From Friendship Comes Love Pt. 01

"And you know he did? He took hold of my hand and kissed it. Then he said, "I know, I've read about it myself." Then he shook his head and said to me, "I have never understood why people have to such assholes to other people just cause they're different."

"As he talked to me, I could tell he was relaxed, we had had a few of glasses of wine by then and I said to him, "Well, I just wanted to say thank you again. You say it was no big deal, but it was to me."

"Like I said, he was relaxed, so I think what came out next, came out without him thinking about it. He tells me, "It's really okay Simone, it's just one of those things you do when you love someone."

Her mom listen to her daughters story and the thought went through her mind, that this sounded like some kind of love story you read about that never happens in real life. But then she realized it was a love story, but one that was real and not some kind of story.

She heard Simone continue saying, "We talked for a long while and he told me he had started falling in love with me the night I told him about how I became a girl, but he didn't realize it was love, he just thought it was the fact that I was his best friend. Then the night his ex started her crap, he told me that he kind of figured that he was in love with me, because of how he felt when she started in on me. But he wasn't sure that I would be interested in him, he knew I liked him as a friend, but since I never really made any romantic overtures towards him, he figured it was better to have me as a friend, then be rejected if I said no."

"But," She continued, "He said that the night I called him scared out of my mind, that he knew he loved me. So, we've been together since then and I don't doubt for a minute that we're made for each other."

Her mother had tears running down her face she listened to her tell the story, she knew that it was real and the two of them had something most people only dream about. She and her husband loved each other deeply also and they wouldn't be happy unless they were together. Maybe not to the extreme that Simone and Jason had, but close.

She cleared her throat and said, "Well honey, I'm so very happy for you and I know your dad will be too when he hears about it. I definitely want to meet him and I think the show is a good idea." Then remembering when her husband met her parents, she laughed to herself and asked her. "But tell me, just how long to take you to convince him to meet us and go to the show?"

She heard Simone laugh over the phone and heard her say, "Not very long at all, as a matter of fact it was his idea. He said he thought you and dad sounded like great people after all I told him and he said he wanted to meet you both."

"Though I think he's a little scared of meeting dad," She giggled, "I think he's kind of worried of the "Daddy's little girl" syndrome. That dad is not going like his daughter getting involved with any man. I told him not to worry, that they should get along great, actually dad and him are so much alike it's kind of scary."

"Alike?" She asked, "How so?"

"Well both of them have that weird sense of humor, they both always a have joke or make fun of any situation they can and both of them can be... how do you put it? Oh, yes, "Smart-asses" She laughed.

"Well then," Her mom said, "I defiantly want to meet him. I'm sure we'll get along fine if he's anything like your dad."

"Oh, speaking of your dad, he's gone to the store, do you want me to tell him all this?"

"That sounds good to me mom." She said. "I do have to go, but I wanted to call you to tell you and make sure you were okay with everything."

"Oh, and please, when you tell dad, please tell him to go easy on Jason when they meet, I was serious when I said Jason was scared about dad. I really don't know why, but he is."

Her mom laughed and agreed to make her father behave himself. She told her that she loved her and said goodbye, then hung up the phone.

Simone hung up the phone, happy now that she had talked to her mother and that she was alright with everything. She grabbed her bag and went out to get Jason. She came over and kissed him saying, "OK babe, all ready."

Jason smiled at her and asked, "What took you so long?

"I called my mom." She answered. "I wanted to tell her and dad about next week and make sure it was okay with them." She took a breath and continued, "I also told my mom about us so they wouldn't be surprised."

"And," She smiled saying, "I wanted to let them know how happy we were together and to tell them how much I love you."

Jason gulped and asked, "And what did they say about that?"

"Well," She started, "Mom was a bit leery at first, her first question was whether you knew about me." "But," She continued, "After I told her all that happened, she realized how deeply in love we were and she was very happy for us and she's looking forward to next weekend."

Jason sighed in relief, then got a nervous look on his face and asked, "Uh, what about your dad? Did he say anything?"

Simone put a frown on her face thinking to tease him a bit and said to him, "Well, he didn't really say anything."

