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I knock on the door and Parker answers. “Hey, C, come on in,” he greets me with excitement and opens the door wide for me. Parker is handsome. He is the same height and build as Ben but where Ben looks all surfer dude, Parker looks more business executive with dark short hair, gray eyes, and a gentle smile.
“Happy birthday, Parker,” I say, giving him a kiss on his cheek before handing him his present.
“Ah, thanks, C, but I told you no presents.”
“I know, but I ignored you,” I reply back, tilting my head and smiling.
Walking farther into the house I see there are about fifteen people here, most of them must be people Parker knows because I don't recognize a lot of them. Ben and Jenna holler at me from the kitchen, so I head in there to see them.
“Hey, girl.” Ben smiles walking up to me.
“Jenna told me what happened with your neighbor today. Are you okay?” The sharp blade of protectiveness hangs on to his question.
“Yeah, it was just weird,” I answer, shaking my head. I’ve never met anyone like Linc. He’s so powerful, angry, beautiful, and crazy all wrapped up in one handsome physique.
“I bet.” His tone soft, he rubs my back like my mother would when I was upset. “You think you’re going to have problems with him?” He lifts his right brow, his question laced with more than the one question. He wants to know if he should kick Linc’s ass. Which is hysterical. Ben would lose.
“No, I think his bark is worse than his bite,” I lie, slipping my hands into my back pockets.
“Time for cake,” Jenna interrupts from behind us, holding out a chocolate cake with twenty-five lit candles sticking out of it.
Saved by the bell, or Jenna in this case.
Heading into the living room, I stop short, leaning against the doorjamb. We all sing “Happy Birthday” to Parker as Ben goes over and sits down next to him on the couch, and Jenna places the cake down in front of him on the coffee table. When the song is over, Ben and Parker hug and kiss each other. Parker gives Ben the most adoring look, then taking his hand in his, he turns and blows out the candles on his cake.
Parker is a respiratory therapist at the hospital. He and Ben met when my mother was in the hospital about a year ago. Parker was in charge of giving her breathing treatments every four hours when he was on duty. My mother thought they would make a cute couple. So, playing matchmaker, she would call Ben to deliver her things like flowers, food, and books, making sure he would arrive during the treatment times while Parker would be there. She made a point of keeping the two of them engaged in conversations together so they would get to know each other. After three days of this, they went on their first date and have been together ever since.
“What are you thinking about?” Parker asks, coming up beside me and startling me out of my reminiscing daydream.
“Just you two and how you look so happy together,” I say, smiling.
“We are,” he replies, looking back over to Ben, who is in the living room on the couch talking to some of Parker's friends. Jenna comes out of the kitchen with forks and plates. Entering the living room, she takes a seat next to Ben and starts cutting the cake and placing it on plates. “Shall we?” Parker asks, nodding toward the living room, holding up his arm for me to take it.
“Yes,” I answer, taking his arm as he leads me into the living room.
Sitting down on the couch next to Ben, Parker asks Jenna, “So been on any interesting dates lately, Jenna?”
Jenna dates a lot. Well, hookups may be a more appropriate term for what she has. She's a sucker for a cute boy and very few of those cute boys have ever turned into anything serious, but she seems fine with it and is happy doing things her way. Besides, she can keep you entertained for hours about the mishaps from some of those hookups.
Jenna answers Parker laughing, “Oh God, yes, let me tell you about Fast Eddie.” Jenna then starts telling everyone about her latest hookup in the parking lot of The Chicken Coop, a country bar off Route 4. “He's a tall, stocky, country boy who probably weighs about three hundred pounds, with a Southern drawl that just melts your panties when he talks.”
