Chapter 17

I pulled the tray of breakfast over my lap. It was two cinnamon rolls with chocolate milk. A light breakfast that would fill me up but not make me tired. I ate it quickly, wondering where Lafayette was because he was normally in the flat still. I put the tray next to the sink after I was done and walked into the bathroom. A new pair of clothes were hanging on a hanger from the shower rod, a pair of matching shoes below them. The shorts were moderately short shorts. They stopped a little above the middle of my thigh and they weren't too tight. They fit perfectly in the waist and were snug in the butt, but otherwise were the correct type of looseness. The shirt was a white shirt that was a little see-through. It was a button-up one and the sleeves were folded up to the elbows. I changed out of my clothes, showered, and decided on one of my thongs, but it wasn't one of those gross thongs that were just a string up your ass. The thong part of it was bigger so it was kind of like underwear between a thong and regular briefs, so you could see some assage but not all of it. It was black and tight and pretty sexy. I put on some deodorant and rubbed lotion onto my cleanly shaven legs. I refused to wear my shorts short with hairy legs. So I always shaved them.

I rubbed the lotion all over my body actually because it was a fruity kind of lotion that I loved. I sprayed some vanilla perfume as well and then mussed up my hair. I slipped on the shorts, and if I had a flat ass then it would be loose in the butt, but I actually have a pretty round ass. I put on the shirt, leaving the first two buttons unbuttoned, the sleeves stopping at my elbows. It wasn't tight but it was slim and showed the narrowness of my torso. I put on the shoes and grabbed my wallet and phone. I went out to the office and sighed when Lafayette wasn't there. I went into the workroom and groaned when no one was in there. I went back into the office and sat on the couch. I pulled out my phone and called Michael because Lafayette just doesn't want to have a cell phone like a normal person.

"Hello?" Michael asked.

"Where is everyone?" I asked back.

"Lafayette gave the day off to everyone."

"Well where is he then? He said we were going to have a day off but he's not here damn it."

"I don't know. He'll show up eventually."

"Whatever."

"Quit bitching."

"I'm not. He just needs to get here."

"I'm hanging up."

"What! Don't-"

He hung up. The bitch hung up on me. Bitch...

A few minutes later I heard a ding of the elevator from the workroom. I ran out the door and straight into the elevator before he got out. "Where we going?" I asked.

"We are going to the mall."

"Shopping?"

"Only in stores we don't shop at."

I laughed. "Sounds fun. None of your stores then. I guess we'll be helping your competition."

"It'll be worth it."

So we went to the mall. I don't think many people actually recognized Lafayette because he wasn't in a suit. He was just wearing a white t-shirt and holey jeans. You could see his tattoos, and I think that's why people didn't recognize him, which was good. We went to a maternity store first, looking through the pretty clothing for pregnant ladies. It wasn't that busy during the day because it was a Thursday and in early afternoon, but people still gave us bizarre looks. Maybe we were shopping for a friend. She could be pregnant, but then again - who buys pregnancy clothes for a pregnant woman? You buy baby stuff. Whatever. We left the store and skipped any children's stores because we didn't want to look like pedophiles. An obviously gay guy with a tatted up guy in a little girls clothing store? Yeah right. We went to an old lady store next, and those old ladies are so nice. One asked me who I was shopping for and I said my mother. If my mother had really been there she would've slapped me so hard for calling her old. I did buy some antique necklaces for my grandmas, though, because they liked to have tea parties with all the ladies in the family occasionally and they'd get all dolled up. We hit a store for douchebags and I couldn't help but wonder if any of those guys who shopped there wore those gaudy, flashy clothing because they were insecure about something. Probably their small penises.

We went to the food court and ate Auntie Anne's for lunch. Then he decided we'd hit the city. We walked down the street, leaving the car in the parking lot.

"Let's go to the library," he said as we passed the library.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why not?"

I shrugged and followed him inside the gigantic library. We went all the way to the top floor and delved into the shelves. The books were so old and I don't even know what they were about. We went to the window and sat on the seat, Lafayette grabbing a book.

"Here we go," he said, opening it. "Etiquette. That's something we can all learn. Chapter 1. When asked upon-"

"Excuse me. You're not allowed to be up here," said a thirty-something looking guy wearing a guard outfit.

"No, it's fine," said Lafayette, throwing me off guard.

"Sir, you-"

"No, really. It's fine." He pulled out his wallet and showed him his ID I guess. "I promise you it's fine." He then pulled out some cash and stuck it in his shirt pocket. "Alright?"

