Letters to Nicole 28

Dear Nicole,

What? You're moving again? Isn't this the third time in what, six years? Yes, I'll bet it's very difficult; your oldest just started kindergarten, didn't he? Goodness! Patrick better be making a ton of money for this one, right? I'm laughing though; we moved three times in the first five years also, but we ended up poorer every time. Thankfully, Jason is doing marvelously now! In fact, did I tell you? For my birthday two weeks ago he bought me a new Kia Sportage. Oh my God, I LOVE it! If I come down to see you next spring, I might just drive! Anyway, give me the details of this move, okay? I want to give this new town a look on Google maps.

And speaking of details, how's the soon-to-be new mommy doing? Is that morning sickness letting up a bit? My mother told me that she was always sipping 7-Up when she was pregnant with me. For some reason that worked for her. You might want to give that a try!

Getting back to the story though, (and speaking of all the "details,") so much began happening it would take at least twenty more letters to describe the next eight months. I don't want to bore you with minutia; I'll just speed through the necessary parts and get to the really fun stuff as quickly as I can. If I go too fast, just tell me to slow down.

Anyway, I can't even begin to describe how much in love I was! It was so bad, (don't be shocked now,) I didn't even have sex with anyone else for the next three months! Are you giggling while you read this? Ha! Anyway, it was during those months that I discovered the difference between having sex and making love. I wasn't aware of the difference before; but when the realization hit me, I cried for like half an hour. I wasn't having any regrets; it was just the thought of it, "God, I really REALLY had no idea!"

On top of that it was so satisfying that we were a couple; and I wanted everyone to know it! Way back when I was a couple with C.J. for about a month, it was almost a secret. Jason and I were doing couple things: going to lunch regularly with Sammie and Franklin, working out together in the student center, meeting him after his job for a maybe just a few minutes to just catch up. Oh Nicole, it was quite amazing; and the good thing is that it's been over ten years now and I still love to hold his hand!

And the sex? I never really expressed this to you before now. I've always tried to keep this story in a chronological order. Jason can fuck me like "Oh my GOD!" He certainly keeps me satiated; but the thing is, he's just an erotic machine! If I'm willing, he can go all night (and I usually am!) I found this out one Saturday night in early February of my second semester.

That particular night I showed up at O'Charley's. We walked to his car and getting behind the wheel he turned and looked at me like he never had before. His eyes were incredibly soft, sort of misty looking, and after thirty seconds he said it to me like this, "Nance, it's official, I'm desperately in love with you!" I just fell apart and buried my face against his shoulder weeping. It took me at least a minute to look up at him. "Was that a good thing?" he asked?

I nodded and was on the verge of crying again, but I managed to choke out the words, "J, Oh God, I am so in love with you too!"

He smiled and we kissed; his face got wet from my tears. "I just want you to know, Babe; I don't say this lightly...I'm gonna love you forever!"

Nicole, I couldn't speak; I just nodded and cried some more! We spent most of that night making love; I think we fell asleep about 5:00 am. That was the first of many Saturday nights we did that and believe me, he can go all night!

So the next day I made us some coffee and we sat and talked a bit about the future. We both agreed that this was a pre-engagement kind of thing. Jason said, "Babe, believe me, I want this to also become official pretty soon, but circumstances won't allow it just yet." Later I realized that he was saying he couldn't afford a ring; as if that mattered a whole lot right then.

But who knew? It was almost as if fate decided to knock him on the side of the head because two days later his car broke down! J's Corolla had 150,000 miles on it and the repair was kind of minor... $750. That was how I found out about his "ring" savings; he had to cut into it to pay the bill. Yet even as fate was unkind, she turned around four days later and smiled at us.

I got a call from Felecia, "Nance! Wanna do lunch Friday? I need to discuss something with you, okay?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"You'll see, Friday at 11:30 in the cafeteria?"

"I'll be there!"

When I met her in the lunch line, she was simply beaming! We were about to sit down with our food and she couldn't contain herself anymore, "Look Nance!" Holding up her hand, she showed me a very beautiful engagement ring.

"Oh my God, Felecia, OH MY GOD!" I grabbed her for a hug and held her close, "That is so amazing! When did it happen?"

