Catalyst (8 page)

             
“Easy.
I hate it. It’s too sweet and
spongy
then gooey and alway
s has those annoying sprinkles.
I can’t stand it.” He made a face like he was imagining taking a bite and was disgusted making me giggle. “What’s yours?”

             
“Bananas.”

             
“Texture or taste?”

             
“Both, but mostly texture. Matter of fact, I love banana flavored candy, just not bananas themselves.”

             
“You are strange,
”
he goaded in his familiar sarcastic way.

             
“Hey!” I kicked my foot gently into his stomach and he tickled my foot making me giggle harder. “So, I already know
you play guitar and you were a S
ergeant in the Marines. I know y
ou love kids and like to work. Y
ou have a green thumb and really love your sweet tea. What else?”

             
“There’s n
ot a lot left to tell you.”

             
“Oh, come on,” I pleaded.
“What i
s some
thing nobody knows about you?
I won’t tell anyone,” I said sweetly and smiled at him.

             
“Hmmm.” He touched his tongue to his lip
ring
, thinking. “I once prank called a girl I liked in the ninth grade. I was trying to g
et her to meet me at the movies
without knowing who I was because I thought she’d say no. She hung up on me. The next day at school she got this ot
her guy in trouble for stalking because
she thought it was him. I never told anyone it was me. No one.”

             
“Wow. I’m so happy to be privy to your big bad secret,” I said with mock seriousness.

             
“Yo,
” he said and pointed at me,
“
back in the day, I was bad boned. I was tough, ok? Rugged. People feared me.”

             
“I’m sure they did,
”
I said blandly to goad him.

             
“Are you doubting my mad badness?”

             
“Oh, no. Now way. Certainly not.”

             
“Oh, L.” He shook his head. “You are skating dangerously close to skepticism.”

             
“Oh, I’m not skating. I’m there.
”

             
I laughed at his playful scowl.

             
“You
are gonna pay for that, lovely
.” He jumped up and grabbed me as I made a try to run but he overpowered me bracing himself over me on the couch length wise. “You may be cute, but you are not immune to the rules.”

             
I giggled. “And what rules are you referring to?”

             
“The rules of opposite sex etiquette. Don’t ch
allenge the manliness of the guy
that is within tickle range.”

             
“Ooh. Good rule. I’ll remember that.”

             
“You better. I’ll let you off with a warning this time.”

             
“What’s my penalty?” I asked and bit my lip to tease him.

             
“What do you think?” He leaned in so close his lips were almost grazing mine.

             
“I think.
..that you are awfully cheesy, m
ister,” I crooned sweetly. 

             
“That’s it! Last straw!” he yelled and began to tickle me on my sides.

             
I screamed and giggled and squirmed
,
but there was no getting loose.

             
“Ok! Ok! I give. You are so, so manly! You are rugged and handsome and
…
” I stopped to gasp and scream as he intensified his assault. “So manly! Please! You are so manly!”

             
He smiled at me in triumph and stop
ped
tickling. He let his weight press me further into the couch.

             
“That’s right, and d
on’t you forget it.”

             
“How could I with a display like that?”

             
He chuckled and continued to look at me. He brushed the hair off my face that had fallen over my eye then he ran his thumb over my bottom lip
making my heart
beats gallop
. I decided to take the initiative this time. I pulled him down to me by his shirt collar.

             
He seemed pleasantly
surprised, given by his smirk.

             
I kissed the hollow of his neck and had the pleasure of hearing his breath catch. I kissed my way up and bit his lip
ring
playfully. He chuckled before taking over and pressing our lips together. He stayed braced over me on his elbows as his mouth ravished mine. After a few minutes he pulled back quickly. I was confused by the sudden change of pace but he just scooped me up and took me to the bed on the far wall.

             
He probably wasn’t too comfortable sprawled out with me on
the loveseat I imagined. He placed me gently to the bed
and picked up right where he left off.

             
His mouth was eager as his hand took a tour of my body in caresses and
chaste advances
. His fingers went just under the hem of my shirt but no further and he pulled me closer to him by my belt loops.

             
It seemed we stayed like that for hours. My lips were swollen and my jaw was chafed deliciously from his stubble. My fingers were sore and stiff from fisting his shirt for so long. It was the first time we’d just been able to completely be alone and together like that.

             
Eventually, we stopped to breath
e
,
but he kept his hands on me. Our n
oses were touching while we lay
on our sides. I drifted off into a sleep, restful and needed.

