Chapter Forty-Six

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Chapter Forty-Six

APOV

We fucked on and off all night long.  And ordered room service once more before we left.  We slept late, and I felt absolutely amazing in the morning.  It was lazy, and we didn’t have to meet Doug and Lois until 11.  We checked out the fuck-awesome whirlpool tub, and literally just sat there in it, bubbles all over for the longest time.  It wasn’t even sexual; it was just completely sensual and lazy and lying there in the tub together, just holding each other.  

It seemed unreal.  Unreal that my life was this good.  That this was mine—that he was mine.  And I couldn’t wait to tell Doug and Lois about it.  I had no one else to tell really.  They were the closest thing to family that I had.  I was excited they were going to meet him.  

This room had been so amazing.  I didn’t want to leave.  But at the same time, this wasn’t what I wanted of Tyler, either.  He did it because he wanted something special for me—but this wasn’t us.  We were…we were crappy little apartment people.  I loved that about us.  We were happy there.  

We packed everything up and I lovingly ran my hand over the bed comforter on our way out, memorizing the feel.  I wouldn’t ever forget it anyway, but I wanted that last touch of the fabric.  

We were in the elevator—I was tucked into his side—deliriously happy when I asked, “Are you nervous?”

“For what?  Meeting them?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, no, not really.  Should I be?” He asked, smiling and squeezing me.  

I chuckled, shaking my head.  “No, they’re nice people.  I was just curious.  Because, like, I was terrified to meet your mother.”  

He hummed thoughtfully for a second.  “Do you think of them as family?”

I picked at one of the buttons on his shirt.  “Yeah, I guess.  Kinda.  They’re the closest thing I have to family.”  

“You have me.”

“You’re more than family,” I dismissed quickly.  He should know that already.  “They’re important to me.  I owe them a lot.  I mean, I had other wrong turns, but in a way, I kind of feel like they set me on my direction here.  And without them I wouldn’t have found you then.  I’d still be in NOLA.”  

“I’m very grateful for them then.”

I sighed and snuggled into him more, putting my head on his chest.  “I love you.”  

He pressed a kiss into my hair, tightening his grip on me.  “I love you.”  

~ooOoo~

The closer we got to the restaurant the more his lack of…concern was kind of bugging the shit outta me.  “How are you so calm?!”  I finally asked, as we got to the restaurant.  We wound up being early, so we had some time to kill.  

He shrugged.  “I dunno.  I guess I’m not worried?”

“Doug’s, like, a big guy.”

He cracked a smile.  “He is, huh?”

“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head.  “Like…” I opened my hands.  “Big.”  

“And you don’t think I could take him?”

“Pfffft.  Hell, no.  You suck at fighting.”

“Hey!”

“Well!  You’ve gotten your ass kicked several times since I’ve known you.  I’m just sayin’.”

“Jesus.  I was assaulted by a cop, and the other dude got one good punch in.  That does not equal sucking at fighting.”

“Whatever.  Doug could pound your ass.”  I shrugged, looking away from him.  “Don’t be cocky.  Doug doesn’t like cocky.”

“Cocky!?  When am I cocky?”

I raised a brow and looked at him.  

“No, seriously.  When am I cocky?  I’m not being cocky.  Don’t confuse confidence with cockiness.”

I snorted.  “So you’re just confident this morning?”

“Hell, yeah, I’m confident.  We had an awesome night.  I feel high.  What do I have to be concerned about?  Are you going to dump me if Doug doesn’t like me?”

“Yeah, totally.”  

He looked at me for a minute and then smirked.  “I can’t fucking believe you can still do that to me.”

I shrugged.  “Hey, that’s confidence.  Don’t confuse confidence with cockiness, Tyler.”

“You little shit.”

He started tickling me.  Right in front of the restaurant.  We were literally standing in the doorway.  “Tyler!” I squealed at him.  Fucking tickling.  It was the start of a lot of shit.  And I think he knew that.  Because whenever he did it, I basically collapsed into him; it was impossible to stay standing upright.  Or if we were already lying down, it was basically like foreplay.  

