by Claire Adams
Nina, Emily, and I had spent numerous off days touring houses and talking about how Emily might be able to renovate one of them to meet her needs. Nina focused on making the home Howard-friendly, while Emily thought about how to accommodate her frequent guests - us. She’d put an offer on a house three doors down from mine, but someone else had come in with a higher offer at the last minute. Emily was disappointed, but remained optimistic.
Today we were headed to my parents’ for a barbecue and their annual domino tournament. I was excited to bring Emily to the gathering for the first time and have her meet the rest of the Gaston family, and Nina was excited to be able to bring her new boyfriend, Brandon, to the gathering, despite the fact that I was still on the fence as to whether I liked him or not.
Emily assured me that he was a good student and a nice young man, but I didn’t like the idea of my daughter dating any high school boy at all. After all, I knew what they were like. Every time Brandon came by to pick Nina up for a date, I’d give him the third degree about where they were going and when they’d be back. If Emily was around, she’d smile and intervene to give the boy a break, but I wanted him to fear me enough to ensure that my daughter arrived home safe and sound — and on time.
I had just finished shaving when Emily entered the bathroom and gave me the once-over.
“Mmm, you look very good, Mr. Gaston,” she said with a smile as she walked toward the mirror. She looked beautiful in a blue summer sundress with her long blonde hair spilling across her shoulders. I turned, pulled her into my arms, and kissed her deeply. She rested her palms on my chest as we kissed and I quickly felt myself approaching the point of no return, as I always did when she touched me. Emily pulled back a little and whispered, “You smell amazing. Better get ready, big guy, or I’m going to be the one making us late today.”
I grinned suggestively at her as I put my hand on the edge of the towel I had tucked around my waist. She laughed loudly and shook her head as she moved away.
“What? Suddenly I’m chopped liver?” I pouted.
“Oh, I think you know you’re not,” she laughed. “But do you want to explain to your mother why you made us late again?
“No, I don’t think I do,” I grumbled
It didn’t take me long to get dressed, and by the time I joined Emily and Nina in the living room, Brandon had arrived and was pacing nervously behind the couch. We shook hands, and as he looked to Nina for reassurance, I pulled him toward me and slapped him on the back saying, “Son, it’s all good. Relax.”
“Yes, sir,” he nodded solemnly, before letting go of my hand and taking Nina’s. I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, Emily slipped her hand in mind and pushed me toward the door.
“Got everything, Dad?” Nina called, as we walked toward the truck.
“Yep!” I replied.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“I’m sure!” I said, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Now will you let it go?”
“Okay, okay,” she said, holding up her hands in surrender. “Just trying to be helpful. Don’t shoot the messenger.”
I chuckled as I slid into the driver’s seat and stuck the key in the ignition. Emily shot me a questioning look from the passenger seat, but I just shook my head and waved her off. As we pulled out of the driveway, I was Jake and Kathy standing in their front yard smiling and waving. I offered a quick wave and a smile before I put the truck in drive.
“You’ve got some really nice neighbors,” Emily commented, as she smiled and waved. “We should invite them over for dinner sometime.”
“Uh, yeah,” I said looking away. “Sure.”
“Do you not like them, Blake?” she asked.
“Long story,” I said, glancing up at the rear view mirror and then back at the road in front of me. “I’ll explain later.”
When we arrived at my parents’ house, the driveway was empty, but cars lined the street. When we got out and began to unload the food and beer from the back of the truck, Brian and his friends came rushing out the front door and swept it all inside without a word.
“That’s weird,” Emily said, watching the posse of guys move back into the house.
“C’mon, let’s go around back and see what my dad’s cooked up,” I said, as I reached out and took her hand.
We walked around the side of the house, and as I flipped open the side gate, I could hear voices chattering excitedly. I held tight to Emily’s hand as we rounded the corner. She gasped when she saw the crowd of people standing around my parents’ backyard, sipping cocktails and looking around expectantly.
“Blake, what’s going on?” Emily asked, looking up at me and then back at the crowd. “Why are all of these — Mother? Daddy? Becca? KO? What are you doing here?”
“Ellie and Alan came to see us and asked us to come to the barbecue,” my mother said in a stilted voice. “We knew you might not want to see us, but we wanted to make an effort to see you.”
“But why here? Why now?” Emily asked.
“I think Blake can explain better than we can,” her father stepped forward and hugged her quickly before backing away again.
“Blake, what’s going on?” Emily asked, obviously confused by the entire scene. I nodded at my brother and when he hit play on his phone the first lines of Elvis singing one of the greatest love songs ever filtered through the patio speakers.
“Wise men say, only fools rush in, but I can’t help…falling in love with you.”
“Emily, I wanted everyone here today because I wanted the to hear me say how much I love you,” I said, as I faced her and took both her hands. “I’ve known you were someone special from the first time I laid eyes on you.”
“You mean when I lectured you about how you needed to help Nina improve her grades or the time I burned my house down and you rescued me?” Emily said with a wry grin, and the crowd laughed.
