Ambrosia (A Flowering Novella) (9 page)

“Wait, that’s a thing?” I ask.

My mom continues to explain, ignoring me. I do get a slight nod from Kristen, who’s now standing behind my mother. After the bows have been removed, I will take the card off and read it aloud, handing it to Alana, who will be keeping the cards organized in a box. I can’t wait to see that fiasco.

Finally, once the gift is opened, I will hold it up, show it to everyone, and pass it back to my mom, while Abby will write down whom it was from and what it was. So I can write my thank you notes. The same thank you notes my mother hands me in a box that smells like a summer rainstorm, while Not Ellen brings out salads. Careful not to make the notes smell more like Italian dressing than summer, I take my salad and attempt to eat it gracefully, in an armchair. Everyone is so dressed up and I’m in jeans. I thought we were going to a cookout at my parents’ house.

Surprisingly, the entire afternoon seems to go smoothly, once we get past my unexpected hunger. After a while, I have a rehearsal bouquet, a shitload of gifts I really don’t need but picked out anyway, and all is well. Until I get to Abby’s gift. It’s second to last. I only have my parents’ gift after hers, but she whispers something to Alana, who leans over.

“She says she’s sorry,” Alana tells me.

The box is giant, so I can’t imagine it’s anything inappropriate. Usually my gifts from Abby are, but I figure it’s a shower, my grandmothers are here, and I don’t really need a vibrator these days. I’m actually not worried, even when I get the paper off, because it’s all packaged in a really pretty box that Abby must have packed. I’m picturing a bathroom set and towels or something and I’m fine – until I take off the lid.

“What is it?” everyone starts asking and whispering as I stare into the box.
How am I going to get around this one?
There are hundreds of eyes, mostly belonging to women who saw me crawling around in my diaper, boring through me as I stare at the package from Abby. Inside the box are a spinning sex swing and stand, a giant bottle of lube, bed restraints, and a book about sex positions called
Ride ‘Em, Cowgirl,
along with a matching hat.

“Um, it’s a book and some decorations,” I mumble finally.

“Ooh, let’s see,” one of my aunts says. I don’t know which aunt because I only know the voice is coming from the table where they were all sitting. I refuse to look up.

My mother stands and walks over, looks into the box, and I am mortified. She doesn’t even know what to say. She calls over Not Ellen and whispers something and Not Ellen returns a few minutes later with a lot more wine and some chocolate mousse. Momentarily distracted by chocolate and wine, everyone takes their focus from me and I pass the box to my mother, who puts it with the rest of my gifts without a word. 

My parents bought me a comforter and some sheets. They’re lovely.

“W
hat’s this?” I ask. I am trying to help her unpack all the shit we got, which is way more than we need.

“It’s a cooling rack. It goes in the kitchen.”

“We have a counter.”

“Just put it in the kitchen,” she sighs.

“Okay, princess.”

I come back and she’s staring at an owl print shower curtain. “Oh, I remember that,” I tell her.

“You do?”

“Yeah, I zapped that. Along with the-”

“Whale bath spout cover?” Lily asks.

“Yes! That’s awesome.”

“Why did you pick this stuff out?”

“I don’t know. You were just getting plates and knives and things like cooling racks. Who bought us this?” I ask.

She laughs. “My brother’s girlfriend, who was thrilled to be there by the way.”

“What’s her name again?”

“Heather. At least that’s what it says on the seating chart. If they make it that long,” she tells me and lies down on the bed, in the middle of boxes. “Why didn’t we just ask for money?”

“It was kind of fun running around with that zappy gun.”

“I hate you,” she mumbles.

“No, you really don’t,” I say and lie down next to her, bringing her body to mine. I’m so tired and she’s stressed. I just want to take a nap, but we have to get this stuff put away and then there’s a whole new week of work and school ahead of us. Dave comes home next weekend, too. Every weekend, I grow more desperate for the honeymoon. Not just for Lily, but also to sleep and not to have to go somewhere.

“Open that box,” she says, into my shoulder.

“Which one?” There are probably another hundred boxes to unpack.

“The pretty one. With the flowers on it or whatever.”