The guard nodded, the awed look on his face priceless. I'm pretty certain Lafayette stuck a hundred in his pocket. He left quickly, leaving us alone on the floor.

"Now where were we?" Lafayette asked.

"We are not reading a five hundred page book on etiquette," I said.

"Alright. Well there was a botany book next to it."

"How about we just people watch?"

"Alright. What're those people doing?"

"Making out," I said

"Really? I can't see that far."

"Shouldn't you wear glasses?"

"Only on certain occasions." He looked over at me, looking at my face, and then back down to the street.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. I'm just always curious to know what you think when you look out a window."

"Well," I sighed, positioning myself so I was lying down on the window sill, my head on his thigh. "I just like to imagine what the story is for these people. Honestly, I'm incredible at being able to tell a lot about someone from looking at them. I don't know everything, but I'm usually right. Sometimes people's faces say it all, and I can describe their life instantly. Like when I worked in fast food in high school, I remember there was this guy who lived in the town right next to us and he was hanging out with some people that were from my town, too. He ordered the food and just by looking at him and hearing him I so knew he was gay, but he was hanging around conservatively dressed girls and so I knew he was in the closet because he was afraid of his 'sinning' sexuality. A few years later, once we went to college, I found out he came out of the closet. His family was appalled and his girlfriend was shocked. I know this because I slept with him in college and he told me. Surprisingly, he was fine. He figured things would turn around."

"How many people have you slept with?"

"Well, you can say I've slept with a few people, but I haven't really had sex that much. I've done some other stuff with guys, but I usually had the intention of going farther. Like this one guy, he took me to his apartment and he's like grinding on me, but that was it. I was expecting him to eventually turn me around or something, but no. He literally just dry humped me and that was it. Then there was that time I gave the guy a blow job and he didn't give a damn thing back. And these guys were gorgeous, too. You'd think they'd be good in bed if they were gorgeous. But no. Most of them were sorry in the sack and had small penises. When I first started to have sex that's when it was really bad, but after some time when I had sex once every six months or something, then it would've been fine but-" I shrugged.

"But what?" he asked.

"I don't know. I wasn't really looking for casual sex I guess. Like with Owen-"

Lafayette made a gagging sound.

"He is a perfectly fine human being, Faye," I said, laughing. "And I swear him and Liam are going to get married in a week. They are inseparable. Anyway, Owen was good with the two times I slept with him, but I didn't really want to just sleep with him, you know? I knew he wasn't my type, but I kind of wished he was my type so that way it wouldn't just be a one night stand. I guess I'm getting tired of being single. I've been single forever damn it."

"You've never had a boyfriend?" Lafayette asked, sounding in disbelief.

"Nope. In high school I didn't come out until senior year and I wasn't sure who was gay either. Plus, I was kind of afraid to date and back then I thought of Kenneth a lot, so dating never crossed my mind. What about you?"

"Me? Well, I've had sex too many times to count. I've slept with too many to count, and I've only been in a relationship three times. Two guys and one woman."

"You're kind of a slut aren't you?"

"Nonsense. Don't perpetuate slut-shaming Em.."

I laughed and looked up at him. "You're ridiculous." I sat up and asked, "Where are we going now?"

"Let's go on a walk shall we?"

"Fine with me."

We got up and left the library, the guard and some employees there pointing at us on our way out. Once we were outside, we walked down the sidewalk, and the first thing we passed was a dance class.

"Wanna learn how to dance?" he asked.

"Why not? I could learn how to," I replied. We went inside and up to the second floor where the class was. It had already started but anyone could just walk in and dance. So we got in the back room and tried our way of dancing. We were both really bad, but it was so much fun. After a while we kind of got the hang of it, but still we weren't that good. Lafayette was much better than I was, but still. We sucked. We left the dance class once it was over, and he forced me to try the dance down the street, and of course tons of people gave us weird looks. Some people tossed change at out feet and that's when we stopped, cracking up. I mean, someone just gave the richest man in the world their spare change.

We continued our walk and started to hear some music so we followed it and found some small show in the basement of a building. It was free, but there was a donations jar and Lafayette wrote a thousand dollar check to them. We went to the dance floor, and it was light outside because it was still early in the day, but since it was in a basement it was pretty dark. The band was doing covers of some really great bands. The first song was Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now." No one was doing the modern day dancing where they just jump. They were doing "Footloose" type dancing, and Lafayette was really good at that, and honestly - I was good at it, too. I was awkward when it came to any other form of dancing. Though I was in love with Kevin Bacon and "Footloose" when I was younger and so I forced myself to be really good at it. I watched the movie constantly and eventually developed a good dancing foundation. So we tore up the dance floor. At one point, when Don McLean's "American Pie" was playing, we were dancing so well together people formed a circle around us as he spun me around and we killed it. Once the chorus came on then everyone joined back in.