“Well,” she continues, “I quickly found out why they call him ‘Fast Eddie’” she says giggling. “He had his clothes stripped off before I even had my door shut on his pickup truck. Naked, he reached over with his big meaty paws and said, ‘Come on, darlin,’ get those clothes off.’ And then he reached over and grabbed my skirt and panties, yanking down on them so hard they literally tore in half. Pushing me down on the bench seat of the truck, he grabbed my thighs, spread my legs apart, and then just slammed himself right into me. No kissing, no foreplay, nothing!” Jenna said shaking her head from side to side. “I could barely breathe with all three hundred sweaty pounds of him lying flat on top of me. He was grunting and thrusting in and out of me so hard, I thought he was going to split me apart. Thankfully though, Fast Eddie lived up to his name and was done in less than a minute.” Jenna sighs, her eyes rolling to the ceiling before she continues, “I went to sit up but was stopped by a sharp pain from my scalp. My hair had become tangled in the seat belt latch. We had been trying for ten minutes to get it untangled, when Fast Eddie, who was bent over the seat fumbling with the latch, shot up with excitement in his eyes and shouted, ‘I gotta idea.’ He then reached down, moving his hand around on the floor under the driver’s seat. After a second of feeling around, he suddenly stopped and smiled at me and said, ‘Got it.’ I almost pissed myself when he brought out his idea where I could see it. It was a hunting knife. I thought for a second he was going to kill me but then he continued, ‘I'll just cut your hair off the thing.’ I was relieved he was not going to kill me, but there was no way in hell I was letting this guy cut my hair,” she says, holding a clump of her hair in her hand. “Finally, I convinced him not to cut my hair but to cut the belt just below the latch. I had to drive all the way home with my clothes torn and that thing hanging from my head. Took me another two hours to get it untangled from my hair after I got home,” she finishes, still shaking her head. The whole room erupts in laughter. I’m surprised Parker’s friends are horrified by her details of the event. More so, her story encourages others to tell their own nightmare hookup stories.
After an hour of stories, I stand and tell everyone I am getting tired and need to head home. Ben stops me as I am walking over to give Parker one last hug and tells me he rented a moving van this afternoon. It was already at the storage unit and he and Parker were planning on starting early in the morning moving the rest of my stuff. “You should stay with Jenna tonight since you two are having spa day tomorrow, that way you can sleep in.” Jenna and I nod our heads in agreement. Giving him my keys and explaining how they need to wiggle the key for the broken condo lock, Jenna and I leave.
* * *
Saturday morning, Jenna and I get up and go to our spa appointment and, as usual, I leave the appointment sore and humiliated when it's over. We meet Ben and Parker at the diner for lunch. Giving me back my keys, they tell me everything is moved in, they even put my bed together. All I have left to do is to unpack the boxes.
After lunch, I head back to the condo and go to unlock the main door when I look over and notice I need to put my name on my mailbox. Opening the condo door, I have to wiggle and jiggle the key extra hard this time to get it to work.I need to make sure I call Mrs. Ruth Monday and remind her to have this replaced.Walking in, I am pleased to see all my furniture is not only moved in, but also placed perfectly throughout the unit. The place is really starting to feel like home. Scanning the boxes, I find one marked office supplies and get out the label maker, then print out the label for the mailbox—C. Field. Grabbing the label, I head back downstairs and place the label on the mailbox that reads Unit 2. Curiosity overtakes me and I look over at the mailbox for Unit 3 to see what it says. My mouth drops open and I almost pass out from what I see. Talk about childhood dreams destroyed. “LincolnThor.”
Thor? You gotta be kidding me. When I was a kid, I was subjected to the usual Prince Charming and Cinderella stories and, seriously, the prince thing never really appealed to me. I mean, the guy found a girl’s shoe for Christ’s sake, big deal. It wasn't until I went to live with our neighbors, the Malones, that I found out who I wanted my real prince to be like. The Malones had four boys, so there were comic books everywhere, and reading was my thing. So, with nothing else around, I started reading them and once I started, I could not stop. Captain America, The Hulk, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, The Green Lantern, gosh, way too many to name, but yes there was Thor. The founding father of the Avengers, the toughest and most powerful being on earth. Lincoln Thor is definitely no Thor of the Avengers........Crap, he does kinda look like him though, except for the dark hair. I scoff even comparing the two. Shaking my head and chuckling to myself, I head back up to the condo.
In the kitchen, I start unpacking dishes and silverware into cabinets and drawers when I get thirsty and head to the refrigerator.... Empty. Of course it's empty, I have not been shopping, how could there be anything in here? Grabbing the keys, I head back down to the truck and head out to go shopping.
12
C
