The Final Lesson Plan (11 page)

"Well dear," I said sarcastically. "You know how Marc just loves coining new phrases, well, he decided that 'on the rag' wasn't actually accurate since women don't wear pads anymore." Everyone looked at Marcus with contempt and disgust. "So, he thought a more appropriate term would be 'cotton-stuffing.' Isn't he just dreamy?" I said, rolling my eyes.

"You're a sick bastard," Char said.

"I think it's time for you to go now," Jasper said. "It's private property, and you are most-assuredly not welcome here."

Just as Marcus was about to leave, Char piped in again, "Hey Janelle, you're not, are you?" she asked. When I looked at her bewildered without answering, she clarified, "Cotton stuffing?" My eyes widened; I felt my cheeks heat up.

Everyone stopped and looked at her, wondering why on earth she'd bring that up. Continuing, she said, "Nah, you're too lady like to answer that." Char started looking around and walked over to Briggs, "Hey Briggs," she said, running her hands up and down his arms. I felt my stomach twinge watching her touch him. I also noticed that Lauren watched intently as Char's hands traveled the length of Briggs' arms. "You tell me. Is Nelle cotton-stuffing right now?" I rolled my eyes at her obvious attempt to get under Marcus' skin. Char was one devious, clever, and loyal fucking friend.

Smiling and understanding, Briggs said, "No Ma'am, Janelle is definitely not cotton-stuffing."

Grinning, Char nodded and walked over to Leo and began rubbing his back. Marcus eyed her angrily; Lauren almost unnoticeably licked her upper lip. "Leo, can you second that? Is Janelle cotton-stuffing?"

"Oh Char, she is most certainly not…not even close," he said, glancing at me with a dimpled smirk and a wink. I laughed, because I hadn't been with Leo in over ten days, so he really wouldn't know. However, he did know his role in Char's game.

"Well Marcus, it seems like it's only you…her husband…who doesn't know. So take your cunt rock whore and get the fuck out of here," she said, high-fiving Jocelyn who sat quietly by as this whole ordeal unraveled. Rick had taken the girls into the pool house to get their bathing suits on, while my nephews stayed back, near the picnic table.

Marcus glared at me, then at Leo and Briggs, and walked out the gate. Lauren ran after him, only after glancing back at Leo and Briggs one more time.

As he left, Char looked at me and said, "I don't know what pisses me off more." She marched over to the other cooler, grabbed five beers, and started handing the bottles out to everyone, shaking everyone from their incredulous, faraway stares. "That you married that son of a bitch or that he keeps coining the best terms that I can't use, because he came up with them."

"You always did love the word, jitbag. Hell, I still call people 'jits;' I like it," I admitted. "Go ahead and use it."

"But cotton-stuffing? It's so fucking perfect. But I can't start saying it, because he's such a rat bastard," she whined and chugged the rest of her beer.

"Char, I think if you're looking for new vocabulary terms, you should look beyond Marcus Flowers," Jasper piped in, shaking his head. "I do agree with her though, Nelle. How in the Hell did you ever marry that douche?"

"Lay off her guys. She's obviously starting to improve her standards," Jocelyn said, smiling. Briggs and Leo both dropped their heads shyly. Leave it to Joz to make them feel bashful with her coy, innocent-girl comments.

The rest of the afternoon went swimmingly well (pun intended). Leo, my nieces, Kara and Carlee, and I played countless games of Marco Polo and "Jump if you love ____(fill in the blank)" game. Those girls could play that game for hours. Apparently, so could Leo. At one point, they were all lined up on the side of the pool, and Jocelyn sat up, put her book down, took off her sunglasses, and announced from her lounge chair, "Jump if you love Janelle." All three of them jumped in. Jocelyn smiled, nodded, and went right back to reading her book.

Briggs spent the majority of the afternoon teaching Donovan and Darren all the ins and outs of football. My nephews were soccer players through and through, but they listened intently as Briggs taught them more than they ever wanted to know to know about football. Jasper and Rick listened to Briggs relay stories of famous athletes he was going to interview later in the fall.

While we were cleaning up and bringing the dishes back into Jasper's house, Jasper and Jocelyn pounced.

Almost simultaneously:

"Oh My God, who are you gonna choose; they're both perfect," (from Jocelyn, obviously).

"What're you going to do about your job and Marcus scheming to take all of your money?" (from Jasper).

Laughing, holding up my hands, "Whoa guys, hold on." I walked over and hopped up on Jasper's counter, noticing his grimace and eye roll as I did so. "I don't know...and…," I paused for a few moments before saying, "that's my answer to all three questions." I looked at them, hoping for some words of wisdom. Neither of them spoke; they just glanced back and forth at each other. Still glancing between my older siblings, I said, "Alright, looks like we're good here, then." As I started to jump down, Jasper stopped me.

Looking at me with seriousness and concern he said, "that's probably the smartest thing you've ever said." Joz and I just looked at him, wondering if he'd go on.

When he didn't, Jocelyn said, "What the heck is that supposed to mean Jasper? What are you, freaking Yoda?" I laughed, loving whenever the three of us could just spend a few moments together without the outside world closing in on us.

"God, you guys are so dense," he said with exasperation. "The man who has everything figured out is probably a fool. College examinations notwithstanding, it takes a very smart fella to say, 'I don't know the answer!"

Nearly at the same time, Joz and I responded:

"Fella?" (Joz)

"Notwithstanding? What. The. Fuck?" (Obviously, me)

"Oh for God's Sake," Jasper said, shaking his head at us. "Have either of you ever read a book that did NOT involve an alpha male or a tatted up rocker? Christ! I'd expect more from you at least, Janelle. Joz, you're off the hook. You got that whole bored-stay-at-home-horny-mom thing going on," he complained.

