by Golden Angel
Jackie rolled her eyes, spooning the tomatoes onto the bread. "I just thought you might be still thinking things over because of... you know." Her voice went sly and she gave Maria a Significant Look. Complete with eyebrow waggling.
"Well it went great. Even um... that part." Maria blushed as Jackie's jaw dropped open.
"You - you didn't... you already-?"
"Shhh," Maria hushed her, automatically looking over her shoulder to make sure no one had snuck up on them. Her face felt like it was burning up. Even speaking so ambiguously felt dangerous. She lowered her voice, leaning in towards her sister. "I haven't slept with him yet but yes, we tried out the you know and it went fine. Better than fine."
"Told you so," Jackie said, gleeful.
"Yeah, just... don't mention it to Lara and Ava. I'll tell them the date went well. We spent some more time together over the weekend. Last night he made me dinner," Maria said, feeling warmth swelling in her chest. This was the good stuff, the stuff that she could share with her sisters. The stuff that she wanted them to know. She was dating a man and he was freaking awesome. They'd just skip over talking about the freaky in the sack part. "Surprised me with it because I'd been having a bad day."
Jackie's eyes practically glowed, reflecting Maria's own feelings back at her. She could tell how happy she must look, because of how happy Jackie looked right now.
"Now that's the kind of thing I like to hear," she said, leaning against the counter. The bruschetta lay next to her on the tray, basically forgotten, Maria was amused to see. "When are you seeing him next?"
"Well, he told me to stop by tonight. I might have brought him here if I'd realized how crazy this 'family dinner' was going to be," she said, glancing out the window into the backyard full of people. Maybe she wouldn't have. It was kind of early in their relationship to be introducing him to her family, but she was surprised by how much she wanted to.
"Trying to scare him away already?" Jackie asked, amused, as she looked over her shoulder at the fracas. "That's not nice."
"Oh shut up and go back outside," Maria said, pushing her sister back towards the door so that she could finish up the bruschetta. Laughing, Jackie did as she was told, satisfied now that she'd gotten the dirt. Maria had no doubt that by the time she got outside again, Ava and Lara would know that her date had gone well and that she'd be seeing him again.
At least no one would tell their parents. That was sister-code. They would gossip as much as they wanted about boys among themselves, but everyone got to tell Mom and Dad in their own time. Maria grinned, wondering how Rick would handle her parents and sisters. She had a feeling he and her dad would get along pretty well, and that he'd fit right in with her brother-in-laws. Come to think of it, they were all kind of alpha-males in their own way. And none of them quite knew how to deal with her mother.
Theresa Arias was like a small whirlwind, able to herd large groups of alpha males into doing what she wanted. Unless her husband put his foot down, of course. Then she was just sneakier about it. Maria grinned, wondering if she would ever be able to be quite like that. Somehow she doubted it. Besides, in Rick's group of friends that seemed to be Olivia's job.
"Guess I shouldn't be surprised to find you in here." The sneering, deep voice could only belong to one person.
Maria made a face, putting the bruschetta in the oven before turning to face Jeremy. He was leaning against the doorway, looking both bored and contemptuous, with his arms crossed over his chest.
"And what do you mean by that?" She supposed she could have played nice, but that was just so not her style. Especially not in her parents' home. Maybe if they'd been in public, but here? This wasn't her sister's engagement party and Maria didn't care if she made a scene. Not like there was anyone else inside the house right now anyway, they were all out back, so if Jeremy wasn't going to play nice then she sure as hell wasn't either.
"You know... the kitchen..." He untucked one of his hands and waved his finger in a small circle to indicate the room. "Where all the food is."
"Actually, most of the food is in the backyard right now, jackass," she said, not at all surprised that he was back to the fat jokes. Seriously, would he ever grow up? She'd heard enough of them in high school, and even college, but at this point in her life, most people were more aware of themselves and most people weren't so shallow.
