My Girl
If you think that the terrible twos are bad, then you have never met my son.
Okay, so he's not really my son. Contrary to popular belief, I have never once had sex. Not once. A few years ago, the girl of my dreams got pregnant. It was not her idea. We don't talk about it much, because what's done is done. After she gave birth, I practically gave up my life to help her raise Gabriel. I did tell my parents that I was a father, and I did tell them the whole story. The only part I don't like about being a parent is the lectures I get from little old ladies at the grocery store. It's always stuff about protection, pills, and abstinence. I listen and nod at the appropriate times, but it gets rather annoying after a few years.
Currently, I sit on the couch in Yumi's parents' living room, and Yumi walks in. "Look who just woke up," she says.
Behind her stands Gabriel. He's a chubby little thing; the exact opposite of his mother, who, despite giving birth, can still wear the same clothes she wore before the whole ordeal. He toddles over to me. "Daddy," he says, smiling.
"Hey bud," I reply, bending over to pick him up.
Yumi sits next to me, her hands rubbing her thighs. She won't look at me, because she thinks she looks ugly when she's just woken up. I've noticed she's been extra self-conscious lately, which I can't understand because she always looks beautiful to me.
"Kiss," announces Gabriel. His favorite word. Other than the mandatory "mama" and "dada," I swear it was the first word out of his mouth.
"Kiss?" Yumi repeats. "Kiss who? You?" She leans over and kisses the baby's cheek.
"No. No kiss Gabiel. Daddy kiss Mommy," he says.
Yes, Gabriel speaks in third person, and, yes, he calls himself 'Gabiel' leaving out the necessary 'r.' It's better than the month and a half where all he could say was 'mama kiss dada' and vice versa. Then, he learned the words 'yes,' 'no,' and 'cookie.' After that, he liked to talk about Yumi and me kissing cookies.
I brush a kiss across Yumi's cheek. "You mean like that?" I ask Gabriel.
"No," he says. "Mouth." He makes the '-th' sound like an 'f,' but I honestly didn't know he knew the word.
"Oh, you mean like this?" Yumi smiles flirtatiously at me, pushes me onto my side, and kisses me. It's a dreadfully strange position, but it sort of reminds me of when we shared our first kiss the day Gabriel was born. I kiss her back and then we're both lying sideways on her parents' couch, Gabriel squished in between.
"Gabiel kiss Mommy," he says, and he kisses Yumi's cheek.
"Hey!" I say, pretending to be mad. "Gabriel can't kiss Mommy! Only I can kiss Mommy."
Gabriel smirks at me, so I take it as a challenge. I lean over to kiss Yumi, much to Gabriel's protests. "Daddy no kiss Mommy!" he exclaims, trying to push us apart. He has yet to learn words like 'can't' and 'don't' but he's getting better. Anything beats 'dada kiss mama' day in and day out.
"No more kissing Mommy," Yumi says, giving Gabriel and me each a kiss. She's changed a lot over the past couple years. She's bolder and softer, self-confident and self conscious, and everything else that makes her so confusing. I do know one thing that I didn't know before. She looks killer in pink.
Gabriel stares at us quizzically. "Gabiel want cookie," he decides finally.
Yumi sighs. "Go get them, then. But don't blame me if it spoils your dinner."
Gabriel runs into the kitchen as fast as his chubby little legs will carry him. "Cookie!" he screams as though yelling for them will help him find them.
Yumi wraps her arms around my shoulders. "Finally. Alone time." She kisses me again.
"I thought there was no more kissing Mommy," I say.
She shoots me a funny glance. "As soon as the little rugrat leaves, I refuse to be Mommy until he comes back." She kisses me again. "What would I ever do without you?"
"Be a single teenage mother with no hopes of ever getting married or even having a boyfriend because no one wants the kid," I reply.
"You did," she says, "and that's the most I could ever ask for."
I kiss her and Gabriel comes marching in with the box of cookies. "Daddy no kiss Mommy! Daddy no get cookie!" he proclaims.
"I don't get a cookie? Why not?" I ask innocently.
Gabriel stares at me in an are-you-serious type way. "Mommy says no more kiss Mommy. Daddy still kiss Mommy." He hands Yumi the package of cookies. "Here Mommy."
