by Peyton Banks
“Good evening, everyone,” Lucas says, greeting the table. “Simone,” he adds, his tone clipped.
“Hi, Lucas. So lovely to see you this evening.” This hurts me to fake more than you know, but I must keep up appearances.
I stand to change seats, offering Mr. Weathers mine so he can sit next to my mother. Lucas takes a seat between my two aunts.
“So how was the spa?” Mr. Weathers asks.
“Oh, it was so nice. Monie went all out for us. Complete with massages, facials, mani-pedis. The whole shebang. My little girl loves to spoil her mother and aunts. Ever since she got this job, she always makes sure we have trips and time to spend with each other. I think it’s because she never had a sibling.”
“Well, now she has this handsome brother.” My aunt takes her hands and squeezes his cheeks together. “If anything, she’ll be kicking ass to keep the girls off him.”
The whole table erupts in laughter, minus the subjects being discussed.
I take in a deep breath, and as I exhale, Lucas looks at me with heat in his eyes. I go to brush my hair behind my ear and fail since it’s all pinned up. “Excuse me, for a moment.” I stand.
“Oh, look at what you did, Bev, you embarrassed Monie,” My mother says when I leave.
The squabbling begins, and I can’t wait to go outside. I open the door to the patio and watch the tour boat go by when I find a place against the rails of the deck. I take in the night air and try to figure out what the fuck is wrong with me. Too many things are rattling around in my head. Most of it is foreign, you know, stuff I’ve never dealt with. Like being called a princess, and it has two different meanings. Why do I get hot when Lucas gives me a certain look? Did I fuck myself out of the promotion? Am I being petty? I let the thoughts go round and round inside my mental space.
“Here, I thought you could use this.” A hand appears with a glass of wine.
“Thanks, Lucas,” I reply when I see it’s him. “Sorry about my aunts.”
“Don’t be. They’re sweet. They said, ‘Here, look at these pictures of your new sister’ before pulling out the photo album they had uploaded onto their cloud. You were an adorable little girl.”
“Oh God. The photo album? I did that for them as a gift one Christmas in case the real ones were lost. Great. You saw the one where I was naked in the tub, too, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. But what child doesn’t have one of those?” He takes a pull from his glass with a smile on his lips.
I feel compelled to speak to him, but seeing how things went at the office, I may not be the person he wants to speak with. I go to open my mouth when his phone rings.
“Hello,” he answers. His face beams listening to the other person speak.
I can tell it’s the same female voice, and it adds to the confusion in my head. I immediately think it’s Mandy from work and wonder Why do I care?
He walks away laughing, leaving me hanging.
I take my glass and go back to the table. “Hi, family. Sorry, I couldn’t take the forthcoming baby stories, so I left ahead of them.” I giggle.
“Where is Lucas?”
“I dumped his body in the river.” I take a bite of my food.
They all turn and look at me with crazy eyes when I don’t crack a smile at my joke. Little do they know, it could’ve very well been true.
“Sorry about that. I had to take a call. I went looking for my little sister and figured she must’ve wandered back inside to our loving parents,” Lucas says as he rejoins us.
I roll my eyes externally, but internally I smile.
“I do have to go, so, Dad, put this on my card and I’ll tell our server to box mine. Can you bring it home for me?”
“Sure, son. I guess you are going on a late date with that young lady from the weekend you were telling me about.”
“I have a date, but it’s not with her.” Lucas looks at me.
“Oh, a player. Well, I’m sure Monie will have a talk with you about your ways,” my mom adds. “She doesn’t like men who play the field.”
Meanwhile, my throat catches a lump, and I fight hard to hold back my tears. Even going as far as to fake a sneeze so the drops that did pool could fall.
“Achoo!” I wipe the falling droplets of water and grab my napkin to wipe them.
“Oh dear, are you getting sick?” my aunty asks.
“No, ma’am, my allergies, I’m sure.
