My Real

by Mallory Grant

  I wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her bare shoulder. Taking the steaks out of her hands without a word, I put them back in the freezer and then turn and sweep Bailey off her feet and start walking toward the front door.

  “What are you doing? I need to thaw the steaks.”

  “Grab your purse and phone.” I say as I pause at the table by the door. After looking at me for a second, she did as she was told without another word. I put her back on her feet at the car and open the door for her.

  She smiles at me, kisses me on the cheek, and sits down.

  “I am not really dressed to go out to dinner if that’s what you’re thinking,” she informs me once we are on the road.

  “You look beautiful,” is my only response.

  “So you’re not going to tell me where we are going to eat?”

  “I’m cooking dinner for you tonight.”

  “Then why aren’t we driving toward your house? What’s going on?”

  “Don’t ask any questions. Just enjoy the ride.”

  We talk and listen to music all the way up to Rickets Glenn. I amaze her with my vast music knowledge as she flips through the Sirius Stations.

  “I am winning. Face it Bailey. I know my music.”

  “I don’t understand. How can you know the lyrics to all these songs? You knew every song from the 50s station for God’s sake!”

  “My mother is Italian. I grew up listening to Frankie, Dean, Sammy, and Joey.”

  “Ok. What’s your explanation for all of the 80s boys’ bands?”

  “I pled the fifth. You’re just upset because the only station you got points with is Today’s Country.”

  “Hey, I knew most of the 80s station too. I don’t listen to music. I prefer books on tape.”

  The argument ends quickly when I pull up to the house. We’ve been in the car for over an hour, and she hasn’t asked any questions. I’m pretty sure that is a record for Bailey. She hates not knowing what’ going on.

  “You’re not going to ask where we are?” I question.

  “You told me no questions. Besides, you distracted me with the game.”

  “Ah yes. Losing a game, one thing you hate worse than being left in the dark,” I joke.

  She sticks her tongue out at me as I shut her car door behind her. As I grab the bags out of the trunk, she notices her bag was among the things in my arms. She just raises her eyebrows at me. I’m impressed.

  I lead her through the front door, leaving the bags by the steps.

  “Because you were a good girl and didn’t ask any questions all the way up here, I will tell you that we are eating in tonight. I’m going to start cooking now.” I pick up a small gift bag and hand it to her. “Up the stairs and to the left is the master bath with a humungous spa bathtub that is calling your name. Everything you need for tonight is in this bag.” I kiss her on the forehead, turn toward the kitchen, and give her a gentle slap on the ass.

  I watch as he walks away without looking back. I take a minute and look around the spacious living room I’m standing in. It’s killing me not knowing what is going on. It took every fiber of patience, and I’m an elementary teacher, so I have a lot of patience, to not nag some answers out of him.

  I slowly start up the stairs as I start to sift through the gift bag I was handed. I pull out a bottle of bubble bath, a cleansing face mask, a new towel wrap for my head, a bag of Hershey Kisses, and a bottle of Clover Farms Chocolate milk. How in the world did he keep that cold on an hour car ride? He thought of everything.

  I walk into the bathroom and halt to a stop.

  “Holy big bathroom Batman.” The mother of all bathrooms. I’ve died and gone to heaven. In the corner is the biggest tub I have ever seen. There are candles, lit, on every surface in this room. The tub is positioned under a row of windows that overlooks an open field with the perfect sunset view. The sky is crimson and orange as the sun sets behind the trees. I walk up to the bath, and there are flower petals at the bottom that start to float as I turn the water on. After pouring an obscene amount of bubble bath under the running water, I start to undress then set the rest of my bath essentials up on the ledge.

  Half way through the bag of kisses, I’m going to have to run some extra miles this weekend, the bathroom door opens.

  “Enjoying the bath?” Andrew asks.

  “Are you kidding me? I already talked to my handy man about getting it moved to my house.”

  “You talked to another man while naked and in the tub? I think I’m jealous,” he smirks.

  “If you come over here and get naked, I’ll show you that you have nothing to be jealous of,” I coo as I stand up in the bath. The bubbles slowly start to run down my body. Andrew just stands there frozen in silence. I lean down and pick up a cup from the ledge, fill it with water, and pour it down my chest, speeding up the bubbles’ descent.

  This kick starts Andrew into action. His clothing is off in lightning speed, and he is in the tub. He pushes me up against the window and takes my mouth roughly.

  “That was fucking hot,” he says as he takes my hands in his and raises them above our heads pinning them against the window. He starts to kiss his way down my neck and stops to spend some quality time at my chest. He plants slow, gentle kisses everywhere, but exactly where I want them. He continues to tease me until I start getting restless and growl at him.

  “Patience,” he says as he licks almost the right spot.

  “My patience is long gone thanks to you.” At that, he sucks one hard point onto his mouth and is rewarded with a loud moan.

  “Enjoyed that, did you? Would you like some more of that?” he teases as he licks a path from one side to the other. I buck my hips making his feet slide backward in the bottom of the wet bath.

  “Feisty tonight aren’t we?” he whispers in my ear as he takes my waist and turns me around to face the window. He takes both of my hands and places them above my head and growls in my ear, “Don’t move them again.”