"So you're not hiding out in here, trying to drown your sorrows in food?"
Maria snorted. "Seriously? What sorrows exactly?"
"Oh, I don't know... the fact that you're the oldest sister and the only one that doesn't have a ring on her finger," Jeremy said, tossing his head back. It made his dark hair kind of do a little flip, and she wondered if he thought that was somehow attractive. Well, maybe it would be if he didn't have such an ugly personality. "Making up some imaginary boyfriend that just couldn't come tonight."
Wow... apparently word got around fast. Jackie must have said something to either Ava or Lara where Jeremy could hear. Not Jackie’s fault really, but it made Maria's insides burn that she had to deal with this jackass and his insinuations. She was fine with how she looked. Seriously. His words didn't hurt, but they sure as hell pissed her off.
Clenching her fists by her sides, she looked at him coldly. "I think you should get your ass back outside and find some people who actually like you before I kick you out of here."
To her further frustration, Jeremy just smirked and shook his head at her like she was a naughty child as he straightened up. "And then go outside and tell everyone what... that you kicked out your sister's best man in her wedding because he called you out on your imaginary boyfriend? Come on, Maria, don't be like that."
Dammit he was probably right. Which just made her more furious. Not the imaginary boyfriend part, of course, but if she actually kicked him out then she'd have to be the one to explain it. Kicking him out would be descending to his level.
Why was she letting him get to her anyway? This entire conversation was pointless and stupid and the best thing to do was to show complete indifference to him.
She flipped her hand at him. "Whatever. I'll go. Keep an eye on the bruschetta and take it out in about ten minutes."
Turning to go out the other entryway, even though it would mean she'd have to go out the front and walk around the entire house on the outside, Maria wasn't too surprised to hear movement behind her. She looked back, expecting to see him retreating so that he wouldn't have to watch over the bruschetta, but instead he was halfway across the kitchen and moving closer.
"Aw, come on Maria, don't be like that," he said, giving her a smarmy kind of grin. "I just wanted to tell you that you don't have to make-up boyfriends, I'll take you out."
She froze, completely and utterly poleaxed as she re-ran his words through her head. "Are you asking me out on a date?"
Even more surprising, Jeremy stopped walking towards her, suddenly looked incredibly awkward, even though he was trying to pull off nonchalance. He shoved his hands into his shorts' pockets and shrugged. "I guess. So you wanna?"
"No." She started to turn again.
"Why not?"
And right back around again. "Seriously? What are you, the five-year old on the playground who thinks that being a jerk is the way to win over the girl?"
"I was just teasing." He grinned, as if inviting her to share in the joke. Maria was not impressed. "I mean, you're a big girl, but you're still pretty hot. You were kind of a bitch at Victor and Lara's engagement party, but that was kinda hot too."
Maria stared at him for a long moment. "You have issues Jeremy. And no. Sorry, but my boyfriend is neither imaginary nor into sharing." Turning on her heel, she quick-stepped out of the room before he could respond, only taking a moment to call back: "Don't forget about the bruschetta!"
Stepping back outside, she started to make her way around the house, shaking her head. Would wonders never cease. The sad thing was, before she'd met Rick, she might have thought Jeremy's little performance back there in t
he kitchen kind of cute. Now it was just sad, sad, sad. And a little entertaining. She actually almost felt a little sorry for Jeremy. No wonder he didn't have a girlfriend, he had no game.
She put a smile on her face as she joined the crowd in the backyard again. Ava and Lara immediately came over, making a little sister huddle that no one else was going to interrupt with all the giggling and whispering. A few minutes later, Jeremy came outside with the tray of bruschetta. He shot Maria a nasty look, which she ignored, and strolled over to join a conversation on the opposite side of the yard.
Definitely should have brought Rick. Then they could have avoided that whole scene altogether. Maria wondered if she and Rick would still be together closer to Lara's wedding, when she'd have to be seeing more of the wedding party anyway. She imagined bringing Rick to her sister's wedding and seeing the look on Jeremy's face when he saw her imaginary boyfriend.
