Chapter 17 - At Last
Marie was cleaning a few beer mugs to get them ready for the Saturday night crowd. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice the guys come in. Mark and Jannie came up for the usual four pitchers of beer, and they teased her for not listening to them when they asked. While she laughed at them, her eyes landed on Silk. He was staring back at her, but she couldn't take the gaze, so she looked away and pretended that it didn't bother her. She didn't think she was doing a very good job of it.
Marie felt like a coward for leaving like she did yesterday morning. She knows that she should have stayed and talked to him, but she felt like such an idiot. Sleeping with Silk wasn't her plan, but when she found that when she was kissing him she didn't want to stop. He didn't stop them, and that stayed in her mind as well. She was thinking that maybe he thought of her as just a one night stand and that he would only think of her like that if they talked. If that was the case, her heart would seriously stop beating and she would be dead.
When the crowds actually started to come in, that's when she stopped thinking about her situation. She was to busy to even think of anything other than drinks. During that time though, he came up to refill two of the pitchers. Her heart skipped a beat when she looked at him, but didn't say anything as she reached for a pitcher. Her eyes stayed glued to the tap.
"Marie… can we talk about what happened?"
Marie sighed, "Now is not a good time."
"When will be a good time?" he asked leaning against the counter.
Marie asked, "What are you doing tomorrow?"
"The Christmas party," he replied.
Marie got the courage to look at him. "Why don't you come over after?"
"What if it's around ten?"
"I'll be up." He picked up the pitchers and before he started to turn she asked, "You didn't mention what happened to the guys did you?"
Silk shook his head. "No. It's none of their business." He smiled and left.
Marie turned around and leaned back on the counter. She closed her eyes for a few seconds to collect her wit. He wants to talk about what happened. We did have a few drinks. Maybe the alcohol talked for him, she thought. She sighed and went back to work.
An hour later, when she took her break she went outside instead of joining the guys. She was sitting on a crate on the side of the building and was just staring up at the night sky. She didn't see or hear another person come up. When they called her name, she jumped and looked over.
"Rizzo walk a little louder next time," she yelled at him. "You scared the shit out of me."
"Oh that's funny… I don't see any shit underneath you," he cracked.
Marie cracked a smile despite the fact how she felt at the moment. "What are you out here for? Shouldn't you be in there getting Regan a little tipsy so you can take advantage of her?"
Rizzo gave her a look. "I wouldn't do that to her."
Marie smiled. "I know. I was just kidding. I know you're a sweetheart and gentlemen."
Rizzo smiled. "The question is what are you doing out here instead of being in there around the guys?"
Marie replied, "I just wanted to get a few moments of piece."
Rizzo nodded. "Busy night?"
"Yeah."
"Is it just that? It doesn't have anything to do with my pal Silky, does it?"
Marie gave him a confused look like she didn't know what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"
"I saw how you were acting strange around him. Did something happen?"
Marie denied it. "I have no clue what you're talking about."
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" he asked.
"If there was something to talk about, then I'd say something. However, I don't have anything to tell you," Marie said.
Rizzo was quiet for a few seconds before nodding. "If you're sure than ok."
Marie bit her lip at his retreating back. "Rizzo!" she found herself calling out. When he turned back around, she grabbed another crate and patted it. "Can you keep a secret?" she asked after he sat down.
Rizzo nodded. "My lips are sealed."
Marie looked down at the ground and when she did that her hair covered her face, so Rizzo couldn't see her expression. When she looked up, she had tears in her eyes. "I fucked up. Thursday night after we went out we had sex."
"What!" he exclaimed. His eyes bugged out of his head.
Marie sniffed and then sighed. She started from the beginning and then ended a few minutes later. Rizzo was reeling from what she just told him. He let out a wow with a laugh. "I'm glad you find my situation amusing."
"No… I'm just shocked is all," Rizzo told her. "First off, Silky doesn't have one night stands, ever. So there's nothing to worry about there."
"When we talk tomorrow night, what should I say? Should I start out with I'm in love with you and then explain what I just told you?"
"That would be the best thing to do," Rizzo said. He put an arm around her shoulder. "It was only a matter of time for you both."
"What do you mean?" Marie inquired looked at him.
"Regan mentioned this and I agreed with her."
"What did she say?"
"When she first met us, she saw Silky looking at you the night we all hung out. She found it interesting and she kept an eye on him since then. After you ended it with Simon, you started to act a little different around him," Rizzo explained.
"You aren't going to tell her what I told you, are you?"
"Marie… I just swore I wouldn't."
Marie gave him a hug and stood up. "My break is over."
