad she seems to be having a good time.
The first four rounds are played. Addison is shouting out numbers and holding up her hands to help the other contestants. I’m just copying what she yells out, pretending that I know what I’m doing. Again, I’m terrible at this game, so my advice would be more of a hindrance to the person playing.
“Addison Ramsey come on down, you’re the next contestant on The Price Is Right!”
Addison immediately looks at me with eyes as big as saucers and her mouth hanging wide open. She’s almost frozen to her seat and not moving. I give her a gentle nudge.
“Addison, they just called you. Go,” I say. She snaps out of it and jumps up and down before making her way down the aisle to her place in the front row to make her bid.
The contestants are presented with the item up for bid which is an elliptical machine. The announcer describes it and gives the details of the product. In my head, I’m thinking that thing costs around three thousand dollars.
“I bid $1,200, Drew!” Addison says. Each contestant bids over her except for one person who bids one dollar.
I’m thinking she lost when Drew says, “And the retail value of the elliptical machine is…one thousand, two hundred, ninety-nine dollars. Addison, you win!”
Her spot lights up as she hops around in excitement. She walks up on the stage and gives Drew a hug.
“Hello, Addison and welcome to the show. Where are you from and who are you with?” he asks her.
“I’m from Florida and I’m here with my boyfriend, Pierce.” She points in my direction and I stand up and wave. A part of me feels a little sad. I should be her husband right now, not her boyfriend. Quickly pushing those thoughts aside so that I can enjoy myself with Addison, I smile widely at her as she waits to find out what game she’ll be playing.
“George, tell Addison what she’s going to be playing today,” Drew says.
“Today, she’ll be playing Plinko with a chance to win up to $50,000!”
The studios blinks in various shades of lights with bells and whistles going off, but I can’t take my eyes off of Addison. She’s breathtaking up there in all her excitement. She’s given one chip with the opportunity to win four more. All she has to do is guess the price on some simple items. I’m standing, unable to contain my excitement while cheering my girl on. I know she’s always dreamed of being on this show and I want her to win so badly. She does amazingly well and wins four more chips.
There’s a large board with pegs scattered over it that will bounce the chips around before settling at the bottom. The bottom has different slots with different dollar values in them. The slots range from $0 to $10,000.
Addison climbs up the steps and places her first chip against the top of the board before letting it go. It bounces around for a few seconds before settling in the far left corner.
“One hundred dollars!” Drew announces. “Go again.”
She adjusts her next placement further to the right before letting it go. It slowly descends before resting in the $1,000 slot. She does this three more times, winning her $500, $1,000, and $100 more dollars for each drop. She didn’t win big, but the look on her face is absolutely priceless.
One more contestant gets their chance to play before they’re brought to the big wheel for a chance to play in the final showcase. Drew explains that the person who gets closest to one dollar without going over will go on to the showcase showdown. Addison is up first. Standing on her tip toes, she reaches up as high as she can. I’m momentarily distracted by the small piece of flesh that is showing as her T-shirt rides up. She pu
lls down as low as she can and steps back to watch where it lands. It does one complete spin, passing the one dollar tab before slowing down. It lands on thirty five. Drew instructs her to spin again, so she does. Her hands are balled up, resting at her chest as she anxiously waits to see where it’ll stop. Finally, it comes to rest on sixty five.
“One dollar! You’ve just won an additional thousand dollars!” Drew announces.
Addison jumps up and down, shouting and looking at me in pure astonishment. My heart swells with happiness. I’m so glad we came here today. I could give two shits about the money she’s winning. I’d gladly pay tenfold just to see her so happy and excited.
The next player goes over a dollar, but the third person actually lands on a dollar. Now Addison has to do a spin off to win. Addison goes first and spins a fifty five. She seems nervous, which makes me a little anxious. It’s not the highest number she could have spun, but it could have been worse. I’m pretty sure I can see her crossing her fingers as she shifts from foot-to-foot watching the next person spin. The wheel slowly comes to a rest and I almost can’t look. I glance up and she landed on eighty five. I feel deflated for Addison and expect to see a disappointed look on her face, but she’s still smiling from ear-to-ear. She shakes Drew’s hand before coming back toward me to take her seat.
“I’m sorry you didn’t win,” I tell her once she’s seated.
“Are you kidding? I was just on the Price is Right! Who cares if I win?” She sits back to watch the final showcases. Not able to help myself, I grab her face with both my hands and bring her lips to mine. After a thorough kiss, I lean back and say, “I’m glad you had fun then.”
Leaning into one of my palms, she turns her head and places a kiss on my palm before turning back around to watch the rest of the show.
I love this woman to death.
COLBY AND I are going dress shopping today. We decided to make a day of it, had a sleep over last night, and went out for breakfast this morning. Colby only had a piece of toast, saying she didn’t want to be bloated while trying on gowns. I just laughed at her. I think that girl could eat two stacks of pancakes and still not bloat. We did some shopping before the fitting and looked like shopaholics walking toward the bridal shop with all our bags. We enter and are instantly greeted by Colby’s mother and Hanna, the consultant that helped us with our bridesmaids’ dresses.