“I mean when you could have collapsed, and you didn’t; you took care of Howard, and you found a way to push forward despite losing everything,” I said, looking into her eyes. “You are strong and smart, and you inspire me to be a better person.”
“Shall I stay? Would it be a sin? For I can’t help…falling in love with you.”
“I love you, too, Blake,” Emily said, smiling warmly up at me.
“So, I thought it would be a good idea to have everyone we love here today,” I said, taking a deep breath.
“Take my hand, take my whole life too. For I can’t help falling in love with you.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small blue box I’d been carrying for months as I dropped to one knee and said, “Emily Fowler, will you do me the great honor of agreeing to be my wife?”
I flipped the box open to reveal a simple round diamond set in a platinum band. Emily gasped and covered her mouth with her hands as she looked at the ring and then back at me in utter shock. I plucked the ring out of the box and held it out as an offering as I waited for her reply.
There were tears in her eyes as she nodded, and then she held out her hand so that I could put the ring on her finger. As I slid the ring on her finger, she whispered, “Oh Blake, yes. Yes, I’ll marry you!”
The entire crowd burst into applause and cheers as I quickly hopped to my feet and wrapped my arms around her waist to pull her in for a big kiss. Emily wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back. When she pulled back to look at me, I could see her eyes shining as she smiled up at me.
We turned and faced the crowd of people who had gathered to celebrate our engagement, and together we raised our linked hands in a sign of victory. Nina stepped forward out of the crowd and wrapped her arms around both of us, then turned and yelled, “She said yes!”
The music burst forth from the stereo, and the party began in earnest as everyone surged forward to congratulate us on our engagement. It was heartening to see Emily’s parents genuinely happy for us, and I hoped that in the coming months, we’d be able to build some bridges that woul
d enable us to keep them in our lives, but if not, then I knew we’d be fine.
“I’m proud of you, son,” my dad said, as he put an arm around me and looked over at Emily, who was now laughing with Nina and my mother as they flipped burgers on the grill together. “She’s a good woman, and she’ll be a great addition to this family.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I said, as I smiled and accepted a beer from my brother.
“Yeah, maybe she’ll like you enough to add another little Gaston to the mix,” Brian said, slugging my shoulder.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” I laughed. “We’ve got a teenager in the house now, and I’m not sure Emily is going to want to start over.”
“Not want to start over what?” Emily asked, as she joined us and took my hand. I raised it to my lips and kissed it before I replied.
“Start a whole new family after raising a teenager,” I said, smiling at her.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she grinned, then leaned in and whispered, “But we’ve got plenty of time to practice.”
“I love you, Emily,” I said, as I leaned down and kissed her.
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SLAMMED BOX SET
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 Claire Adams
SLAMMED #1
Chapter One
“Evie, I swear to God, you never have any fun.” I rolled my eyes at Jess as she watched me getting dressed from the door of my room. “You could at least pretend you’re looking forward to this party instead of dragging your feet and picking out the ugliest thing in your closet.”
I looked down at the jumper and tee shirt I picked out and made a face in the mirror, turning to look at Jess. “What’s wrong with this?” Jess looked me over from head-to-toe.
“Nothing, if you want everyone to think you’re a nun.”
I sighed. Glancing at my reflection, I could kind of see her point.
“Well, it’s not even like I wanted to go to the party in the first place,” I said, hearing the whining note in my own voice and not caring. “The only reason I am going is because you want to go and you’re smart enough not to go by yourself.”
Jess shook her head, sighing in exasperation.
“You’ve been here almost half a semester and you haven’t been to a single party! Come on, Evelyn, even bookworms like you deserve some fun every now and then.”
I cringed, giving Jess an unhappy look for the “bookworm” remark. It wasn’t that I loved studying more than I liked socializing; I was paying my own way through college, cobbling together academic scholarships, and applying for all the grant money I could get my hands on. All of that money would disappear in a heartbeat if I didn’t pay attention to my grades. On top of that, working out my own way through college made it important to me to not have to repeat any classes; those extra courses would come straight out of my savings.
Jess smiled playfully at me, coming into the room and opening up my closet door. “Evie, you know you are capable of being drop-dead gorgeous. I can’t be seen with some frumpy librarian!” I shook my head as Jess pulled out the skimpiest skirt I owned — it barely covered my ass — and a low-cut top to go with it.
When I was a senior in high school, my spot at the college a sure thing, I sort of dipped my toe into going to parties; I’d gone to a few, when I didn’t have to work at the movie theater and my friends and I had a good enough time, but it always seemed like everyone just got bombed out of their minds and passed out or threw up. I’d seen enough people staggering into the dining hall on weekend mornings since I’d started at college to know that campus parties weren’t that different.
But I agreed to go with Jess, and I told myself as I slithered into the skirt and top that I was going to make the best of it. I’d have a couple of drinks — not enough to get blasted, but enough to enjoy myself — and keep an eye out for Jess. At least it would be a break from constant studying or binge-watching TV shows on my computer.
