Just Breathe Trilogy Box Set (16 page)

“One is you jump how you want in the different areas. Only Emma likes the classes,” Jared explains.

“I like the classes too! I’ve gotten much better,” Nathan interjects a little defensively. “You don’t like them because you don’t jump enough.”

Jared narrows his eyes at Nathan in a playful manner as he decides how he wants to continue, “Free jump is better for newbies. That way you don’t get scared off by it. There’s the pit and everything. You’ll see tomorrow!”

“A pit?” Joe questions.

“The pit is awesome,” Maggie confirms.

“Sounds interesting,” Henry comments with an earnest smile.

Our desserts arrive and our conversations come to a halt, save everyone commenting on which dessert they like better since we’re all kind of sharing. I got the stone fruit blackberry crisp ala mode, Jared and Nathan are sharing the
Faux-stess Cupcake
, Henry ordered chocolate ice cream and Joe got the salted caramel ice cream.

“Would you like some, Emma?” Joe asks, pushing his bowl towards me after the others already had a bite.

Before I can even answer, Jared interrupts, “Don’t give her any. That’s her favorite and she’ll eat it all.”

“Gee thanks,” I return with slightly squinted eyes.

Nathan insinuates, “If you’re lucky, maybe she’ll eat you all up too!” Nathan roars with laughter while Maggie giggles and Joe blushes.

I see contention in Jared’s face knowing Nathan went a little too far. Henry has a somewhat serious look on his face that appears he’s hoping I would confirm Nathan’s statement in the positive.

Smirking and taking another bite of my dessert, I comment, “He wishes.”

My statement prompts Joe to blush more as a smile dances on his face and I tingle with delight. A little playful banter never hurt — or did it? My playfulness causes an eager look in Maggie’s eyes as she craves for my response to be true. I disappoint with a head shake as Nathan and Jared almost choke on their cupcake. I nearly snort my bite through my nose as I watch Jared and Nathan.

After lunch, we head toward the Third Street Promenade.

The walk allows everyone’s meals to settle, sparking a groan from Jared. “Ooh, I ate too much.”

“Good thing we’re going jumping tomorrow,” Nathan nudges.

“What are we in the mood to do?” Maggie inquires.

“A movie?” Nathan suggests.

Everyone nods in agreement.

We start heading past the shops with Jared and Nathan in front, followed by Maggie and Henry, and Joe, Sadie and me bringing up the rear. Each couple is holding hands other than Joe and I.

“What about Sadie?” Joe asks with a little concern.

“She’s got her service dog vest on, so she can go anywhere,” I answer.

I don’t always like to use the vest, but it definitely helps for long days when I’m away from home and don’t want to be concerned about leaving her locked up all by herself.

“Oh, that’s what that is,” Joe says. “Why do you need that?”

“When I adopted Sadie, I immediately signed her up for classes. She’s fully trained and certified, not because I need it, but because I wanted people to look at her breed differently as well as be able to take her anywhere I go,” I reply.

“Wow. That’s awesome,” Joe says. “I haven’t had a dog since I was a teenager. I just couldn’t get another one after Duke died.” Joe catches me trying to conceal a giggle. “What’s so funny?”

Crap, I just got caught. “Oh nothing . . .” I try to reply, subduing a laugh. “I’m sorry about your dog dying . . . it’s just that . . . I can’t believe you named him Duke.”

“Why is that funny?” he says as I curl my lips into my mouth.

“Nothing . . .” I mutter.

“Just say it,” he insists. “Get it out.”

“Is Duke short for something?” I say with a little more control.

“No. Why?” he pushes.

“For some strange reason, I pictured that you named him Duke Wellington III or something,” I answer, loosing control and giggling.

Joe shakes his head and says, “Just Duke. Why would you think that?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I smile and declare, “I don’t know. I guess I just expected a weird name like that. You are a Manhattanite.”

Joe flirts, “So you’re checking up on me?”

“Just making sure you and your friend aren’t creepy,” I poke.

“Creepy?”

“Yeah. Creepy. I’ve heard stories about all you boys who come from billionaire families. Weird names and fetishes,” I retort.

I know I’m right and he knows it too.

Rolling his eyes at me with a smile, he mentions, “There are a few creepy ones. I’ll give you that. But, Henry and I are not them.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” I quip back.

