Darry
I sat at the airport, close to the terminal that Johnny could be coming from. I couldn't believe that he was coming back to Tulsa- never mind that he'd made his own family. That's something we'd always hoped for Johnny but we never thought that it would be with a girl like Elena- we thought it would be a girl that took charge. I felt my phone vibrate in my pants and I dug it out to see a picture of my wife and our children so I grinned,
"Hello gorgeous."
I heard her giggle, "Hi baby, I just wanted to let you know that Sodapop is here and Pony just pulled up. Any word from Johnny?"
"Not yet babe-" Just as I said that they called that Johnny's flight had landed, "Never mind they just called his flight number. I'd better go, did you need me to pick anything up on the way home?"
"We need some coffee, and if you stop by the bakery in town and pick up something for dessert… And condoms."
I grinned, "I'm sorry, what was that last thing?"
I heard her tsk me and I could picture her rolling her eyes grinning, "You heard me Darrel,"
"Oh, you said condoms? Hm… Did you want the 'ribbed for her pleasure'? Or the 'studded' ones?"
"Both," She said and I grinned widely,
"Sounds great babe." I hung up, standing up to walk closer to the exit where Johnny and his family would be coming from.
I felt my phone vibrate and I looked down to see a text from Charolette- a picture. I opened it and grinned, this woman would be the death of me. She sent me a nude photo. I grinned and went to find one that I had taken earlier in the week and I sent it back.
I remember seeing her again, almost eight years after graduating high school. All throughout high school we'd been in similar friend groups but I'd never grown the courage to ask her out. Then when I woke up one morning super late for a huge construction meeting I decided to grab a coffee on my way to the office.
That's when she was in front of me and bought my coffee without knowing who was behind her. I managed to catch up to her and thank her for the coffee and then she recognized me,
"Darrel, hey!"
I grinned, "Char, how's it been?"
"Good, I just got back home. How are you?"
We ended up talking for almost an hour- I knew that I missed the meeting but fuck it- I asked her if she wanted to get dinner some time and she agreed, giving me her number
I took her out to dinner that night, I'd asked her almost ten minutes after visiting if she wanted too. That night dinner felt like old friends, but there was something else there that night that I still can't pin point.
"So, I want to know what this is. Is this a dinner between old friends or.. Or a date?" She asked, after we were finished dinner and waiting for dessert.
"Well… To be honest I was hoping that it was a date… I've.. I've liked you for a really long time Charolette and those feelings never went away after high school."
She smiled softly and took my hand, "I.. I was really hoping that this was a date too Darry… I've actually missed you all these years." I grinned and moved closer to her in the booth, cupping her face before kissing her.
After we shared our desserts we went out to my truck. We sat in silence a couple minutes before I looked over at her,
"Would you like me to drop you off… Or did you want to come over?" I knew she was staying a hotel while she looked for somewhere to stay, part of me desperately wanted her to move in with me and rush into things.
"Well… I mean we could go back to your place."
I smiled and took her hand, driving back home. At the time I was still in the East side, I was waiting to build my house until I was settled down. No point building a house that my future wife wouldn't like.
She followed me in closely, I could tell she was nervous of the neighbourhood. Sodapop, Steve, and Two-bit were sitting in the living room with a beer in their hands. Soda raised his eyebrow when he saw Charolette and Two-bit cracked a grin and wolf whistled,
"Getting some action tonight superman?"
"That's none of your business." I said, taking Charolette into my room.
"Is that… Is that what you had in mind for tonight?"
"No, not at all… To be honest I don't like the motel you're staying in… I know that it's no nicer than here but here… There's there's three guys that will protect you."
"Are… Darrel are you asking me to move in with you?"
"I mean… Yes? I just… I just feel so protective of you and… I know we're rushing into things… Maybe it's really crazy…"
"It… It is crazy but… Okay."
Then after close to a year of dating we were engaged, and within our first couple months of being married we found out that Charolette was pregnant with our first. Besides my wedding day, the day that my son was born was the happiest day of my life.