It gave her a little shiver when she realized how far into the future she was picturing Rick and herself, of both apprehension and hope.
******
Bodies were sprawled out, in various limp positions, across the mats. They were supposed to be stretching, but that had pretty much devolved into basically resting. Even Liam seemed tired, he was the only one still stretching, but he was doing it slowly and almost disinterestedly.
Rick groaned as a sore muscle in his back twinged when he tried to roll over. Andrew had gotten him good there during their sparring match. Maybe he could convince Maria to give him a massage tonight. Extra bonus of having a girlfriend - someone else to help relieve his aches and pains.
Next to him, Jared stretched out his leg and nudged Rick with his foot. "So what are you doing here tonight? I thought you'd be hanging out with Maria."
"She had a family dinner... I'm just wasting time with you guys till she's back."
"Family dinner and she didn't invite you?" That was Andrew, pushing himself up to a sitting position. Sweat had visibly soaked through his white tank; he'd been working out some kind of emotional angst tonight for sure, sparring with both Rick and Liam. He'd definitely be feeling it tomorrow too.
"We haven't exactly been going out that long," Rick reminded him, trying not to feel defensive. Although he knew very well that if she had invited him, he would have been delighted. But he wasn't going to get upset that she hadn't. "I'll meet them eventually. We're still figuring things out."
Andrew's eyebrows went up. "What does that mean?"
"It means she's a newbie to the scene," Rick said, shrugging as he moved his head back and forth, trying to work out some of the kinks in his neck. "She's just a little apprehensive, so we're taking things slow."
"Good idea," Liam said, interjecting while Andrew scowled. "You don't want to overwhelm her."
"I liked her when I met her, but don't let her twist you around or lead you on if she's not sure she's actually into this lifestyle. All you'll end up with is a bunch of regrets and doubts," Andrew said, his voice dark. He pushed himself up to a standing position. "No woman is worth that. I'm gonna hit the showers."
Now Rick was definitely feeling defensive, but he kept his mouth shut while Andrew stalked from the room. All of them knew that it was his past speaking for him. Rick didn't know all the details about Andrew's last relationship, but he knew that it had been right when Andrew had first started exploring BDSM and that his girlfriend had been doing so with him. Then everything had gone to shit and Andrew hadn't had anything more than scenes at the club ever since. So he knew that Andrew wasn't really talking about Maria leading Rick on, he was talking about his ex leading him on. Which made Rick even more curious about exactly what had gone down between them. He wasn't sure that he'd ever know.
"Don't mind him," Liam said quietly. "He's just a wee bit biased."
"Besides, newbies work out for some of us," Jared said, giving Liam a significant look. The big man was looking pretty relaxed these days, with Marissa out of town. Sure, he wasn't playing at the club, but at least he didn't look constantly miserable either.
"Pretty darn well too," Liam said. He grinned, boyishly, and suddenly looked almost sheepish. "I'm ah... well, I meant to tell you guys when Andrew was still in here, but um... This weekend I'm going to ask Hilary to marry me."
Rick let out a whoop of joy, doing a kind of sitting leap to land on Liam, hugging the fucker for all he was worth. A heavy weight crashed into both of them, taking them down to the mat as a laughing Jared piled on.
"Fuck yeah! Congratulations man!"
"You’re the man!"
"Get off of me! You're both sweaty and gross!" Liam pushed upwards, using momentum to stand and shove both Jared and Rick off of him. Laughing, they rolled away on the floor. All of Rick's lethargy from the workout had vanished; he was too happy for his friend to be anything but super energized.
"So you think she's gonna say yes?"
"Fuck you."