She takes them, opens them up, and hands one to Gabriel. "Mommy's cold baby. Go get me a blanket," she tells him.
"'Kay," Gabriel replies and he runs off.
"You're not cold, are you?" I ask.
"No," Yumi admits. "but I wanted to get rid of him so he won't see how many of these things I'm about to eat."
I laugh. "Well, at least hand me one."
Yumi takes a bite from the cookie in her hand. "Didn't you hear Gabriel? Daddy doesn't get one."
I give her the same look she gave me earlier. "As soon as he leaves, I refuse to be Daddy until he comes back," I say, paraphrasing her.
She hands me a cookie, defeated. "You know," she says, "my parents will be home soon. They'd be willing to watch Gabriel for a little while if we wanted to go out."
"Where would we go?" I ask.
"The grocery store for all I care," she replies. She leans forward and kisses me.
"Daddy no kiss Mommy!" Gabriel exclaims, running back in, a small blanket flung over one shoulder.
"She kissed me!" I protest.
Gabriel climbs onto the couch between us, throwing the blanket over us. "Gabiel loves Mommy," he says.
Yumi kisses the baby's hair. "I love you, too."
I pout. "What about me?" I ask.
"I love you," says Yumi matter-of-factly.
"Hi honey!" yells Yumi's mom from the door that leads to the garage. She just got back from work.
"Grandma!" Gabriel exclaims, climbing over the couch.
"Hey Mom," says Yumi. "Would you mind watching Gabriel for an hour or two so Ulrich and I can go out?" She sits up to get a better look at her mother, who is holding Gabriel.
"Sure, but where are you going to go?" asks Mrs. Ishiyama.
Yumi shrugs. "The grocery store. Do you need anything?"
"No," replies her mom. "You can take my credit card, though, as long as you don't buy a lot.
Yumi slides off the couch over me. "I'm going to get changed. I'll be right back." And she runs upstairs.
After she leaves, I get up and walk over to her mother. "I wanted to ask you first," I begin quietly. "How would you feel if I asked her to marry me. It'd be a while, but I want to ask her."
"She's not pregnant again, is she?" Mrs. Ishiyama asks, glancing down at the two-year-old in her arms.
I shake my head. "No m'am."
She nods. "Then you have my blessing." She pauses, then adds, "I assume you plan on asking my husband."
"Yes m'am. I just wanted to ask you first."
Yumi comes back downstairs a moment later, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. "You ready?" she asks.
"Yeah," I reply.
She takes my hand, grabs the car keys, kisses the baby good-bye, and we leave. She drives, which, surprisingly, doesn't bother me. Besides, the store is only a few miles away.
Once inside the store, I notice that it's fairly empty. "What are we getting?" I ask.
She shrugs. "I don't know." She drags me over to the card section – the Hallmark ones. She loves sifting through them to find the ones she likes. Occasionally, I'll make a note of it and give them to her on her birthday or other holidays. "Birthday, anniversary, sympathy – I hope I never need one of those! – Christmas, engagement…" She picks up one of the cards from the section marked 'engagement' and reads it through. "That is so mean!" she exclaims.
"I'll make sure I have Odd give it to you, then," I say without thinking.
"But we're not engaged," she reminds me softly.
"Well, not right now we're not," I say.
She raises her eyebrows at me. "What are you implying?"
"That I really…gotta go to the bathroom," I lie and I race off towards the bathroom. I call her dad's cell phone number – a number I'm not technically supposed to use unless it's an emergency.
"Hello Ulrich," her dad answers.
"There's something I have to ask you."
"What's that?"
"Permission to ask your daughter to marry me." I swallow hard. It's not as though I think he'll say no, but it makes me nervous.
At first, I get no reply. "What took you so long?" he finally asks.
Obviously, that means yes. That means heck yes. That a here-take-my-credit-card-and-buy-her-a-pretty-little-diamond heck yes. "I would've asked sooner, but things got in the way. Do you think she'll say yes?"
"I know she will. Good-bye Ulrich" and he hung up.
I shove my phone back into my pocket, and race back to where I left Yumi. I go over to her, pick her up, and kiss her.