I’d really like to say it was different this time.  That we were adults, and just separated to wait for our soon-to-be-arriving company.  

I doubt that’ll ever happen.  

Instead we basically started making out in the doorway of the restaurant.  I was half climbing his body, our mouths already inseparable.  Thankfully he must have had some small bit of sanity left, because he gently started pushing me off.  

“Allison, stop.  We have to stop.”

I attempted to control myself, and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.  “Right, right.  You’re right.”  

He cleared his throat.  “I have an idea.”  

I nodded, both of my eyebrows rising.  Ideas were good.  I liked ideas.  “Yeah?”

He grabbed my hand.  “Yeah, come on.”

He pulled the door open, and then we were just inside the restaurant.  What the fuck kind of idea was this?  We were just gonna go sit down and wait?  Not a good idea!  I pulled on his hand, and gave him the look—the one that said The fuck?!

He shook his head, and just waltzed us right up to the seating hostess.   “Hi.  We’re meeting another couple for brunch, but they’re not here yet.  Could we get a booth, and we’ll watch for them?”

I really wasn’t paying any attention to the rest of the exchange because I was seriously pissed about this idea.  Sitting in a booth just waiting for Doug and Lois and not making out with him was not a fun plan.  He sat in the booth first, which was kind of odd, because usually he let me in first, and then he didn’t even let me sit down.  

“Go to the bathroom.”

“What?”

“The bathroom.  I think you need to use the bathroom.”

“For what?”  I lowered my voice, bending down.  “The fuck do I want to go to the bathroom for?!”

He blinked at me for a second and then nodded his head.  “Go. To. The. Bathroom.”  

It was just something in his face.  And it dawned on me.  I literally turned and basically ran to the bathroom.  

He waited all of half a minute to follow me.  

Restaurant bathrooms weren’t exactly known for their cleanliness.  Even if they were clean in the sense that they looked presentable, there was still something dirty about them.  

I loved it.  Really loved it.  

It felt dirty.  It felt wrong.  Doug and Lois might already be out there, waiting for us.  But fucking hell, it was so hot.  The idea alone had me so wet he wasn’t going to have to work at all to get me ready.  

I was unzipping his jeans before we even had the door open all the way.  His jeans were around his ankles before we got into the stall, and he carried me from the door, my legs hitched around his waist.  He pushed the door of the stall open with so much force, it sounded like the goddamn door would fall off.  The banging noise it made was deafening.  I was convinced the entire restaurant could have heard it.  

My mouth was permanently sealed over his, as much to devour his mouth as it was to keep us as quiet as possible.  We still weren’t quiet.  

He shoved my underwear down, but just hiked my skirt and the urgency and almost…it wasn’t really aggressive, but that’s the only word that my mind could come up with—it was fucking hot that we literally couldn’t wait an hour or so to fuck again.  

He braced us against the side of the stall, my back right against the mess of numbers and notes and graffiti plastered all over.  His hands were cupping my ass, holding me to the wall, holding me to him, moving me.  

It was all at Tyler’s pace; I couldn’t move much at all.  But I couldn’t have given a shit less when literally every time there was any movement, or hell, even when there wasn’t, I didn’t have to do much of anything to get his body to grind into my clit.  

It was odd—he was doing most of the work here, and I had basically free use of my hands.  I arched away from the wall, holding onto his neck and pulled him toward me.  It basically put his mouth right next to my tit, and he didn’t need any other invitation.  It felt oddly like I was in control even though he was the one basically deciding how it would go.  

I tightened my thighs around him the same time I started tugging on his hair, and the combination of the added friction inside me with the roughness nearly made him lose his balance.  We wound up laughing just as loudly, and really, it was going to be amazing if we weren’t asked to leave.  I was surprised no one walked in on us.  

What I loved about us was the fact that we had fun having sex.  We didn’t have to be serious all the time and we just had a good time with it.  I was still smiling hugely at him, and took his face between my hands.  

He readjusted, and started thrusting again, pressing his lips to mine, but his eyes never left mine again.  

And just like that we could flip the switch back, and be serious again.  

