As all the kids are leaving the party, Emerson hands out goodie bags. I stand back and watch as Bailey talks to all the parents and the kids that were leaving, thanking them for coming. I’m in complete awe of her. After the last of the guests leave, Emerson and Bailey plop themselves on the couch. Emerson cuddles into Bailey’s side and says, “That was the best day ever.”
I sit down next to them on the couch and put my arm around Bailey. Ruffling Emerson’s hair, I say, “Well kid, start cleaning up. You have a lot of work to do.”
“Daddy!”
“Alright, alright. How about you go out back and see if Uncle Jake and Ella want to go out for pizza instead. We can clean up tomorrow.”
“Yes,” Emerson jumps up and exclaims. “Uncle Jake owes me a rematch at skee ball.” Emerson runs down the hall.
“Pizza is a great idea. I don’t think I have the energy to cook tonight,” Bailey says resting her head on my shoulder.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” Bailey asks twisting around to look at me.
“For putting this all together.”
“Aww. It was nothing.”
I sit up and hold onto her face. “It was something. You just made that little girl’s day and that means the world to me.” I lean in to kiss her forehead.
“Well, when you put it that way, maybe you can pay me back tonight,” Bailey answers with a wink.
Emerson interrupts what was planned to be a very steamy kiss when she comes running down the hall again yelling, “They said yes.”
“Why don’t you go get changed while I kiss the party planner?” I say leaning in to lay one on Bailey.
“Eww. That’s gross Daddy.” She races down the hall to change. Ella and Jake walk in and interrupt us again.
“We are never going to get a second alone,” I complain as Ella plops on the couch next to me.
“Patience Lover Boy. You get to have her all night.”
Emerson comes running back downstairs and yells, “Ready, let’s go,” as she grabs Jake’s hand, and pulls him toward the door. Once they are outside I turn to Ella, “Looks like you’ve got some competition there for Jake’s attention.”
She sticks her tongue out at me as we all follow Jake and Emerson out the door.
When we get to the restaurant, we all climb into the booth. Emerson squeezes between Jake and Ella. He lifts her up and puts her on the other side of him next to the wall.
“Sorry pip-squeak. Ella can’t resist sitting next to my fine ass,” Jake announces.
Emerson thrusts her hand up in the air without saying a word. Jake groans and pulls a dollar out of his wallet and puts it in her tiny palm.
“What was that for?” Ella asks as I see her scoot a little closer to Jake.
“Swearing. I have to pay her a dollar every time she hears me swear,” Jake answers putting his wallet away.
“I’m glad I don’t have to do that, shit, I’d be broke,” Ella laughs as Emerson shoots her hand across Jake’s chest. Ella reaches over and gives Emerson a high five.
“No Ella, anyone who swears in front of me has to pay me a dollar. If you are going erupt me then you are going to pay for me to go to college,” Emerson says with her hand still in the air.
“I think you mean corrupt,” Ella responds taking out her wallet then looks at Andrew. “What are you teaching your daughter?” Ella hands Emerson a dollar.
“It wasn’t me. She saw it on TV.”
“Come on Uncle Jake, while we wait for our pizza, we can play skee ball,” Emerson says trying to push her way out of the booth. Ella stands up to let them out and then sits back down.
“Aren’t you coming?” Jake turns around to ask Ella.
Smiling, Ella follows behind them to play games.
“Okay, I see it now. There is something definitely going on between the two of them,” Andrew laughs.
“Gee, ya think?” I elbow him in the side.
Andrew and I relax in the booth and order our dinner while the others play games. While they are out on the floor, Andrew sneaks out to the car to get Ella’s birthday gifts.
Once the pizza is delivered to the table, everyone finds their way back. Emerson is dancing in her seat next to Jake.
“I’m the winner. I beat Uncle Jake. I’m the winner,” she sings and points to Jake.
“Yeah, yeah, you won. That’s only because I was distracted.”
“Thank you Miss Ella.” Emerson puts her hand up for a high five.
