21. Because It’s Your Fucking Birthday
I’m sleepy. I’m tired. As hell. My world tour ended yesterday and guess where I am now. At another rehearsal. Crazy, you say? Yeah, you’d be right. But Janet called me personally and asked if I’d join her on stage. And yes, this was another one of those instances where I just couldn’t say ‘No.’ Besides, who in their right mind would say ‘No’ to Janet fucking Jackson anyway?
At any rate, the ending words to my song stumbled through the stage’s speakers, onlookers watching in anticipation as I pretended to strip Janet and wait for the lights to go down. While stagehands, extras and executives clapped enthusiastically, I yawned in boredom and smirked down at my counterpart. “You’re gonna get me in trouble, aren’t you?”
“I would never,” Janet giggled, pulling a jacket over her fitted black top.
“Uh huh.”
“Hey listen,” her feathery voice called after me while replacing her black cap, “thank you for doing this. I know how busy you are.”
“The pleasure is mine,” I dismissed with a lie. Well it wasn’t a total lie “ working with Janet was always my pleasure. The working part was just where the lie kicked in. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Bright and early, baby.” She offered me that gorgeous grin of hers and reached up to hug me before we parted, going our separate ways “ her to Jermaine, me to Devin.
“I’m so tired,” I whined, moving off of the stage and into Devin’s awaiting, open arms. “Why did I do this?”
“Because,” she began, handing me my cell phone and wallet, “you’re awesome.”
The two of us stood silently, waiting for Eric to find us on the football field and sweep us back to our hotel where I’d hopefully be able to sleep... or something. As I gazed blankly at the throng of halftime participants escaping to the inside of the stadium, I could feel Devin’s stare on my face. “What?” I asked without blinking.
“What are you thinking about?”
I only shrugged. “Nothing in particular.”
“Are you nervous?”
“About what?” I snapped.
“About anything, motherfucker.”
I could only chuckle at her willingness to always go head-to-head with me and then matched her light blue stare. “I’m nervous about everything.”
“Like...”
“Like, the Grammy’s. Like, this Superbowl crap. Like, turning twenty-three tomorrow,” I divulged earnestly, opening the door to the Yukon that Eric had finally pulled up in. “Get in.”
She easily obliged and patted her lap as I slid in behind her, welcoming my head to rest upon it. “Why are you scared of twenty-three?”
“Because. It’s almost twenty-five, which is almost mid-twenties,” I joked, imitating a famous native of the state we were in.
“Jess, that’s two years away,” Devin teased back, catching on quickly. “But seriously...”
“I dunno. I just feel like there should be more to my life at this age.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No.” I turned my head to look up at her, glad to see her staring back down at me in reply as she stroked the top of my head, scratching through my bushy curls. “You think that’s weird?”
“For you, yes. I mean, how many twenty-two/twenty-three year olds do you know that have your life? That have accomplished even half as much as you have?”
“Let’s see... Britney, Christina, Beyonce“.”
“Normal people,” she immediately interjected with a light laugh. “You would pick three of the four most famous twenty-somethings.”
“Well...,” I smiled innocently, “you told me to name some.”
“I mean, people not under superstar circumstances. Hell, how many people our age can say they own a car, much less a couple of houses, stocks, a restaurant, a career. You are way ahead of the game, baby.”
“I don’t feel like it. I feel like I’m just goin’ through the motions, but like... I never grew up.”
“Aww, my poor baby.” She kissed her fingers to her lips and ran them tenderly along my face. “You’re right about that.”
“Oh, thank you for agreeing,” I replied dryly.
“I mean, it’s true “ you can’t escape that. You never had a chance to really grow up.”
“That’s enough,” I interrupted, beginning to sit up.
I am moody, I’m messy, I get restless
“Lay down, boy. I’m just agreeing with you.”
And it’s senseless how you never seem to care
“You were supposed to tell me it wasn’t true.”
“But it is,” she laughed. “Not completely, but you definitely missed out on some fundamentals when you left home at freakin’ fourteen, dude. It’s to be expected!”
“I don’t want it to be expected, though.”