Or the fact that we really needed to finish just became much more important.  

He was still inside me when I started giggling.  “Tyler?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I found a kink.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s totally sex in public places.”

He laughed loudly, and really, we were lucky there weren’t that many people in the restaurant.  I’m sure everyone in it knew exactly what we’d been doing.  Our clothes were all rumpled, and if the noise itself hadn’t done it, the fact that we didn’t even bother going back to the table separately probably did.  

He let me in the booth first this time, and scooted close to me.  And we sort of forgot the rest of the restaurant and were just really happy and I’m sure that was why we didn’t really even realize Doug and Lois had gotten there until they were basically hovering over the table.  

“Oh, shit.  Hi!”  I shoved at Tyler to get out of the booth.  “I’m sorry.  We weren’t paying attention.”  I hugged Doug first, and then Lois before backing up a step and grabbing Tyler’s hand.  “Doug, Lois, this is Tyler.  Tyler, this is Doug and Lois.”  

Tyler put his other hand out, and shook both of theirs.  “It’s nice to meet both of you.  Did you have a good trip?”

Lois was the first to answer.  “Yes, the flight was good, and we didn’t have any delays.”

“Have you been to New York before?”

“Doug’s been here on business quite a few times, but I’ve only been here once before.”  

Shit he could be charming when he wanted to be.  I mean, I found him charming pretty much all the time—when he was being himself and a complete dork, right up to the every time he had me screaming his name in completely orgasmic bliss.  But the boy could really be…perfect.  And it wasn’t an act.  He wasn’t making himself out to be awesome.  He was just generally very likable.  And he could hold conversations.  I loved him.  

And I realized how much I wanted them to love him, too.  If they didn’t, nothing would change.  But it would be nice.  It would be easier.  And it would be fun to just share the awesomeness of Tyler with people that cared about me.   For those people to see how happy he made me, how much he changed my life.  There really weren’t better people to have that experience.  They’d seen me at one of my worsts.  I wanted them to see me now, at one of my bests.  It wasn’t that I needed the approval or the sense of accomplishment; I just genuinely wanted them to know that I was happy here—that what they wanted for me, and what I couldn’t let them give me—I had that now.  And I’d done it myself.  

He was holding my hand under the table.  I was leaning on him, my arm pressed right up against his.  I loved the warmth that seeped into my body from his.  I felt really close to him in every sense of the word, not just physical.  A lot of it was just both a literal and nonliteral kind of thing because I could still feel him inside me in every sense of that, too.  But sitting here with him, with Doug and Lois on the other side of the table…it was so strange—to even be here.  

We ordered quickly before the questions started.  

“So what do you do, Tyler?”

“I work at a bookstore and I take classes at NYU.”  

“What are you studying?”  Doug asked that one.  I smirked at his tone.  Doug could have this way of being… I don’t know how to describe it really.  Sort of like a definite kind of judgment in his tone but masked in a way that it didn’t seem that way.  

“I honestly don’t have a major.  I wasn’t really very serious about school.  I took classes that interested me, and figured out a way to do that without having to get grades, but that’s something I need to do—decide what I want to study and then do that.”  

Wow.  He had the ability to still impress me.  And he obviously knew that honesty was best here.  I loved him even more for that.  He wasn’t going to bullshit Doug.  Because I think he knew that it wouldn’t fly.  I never asked him about school really.  It was nice to know he was thinking about it seriously.  I’d ask him about it later.  

Doug nodded once, I couldn’t tell if that was really a positive nod or not.  Lois nodded in that agreeably-nice way she had, like she thought that was a decent answer.  

“Are you from New York?”  

“Yeah, I was born here.”  

“Your family still here?”

“Yes.”  

“What do your parents do?”

Christ this was like the third degree.  He was handling it really well, though.  He didn’t seem at all put off or annoyed with all of their questions.  

“My mother is a social worker, and my father works in finance.  I’m not sure what he does exactly, but he thinks is extremely important.  They’re divorced; my mother is remarried.  My sister lives with my mom and her husband.”  

