A Sorta Fairytale (12 page)
Authors: Emily McKee
“Yes.” You smile, and raising a finger, you say, “But first you have to put your clothes back on. I don’t want to be tempted.”
Laughing, I say, “Sounds good,” and quickly get dressed. Running over to you like a kid on Christmas morning, I zip up my jeans and throw on my sweatshirt.
You laugh at my hysteria. “Excited much?”
Smacking you on the arm, I say, “Don’t judge me. I want to see.” And when the words come out, I see the portrait, and my mouth falls open. The paints. Something simple. Something most of us quit after elementary school when we finger paint a tree or a stick figure pretending it’s us. But not you. You did something few can do. You created something beautiful, amazing, and inspiring. The brush strokes. All symbolizing a creation of me. The light in my eyes. A smile on my face I know for sure I didn’t have while you painted me. The light shining in through the window. “Alex,” I whisper.
“Yes?”
I look over to you. “This is beautiful.”
You shrug. “Like I said earlier. It’s not even close to what you look like in person.”
I smile. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
And again we look at one another. A sense of comfort washes over me again, stronger. It changes like night and day.
Stella
I fuck Thomas endlessly.
I live a satisfied life with Alex.
Now, I’ve done something I never thought I was capable of. I fell in love with both of them.
They have no idea what my love entails for them. It goes to the ends of the earth. And now everything is going to come crashing down around me. I knew it was coming. It was inevitable. It’s been waiting for me in the shadows for over two years. Sadly, it’s now staring me right in the face with even more secrets and questions than I had before I started this.
I never knew I could be stuck in this situation. I wasn’t counting on falling in love with anyone. But I did, and I can’t take it back. I don’t regret it. I can’t regret it. Because they both make me happy. But now I don’t know what I’m going to do. Who I’m going to choose. If I choose Thomas it will be filled with more pleasure than most people have in a lifetime. But love and affection, I’m not so sure of. And if I choose Alex, my world is going to completely flip upside down. And I don’t think I’m prepared for that.
Thomas
I scramble through pages and pages online. I don’t want to talk to the secretary. I don’t want her to do my dirty work for me. The blonde beauty who waves her tits in my face every day. I don’t want her. I want the girl with the long black hair who screams my name and fucks my cock like no other. Hence, why I’m searching for a private investigator. I need someone to find whoever it is Stella is hanging out with. I need to learn everything about him. And I need to get rid of him. Fast.
“Thomas?”
That beautiful voice. It’s the voice of an angel. Or a sweet little slut bent over on my desk, begging me to fuck her.
I scramble. Closing the window on the computer, I look toward Stella. “Yes?”
Her laugh. It’s beautiful. God, it’s beautiful. “I thought we could go out to lunch.”
“Oh, fuck me,” I complain.
“Excuse me? Look, Thomas.” She waves her hands in the front of her face and walks all through my office. “I just thought we could go out to lunch and talk. After all, you said you wanted to try this whole relationship thing. Well, so do I. I want to try. I want to see what’s going on here.”
“Stella,” I say, getting up from the office chair and walking over to her. “I didn’t mean it about the lunch. Trust me, I want to go. God, I want to go.”
“But?” She nods toward me, already annoyed. Already knowing there’s a
but
to what I’m about to say. She knows me so well.
“But,” I clarify, “there’s something I have to do.”
She shakes her head and lets out a frustrated puff of breath. “Fine. I guess…we can just do it some other time.”
“Yes,” I agree. “I would love to go out to lunch with you. We could try the place that just got the three and a half star review. I’m pretty sure the owner is…”
“I don’t care about that,” she cuts in.
“You don’t?” I ask, amused. “Why not? It’s the best.”
She releases a heavy sigh. “Thomas.”
Oh boy. This isn’t good.
Relaxing back in the chair across from my desk, she says, “I don’t care about it being the best. I just thought we could get a bite to eat and talk. That’s all. I don’t care about the restaurant. It could serve a rat’s ass for all I care.”
I chuckle. It’s funny.
“I just want to be with someone I care about. I want a real conversation. I want you to be intrigued with me. Talk to me. No one else. The place doesn’t matter. Only the company I’m with.”
“Really?” I’m amused. She’s so different from any other girl I’ve been with. All the others have cared about is where I could take them, what I could buy for them.
She jumps up from the chair.
I try to hide my semi when I see her perky tits bounce up and down. God, I just want to suck on them while my cock is inside of her.
“Thomas! If you haven’t figured that out about me yet, then you never will!”
Grabbing her hand, I pull her into a hug and keep her there. “Hey, hey!” I try to calm her down, rubbing my hand up and down her back. Keeping a hand on the small of her back, I ask, “Will you look at me?” Her beautiful doe eyes stare up at me. “God, you’re beautiful.” She really is.
“Thomas!” she wails. “Please just stop!”
Even like this, I can’t get enough of her.
“You are beautiful, Stella. You’re so goddamn beautiful. Look,” I say, exasperated. “I am figuring you out. Okay? I am. But you have to give me some time.”
“I can’t give you more time. I can’t. You have had over two years to figure me out. My heart is torn. I mean, I feel like I’m going to have a nervous breakdown, for Christ’s sake. This whole thing is tearing me apart. God, I want you, Thomas. You have no idea. But it’s taking forever, and I don’t have that time. I don’t.” She looks down at her feet. “I’m just going to go, okay? I’ll see you later.”
She walks away. Doesn’t give me time to say anything. Just turns her back on me and walks out of the office, closing the door quietly behind her.