We left some time later and a planetarium was a little ways down and so we went in, learning about the constellations and the stories behind them. The only other people in the planetarium were a group of school kids and their teachers on a field trip. Little did I know, Lafayette owned the planetarium. It was the only one he owned because he had wanted one in the neighborhood, and so it happened. He stood up once the lights were on and went to the little microphone area. He explained to the man that he was Lafayette Jeff and showed him his ID.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said the guy proctoring the exhibit. "We have a very special guest here today. The owner of the planetarium, Lafayette Jeff, would like to speak to you all."

I held a laugh as everyone looked for him. They really didn't recognize him. Once he grabbed the microphone and started to speak all the looks on the teachers' faces were surprised. I guess people don't know he has tattoos.

"Hello everyone," he said. The kids looked at him like he was the coolest person ever, and he was. Sexy and tatted up. So cool. "I am Lafayette Jeff, and I was just on a surprise visit today, wanting to learn about the awesomeness behind the stars. I mean, aren't the stars cool?"

"Yeah!" screamed all the kids.

"Right, but there's actually a lot of really cool things out there, like at the museum. So, since you're all future astronomers, doctors, scientists, and paleontologists, I've decided I'm going to give you all a free tour of the museum down town. My good friend here will take down all your names, and whenever you want to go with your family, just tell them your name, and it'll all be taken care of."

The kids cheered, and the female teachers clapped excitedly, looking like they wanted to jump on Lafayette.

"Thank you and have a wonderful day." He nodded at me and we left as the proctor took the children's names so he could email them to Lafayette.

"You know what I want to do?" Lafayette asked.

"What's that?" I asked back.

"Get a pedicure. I've never gotten one before."

"Me either. We should definitely go."

"Alright. Let's find one."

After venturing around and pestering people, we eventually came across Lee Nails, a small place with not that many people in it. Walk-ins were welcome and so we sat down in the comfortable chairs. I didn't think about it, but I was so ticklish on my feet. And these people of course massage your feet and legs. I was trying to cover my laughing so much, and the guy who was doing my feet thought it was hilarious I couldn't stop laughing, and so he felt obliged to massage my feet for longer, just to see me laugh more.

He tipped the people a lot of money and then we left with our new beautiful feet. As we were walking, it started to rain, and our car was blocks away.

"Well, this should be fun," Lafayette said.

"Right."

"Well, let's start running."

He grabbed my hand, ducked his head, covered it with his arm, and we bolted down the street. Lafayette wanted to be difficult, and so we mostly went down alleys instead. By the time we made it to the car we were absolutely drenched. Since we were both wearing whit our shirts were see-through, and damn he looked sexy with a wet shirt on. We got in the car, laughing, and shut the doors as the rain poured. He stripped his shirt off, tossing it in the back and sighed.

"Well, where do you want to go now?" I asked.

"Uh...Oh, I know. It's out of the city alright?"

"Alright."

He started the car, plugging his iPod into the jack and started to drive, windshield wipers going full blast.

"What's something utterly embarrassing about you?" I asked. The front seats were connected and I turned, bending my knee under me, facing him.

"Um, I don't know. You go first. I have to think."

"Okay...oh, uh, when I was younger I use to think the song 'Puff the Magic Dragon' was the saddest song ever and whenever we sang it in elementary school I use to cry."

He laughed at me, asking, "Really?"

"Yeah! That song is sad damn it. Puff gets all left alone. Jacky Paper grows up and loses his imagination and then dies!"

"I think it's on my iPod. Go under Peter, Paul, and Mary and it should be there."

I scrolled through his music and found it, putting it on. "This song is sad, and you have a lot of kick ass songs."

"Of course I do."

The song came on and once the chorus entered he started to sing, me just laughing at him. I joined in eventually, singing the horrible sad song that ruins your childhood.

"Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea, and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee. Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea, and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee."

"Are you crying yet?"

"Sobbing!"

He laughed and the next song came on. We sang to all the old songs he had, belting the lyrics out until finally we got somewhere. We were on the edge of Brookfield, his hometown. He slowed down, looked all around, not seeing a single soul, and suddenly he drove into a thick wooded area.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"We're going to a spot I use to go to when I was younger," he said simply. "This woods is really thick. Brookfield is famous for it's beautiful scenery." He kept driving, somehow managing to fit through all the freaking trees, like he had driven through it before, and we stopped between two trees, a river in front of us. "Here we are."

