That Wedding (44 page)

"I'm okay with spending some of it on a house! Phillip is the one that isn't. He said,
What if we don't work out
. And I've only spent it on things they would've spent it on. Like they insisted I go to college, so I was okay with it. They would've paid for my wedding, so I'm okay with that. But I'm pretty sure they never would have bought me a Ferrari, Danny."

"True. But don't you think your parents would love the idea of you living by us, of our kids growing up together, just like we did?"

"Yeah, they probably would, but it's not me you have to convince, it's Phillip."

"So once again, tell him you insist. Tell him it's what your parents would want, and just buy it!"

"I don't think he'll let me. He's stubborn."

"Then you have two options. Use your feminine ways on him or make him feel guilty. Tell him you strongly believe it's what your parents would want, and you feel like if you don't, you'll be letting them down."

"You're devious, Danny."

"Yeah well, that's why we get along so good."

After a great dinner, we're all sitting around the curved hotel bar, laughing, joking, and reminiscing. As we learned last night, one thing about being friends with people practically your whole lives, they never seem to forget anything.

So of course, the topic turns to me and Phillip.

Blake goes to Phillip, "So now that you're engaged, you can finally tell us the truth. All those night the two of you went home to
watch movies
or
just chill
, you were hitting it, right? I mean we all knew it even though you were always like,
We're just friends
."

Nick joins in. "Yeah, why the big secret? It was so obvious to all of us. Every time you looked at Phillip, it seemed intimate."

My mind flashes back to coming home from hanging out with Nick, Chelsea, and some other friends. Phillip didn't go because he had a big test to study for. Phillip is a perfectionist. He likes to do his best at everything he does. That night, I came home and found his big body sprawled across my bed. I asked why he was in my room. He told me it smelled good, and it helped him relax. I quizzed him for a bit. Then he laid his head on the pillow next to me and buried his face in my chest. I could tell he was stressed, so I ran my hands through his hair. Sometimes, I rubbed it hard, like they do at the salon when they shampoo you. Other times, I was soft and gentle. I moved down to his neck, which was a mass of knotted up muscles. I figured his back was tense too, so I offered to rub it. I'd rubbed his back and shoulders many times before, but he'd always had his shirt on. He sorta shocked me when he sat up and pulled it off. I will admit, I didn't really mind rubbing his naked skin. I rubbed his back the same way I had rubbed his hair. Sometimes, hard and massaging. Sometimes, soft little caresses. Other times, I barely touched his skin with my fingertips. It was slightly hypnotic. I woke up later, wrapped in his arms, books still lying all around us. I didn't bother to wake him up. I told myself that I wanted him to sleep well before his test, but truthfully, I liked being in his arms. Nick is right. We were intimate. We just didn't have sex.

Nick continues. "You have this connection. I don't understand why you acted like it wasn't happening."

"Because it wasn't!" I exclaim.

Lori says, "Guys, it's true. Sad, but true."

"Damn, Phillip," Logan says, "you must've been really in love with her to spend all that time with her and DO NOTHING!"

Everyone laughs.

"So basically you all lived together for three years and NOBODY was getting any?" Blake asks.

"Not from each other anyway," I stupidly say.

"That's so disappointing," Logan sighs. "Jay baby, you should've come to Loggie. Oh wait, you did." He flashes me a cheesy grin.

"Shut up, Logan. I didn't do anything with you either."

"I wouldn't call it anything."

"Fine. I made out with some of Phillip's fraternity brothers, but seriously, that's all I ever did."

"Uh, Matt Fuller," Logan reminds me.

"Well, yeah, I dated him for four months. After he dumped me and pissed me off, I revenge dated his best friend because it drove him nuts. Those were the only two boys from your frat I slept with. I just, I don't know, I couldn't sleep with Phillip's friends."

"You didn't have any problem sleeping with my friends," Danny teases.

Nick jokes, "You just have a thing for hot football players, like me."

I turn my head and ask Danny, "Is a kicker considered a real player?" Then I give Nick a smirk.

"Actually, kickers are definitely real players. Think how many times a kick wins a game."

"True," everyone says, agreeing with Danny.

"Lori, how many football players did I sleep with?"

She holds up her hand, which is forming a big fat zero.

Danny looks at me in surprise. "Really? Is that true?"

"Yeah, sadly."

Nick says, "Why does that surprise you, Danny? You're the one that told every guy on team that we could look but not touch."

