Our Own Way 6, page 27
“Fair.”
“We’ve already got a home security system, but we bought that back when we were still kinda on the edge of success. I’ve been looking for an excuse to upgrade it for the last year or so, and this is perfect,” Abby said.
“I’m beginning what I’m calling a nine-month deceleration process on my weed and booze. The booze will be easy enough to drop. I already have at this point, and I don’t really miss it. Honestly, I might just drop it completely. I’m kinda getting to be the age where I have to be more serious about being healthy. Ugh, fuck being in your mid-thirties,” she groaned.
“Sucks,” Abby agreed.
“It’s easier for you.”
“I’ll give you that. I established a workout routine and my parents were, not exactly strict about what I consumed, but involved enough that I still have pretty decent eating habits. And I have to give up weed and booze anyway. I’ll probably relegate them to weekends and particularly stressful nights for the next decade or so once I can start up, then go back to where I was. Or hell, maybe not. Maybe I’ll be fine with weekends. Or not at all...I know it’s prying, but where are you all at on that?”
“Weed and booze?” he asked, and she nodded. Emily looked interested.
“Well, we’re all stoners. Krystal is the heaviest pothead. Liz rarely does it. Me and the others are probably just south of medium users at this point. I don’t drink. Holly can’t drink. Liz doesn’t drink. Krystal mostly gave it up a few years back because weed is just so much better for her. Chloe drinks sometimes. Ellen loves her wine still, but I wouldn’t call it a problem. I’m probably going to start cutting back on weed soon.”
“Oh really?” Emily asked.
“Yeah. Once this Valentine’s Week is over with, and I’ve recovered a bit, we’re gonna have a big sitdown together and start trying to get everyone generally on a healthier track.”
“What does that look like?”
“Getting a regular doctor, getting a health checkup. Getting our teeth and eyes and hearing checked out. Bloodwork to see if we’ve got too much or too little of anything. Psychological evaluation, therapy, and, in probably most of our cases, medication. Probably encouraging everyone to get some form of exercise in every day.”
“I think most of you are getting a form of exercise in every day,” Abby murmured.
He laughed. “You aren’t wrong. But it’d be good to just build a habit of, shit, even just hitting the exercise bike for half an hour a day in the morning or going for a walk in the park. Just something.”
“Man, you grew up fast,” Emily replied.
Gabe thought about that for a moment. They paused and looked into the aquarium. A shoal of bright yellow fish was drifting by just then. Something startled them and they all darted away immediately, vanishing among the sub-aquatic greenery.
“I guess I did,” he replied, moving on. “Kinda feels like I had to. In their own ways, they’re all responsible, but it’s become clear to me that I’m the one they basically put in charge. Which is fair, and it’s not like I’ve got no help. It’s a collaborative effort. But I am in charge, so I do need to get my shit together more than it already is, and being healthy makes that easier.”
“Man, I am so glad I’m going to fuck you tonight,” Emily said.
He laughed. “Why?”
“Because being responsible and confident is hot.”
“It is,” Abby agreed.
“Am I being confident?”
“Yeah. I get that you have hesitations and anxieties and insecurities, but honestly, Gabe? From the outside? You’ve changed a lot, and all in good ways. You’re just a lot more confident now, in all things,” Emily replied.
“Interesting. And good for me.”
“Indeed,” Abby said. “And everyone else, too.”
He fell into thought as they kept walking and looking at fish.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
“Come on, guys! It’s not that hard!” Abby called as she sailed past them again.
“You’re gonna fucking get it tonight, I’ve got Gabe on my side!” Emily called back.
“I guess we’ll see about that, huh?” Abby said as she briefly flipped around and ice-skated backwards for a little bit. God, she had a hell of a smirk.
Rarely used, but powerful.
She flipped back around to the front and easily took off ahead of them, while he and Emily continued struggling alongside each other.
“This is less fun than I had hoped it was going to be,” Emily growled, then let out a small shout as she briefly lost her balance.
He righted her. “I dunno. We’re here together. That makes it pretty nice.”
She looked at him briefly, then smiled and seemed to resist the urge to roll her eyes. “You’re kinda weird, you know that?”
“Why?”
“You’re so...romantic, with us. And you don’t have to be. I mean, shit, you should already be well past tapped out today, but also just in general.”
“I apparently have a bottomless well for it, and on top of that, being romantic is fun. Why wouldn’t I be romantic with a woman I’m involved with?”
“Because...I’ve known too many guys who are nice when it’s convenient to their casual hookups or friends with benefits. Or, Christ, to their girlfriends or wives. I guess it’s just not normal. For me at least. But I do like it, to be clear. It just makes me feel kinda...weird? Not in a bad way.” She paused. “Okay, I’ll admit that it gives me a touch of paranoia. Like, ‘what is he trying to get me to do?’, you know?”
“I understand.”
“Good. Also, don’t think I didn’t see that ink. Krystal finally talked you into it?” she asked, eyeing his arm.
“How’d you know it was Krystal?”
“Come on, Gabe, who the fuck else is it going to be?”
“Good point. And yeah. Um...I was gonna ask…”
“Do me and Abby want to be added to ‘The List’?” she asked, grinning at him.