When I’m angry, you listen
“You still have time, babe. It’s not like you’re completely devoid of maturity, Justin. After all, you do take care of yourself... for the most part. And you and Summer have done an amazing job with Jailyn so far.”
Make me happy, it’s your mission
“I guess.”
“Yessss,” she drawled out. “I think maybe you just “ your brain moves faster than your heart sometimes. So maybe that grew up first.”
And you won’t stop ‘til I’m there
“Yeah,” I decided, burying my face into her stomach. “You’re right.”
Fall, sometimes I fall so fast
When I hit that bottom crash, you’re all I have
“Of course I am,” I could hear her smile.
“Why does your sweatshirt smells like cologne?”
“‘Cause it’s yours,” she simply answered, continuing to run her fingers through my hair. “Why? You don’t trust me already?”
“I never did,” I whispered.
“Oh! Speaking of which,” she seemed to recall, “your bitch called while you were on stage.”
“Which one would that be?”
“Well it wasn’t me.”
“You’re not my bitch,” I corrected. “You my main bitch,” I laughed, turning my head to face her again. “So who was it?”
“Cameron.”
“Again?” I groaned. “That’s the third time since we fuckin’ left Europe.”
“I told you when you let her stick around in Colorado that her ass wasn’t gonna leave you alone.”
“You’re the one that told me to be nice to her,” I argued.
“No, I told you to let her down nicely. I didn’t tell you to let her ruin our New Year’s by barging into our damn cabin every hour.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, so now you have to deal with the wench,” she chided, smiling.
“Did she say what she wanted?”
“Presumably, you,” she shot back smartly. “But specifically, she said that she wanted to hang out with you tonight.”
“Oh, fuck me. You told her I couldn’t go, right?”
“I’ll let you wash your own dirty laundry,” she smiled. “Plus, I thought maybe you’d wanna go.”
“Now why would you think something idiotic like that?”
“Because,” she defended, punching my unwitting shoulder, “I think maybe you like her just a little more than you let on.”
“Whatever.”
“You said yourself that she can be a nice escape from reality. Maybe a couple of hours with her will take your mind off of... other things.”
“That’s what you’re here for,” I yawned, already half asleep from her soft touch. “But I’ll go. If only to get her to back the fuck off.”
Oh, it seems like I can finally rest my head on something real
I like the way that feels
Oh, it’s as if you know me better than I ever knew myself
I love how you can tell
All the pieces, pieces, pieces of me
“Yes, I’m sure that’s the reason,” she sardonically giggled. “Go to sleep, man.”
“What? I’m for real,” I maintained.
“Yes, yes. I know.” She looked down at me and smiled before she clasped her hands in my own and rested her head against the window, the two of us falling asleep before the car even reached the next block.
How do you know everything I’m about to say?
Am I that obvious?
And if it’s written on my face, I hope it never goes away
As usual, Devin was right again. I went out with Cameron and, if I were to be atypically honest with myself, I had fun. And I’m sure you’re wondering how she popped her ass back into the picture “ I’m still trying to figure it out. Thanks to my cousin, Rachael, she was invited on our New Year’s trip to Vail and hasn’t quite vanished since. So I’m hoping that if I don’t fight it, she’ll kind of disappear the same way she appeared, if you know what I mean.
But back to this kind of fun evening “ she took me shopping. And I know it sounds weirdly maternal of her to do that, but I’ll be the last person to complain about gettin’ free shit. Besides, it’s my birthday. I fucking deserve it, dammit. And as a matter of fact, after we left the Galleria, we went to dinner and I even offered to pay but she insisted that I let her do it. So don’t be lookin’ at me like I’m using her ass. I can’t help it if she wants to buy my affections.
Still, I didn’t want to make hanging out with her a habit or any shit like that, so the minute dinner ended, I exited the restaurant alone and came back to the hotel to get some rest. Like I said, I was tired. Touring ain’t no joke, man. And if you think I’m exaggerating, try it. I was so exhausted, I went to bed before 10:00, I swear. And I probably would’ve slept another twelve hours and woken up at 10:00AM, had it not been for Devin. And I’ll just say right now that... damn, I love that girl.