"This is it?"

"Yep." He got out of the car, the rain having stopped. "I just liked to come out here a lot."

I stood by the car as he walked over to the river, watching him. He looked to a far away place, nostalgia overcoming him. He looked wonderful standing in the misty residue of the rain, shirtless, his hair askew. I took off my shoes and walked next to him. "You know, mud is a natural exfoliate. You should take your shoes off."

He looked down at my feet and then stripped away his shoes. He tossed them back over to the car. "Natural exfoliate huh?" He leaned down, his feet squishing into the mud. "You should take your shirt off."

"What? Why?"

"Why not? I'm shirtless. The mist does good on your skin." He smirked at me, looking suspicious.

I removed my shirt anyway, walking over and setting it back down on the car. When I turned around, I discovered the real reason why he wanted me to take my shirt off. He instantly threw a handful of mud at me, making me chirp like a girl and cover my face. I leaned down and scooped up some mud, too, launching it at him. We started a mud war, launching it at one another and slapping it onto our skin. At one point we started to wrestle, him wanted to throw me down into the mud. I put up a good fight, only because he went easy on me, but we then tripped over each other and fell down into the mud, laughing for what seemed like an hour. First we were drenched, then we were covered in mud, Perfect.

"Now our skin well be nice and replenished," he said, mud sliding off his face.

I laughed, thinking of how ridiculous and perfect this day has been, drawing circles in the mud on his skin. "Hey, how are you going to pay for those kids' museum trips?"

"He's going to give me the names, I'm going to pay in advance and give the museum the names." He shrugged. "Simple as that."

I smiled down at him since he was on his back and I was propped up on him. Man was I in love with him. "You know who is an amazing musician?"

"Who?"

"Janis Joplin."

He nodded. "She was beautiful."

"She sounded like she was crying when she sang, but it sounded amazing."

He nodded. "I agree."

I sighed and sat up. "Now your car is going to be filthy."

"No it's not. Come on." He stood up and helped me up. He then looked at me for a second, wrapped his arms around me, and lunged into the river. I screamed and we went under, water engulfing my mouth. We came above the water, and I swear I hadn't laughed that much in my entire life until that day. The water was pretty deep, coming up to my mid-torso.

"Oh my god, I'm so cold," I stuttered.

"But you're going to get so clean now," he said, getting some mud off of me.

"It's cold, Faye," I whined.

"Man up."

"No, masculinity is toxic."

He chuckled and stepped closer to me, running his hands up and down my arms. He rubbed his hands over me, removing some mud. "Come on," he said gently, pulling me out of the water. "You wanted to know something embarrassing about me right?" he asked as we got to the car.

"Yeah."

"Well, when I was a teenager, I sat on a chair in class. Little did I know, the person who sat there in the class before mine was a girl who had her period. She didn't know it and she leaked through her pants and onto the seat. A lot. I sat down in it, not realizing it, but then when I turned I felt a stickiness on my pants. I stood up, and nearly barfed. No one really laughed. They all felt so bad for me, and for the girl, but no one knew who it was because she must've covered herself or something. I was embarrassed, and I started to always carry some extra clothes with me. I just put them in my locker, and once I graduated I put them in my car." He walked to the back of his car and opened the trunk. In the back there was a small suitcase. He opened it up and it revealed a few outfits. He pulled out one shirt and wiped himself off with it. He handed it to me and I did the same. He started to take off all of his clothes, not embarrassed by being nude, that's for sure. He grabbed some underwear and put them on. He handed me a pair of his boxers and a shirt (no pants of course). I took off my shorts and Lafayette also knew I didn't care if I saw him check me out. So he gladly looked at my ass in my thong. I removed it and he had some decency to look away as I put on his boxers, which were loose on me. I put on the shirt, buttoning it up. He put on some pants but remained shirtless. We set our dirty clothing into the trunk, grabbed our shoes, and sat in the car. It slowly started to rain again, so we didn't leave immediately. He leaned against the door and I leaned up against him. He turned on his iPod and Janis Joplin's "Maybe" started to play.

"Hey Faye?" I asked tiredly, eyes closed.

"Yeah?" he asked back, quietly.

"Are you happy?"

He wrapped his arms around me. "Yeah, Em. I'm happy."

"Have you always been happy?"

"No. I was very sad for a very long time."

"But you're fine now?"