"Saturday. We went for some lunch after his workout with the team, and he just said he couldn't wait any longer. And guess what? I said yes!" I laughed, partly at her enthusiasm and partly at the uncanny coincidence. I was smiling, and shaking my head. Perceptive Felecia noticed, of course, "What? Hey...what happened?"

"Saturday night...unreal! Jason told me he loved me!"

Felecia burst out laughing! "Want to have a double-wedding?"

I giggled, "That would be great, but I don't think we can afford it right now. I don't know exactly how much money he has...but I don't have any."

When I explained about the car repair, her smile got bigger; reaching into her purse Felecia said, "This is too perfect!" She slid a check across the table to me.

"$3,000? What's this for?"

"It's for your half of the car, silly! You've hardly ever driven it; Teddy and I talked and you deserve this!"

"Well where did you two get this kind of money?"

My BFF cocked her head to the side and half-winked at me, "Never you mind! Consider it kind of a 'pre-engagement' gift, okay?"

"I...I don't know what to say...I"

"Don't say anything, just use it for your own ring, or wedding...or whatever! Teddy and I love you!"

We spent the next twenty minutes chattering about her wedding date (which turned out to be late August,) and then we discussed my future with Jason (which was slightly less clear.) Nicole, I can't even tell you how important that money was, but one thing that happened was three weeks later J's car broke down again, and this time the bill was $1,500!

I'll never forget the look on his face, when I offered to pay for it, "Nance! I can't ask you to do that, that's YOUR money!"

I gave him a big hug, "What are you talking about, you weirdo! Are we a forever couple, or not?"

"Of course we are, but right now it's my responsibility."

Putting both hands on his cheeks, I looked him right in the eye, "Love, at some point 'you and me' becomes 'us,' when will that be? Is it now...or later?"

His eyes got misty, "God, I love you! It's now, Nance!" and he kissed me.

Fifteen seconds later I pushed him back, "Good, then it's settled."

"Yeah, that's settled; but we need to clear something up!"

"What's that?"

"I haven't officially asked you to marry me yet!" I started to say something, but was shocked into silence and tears when he dropped to his knee. "I know this isn't a fancy way to ask you, but it's the most serious and exciting thing I've ever said in my life! Nancy Macdonald, will you marry me?"

I fell to both knees right in front of him and pulled him close; it was at least a minute before I could speak, but I nodded a lot! "Oh J...YES!"

When I called my mom with the news (and after she finished screaming with joy,) she and my dad drove up for the weekend and took us to dinner on Friday night. We spoke in detail of what was to come next, but the one thing we didn't do was set a date. We all agreed that a wedding that summer would be great; but when I told them of Felecia's plans, we knew we'd have to give our schedule some thought.

We were just about ready to leave when my dad said, "Honey, you don't know this, but your mom and I have been saving money from the time you entered high school. We always said that we wanted to see you work hard to make it on your own, and you've shown you can do it! But this wedding will be our treat! You two kids work on your future and don't worry at all about the big day, we've got it covered!" He had me in tears and when we got up from the table, I gave them both the biggest hug ever! God, I love them so much!

We still had three months left in the school year, and Jason was going to graduate. Keeping our focus was very hard; and it became even more difficult when March rolled around. After spending $2,000 plus on repairs, the Corolla's motor blew up. Unbelievably devastating! To make the long part of this story shorter, we decided to lease a new car for three years. The monthly payment was going to be manageable, but two things stood in the way of the plan: one, the down payment on the lease was $3,000; and two, when we went shopping for an engagement ring, Jason maxed out his credit card to make that happened.

Nicole, I told him that we didn't need to get a ring that badly, but he was adamant, "No way! We're not getting engaged without a ring; I will not have you trying to explain to people why we don't have one yet." So the first week of March began with his car self-destructing and ended with us picking out a fabulous ring at a local jewelry store. I really had to admit, showing it off to people was unbelievably fun for me.

Then we had to turn our attention to the car situation. Borrowing more money was out of the question. Jason did borrow a bicycle in order to get O'Charley's; that worked for a while, but it was a cold spring, Brrr.... And then, the first time he got run off the road it really freaked me out; Oh my God! "J...PLEASE! Let's get this figured out!"