Kiss and hug and make good love to you
Being violently shaken out of my sleep by a rush of blood to the... head, my eyes shot open and surveyed the view below me, finding my girlfriend’s tongue running the length of my dick. “Fuckin’ shit,” I hissed at the sensation, more shocked than anything else. I opened my mouth to say something more, but her tongue began to teasingly circle my tip and my forming words turned into a mere whimper. My back involuntarily arched while my hips bucked into her mouth, causing her to inadvertently swallow me whole.
Her eyes smiled up at my wide-open-jaw reaction in amusement but her mouth certainly did all the talking. She wrapped her hands around my waist and began sucking to the point where there just couldn’t have been anymore air left in her mouth. Then, in even more torturous pleasure, she started to pull away slowly while pushing my hips back into the mattress.
As my breath dissipated into my throat, seeming to enjoy my physical reaction, she began to twist and turn her mouth around my erection, making sure that her tongue never disconnected with it. I was seriously on the verge of a goddamn explosion already, but then she went and deep-throated me once again, giving me this huge suck before rolling her lips back down to the tip and began to stroke me furiously. “Holy fuck!” I yelled loudly, causing her to giggle.
“Happy birthday,” she managed to hoarsely announce, wiping at her mouth with her free hand.
I looked down at her, seeming to enjoy putting me through this beautiful torment as her hand continued to pump my head into her mouth. “Dev...Devin,” I panted, trying to hold on to the little bit of breath that I had left.
Give you brain ‘til you say my name
Hearing her name only seemed to motivate her to work her hand faster while her tongue continued to tease the tip of my cock. “Come on,” she mumbled into me, still rotating her lips around the muscle.
“I’m.. I “ you want... me to?” I stuttered out. She never swallowed before, so I had to make sure I was hearing right.
She just arched her arched eyebrows higher, giving me the go-ahead, still pumping her hand, coercing me into this pool of satisfaction, her licking away any and all remnants of cum that she found on my body. With a final sigh, she pulled away and rolled to the other side of the bed. The two of us laid there just breathing for a while before either of us spoke again.
And even then, all I could say was, “Damn.”
“And that’s just the beginning,” she assured me with a giggle, finally exiting the bed altogether.
Hell yes, this is damn sure gonna be a happy birthday to me.
I’ll do anything, I’ll do everything to keep you coming my way
“Honey, I’m home!” I called into our quiet suite after a long morning of rehearsing with Janet and being inundated with annoying ass extras that were part of the show. All I wanted was to crawl back into bed with my girlfriend and sleep the rest of my birthday away. Maybe the night could be a different story, but right now... yeah. “Where you at, Dev?”
Seconds later, she casually came strolling into view in a Burberry trench coat and a pair of matching, five inch pumps, glancing at me like I hadn’t been gone for two hours. “Hey, baby.”
“Going somewhere?” I questioned with a smile.
“Yes, we are.”
“We?”
“We,” she confirmed, approaching me to plant a kiss on my lips. “You have fun at rehearsal?”
“Yeah. Close enough,” I rationed. My eyes ran the length of her body, deciding that they wanted to uncover what was underneath the depths of that coat. Sleeping could always wait. “Where are we going and can we skip it and stay here?”
“It’s a surprise,” she chuckled. “And no.”
“Oh, but come on,” I pleaded, beginning to untie the coat’s belt. I let my lips fall against her neck, delving into her soft skin and not wanting to let go. “Let’s stay here,” I whispered.
“Trust me, baby. You’ll wanna come with me.” She teased me by touching her lips against mine very momentarily before stalking back into the bedroom. “Put your coat back on. The car’s here,” she yelled.
Obeying her instructions, I shifted back to the door and replaced my down, black coat, wondering what the hell was going on. I laughed to myself “ at myself “ and decided to just go with the flow.
Now usually, going with the flow didn’t have me on a noon flight to Los Angeles and en route to what I hoped to be my house by 12:00PM Pacific time. Then again, Devin’s flow was pretty much in a class by itself; and so, with her as my only bodyguard, we inconspicuously stalked through the parking lot of LAX, me following her to only God knows where.