“Oh, you have a sister?”

Tyler smiled.  “Yeah, she’s twelve.  Almost thirteen.”

“She’s amazing,” I chimed in.

Tyler’s smile was soft when he turned to me.  “I think so, but I’m biased.”  

“That’s a big age difference.  Was that difficult when you were growing up?”

“Sort of, but no really.  She’s always been the little sister, the baby.  And the only girl.”

“You have other siblings?”

Shit.  I felt bad now.  I should have told them that his family wasn’t a topic he enjoyed discussing for that reason.

“I had an older brother.  He passed away.”  

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”  Lois made a move to touch his hand across the table, and he let her.  

“Thanks.”  

“We lost our daughter.”

Tyler nodded.  “Allison mentioned that.  It’s hard.  I can’t imagine from a parent’s position.  It was bad enough from a sibling’s.  I’m sorry for your loss, too.”  Tyler had kept her hand for the whole exchange, only letting it go after a last squeeze.  

Lois loved him already.  I could tell.  She kept smiling at me.  Doug was harder to read.  He didn’t give as much away.  I couldn’t tell what he really thought of Tyler yet.  

The food came and I really don’t even remember what the conversation was about—but it wasn’t anything really deep or serious.  Just bullshit and chatting.  

After we were done eating, I knew the second Doug pushed his plate away that shit was gonna start.  I knew that look.  

“So, Tyler…”

Tyler looked over at him expectantly, and I really didn’t know what to expect.  I just knew it was Doug’s turn.  

“How long have you and Allison been dating?”  

“We met on March 18th.  We went on our first date on March 24th.  So technically yesterday was our seven month meeting anniversary.  Worked out nicely since it’s her birthday, too.  But if you go by our first date, then we have a few days to wait.”  

I’m totally sure my mouth was hanging wide open.  Who the fuck remembers all that shit?  Doug didn’t seem fazed at all.  Or impressed.  At least not yet.  

“Seven months isn’t that long.”  

He shrugged.  “Seems like a lot longer actually.  It’s odd that it’s only been that long.  I’ve loved her forever.”  

“Oh, Jesus,” I said.

“What?”  He turned to me.  “I was patient.  I didn’t tell you.  I just loved you quietly.”  

I shook my head.  “Well, you can obviously see he’s a gigantic dork.  It’s one of his finer qualities.”  

Doug kind of ignored all of that.  “How do you know you love her?”  

Tyler watched Doug for a second, and I exchanged a look with Lois, wondering if that wasn’t something Tyler thought he shouldn’t have asked or something.  I had no fucking idea how this shit went, or what people really asked in situations like this.  

“I knew for a long time that I cared about her.  I mean,” he stopped for a second to look at me, “she’s amazing.  I don’t have to tell you that.  She’s special.  She’s different.  She’s unlike anyone else I’ve ever met.  She’s frustrating and I love all of her quirks and she’s good at loving me, too.  She’s the first thing I think about when we wake up, and the last thing I think about we go to bed.  And pretty much everything in between.  And that’s not going to change.”  

His entire speech there was pretty much swoon-worthy, but Doug honed in on one particular part.  He sat forward in the booth.  “You said we wake up, and we go to bed.”  

Tyler nodded.  I really didn’t know what the fuck Doug was asking about.  “That’s because she basically lives at my apartment.”  

Doug sat back.  “That’s not a very long time to be dating to be living together already.”  

“It’s not practical to not live together.  If she didn’t stay at my place, I’d be staying at hers.  And it just sort of happened that way.  It just progressed there.”  

“Do you know where she’s from?  Where we met?”  

Tyler looked mildly annoyed at that one.  “Of course.”  And I realized when he continued that it wasn’t because he thought that was an obvious question, it was because of what he realized Doug was implying.  I hadn’t really even caught it until Tyler kept going.  “I never wanted to change her.  Any part of her.  Her past doesn’t matter to me.  I’m incredibly sorry it happened to her, and I wish I could change it, but I can only make this part of her life better by not being like any of the assholes she knew before.”  

“What makes you different?”  