“There’s a box with like leaves and a house or some shit,” I reply.

“Yeah, that one,” Lily confirms. “It’s from Abby.”

I open the box and laugh. I can only imagine what it was like opening this during her shower. “Your aunts must have loved this.”

“Hell on Earth,” she mumbles. “It was Hell on Earth.”

“Do you want me to set this up?” I take out the swing, which has way too many things associated with it. It seems like a lot of work, but then again, it’s a sex swing. Probably worth the effort.

“No. I am not getting into that contraption tonight. But grab that book,” she tells me.

“And the hat?” I ask. I don’t know what it says about me that picturing her naked, wearing this ridiculous fucking hat, makes me horny as hell, but it really does. I was tired, but now, I’m wide awake.

“Sure.” She sits up, moving the remaining boxes off the bed, and then she slides to the edge. “I was going to suggest a nap first,” she says, “but maybe a shower instead? And then, I want to see what that book has to say.”

“How about book first, then maybe shower or nap? Or book and then more book?”

I reach over and unbutton her jeans, and she doesn’t argue as I get them off and toss them onto the floor. She leans back and lets me undress her.

“I need energy for those positions,” she argues. “I have to do all the work.”

I bend down and take her in my mouth, earning a few gasps, and once she’s wet, I lie beside her and slide my fingers into her. “Whatever you want, Lily. You just tell me when you’re ready to get up.”

I tease her faster until her hips buck upward and she rolls over, getting my clothes off. She’s still tired – I can see it in her eyes – but momentarily energized enough. She straddles me and lets me slowly slide into her and, once she’s fully settled on me, she rides me so slow that it’s agonizing. It’s like tasting something only to know you can’t have all of it. I want more of her, but she teases me, moving slowly and deliberately, tightening ever so slightly around me.

“You forgot your hat,” I whisper, flinging it onto her head. I don’t know why it does what it does to me, but watching her ride me, with that stupid hat on, feeling her tighten her pussy as she does, it’s amazing.

“We’ve done this position before,” she says, lying down so her tits push against my chest and I cling to her, pushing deeper, but she’s in control and I can’t move faster with her thighs clutching me as they are. “We’re supposed to try something new. We don’t want to get predictable and boring.”

“No, that would be awful,” I groan, and grab her head, knocking the hat off and pulling her closer, and I kiss along her neck. “Is this boring, princess?”

“So boring,” she says, and she suddenly contracts around me, tightening, and my cock nearly explodes inside her as she does. “I want to feel you come, Jack. Come for me.”

I love fucking Lily, but it’s always equal and I generally focus on her orgasms, since I’ve never had trouble getting off with her. But when she says it, it feels so dirty and, of course, I love it. I love being commanded by her.

She lifts herself up, just enough so I can see her face, and she lets her eyes close as she reaches down and touches herself, while I’m still inside of her. I feel her start to come before I see it in her face, but once I see it, and once she opens her mouth to let out the sound of ecstasy, her body weakens so I can move. I grab her and thrust harder and faster, and we both forget all about suggested positions and showers and naps and lose the rest of the evening.

“I
have to look for a job.” I don’t really expect Jack to do anything about this, but saying it aloud helps me to mentally add it to my ever-growing to-do list.

“Nah, you should just stay home all day long and think about kinky ways to pleasure me,” he suggests. Of course, we are sitting on the couch in our pajamas, eating pizza yet again, and it’s not his sexiest moment. Not that he has
un
sexy moments.

“My parents are only paying for rent through summer. After that, we have to live off your salary alone if I don’t find work,” I remind him.

“I’m loaded,” he argues.

I just raise an eyebrow. He loves his job and we don’t need much, but his salary isn’t enviable, that’s for sure. Then again, I’m the one with the soon-to-be English degree, so I don’t have a leg to stand on in this discussion.

“What do you want to do?” he asks.

I sigh. “I don’t
know
. What was I thinking? There are no skills associated with literature. No one is going to ask me to find symbols in Whitman or to consider historical context in Chaucer. All I can do is read books and write papers. That is
literally
all I have learned in four years.”

“What do you
want
to do?” he repeats.