“Where are we going?” I asked tiredly for the ninth time, now holding onto her by one of her coat’s belt loops.
“How many times are you gonna ask that?”
“Until I find out.”
“Just keep your hood low and follow me, capisce?”
“Capisce,” I relented.
“Here, you drive.” She threw me a set of BMW keys and stopped in front of a night blue 760Li that I’d never seen before.
“When’d you get a new car?” I asked, admiring the shining vehicle “ I couldn’t help but notice that it was absolutely gorgeous. “And how?”
“Just get in,” she smiled, throwing her duffel bag into the backseat.
I followed suit, throwing my shit inside and entering the driver’s seat with an even wider smile than I’d already contained. The car had obviously custom-made butterscotch interior, satellite radio, DVD screens in the headrests and everything. The shit was pretty damn pimp. “Seriously, though, when’d you get this car? Did your parents give it to you for Christmas?”
“It’s not my car,” she giggled, watching me carefully back out of the parking space.
“You stole it?” I joked.
“Eh. Kind of.”
“I don’t even think I wanna know,” I decided with a chuckle.
“Probably not,” she agreed. “Just take me home.”
“Yours or mine?” I requested dumbly.
She gave me a playful glare and turned on the radio. “What do you think, dumbass?”
And then I’ll tell you what your surprise is
Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the courtyard of my mansion, everything just as placid as the day we left at the beginning of the month. It felt good to be home “ even if I did have to leave for Houston again the next day. “Home sweet home,” I announced, pulling up beside one of my Escalades.
“There’s no place like it.” She smiled and threw a kiss to my cheek before hurriedly opening her door. “Pop the trunk for me?”
After quickly doing so, I motioned to grab our bags from the backseat and quietly anticipated being able to spend a quiet day in the comfort of my own home. “I hope I have my keys,” I realized, greeting the warm, California afternoon. I turned towards the car to find out what my girlfriend could’ve been doing to see her suspiciously tip-toeing along the passenger side. “What are you doing, Dev?”
Ignoring my question, she asked, “What do you think of the car, J?”
“This car?”
“Duh.”
“I kinda love it,” I smiled. “You test-drivin’ it or somethin’?”
With a huge smile adorning her exotic face, she looked down at what I assumed to be the ground and then stared back at me as she pulled a huge red bow into sight, placing it on the top of the car. “Happy birthday,” she answered quietly.
“Shut up,” I chuckled. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“You got me a car?”
“I might have to take up residence in your garage when they evict me for late rent,” she shrugged. “But yeah...”
“Dude, are you crazy?” I exclaimed, meeting her on the other side of my new Beemer.
Accepting my grateful hug, she laughed into the top of my head. “I’m a little unstable, yes.”
“This is awesome, girl.”
“Yes, I know.”
I pulled out of our embrace to stare into her eyes, a little mesmerized with their happiness. “Thank you.”
“Don’t say I never did nothin’ for your ass,” she smirked, seductively leading me into my house.
Come on in and relax your mind
Leave your cares behind, spend time, unwind
Devin’s guidance eventually brought me to my immaculately clean bedroom where my bed looked almost as enticing as Devin did in that damn trench coat. Almost.
I had barely even dropped our bags to the floor when I turned around to see that same coat falling from her bare shoulders and begin to unravel this chasm of her utterly perfect naked body. “Yes, there’s more,” she grinned, strutting towards me in her heels. She silently knocked me onto my bed, towering over me demandingly when she stood on the mattress, teasing me with peeks of what was coming... so to speak. “I got somethin’ I think you might like,” she proclaimed, carefully walking to the head of the bed where my face laid in awe.
“Like what?” I couldn’t imagine what I would have liked more than this and a damn BMW. Then again, I was really diggin’ on the sexy silent thing she was doing at the moment, so I guess anything goes. I watched her work her way up the bed so that her pussy loomed right over my face, me licking my lips at the tantalizing sight. She started to crouch down towards me, giving me a closer view of heaven before I realized what she was actually showing me. “Devin Marie Delfino,” I paternally called out with wide eyes.