“Look, I’m not perfect.  I make mistakes all the time.  But I’m not the kind of guy that doesn’t own up to the mistakes I make.  And I try not to make them again.  I know what loving her means.  And I think I’m pretty good at that.”  

What was funny was that I told Doug all of his information already.  Or we at least briefly touched on it.  What was he doing here?  Fact checking?  Seeing if Tyler would lie?  I guess people could snow others all the time and Doug just wanted to make sure I wasn’t being snowed.  It should have been pretty fucking obvious just from the way Tyler answered that he was completely different.   

“I stopped stripping,” I announced suddenly, to the entire restaurant basically.  

Doug stopped his interrogation, surprised, both eyebrows going up.  Lois was, like, beaming at me.  She did the hand grab over the table again.  “That’s wonderful.”  She smiled at Tyler.  “I bet that makes you very happy, too.”  

He shrugged.  “I mean, I’m not going to lie.  It does.  But I tried not to tell her what to do.”  He smirked at Lois and she winked back at him.  “I wanted to.  Tell her to stop.  But,” he paused, moved his hand back and forth for a second, “she’s stubborn as hell, so it wouldn’t have done any good.”  

I shoved at him with my shoulder.  “Asshole.”  

He kissed me impulsively and for a second, I didn’t know what to do with it because they were sitting right there.  But he was smiling at me, and it was totally ok for us to just do that, so I impulsively did it right back.  

I looked at Doug across the table, smirking slightly.  “Did you do that for him?”

“It was nice for him, but I did it for me.  Because I didn’t want to be a stripper in a relationship.  And it felt different—it has for a long time.  I love him, and I can’t be in love with him and have a job as a stripper.  I couldn’t for myself anymore.”  

Lois was practically beaming with her smile.  Doug’s was less obvious, but I knew him well enough to know that he was happy about it, too.   

Tyler and I hadn’t really discussed who was going to be paying for the meal.  I think both Tyler and Doug had plans to pick up the check, but I snatched it away before either of them could lay some guy-claim to it.  Both would probably find it insulting it the other one paid, so this was just cleaner and easier.  

“What are you doing?” Tyler asked me.  

I smiled at him.  “I’m taking out my favorite people for brunch.”  

Doug clicked his tongue.  “I was going to do that.”

“Well tough shit for both of you then, I guess.  Sucks to be you guys.”  

Neither one could really argue with that—because I totally ruled.  

~ooOoo~

We decided to spend the afternoon in Central Park.  The leaves had started to turn, and the park was sort of alive with tons of different colors of red, gold, orange and brown.  Doug was oddly interested in a lot of the military statues in the park, or maybe that was more of a guy-thing.  Lois seemed completely amazed by the largeness of the park, and the amount of different kinds of leaves.  She also took to reading just about every piece of information from the brochure we picked up for her on the way into the park—out loud.  I thought it might be annoying to Tyler, but he had a smile on his face the entire time, holding my hand as we guided them around places.  

I couldn’t really describe my feelings.  It was odd to be with Doug and Lois again at all, much less taking them on a walking tour of Central Park.  Not that it hadn’t before but…it felt so much more like this city was mine.  I was showing it to someone.  I was showing it to someone with Tyler right here with me.  I was a part of the city now.  And it felt like a home.  No city had ever really felt like home before.  

Doug finally announced he had to sit, and Tyler and Lois went off in search of drinks while I plunked down next to Doug on a bench.  

We sat in silence for a minute, just people-watching.  

He nudged my shoulder with his.  “You’re different with him.”

I turned to look at him.  “What do you mean?”

He shrugged.  “Just different.”

I didn’t say anything for a while.  “Is that good?”

He was looking out at the people passing us, arms crossed over his chest.  He nodded gently.  “Yeah, it’s good.”

I nodded once back, but I don’t think he saw me.

“You seem happy.”

When I looked back at him again, he was watching me, a small smile on his face.  “I am happy.  He makes me happy.”  

“I’m glad you’re happy.”  He looked away for a second and then started again.  “I guess he seems like a good kid.  From what I can tell anyway.”