Joe and I walk in silence for the next block, only looking back and forth at each other, smirking while watching Maggie, Henry, Jared and Nathan. Joe’s fun, not like other straight guys I’ve dealt with or the weird friends of Maggie’s ex-boyfriends. We actually can have a conversation and he doesn’t get on my nerves.

“Which movie?” Jared asks the group when we arrive at the theater.

“Romantic comedy!” Maggie shouts.

“That’s all you ever want to watch,” I complain a little.

“I like being happy and they make me happy. So, that’s my vote,” she replies, sticking her tongue out at me.

“Mature,” I bait, sticking my tongue out back at her.

“What do you boys like?” Nathan asks Henry and Joe.

“I’ll watch anything,” Henry says.

“Me too. I like romantic comedies,” Joe adds, taunting me.

“How about a sci-fi?” I suggest with a fake smile.

“I’m picking or else we’ll never agree,” Jared announces.

Jared gets tickets for the next showing of a romantic comedy that starts in just over an hour. I give him a look when he hands me my ticket. Jared seems pleased with himself.

Not excited with the movie selection, I hint, “Remember, paybacks are still coming for earlier and this just adds to the pile.”

He gives me a pleading hug and kiss in an attempt to sway me.

We bounce between a few stores to kill some time. Maggie and Henry are talking the entire time, practically ignoring us. Nathan is checking out some of the clothing stores to see if they hint to anything about the upcoming Summer Season as well as to get some ideas for his women’s line.

“Try this on for me, please,” Nathan says, shoving a dress to my chest.

“Seriously?” I whine softly.

“Yes, seriously. I need to see it on a woman’s body and your body happens to be right here,” he directs. “Jared will watch Sadie. Go.” He shoos me away as Jared takes Sadie’s leash and sits on the padded bench in front of the dressing room.

Joe stays nearby as Maggie and Henry are lagging behind in their own little world.

Rolling my eyes, I grab the dress and head to the changing room. “I need a different size,” I state without coming out of the room once I have the dress on.

“Why?” Nathan inquires. “It should fit your proportions.”

Other than myself, Nathan is the only one who would know my size.

“It does, all but one,” I wince as he opens the door, exposing me to everyone in the store.

“Damn girl, did they get bigger!” Nathan shouts as his eyes inflate and he pokes one of my boobs repeatedly.

I swat his hand away as I blush a little. “No. It’s the dress,” I say.

“You look hot, Emma!” Jared announces loudly. “Doesn’t she look hot, Joe?”

I blush as every straight man within earshot stares. Joe doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t have to since his eyes are glued to my chest and the expression on his face says everything. Good thing I’m completely comfortable with my body.

Nathan requested for me to try on a black halter dress that accentuates my breasts, has a triangular cutout below my boobs causing my upper stomach to be slightly exposed, fits snuggly to my frame all the way down just below my knees and has a deep open back.

“Put these on,” Nathan says handing me a pair of black platform pumps.

“I don’t wear platform heels,” I demand, refusing to take them and crossing my arms in front of my chest. Realizing that the gesture only makes my breasts pop out more, I immediately lower them.

I never where platforms. I don’t like the look and to me they look like stripper shoes.

“Fine,” he says, putting them back and grabbing open-toed stilettos.

I take the shoes from his hand, and hold onto his shoulder while slightly bending forward, lifting one foot at a time behind me to get them on. Nathan takes my hand and leads me to a mirror a few feet away. I stand with my hands on my hips as he inspects every seam. He never touches me or the dress, except to gently guide my hands up from my hips momentarily. Snatching his phone out of his pocket, he takes a few pictures, both from a distance and up close.

After what feels like an eternity I ask, “Are you done?”

“Yep. Thanks,” Nathan confirms.

I rush into the changing room and hand him the shoes and dress once they’re off.

I’m in the midst buttoning up my pants when Jared says, “You should totally get the dress, Emma.”

I wait to respond until I’m finished changing and leaving the dressing room. “No.”

“Why not? Every girl needs a couple of little, black dresses in her closet,” Jared challenges with furrowed brows.

“I have enough black dresses,” I calmly reply.

It’s true. I like dresses, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t really need another black one.

“You don’t have
that
black dress,” Jared contends.

“I wouldn’t wear it to the places we go,” I argue, thought my statement is not completely true.