“What?” she asked innocently, giggling at my reaction.
“Are you serious?”
“I got it when we were in Glasgow,” she nodded, assuming a straddle position over my stomach.
“Did it hurt?”
“Only for like a second,” she snapped her fingers, “but it started feeling good before I even left the place.”
“Wow.”
“Wow, like ‘I can’t wait to fuck you with it’, or ‘Wow, what the hell is wrong with you?’,” she laughed.
“Wow, like... you got your clit pierced,” I chuckled, resting my hands on her ass. “I can’t believe you did that for me.”
“Well wait, I did it for me,” she quickly redressed. “The surprise part was for you.”
“Same shit,” I smiled. I sat up and kissed her chin, resisting the temptation to just tear off my clothes and beat her back out right then and there. “So that’s why you’ve been sucking me dry for the past two weeks, huh?” I’ve never gotten so much head in my life.
“Well I didn’t wanna leave you hangin’ while it was healing.”
“So is it... better now?” I hoped, dragging my eyes from her pussy to watch her eyes.
“Yes, babe. It’s ready for whatever you want.”
Oh, hell yeah.
Let me know what you desire
Because my goal is to satisfy you
Anything that you want, I won’t hesitate
I’ll get it done, I’ll do it baby
After my awesome beyond awesome birthday fuck, the two of us fell asleep to the silence of my house. I can’t remember the last time I had such a good time doing nothing. Well not nothing, but you know what I mean. Seriously though, this certainly tops the list for my best birthday ever. Have I mentioned how much I love that girl?
I had anticipated rolling over in my bed to feel the warmth of her skin against mine, but was only met with the 6:00PM sunset and an empty space when I opened my eyes from my nap. “Where the hell did she go?” I whispered to the silence. I laid in solitude for all of half a minute before I got out of bed myself. Throwing my jeans on and a random sweatshirt from my dresser, I barefooted it downstairs to be greeted by the smells of delectability that only my baby could concoct. “Devin?”
“I’m here,” she announced, closing the refrigerator door to finally come into view. “You hungry?”
I kicked myself for being so sleepy that I missed watching her fix dinner in nothing but a pair of boyshorts. I hoped she planned on eating that way, too. “Starving.”
“Good. I made some ziti,” she explained, pulling a large baking pan from one of the ovens. “And then the peach cobbler is for later, if you want it.”
If I want it? Is she kidding? “Why don’t you sit down for a minute,” I suggested, attempting to take the reigns from her. “You’ve been plottin’ and plannin’ for a while, it seems. So let me“.”
“Stop it, Justin.” She shooed me towards the kitchen table and resumed her moving and shaking around the counter. “It’s your birthday, man. Let me do somethin’ for you, please.”
Wash your clothes, iron and fold
Cook your food in the nude
Rub your feet, nice and sweet
I’ll do anything and everything to keep you coming my way
I smiled at her stubborn persistence, but did as told and watched her take care of business. “You do too much, girl.”
“I do what I can do when I can do it,” she grinned, turning towards me. “Just remember my birthday’s in two weeks, bitch.”
“I’m fully aware,” I assured her. “I got you.”
“You better.” Her smart-ass tone contrasted the smile that adorned her face when she brought me a plate full of pasta and then poured me a glass of red wine. “I know wine isn’t your thing, but act like you like it today.” I jokingly contorted my face into disgust before she hit my back. “Plus, it’s good for you.”
I snaked my arm around her waist and pulled her into my lap, offering her the first bite of my ziti. Watching her accept and chew her creation, I grinned while her eyes smiled back at me in questioning. “If you don’t pass out in the next ten minutes, I’ll know it’s safe.”
“Fuck you. My shit is air tight,” she cackled, taking a handful of the warm pasta to shove in my face. “Now eat it or I’ll have you passed out.”
“You first,” I countered, ‘accidentally’ letting drops of melted mozzarella fall to her chest before the two of us laughed ridiculously at the mess we were about to make. But who cares. I’m flyin’ right now.