“Well, you ladies have a lovely evening.” Luke kisses my mom and aunties on their cheeks. “It was a pleasure meeting you both.”
“Likewise,” Aunt Gwen says as she bats her eyelashes.
“Dad see you when I get home. Bye, sis.”
Lucas strolls out of the restaurant, and my heart sinks even more.
We finish our meal with light conversation and third-degree questioning by Gwen and Bev. The server brings the bill, and I take it from him.
“I got it,” I boast proudly.
“But Lucas said for me to put it on his card.”
“Now, dear, don’t get in between Monie and her motives. I’m sure she is only trying to one-up your son.”
“Our son come Friday.” He kisses my mom, and it’s not one I want to see any parents engage in. It’s deep, sensual, and yucky.
“Ready to go, ladies?” I interrupt the slow-simmering show of affection.
“I guess our daughter is ready to go home. I’ll talk to you later after she goes to bed. I don’t want her to hear what you do to me on those video calls,” my mom says.
“That’s it. I’ll meet y’all at the car.” I grab my small purse and head out to the valet station to get my vehicle and see Lucas come back.
“Fast date?” I say when I approach his car.
He didn’t see me at first since his eyes were focused on my legs as I walked towards him.
“Dad called and said he was ready, and I didn’t want him to take an Uber back to my place.”
“So, what happened on your date?”
He diverts his eyes away, obviously dodging the question before turning back to respond.
“Simone, I owe you an apology for the way I acted today. I was so—”
“Son, you’re here. I hope I didn’t spoil your evening.”
“No, sir. Everything went as I had hoped it would.”
“Well, goodnight, my dear. See you Friday.” His dad gives me a hug and climbs into the passenger seat of Lucas’ car.
The valet brings my car up and hands me the keys. “Here you go, miss.”
I tip him and enter my vehicle and buckle up. The Weathers pull off, and when my family settles, we go home.
9
Since we all inadvertently met up on Wednesday, there was no need for a pre-wedding dinner. Instead, we run errands, gather decorations, make calls to the DJ and party rental company, and confirm my aunties have all they need. I went over to the Hilton and paid for two suites for when my uncles arrive. Since my place is the focal point of the ceremony/reception, the place will be crawling with people left and right.
For a small intimate gathering, this is turning into a big event. Close friends and family and their plus-ones quickly turned into a party for sixty. After listening to my aunts argue over not having enough food to support the reception, I called a caterer for reinforcement and added an extra refrigerator to help store all the food which should be delivered soon.
Lucas and his dad had to pitch in and help with grabbing the linens for the tables, the faux trees, and gazebo. Even though I’m still mad and hurt, I manage to keep those feelings bottled up for the sake of our parents. I look around at the magic unfolding and realize my mom was right. This is beautiful.
“We need to do a dry run,” mom says as she walks through holding the hand of her soon-to-be Mister.
“Mom, both of you have been married before. Why do we need a mock-up?”
“Charles and I were talking, and we both don’t know how we are to enter into the wedding or if we will be introduced as the Mr. and Mrs. in
a grand fashion for the reception.”
I think about what she is saying, and it makes sense.
“Come on, son, let’s go and get in place.”
We all head inside and stand near the makeshift trellis they erected in my open living room. My uncle agreed to step in as the minister.
“Dearly beloved…”
“We are gathered here today to get through this thing called life,” Lucas and I both say at the same time.
Our parents aren’t happy.
“Sorry, Uncle Marv. Please continue.”
“As I said, we are gathered here to witness the union between this man and this woman into holy matrimony.”
He continues through the faux process, and my mind wanders to the past weekend. Friday night’s inebriated sex, to Saturday’s all-nighter with a little bit of sleep and a getting-to-know-you session. I can’t think about that right now. I refocus and pay attention to the mock ceremony at hand.
“You may now kiss the bride,” Marv announces.
The lovebirds go in for a kiss, and I’m not in the mood for PDA.