******
The television was on, but no one was paying any attention to it. They'd all wanted to do a small celebration with Liam, because no one really thought Hilary's answer would be anything but 'yes,' and Rick had convinced them to come back to his place so that he could keep his promise to Maria about being there. He supposed he could have just texted her that he was going out and why, but he wanted to see his girl.
For some reason, knowing that the first of his friends was getting engaged, was making Rick feel even more anxious to see her. Almost needy. He didn't like that word. Needy. But he couldn't deny that was how he felt. Maybe especially because of Andrew's words. He still didn't know what had happened to end Andrew and Kate's relationship, but he definitely didn't want to go that way with Maria. It made him want to get his hands on her and ensure she wasn't going anywhere.
Plus, it was cheaper than going out to a bar. They'd bought a couple six packs on the way back to his place to share. Liam had already told Olivia, Justin and Chris, he called Adam and Patrick from Rick's to tell them. Adam declined the invitation to come over, saying that he was all tied up with Angel that evening - Rick had a feeling that Angel was probably all tied up while Adam took the call. Patrick didn't answer his phone, but since it was Swingers Night at the club that wasn't too surprising; he was likely walking the floor and keeping an eye on things.
They weren't looking to get drunk, just have a good time and enjoy each other. Although Liam admitted that he was nervous.
"I was gonna do it last week, but I chickened out."
"You guys have talked about it though, right?" Jared asked. "I mean, it's not just going to come out of the blue."
"Well I'm hoping to surprise her, but yeah we've talked about getting married." Liam grinned. "Talked through the important things like how many kids we'd like, whether or not to go to church, how we'd want to do our finances. All that kind of stuff."
Geez. Just hearing Liam say it made everything seem more real. He and Hilary were really going to do this, and make babies and be a family. It hit Rick that he and his friends were really, fully adults now. Being responsible for yourself was one thing, but taking on the responsibility of having a family? That almost seemed like a fantasy to him, something for the far away future, but now Liam was bringing it home.
He found himself wondering if Maria would want kids, hoping that she would. Where she might want to live... did she see herself in this apartment building forever? And what about her job? She worked late evenings sometimes and - okay, get yourself together jackass. This is exactly what your friends mean about getting ahead of yourself.
Fortunately no one had noticed his distraction. Jared and Liam were still talking about the topics that people who were getting married should work out before the wedding, and swapping stories about people they'd known who hadn't, and Andrew was just as lost in his own little world as Rick was. While he was putting a smile on his face, and nodding his head, Rick could see that Andrew's dark eyes weren’t entirely focused. He also wasn't contributing much to the conversation, he was mostly drinking.
&nbs
p; Rick suddenly wondered if it was hard for Andrew, seeing his friends suddenly shacking up in serious relationships when for so long all of them had been single or just casually dating. They were falling like flies, one after the other. Hell, Justin and Chris had started it by going down together. Well technically he supposed Jared and Marissa had been the first to be in a serious relationship, but no one in their group of friends counted them as a serious couple. Mostly because they didn't want to. But out of all of them, Andrew was the least interested in having a relationship. Was he worried that he might lose his friends as he lost things in common with them?
Unfortunately, Rick didn't have time to try and bring Andrew back into the conversation, because his doorbell rang. The sound made his heart leap in his chest with excitement as a single thought rolled through his mind: Maria.
Sure enough, his gorgeous girl was outside his door, looking tired, but her brilliant smile as she saw him lit up her entire face. A guy could get used to putting that expression on his girl's face. He grinned back at her, feeling warm and happy all the way down to his toes.
"Maria!"
"Hey Maria!"
The guys all called out their greetings, and Maria blinked in surprise as she turned to look at them. Rick realized that he'd forgotten to text her to give her a heads up that some of the guys were over.
"Come on in, we're just having an impromptu celebration for Liam," he said, explaining. "He made a very important announcement this evening."
Liam puffed up in his chair, beaming at Maria. He was definitely a little drunk. "I'm gonna ask Hilary to marry me this weekend."