And I don’t mind, I’m open wide
I’m on cloud nine, it’s so divine
Our deliciously messy dinner came to an end and we immediately took it to the shower “ separately, that is “ removing all traces of meat, cheese and tomato sauce from our bodies. “You’re a bad influence,” I joked to Devin, strolling into my bedroom after finishing my second shower of the day.
“Me?” she shouted. “You started that fucking food fight.”
“Actually, you did.”
“Oh.” She laughed, realizing she was wrong for once in her life. “Well you cosigned on that shit.”
“I retaliated.” I rubbed my extra towel through my wet hair while trying to keep the one wrapped around my waist in place amidst Devin’s roguish grabs at it. “You’re such a freak,” I smiled at her failed attempts.
“Ohh, excuse me for liking your ass.”
“I am not a piece of meat, girl.” I pulled a fresh pair of jeans from my closet and threw them to my messy bed while I looked for a shirt to fit the occasion of I-don’t-know-what. “So um, where the hell are we going now?” I decided to inquire.
“Who said we were going anywhere?”
“Your hair in that ponytail and your ass in them jeans,” I quipped.
“Well, maybe I just wanna have on some clothes for the first time today.”
“I dunno why. They’re just gonna come off again.” I gave a goofy eyebrow-wiggle and went back to my clothes search.
“If you’re lucky.”
“But it’s my birthday,” I whined. Coincidentally, or perhaps ironically, I ended up finding my Get Lucky shirt in the bunch of clean clothes I had piled up on my closet floor.
“Just get dressed,” she finished with a grin.
I’m on a high, on a high
There’s nothing more to it
Well, it turns out we were going somewhere. We didn’t go far “ just to the movies to see ‘You Got Served’, and yes, I know. But shut up. It’s to be expected when you date a dancer.
Still, it was refreshing to not need a chaperone to walk outside the house. It’s very rare that my ass can go anywhere without an entourage, so in spite of the retarded movie, it was one of the best parts of my birthday to be able to hang out freely.
Truth be told, Devin was never really down for all that celebrity bullshit. When we hung out, she had always wanted it to be just the two of us, and unfortunately, that became increasingly impossible once I became obscenely famous. So in return, since we’ve been on this tour, she’s definitely done her best to get me back to that place of normalcy that I’ve been aching for since about the age of eighteen. And I must say, I really like it “ no bodyguards and paparazzi flashes. If I pull on a hood and avoid smiling (which is kind of hard to do when Devin’s around), you’d be surprised what I can get away with. “ Like sneaking home to Los Angeles for a few hours with my girlfriend.
I’m on a high, on a high
There’s nothing more to it
We’re the sea and the sky
And the blue that runs through it
Pimping my new BMW down Sunset Boulevard, I glanced over to the passenger seat where Devin quietly enjoyed the sounds of ‘The Love Below’ pumping through the speakers. “If you’re not talking, are you usually thinking?” I suddenly decided to interrupt.
She looked over at me in apparent confusion and chuckled. “What?”
“What do you think about when you’re quiet like this?” I rephrased.
“A lot of things,” she shrugged. “Just now, I was thinkin’ about you.”
“What about me?”
“I was just hoping that you were really enjoying your birthday.”
“Are you kidding? This is the best one I’ve had in years. Or,” I reconsidered, “actually, ever. It’s not often that I get to be just me, you know?”
“I do know.”
“And I really needed this day away from the world.”
“I knew that, too,” she grinned, resting her hand on my thigh.
“Ah, you know everything.”
“This is incredibly true,” she smugly agreed. “So you wanna go by Chi and see what’s goin’ on there?”
“Eh, not really.”
“Why not?” she pried. “We have nothin’ else to do tonight.”
“I don’t think we’d have a problem finding something,” I disagreed, “but okay. How ‘bout the Spider Club instead?”
“That club is lame, J. Let’s just go to Chi “ we’re right here,” she began to whine.
“If we go there, people are gonna talk to me,” I mocked her tone. “Plus, it’s my birthday so I should get what I want.”