I giggled.  

He turned to me again, smiling.  “He cares about you.  And he seems to be taking good care of you.”

“He does,” I agreed.

“And if he hurts you, I’ll rip his arms off and feed them to him, so as long as we’ve got that out in the open, I guess I think he’s ok.”

I hugged him impulsively.  I actually couldn’t remember if I’d ever done that before.  He was surprised, letting out a little noise.  “Thank you.”

“Um, you’re welcome.”  He cleared his throat, patting me awkwardly like random hugs were not something that happened to him often.  He was smiling though, so I think he liked it even if it was a surprise.  

I heard Tyler’s voice before I saw him.  “So Lois tells me you’re seeing a few Broadway shows.”

Doug rolled his eyes.  “Yes, I’m thrilled.”  

Lois swatted him.  “He is.  He’s just holding in is his excitement.”

Doug smirked.  “Maybe Allison should go with you.  Tyler and I could go have a few beers.”  

Oh, fuck no.  “Um, no, I wouldn’t want to take that experience away from you.  And I live here.  I can go anytime.  You should definitely go.”  

He side-eyed me.  “Thanks.”  

~ooOoo~

We parted after the park, going in separate directions.  We still had to walk through part of it to leave, and it was really stunning in the fall.  The colors were amazing; all the trees were turning and were so bright.  The sun was setting, and it just gave everything an incredibly warm glow.  The trees looked like they were lit up.  The sky was almost intense with its light; oranges and pinks spiked across the horizon.  I really loved this city.  It was loud, and it was rude at times, and there were way too many fucking people, but I loved it.  I loved how alive it felt; how the entire park felt happy while still winding down for the day.  Like the park slept just like the people in the city.  People were going home; no one looked like they hadn’t enjoyed their day in the park.  

Walking with Tyler, I was no exception.  And I felt like I was a part of something larger.  Like we all had some big secret about being happy.  I couldn’t remember having a better few days.  Ever.

I didn’t even tell Tyler I was happy.  I think he could see that.  And he didn’t say anything either, so we spent most of the walk out of the park in silence; both of us just enjoying the last traces of the fall that would be leaving us, and the birthday I was leaving behind.  It’d been a great year.  

By the time we got back to the apartment, I was really happily looking forward to something else.  

“Who would have thought there would ever be so much drama in Indianapolis?”

“What?”  I said this as I was literally unbuttoning his shirt.  

“Lois was telling me about her book club.”  

“Her what now?” Shirt was unbuttoned and shoved off of his shoulders.  

“Her book club.  Apparently all of these housewives in Indiana really need more to do.  She was telling me that the last meeting they had Karen snubbed Cathy because that last time she hosted the meeting she put nuts in the brownies even though she knew Judith has a nut allergy and that’s why Lois always services lemon squares instead, because no one in the world is allergic to lemon really, but lots of people have nut allergies.  There’s like a level of cultural, suburban thinking there that I’ll never understand.”  

I think my expression probably spoke for itself.  Fucking Indianapolis Book Club?!  I started on his pants.  

“She’s actually very well-read, though.  Not like those Oprah-books and shit.  That’s what the book club reads, but she’s into all sorts of other really cool shit.  She likes a ton of different genres and I was really shocked to find out she’s read a ton of Thomas Harris books.  But she’ll read short stories or Boccaccio just the same.  We were talking about this one book she just read about that I think I’m totally going to check out even though I’m not really into fiction that much.  She’s kind of given me a different perspective about fiction as a genre.”  

“What the actual fuck are you talking about right now?”

“Lois’ reading habits?”

“Why are we talking about Lois’ reading habits?”

“I liked Lois.”

“I like Lois, too.  And Doug.  But…did you not notice how I’m trying to fuck you right now?  Why are we talking about fiction as a genre?  I don’t even know what the fuck that means.”

“I mean, I could tell you about what it means.”  

“I don’t care what it means right now.  You talk too fucking much.” I said, smirking and pulling his boxers down.  “Shut up.”  

“Yeah.  Yeah, I can do that.”  

