Текст книги "That Wedding"

Автор книги: Jillian Dodd

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"Let me guess, you're late as usual?"

"A bit. And I shouldn't be. It's our second date!"

"So, Jaybaby, speaking of dates, have you set one yet?"

"Oh my gosh, Danny, fuck off."

I hang up on him, but my phone immediately vibrates. He's calling me back.

I answer with, "Eff off, baby!"

I'm totally making fun of Danny, and he knows it. Since he started in the NFL, practically every other word out of his mouth is baby. Which is hilarious because even with all the girls Danny dated, he never called a girl that. He always remembered their names.

I hear a voice, a voice that is not Danny's, say, "Hello? Is this Jadyn Reynolds?"

"Uh, yes, this is her." Oh my gosh, who is this? Who the hell did I just tell to eff off??

"JJ, this is Pastor John. I was hoping to set up a time for us to get together and talk."

Oh. Shit.

I'm probably going to hell for this.

Can you get sent to hell for telling a pastor to fuck off?

"Uh, I'm sorry about that. I thought you were someone else. Um, Mrs. Mac said something about couple's counseling, but we aren't getting married for quite awhile, so there's really no rush."

"I'd still like to talk to you. Could you come see me tomorrow morning before the Husker game?"

I want to say no, but I feel like a little kid that's in trouble. It'd be like telling the principal, Sorry, I'm not going to your office. "Uh, sure."

"Great. See you then."

Pastor John is sitting behind his desk when I walk in. He stands up to greet me. Pastor John is about the same age as Mr. and Mrs. Mac. He's not that tall, but what he lacks for in height, he makes up for in attitude. He's really a great guy and makes going to church both fun and a learning experience. He baptized Phillip and I, taught our confirmation classes, took a group of us on a mission trip one summer, and was really nice when my parents died. I've known the man my whole life.

He hugs me and says, "So, you and Phillip are engaged."

"Yeah, you were at our engagement party," I say as I sit in one of the two blue checkered chairs in front of his desk.

He slides into the chair behind his desk. "I'm curious, did you say no on stage just for a dramatic effect?"

"Not really. I was thinking about saying no. I told him I was gonna say no."

"I wondered about that. His parents had told everyone he was asking you at dinner, and that when you came down, it meant you'd said yes. I noticed when he went up on stage with you that he put the ring on your finger. I thought he would've done that before."

"He did. I said yes at dinner, but I got mad at him when I figured out it was an engagement party."

"Why?"

"He had just agreed we wouldn't tell people yet."

"Why wouldn't you want to tell people such happy news?"

I roll my eyes at him. "Pastor, you know we got engaged on our first date. You've been marrying people for a long time, ever seen that?"

"Actually, no. That's part of why I wanted to talk with you. But first, tell me why you said yes."

"That's easy. I said yes because I love him."

Pastor nods.

"And you don't have to worry. We're not rushing into things. We're gonna have a very long engagement."

"I see," he says.

He seems frustratingly noncommittal. I thought he'd agree that's a good idea. "Do you think that's bad or something?"

"I'm not here to judge you, JJ."

"Then why am I here? Why did you wanna talk to me? I know getting engaged on your first date is a little unusual, but it'll be a great story to tell our kids someday."

"Would you want your children to do the same?"

"Well, no, but I've known Phillip my whole life. It's not like I just met him."

"Yes, but being friends with someone is different from being in a relationship with them."

I wanna say, Damn right, sex makes it a whole lot more fun, but I don't. I'm in church. And hell doesn't sound like much fun. I'm just saying.

He says, "I'll be honest with you. Phillip's parents are a little concerned about this."

"Are you serious? Mrs. Mac keeps pushing me to plan the wedding."

"It's not the planning part, or the fact that you're marrying their son. They love you. They're just a little worried that you've never dealt with your parents' death and are afraid it might affect your future with Phillip."

That comment sorta gets my panties in a wad, so I have a hard time keeping the smart ass out of my tone. "I dealt with it."

"If I recall, you refused counseling," he says with an equally snippy voice. "At least from me. Did you talk to someone that I don't know about?"

"I didn't need counseling. Obviously, I turned out good. I graduated from college, and I have a good job."

"Yes, on the surface, it would appear you have, but I also heard when you and Phillip tried to date before, you pushed him away."

Are you kidding me!!??

"I DIDN'T push him away!! We were having fun, drinking, dancing, and HE ditched ME! He's the one you should be talking to about this."