“Fine, Justin. Head to the fucking Avalon and we can go to the fucking Spider Club because it’s your fucking birthday so do what you fucking want.” She sighed exaggeratedly and obstinately turned to her window. “Bitch ass,” she muttered.
“Fine, Devin. We can go to Chi.”
“No, no. It’s your birthday. We’ll do what you want.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be happy wherever, just as long as you are,” I tried to sweetly insert.
“Justin.”
“What?”
“Go to the Spider Club.”
“Fine,” I rolled my eyes. But really, I was inwardly glad that I won.
I’m on a high, on a high
There’s nothing more to it
Our arrival to the club was a silent one, as I was trying to remember which way the private entrance was and Devin... well, she was just being bitchy, but I was remotely sure that she’d get over it sooner than later. She loved me too much to ruin my day, right? Especially after all of her extensive plans to make it perfect thus far.
“You know,” I started, “they say if you frown too much, your face could get stuck like that.”
“Kiss my ass,” she mumbled back.
“You’re getting dangerously close to the point where I’m not gonna want to,” I joked in rebuttal as I turned into the parking lot. Seeing her rigid response, I lightly rubbed her arm. “Lighten up, baby.”
With another noticeable roll of those icy blue orbs, she shoved out of the car and stalked towards the private entrance before I could even open my door. “Hurry the hell up,” she demanded, finally turning to wait for me.
I swear, women are really somethin’ else. I love ‘em, but let ‘em not get their way. Talk about a damn 180. I pulled my white wool hat down onto my head and approached with an unrelenting smile. “I love you, too.”
“You better have a good ass time in here, too,” she continued to bitch. She grabbed my hand and decided to civilly accompany me into the Moroccan-themed club, even smiling once we began our ascent up the vibrant blue staircase that led us to the main lounge. “I’m gonna go get us a table,” she announced over the subdued music. “So don’t fucking move.”
“Yes ma’am.” I watched her fade into the dim room and waited, as directed, for her to return with what I hoped to be a much better mood.
“Let’s go,” was all I heard before Devin’s hand grasped my forearm and I was whisked further into the club to where all the tables were situated. When we finally stopped, I was met with a table full of familiar faces, including my parents, Trace, Cameron, and even Summer.
“What’s goin’ on?” I smiled, biting my lip nervously and then let my gaze scan the dark club, despite the fact that I couldn’t really see shit. Devin’s grip lessened until she dropped my hand altogether and moved to the side, leaving me confused by everything that was happening. “Dude.”
Suddenly, a short waitress appeared before us holding an extra large chocolate cake that had been lit up like the damn Fourth of July, allowing me to see that almost everyone in the room was actually someone I knew.
“Happy Birthday!” they all suddenly yelled, scaring the crap out of me.
Chuckling, but also trying to catch my breath, I turned to Devin who was now smiling wildly and clapping with the other three-hundred or so people. “You planned this?”
“Yeah, sort of.” She took my hand and joined in a rousing chorus of The Birthday Song before planting a sloppy kiss on my cheek. “Just ‘cause I love ya.”
I was literally speechless at that point. On top of everything else she’d done for me that day, she took the time to plan me a surprise party, too? How the hell did I get so lucky? How did it come to pass that I received all the things I didn’t deserve?
Well it’s a lie, it’s a lie, don’t you believe it
If you’re fine, then you’re fine, it’s all how you see it
Oh, there will never be no conspiracy of happiness
While my... friends, I guess you can say, crowded around me and waited for me to blow out candles, all I could do was stare in awe at the woman beside me. “Thank you.”
“Just don’t forget, dude. Two weeks.” She laughed and squeezed my hand, encouraging me to make a wish.
I bent down to blow out the fire-hazardous collection of candles on my cake, but neglected to make a wish “ only because I didn’t need to. She’d come true already.
I’m on a high, on a high
There’s nothing more to it
I have the sun, it’s a star
Why should I refuse it?