“Okay, now we’ve got that out of the way, we have hair appointments to get to, Mom.” I gather my things while she runs to the room to do the same.
Aunt Gwen and Bev are heading to the hotel to rest and make sure their attire doesn’t need any last-minute alterations.
“Hey, Simone,” Lucas calls to me.
“Hey, Lucas,” I say while going through my stack of mail before tucking it away. I look up and see him coming.
“Can I speak with you for a quick moment?”
“Sure, I have about ten minutes. What’s up?” I keep it casual, so he doesn’t know how he affects me. Last night while tossing and turning, I realized my developing feelings for him. Sure, usually you have these things then you fuck, but I think the anger I had masked those feelings all along.
“Lucas, baby. Hi,” a lady calls out, and the voice sounds familiar. She’s tall, blonde, with those trademark gray eyes. Tan skin and shapely.
“Aunt Rachel, you made it. So glad you could come.”
They hug for a few minutes, and I realize that’s the voice I heard through the phone.
“I couldn’t miss my baby brother getting married. And who is this lovely woman? Is this your girlfriend?”
The red tinge of blush on his face and smile giveaway his embarrassment.
“No. Uh, this is actually my soon-to-be stepsister, Simone Greene. And, in a strange twist of things, my colleague.”
“Oh, nice to meet you. I’m his aunt, Rachel. Well, I guess that will make me your aunt, too.”
She takes me into a big hug, and I immediately feel the warmth of her spirit.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m sure my mother will be glad to know you’re here. Let me go get her.”
“Uh, actually, Simone. I really need to talk to you.” He turns to his relative and speaks. “Dad is up those stairs and outside if you want to go surprise him.”
He’s being very cryptic, but I follow along. She takes off for the rooftop, and he shuttles me into the kitchen.
“Okay, Lucas. What’s going on?”
“I don’t want to fight anymore. This animosity between us has gone too far. So tonight, my place, dinner. Just the two of us so we can clear the air. Nothing else, I promise. I want to do this before the wedding tomorrow. I want to do this before the sunrises in the morning.”
I start to say no, but it wouldn’t be fair to either of us. Plus, he’s right. Chances are we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other after five PM tomorrow afternoon.
“Okay. Text me your address.”
“Cool.” He takes out his phone and sends me his location.
I stare at it for a few minutes and realize it’s only fifteen minutes from me. “I didn’t realize you were so close,” I say when I put in his address to map.
“Yeah, well, I bought it for a great deal. Couldn’t pass up the chance.”
“Simone, I’m ready now. I met Charles’ sister, and she is such a delight. We invited her to dinner tonight. I hope that’s okay,” my mother speaks upon entering the room.
“Mom, Lucas and I have to close out some business, so I’m going to have dinner at his place and skip dining out with the parents tonight. Plus, we have to finalize things for tomorrow.”
“Makes sense. Well, come on, let’s go get our wigs split.”
I’ll never get used to my mom trying to use modern terminology.
Lucas grabs my hand as I try to walk away. “Tonight?” he says, looking at me intently with those piercing gray eyes of his.
“See you at seven.”
Lucas Weathers
Dinner’s done, wine is chilling, and I think I’m about to walk a hole into my oak hardwood floors, I think to myself. I’ve had women over here before, not that I’m a cad or anything of the sort, but the fact Simone is on her way up the elevator has me nervous. Tonight will be the defining moment of what will or will not become of us moving forward. I plan to lay it all on the line, after we clear the air. I thought I made my intentions clear, but since the staffing change at work on Monday and our blowup in front of everyone on Tuesday, I didn’t know what would happen. I knew nothing was going on between her and Edwards, I was in my feelings. I wasn’t happy about being offered the position over her, and when I tried to explain it, she didn’t give me the chance. So, I was like fine, fuck it. It was the wrong way to handle things.