“I thought about going to back to school – grad school, but really, that’s just more school to learn more useless skills and it’s money we really don’t have. I don’t want to teach. I’m not a writer. All I know how to do is read books and there is no job for that.”

“What about a librarian?”

“Grad school. We know we can’t afford it.”

“We can try,” he says.

“Not yet,” I reply. “I don’t want to start our life gathering debt. No. I’m sure I can temp somewhere. It’s fine. It’s just a job anyway.”

“I want you to be happy.”

“I am. What I do for the afternoon so we can be happy is pretty much not important.”

“As long as you’re sure,” he says.

“I am,” I tell him. “But regardless, I need to look for a job.”

“Great. We have plenty of free time these days.” He laughs.

“No kidding. Anyway, this weekend, I will look for a job. Make sure I look for a job.”

“Dave’s coming home,” he reminds me.

“Right. And Alana
isn’t
planning on spending several days keeping him locked up?”

“Valid point,” Jack agrees. “Okay, look for a job. And maybe see Dave if we’re allowed.”

“You really miss him, don’t you?” I ask. He never talks about Dave, not really, but he’s animated now that he’s coming home.

“Yeah, but I think I also miss all the time we didn’t have. Like all the years we were too stupid to stay friends. I can’t wait to have him around, for good, again. Does that make sense?”

“It does. And it’s cute you care so much.”

“Don’t call me cute,” he teases. “Remember, I’m a badass.”

“You’re a
dumb
ass.”

Although Jack hasn’t really changed exactly, the way I see him has. When we met, he was vulgar, but I can’t even recall those feelings I had for him. I was so attracted to him and yet he was such an asshole. I have a hard time picturing Jack that way anymore. We’re comfortable together and although he still knows how to talk dirty and he’s still closed off to most people, with me, he is open and sweet and happy and kind and good and everything he tries to hide from people.

“Do you ever feel like we were teleported to an alternate dimension?” he asks. “How have the last four years come and gone and left such a mark, and yet, they passed with no real fanfare?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “All the time, I think about it, though. I remember things and I wonder what that girl would do, that girl I was. I changed a lot when I met you, but I’ve just been constantly changing for the last few years and I wonder when it stops. Does it stop?”

He shrugs. “I assume so, but maybe it doesn’t. Maybe in ten years, we will look back at our wedding and this will seem like a different world, too. I’m happy, though. I’m happy that you’re changing alongside me.”

“With you,” I correct. “I change
with
you.”

D
ave’s home for five days before Alana is ready to finish ravaging him, so we all make plans for dinner midweek. Lily set herself up with a few temp agencies and some recruiters over the weekend and I worked extra, so I could find time to see Dave and Alana. Now, we’re headed to Providence. The traffic sucks, but the only way Alana was even agreeing to a few hours with us was if we met them somewhere close so they could head back to her dorm and continue their nonstop sexcapade immediately after taking a break to eat.

He looks tired when we get to the restaurant, but it’s a pleased tired. I’m sure Alana has been keeping him busy. He hugs Lily and then me. “I am so fucking happy to be back,” he says as we all sit down. “I have missed you all too much. I managed for years and then this one...” He looks at Alana and I see all of his love for her, love that’s been his entire focus since we were kids, in his face. “She came back and the last couple years were impossible. I just needed to be home.”

“What are your plans?” I ask. “How does it work?”

“Maybe I’ll go to school at some point, but not right now. We just want to figure things out and decide what to do next. I have to figure out what I can do, or what I want to do first. You know me. I was never much for school.”

I nod. I was always the academic one, although Alana is smart. Dave never really cared about anything, but then again, it was hard to when we were younger. We all just found what helped us escape a little. For me, it was math; for Alana, she had art; and Dave never had much, but he didn’t lose his mind. He just survived and I guess that was something. It’s more than Alana or I really did, for all our intelligence. Dave is the smartest of us all when it comes to being normal.

“Anyway, I just got back – and I’m sure you need a million things. Most importantly, bachelor party,” he says.

“I don’t need much. We have to go order our tuxes at some point, but that’s basically it.” Lily shoots me a look, a little annoyed, but she can’t argue. I
don’t
do anything except show up and listen to her or her mom.