Jason covered his eyes with one hand massaging his brow, then said, "I knew it, he's pissed, I can just imagine what he's going to say to me when we meet next week."

He looked up at her anxiously and asked, "Did he say anything? Was he mad?"

Simone had a worried look on her face as she sat down on the couch. She had meant it as a joke, but she could see it was really bothering him for some reason. She just couldn't understand it.

She hugged him and then took his hand holding it, "Jason, he didn't say anything because he wasn't there, he was at the store. My mom is going to tell him everything when he gets back."

She kissed him again and asked, "Why are you so scared about this? Will you please tell me?"

Jason sighed and said, "Ok, look, when I was younger, like 19 or so, before I went into the Navy, I knew this girl, I thought I was in love with her. But for some reason, her father hated me. I never found out why, but she wanted to continue being together, but I knew it would be wrong to come between them and I never saw her again."

After a while he continued, "I realized afterwards that what I felt was probably more lust then love, but you know the old saying about "First love's".

Putting his head down said, "Now, here I am all these years later, and I'm so deeply in love with you after so many years of not having anyone and I'm just really scared it'll happen again." He looked up and she could see that his eyes were shiny with tears and said, "You see all these people that think they're in love and yet there not happy and sooner or later they leave each other and they're alone again."

"I never thought I'd find anybody like you," He said continuing, "Someone who was such a perfect match, someone who loved me for me, with all my faults."

He got a wain smile on his face and said to her, "But, here you are, your perfect, your smart, beautiful, funny, and wonders of wonders, you love me, I know you do because I can feel it when we touch, kiss, make love. I love you now and I'll love you forever. I'll make you as happy as possibly can, and I'll always protect you, no matter what."

"So, basically," He said softly, tears running down his face, "I guess I'm just so afraid that I will lose you after finally finding you after all these years and it just scares the living shit out of me, but I don't know how to stop it from happening. You know me well enough by now, to know how I am when I can't figure something out."

Simone looked at him with tears in her eyes also as she took him gently in her arms holding him to her. She put her head against him and told him that she loved him just as deeply and that nothing, absofuckinglutely nothing would ever make her leave him.

She pulled back. "Jason, look at me," She commanded, "You have nothing to worry about. I told my mom about everything that you've done for me, including protecting me from that asshole at the pub."

She laughed a bit and said, "She even asked me what I had to do to get you to come with us to the show next weekend and she was shocked when I told her that it was your idea and that you were looking forward to meeting them."

She said she wants to meet my "Knight in Shining Armor" as she put it." She smiled at him and continued, "Her exact words to me were, "I'm so very happy for you and I know your dad will be to when he hears about it."

Jason smiled as she told him this and he kissed her.

Simone looked at him and said, "Now, I want you to listen to me, closely. You have nothing to worry about from my father. Nothing. As I told my mom, you and him are so much alike it's scary."

"You both have a weird sense of humor, your both extremely smart, you both like cars and bikes, both of you can be a bit of a smart-ass, as my mother puts it about my dad.

"And the most important thing," She said smiling, "You both love me!"

She held him again for a bit, then said, "Well? You ready to go now?"

He looked at her and said, "Yeah, in a minute, there was something I wanted to ask you first."

"What's that?" She asked.

"Well," He started, "While I was sitting here waiting for you, I started thinking. You don't have much longer on the lease her do you?" He asked.

She shook her head no, hoping that he was going to ask her to move in with him.

'Well, I was thinking that maybe, if it was good with you, that when your lease was up." He stopped for a moment, and then continued with a question in his voice, "Uh, that maybe we could just move in together?"

She sat there trying to get the word yes out, when he said, "You know, you could save money that way, we could drive into work together."

As he started to say something else, Simone put a finger against his lips to stop him from rambling on and said one simple word, "Yes." She pulled him to her and started kissing him over and over repeating yes every time she kissed him.

"Ok then" Jason said grinning at her, "So I suppose that means you want too?"

"Yes," she said laughing at him, "I want to move in with you." "As a matter of fact, I thinking along the same line myself while I was packing my bag."

"I was thinking you might think it may be too soon," She continued. "But since you agree, that sorts takes care of that."

