Fist of the Lower Intestine

She looked at the pants again.

They must've ripped when I was doing the tumbles.

Hannah pushed the thoughts away.

It was a dream, wasn't it?

Did Hannah cheat on Germaine?

Germaine returned, but not with a glass of water.

He stood before her with his hands behind his back. Before she could ask what he was doing, he got down on one knee and took out a tiny box.

He opened it.

Inside was a diamond ring.

Hannah's mouth fell open. She tried to speak, but nothing came out.

Germaine slid the engagement ring onto her finger and held her hand.

"Hannah Jones, I know we've known each other for a short time."

Hannah's mind began to wander.

Oh my God, she thought. Please don't do this now. Not while I'm trying to figure out if I had sex with this guy or not.

When Hannah's attention returned to him, he asked her the question of all questions

"Will you marry me?"

Hannah couldn't see anything past brimming tears.

She shut her eyes.

"Yes."

Germaine lifted her up and they hugged.

"I'm going to order out to celebrate."

Hannah kept her head down, looking at the ring.

"What would you like?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter," she told him.

Germaine left with his cellphone to his ear.

Hannah sat down and stared at TV.

Did I really fuck that guy? she thought. Did he really cum inside of me? I have to be sure. I'll ask him. No! I can't see him anymore. And if it's true, Germaine can never know what we did together. It has to stay buried and in the past.

Hannah looked at the diamond ring on her finger.

Miguel is the past, she thought. Germaine is my future.

She thought of the many possibilities beyond this point and sobbed. Then, the door slammed.

Hannah quickly wiped her face when Teah walked in and dropped her laundry bag on the floor.

"I gotta dookie," Teah said. "We need to get a new washer. The restroom at the coin laundry was filthy."

Hannah quickly removed the ring.

"You here alone?" Teah asked Hannah.

"No."

Teah quickly got her feet out of her sneakers and into her flip flops.

"I'm prairie dogging," Teah said to Hannah. "I can feel my turd near my butthole, trying to come out.

Germaine walked in and almost ran into Teah.

Teah stared at him momentarily, before she went around him, thumbing elastic on the waistband of her leggings with her flip flops clapping down the hallway.

Hannah failed to notice Germaine looking at her mother's big butt as it bounced, but soon recalled all she had done with Germaine's friend.