The Pickled Parrot was a small restaurant and bar that surprisingly remained open in Canton for more than four years. With the neighborhood quickly filling with yuppies and those who preferred the Bohemian lifestyle, there were certainly enough bars and clubs in Canton to satisfy any customer's taste and run other establishment out of business. Hell, on Boston Street alone, there were a total of twelve bars, six restaurants, and two clubs all within a four block radius. It was a wonder that Parker and Avery's favorite spot remained open as long as it did.
It wasn't so much the establishment itself, but more the atmosphere and wonderful owners, that caused Parker and Avery to wander into The Pickled Parrot whenever they had time. They had befriended both the owners and staff and were always treated like family when they walked in the door.
The place itself was tame, even for a bar in Canton. With its beautiful cherry wood floors, marble tabletops, brass railings, and an old fashion wooden bar, every ounce of love, dedication, and drop of sweat that was put into that place could be seen in every corner. Plus the fact that they had a big ass game room in the back made it that much sweeter. There was no dropping cigarette ashes on the floors, throwing shit around, or bar fights, not if you were a regular. Those who frequented The Pickled Parrot respected the hell out their neighborhood hotspot entirely too much for that shit.
But then again, there were always those fucking newcomers that didn't understand the way things worked. And judging from the table next to theirs, Avery had a feeling that this was going to be a long fucking night. Filled with six drunken college girls, with their perfect bobbed haircuts and their halter tops showing all kinds of cleavage and tight jeans showing off their curves, Avery watched silently as these girls captivated the attention of almost every single guy there.
As soon as Randy and Jeff were away from the table, Parker turned to her friend and smiled. Avery seemed distracted, so what better way to pull her away from her death glare on a table full of loud, obnoxious girls than to ask her about Jeff? "So? How did last night go?"
Avery immediately turned her head and her entire face lit up. "Parker, Parker, Parker, Parker…" There were so many words that Avery wanted to say, yet somehow there weren't any to describe being with Jeff. "Wow. That's all I can say is, wow."
A huge smile crossed Parker's face. She knew that dreamy glassy eyed look on Avery's face anywhere. "It was that good, huh?" Raising her brows and nodding her head, she knew it wouldn't take much prompting before Avery told her entirely too much information about the encounter, but that's what best friends were for, right?
"You wouldn't think it by looking at him…but Parker…" Avery placed her hand over Parker's and the dramatics ensued, "he knows what the fuck he's doing. Excuse while I wipe the tear from my eye." Her voice cracked as if she was about to cry from happiness. Apparently, Jeff was so good that it robbed her vocal cords the ability to speak in an even tone. "And he's got this move where he does his hips, like this..." Avery stood at the table and swung her hip to the left and then to right with force, then gyrated for a moment.
"I don't need a visual." It was bad enough that Parker was going to get the play by play, but did Avery really need to demonstrate in front of the whole bar?
Avery broke character long enough to explain why she was acting out what move Jeff did. "Well, I thought I'd paint the picture, just in case you did." And as soon as the explanation was over she was right back in character. She sat back down and clutched Parker's arm. "Then he slapped that ass….Girl, I like to lost my damn mind. That's where it's at."
At the risk of hearing more of the story, Parker dared to ask a question. "So, things are good now? No more plans to commit sexual assaults?"
"Oh, I'm still raping his ass. But lemme tell ya, he does that late night while I'm asleep thing I love. You know where one minute I'm dreaming about buying handbags and the next thing I know, he's fucking the shit out of me. He's perfect. I think I finally found the perfect man. I need to bottle his ass up and keep him on my shelf or carry him around in my pocket in case of emergency."
The elation on Avery's face made Parker smile. Finally, Avery had found a decent guy that was crazy about her and apparently could keep up with her unchecked libido. That was truly a miracle in itself. "I'm so glad you're happy."
"What about you? How did your night with Animal Planet go?" That name always made Avery giggle. Hell it was true. She had Randy for one night and though she didn't think about it often, she remembered that much.
Parker smiled and cut her eyes toward Avery. "We are officially a couple."
"Really? Oh my God! You and him made it official? How in the fuck did you manage that?" It wasn't that Avery doubted Parker's skill or how wonderful she was; she just had her reservations about Randy. He was a nice guy, but Randy wasn't really boyfriend material. He was the kind of guy that you called in a pinch; Randy was a self-titled booty call man, nothing more. But somehow Parker changed that.
Parker shook her head with a shrug. She still didn't understand how that happened. And in the eighteen hours since it happened, she felt a whole new range of emotions and insecurities that she didn't think she had. It was always easier to be with Randy over the phone. Flirting with him, talking dirty to him, all of that was easier if she didn't have to see how fucking attractive he was. And it wasn't his face; it was just the shear perfection of his body. When Randy wasn't in Parker's sight, she didn't compare herself to him, but as soon as he was around, she did. And it wasn't that she was uncomfortable around him, but it was something that always made her feel different when he was there, and when other people were there too, it just intensified. Randy made her feel special; other people's reaction to Randy making her feel special, weirded her out.