Darrel Justin Curtis was born at three in the afternoon, on my birthday (making it by far the best birthday I've ever had). Now most of the people I know think that it's annoying for me to share the same birthday as my son- most of the attention on him and what not but I love it. I love us being able to share our days together- every year since he was born I've taken him to a football game to celebrate. Then, of course, I get my birthday present from Charolette when I get home that night.
Don't get me wrong, our marriage wasn't as picture perfect as some may think, we have a lot of arguments and tons of disagreements, but we both tend to follow a simple rule: we don't go to bed angry. No matter the fight, we put it on pause until the morning. It was a rule my parents had, which is part of the reason I think they were so in love.
I saw Johnny holding his youngest daughter as well as his wife's hand. Elena was holding Easton's hand and they were all grinning, Johnny was laughing and shaking his head.
I waved at them so they could see me and Easton came running over to give me a hug. I grinned and picked her up, giving Johnny a sideways hug before kissing Elena's head,
"How was the flight?"
Elena sighed, "Noisy, Ella wouldn't stop crying at all and so many of the passengers kept trying to yell at me… I don't know how Johnny managed to sleep through her crying."
He shrugged, "I've worked overtime all week, I'm pretty sure I could sleep through a hurricane."
I laughed and went with them to the baggage claim to grab their bags before taking them to the company truck. We started driving and I looked at Johnny who was sitting beside me,
"Do you mind if I make a couple stops? I have to grab some things for dinner and what not."
"Sure man," He said, "We need to pick some things up anyways, you have the room for a couple groceries?" I nodded,
"There's tons of room in the bed."
"Okay, thanks man." We pulled up at the local grocery store and we split up to grab what we needed, until I made it to the condom aisle at the same time as Johnny. He grinned,
"Well I can definitely say I never expected to be buying condoms next to you again." I laughed, remembering a day back when the boys were younger and I brought them to the grocery store to buy them each a pack of condoms- we really didn't need any mini-me's of the gang running around.
"I hear ya." I grabbed the two boxes that Char requested and Johnny got a variety pack- glow in the dark, warm up condoms, flavour, and pleasure shaped.
"You find those work good?" I asked, now debating if I should grab a pack of those too.
He nodded, "Depending on which condom we pick out kind of determines the mood. I mean glow in the dark tends to lead to a fun night where as warm up condoms are a more romantic night."
I nodded and grabbed a box of those too. We both started pushing our carts towards the check out where Elena was waiting with the girls, each of his daughters holding a stuffed animal. Elena smiled apologetically before putting them on the belt, and Johnny started putting their groceries on the belt. I went to a different cashier, hoping to be done at the same time at them.
When we got back into the truck Johnny looked over at me grinning, "We decided to move back home."
"That's awesome, it's going to be amazing having you guys so close to home again. Also, I know that staying in a hotel with two kids is little to no privacy… So if you'd like the in-law house at our place is yours for however long you'd like it. There's three bedrooms, a bathroom and a half bath off of the master and a kitchen."
"Thanks man, we really appreciate it."
When we pulled up I noticed mostly everyone's car there, thankfully we still had enough room to pull into the driveway,
"Let's bring the groceries in, we'll the rest of your stuff later."
They nodded in agreement and we took the groceries in, they helped me put away the things for dinner before we went outback. All of the guys started grinning and they got up to hug Johnny tightly,
"Man, it's been too long." Steve said, clapping Johnny's shoulder. He grinned and nodded,
"You guys remember my wife, Elena, and these are our daughters Easton and Eleanor."
All of the guys and most of the girls nodded- we had met Elena first when she had come to visit and then again at their wedding- which was absolutely huge and well.. Straight out of a magazine. Elena's family was one of the richest in Maine, and within the top thirty richest families of the states. We didn't know this until the wedding, where it became obvious (Johnny had all of us guys as groomsmen, and Elena also had seven bridesmaids, and DJ was their ring boy).
I smiled, re-introducing everyone to each other. Once everyone was introduced people went back to what they were doing- swimming, chatting, or in Soda's case playing 3 against 1 football with DJ and his twins. Pony came over and gave me a tight hug and I grinned, hugging him back tightly,
"How's it going kiddo? You look great," I said, ruffling his hair. He laughed and playfully swatted my arm away,
"It's going good, the drive down was a little slower than I wanted but we made it so that's all that matters." Usually Pony and I talked on the phone once a week if not more, I liked to keep in touch with with him being so far away. I saw the rest of the gang at least once a week, every Saturday they came over for dinner and to watch the game.