Shit, she’s mad. Not mad. Hurt. Broken-hearted.
Running to the computer, I quickly scan a P.I. And just when I find the perfect one, I decide I’m going to see all of it with my eyes only. I need to see the way he acts around her. The way he holds her. Treats her. I need to do everything ten times better in order to keep her. Forever.
Stella
I want to do something special for both of them. Separately, of course. I want to show them how I feel for them. I want to show them I love them. That I’m in love with them. I can’t believe I’ve done it. Fallen for both Thomas and Alex.
My heart is breaking in two.
Half for Alex.
Half for Thomas.
I know I have to choose one, but I can’t give one of them half my heart. I have to give it to one of them. All of it. Completely. Selflessly. Forever. I want to find my forever. The love two people share for a lifetime. Not for a few months or years, but forever. A soul mate. Although I don’t believe in soul mates. I think they’re make-believe, like the magic we read about in fairytales. I don’t believe in soul mates, solely based on the fact that people have to work for what they want.
The term soul mate just gives us a reason to not work at something. You should always have to work, to never give up, to never get used to things. That word gives us an excuse to not try. Relationships should be work. You should work hard. To look sexy. To spice it up. To try new things. To treat that person the way they deserve. To be seen in a way only few will ever see you. Amazing. Inspiring. Heart-felt. Gut-wrenching.
That’s what true love is. The kind where you think about someone always before yourself. Where you give them everything possible. Where you go to the ends of the earth, no questions asked. No second thoughts. A gut instinct. You give them your heart. The whole thing. All the broken bits and pieces. It may have been broken before. Pieces may be missing. But I’m going to give it to one of them, and hope and pray it’s not broken any further than it already is.
No, I’ve never fallen for another, besides Thomas and Alex. But I’ve lost two people before. Two people I loved dearly. My parents, the two most amazing women in the entire world. I lost one to cancer, one to a car crash. My heart ripped. Shattered completely. Within months of my eighteenth birthday, I lost everything. I wasn’t prepared. I thought I had all the time in the world. But I lost them, and then everything changed. I met Thomas. Two years later I met Alex. And now I’m in this jumbled, fucked up mess. All because of a third rule. All because I listened and didn’t say what I was thinking and feeling for over two years.
So I walk through the aisle of the grocery store, contemplating what I’m going to make Alex for dinner. I already know I’m taking Thomas to an expensive restaurant. But Alex? I have no idea. I want to make something both of us can eat, since Alex is a vegetarian and all. It’s killing me I won’t be able to eat meat. But I’ll do it. For Alex.
No, I’m not ready to say I love you to Alex. But I want to show it in a way I know will be understood. So I grab my ingredients, and call with the news I have something planned special for this weekend. Alex’s reaction is amused and excited, and I hang up, a smile on my face. Excited to show my feelings. And afraid those feelings will be returned. Because it will only get worse from there.
Thomas
This is it.
I run through the park. Sweat shorts. A shirt. iPod blasting “Survivor” from the
Rocky
soundtrack. That’s how I feel, because I’m going to find out everything I can about this bastard. And I’m going to destroy him.
I knew she was seeing him today. It seems like she always sees him during the day on Saturdays. Sometimes Sundays too. Even during the week. Basically, when she’s not seeing me, she’s with him, and it kills me. More than I care to admit. I run through the park searching for the beautiful black-haired woman strutting her stuff. Hiding behind sunglasses, not knowing how goddamn sexy she is.
I run the trail, sweat building at the tip of my forehead, a burn forming in my abdomen. But I push through it.
I need to find her.
Just as the thought comes to me, I spot her. “Gotcha.” Slowing down to a walk, I observe her, caught up in her beauty as she sits on a park bench, watching as children toss pennies into the fountain, making wishes that won’t come true.
Bringing the Ray-Ban sunglasses from the top of my head, I go incognito. I don’t want her to see me, I just want to watch and study. Sweat drips form my body. Adrenaline races through me.
I need to see the man Stella is having such a hard time getting rid of. I don’t understand why. I know I’m an ass. I should’ve never made up those goddamn rules. If it weren’t for me, this wouldn’t be happening right now. I wouldn’t be watching her with another man. As they touch. Hold one another. Kiss. Laugh.
I could be that man for her.
But she and I, we’ve been together for two years. Two amazing years of fucking non-stop. That’s the key to any man’s heart. If he says otherwise, he’s a goddamn liar.
Walking toward some benches, I sit down. I stare straight at Stella. Probably looking like a motherfucker. I forget about the gorgeous redhead salivating over me. If I wasn’t with Stella, I would be fucking the redhead with huge knockers. Titty-fucking would be a good thing with her.
Shit.
I see movement. I watch as Stella jumps up from the bench and walks fast. I see the glorious smile on her face for someone who’s not me. I’m stuck. Amazed at the beauty of her smile. I’ve never seen her shine like that before. Especially from something I’ve done or because we were in one another’s company.
She looks so happy.
And then I see the embrace. Her arms over a neck. Arms wrapping around Stella’s waist. A lingered kiss on the lips. My jaw drops. I’m stunned. Speechless. When she said Alex, I never thought she was hanging out with…
“Well, fuck me,” I mumble to myself. Wringing the back of my neck, I look away and close my eyes. Maybe it’s just my fucked up imagination. I open my eyes again. Amazed. Baffled. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I smack my hands to my knees and let out a huge groan. “Now, how in the hell am I supposed to compete with that?”