I'm mad, but I also know that he's sorta right. I kinda did push Phillip away. I was scared, but it had nothing to do with my parents.

I mean, except for the whole being alone thing.

What's this all about?

Pastor John looks frustrated with me. He runs his hand down the sides of his small brown beard. "I will talk to Phillip. You'll have to do couple's counseling if you want me to marry you."

"Well like I said, there's plenty of time for that."

"JJ, what we find is sometimes when a person's suffered a loss like yours, they tend to push people away without realizing it. Sometimes, they feel it's easier not to love, than to love with their whole heart and experience another loss. Is that why all your past relationships have been so short? Have you pushed people away?"

What. The. Hell?

What is he? Is he in some kind of pastoral CIA? Where does he hear this shit?

"I don't push people away. I've had the same friends for years and made a lot more at college. And as far as guys go, they usually stopped dating me because they couldn't handle that we were close. I didn't stop the relationships, they usually dumped me. And I've dealt with my parents' death just fine. You were at the funeral. I stood up and spoke. I dealt with it. I'm fine."

So there.

He says quietly, "Some people feel abandoned."

Abandoned?

His quiet words knock the wind out of me.

Before I can even think, I'm standing up, leaning across his desk, and yelling, "My parents didn't abandon me! They never would've left me. They loved me!"

Then I remember, he's a pastor, I'm in church, and I probably shouldn't be yelling. But there is no way in hell I'm gonna stay and listen to this bullshit.

Sorry, God, but I'm not.

"Look, this has been a great chat, but I'm afraid I have to go." I walk toward his door.

As I'm opening the door to get the hell out of here, he says, "Is this how you typically deal with conflict? Do you run away from it? Avoid it?"

It takes everything I have to calmly say, "We don't have a conflict, sir. If we did, I'd stay here and fight you. You deeply offended me, and I have nothing more to say." I turn around and mutter under my breath, "And I'll be damned if you'll be counseling OR marrying me."

Sorry for cussing in church, God, but I hate him. I really do.

As the door closes, I hear him mutter, "Wanna bet?"

I sit in my car, shaking slightly and feeling like I could throw up. What the hell does he know anyway? Just because he sees me occasionally at church, doesn't mean he has a clue about me. I never run away from conflict. I've always stood up for myself. Even against Danny, who is the stubbornest person I know.

And what is that shit about my parents abandoning me? I've never felt abandoned. Ever.

Alone, sure.

I mean, I am alone. Family wise.

And yes, I refused counseling. What good was counseling gonna do me? I wasn't going to sit around and talk about how they were gone. I was already painfully aware of that fact.

I go meet Phillip.

"So, how'd it go with Pastor John? What'd he wanna talk about?"

"Um, nothing really," I lie. "I don't think I want him to marry us, Phillip."

Phillip is taken aback by my comment. "Why not?"

Fortunately, we just pulled into the parking lot of the bar where we're meeting a bunch of friends to watch the Husker game. I quickly hop out of the car without answering.

I don't usually say this, but I could seriously use a drink right now. I'm still feeling shaken. I'm not sure what to tell Phillip about why I don't want Pastor to marry us. If I do, I'll have to tell him what he said.

And what he said is something I don't wanna talk about.

Phillip casually takes my hand as we walk across the parking lot.

I take a deep breath. I don't know what it is about Phillip, but when he holds my hand, I feel like I could take on the world.

I don't need a drink, just Phillip.

"So why don't you want him to marry us?"

"He's just getting old. I want our wedding to be cool," I lie. Badly lie at that. We were just at a wedding he did that was very contemporary.

Phillip looks at me kinda funny, but when we walk in the bar, Joey immediately slaps Phillip on the back, hands us hot damn shots, and makes us cheer, Go Big Red.

While I try really hard not to cry.

I've pushed my run in with Pastor to the back of my mind. The man knows nothing. I'm also going to have to find a new church, which sucks because I know practically everyone there. I've also decided to push all the wedding planning nonsense to the back of my mind. Phillip and I are gonna have some fun first, and fun begins today with Naughty Dream Week.

I'm super excited about this, but I'm also feeling a little nervous. What if he thinks it's silly?

Danny told me that Phillip will love it, so I'm going to do it, even if it means making a bit of a fool of myself. What do they say about fools in love?

I forget, but anyway.