He didn't answer me, and I figured he was thinking, but after a while he still didn't answer. I looked up at him, and he smiled down at me with the most genuine, beautiful smile ever. "I'm better than fine, Emmy."

I smiled up at him, then closed my eyes, cozying up to him more. I ended up falling asleep. I can fall asleep anywhere really, but his heart was beating right below my ear. It was beautiful. I woke up when it was a lot darker outside, still raining. I sat up tiredly and stretching. Faye was leaning against the door still, eyes closed, but I knew he wasn't asleep. "Where to now?" I asked, a smirk forming on his lips.

"How about home?" he asked, opening his eyes and moving his legs.

"Okay," I said simply. I buckled up and he started the car. He drove back through the woods slowly, the darkness and rain making it creepy. I was expecting something to just jump in front of the car. Nothing did, and he made it back onto the road. He headed home, the clock reading eleven o'clock. I wasn't sure what his intentions would be once we got home. I kept thinking we'd have sex, but I wasn't sure. This was my ideal date, but I still didn't know what his intentions were, what it meant for us. For all I know he could be doing this just to be a good friend. Or maybe he was going to have sex with me and then that would be it. Maybe, he was in love with me too.

We made it home and he declared we should make a fort, for childhood's sake. I totally agreed. We grabbed some chairs and sheets, throwing them around until finally a secluded little fort was created. He set down a comforter on the ground and our pillows, making a bed in our fort. He brought a small lamp and set it in the fort as well.

"Here," he said, handing me some bubblegum.

I took some and reminisced about how I used to be able to blow the biggest bubbles. "Let's have a bubble blowing contest."

"Alright. I'll win."

"Like hell you will."

We chewed the gum up some more and on the count of three we blew bubbles. His popped quickly, meaning I won, and it grew to a large size. It popped, getting on my face, and making me laugh.

"Let me get it," he said, before I put it back in my mouth. He leaned in, using his lips to retrieve my gum. It wasn't that much of a kiss because the gum got over my nose. The only time when his lips touched mine was when he took the rest of the gum out of my mouth. Yeah. He stole my freaking gum.

"You stole my gum you bitch."

He chewed smugly, smirking at me. Damn he was fine.

"Give me it."

"Come and get it."

I lunged at him, pushing him back. He grabbed my wrists and we started to wrestle again. He let my grab his wrists and put them above his head. "Victory," I chided.

"You know I'm letting you win right?"

"I know." I leaned down, letting go of his wrists and put my lips to his. I awkwardly kissed him until I bit one end of the gum. I pulled up and the gum stretched because we both had one end. I laughed and it fell out of my mouth and on his face, making me laugh more. "Sorry," I giggled.

He smiled as he took the gum out. He looked around and decided to just stick it under the chair.

"So mature," I said.

"I'm the epitome of mature." He leaned back onto the pillow and I joined him. "Why did you ask me earlier if I was happy?" he asked.

I shrugged. "You can just look sad sometimes."

He nodded. "Well, I am happy, Em," he said, looking over at me.

I sighed. My heart was pounding. We were facing each other, on our sides, the lamp creating a dim glow around us. I loved this man so much. "You know I'm crazy about you right?"

He smiled softly. "Yeah. I know. How crazy, though?"

"So crazy I'm in love with you."

He didn't expect that. He thought I just liked him. He looked serious, but lovingly. He gently caressed my cheek, his fingers so soft and tender. He touched my face like it was glass ready to break. Slowly, he leaned over and kissed me. Finally. Finally. Finally.

His lips felt amazing, and they never left mine. His hands held me so gently, I was a glass doll. I wanted to cry I was so happy. We started to kiss more intensely, passionately. I think the both of us thought about this happening for so long we got caught up in the moment. He took off our clothing in record time, towering over me. He looked so beautiful and I wanted him so badly.

"I love you Faye," I breathed as he bit my neck, making me gasp.

He came prepared, with lube in the side table. His body fit perfectly in me and against me. My legs were wrapped around him and my nails were digging into his back. It felt so amazing, everything did. The sex, the love, his body. I couldn't get enough of him. He thrusted against me, stroking me, kissing my lips. Our eyes were locked except for when I closed them as I climaxed. He was amazing, and I dreamed of making love with him for so long. We made love all night, as much as we could, trying to catch up on all the time we missed.

"Em," he breathed, tiredly, holding me in his arms.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Happy one year anniversary."

I laughed, exhausted. "I love you so much," I exhaled, resting against him. "I love you, Lafayette Jeff."

-

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