  His hands slowly slide down my arms, across my shoulders, and down to my hips as he nips at my neck again. I moan again as he leans against me, and I can feel his length against my backside. His hands slide down from my hips slowly caressing my legs then back up my stomach to my chest.

  “Now, where was I?” he whispers as he pinches each nipple hard between his fingers. I grind my hips back into him

  “If you keep doing that, this is going to be the shortest bath ever,” Andrew tells me.

  I giggle and push into him harder causing his hands, and kisses to slowly move down. He is now kneeling in the bathtub behind me. With his hands on my hips, he gently pulls back until my back is arched. While I have grown quite fond of Andrew’s time spent down there, this is something he has never done, and I’m not too sure what I was in store for. I start to wiggle, a little uncomfortable with what could be coming.

  “Relax, Bailey.” His hand runs up my leg as he places a gentle kiss on the small of my back. I quickly forgot about where he was kissing when his fingers find their destination. He slowly starts rubbing and slips a thumb inside. I yell out loud in surprise. I grind back into his hand needing more. He pulls on my hips so that I’m completely bent over in front of him. I moan at the feeling. His fingers slowly pump into my warm, wet center. His fingers get faster and faster until I yell out in pleasure and my knees buckle.

  Andrew stands up behind me and pulls my hips up and back again. I can feel his hard length against me again, and I moan at the feeling. With one arm, he slides my hands down the window a little as he pushes into me hard from behind.

  “Oh Bailey, you feel so damn good.” He pounds into me until I am almost there again and then stops abruptly.

  “No,” I whimper. “Don’t stop, faster.”

  “We have all night baby.”

  He backs away from me and sits down into the tub, pulling me on top of him. Andrew kisses me sweetly. Waiting long enough, I wiggle to impale myself on him again and start to ride him hard. He pushes his hips
up to meet mine and in doing so, places us right in front of a spa jet. We explode together in an instant.

  After regaining my breath, I laugh, “So much for all night.”

  “Oh, we are far from done,” he replies as he rests his forehead on mine. I could sit like this all night.

  We end up relaxing in the tub until the water is cold. Thoroughly pruned, I wrap Bailey in a terry cloth robe and bring her out to the deck off of the master bedroom. I had my friend push the enormous king sized bed onto the deck. The weather was going to be beautiful all weekend. Perfect for some luxury camping outside.

  I walk back into the bedroom with our dinners on a tray to find Bailey standing by the railing staring out into the dark.

  “Are you hungry?”

  She turns and smiles at me. I can see the lightness in her smile. She leans back onto the railing with her elbows propped up. This causes her untied robe to open slightly. I can see just a sliver of her chest from her neck to her navel. It is so sexy. I put the tray on the end of the bed, walk over to her, and tie the robe closed.

  “Having that out in the open will result in eating a very cold dinner much later tonight and as much as I’d like to feast on you, I need some real food.” I pull her to bed by the ties of her robe.

  “How did you do all this? This house is amazing, and that bath,” she sighs as she sits down on the bed and cuddles into the pillows. I place her plate on her lap and hand her silverware.

  “The house belongs to a friend of mine. He helped me out with some of the planning. Now eat, your chicken is getting cold,” I command.

  “So what are the plans for the weekend?” she wonders. I just shake my head at her giving away nothing.

  “I can’t even begin to put into words how you have changed my life. I never saw the beauty in my day until you came back into my life,” I admit.

  “It has been a great summer. I can’t believe I have to go back to school in a few weeks. I’m going to miss being with Emerson every day,” she laments.

  I wasn’t sure how I was going to bring this up with her. She just gave me the perfect opening.

  “I wanted to talk to you about that,” I say seriously as I put my plate aside. My hands are going to shake when I ask her this, and I didn’t need it showing even more by my food flying off my plate. She follows my lead and places her plate on the table as well.

  “I’m going to ask you something, and I don’t want you to answer right now. I want you to have time to think about it.” I rub my hands over my face, trying to erase my nerves. Bailey grabs my hands and brings them to her lap.

  “You know you can ask me anything Andrew, right?”

  I breathe in deeply and start. “I think you should sell your house and move in with Emerson and me.” I watch carefully for her reaction. Reading nothing from her face, I continue. “Financially, it would make sense because we are always together at one of our houses. It’s closer to your work, so you could walk to school if you wanted. And, you’d be able to take Emerson to school with you instead of her riding the bus.”

  Still seeing no reaction, I’m about to continue to give her reasons why she should move in when she stops me. Her face is still blank, so I’m not sure what I should say.

  “So you want me to move in with you to save money, have a quicker trip to school, and be a bus for Emerson,” she says slowly pausing. “Not because you can’t bear to be without me.” The corner of her mouth starts to rise, and she lets out a strangled laugh.

  She is teasing me. I rise on the bed pushing her down under me and hover over her.

  “Oh Bailey, I really screwed that up. Of course, I want you to move in with me because you are my everything. I assumed you knew that and wanted to give you all the other reasons why it made sense. I have fifteen more if you need more convincing.”