It was always her comfort zone to know that they didn't have a real relationship. Sure she had feelings for him, but the way they went about everything before last night, there were no obligations or expectations. At anytime, either could decide they wanted to be with someone else and the other wouldn't have a right to get salty about it. That was the one thing that kept Parker from falling for Randy. Being friends with benefits had its advantages to her, but now Randy had changed all that.
Not that Parker thought that Randy was going to just up and leave. Hell, for the past six months even without a commitment, he had been committed to her and her to him. But now the stakes were higher. Now, they had a vested interest in each other, they were building toward something. Now, if he decided the girls at the table next to them were more his speed, she didn't have that, 'we're just friends' wall to hide behind. She knew it would genuinely hurt.
"I didn't do anything. That was him." Parker heard the fear in her own voice. What if he just changed his mind? She wasn't a paranoid person by any stretch of the imagination, but for a woman who had never been enough, or too much, of a woman for most men, having her first boyfriend scared the shit out of her. "I'm gonna be completely honest with you, I'm fucking noid over this shit, Ry-Ry."
"Park…he knows how fucking amazing you are. And it's about damn time, too. If he didn't do something soon, I was gonna have to beat the shit out of him." Avery's face said she didn't lie. She wasn't the type that would interfere with her friend's relationship, but she just wanted the best for Parker.
Avery knew that Randy knew, via Jeff, how phenomenal Parker was. And it was a damn shame that that man didn't think he was good enough for her. Avery wouldn't tell Parker all of the things that Jeff had shared with her, but Randy had a fear that he had only admitted once, when he was completely fucked up, that Parker was way out of his league. Jeff had told her that Randy said that Parker was so smart and funny and beautiful, there was nothing he could do to live up to that. Sure he could fuck her senseless, but really, what else was there that he did for her? That's what he was good at; Randy was a face and a name and not much more. Eventually she would get tired of his bullshit and his in your face personality and that's what kept him from telling her how he felt. It was cop out, but then again, Randy had that track record to be mindful of.
"This is it Park. It's finally time for us to be happy. And I'll tell you like this, I'm gonna ride this bitch till the wheels fall off. I've never seen you happier and I know damn well I've never felt like this about a guy who felt the same way about me. I'm going all out. You can sit back and worry yourself into an ulcer if you want to, but me? I doing it big 'cause I don't know if I'm ever gonna have this again. I mean really, how often does the whore find a nice guy?" It was almost too good to be true. Jeff Hardy was still interested in her, even the day after sleeping with him. "And when we leave here, I'm buying him some overalls, a straw hat, and a piece of wheat to chew on." Avery checked off the items on her fingers as if to make a mental note of her shopping list.
"Why?" As soon as Parker asked, she regretted it.
"I got this Huck Finn fantasy that I want to do with him. We're talking bare feet, looking like Farmer Brown, the whole shebang...I'm doing it all before it goes away." As soon as Avery looked up and saw Jeff making his way back to the table, a huge smile split across her face. She wasn't smiling because she was happy to see him. She was smiling because he was smiling at her with that look on his face. It was that same look that he had given her the night before; that look that said she was the most beautiful girl in the room. "That's my man." She informed Parker and pointed toward herself to reiterate that fact that he was hers. And just in case anyone else missed that, she looked around the restaurant and raised her voice. "Jeff Hardy…my man." It didn't matter to Avery how long it lasted, only that at that moment it was true.
It was rare to see Avery this excited over a guy. Hell, it was rare that Avery would still be with a guy, but Parker wouldn't have traded that smile on her best friends face for anything. Nor she would ever want to take away that dreamy look when Jeff sat back down and gently kissed her on the cheek. Jeff made Avery turned to putty and for a woman like Avery that was hard to do.
It was funny; Avery found her Prince Charming and Parker, her Boy Wonder. They were two completely different men with two polar opposite ways of showing affection, but for the two very different women they were with, they were perfect for each other. In reality, Jeff and Parker's temperaments were much more suited for each other, but they would be boring as hell together. The two of them would sit there thinking all the fucking time, never once really acting on anything. Avery and Randy both had the tendency to be loud and obnoxious and both were both emotion driven. More than likely, they'd kill each other if anything more ever transpired between them. They'd both need to be the center of attention and that relationship would have been over before it started.
Randy could see Parker sitting there with a smile on her face from the pool table. Meandering away from his in-progress game, he leaned over and kissed the hell out her, shoving his tongue in her mouth with all the passion he felt. There was no romantic, gentle brushing of his lips against hers. Nope. Randy wasn't like that. His impulse told him to slob her down and that's exactly what he did. The rules of Public Displays of Affection be damned. Randy Orton didn't follow rules. His plan was just to take her breath away and he was successful. That lust-drunk look in her eyes was what he wanted to see at the time. "You wanna beer?"