“We make a good team kid.” Ella high fives her then pokes Jake in the side. “You let a little girl beat you. Where is your dignity?”
“If someone wasn’t bending over next to me to tie the kid’s shoe I would have made the last shot and beat her.”
When the pizza is gone and the waiter has cleared the table, a chorus of singing waiters come out with two pieces of cake. There is singing and dancing and as the whole restaurant cheers for Ella and Emerson. Once the candles are all blown out, I pull out the presents and put them in front of Ella.
“Aw, you guys. You didn’t have to do this. This is Emerson’s party.”
“My party was this afternoon, this party is for you. Here, open my gift first.” Emerson says handing Ella a present she wrapped herself. “I made it all by myself.”
Ella opens the card first and shows everyone the picture that Emerson drew of Ella and Emerson holding hands. Ella rips the wrapping paper open and holds up a keychain.
“I made it myself. It’s a keychain that says Aunt Ella. I figure since I don’t have any aunts that I’d pick you for my Aunt.”
“It’s beautiful,” Ella says clipping it to her keys. “I don’t have any nieces either, so it’s perfect you picked me. I love it.” Ella reaches across Jake to give Emerson a hug.
“Now open this one,” Emerson says handing Ella our gift. She opens the bottle of wine and the wine rack.
“Thank you, I will be enjoying this gift tonight,” she says putting it on the floor next to her.
“This is for you too,” Jake says quietly handing her a gift. “It’s just something small I saw and I thought about you.
Ella rips open the paper and gasps. “This is the book that I was telling you about,” she says as she opens the front cover. “Where did you find it?”
“I found it in the used book store,” Jake answers as Ella continues to flip though the book and gasps again.
“It’s signed by Jennings Michael Burch!” She throws her hands around Jake’s neck hugging him. “Thank you so much.”
“What book is it?” I ask trying to grab it out of her hands.
“They Cage the Animals at Night. I had to read it in college, and I lost my copy.”
“When did you guys talk about this book?” I asked as I turn the book over in my hand.
“When you two were sucking face in the parking lot at Skye’s,” Jake says to me, then turns to Ella again. “So, you really like it?”
“Best birthday gift ever,” Ella exclaims.
“What about mine?” I question.
“You bought her wine Bailey,” Jake counters.
“Yeah, but it’s her favorite wine.”
“Alright you two, stop arguing. They are both very nice gifts,” Ella tries to put a stop to the friendly bantering.
“Only mine was slightly better,” Jake added quickly.
“You’re right. It was,” Ella laughs then turns to Emerson. “What about you Emerson. Was this your best birthday ever?”
“It was. That was the best birthday party ever. What about you Bailey? What was your best birthday?”
“That’s an easy one. It was the year I turned twenty-one.” I glance over at Andrew to see if he remembers that night. His face brightens automatically. Yeah, he remembers.
“Jessica, are you coming to the bar with us or not?” Andrew asked calling into the bedroom.
“Not, I don’t feel like going out tonight. We are going out tomorrow night aren’t we? What’s the point of going if I c
an’t drink anyway?” Jessica whined.
“Yes, but you know it’s tradition to go out at midnight. Everyone will go out for your birthday,” Andrew tried to reason with her.
“Andrew, it’s really fine. We don’t have to go out. I can wait until tomorrow,” I told him quietly as I sat down on the couch. I was one of the first people in the group to turn twenty-one so there really was no point in going out. Andrew and I were the only ones who could drink.
“We’re going.” Andrew grabbed my hand and pulled me off the couch. “We’ll go have a late dinner then Jake and Sam are meeting us there when they get off work. Is Dave coming?”
I just shook my head. Dave said that he wasn’t going to a bar to watch Andrew and I get drunk. I’m not even sure if he was coming out tomorrow either.
Andrew and I got to the bar and got a big table so Jake and Sam could join us later.
“Okay, we need to get something really carby in your stomach so you are ready for midnight and don’t get sick later because tomorrow’s the real party.”