"Ulrich, what's going…"
I kiss her again to shut her up. "I wanted to know if you would do me the honor of making me the happiest guy alive," I begin. Then, I drop to one knee. "Will you marry me?"
Tears form in Yumi's eyes and roll down her cheeks. She nods, unable to form a single three-lettered word. When I pick her up and hug her, she whispers in my ear, "What took you so long?"
I have no idea what took me so long. There's probably a number of reasons, but I could care less. In a way, Yumi and I have been playing husband and wife for a while, but only to a certain extent and mostly for Gabriel's sake.
She sobs into my shoulder. Tears of happiness, I presume. She kisses the same spot on my cheek over and over, running her fingers through my hair, as if trying to prove to herself that this is not a dream.
"How about we drive down to the jeweler and see what you like," I suggest, and I can feel her nod into my shoulder.
She tugs herself free from my arms. She wipes her eyes and takes me hand. Her face is pink, her eyes are red, and I don't think she's ever been happier. "Let's go," she says.
I pull the car keys from her pocket. "I'll drive," I say, and we leave the store.
First, I drive by the bank and make a quick withdrawal of several hundred dollars. It's the money I had been saving for her engagement ring, but I never thought I'd be using it tonight. Then, it's off to the jeweler.
The place is small, but fairly popular and relatively cheap. Yumi knows what I can and can't afford, and she'd never make me feel bad about it. As we walk in, she reaches for my hand. We look somewhat out of place here, with my being only eighteen. There's another couple, but they're in their mid to late twenties. The way they act suggests that they haven't known each other since middle school – and they certainly don't have a kid.
"Can I help you?" asks one of the salesmen. He's looking at us like we're crazy for thinking of getting married so young. It's quite funny to watch.
"We're just gonna look," I reply, and I drag Yumi over to one of the big, glass cases full of things you buy for your wife when she's pregnant. This could be funny.
"Unless she is expecting, I should think you would want to look over there," the man says, pointing across the room. I don't like this guy, and I've known Yumi long enough to know that she doesn't either.
"That's okay," I reply smartly. "Our two-year-old son is at home with his grandparents right now."
"Two-year-old son?" the man parrots. "And how old are you?"
I pull out my wallet and take out the picture of Gabriel that I always keep in it. "See?" I show him the picture. "And I'm eighteen, thank you very much."
The man stares at me, obviously figuring out that Gabriel was born when I was sixteen. "Seeing as you two have already begun at the end, I suggest you look at wedding banks and then engagement rings," he says, and he marches off.
Yumi and I laugh. We walk over to the case where the other couple is standing. "Pick one out," I tell her, and I step back.
"Where'd you propose?" the other guy asks.
"The grocery store," I reply, "and you?"
"The parking lot," he says. "Is it true you have a two-year-old?"
I nod. "His name is Gabriel, and he's not mine, though you'd never know it because my name is written on his birth certificate."
He asks me to explain.
"She got pregnant by a guy she didn't even like, and it wasn't with her consent, if you know what I mean. At the time, we were still 'just friends,' and I ended up helping her out. I've known her since I was eleven, and been in love with her since I was about twelve. We've been together officially since the day Gabriel was born."
"Honey!" his fiancée calls. "I found the ring I want."
He walks over and she shows him a ring. It's beautiful – way out of my price range – and Yumi's eyeing it. Three stones, white gold, and costs about a thousand dollars. I wish I could afford it."
The man leans over toward me. "How much can you spend?" he asks. Upon closer inspection, I realize that he looks familiar, though I can't tell where I've seen him before.
"About four hundred," I whisper. "Why?"
His fiancée comes running up. "Jack, look at it," she says, admiring her new ring.
"Jack? Jack Johnson? The guy who owns this place?" I stammer.
"The very same. Look, kid, I'll tell you what. You can have whichever ring your girl wants for $400 or less. Plus, when the time comes and the two of you set a wedding date, I'll throw in the bands for both of you, free of charge. Do we have a deal?" he asks.
I nod. "Why would you do all that for me?"
"Because," he replies, "I like your story."
"Thanks so much," I say, and I walk over to Yumi. "Did you pick one out?"