I want to surprise Phillip, but I also think anticipation is half the fun. So to clue him in a little, I snuck in the bathroom after he was asleep and wrote in lipstick on the mirror.

It must be bugging him because he just texted me.

Phillipbaby<3  Dreams??

Me:  Yeah ;)

Phillipbaby<3  Like "sweet dreams"???

Me:  More like "your dreams"!!!

Phillipbaby<3  I'm living my dream.

Me:  Well, then maybe I shouldn't do it.

Phillipbaby<3  Do what?

Me:  My plan ;)

Phillipbaby<3  What plan? You're driving me nuts.

Me:  That's sort of the point. It is naughty dream week after all.

Phillipbaby<3  Naughty dream week??

Me:  Yep. Get ready to "live" your dreams. And be home by 7. We're going out for pizza and beer first.

Phillipbaby<3  Yum. Where we going?

Me:  Johnny's.

Phillipbaby<3  I haven't been there in forever.

Me:  I know :)

Phillipbaby<3  Did I have a naughty dream about Johnny's pizza?

Me:  I don't know, did you?

Phillipbaby<3  I love you.

Me:  You'll love me more after tonight.

I look a bit ridiculous at Johnny's. I'm wearing the bombshell bra under a tight little baseball shirt.

And I do magically have amazing cleavage.

I know, and Philip knows, that the extra cleavage is kinda fake, but he doesn't seem to mind.

He keeps staring at it.

Probably wishing it were real.

Anyway, I nixed Danny's idea of shorts because I thought, well, I thought they might prove to make things more difficult, if you catch my drift. So instead, I wore the teeniest denim mini skirt known to man.

It barely covers my ass, and we'll hope I don't have to bend over to pick anything up, or the world will see my blue and white striped thong. (Yes, it's even striped like a pair of baseball pants! I'm totally into this!)

I completed the look with tall white athletic socks and these wedged heels that sorta look like tennis shoes. I even did the braids and the baseball hat as Danny suggested. He seemed to get into that part, so I hoped Phillip would have the same response.

I will admit, the overall look is pretty damn sexy.

Or at least Phillip thought so when I came out in it.

He whistled at me, and then he asked me very seriously if I was really going to Johnny's dressed that way. He said, You know, it is a family place.

I took that as a compliment. Figured maybe Danny does know what he's talking about occasionally. I just laughed and wouldn't tell him anything else.

Over a pitcher of beer and some yummy pizza, he says, "That outfit is smoking hot, and I'm not complaining, but I don't get how the whole dream thing fits in."

I told him, "Oh, this is just the pre-party. Dreams don't start until after dark."

He nodded in understanding while his eyes happily floated back down to my fake cleavage.

I made him drive to the old ball field. We parked in the back parking lot, and I spread a blanket over his hood. I pulled two Gatorade bottles out of the little cooler, I had stashed in the backseat, then handed him a bag of sunflower seeds.

He took a drink and said, "I think I get this now. And I like."

We laid there for a while, holding hands, drinking Gatorade, talking, and staring at the stars. When I figured it was time, I straddled that boy and started making out with him like crazy.

Although this whole dream thing is supposed to be for Phillip's benefit, I'm really enjoying myself. Phillip has my shirt unbuttoned and is kissing the fake cleavage while I'm trying to undo his pants.

All of a sudden, car headlights wash over us. I see a police car pulling into the lot.

The cop parks and turns on his big spotlight. I quickly roll off Phillip and try to button up my shirt.

Shit! There goes my big plan.

All we really got to do was make out!

"Shit, Phillip. Cops!"

To myself, I say, Nothing going on here, officer. Nothing at all. Just innocently sitting here looking at the stars.

But then I whisper to Phillip. "Can we get in trouble for this?"

"I don't think so. We're not really doing anything wrong."

"There's vodka in the Gatorade!!"

"We're legal now, Princess. Chill. I doubt he'll open the Gatorade. It's not like we're sitting here swigging out of a vodka bottle, and most of the Westown cops are pretty cool."

An officer shines a flashlight in our eyes and says, "Well, I'll be damned. JJ Reynolds, how the hell are you?"

"Cookie!" Cookie is obviously a nickname, but that's all I've ever known him by. He used to play wiffle ball with my dad on Sundays, and he also helped Phillip get me to the hospital the night my parents died.

"Are we in trouble?" I ask him.

He changes his voice, deepens it, sounding like a tough cop. We could tell he was just teasing us, so we went along with it. "You kids been drinking?"