"Oh…so…it's a quote from something. What?" I asked. I found myself rather well-read, but I didn't typically fill my literary voids with books that used words like "notwithstanding" and "fella." My pleasure readings used words like: muggle, safe word, imprint, tour bus, and even asshat. Fella? Notwithstanding? No thanks. I'd certainly find no sort of pleasure in those kinds of words.

"
Inherit the Wind
?" he replied.

Joz and I shrugged our shoulders.

"It's a play...by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. And before you even say it, not General Robert E. Lee...it's a different one," he said sarcastically.

"Well, I, for one, have never heard of either Robert E. Lee…or even Jerome Lawrence or some dumb play," Jocelyn said. "Janelle?"

"Nope," I confirmed.

"It's an allegory…about the Scopes Monkey Trial and the McCarthy… oh fuck it… just… just… fuck," he said and stormed back outside.

Jocelyn and I were still laughing when we walked outside, nearly straight into Char, carrying an armful of wet beach towels. Laughing, she said, "What's got Jasper's tightie-whities in a bunch?"

"The usual. Our combined inanity," I said, putting my arm around Jocelyn as we both bowed to our coupled ignorance.

"Damn, I wish I could've been there," Char whined.

"Best part," Jocelyn said, "I read I
nherit the Wind
."

"Shut up!" I exclaimed. "No way, did you really?"

"Yeah, had to read it in college," she admitted smiling.

"That's per-fucked," I said. "I love fucking with Jasper."

"Per-fucked?" Char asked.

"Abridged version of 'fucking perfect.' Duh," I replied. Marcus and Char weren't the only ones who could coin new words.

"No," Char said, shaking her head. Joz was shaking her head too.

"Yes! It's a great word," I countered. They continued to disagree. Apparently, they were the only ones who could coin new acceptable words. Bastards. I thought it was "per-fucked."

Once the pool deck and yard were sufficiently cleaned to Jasper's OCD-induced standards, everyone started leaving. I was surprised that Briggs bailed out as soon as the work ended. I'd assumed that he'd try to prolong his stay, deterring me from being alone with Leo for a long period of time. I knew the clock was ticking on our "date," so I was hoping that there wouldn't be more fighting over who got to do what with whom.

Briggs merely thanked Jasper, told my nephews to call him if they wanted to sit in on an Ohio State soccer practice, said goodbye to everyone, and kissed me innocently on the cheek before he left. Char sidled up next to me as I watched him leave and whispered, "If you'd get your head out of your ass, then you wouldn't have to watch him walk away."

Almost on cue, Jocelyn came up on the other side of me, and said, "Or you could turn around and just look at that." I turned just in time to see Leo with his arms stretched out on either side of him as my nieces did flips around his arms, as if his arms were monkey bars on a play set. Holy fuck. His arms were incredible: cut, ripped, and so strong. I'd never seen anyone use another human being as a jungle gym before. I'd certainly like to take a spin around those a few times.

"Alright…I'll give it to you. That's fucking…I mean…really…really hot," Char said, correcting her use of vulgarity. Apparently, she was back to speaking without profanity. "Do you think he'd let me take a spin?" she asked, as she hip-bumped me and walked to get the rest of her stuff.

Once everyone (finally) left, Leo and I sat on the diving board, facing each other, with our legs dangling on either side of the board. We talked about my family. He seemed really smitten with my nieces and nephews. Leo hadn't talked to Jasper much, most likely since Jasper and Briggs had so much to say to one another. But Jocelyn, she was as equally smitten with Leo as he was with her girls. Rick never said much to anyone. He just saw to it that Jocelyn stayed happy and not irritated. He was extremely good at it too. Jasper and I always raved about Rick's patience and ability to calm my sister in any situation. He was her perfect fit. The missing piece to her nearly-finished puzzle, like my mom said. Marcus was definitely not the perfect fit to my puzzle. Was Briggs? Leo?

"Wanna play strip or dare?" Leo asked, breaking my puzzle-piece reverie.

Readily agreeing to get naked with him, I questioned, "Sure. How do you play?"

"Easiest game ever," Leo said, grinning, his dimples beckoning me. "You either strip, or I dare you to strip. It's a win-win game. No losers."

Leaning over, I kissed him, and agreed, "Definitely a win; there are no losers here." The kiss was soft, shy at first, but quickly Leo started gaining some momentum as his tongue urgently and hungrily explored my mouth. Our tongues seemed to want each other, seemed to have missed the touch and taste of each other. I broke from the kiss, starting to kiss and nibble his neck.

"I think....I think..." Leo said, gasping for air. "We should change venues." The diving board was a little cramped, but I liked it. I liked being outside, out in the open, not caring about the rest of the world.

"Why Leo? Are you too shy to be out here?" I asked, teasing him as I traced a finger up and down his chiseled chest, marveling at how incredibly sexy his body was.

"No, but the board's a little stiff. I'm…I'm…a lot…stiff. It's uncomfortable," he admitted.

Giggling at his pun, I stood up, while his eyes traveled the length of my body. The pool was behind me, so I inched backward until I could feel the edge of the board. Untying my suit from around my neck, I let the top fall as I reached around to untie the back. "I believe I was dared to strip," I teased. Once the suit was in my hand, I dangled it on his head, as he stared at me with a dark, intense look of want. I stood taller and reached my thumbs into the bottoms of my suit. "Now, do I strip twice or is it your turn to strip or dare? I'm not sure of the rules," I asked feigning innocence.

"The rules clearly state that if you win the first round, which you did, because I cannot compete with that kind of beauty," he said appraising my body. "You get to go again. So, strip or dare, Janelle?" Leo asked in a throaty sexy voice.