A knock at the door breaks my inner thoughts, and I rush to answer, buying myself a few moments to relax before swinging the entrance open.
“Hey, Simone,” is all I can muster. She’s breathtaking. Her hair is styled for tomorrow’s event, but the spirals frame her beautiful face.
“Hi, Lucas.”
“Come in. Make yourself at home.” I step to the side, and she enters. The scent of her perfume is totally throwing me off my plan. “Would you like something to drink? I have wine or water if you’re not drinking.”
“Oh, no. I’m drinking. I just spent three hours at the hair salon with my mom and my aunts, who joined us shortly after we got there. They had me listening to things I wouldn’t tell my plants.”
She laughs, and my heart skips a beat and the sound. Even when she’s being mean, I still want her. In fact, I want her more.
“That bad, huh?” I comment, handing her a glass of Cabernet.
“Let me put it to you like this: If you thought I was embarrassed at dinner Wednesday night, you would’ve thought I died today.” She takes another sip and licks her lips in delight at the dark tones of the beverage.
I cautiously think about what her tongue and mouth do before pulling my thoughts back to reality. “Simone, I asked you here as sort of a truce.”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Actually, I haven’t been able to sleep well because of it.”
“Oh?” I haven’t been able to sleep either because the taste of her kisses and pussy haunt me daily.
“I feel bad I turned sour with you after Armstrong made the announcement. I know you wouldn’t do me like that. Especially after the weekend we had.” She turns away when she mentions our time together.
The timer goes off interrupting my thoughts.
“Excuse me for a moment.” I jog to the kitchen to take the dessert I bought out of the oven.
“What did you make?” she asks, approaching the kitchen.
“I really didn’t have time to prepare, but I managed to make roasted chicken with steamed veggies. The dessert is the only thing purchased.”
“So, you cook? Like, for real?”
“Yeah. Remember we were gonna have dinner together Monday, but…”
“Again, I’m sorry.”
“Why don’t you go freshen up and let’s eat. Leave all the bad stuff behind us. Truce?” I hold out my hand in true hatchet-burying fashion.
“Truce.” She takes my hand, and I hold it a little longer than I should.
I stare into her eyes and I know what
I was looking for is there. I decide to take a chance and lean in for a kiss. Surprisingly, she doesn’t back away. I start with a soft peck before searching her face for a response. She smiles, and I go in for a longer, deep kiss.
“I’ve never been forgiven like that,” she quips.
“Me either. Now we eat.”
“Okay. Where’s your bathroom?” she inquires.
“Oh, down the hall, first door on the right.”
“Be right back.”
As soon as she’s out of earshot and view, I do a little victory jump. I prayed the evening would go like this, and it has. I serve up our meal and place the plates on the table. The click-clacking of her sandals walking back towards the room, alerts me to her return.
“I’m ready. I kept thinking about the menu while I was washing my hands.” She giggles.
I pull the chair out and urge her to have a seat, then scoot her in.
“Wow, this looks amazing.”
“Thanks. I learned to cook after my mom passed so I could keep part of her memories with me and Dad.”
I look over. and her eyes fill with emotion.
She reaches out and covers my hand with hers. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want. I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories.”
“Oh, I’m okay. But thanks.” I retract my hand and take a bite of food.
She does the same, and I watch for the first reaction.
“Wow, this is so good,” she mutters through a full mouth.
I know she went to finishing school and has manners, but I love it when she’s just being her. She takes another stab at her food, and I watch in delight seeing her eyes roll for the second time. Come to think of it, I’ve seen that look before.
We complete our meal and talk about her day at the salon with her family over a glass of wine.
“Oh my god. Mom kept going on about her playlist. She has to have ‘this’ song played for ‘this’ moment, and my aunts kept objecting as to why she shouldn’t play said song. It was horrible.”
Simone is taking the brunt of the wedding planning, and I feel bad. She kneads her neck with her hands as she describes her afternoon outing.
