"Claudia, will you stop staring off into La-La Land and focus on my damn cake?" said Kristy with an exasperated sigh. "I can't believe you are this mushy over my brother Sam. The same Sam who used to prank call us, put fake puke in our sleeping bags, and hide fake bugs in the breakfast cereal…"
Claudia laughed as she thought back to all the jokes Sam used to play on them. "Well, Kristy, I could say, you honestly want me to concentrate on making you a wedding cake? For the girl who swore to never settle down and get married? The girl who practically screamed bloody murder if we tried to get her in a dress or put make up on?"
Kristy laughed and threw her hands up in truce. "Ok, Ok…people can change. It's just weird. I mean who would have thought my brother and one of my friends…" She let the sentence trail off as she noticed Claudia spacing out again. "Ok, back to my cake, what do you have planned? You know I don't want a boring round cake with boring flowers…"
"Trust me Kristy, I spent awhile drawing this up, let me know what you think…" She slid some drawings across the table and grinned as Kristy's jaw dropped.
"Claud, this is amazing, I mean. Holy Shit, this is GORGEOUS!" Kristy grinned as she looked at the drawings. Claudia had designed a pyramid shaped cake surrounded by a desert scene with a male and female character holding hands in front of what looked to be some artifacts. The cake was beautiful, with vibrant colors, and unbelievable details.
"I'm glad you like it, I want it to be my wedding gift to you and Nigel" stated Claudia shyly.
Kristy grabbed Claudia up in a hug and began to dance around the kitchen with her while Betty laughed.
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"So Kristy loved the cake!" exclaimed Claudia happily as she looked across her kitchen table into Sam's eyes. "I think Betty thought we were nuts! We were dancing all around and just being crazy."
Sam grinned. He had known his sister would love the cake and was happy to see Claudia realize once again how talented she was. He twirled some spaghetti around his fork and waited until Claudia looked at him. As soon as she did he sucked in a mouthful of spaghetti as she laughed.
"I still hold the record! I think I'm going on 25 years and still able to suck 11 noodles all at once.
"We'll see about that! I happen to be an expert at this as well!." yelled Claudia with a grin. She quickly gathered up some noodles and began to do the same. She began to cough and choke as she heard her cell phone ring and motioned for am to pick it up.
"Hello? Claudia's phone…"He turned and looked at the phone to make sure it had power. "HELLO?"
Claudia quickly wiped her mouth and asked, "No answer? That's so weird I had 4 missed calls today and it came up as name blocked."
"That's what this was too." Said Sam. "maybe it's telemarketers. Are you on the do not call registry?"
"Like I would know that…." She said with a snort.
"You're snorting now little piggy?" he said laughing as he threw a piece of garlic bread at her. "Oink Oink, my name is Claudia and I snort!"
Later that night as they sat on her sofa with their fingers interlaced, she let out a contented sigh.
"Are you full?" asked Sam with a teasing grin. "Are you about to stink up the room?" He laughed as she grabbed a pillow and hit him in the face with it.
"No, you ass. I was just thinking how happy I am." She turned her head had kissed him. "Business couldn't be better, I've caught up with my old friends, and even Janine and I are getting along better. Most importantly, I have a really hot boyfriend, who I love so much."
Sam furrowed his eyebrows and growled…"Who is this guy, I'll kick his ass." He then laughed and lay backwards on the couch pulling her on top of him.
"Seriously Sam…" said Claudia. "I honestly didn't think I ever could or wanted to fall in love again after Mark. I had pretty much given up, put up my walls, and then you came along. I owe this happiness to you and I will forever love you for it." She let her hair tickle his face as she leaned in to kiss him.
"Well, you know how much I love you Claud. I had my world turned upside down and you helped me set it back up. In fact…I was going to wait and tell you this weekend but I'll tell you now." He sat up quickly nearly knocking Claudia to the ground.
"Sorry babe." He laughed as he sat her on his lap. "I was talking to Jason and he was saying how Stacy wanted to get away for a little bit, and you and I had talked about talking a long weekend…so we thought the 4 of us should head somewhere warm for a few days."
"Oh my Lord!" screamed Claudia. "Where are we going?"
"How does 4 days in Cozumel sound?"
Claudia jumped up and began dancing and pulled Sam off the couch to join her. She began to unbutton his shirt as she let her skit fall to the floor. As things quickly heated up, they quickly found themselves naked on her family room floor.
Afterwards, as she lay in his arms, she kissed him, stood quickly and got dressed much to his protests.
"I thought I'd make us some margaritas to celebrate!" she called over her shoulder.
"You can't make those naked?" he replied as he began pulling on his pants.
Moments later he could hear the sounds of the blender grinding up ice. He cocked his head thinking he heard a sound. Moving closer to the hallway, he heard the unmistakable sound of someone knocking at the door.
He ran into the kitchen and motioned to Claudia that someone was at the door. She waved her hands telling him to answer the door. Nothing gets in the way of that girl and her margaritas…He thought laughing as he opened the door.
He opened the door and felt the blood drain out of his face when he saw who was standing there.
"Hon? Whose at the door?" called Claudia from the kitchen. When she didn't receive a reply, she picked up the pitcher of margaritas and walked into the foyer. "Sam? Who is it?" She saw Sam turn around with hurt in his eyes. He quickly stepped aside so she could see who the visitor was.
"Hey Claudia, It's been awhile, hasn't it honey?" He stated slyly.
Claudia gasped and threw both hands over her mouth to try and mask the horrified look on her face. She jumped as the pitcher crashed to the floor spraying sticky margaritas everywhere. Sam quickly looked back at her then again at the man at the door who began to speak.
"Hi, we haven't been introduced. I'm Mark, Claudia's fiancé." He extended his hand to Sam to offer a handshake.