  Bailey throws her arms around me. God, I hope this is a good sign.

  “Of course I’ll move in with you.” Bailey pulls me in for a kiss.

  “Are you sure? You can take some time to think about it.”

  “Are you trying to change my mind?” I pull her up from the bed and position her in front of me nestling her between my legs. I grab her hand and kiss her knuckles.

  “No, it’s just a big step. I want to make sure you are positive,” I explain.

  “I am,” she says as I squeeze her hand three times.

  “Andrew, why do you squeeze my hand three times like that?”

  I smile. I didn’t think she knew what it meant. If she did, she would have mentioned it long before now. It was something that my mom always did to me when I was younger. I lift her hand between us and squeeze it once.

  “I,” I whisper into the night.

  Another squeeze. “Love.”

  A final squeeze and I kiss her knuckles. “You.”

  Her mouth is ajar, and I can see the wheels turning.

  “But you’ve been doing that for weeks now,” she answers.

  “I’ve loved you since college. I have wanted to tell you for weeks. This was my way of letting you know without scaring you away. I don’t want to hide my true feelings for you any longer. It’s long overdue, considering we are moving in together.”

  Bailey beams. Her smile almost levels me. I can’t wait a second longer. I lean over her and kiss her.

  “Hiking. You want the Klutz-of-the-Year to go hiking? You do realize I will not make it back in one piece?” I’m tying my sneakers looking at him skeptically.

  “You’ll be fine. I’ll hold your hand the entire way,” he promises.

  I shake my head at him as he walks out the back door humming. When I woke up this morning, he was missing from the bed. I found him downstairs making breakfast. We ate on the deck and as soon as I was finished eating, he cleared the plates and disappeared into the kitchen again. This time, I found him making a picnic lunch.

  I follow behind him with my head hanging and dragging my feet. I’m putting on an act, mostly. I just know I’m going to come back bruised, bloodied, or embarrassed. Or worse, all three.

  Andrew is waiting at my opened car door, smiling.

  “You are awfully chipper this morning.”

  “I get to spend the day with my beautiful woman, doing my favorite thing in this breathtaking place. I couldn’t be happier.”

  “Hiking is your favorite thing? How did I not know this? I may have an issue with that.” I reply laughing.

  “Rematch in the radio game?” he asks as he turns the radio on.

  “Absolutely not,” I shout as I turn the radio off. “I’m never playing that game with you again. You are some kind of lyric freak.” He laughs at me as I continue, “I have a new game for you. I’ll put on a station for you and give you a topic. You then have to make up a song, on the spot, that goes with the music.”

  “Where did you come up with idea?” he asks intrigued.

  “I do it with my kids in school all the time. We are constantly making up songs to learn the curriculum.” I am actually really good at this game.

  “Okay, but you’re going first,” Andrew replies after thinking about it for a second.

  I flip on the radio and wait for a topic from Andrew. “Your topic is chocolate.”

  I wait for the next song to start. I already have lyrics running though my head.

  When Billy Joel’s, “Piano Man” comes on the radio, I very badly begin singing with emotion. I put my cupped hands up to my mouth and pretend to play the harmonica.

  “It’s 3 o’clock on a Friday night

  All of the kids run out the door.

  There’s a chocolate bar sitting on my desk

  I unwrap it and throw the paper on the floor.”

  “It says Bailey you know you want to eat me.

  even though I’m not healthy at all.

  I’m rich and I’m sweet

  and you need me real bad

  come on and take a big bite.”

  During the Lalalala’s I sway back and forth and pretend to play the piano on the
dash board.

  “Eat me Bailey, you know you want to.

  I will put you in such a good mood.

  The kids can cry and then they will whine.

  but you know me, I’ll make you feel fine.

  “It doesn’t matter that I’ll go straight to your thighs,

  hide under you desk, so you don’t have to share.

  I’m quick with a sugar rush and to lighten your mood

  there’s nothing that you’d rather eat.”

  Andrew laughs through the whole song. “You are really good at that. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in your classroom.”

  “You gotta make it fun for the kids or they won’t buy into it. Okay. You’re turn. Your topic is the Phillies.”

  “Ok, but I’m picking the song.” He starts playing with his iPhone and Pearl Jam’s, “Better Man” comes on. He tries to show up my piano playing with a little air guitar.

  Sitting, watching the Phillies

  It’s 12-5, it’s got to stop

  Tell me … when will they win

  2008 seems like so long ago

  I wish that we could make

  The playoffs … once again

  I lie and say I that love baseball

  Can’t find a better team

  I have such hope in March and April

  But that bubble bursts by July

  That bubble bursts by July …

  Great! it’s Eagles season again

  Another chance to get my hopes up

  No Andy Reid

  Lead us Chip Kelly

  I pretend that we will make the Super Bowl again

  “That was pretty good for your first try. But, who are Andy Reid and Chip Kelly?”

  Andrew’s jaw drops. “How can you be from this area and not know who they are? They were just all over the news.”

  I just shrug.

  “Andy Reid was the head coach of the Eagles until they fired him and hired Chip Kelly. Please tell me you’ve been to a Phillies or an Eagles game.”