“Carby? Did you make that word up?”
“No, I didn’t. Carby is a adjective. It comes from the Latin word Carbous meaning foods full of carbohydrates.”
“That must be a fancy scientific word then. This cut and paste major’s brain can’t handle big words like that.”
“Hey, I never said Elementary Education was a cut and paste major.”Andrew held up his hands in defense.
“No, your exact words were ‘Are you majoring in cutting and pasting?’ I specifically remember because I was cutting out letters for a bulletin board and pasting them to paper at the time,” I laughed hitting his arm.
“You have to admit, you do a lot of cutting and pasting.”
“If you are jealous, you still have time to change your major. You could even get a minor in Elementary Education and teach science.”
“That’s ok. I’m happy with my major. I’ll leave the cutting and pasting to the professional,” he laughed as the waiter came to take our order. Andrew announced that I will be turning twenty-one in a few short hours and tried to get the waiter to bring me a beer with my dinner.
“She could have brought you a beer. It’s only two hours early. You can steal some of mine when they aren’t looking.”
“What’s the saying? Beer before liquor you’ve never been sicker. I’ll pass.”
“Good thinking, because you’ll be drinking lots of liquor tonight!” Jake yelled as he came up to the table and gave me a hug. “Happy Birthday Bailey. Sam can’t make it. The second shift manager went home sick so he’s covering for him but he gave me a twenty to buy you your first round on him,” he said slapping the twenty on the table.
“They are being strict on the midnight cut off so we’ll have to wait. We just ordered if you want to flag the waiter down and get something to eat,” Andrew told Jake.
Jake ran up to the waiters to order some dinner, flirts a little, then came back to join us.
“The Jake charm didn’t work on her did it? She’s not giving you any drinks, right.” I asked him as he sat back down.
“I don’t get it. The smile works on all girls.” When I raised my eyebrows at him he added, “Okay, it works on almost all chicks. You are somehow immune to the Jake charm.”
“Yeah, there are vaccines against things like that,” I joke.
Jake grabbed his heart like he was shot, “That hurt babe; that hurts bad.”
The waitress came back with our dinners and I saw that we all ordered wings. This was not going to be pretty.
“How many wings did you eat last time we were out Bailey?” Jake asked.
I answer Jake with only a smile. He made a huge deal out of eating more wings than me. Jake is a very competitive guy and he especially does not like being beat by a girl. When I beat him at pool that night, he needed anything to cling to his male ego, so he challenged me to a wing eating contest. Let’s just say, I let him win.
“I had twenty.” He just nods at me and starts inhaling his wings at a rapid pace.
When the third round of wings were done and I was still going strong Andrew laughed at the look on Jake’s face. “What’s the matter my friend? Is she going to beat you again?”
“Fuck you.” Jake stomped off to the bathroom.
“I love that you beat him in everything he challenges you to.” Andrew said to me as he hands me a wet nap.
“I really don’t try to beat him. He just makes it so easy because his big head gets in the way.”
When Jake walked back, he was all smiles and the waitress was walking up right behind him with a shaker, two shot glasses, and a green smoking drink.
“Everyone,” the waitress yelled out to all the patrons of the bar from on top of a chair. “We have a birthday girl here having her first official shot.”
“It’s actually her first shot ever. She’s a drinking virgin” Jake yelled out to the whole bar.
The waitress looked down at me with an unbelieving look on her face. “Really?”
I nodded as my face blushed.
“Okay, this is her first shot ever. Count it down for me everyone.” She placed the shot in front of me and the whole bar started counting down from five. When everyone hit one, I shot it back and slammed the shot glass on the table. The waitress filled two shot glasses this time and put the shaker and the drink on the table. “Happy Birthday,” she said as she walked away.
“You did good kid. Happy Birthday,” Andrew said as he leans over and kissed my cheek. My face got even hotter.
“That shot was really good, what was it?” I asked Jake as Andrew and I clinked shot glasses and I threw another one back.