"YOU TOLD THEM THAT? Danny!! That was so not fair!"

Danny and Phillip laugh. "I never really thought it would work," Danny says. "Glad to know it did."

"Well it certainly explains a lot. It didn't matter though, mostly I did just fine finding boys without the two of you. And I preferred it that way."

"Yeah, you were sneaky," Danny says.

"I had to be! Here everyone thought it was all hot wild sex going on, but the truth is, it was like I lived with two FATHERS!"

Danny says, "Please. We used to get into trouble together. I never acted like your father."

"You did if I was
getting into trouble
with anyone but you."

Nick says to Danny. "Like when you guys used to make out at the bar?"

Phillip and Lori both look at us.

Shit. I'm pretty sure neither one of them knew about that.

Danny ignores Nick. "I've always watched out for Jay. Phillip and me both."

"And she's always needed it," Phillip says adorably.

He pulls me into a sweet kiss. Phillip's kisses are so amazing. I think that's why it was never a big deal to kiss Danny. It didn't really mean anything. It was more like an adventure. I'm pretty sure somewhere in the dark and scary recesses of my mind, I knew if I kissed Phillip it would've meant something more. Something important.

Dillon laughs and goes, "Remember that baseball game when JJ supposedly on accident mixed up the Gatorade bottles with Danny's special Gatorade/vodka mixes?"

Joey is like, "That was messed up, girl."

Phillip laughs. "Joey, you were the one who was messed up." He tells everyone else, "He got drunk during the game and was goofy and stumbling around."

"Everyone thought he had heat exhaustion and was delirious," Danny says.

"Hey, it was an honest mistake. I didn't see the special mark on the top. But I have to say, it was worth it. I don't think I've ever had so much fun at a baseball game."

"I don't even remember it," Joey says.

Neil clutches Danny's arm like he just remembered something super important. "Danny, dude, remember that chick from Park City that was all into you? She'd sit up in the bleachers in that little mini skirt with nothing on underneath? I got hit in the face with a pop fly one time when she uncrossed her legs."

Katie asks, "She was the one that had a boyfriend, right?"

Phillip laughs and says, "We all know how Danny felt about that."

All the guys say in unison, "
Just because there's a goalie, doesn't mean you can't score
."

We all laugh and giggle.

Joey is like, "Oh, guys, have you been out to Westown lately? They got a new convenient store. It's called the Kum and Go. I was seriously pumping my gas and laughing my ass off. Because,
pumping
!??!!"

"I know!" Neil says. "I get gas there every time I see my parents. I always feel bad though when I pump and don't go inside to buy anything. Like I did her, but I didn't stay to snuggle."

Lisa giggles. "I wondered why all the men were lined up outside. Coming and going is like their dream."

Lori quips, "Why? They can do that by themselves at home."

"A man totally named that store," I say. "Can't you see a bunch of high ass frat boys lying around, making up names for their future convenient store, and laughing their asses off?"

"We need to go there, Logan," Blake says. "We should try and plank on top of their sign."

Logan high fives Blake and says, "That'd be so awesome."

I look at Phillip and think it's time we go dancing. I can't wait to grind all over him and actually have the ability to back it up. I wanna drive him crazy. The kind of crazy that will make him want to take me back to my suite and drive me crazy. "You guys ready to go dance the night away?" I ask.

I've been thinking about what Danny said, and I may have stumbled upon a way to do it.

I'm going to plant a seed and hope it grows.

That's how my mom always said she dealt with my dad, and my dad was more stubborn than I am. Somehow though, my mom was always able to get her way, but at the same time, she made my dad think it was his idea.

I need to pull out the big guns (or maybe the small, subtle guns) to get Phillip to buy the house next door to Danny and Lori.

What do those ladies say in the movie,
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
? Something about the man is the head, but the woman is the neck. How the neck controls which way the man looks.

I need to be the neck.

I need Phillip to look at the house and make the decision to buy it.

I can't be the one to suggest it.

I need to find out how much they want for the house. I need to get Mr. Diamond to agree to let me spend it. Mr. D will be the one to tell Phillip it's what my parents would've wanted.

No, wait! I have an even better idea!

We'll make the money a GIFT from my parents.

Then it will be OUR money.

We'll go look at the house, and Phillip will say,
Now we can afford it. We'll take it.

Or something like that.

Phillip will think it's all his idea while I will act appropriately shocked and thrilled. Phillip will be my hero, and we'll live happily ever after.

Gosh, I hope this works.