My partying, a.k.a., my drinking and dancing eventually led me back to the one place that I knew I was always and forever welcome. “Hey, ma.” With a Corona in one hand a Bud in the other, I slid into the table that my mother had been occupying for the majority of the night, only now she sat alone, puffing on a cigarette and gazing idly at the rest of the world.
“Hey, baby. Havin’ fun?”
“Definitely,” I grinned. “Definitely. Although I think I lost Devin somewhere out there.”
“It’s hard to keep up with her.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“I was wondering if she’d even be able to get you back here in time for it. You sounded so tired when we talked.”
“I was tired,” I admitted, downing some of the Corona. “But after today, I feel ninety times better.”
“I see that.”
“Mom,” I remembered all of a sudden, “she bought me a car.”
“I know she did,” she hoarsely chuckled. “Who do you think got it to the airport for you?”
“You knew about all of this?”
“She’s been plannin’ this since y’all left Memphis in December,” she intimated, finishing her cancer stick by smashing it into the glass ashtray in front of her. “That girl loves you, baby.”
“I know,” I nodded emphatically with raised eyebrows. “Sometimes, I worry about her.”
“And you thought there were no good women left.”
“I never said that!” I defended. “I just said I didn’t know where to look for ‘em.”
“That’s because they only want good men,” she wittily shot back. “So whatever you’re doing, keep it up.”
“I think I can do that.”
“There you are,” Devin then announced, coincidentally appearing before the two of us. “You just disappeared on my ass.”
“Speak of the devil,” my mom greeted her. “We were just talking about you, sweetheart.”
“Oh, Lord. All good, I hope.” She took an unsolicited seat in my lap, letting her head fall back to my shoulder. Looking up to me, she asked, “You havin’ a good time?”
“The better question is, are you having a good time?”
You’re alive, you’re alive, what else could you give me?
You are fine, you are fine, nothing’s worth feeling
“Of course I am. You know I can’t resist a party.”
“Yes, I know.” I smiled to myself and intertwined my fingers with hers. “By the way, that was smooth how you acted like you wanted to go to Chi so bad earlier.”
“Well hey...”
“But what if I’d agreed to go?”
“You wouldn’t have,” she decided. “I know you, dude.”
“Uh huh.”
“That, and your mom told me how to reverse-psychologize you,” she added. “Ain’t that right, Lynn?”
My mom turned in the direction of Devin’s voice, very obviously not paying any attention to the two of us. “What happened?”
“You okay, mom?”
“I’m fine, baby.” She grinned awkwardly and picked up her purse from the seat while doing so. “I’m gonna leave y’all alone and get another beer, okay?”
I nodded in spite of her frazzled state and watched her escape the table before leaning down to Devin. “So you wanna go back and hit the floor, or what?”
“I just wanna sit here, actually. If you don’t mind.”
“Gladly.” Internally beaming, I let my head rest along the back of the booth, listening to more Outkast bump the club as only they could, but really just thinking to myself. “You know what scares me?” I queried, interrupting our golden silence.
“What scares you?” she sleepily replied, turning her head a little.
“Everything is perfect right now, but I still have this uncontrollable urge to ask a stupid question.”
“That wouldn’t be different from any other perfect moment,” she chuckled. “What is it?”
Usually, apprehensiveness would’ve stopped me from asking this, but on this occasion, inebriation is what kept me going. Tilting my face ever-so-slightly to kiss her temple first, I leaned in further to allow my tongue to graze her ear before whispering. “Will you marry me?”
Her face immediately shot towards my question, sending her cheek crashing against my lips. And even in slight startling, I could feel the presence of her smile against my face. “Seriously?”
Well... “Yeah.”
Biting her bottom lip, her eyes darted around the dark room before she leaned back into me and began to nod. “Yes. I'd love to marry you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
So, um... This should be interesting.
I’m on a high, on a high
There’s nothing more to it
Lyrics:
“Pieces of Me” - Ashlee Simpson (Autobiography)
“Anything” - LaToya London (Love & Life)
“On A High” - Duncan Sheik (Daylight)
Story Tags: daddyj friendsturnedlovers interracial boyfriendj love angryj tourj