~ooOoo~

The fuck was he doing out there?  He said he was just grabbing a beer.  Because apparently beers were necessary after great sex.  He was gone way longer than just getting a beer.  Which meant I was just left there to think.  To think about what a huge, adorable dork he was with all his talking and book clubs, and how amazing he was to introduce to Doug and Lois.  I couldn’t have imagined that meeting going any better.  It was perfect.  

Lois had pulled me aside before they left.  I didn’t think of her as a mother-figure really.  I didn’t really think of Doug as a father-figure, either.  They were family to me in whatever sense that meant to someone who didn’t have family.  I didn’t really consider them role models, but their relationship had weathered a lot, and their opinions still mattered to me.  I didn’t really look to them for advice, but it as ok if they gave it to me anyway.  I think they both realized that the arrangement they would have liked was just not something I could agree to.  

Still…

She took my hand, and I was instantly transported back to one of the first conversations we had where they took me shopping for clothes and she helped me find bras, which at the time had seemed really fucking weird to me, but now just felt like a fond, if bizarre memory.  “Allison, I have no real… I’m not your mother, but I can’t tell you how proud I am that you made the decision to stop stripping.  And that might not mean anything to you, but I still needed you to know that.  And Doug is, too.  Even if he doesn’t tell you.”

I smiled at her, sorry that it was so evident that I had rejected their offer of being like a foster set of parents to me.  They were nice people.  I just couldn’t get attached in my life at that time.  And I wasn’t sure that was something I ever really would really be capable of.  Tyler was different.  It was a different kind of relationship.  But still, I was sorry that I couldn’t just let her be that for me.  “It does mean a lot to me.  You guys are basically all the family I have.”  

She gave me one of those ‘mom smiles.’  At least that’s what I think they were called.  The ones where they’re really happy with something you’ve said and they want to hug you instantly, which is what she did the next second.  

When she pulled back, there were tears in her eyes.  “I’m so happy you met Tyler.  He seems like a wonderful young man.”  

If it would have been anyone else, I probably would have snickered at the wonderful young man.  I mean, he was; that was just not how anyone had ever described Tyler to me.  Instead I nodded and managed just a smile.  “I think he’s pretty great, yeah.  He’s different.  Much different.”  

“He loves you.  His whole face lights up at just your name.  But then so does yours at his.”  

Maybe I should have tried being more involved or interested in them both all along.  Her and her stupid book club.  She cared about me a lot.  I knew that.  And I cared about them both, too.  Until Tyler though, I don’t think I realized how much.  Or what that really meant to me now.  I was glad I told her she was family.  

“Maybe sometime soon you guys can come to visit us.  Or we can come out again.  This was really nice.  We miss you.  I’m so glad we got to visit and meet Tyler.  You know you can call anytime, right?”

I nodded.  “I know.”

“For anything.”

“Thank you.”  

She hugged me again before walking off to join Doug.  I was really happy they visited.  Not just to meet Tyler, but just to see me.  It was nice.  The perfect cap to a great birthday…  

“What are you smiling about?”  Tyler asked quietly, coming back into the room finally.  “Sex is that good, yeah?”

I scoffed.  “Well, we could be having more of it if you weren’t so busy… What the fuck is all that?”

He was smiling at me; like, huge-shit-eating-grin kind of smiling.  And his arms were loaded with food.  Way too much food.  

“I had to raid the fridge.”

“For what?  Are we having a party?”

“No!  It takes lots of different foods to recharge, ya know.  Sustenance.”  

I surveyed the shit he dumped on the bed.  Two people could never eat all of this food.  

“And what kind of recharging food is cheese in a can?”

“Dairy!”

I rolled my eyes.  “Right.  I’m guessing you’re putting it on the crackers.  And this?  What about these?  Cheetos?  Also dairy?”

“Pffffft, no, those are obviously a snack food.”  

“Cold pizza, grapes, baby carrots… Is this even still good?”  I held up some questionable looking leftovers in a container.  

He surveyed them, complete with the smell test.  He set that on the dresser.  “We’ll pass on that one.”  