That's when fate stepped in. Two days later we were sitting at lunch with Franklin and Sammie on a Friday; we hadn't seen them for maybe ten days and after ten minutes of catching up, J happened to mention the car situation. That Sammie was such a sweetie; she immediately offered to give rides to us and/or lend us her car.

"That will work short-term, and we so appreciate it," said J, "but long term is the question. In another one and a half months, what then?"

"So what's your alternative plan?" Frankie asked.

Jason shrugged, "We have some wheels picked out, but we need $3,000 to get them rolling, no pun intended."

Franklin chuckled, "Yeah, if you had the money right now, that would be 'wheely' great, wouldn't it?"

Sammie groaned and slapped him on the shoulder, "C'mon, Mr. Comedian, if we put our heads together, we can think of something useful, not lame jokes!"

Frankie laughed again, "Okay, Let's come up with some idea they can Ah--FORD!" All four of us groaned at that one! Then we ate in silence for several minutes. I think the others were seeking solutions; I just sat there wishing money grew on trees.

All of a sudden Frankie dropped his fork on his plate. He put both hands on the sides of his head, closed one eye, and rested his elbows on the table. It looked weird, and I said, "What? You think of something?"

"Uh, well, Hmm." He sat up straight (and with a sideways glance at Samantha,) he said, "Maybe I do." Then he pursed his lips, thought for a few more seconds, and said, "Nah, maybe not. Let me think some more."

Jason said, "What the hell? Do you have an idea or not?"

"Ahh, damn," Frankie looked at Sammie and said, "Steven Conroy?"

Samantha's eyes went wide and her mouth flew open like in shock; she put a hand up like a traffic cop and said, "Oh my God, no fucking way, Franklin!"

"Yeah," he replied, "stupid thought, right?"

Nicole, there was no way Jason and I were going to let that pass! I said, "What in the world is this all about? You think we're just gonna forget what happened there? What's going on?"

Franklin gritted his teeth, "Oh geez! Dammit...uh...it's crazy! We wouldn't have said anything about this ever...except you guys need cash." Sammie just sat there with her shoulders hunched up shaking her head.

Jason grinned, "You guys have the funniest looks on your faces," he stuck out his tongue and made a funny face himself. "Quit goofing around and tell us who Steven Conroy is."

Franklin grimaced but he began, "Steve Conroy is a member of Delta Tau Delta," he looked over at me, "remember that place, Nance?"

I blushed and smiled, "Of course, that was a big moment in our lives!"

J made that funny face at me! "Yeah, big moment...Yada Yada...So what's up with Frat Boy Steve?"

"About a month ago Sam and I were sitting here eating, and Steven comes up, introduces himself, and asks to sit down. We said sure, go ahead. Anyway, he says he recognized us from that wet-t-shirt party...he called us 'Nance's Associates!' That cracked me up! But he said he'd been looking around for the last several days hoping to run into you. Obviously he didn't; Steven asked us to give you a message."

"You never gave me any message," I said.

"No, we thought the whole thing was kinda fucked up, so we flat out told him you wouldn't be interested. We told him things had changed and you had a boyfriend now. He said, 'Oh? Damn, that's too bad! You don't think she could use $4 or 5,000?' I asked him, 'Doing what?' and he said, 'That girl was so good at the frat party, I'd like to hire her to be the star at my friend's bachelor party next month. He said he was the best man and he wanted the best for his friend!"

Jason was flabbergasted, "$5,000 for a bachelor party? That's completely insane!"

Sammie spoke up, "We thought so too, but just for kicks, we looked him up; turns out his dad is the eighth richest man in the state of Kentucky, so who knows?"

"It doesn't matter," Franklin continued, "we made it clear you wouldn't do it, he must have believed us...it's been a whole month. They probably have someone else lined up by now. And by the way, Steven asked for you to bring the other girl Meredith along, the money was for the two of you. Apparently he thought you were some kind of friends."

I just sat back in my chair, Nicole; what a strange turn of events! But when you think about it, from the moment I met Felecia my life had been an incredible roller coaster of events. And here we were at another turn in the track! When I looked at Jason, he was steely-eyed and staring straight ahead.

Sammie said, "We told you it was crazy; let's just think of something else."