"Time to face the firing squad," he said. They walked back into O'Malley's and they parted. Rizzo made up an excuse to why they were out there for that long and Silk was thinking the opposite, but he didn't question it. He looked over at Marie and he thought she looked less… tense. Whatever they talked about looked like it helped.
vvv
Marie switched the channel on the television again. She just couldn't find anything good to watch. She was nervous and she just wished he'd get there already. The buzzer sounded and she got up, she hit the entry button and waited for the knock. She led him over to the couch, but she sat in the recliner next to it. There was a few seconds of silence before he spoke up first.
"About the other night…" he started to say.
Marie closed her eyes and sighed. "Wait… I have to get this off of my chest before you go any further." She looked at him and he nodded. "I've realized for a while now that I'm in love with you." After she said those words, she felt like a part of the weight on her shoulders left.
"You are?" he asked surprised.
Marie nodded. "Yes. When Simon broke it off with me he said that I might have already found a guy who appreciates me. It didn't really sink in until two days later. Part of why I was in bed was because of that."
"I don't really understand," he replied.
"Well… I just thought it was a ridiculous thought at the time. You know my explanation of what love and in love is, well… I found that I talked about you constantly to him. I never realized I did. I talked about you to Josh, Regan, Frankie, and sometimes to Lauren. You're in my head all the time."
Silk smiled. "Really?"
Marie nodded again. "I never realized I talked about you a lot to them. I started to have dreams about us getting together, us getting married, you proposing," she confided. His eyes widened, but he didn't say anything. "I find myself wondering what you're doing at a particular moment during a certain time of day." She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.
He sat a little closer to her, but he didn't do anything else.
"The night we had the horror movie marathon… it hit me that night how cute you were. I couldn't believe it hit me like that. It's not like I didn't notice, but all of a sudden… BAM! But the night that it really hit me was the night that Tim came into the picture. You looked so sad, I just wanted to go over and comfort you."
"Why didn't you?"
"The shock of realizing I fell for you," she whispered. "You're everything that I want in a guy, everything I dreamed about in a guy. I tried to talk myself into thinking that it wasn't true, but it was. The other night during the game, all I could think about was kissing you. All this time I've tried to act normal, but I just was had the hardest time doing it. I'm scared that I messed everything up. I probably just lost my best friend." She stood up and paced around the room.
Silk shook his head. "No you didn't."
"I want you to know that I don't regret it, but I was just going back to tell you this after I kissed you. I didn't expect it to go that far. I'm not like that. I don't go around sleeping with different men."
Silk said, "I know that."
"I'm scared that you don't feel the same way. When we kissed I swear fireworks went off. I'm scared mostly due to the fact that I've only been broken off with Simon for six and a half weeks. That seems so… messed up." She kept pacing back and forth and kept blabbering.
Silk couldn't take it anymore. He stood up, grabbed her shoulders and stopped her. It was his turn to talk. She tried to look anywhere but him, so he put a hand under her chin to make her look at him. "When you kissed me I was in shock at first and then I just started to respond. The fact that I was finally getting to experience kissing you it was like a relief to me. I didn't believe in love at first sight before I met you. Marie, I've been in love with you since the moment I first saw you."
"You're in love with me?" Marie whispered not believing it.
"Yes. I'm so in love with you that I've found myself not able to not be around you all the time. Before we became good friends, I would try to find excuses just to be around you. You captivated me and I was so good at hiding my true feelings for so long. I meant it when I said you're perfect. You just had to bad relationships is all. It wasn't you, it was them. You're my perfect girl."
Marie's heart swelled. She couldn't believe it.
"I didn't mean for us to go that far. When I stopped kissing you, I was going to tell you that, but you looked so beautiful. I got carried away. I just want you to know that I don't do that either, but with woman." Marie chuckled. "After, I stayed up, thinking, watching you sleep. I wasn't sure what you were going to say that morning. Finally I fell asleep. The fact that you ran out like that, shocked me. I was scared that I fucked up."
"When I woke up, I was scared. I didn't know what to do. When I got in the car, I started yelling and hitting the steering wheel. I felt…"
"Marie… I was worried about that, but now that I know I won't hold a grudge against you," he joked then he got serious. "I'm so in love with you. I love you."
Tears started to flow down Marie's cheeks and she felt like shouting in glee. Silk thought the tears weren't of happiness like she still felt terrible. He wiped them off with his thumbs.
"Please stop crying."
Marie smiled. "They're tears of happiness, I promise." She chuckled and sniffed. "Dave… I love you, too."
When they finally met for a kiss, the spark was still there. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before they sat down to talk.
"So why didn't you mention your tattoo?" he asked.
Marie smiled. "You didn't ask and I didn't bring it up. I got it during the Justin phase."