“It’s called a Slippery Nipple,” Jake replies.
I choked on the shot and sprayed it all over Jake’s face. Andrew was barely able to get his shot down before he started laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe. Jake was wiping off his face laughing at my reaction.
“It’s called a what?” I asked again, horrified.
“A Slippery Nipple. What’s the matter school marm? Too racy for you?” Jake says.
“Why would they name a shot something like that?” I asked as I poured a second round of shots for Andrew and myself.
Andrew leaned in and whispers in my ear in a sexy voice, “Because nipples are best when they are slippery.”
My heart started beating out of my chest. I was sure the boys could hear it. Why did he have that effect on me. I started chanting my saying in my head. ‘He’s dating your best friend. He’s dating your best friend.’
Andrew clinked his shot glass to mine again and took his shot while pushing mine toward me again.
“So Dave didn’t pop that cherry yet then?” Jake asked me crassly.
“Asshole, what is your problem?” Andrew yelled at him as he put an arm around me.
“I’m a … going to go to the bathroom,” I said quietly as I slinked out of the booth.
“No,” Jake grabs my arm. “Stay, I’m sorry. It was a dick thing to say. You’re just so cool to hang out with; I forget you’re not one of the guys.”
“Maybe that’s why Dave won’t sleep with me,” I said as I sat back down and grabbed my still smoking drink.
“Dave’s a dick too. I’d do you,” Jake laughed.
Andrew leaned in and asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Now,” I said shaking my head to lighten the mood. “What is this I’m drinking?”
“It’s called Smokin’ Sex. That’s dry ice in there, so drink it through the straw. It’s really strong, so go easy,” Andrew told me as he puts his arm back around me.
“Slippery Nipple and Smoking Sex. Are you trying to torture me?” I giggled as I sipped my drink.
“Yeah, that was a great night.” Andrew says with a smile. “One of the best nights I had in college. Bailey got so drunk off of a few shots and one mixed drink that I had to carry her to the car.”
“I think the next night was even better,” Jake says with a d
evious smile.
She doesn’t know it yet, but I’m taking Bailey away for a long weekend to Ricketts Glen State Park. I have everything planned. I just have to wait until 5:00 PM, and I can leave work to go pick her up.
My iPhone beeps interrupting my thoughts of the weekend.
Mom: I’m on my way to Bailey’s house to pick up Emerson. What am I supposed to say when Bailey asks why I’m picking her up?
Andrew: Just tell her that you are taking her shopping. I already mentioned to Bailey that you were thinking of taking her out.
Mom: Okay. Good Luck. I love you.
Andrew: Thanks Mom.
My boss walks in while I am finishing my text.
“So, big weekend for you? You’re going to Rickets Glenn right?” he asks as he picks up my lab reports.
“Yes. Everything is all planned out. Picnics, hikes by the falls, dinner reservations. I’m going to romance the hell out of her.”
“You got all your reports done early today. You can take off early if you want to.”
I look up in surprise. He never let us go early, even if all of our work was done. I wasn’t going to let him have the chance to take it back, so I pack my bag quickly.
“Thank you! I appreciate it. I do have a few things I still need to pick up before I pick her up.” I’m out the door and on the way to the grocery store.
I pick up our packed bags that I stashed in my garage then head to the grocery store to get a few things for our dinner tonight. I never imagined how hard it would be to pack a bag for Bailey to go away for the weekend. Not only was it a challenge to figure out what she would want to wear, I also had to be careful to pack things that she wouldn’t need before we left. A few times, she would ask where her brush was, or her face cream. I ended up buying duplicates of almost her entire bathroom because I didn’t want her to get suspicious.
I pull up to Bailey’s house and run into the kitchen.
“Hey, you’re home early. I was just getting ready to start dinner,” she says over her shoulder as she pulls two steaks out of the freezer. “I was going to make pigs in a blanket, but since Emerson’s not going to be here, I figured I’d cook your favorite instead.”
My Real Page 12