Hope everyone is still enjoying this! Let's get to it.
Thanks again to my beta, lynedele77
"How about this – 'I never thought Kenzi would get married. Nate, good luck.'" Bo looked at Lauren expectantly. It was Saturday afternoon, and they were sitting together on the couch.
Lauren smiled back over the medical journal article she had been reading. "Might need a little more workshopping."
"It's okay, I have some more options. How about 'marriage is about finding one person to have sex with until you die. Masel tov.' Better?"
"Is Nate Jewish?" Lauren asked, continuing to read.
"I love that that was your first and only critique. Okay, how about this one: 'I remember the day I came home from work to find Kenzi and Nate on the couch, fu—'"
"I'm going to stop you right there and say no," Lauren said.
Bo crossed it out. "Fair enough. Well, I'm officially out of ideas," Bo said, flopping back on the couch, dropping her legal pad onto Lauren's shins that were extended across her lap.
Lauren kept reading, saying nothing.
When it became clear that Lauren wasn't going to respond, Bo started to tickle the bottom of her foot. "Hey, Dr. Lewis, I said I'm out of ideas."
Lauren instinctively jerked her foot back and smiled. "I heard you."
"I thought we agreed that you would write this."
"As I recall I gave you sexual favors in exchange for taking that job back," Lauren commented, flipping the page.
Bo huffed. "In retrospect that was an impulsive deal that I should have thought through more."
"Oral contract is still a contract, Dennis."
"Was that innuendo?"
"Sure, why not," Lauren said with a shrug.
"I thought that sex would clear my head and help me think, but having sex with you did not help me think about Kenzi and Nate at all."
"I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that."
Bo groaned. "We can just bail on this wedding, right? Kenzi will get over it."
"Absolutely. I mean, sure, she's your best friend. And you're the maid of honor. And they changed the date to accommodate us. But, absolutely, there's no reason why we have to go," Lauren answered sarcastically, still reading.
Bo rolled her head on the back of the couch, turning it so she could look at Lauren. "I feel like you aren't sufficiently feeling my pain here."
Lauren moved the papers and smiled at Bo. "Bo, would you like help with the speech?"
"Well, if you insist," Bo said with a grin.
Lauren sighed and tossed the article onto the coffee table, sitting up and scooting beside Bo. "Okay, so far you have…"
Bo nodded. "Yeah, nothing."
"Alright, alright, we can do this. Do you have any funny memories of Kenzi from when you were young that you could use?"
"You calling me old?" Bo asked, playfully.
Lauren rolled her eyes, leaning forward towards the pad. "What about how she and Nate met?"
"They met in a bar," Bo said, still leaning her back, running her hand over Lauren's spine.
"There has to be more to the story than that."
Bo thought for a moment. "I think it was a sports bar?" She slipped her hand under Lauren shirt and started rubbing her back.
Lauren sat back and removed Bo's hand. "I feel like you aren't focusing here."
Bo smiled. "Sex usually helps clear my head."
"Mhmm," Lauren hummed with a smile. She gave Bo what was meant to be a quick kiss, but that quickly developed into something more. As Bo's tongue snaked into her mouth Lauren felt her hands sliding up, seeking out Bo's skin. After a minute of kissing, Lauren whispered, "thinking about Kenzi and Nate yet?"
"Who?" Bo asked, sounding legitimately dazed for a moment.
Lauren laughed and pulled away from Bo again. "Seriously, though, you need to make some progress on this."
Bo sighed. "Why can't I just goo—"
"You can't google it," Lauren said, cutting into Bo's sentence.
Bo's cell phone sounded. She picked up, and as she did Lauren saw the name "Smith" flash on the screen.
"Work?" Lauren asked.
Bo nodded, reading the message. "Yeah, he has a search warrant he needs me to look over," she answered, tossing the phone beside Lauren as she got up to get her laptop. "But when I'm done, we're having sex, right?"
Lauren just laughed, settling back with her article.
Bo and Lauren went out to the Dal that evening and spent too long drinking and laughing with their friends. This led to a Sunday morning of sleeping in and a general air of laziness around getting the house in order for the coming week. They managed to get everything in order, but by Monday morning Bo realized with a groan that she had made no further progress on the speech. By Tuesday, Bo was coming to realization that she was in trouble.
"Kenzi wanted me to bring her an actual draft by Thanksgiving," Bo lamented from across Lauren's desk. It was 3p and Lauren had been trying to finish some things when Bo had walked into her office, bearing two cups of coffee.
"Have you talked to her about it? Maybe she won't make you do a speech at all."
Bo took another drag of her coffee while Lauren continued to focus on her computer. "No dice, I tried to feel her out about that the other night. She wants a speech."
Lauren took a sip of her coffee. "This is decaf, right?"
"I know you don't like caffeine in the afternoon," Bo responded.