I hold up the Gatorade bottle, shake my head no, and pray I'm a good liar. Cookie seems to accept the lie because he says, "Well, how about drugs?"

Phillip smiles and holds up the bag of sunflower seeds.

Cookie finally determines that we're not in any trouble. "Well, it doesn't look like it then." His flashlight trails down my outfit, and he says knowingly, "Some little get up you got on there. Trip down memory lane?"

I laugh nervously. "Sort of, Phillip and I used to come here and star gaze when we were in high school. When we were just friends," I make a point of saying, so he'll think that there's only been stargazing going on.

Like, in theory.

"Heard you two got engaged," he says with a grin. "Congrats, kids, have a nice evening." We can hear him snickering all the way back to his car.

As he pulls out of the parking lot, I say, "Phillip, I'm so sorry. That totally ruined the mood."

Phillip gives me a big grin. "Hell no, it didn't. Almost getting caught just adds to the excitement. Get back over here. I need to finish my dream."

He quickly undoes his pants and pulls me back on top of him.

So last night was pretty amazing. I dug out the exact outfit I wore the night he wanted to do me on the island. The little plaid Abercrombie skirt with the white blouse and navy cardigan. I added high heels and white thigh highs, and then I took him to the swings out behind our old elementary school. We talked and swung. He teased me and told me how he's always had a thing for me, and that he obviously was quite intelligent and a visionary to have known the girl he wanted to marry at the mere age of ten. I laughed and called bullshit.

I think he just got lucky.

We kissed on the swings just like we did the very first time he kissed me, when he pulled my swing over and planted a big fat kiss on my lips. But this time, he didn't run away. He kept kissing me. He was up for doing whatever there at the playground, but well, I just couldn't bring myself to do much more than kiss. I mean, kids play there!!

So we decided to go parking in a cornfield instead. Which was way fun too. It's been a long time since I've been parking.

Today was the day we were supposed to do it on his mother's kitchen island. After last night, I'm not sure if I could have done that either, but I'm sure he could've talked me into it. I think Phillip could sweet talk me into just about anything. I called Mrs. Diamond to try and enlist her help getting the Macs out of their house, but I found out his mom is hosting bunko tonight. Which meant there was no way I was gonna get them out of the house, so I quickly had to switch things up and decided on a prom night redo.

Phillip had a date for the prom. I forget who she was, but I do remember he had big plans for her. He'd even gotten a hotel room with a hot tub. But she got drunk off champagne, threw up at the dance, and got taken home early.

I hadn't really wanted to go to prom. I was supposed to go with my boyfriend at the time, Jake, but then I found out he was cheating on me. That was the same night as my parents' accident. Prom was just a week later, and it just didn't seem right for me to go. Danny offered to take me. At first, I refused, but everyone thought that my parents would've wanted me to go. Plus, at the time, I was kinda hot for Danny.

I thought after prom, I would be busy losing my virginity to him. I figured losing it to a friend, instead of a jerk boyfriend, would be a good idea. But just as things were starting to get good, Danny passed out, and I ended up sitting in the hot tub with Phillip.

As usual, it was sweet and probably a little romantic, but also, as usual, nothing happened between us.

But tonight, things are going to happen.

I checked into the hotel right after work. I took rose petals and sprinkled them all over, put some champagne on ice, and left a tray of chocolate covered strawberries. Granted, we didn't have those things on prom night, but we should have. And Phillip was the guy I should've been losing my virginity to.

I went home, put on a sexy dress, made Phillip wear a suit, and took him out to dinner.

As I lead Phillip down the hall to our hotel room, he's grinning. "So are we reliving prom night?"

"Well, not reliving exactly. We're having a prom night redo."

"I'm not sure what that means, but I assume it means we're gonna do more in the hot tub than talk."

"Well, maybe. So here's the storyline. We're both seniors. I've liked you, probably loved you, for a while. You finally got brave and asked me out, and you're hoping that I might be willing to part with my virginity tonight."

Phillip eyes gleam. He's so adorable, especially when he totally gets into character. He pins me against the hotel room door. "So you know, Billy is having that big party tonight."

I nod my head. "Uh, huh."

"I was thinking maybe we might wanna skip it."

I get into my nervous virgin role. "Oh, well, I don't know. I mean what would we do, just sit in our room?"