The party Jess was taking me to was at a frat house; the Phi Alpha Kappa fraternity had a bad reputation on campus, going by the nickname “bad boy frat.” I knew from what I’d heard they had nearly gotten their credentials taken away several times in the last 10 years, mostly for their over-the-top pranks and the intensity of their parties — and the property damage that came along with them. If I was going to go to my first party as a college student, it was both a good introduction and a scary prospect.
Jess left me to finish getting ready herself and I pulled my long, dark brown hair back and braided it to keep it out of my face. I put on some makeup and stepped into a pair of pumps, making a face at my feet. They’d be killing me by the end of the night, but Jess couldn’t possibly have anything bad to say about them — they were certainly sexy. I grabbed my purse and looked around for my keys.
“Evie, aren’t you ready yet?” Jess called from the common area of our dorm room.
I sighed and spotted a pair of ballet flats I’d thrown across my floor when I came in arguing with Jess about whether or not I would go with her to the party. I slipped the shoes into my big purse, grabbed my keys, and took a deep breath. I told myself the night couldn’t possibly be as bad as I was thinking it would be. It would just be a few drinks, and a few laughs, and then I would be back in my room. How bad could it possibly be?
We walked across campus to where the party was going on; Jess told me she’d slipped a pair of flats into her own purse as well — and as a “just in case,” she had a spare dress stuffed into her bag. “I am well-versed in avoiding a real walk of shame,” she said to me with a grin. “Change into another dress and a pair of flats and no one really knows you spent the night somewhere.”
I had to admit she wasn’t entirely wrong; however, people would still see you leaving the frat house the next day. I pointed that out to her.
“Well, you kinda lie low until you get to a more common part of campus and then you walk tall. People think you’re coming from the library or one of the labs.”
She shrugged. “You’re putting way too much thought into something that shouldn’t be that common a situation,” I told Jess with a grin.
“Yeah, well, some of us go to parties more often than once a semester.”
I rolled my eyes. “Some of us are serious about getting a good job after graduation.”
Jess twisted her face into a wry grin. “Evie, you need to lighten up a bit! Jeez, you could still make As without using your weekends to study, too. These are supposed to be the best years of your life, and what are you doing with them?”
I shrugged. “Learning. Putting them to good use so that when I’m 50 I’m not still scraping by on the same job I got when I was 30.”
Jess shrugged. “All work and no play makes Evelyn a dull girl. I know you have it in you!”
We got to the enormous building that served as the frat house, and before we’d even gotten to the door, I could already hear the pounding bass of the music. The front lawn was empty of all but a few people, but I knew from what I’d heard that the back yard, with its swimming pool, would be thronged — as would the frat house itself. Jess didn’t bother knocking — it was too loud to hear it anyway. She just opened the door and I caught a whiff of beer, pot, sweat, and a little vomit; the tell-tale signs of a raging party.
There was a guy in a toga hanging out by the door, and he grinned at us as soon as we walked in. “Hey, welcome to Phi Alpha Kappa! You Greek?”
“Nah, we’re just here to use you for free alcohol,” Jess said with a grin. The guy shrugged.
“H
ey, no problem there. As a token of our hospitality, allow me to offer you beautiful ladies some initial refreshments.”
The guy produced two red Solo cups of beer and held them out to us. I had never been a big fan of beer — and the kind of beer that showed up at parties like this was even worse than my dad’s treasured Sam Adam’s. I started to say I’d rather not.
“Evie, take the cup!” Jess grabbed the other one, shooting me a grin. “Come on, you’re here to have fun. Lighten up, will you?”
Jess grabbed the other cup, put it in my hand, and pulled me away from the doorway. I sipped at the beer and made a face as I swallowed. It was watery and bitter — no good flavor at all. Jess took a long drink of her own cup and I wondered how she could gulp down such swill. Maybe if I was lucky the liquor would still be out; I could handle some punch or some vodka and soda.
We turned a corner and all at once I spotted him. He was leaning against a wall, a couple of girls around him, looking just as hot as I could have ever remembered. Zack was tall and lean, not skinny, and he had plenty of muscle to show for years of playing football and training. He was wearing a toga, like all of the members of the frat, but draped around his waist and shoulders the sheet didn’t look ridiculous — it looked, inexplicably, incredibly hot. For a moment, I was frozen in my tracks; it had been more than a year since I’d even seen Zack, and even though I knew he’d gone to the same college, I didn’t really think I’d ever see him. With thousands of students, what were the odds?
I couldn’t help but stare — I knew it was stupid and I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help the rush of feelings that just seeing him gave me. Zack and I dated in high school; he was a junior when I was a freshman and my mom started getting sick about the time he and I started seeing each other. We were together for two years, until the beginning of my junior year — when Zack graduated and was planning on going off to college. It took me a year and a half to get over him; I mean, it was a good experience all told, and I knew I was stronger for having gotten over it at my own speed, but the sight of him, out of the blue, brought me back to all the feelings I’d had for him. He was my first.