She glances over at Jack and his fiancée. I can tell that she desperately wants the ring. Instead, she points to one well within my price range. Apparently, she didn't overhear my conversation with Jack.
"If you could have any ring in the entire store, which would it be? Don't look at the price," I tell her.
She walks over to the place where Jack's fiancée's ring was and points to the one next to it. It's white gold, three stones, and smaller diamonds in the band. "Only a billionaire could afford it, though," she mumbles.
"What if I told you that you could have it?" I ask.
"Ulrich you can't even begin to afford that."
I smile at her. "Do me a favor and go sit on in the car for a minute, okay? I'll be right out."
She eyes me curiously, but obliges.
Jack walks up behind me. "That's a nice one. She's got taste. Come on, I'll get it for you." He jumps over the counter, unlocks the case, and pulls out the ring. "When you decide to have your wedding, let me know. The bands won't cost you a dime – evcept maybe an invitation to the ceremony," he says with a wink as he hands me the ring.
I hand him $400. With the ring safely in my palm, I walk out to the car. Yumi sits in the passenger seat, waiting.
"Close your eyes and give me your hand," I instruct. When she does, I gently slide the ring onto her finger.
She takes one look at it. "Ulrich, how in the world did you pay for this?" she asks.
"That was Jack Johnson, the owner. He said he'd give me any ring I wanted for $400 or less. He asked about Gabriel, so I told him what happened, and he said he liked the story. So, you get the ring you really wanted."
She throws her arms around my neck and kisses me. "It's beautiful," she says, "Thank you."
Then, I drive back to her parents' house.
"Did you buy anything?" her mother asks after we walk in.
Yumi flashes the ring to her mom. "Just this," she says, smiling.
Mrs. Ishiyama eyes me carefully. "Congratulations."
Gabriel comes toddling in sleepily. "Heard Mommy and Daddy," he mutters.
Yumi scoops him up and holds him. "Hey, baby. Isn't it past your bedtime?"
Gabriel yawns. "Gabiel no sleep. No Mommy and Daddy."
Yumi sits on the couch, Gabriel in her lap. "Do you like Mommy's new ring? Daddy bought it," she says as she shows him her ring. He's too little to know what it means.
Gabriel nods. "Pretty," he says. He climbs off Yumi's lap and begs me to pick him up.
"You, young man, need to go to bed," I tell him, and I carry him up the stairs with Yumi on my heels. I carefully tuck him into his 'big boy' bed. He stares up at Yumi and me. It's odd, but Gabriel can't sleep unless his mother and I kiss. When I lean over and kiss her, Gabriel nods off to sleep.
Yumi and I sneak out of the room. Before we walk downstairs, Yumi pins me to the wall and kisses me deeply. Her arms are around my neck, and my hands are at her waist. When we're out, she normally just hold my hand. Never anything vulgar, not even when we're alone. It's one of the many reasons her parents love me.
She lays her head on my chest and sighs.
I kiss her hair. We still haven't moved from our spot against the wall. "Come on," I whisper, "we have a wedding to plan."
She follows and we settle on the couch. She flips on the TV, turning it to a channel that I've never seen before.
"The Bride Channel? They seriously have a channel just for this?" I ask, astonished.
"Mhm. Look, prefect timing, it's How To Plan A Wedding" she says.
"Ladies, when planning your wedding, the first thing you will need is a groom. Most women prefer guys with a good sense of humor and are fairly smart," said the lady on the program.
"Already got that," says Yumi, leaning against me. "Smart, funny, great with kids, and an unbelievably good kisser."
"Who the heck are you marrying?" I ask, shooting her a confused look.
"You, stupid," she replies. She knocks me onto my back, and lays with her head on my chest.
"Since when do you think I'm a good kisser?" I ask.
"For a while," she replies.
"How many guys have you actually kissed?"
"Just one, and that's all it'll ever be."
I wrap my arms around her and kiss her. We're both ignoring the TV, thinking only about each other.
Before I know it, we both drift quietly to sleep on the couch.
I know, they're both extremely OOC, but it works better with the story, and, besides, the show never mentions how they'd act during this kind of situation.
The third part, along with a couple other fanfics (like one about Ulrich and Yumi getting married) are on the way soon.