Parker couldn't talk; her brain was still numb from that kiss. Instead she nodded her head and watched as Randy walked away. But what turned her attention from looking at the muscles in his back through his tight ass t-shirt was the incessant giggling she heard from the table next to them.
Avery turned her head slowly and locked eyes with one of the girls. It was no damn coincidence that their laughter started the second that Randy's lips met with Parker's. She noticed the way the other girls were staring at Parker and giggling to each other, coupled with their whispering and a few gasps of utter disbelief. Avery's head turned from the table, to Parker, then back to the table, then back to Parker.
"What?" Parker asked Avery since she was strategically ignoring the other table; that always happened when she was out with Randy. They would get stares and raised eyebrows. Randy was cute, but he wasn't Boris Kodjoe or anything. But still a man that looked like him wasn't supposed be with a girl that looked like her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Avery placed a hand on her thin hip and raised her brow and her voice so that the table next to them could hear her. "I'm just trying to figure out if you got shit on your shoulder." She turned to her head toward the six girls and stared them down. "Cause if not, there ain't no reason these bitches need be all up in your fucking grill."
Jeff's hand instinctively went to the back of Avery's neck and he started to calmly massage it. "Avery…you need to calm down." His voice was soft and non-threatening. Jeff would never tell Avery how to behave, but he would always try to calm her down so that she wouldn't blow up.
There were a few scoffs from the table, but the laughter stopped and the girls seemed to go about their business of being skanky whores. But it wasn't until one of them, the blonde, with the pink halter top that was too small, showing all of her full sized C breasts decided to take matters into her own hands. Sitting her drink down, she informed her friends, loud enough for Parker and Avery to hear, that they should all, "watch this".
Randy stood at the bar talking to bartender when the cute blonde approached him. She didn't say anything; she just stood next to him. There was plenty of room at the bar, there was no reason for her to be that close. But shit, he got that all the time. He could tell when a chick was hitting on him. He was a flirt; he couldn't help but to respond back. With a smirk on his face he looked at the blonde, then continued his conversation with the bartender. When she turned to face him and stuck her chest out, just a little further, Randy turned his attention to her and smiled. "Nice shirt."
"I should fuck that bitch up." Avery felt Jeff's arm come around her in an attempt to keep her at the table.
"Avery, if Parker ain't mad, why are you?" Damn Jeff and his sense of reason. Who cared if Parker wasn't mad? Parker wasn't the type to break off in somebody's ass when they deserved it, either.
Avery looked at Parker, who just sat there watching this chick practically shove her tits in Randy's face. There was no real definition to the expression on her face, but it wasn't comfortable. "Because Parker's too nice. Fuck that. I'm not. I will beat a bitch's ass up in this motherfucker."
"Ry-Ry, she's not doing anything." Parker couldn't take her eyes off of the display and she swore that her heart was going to stop when the blonde handed Randy a piece of paper, which she assumed contained her phone number. She watched in silence as Randy made his way back to the table and the blonde followed, sitting at her own seat.
Randy took his seat next to Parker and handed her the beer. As soon as she reached for it, he pulled it away. "You gotta pay me for this."
"I'm not paying you for a beer, Randy." She tried not to sound annoyed, especially not with the steam pouring from Avery's ears right next to her.
With a pout, Randy leaned over and nibble on her neck. "Please?"
Damn him and the nibbling. "What do you want?"
"Hmm? You bent over your dining table, some head, or both…whatever." He captured her lips and smiled into their kiss, before pulling back and placing the beer in her hand. "Oh, and you can have this, too." He handed her the paper with the blonde's phone number and lifted his own beer to his lips like there was nothing to it.
Parker wasn't really sure how to take that action. Looking down at the name, Bethany with ten digits written in really bubbly handwriting, Parker held the paper back out to Randy. "You sure you won't be needing it?"
Randy raised his brow as he tried to figure out just what Parker meant by that. "She had nice tits, but…they ain't as nice as the twins." His smile started to fade when he realized that Parker wasn't smiling back. This was exactly what he was worried about. How does a man that was a flirt by nature, stop to please one woman? Turning fully in his chair to meet Parker's face, Randy looked in her eyes gently tucked her hair back behind her shoulder. "Unless you wanna fuck her, I don't need her number. But if you decide to call her, I wanna be there, cause I wanna watch that shit." He couldn't stop smiling when she smiled back at him. "You ain't getting rid of me that easily."
Avery rolled her eyes, when the blonde looked back at Randy and Parker with their faces close to each other, talking softly. Just the way she shook her head, pissed Avery off. "Skank bitch!"
This was just day one of being Randy's girlfriend and for some reason she thought things would be different. Like people would just know and back the hell off. Before she was his girlfriend, other women acted like he wasn't there with her. So why should she expect it to change now?