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“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” Jessica said, cutting off whatever Hilary was going to say. “It’s gonna be a surprise, so we can all talk about it later, but we’ve talked about the kinds of things she’d like to do.” The best friends exchanged smiles.
“Aaah, this is gonna be so much fun,” Maria said, bouncing in her seat. “Weddings are the best.”
Not like Lexie would know, but she was excited for the first wedding she’d be going to as an adult. The last time she’d been to a wedding, it had been for one of her mother’s friends’ daughter’s, and Lexie had only been ten at the time. The only thing she remembered from it was the bride crying in the bathroom because her dress had a small rip in it after a particularly energetic dance. She’d wanted to do something, but she hadn’t known what, so she’d just gone and gotten her mom. Twenty minutes later, the bride had been back on the dance floor and smiling for all she was worth. That was the sum total of what Lexie actually remembered about that day.
It suddenly struck her that one of these days, she could be a bride, and Patrick could be a groom. Yeah, okay, she’d always fantasized about that kind of thing, but the reality of the idea, the fact that it could actually happen... that slammed into her like a freight train. Her ass tightened around the plug in it. Yup, way to ruin the romance. A plug in her ass was so not something she’d dreamed about when she’d had wedding bells ringing in her head. One man, for the rest of her life...
Okay, maybe she could understand a little more why Patrick was taking things slowly. Making sure to do them right. They were old enough that this relationship really meant something, especially for him. She hadn’t really thought the age difference would be a big deal, but thinking about it, she realized the women all around her were with men whom they could actually picture having a future with. Fun-and-games time was over for them, they were all looking at the long haul. Maria and Olivia were the oldest of the women, and Patrick was a year older than Maria.
For him, a serious relationship with her meant he was thinking all those same thoughts about her. Heat and icy coolness ran through her as the implications all really started sinking in. Geezus... Patrick was actually thinking about marrying her. Not in an immediate sort of way, but in an “I could see myself with her for the rest of my life” sort of way.
She didn’t know why the reality was such a smack in the face, but it felt completely different than when she’d just had the pictures in her head.
Someone touched her hand, and she realized the conversations had been going on around her while she stared into space.
“You okay?” Maria asked, looking a bit worried. “You went kind of pale for a minute.”
“Yep. I’m okay...” she smiled a bit weakly. Everyone else was talking to each other in private conversations; Leigh and Olivia; Angel, Jessica and Hilary. Which was good, because Lexie didn’t really feel like explaining to all of them all the thoughts that had just rushed through her head. “Just kind of realizing how serious a relationship with Patrick is.” Maria looked confused for a moment. “You’re all older than me, and I don’t really think about it often, but I just realized, you’re all at the point in your lives where you’re ready to settle down. I am too, but it’s just... I’ve never had a reason to really think about it before now, but Patrick’s the guy I’ve wanted to have for the rest of my life, and the idea that I might actually get that... well it’s a little mind blowing.”
Nodding, now that she understood, Maria smiled sympathetically. “I don’t think our age has much to do with it, honestly. People are ready when they’re ready. My sisters were all ready before me... I couldn’t see settling down with any of the guys I dated, and I am definitely at the point in my life where, if I don’t see a future with a guy, I also don’t see the point in dating him.”
“Exactly,” Lexie said with relief that Maria totally got what she’d been trying to say. “I just realized Patrick must feel that way about me, that there’s a point to it. I guess... looking at it that way, waiting a little bit for sex doesn’t seem like such a big deal.”
“Well that’s a good way to look at it,” Maria said, laughing.
“What’s so funny?” asked Leigh, turning from her conversation with Olivia to look at them.
“Lexie just realized she can deal with waiting for sex, as long as Patrick marries her eventually,” Maria said, grinning. Everyone burst out laughing, Jessica shaking her head as she grinned merrily across the table.
“That is not what I said!” Lexie protested, laughing in exasperation. Although it really kind of was.
“Oh my god, do you think he’s making her wait till he marries her?” Jessica asked, laughing even harder.
Lexie groaned, putting her face in her hands. “If he is, I will kill him.”
The dojo was full of men. Not too surprising, since all of their women were at Happy Hour together. Patrick couldn’t help but grin. With the club closed, since Angel was on a two-week break from teaching her self-defense classes there, and all of their girlfriends out together, apparently no one had anything better to do than come practice their Kung-Fu. Even Chris was there, and he rarely came, as evidenced by his less than stellar flexibility, which both Liam and Justin were ragging on him for as he tried to touch his toes.
Adam and Rick were side by side in horse stance, watching Chris in the mirror, looking completely relaxed as they joked around. Off to the side, Andrew was doing his own warm-up, also grinning at, although surprisingly not joining in, Chris’ teasing.
“Full house tonight,” Patrick said, putting down his gym bag next to the others and sitting to pull off his shoes.
“Almost,” said Liam, looking up just as Jared walked through the door. “Okay, now it is.” He made a face full of pretend-misery. “Damn, nobody had anything better to do? I was looking forward to going home and just having a beer.”
“Sure you were, going home to your empty apartment and having a beer, all by yourself,” Andrew teased.
“All alone, in the darkness,” Chris picked up the thread, obviously looking to get some of his own back.
“In the dark? Really?” asked Liam, dropping his act as he chuckled.
“Sure, why not,” chimed in Rick. “Probably jacking off and crying at the same time too.”
“Tears make the best lube,” Chris said, nodding sagely. He grunted as Liam put his foot in the middle of Chris back and pressed. Reaching for his toes, this time Chris almost managed to touch them, since Liam was helping.
“You’re all a bunch of sick fucks,” said Patrick, laughing, one eye on Jared, who actually was looking pretty miserable as he sat down and slid off his shoes. He wasn’t sure if anyone else had noticed, they were all too busy joking around.
“He’d spill the beer if he was jacking off,” Adam pointed out, as usual the only one interested in applying logic to the ridiculousness.
“Not if he did it veeeery carefully.” Justin grinned and leaned away as Liam removed his foot from Chris’ back and tried to reach for Justin’s instead.