We kept chatting about kids and jobs before we heard a truck pull up.
"We're in the back!" I called, knowing it was Dallas. I heard the latch being pulled on the gate and our dog, Jake, started barking. Because Jake started barking all of the other dogs among the family did as well.
"Jake, enough." I said, pointing down so he laid at my feet. I didn't want this dog- the kids begged me to get him and I ended up doing everything with the damn dog. Dallas walked in, holding a case of beer on his shoulder and Beth followed closely behind. We could tell that she was nervous, I mean as far as she knew none of these guys besides Johnny and I knew about her.
"Hey Dal," I said, taking the case of beer from him and putting it on the table. He shook my hand before I pulled him in for a hug, smiling at Beth,
"You must be Beth, I don't know how you put up with him," I said grinning. She grinning and shrugged,
"I don't either." Dally rolled his eyes playfully and placed a protective arm around her waist.
"Alright Beth, we've got a lot of introductions to do," I said, before starting to place a name to every face she saw-including the dogs. She smiled happily when she recognized Elena and Johnny, and I was glad she at least knew someone here besides Dallas. Elena took Beth back over to where most of the girls were sitting and chatting while Dallas came to sit in the lounge chairs with us guys (except for Soda who looked to be having the time of his life playing football).
"So what do you do now?" I asked, looking at Dallas as he opened a beer,
"I'm a plumber," He said, before taking a swig,
"Really? Damn," Two-bit said, just as surprised as the rest of us,
"Yeah really, bartender doesn't pay enough."
"Well I mean if you're ever thinking of moving back here I'm looking for a plumber." I said, just throwing the idea out there.
"Well I may have to take you up on that offer… Beth and I are moving back here."
"Wow, that's great man. Alright we'll talk business later." He nodded and they looked at Dallas,
"So what does your girl do? She got a pretty big rock on her finger," Steve said and Dallas grinned,
"She's a cop. Yeah, I gave her a budget and let her pick whatever ring she wanted."
"A what?" Pony asked, like the rest of them he found it hard to believe,
"A cop. A detective actually."
"Damn, how did you meet her? She haul you in?" Two-bit said chuckling and Dallas smirked,
"Yeah then I fucked her in the cell."
Johnny rolled his eyes, I bet he'd heard the story first hand from Beth, "Dal come on."
Dallas sighed, "I was working at a cop bar and she started coming in every night, things went from there."
I smirked, finding it hilarious that Johnny still tried to put Dallas in a better place. We all chatted, Dallas mainly catching up with the rest of the guys.
Later that night Dallas and Beth left to go to the motel- they (Dallas) claimed they didn't want to keep us up so it would be safer if they stayed in a motel.
Charolette was rubbing lotion onto her hands and arms when I got into the room from saying good night to Josie and DJ.
"Hi beautiful," I said, pulling my shirt off. She smiled and leaned over to kiss me,
"You have the day off tomorrow right?" I nodded, laying beside her,
"Yeah, I was thinking we sleep in before we start the days activities. What did you think of Beth?"
"She seems nice, maybe a little shy around all of us but I'm sure it'll be fine after tomorrow."
"Probably. Do you girls have any plans?"
"I invited them all over for a swim and then I thought we could have some wine and what not in front of the fire place."
I nodded and kissed her, "The boys want to head up to the bar by Soda's place to catch up, is that okay?"
She nodded, "You're not drinking right?"
I shook my head, "No babe, I figured I'd DD and Soda probably will too but I'm not sure."
"Okay, good." She said, getting up and going into the washroom. I laid back and put my hands behind my head, closing my eyes.
"Lets get a shower before bed."
I stood up and went with her to our shower. After we finished our shower I unlocked our door and looked down to see Josie sleeping just outside of it and I looked back at Charolette- we'd been trying to break her habit of sleeping with us every night. Char sighed,
"Put her back in bed… We can't let her sleep in here some nights and not others." I nodded and scooped her up, carrying her back to her room and tucking her back into bed.