             
When I woke up some time later, I smelled dinner cooking. Cain’s face was pressed into my hair and he was still asleep. Our arms and legs were tangled. I knew there was no way to g
et free without waking him up, so I stayed there. It wa
s where I wanted to b
e
anyway.

An Undulated Fate

Chapter 4 - Merrick

             
Sherry sle
pt for hours. I didn’t move her
again because Miguel wasn’t sure of the extent of her injuries. So, there she stayed on the couch in all her broken splendor.

             
Lily was anxious and pers
istent to wake her
. She didn’t
understand what was going on and D
anny wasn’t much better. He drifted our way every few minutes or so, peeking over the couch and pursing his lips. I assu
red him I’d call him in his mind
the second she woke up.

             
I didn’t leave her side. This surprised no one, including me. T
his was standard conduct for me;
Sherry watch. I just couldn’t leave her. So I stayed watch and held Lily for a while before she tottered off to more fun ventures, and fended off questions for and about Sherry.

             
Well after supper was done, Cain and Lillian came into the room looking dish
eveled and incandescent. They walked
hand in hand
over to me and acted extremely happy.
I tried not to take it personally on Sherry’s behalf.

             
“Hey, h
ow she doing
?” Cain asked, sobering and
sitting on the couch arm.

             
“Same. Miguel gave her some morphine so she’d sleep.”

             
“That’s good. She’ll be ok, man.”

             
“I know.” I looked up at him. “Thank you for going
in
after her.”

             
“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have.”

             
“This isn’t the first time you’ve saved her life.”

             
Cain
’s
fac
e changed. He looked down and
made a noise in his throat like he was uncomfortable. Lillian squeezed his hand.
             

             
“It’s fine, dude, r
eally. So...
Daddy
.”

             
“Yeah,
” I laughed and smiled, embarrassed but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. “She finally said it. And then she wanted to call Sherry mommy. It’s unreal.”

             
“It’s sweet,” Lillian said. “She wouldn’t want to call you that
unless you were good to her, you
know. Kids are smart.”

             
I laughed again, feeling a little semi-giddy.

             
“Thanks
. She is smart. She’s incredible. Sherr
y thought she’d never have kids and
Lily is so perfect for her.”

             
Danny and Celeste came up and joined us, taking the chair near Sherry’s feet.

             
“Why did she think that?” Lillian asked quizzically. “I know Sherry didn’t think she was gonna be a spinster.”

             
“Not with that bone s
tructure she wouldn’t have been,” Celeste blurted.
“
Sherry is so petite a
nd sweet looking. It’s not fair
really if you think about it
. I have the legs for a model but not the hips. If I can’t be a model, why can’t I at least be dainty and wholesome like someone I know?” She leaned forward a bit on Danny’s lap and spoke to Sherry conspiratorially. “That’s right, Sherry. I’m talking about you like you’re not here. And I called you
dainty. Wake up and yell at me,
”
she sang.

             
We
all laughed then I turned
to answer Lillian’s question.

             
“Sherry can’t have children. She found out when she was fourteen. She was pretty upset, even at that young age.”

             
“Yeah, I remember that,” Danny chimed sadly. “She cried for a whole day straight. I thought she was crazy. I kept asking what she wante
d to have kids for anyway. And Mom and D
ad weren’t big on sympathy. Mom told Sherry every reas
on why that had happened to her;
t
he universe, karma, poor diet from sneaking animal products when we were away from home. They made it sound like it was her fault.”

             
“But that’s how Sherry handles things,” I said firmly. “She freaks out, she cries, she moves on. She tries to find the positive in everything. In fact, I don’t remember her ever telling anyone about it. She just acted like it didn’t matter, it didn’t exist. She didn’t beg for sympathy, didn’t tell all her friends so they could feel sorry for her. She just dealt with it.”

             
“What’s that like?” Lillian asked suddenly and looked at me intensely
. “Knowing everything about her?
Remembering all the same memories, every birthday, every milestone, al
l the crazy stunts she pulled as
a teenager.”

             
Danny laughed and I tried to hide a chuckle.

             
“‘Crazy’ and ‘stunts’
aren’t in Sherry’s dictionary. The craziest stunt she eve
r pulled was the one time she sn
uck out of the house when she was thirteen, but she got caught. In fact, she came back and pretty much told on herself.”

             
“Really? Nothing crazy?”

             
I squinted, trying to remember,
but came
up with nothing.

             
“Moving out. Her parents didn’t want her to but she was
determined that if she got out
she would be happier. So she did. But other than that, she’s pretty clean.”