“Salami?  No bread?”

“Who needs bread to eat salami?  Plus you can make a little sandwich with the crackers and the cheese.  Or get crazy and roll the cheese inside the salami.  It’ll be epic.  Or I have pepper jack cheese if you want more zip.”  

“Epic for sure.  Most fun I’ve had with my clothes off.”  

“Well I didn’t really intend to spray cheese your tits, but I could get on board with that.”  He shrugged.  “If you want.”

“I think I’m actually good without it.  Shocking, I know.”  

“I have leftover Chinese, too.  Pretty sure that’s still good.”  

“Are we, like, camping out here?  For days?  Are you really this hungry?  What are we going to do with all this food, baby?”  

He sat down next to me, back against the wall, smiling at me.  “Well, you know more than anyone else just how dedicated I am to your sexual satisfaction.  And it was kind of a big day.  Night, day, all of it.  Multiple orgasms don’t just happen, ya know.  They take real work.  Recharging is necessary sometimes.”  

I ran my hand through his hair.  “Mmm, I see.”  

“So?  What were you thinking about?”

I shrugged.  I think I could have taken him more seriously if he wasn’t slathering peanut butter all over a piece of celery when he asked.  “Just thinking.  I think I made Lois really happy today.”  

“Yeah?”

I nodded, smiling fondly.  “I told her we were family.  She seemed to really like that.”  

He hummed quietly at me, spraying cheese onto a cracker and talking around it after he shoved it in his mouth.  “Yeah, well, Doug threatened to kill me and throw my body in the Hudson if I ever hurt you.  I think we really bonded.”

I burst out laughing.  “He liked you enough to dispose of your body.”  He held out a cracker complete with a huge amount of cheese on it.  Of course, I took it.  

“Seriously.  He could have just left my body to drop wherever it landed.  Instead he was going to lovingly drop my carcass into the river.”  

“He wouldn’t do that for just anyone.”

“No, I totally get special treatment.”  

“I had a really great birthday, Tyler.  Thank you.”  

“You’re welcome.”  

“Lois wants us to visit them.  Or she wants to come out again soon.”

He was smirking at me.  

“What?”

“Just wondering why we’re still talking about Lois.  Like, what the actual fuck are you even talking about?”

I giggled and scooted closer to him.  “What?  I was impatient.  And you just kept talking and talking about books and shit.  It’s kind of a mood killer.”  

“It is not.  Books are way sexy.  If I started talking to you about books, you’d swoon.”

“I’d swoon?”  I laughed.  “Would these be the Oprah Book Club books you’re jonesing to read now?”

“I am not jonesing to read Oprah books.  There are just plenty that are very sexy.”  

Honestly, it probably would be.  Tyler reading was like foreplay, so him talking about books all geeked-out probably wouldn’t be any different.

“I have way more books all stored at my mom’s.  It’d be nice to have them all with me, like if we had a place without Aidan, the child that lives here.”  

I’m not sure he really noticed what he said.  Judging by the way he was still shoving mouthfuls of lo mein in his mouth, I think he said it without really realizing.  A place without Aidan, as in, a place for just Tyler and me.  A place that was just ours.  Our place.  When he suggested that before, I was not in any place to even consider that a possibility.  Now, though…now I could see it easily.  We lived together anyway.  What would a difference in address make?  Would it really be that huge of a step to live just together?  Seemed easier now.  

One (Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen | Fifteen | Sixteen | Seventeen | Eighteen | Nineteen | Twenty | Twenty-One | Twenty-Two | Twenty-Three | Twenty-Four | Twenty-Five | Twenty-Six | Twenty-Seven | Twenty-Eight | Twenty-Nine |  Thirty  |  Thirty-One  |  Thirty-Two  |  Thirty-Three  |  Thirty-Four  |  Thirty-Five  |  Thirty-Six  |  Thirty-Seven  |  Thirty-Eight  |  Thirty-Nine  |  Forty  |  Forty-One  |  Forty-Two  |  Forty-Three  |  Forty-Four  |  Forty-Five  |  Forty-Six  | Forty-Seven  |