Where Would I Be Without You - By CJ Hawk Page 0,3
mom. Then my sister ordered bottled water, and my mother beamed. My mother ordered an ice tea. I'm pretty sure when they die, my mother and sister will reconnect in heaven while my dad and I, will be tearing it up in a bar in hell.
Fifteen minutes had passed, and I was starting to wonder if something happened with Steve. Just then, he walked in with a panic look on his face, but other than that, he looked ever the sexy man I recently fell in love with. Not to mention he did things with his hands and tongue that no man had ever done before and that was probably why I was so enamored with him. I quickly stood and was about to announce his arrival when he motioned for me to come outside with him.
"This is Steve everyone. We'll be right back." I proudly announced to my family in the party room, like a kid who shows off a report card with all A's. Only problem is, it was all A's in the ridiculous department.
I was the family offspring whom everyone thought needed a little more common sense. Well, except for my aunt Heather. We were two peas in a pod, only she was only fifteen years older than me, due to the fact my grandparents are Catholic. She, just like myself, tend to be considered as, less wise in my family's eyes. She could not be here tonight, on account she's in the Bahamas.
As Steve practically dragged me out of the party room by my hand, I caught the look of concern on Marion's face and the look of disapproval on my mothers. I heard my grandmother shout out something about kids these days and my cousin's last comment that caught my ears, as Steve and I fled the room. The comment made my heart stop. "Why's he wearing a wedding ring if he's dating Cousin Amber?"
And that, was the beginning of a hellish night for me. Steve's wife had followed him and caught us just outside the party room doorway. Everybody in the restaurant and at my dinner table got to hear that I, Amber Jones, had been sleeping with a married man. Why had I not noticed the tell-tell signs of a married man? I couldn't call, only text his cell. The odd working hours. The sick sister, my ass. The motel rendezvous, and the slight indentation in his skin, on his ring finger, that I dismissed. All that from the very first kiss should have been my light-bulb moment. He was married. I was embarrassed. His wife was pissed and unwilling to let me explain. If it wasn't for Carl, I think the restaurant would have kicked us out.
Carl escorted Steve out with the strength of his strong hand on Steve's upper arm. Steve's wife followed. Marion grabbed me and rushed me to the lady's room. My mother's cry of 'for Pete's sake you can't even get your own boyfriend' rang out throughout the restaurant.
I spent the next hour in the lady's room, getting supplies of hard alcohol shots from my cousins and Marion. I wanted to wait until a new turn of tables appeared before I walked back passed those tables of people that just heard I was sleeping with a married man, and a new flux of customers were too busy ordering their food or eating, to notice the scarlet in the restroom.
I finally made it out when my cousin Julie mentioned they wanted to bring the cake out. The dinner my mother ordered me, eggplant parmesan, had gotten cold. I hate eggplant, and she knows it. At this point, I was drunk. Too drunk to care about cold eggplant or my mother. I was ready to dive right into the chocolate cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting that I had ordered from the bakery up the street. I walked slyly between my cousin and Marion to the party room. I slinked in and sat in my chair. Carl motioned for the waitress and asked if I wanted something new to eat.
"Just bring on the snake!" I slurred. I meant to say cake, but the waitress caught my drift, and I was passed the point of normal conversation or word pronunciation. I was blitzed.
On a cart with a tablecloth came a full sheet cake of dark moist chocolate cake, with sweet raspberry filling and dreamiest cream cheese frosting a girl could ever hope for.