He leans in and kisses me. "I was thinking of something a little more fun." He opens the door. "Look." He looks at what I've done to the room and mutters to me, "Damn, I'm good." Then he shuts the door and has me on the bed before I have a chance to even think about what to do next.

He kisses me intensely and moves his hands expertly across my dress. I'm ready to lose my virginity right about now, but that wouldn't fit my character. I pretend to be nervous about where things might be heading. "Um, I saw champagne."

"Oh, yeah, there is champagne." He seems to have already forgotten the champagne chilling in front of us.

I made him forget the champagne!!! Yay for me and my sexiness!!

He opens the bottle and pours champagne into real crystal flutes. (No plastic cups for this prom night redo!) He takes off his jacket, unbuttons his shirt sleeves, and takes off his tie. I only have on a dress, so I reciprocate by sliding off my shoes.

He saunters to the bed with both glasses crossed in one hand, and in the other, he has a strawberry. He sits on the bed and holds the strawberry up to my mouth.

I open my mouth, thinking he's going to feed it to me. He puts just the tip of the strawberry against my lips. I try to suck a little of the chocolate off, but just as I do, he pulls the strawberry back out. He keeps sliding the strawberry across my lips and occasionally lets me suck some chocolate off. He's so teasing me with the strawberry. I'm pretty sure no high school boy would ever think of this suggestive little game.

I leave my lips sexily parted, make a little girly noise, and he pushes the strawberry deeper into my mouth.

I take a little bite.

He gives me a satisfied grin, hands me a flute, and pops what's left of the strawberry in his mouth. "Here's to the perfect night," he says, clinking my glass with his. We each take a drink. He takes the glass away from me, sets it on the nightstand, pulls me up off the bed, and unzips my dress.

I act nervous.

Really, it's not that much of an act. It's feeling kinda realistic.

He sweeps me back onto the bed and starts doing exactly what I imagined the guy I would lose my virginity to would do. I'm just saying, if you ever have the opportunity to have a lose your virginity redo, I'd highly suggest it because this is going to be good. Certainly much better than the drunken frat house romp that really happened.

He's going slow, kissing every inch of me, patiently, tenderly.

There's some song in the musical, Rent. I forget how it goes, but it's something about covering you with thousands of sweet little kisses.

That's what this reminds me of.

He's covering me with thousands of sweet kisses, but when he starts to take off my bra, I realize if I want to play this out in character, I need to stall because I'd be nervous.

So even though my body is majorly disagreeing with me, I say, "Do we get to use the hot tub?"

Phillip looks at me with those steamy dark eyes. It's funny how when he looks at me and tells me he loves me, I see all the golden flecks in his brown eyes, but when he wants sex, those same eyes get all dark and fiery looking. I know the hot tub is about the last thing he wants to get into right now, but he goes along with it.

"We shouldn't let it go to waste." He turns on a riot of bubbles, strips naked, and hops in.

Yum.

I pretend to be nervous about his nakedness. "I didn't know you were getting a room with a hot tub. I don't have a swimsuit."

"Oh, I don't think you need one of those. Just get naked and get in. Promise I won't look." He says he won't look, but I can tell by his grin he's totally lying. I can't help but laugh. He used to say the exact same thing to me in high school when I was changing out of my softball uniform in the backseat of his car. I always caught him looking in the rearview mirror.

I act like I'm shy, but I'm really trying to torture him with a little striptease. I slowly take my bra off. When I catch him peeking, I slide my underwear off slowly too. I turn around, lay them neatly on the dresser, grab the champagne bottle, and slide in next to him.

He immediately pulls me on top of him and presses his lips to mine. We make out in the hot tub for a really long time. I'm actually shocked at how slow he's going. I've been ready for him to throw me on the bed and have his way with me since we walked in the door, but he continues his slow sexy way.

When I seriously can't wait anymore, I try to spur him on by saying, "You know, I've never done this before."

Phillip runs his hand through my mostly wet hair. "I know, Princess. That's why I'm going slow. I want you to be sure. I want it to be special."

And yes, I melt at that because that's so what I wanted to hear.

I slam the rest of the champagne, get out the tub, grab his hand, and make him join me.

Then I do a little naughty slowness of my own.

I take a towel and dry off every single inch of Phillip's amazing body. Of course, I leave the best parts for last. When I start drying off that, he can't seem to wait any longer. He picks me up, lays me on the bed, and proceeds to take my virginity.

Like, again.