Jason smiled at her, then said, "No, I don't think it is. I kind of had the same thought myself, but look at it this way, we've know each other almost a year now, we basically know most of our moods, likes and dislikes and so forth since we worked so closely together." "I think that's why I waited so long to tell you how I felt, we've spent more time together between work and seeing each other for the occasional dinners, lunches, and just hanging out than most people do who are actually dating. "

He laughed, "If you look at it the right way, we've been dating for almost a year, we just didn't know it."

Simone laughed with him, knowing that he was right, then said, "Very logical, convoluted logic, but logic none the less."

"Well then, since we agree," He replied, "How much longer does your lease have to go?"

She thought a minute and said, "I've got maybe 2 months left on it. Damn, I wish we didn't have to wait that long."

Jason thought for a second and told her, "Look, even if it was up now, I think you'd want to wait till after next weekend and besides, we do have that job coming up in a few weeks. What you might want to do between then and now is talk to the manager and explain why you're not going to renew the lease."

"Who knows, he may say you can move out early." "Sometimes," he continued, "They need the apartments and don't mind since there is a big turnover here."

"You know," She said, "That's really a good idea." Then she got the evil grin and said to him, "And because it is such a good idea, and just may work, I won't smack you for acting your age this time."

He laughed and picked her up, then kissed her. Then said, "Are you all ready?"

She nodded yes, and they took off to the store. Once there, they walked into the market hand in hand. The shopping didn't take long and since they had time before they went to the mall, they ran back by his place to drop off her bag and the stuff they had picked up.

When they finally got to the mall, they checked the time for the movie they were going to see and saw that they had time to walk around a bit and stop at the food court for lunch. They walked along slowly as they were in no rush and just enjoyed each other's company.

As they walked along they came up to a jewelry store and Simone decided to stop and do a little window shopping. She didn't have much jewelry, she really wasn't into it much. She had some special pieces she always wore depending on the occasion, but normally she didn't wear any. She and Jason looked through the window of the store and they had a display of engagement and wedding rings. She noticed an engagement/ wedding ring set that was simple but very pretty and said to Jason, "Oh, look at that ring set there over to the right of the display," She pointed, "Isn't it pretty?"

Jason look to where she was pointing and it was very pretty in a subdued way. It wasn't overly showy like some of the ones they had in the display, it fit her to a tee. He turned to her and agreed, "Yes it is, personally it's the nicest one in there."

They continued walking around to kill time and as they walked, a wild idea crossed his mind. He still had to do research on if they could marry, but there was no reason he couldn't ask and give her that ring she liked so much. The more he thought about it, the more he like the idea. He could stop this week and buy it, then after he talked to her parents to get their permission, he'd ask her after the show when they got back to the house. He knew it was kind of old fashioned, but it felt right to him ask for some reason. He smiled to himself and said "Yes, I'm going to do it." Even if they found out they couldn't marry due to the laws, they could still consider themselves married in their eyes. And who knows, if we can't right now, the laws are changing as it becomes more accepted.

He felt an elbow to his side and looked over to Simone realizing he had probably ignored her thinking about his plan. "Huh, what's the matter?" he asked her.

She smiled at him as she told him, "I asked you a question twice, but all you did was keep walking with a little smile on your face." "What were you thinking about so hard?" She asked with a grin. "Geez, we're only boyfriend and girlfriend for a few days and already your ignoring me." She smiled when she said it to make sure he knew that she was only busting on him.

"You've been like that since we walked away from the jewelry store."

He decided in a second that he had to steer her away from that thought, he didn't want her to expect anything before he asked her next weekend.

"Sorry," He said smiling. "But have you ever had something you remembered, that just pops into your thoughts all of a sudden and you end up thinking just about it and nothing else."

He laughed, "And usually, it's something so small and silly, you wondered why you're thinking so hard about it."

Simone laughed nodding her head, then said, "Oh yes, I know what you mean. It's funny how that happens."

She put her arm though his and said, "What I was asking, before you ignored me, was where would like to stop for lunch?"

He thought about it and said, "They do have a half-way decent deli here, that sound good to you?"

"Sounds great to me." She answered. "Let's go."

So they walked arm in arm to have lunch and then went to see the movie.