“I bet Joe could think of a few places to take you to get you in and out of that dress,” Nathan pushes with a devilish smile. “Right, Joe?”

Clearing his voice and blushing, Joe mutters, “Definitely.” His eyes go to me and then he quickly looks away as he scratches his head.

This is not good. I know we’ve had some playful banter, but it feels like it’s gone beyond innocent flirting. Okay. Maybe it hasn’t been completely innocent, but it’s crossing a line I’m not comfortable with. A line that shouldn’t be crossed, because if it is, I break my rules. My rules cannot be broken.

I choose not to respond and take Sadie’s leash from Jared, then head over to Maggie and Henry. I’m relieved when Maggie and Henry don’t say a word about the dress and what had just happened. From the looks of it, they didn’t see or hear any of it.

Looking at her phone as if she’s been here in reality this whole time, Maggie announces, “We should be heading over for the movie.”

I won’t admit it openly, but the romantic comedy is actually very good. I don’t mind those movies. I just don’t feel comfortable watching them with a guy whom I’m attracted to, a guy I can’t have sex with, but part of me is curious about what it would be like, a guy who is openly flirting with me, and a guy who is friends with the guy my best friend is dating. The thought of sleeping with him enters my mind. Maybe if I just get it out of my system I’ll be fine. I’ve never been really impressed with any of the guys I’ve slept with, so maybe the same thing would happen with him. However, what if it’s better than I expect? Or, what if things got weird because it is or isn’t and then I have to be around him all the time because our friends eventually get married. No. I need to control this. I need to control myself. We’re friendly and that’s all it will ever be. Just friends.

Back at the condo, Nathan starts setting up his new grill for dinner. Jared and Joe are helping Nathan and Maggie and Henry are on the couch cuddling and talking. I feed Sadie and take her out for a walk, wanting some distance and personal space before helping with dinner. Deciding to take a longer walk than usual, I notice Sadie is moving slowly towards the end. She must be tired from the day. I sit on a bench along Ocean Avenue as Sadie stands with her front paws on the bench enjoying me scratching her behind her ears.

My phone chimes, so I take it out of my pocket to read the text that just came in from Jared, “I can see you!”

I wave my hand in the air without turning around.

“I see you waving! You okay?” he writes back.

“I’m fine. Just enjoying the view,” I text with a smiley emoticon face.

“I think the grill is good to go,” Jared mentions.

I giggle at the thought that it took two gay men and one straight guy to figure out a grill this whole time while I was out with Sadie. I can understand why Jared and Nathan have a challenge with a machine like that because they’ve never used one, but Joe? Well, I guess they don’t really do any cooking or grilling themselves in high society.

“Sounds good. On my way back,” I reply and push send.

Back at the condo, Jared, Nathan and Joe seem a bit surprised at the fact that we need to wait for the grill to heat up enough before cooking. They literally just turned the thing on about five minutes before I came in. It takes all the strength I can muster to stifle any kind of laughter at their innocence and not to comment. This is technically their first barbecue. I suggest that they help prep the food while it warms. We make grass-fed burgers stuffed with feta cheese and spinach, cut potatoes into wedges to be roasted with garlic, sea salt and oil, make a quinoa and cranberry salad, a salad with fresh strawberries and a strawberry vinaigrette, and chocolate mousse with fresh, handmade whipped cream. We add a dish with extra toppings for the burgers including pickles, olives, fresh fried onions, tomatoes, onions, and pepperoncini.

Everyone sits at Nathan’s dinning room table, eating, sharing stories, joking and laughing for several hours. At one point during the meal, I sit back and watch how naturally everyone gets along and enjoys each other’s company. It feels like our little family is growing which makes me happy and sad at the same time. I smile at a comment Henry makes as I glance around the table. Locking eyes with Joe, I get the distinct feeling he knows what’s going through my head as he gives me a comforting smirk. I need to make sure I don’t show my feelings outwardly.

Stuffed, we wait a little before having dessert. Everyone helps clean up the table and food before changing into pajamas and heading to the couches for a night of board games. Maggie and Henry sit on the love seat side, Jared and Nathan sit in the middle of the couch. Joe takes a spot on the chaise end closest to me. He offers several times to switch seats, but I’m happy to sit on the floor with Sadie while playing. I’ve got a pillow under my butt, my back is against the chaise and I’ve got Sadie’s head resting on my lap. I’m content.