Silk nodded in understanding. "What does it mean?"
"It's the Chinese symbol for courage."
"God, if only I knew those guys before they did this to you," he stated.
Marie smiled. "Would you have done something?"
"Yeah, beat their asses."
Marie laughed and gave him a kiss. "You know what? You're my Prince that I've been waiting for."
"So I guess that means you're my damsel in distress then."
"I'm not in distress anymore. What do you love about me?"
"Everything to your heart to your eyes." Marie covered her forehead up and her nose, so he could look at her light blue eyes. "Yeah, those."
"I love how you get this innocent look on your face and it makes you look so young," she told him. "But that's not all. I love your eyes, your heart, and your soul. I love the way you play hockey, skate, the way you talk to my parents."
"I love the way you bar tend, listen, joke around," he started saying.
"Ok… I think we're getting into a competition here of who loves who the most," she said to him. "Oh… yeah. I also love the way you kiss." She gave him another kiss.
"I was born to be a good kisser, what can I tell you," he joked.
She laughed and tickled him. The tickling started out as innocent then eventually they just started to tickle each other. Then he eventually ended up on top of her and that's when they started to make out.
"Silky!"
Marie and Silk looked over at the door and saw a shocked Connie and Rob. Both started to laugh in embarrassment. They stood up after they untangled themselves and faced their friends. "What do you want to know?"
Connie found her voice again. "I knew it. The other day when we went to the fabric store, when that lady said Silk, plus all those looks you were giving him. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Wait… we just confessed our feelings for one another," Marie said. "I'll explain later."
Connie nodded. "You are so going to."
Marie chuckled at her best friend's excitement. "What are you thinking Rob?"
Rob started to laugh. "I can't believe you denied it."
Marie looked at Silk and raised an eyebrow. "Deny?"
"Does she know your present tonight?"
"I haven't told her."
"What present?"
"I'll take you to it," he said while taking her hand. He said bye to the other two and led Marie out to the hallway. When the door closed, Marie stopped and brought him back to her. The kiss was slow and they didn't end it for a while.
When they got into his car, he handed her a small white box. When she opened it, she looked at him with a amused look. She picked up the purple silk underwear. "Ok. This is what you got?"
"As a joke." He started to explain.
Silk opened the small box only to find silk purple underwear. He grabbed it in confusion and somewhat amusement. He looked over at Rob and that's when he started to explain, kind of.
"Your girl left these at my place… with some uh, milk and cookies. Give her a hug for me," he joked patting him on the back.
"Silky!" Jack cheered. "Good boy!"
Buzz and Verchota whistled while the other guys laughed.
"Put them on!" Jack encouraged.
Silk smiled and blushed a little. "You guys are unbelievable. Real funny guys."
"Actually, in truth, they're someone else's underwear. I don't believe you don't recognize them," Rob stated.
Silk looked up at Rob and asked, "What?"
"Aren't those Marie's?" Buzzy asked.
He looked over at Buzz and then saw the look on Rizzo's face. Rizzo knew, but he definitely didn't tell them. "Why would they be Marie's underwear?"
"Coxie, Jannie and Bah said they saw her leave the dorm on Friday morning. Didn't you two go out on Thursday night?" Verchota said.
"Yeah, but if you're implying something happened, it didn't," Silk told them. "We had a long night, we drank, she didn't want to drive home."
Buzzy shared a look with Bah, but Silk didn't question it. They were being nosy idiots and he didn't want to say anything because it wasn't their business.
"Hey boys, we still got two more presents to open up," Jimmy, who was dressed up like Santa, announced holding the gifts up.
Silk was thankful for that. He just didn't like that they were prying.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, these are my panties," Marie said seriously.
"What?" he asked shocked.
Marie replied, "I got out of bed so fast that I couldn't find them. They must have been under the bed." Silk had such a shocked look on his face that she started to crack up. "I'm kidding."
Silk gave her a look that said that wasn't funny. "You scared me."
Marie leaned over and gave him a kiss. "I'm sorry. They must have just wanted to pull a prank. Unless Rizzo really did squeal."
"You did tell Rizzo."
"It was eating me inside, I told him in confidence. Besides he encouraged me to tell you."
"Thank the lord for Rizzo," Silk said.
Marie smiled and threw the box down onto the ground. "What are you doing tomorrow?"
"Packing."
"Do you have to go home? Can't you stay here for Christmas?"
"No can do."
"Do you need any help?"
Silk smiled. "Come over tomorrow."
"I'll call first."
They leaned in and gave a goodbye until tomorrow kiss. Marie seriously didn't want to get out of the car, but she forced herself. Smiling, she went back into the apartment and there she was bombarded with questions.