He laughed awkwardly, going to rub the back of his neck but then flailing as he briefly lost his balance. “Shit! Ugh. Yes, that.”
“I’d be cool with it. I think Abby would. I mean, you fucking knocked her up. And I get it, you’re not really going to be involved in the kid’s life, but if you’ve gotten close enough to a pair of married bisexual chicks to knock one of them up and still go out on dates and have hookups with them, then...I mean, that’s pretty damn close. The only thing is: I want to be there.”
“Deal.”
“Cool. Obviously, we’ll need to talk to Abby about it, because I don’t know if she might have some kind of hangup about it, but I doubt she will. Also, we’ve been out here long enough. I am getting no joy from this, how about you?” she asked, a little pointedly.
“Definitely,” he agreed.
“Slowpokes…” Abby said, drifting closer again.
Emily sighed explosively. “Abby! Gabe and I are getting out. You get another fifteen minutes, then we’re done.”
“Oh, is that so?” she asked, curving expertly into a stop as they approached the exit.
“Yes, it is. This is Gabe’s day and he isn’t enjoying this, and neither am I. And if you really want, I will come back with you again later.”
“That’s all right, babe. Thank you, both of you, for indulging me. I appreciate it. I’ll be ready to go in fifteen minutes,” she said, and then whipped off deeper into the rink.
“She is so annoyingly good at this, even now,” Emily muttered as they got off the ice and started getting out of the skates. “She almost went pro.”
“What? At ice skating?” Gabe replied, looking up for a second.
“Yep. Her parents insisted she try it in high school. She did, and fell in love. Ice skated all the fucking time. She was a natural. Clearly still is. She hit a few competitions around the state, won them all. As high school neared its end, she was getting recruitment calls. But ultimately she decided she wanted to go into law.”
Emily snorted suddenly as she pulled her shoes back on.
“What?” he asked, doing the same.
“It’s just, you’d think I’d be better at this. Although I guess skateboarding isn’t really the same thing, but it’s all balance, right?”
“Holy shit, you skateboarded?”
“Yep,” she replied, grinning.
They started walking over to return their skates. “That’s awesome. And hot.”
“Yeah, I was pretty cool. I was a skater girl, but a real one.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Badass. I didn’t take shit, and I was pretty good, too. For a good, solid year there, when I was sixteen, I kind of lived for proving shitheads wrong. So many guys take it personally when a girl exists in their chosen sport or hobby, and if it’s a sport, it’s always worse. And yeah, sometimes I ate shit and looked like a dumbass, but those times were rare. Mostly, I dominated. Looking back, I had an unfair advantage.”
“What’s that?”
“Hard to describe. I wouldn’t say I was a natural at skateboarding, but I have amazing balance, and I was always crazy and running around as a kid, and I was still like that, so it was easy to stay fit and thin, and I’d also get stuck on things. Like, when I was into something, I was fucking into it. Once I got into skateboarding, it was all I wanted to do. So it was all I did. You know, as much as I could. So I got good, fast.”
“Man, if I was a skateboarder, and we got into a show of skill, and you dominated me, I think I might propose to you then and there,” Gabe replied.
They turned in their skates and sat down in the waiting area.
She laughed. “I believe it. I guess it tracks that you’re a hopeless romantic, and that it’d be worse in high school. Also, I was already tatted by then.”
“At sixteen!?” She nodded. “Shit, yeah, I’d have absolutely no defenses against you.”
“Man, you would’ve been nice to date in high school.”
“Doubt it. I was...a lot more of a mess back then.”
“We all were.” She twisted, showing him her right arm and pointing to a skull that had devil horns and a halo of barbed wire. It was also on fire, and the fire was chrome. “This was the first one I got.”
“How? I thought you had to be eighteen. Also, that’s such a fucking awesome tat.”
She chuckled. “My mom was cool. Me and Krystal were both raised by single moms. Her mom was...less cool. I’m convinced she was bipolar, or something like that. But that’s a whole other thing. My mom was a lot more stable. She went with me, gave her permission, and I got it. I think she wanted to see if I’d bitch out or not.”
“Clearly not,” he murmured, running a hand slowly down her arm.
“I gotta admit, I do like how fucking enamored of my tats you are,” Emily replied.
“They’re really hot. I mean, tattoos are hot in general, but yours are especially hot.”
“What about them?”
“I’m not...sure, actually. All I know is that it fires up my horny neurons more than most.”
“More than Krystal’s?”
“I’m not answering that.”
She snorted. “Fair.”
“Are you getting handsy with my wife?”
They both looked over. Abby had joined them, in her shoes now, looking...happier. Or maybe more satisfied. He thought he understood how she felt. There was a joy in being able to lose yourself in an activity.
“I might be,” he replied.
She laughed. “Well, you can get handsy in the backseat. I’m actually fucking starving so, it’s time to eat, then do the last thing. Well, last thing before home, that is.”
“Let’s do it.”
…
Lunch turned out to be an exceptionally good sushi place.
Gabe ordered something that was on fire when they brought it out. He blew it out, waited a bit, then ate it and found himself in taste Heaven.