Lauren smiled, taking a second sip. "Alright, let's think here. Is there a poem or song Kenzi particularly likes? Maybe you could use that to get you started."
"She used to really be into that song Tubthumping by Chumbawamba."
Lauren stared at her for a minute to make sure she wasn't kidding. "Okay…that's not really the kind of song I was thinking about…"
"Bend Ova by Lil Jon?"
"More of a wedding night vibe than the actual ceremony."
Bo nearly spit out her coffee. As she and Lauren laughed, her cell phone sounded. "Shit, I have to go," she said, checking the message. She stood up and leaned across the desk to kiss Lauren goodbye. "Thank you, this hasn't helped at all."
Lauren smiled. "Anytime."
At 11:30p Lauren was wide-awake and trying to come up with new and creative ways to murder Bo.
"Decaf my ass," she muttered, climbing out of bed and heading towards the living room, leaving Bo and Zeus peacefully resting.
"Maybe I could just leave the country?"
It was Wednesday morning, the day before Thanksgiving, and Bo was in the kitchen, trying to find new and creative approaches to telling Kenzi she had made no progress on the speech.
Lauren smiled over her coffee. "Tell me how great I am."
"You're great. What are we doing?"
Lauren smiled again and turned, grabbing a folded sheet from the counter and handing it to Bo. "I wrote it last night."
Bo looked at her skeptically. "When?"
"After you fell asleep. I had a hard time falling asleep since you brought me that 'decaf' coffee yesterday afternoon –"
"I never said it was decaf. Also, real decaf is gross and I won't allow you to be subjected to that. Go on."
"—so I took another shot at it. It needs work, but hopefully it'll get you started."
Bo unfolded the paper. "Hey, there's real words on here!"
Lauren laughed. "What, you didn't believe me?"
Bo folded the paper back and leaned in to kiss Lauren. "Well, you do have a history."
Bo's office was more subdued than usual on the day before Thanksgiving. Knowing that she could afford to waste some time at the start of the day, she settled in with Lauren's speech and a fresh cup of coffee. Once everything was set, she unfolded the paper, and began to read.
I spent a long time trying to come up with a speech that perfectly captures Kenzi and Nate. I thought about big ideas, like the meaning of love, and about fate, and destiny, and all those other things that you see in epic poems and songs. No matter how many times I tried, no matter what approach I took, I came up with nothing.
I think this speech would have been easier if there was some big moment in Kenzi and Nate's relationship, some huge romantic movie-style gesture that perfectly encapsulated their relationship. I figured there must be some moment like that that I could use, so I spent a lot of time trying to come up with what it might be, what was that big moment that defined them as a couple.
For a long time, I came up empty. I couldn't find the moment I was looking for, that grand romantic gesture that would make for the perfect speech. And that's when I realized – that isn't what love is about. Love isn't about big moments, or sweeping gestures, or grand displays of emotion. Love is little things, tiny things, that are easy to miss.
Kenzi had her fair share of issues when it came to relationships. I witnessed virtually all of them firsthand. But, Nate, you were different. You walked into our lives and told Kenzi, 'hey, you know you're glad I'm here' with a smile and just kept moving. And you were right. You understand Kenzi in a way that no one else can. You click with her in a way that's beautiful, and sweet, and perfect, and, most importantly, simple.
Most of our lives we're taught that marriage is the end of the story. There is the love part at the beginning, and then marriage is just the riding off into the sunset. But, of course, that isn't true. Marriage is a continuation of love. Marriage isn't some sweeping crescendo at the end of the song, it's the beginning of a new song. Marriage marks the beginning of something that, from the outside, might look mundane or boring, but if it's done right, if it happens between the right people, from the inside it is something much greater.
On some level, love is just supposed to be easy. Love is being there for each other, supporting each other, respecting each other, celebrating each other. Love is finding someone with whom you can enjoy a bad movie. Love is finding someone who is charmed by your quirks. Love is being excited to call the other person because you found a great deal on cleaning products at the grocery store. Love is being able to talk to each other without words when you're out with friends. Love is having inside jokes that wouldn't be funny to anyone else but that are hilarious to you. Love is making the other person their coffee exactly how they like it without being asked.
Love is a million tiny things, like a lifetime of heartbeats. When love is at its best it's quiet, and understated, and enduring. Passion comes and goes. Infatuation is fleeting. Excitement is brief. But love – real love, like the love between Kenzi and Nate – that lasts forever.
Bo read the speech three times before she realized there was a tear in her eye. She pushed aside her coffee, untouched and forgotten on her desk, and sat in silence for a moment. Around her she heard the sounds of her office continuing – phones ringing, copy machine whirring, chattering of other people – but it all blended together into something that didn't fully register.
She came to her senses a few moments later and picked up her desk phone.
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