I fucking swear. Michelle, if you fuck this up...
“Trust-fund baby, huh?” Cap nodded toward Michelle and raised his beer bottle. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.”
Stand up. Your tits are falling out, and you look like a slut.
I cleared my throat. Twice. Michael exchanged glances between Cap and me. I was sweating bullets, and wondered if Michael could tell. I tossed my head toward the living room. “Should we go sit down?”
“I’m fine right here,” Michelle said. “Unless everyone else wants to.”
“You ever seen New Girl?” Cap asked.
“Oh my God,” Michelle gasped. “Best. Show. Ever.”
“Isn’t that the fuckin’ truth. Just finished season three. Schmidt is the funniest fucker I ever seen.”
Michelle chuckled and finally stood up straight. The neck of her see-through blouse hung well below the top of her bra. I fought against the urge to walk around the bar and adjust it.
“They’re all funny,” she said with a laugh. “That’s the best show. I swear. I love it.”
“What’s your favorite episode?” Cap asked.
In the middle of a drink, Michelle lowered her wineglass. “The one when Winston and Schmidt went to buy crack. What about you?”
“The one where they all talked about losin’ their virginity.”
“I laughed so hard,” Michelle said. “Schmidt is such an idiot.”
Tempted for a moment to go into the living room with Michael and leave them in the kitchen talking about New Girl, I decided to drink my wine and enjoy their conversation instead. The evening was more about them than it was about us, anyway. I just hoped she didn’t make any more mistakes.
We stood at the bar for some time, talking and laughing, and for the first time since Michael and I had been together, I felt completely normal about our relationship. My lack of exposure to any and everyone I knew while in Michael’s presence acted as a constant reminder that my family and friends were unaware of how happy I was, and how much I simply adored Michael.
Sharing time with Cap and Michelle made me feel like my relationship wasn’t such a secret, and I liked how I was beginning to feel. My mind soon faded away from the conversation and to my father.
I tried desperately to convince myself he would find a way to accept Michael. I eventually decided that if Michelle was in a relationship with Cap, and I was in one with Michael, that it would be much easier to tell my father. He and Michelle’s father could discuss their concerns with each other, find a way to accept what we had done, and life would continue without anyone being killed, me included.
I glanced at my watch.
It was almost eight o’clock.
“So how tall are you?” Michelle asked.
“Six-three,” Cap responded.
She straightened her posture and thrust her chest forward. “I’m five-three.”
Cap took a drink of his beer and grinned. “Perfect size.”
Michelle’s eyes went wide. “For what?”
Oh Lord.
“For anything. Pickin’ up. Tossin’ around. You know.”
I glared at Michael and quickly shifted my eyes to Cap. “Tossing around?”
“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “Durin’ sex.”
Well, that didn’t take long.
“Do you really think you could pick me up? Like up off the floor?” Michelle asked.
Oh Lord. Really?
“Know I could. Hell, I bench-press two-hundred-sixty pounds forty-five times three days a week. I don’t think pickin’ you up will be a problem.”
She pushed her wine to the side and walked around the end of the bar. “Do it.”
Michael glanced at me, shook his head, and shrugged. He didn’t seem to be concerned about the earlier trust-fund comment, and I convinced myself he didn’t catch it. He hadn’t said two words all night, but with Cap and Michelle ogling each other and talking a hundred miles an hour, it was tough to even get a single word in on their conversation.
Cap slipped his hands into Michelle’s armpits, picked her up until her head almost hit the ceiling, and lowered her to the floor.
Holy crap.
“So what about the tossing around stuff?” Michelle chuckled. “Tell me about that.”
I shot her my best laser-sharp glare. “Michelle!”
She glanced over her shoulder, returning her own shitty stare. “What?”
Cap glanced at me and shrugged. “Ain’t much sense in beatin’ around the bush.” His eyes shifted to Michelle. “I been known to like it a little on the rough side.”
Michael coughed out a laugh. I glanced at Michael and shook my head.
“Sounds to me like we have two things in common,” Michelle said.