From there, they drove to their final destination.
Emily wanted to go ax throwing.
She took them to a large building not unlike the Expo. It housed several different fun things to do. There was a mini-golf course, an arcade, a restaurant, and apparently, a place to throw axes.
“I have always wanted to do this,” Emily said. “I mean, I used to do this, but not, you know...in a sane way.”
“And what way was that?” Gabe asked as they walked into the area where they would actually throw the axes.
“Grabbing a hatchet, walking into the woods, and hurling it at trees. Somehow managed to never really injure myself or my friends, though there were a few close calls. Anyway…”
She hefted the ax and they took her meaning, falling back to a sheltered spectator area. He and Abby stood together behind some safety glass, watching as Emily prepared herself.
“How you feeling about today so far?” Abby asked.
“Good. It’s been fun.”
She snorted. “Yeah, an aquarium, something you’re not great at, and this.”
“I’m having a good time.”
She looked at him, then looked back to Emily. “Okay, I believe you. Just feel a little bad. But when I was talking with Ellen about this, she told me that we wouldn’t be able to make the day all about you. That we’d have to each do something we wanted, because you’d fight for it to be fair.”
“That’s more or less true,” he admitted.
“It’s sweet, but Em and I are feeling very...thankful. What we said in the car, it was extremely heartfelt and true. Honestly, I’m extremely grateful. I’ve seen how Emily gets about things that get lodged in her psyche. She can get very worked up, very neurotic. She’s a lot better about it these days, but...I was kinda scared. This is a huge change for us. It will change the course of our entire lives, in many very practically obvious and immediately felt ways. I knew it was going to be a struggle for her, and I knew that there was a decent chance she might have the reaction she had.”
“I hate to ask, but...if you knew it was coming-”
“Why didn’t I do more to get in front of it?” He nodded. “I tried. And I had plans, more desperate measures in reserve, but I didn’t want to use them. The thing about Emily, and really Krystal and Ellen, too, is that…” She paused, sighed. “How do I put this? They’re so...independent. Which, I know, pot calling the kettle black, but that can manifest in different ways. In some ways, it’s kind of always detrimental, but if you’re mentally stable enough, and lucky enough to be able to make more than enough to live off of, it can be a very useful asset. Emily...had none of these things.”
“That makes sense.”
They watched as she threw another ax. So far, she was hitting the targets. She was good at this. Each time she did it, she let out a little shout that sounded like surprised joy.
“So, the end result of all this is that when Emily truly needs help with something, she hides it. She hides whatever the problem is. And it hurts her. And usually, change triggers this kind of reaction. For a time there in her life, anytime something changed, it was for the worse. She got so that she was constantly waiting for life to take the next thing away from her. She’s...better now, but she still has issues. And you clearly can talk to her in some way, reach her on some wavelength, that I can’t.”
“You know, Liz basically said the exact same thing to me. It’s...such a weird position to be in.”
“It has to be. And I don’t resent you for it. I just wish I could do it, and, honestly? I feel like I’m a little better at it, seeing how you and her interact. Our brains are so different, and each in their own ways are kind of rigid. Especially these days. But we’re both still trying, and at this point we’re already in sync more than we aren’t, and studying how you interact with her, or with Krystal, has given me a little bit of insight that’s allowed me to adjust my thinking.”
“I’m really glad about that.”
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “I am, too.”
“Well, I am absolutely kicking ass,” Emily said as she returned. “Your turn, noobs!”
“Nobody says noobs anymore,” Gabe replied as he got up when Abby inclined her head that she was fine with him going next.
“Lots of people do!” Emily shot back.
“Okay, let me amend that, only old people say it.”
She stared at him with shock that slowly turned into a kind of maniacal glee. “I am going to fuck you so hard tonight,” she growled.
“Oh no, whatever am I to do?” Gabe replied as he gathered up his axes and headed in.
He threw five axes. He landed three of them, one of them well. He found that he was middling at it, and might get better with practice. But he thought he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d do this every now and then with Emily, or go out with the others to give it a shot, but he clearly didn’t get the visceral feedback that Emily got from throwing these axes.
Abby took her turn, and it became clear that as good as she was at ice skating, she was that bad at ax throwing. She missed every one of them and walked back out, annoyed.
“Sucks to suck, babe,” Emily said, grinning.
“You are going to get it tonight if you don’t watch out,” Abby replied.
“Oh?” Emily paused in the doorway, looking back with an irritating smirk and a raised eyebrow.
“Yes. Gabe is stronger than you, and you’ll be the one who has annoyed him most recently, and I feel confident he will fuck you really hard in the ass if I ask him to. After spanking you.”
“This is an accurate assessment of the situation,” Gabe said.
The fire in Emily’s eyes only strengthened. “Fucking bet,” she snapped, and headed inside.
She threw an ax and nailed it perfectly, dead center.
“God, she is so badass,” Gabe muttered as they watched her.
“Fucking hell yes, she is,” Abby agreed, grinning.
They kept watching as she threw the next one.
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
“I’m so curious about Gabe’s fucking spanking abilities,” Emily said, rolling her eyes as they approached their house.