I laughed, any more thinking right then was pretty impossible. This elephant in the room had to be put down. I looked at J again, "Crazy...right?"

"Totally!" he said, and that was that.

The next day Jason was scheduled to work the 4:00pm-closing shift because he was filling in for a sick co-worker. We decided to meet in the commons area, go for a walk, and brainstorm some more. Thankfully it was the spring's first "sort of warm" day, and walking was a welcome change of pace.

We took off around the perimeter of the athletic fields. "This is really nice," I said, "We need this to clear our heads and decompress."

He looked at me and smiled, "Sweetheart, when I'm with you, all's right with the world!"

"Good to know, my love! But we still need some money."

J cocked his head, "Are you bringing up that bachelor party thing?"

"I thought about it a lot last night. This is not a career path for me, but I did it once before and I could easily do it again...and in four or five hours the problem would be solved. "

"Babe, you don't know this guy, and you don't know his friends. And maybe you don't know what goes on at some bachelor parties, and maybe you'd be in over your head. It's one thing to be on a patio with a few hundred people around you; it's another thing to be at a private party in a hotel room surrounded by eight to ten horny, drunk guys!"

I thought for a moment, "You could go with me!"

Jason snorted, "You think they'd let me?"

"If I made it one of the conditions; if they won't let you...then I won't do it!"

"Okay, let's say they agree; then what? When was the last time you saw Meredith?"

That was true, Nicole. I had not seen her for ages with no idea how to contact her. I was just about to say it looked hopeless, when an inspiration hit me like a bolt from the sky! "Hey, I could ask Rachel!"

Jason burst out laughing and I asked, "What's so funny?"

"This situation! What makes you think Rachel would even consider this?"

It was then that I fully realized that Jason really did not know what my past was like. He knew that I was not a virgin and was bi-sexual. And, he knew that I had had sex with Felecia; but I had not told him about Rachel, or Franklin and Sammie, or any of my other sexual experiences in the last two years. "Rachel could use the money you know! Maybe she would do it as a favor to me as well, ya think?"

"I would be shocked if she agreed to it."

"Tell you what, I'll go over and see her tonight and we'll see. Let's start with that; if she doesn't want to do it, let's agree to drop the whole thing." I could see he wasn't thrilled with this idea, AT ALL. But making a few thousand dollars for less than a day's work was pretty darn tempting!

Later, when I told Rachel the whole story, she agreed to do it without a moment's hesitation. She agreed so fast I laughed out loud! I even asked her, "Are you doing this for the money...or the adventure?"

"Both," she said.

I gave her a hug and whispered in her ear, "I think we've created a sex monster!"

So with Rachel onboard, the next thing to do was go find Steven Conroy. While Jason took a nap the next day, I headed over to Delta Tau Delta. It had to be fate, Nicole, I swear! A very handsome guy (and very fit, I might add, Mmm!) opened the door. "May I help you?" Before I could even answer, a look of recognition swept over his face, "Oh my God, You're the T-shirt champ!"

I put on my shy smile, "Yes, that's right, who are you?"

"I'm Robert, and your name is Nancy, eh? Are you here to give a repeat performance, I hope?"

"Uh, no...I'm looking for Steven Conroy; is he here?"

"Too bad, your last act was the talk of the house for two weeks!" I giggled (shyly) again. "But I just passed Steve in the hall...c'mon in, I'll call him down."

I stepped inside the door; when Robert turned around, there was a guy at the top of the stairs, "Oh, he's right there! Hey Steve, this little lady is here to see you. Don't ask for her phone number...she thinks you're stupid." When he saw the shocked look on my face he quickly added, "We always kid around like that, but I would LOVE to get your number later; what do ya think?" I smiled and held up the hand with the ring on it, "Oh fuck it!" he said in mock frustration, "I'm always a day late."

If Robert was handsome, Steve was gorgeous! It crossed my mind that maybe all these Delta Tau's were fashion models, or maybe Chippendale dancers? One could only hope! Steve gave me a warm smile and offered his hand, "Hey there, now this is a surprise, how are you, Nance?"

"I'm great, Steve; Wow...being back here sure brings up a couple memories!"

Steve looked me over, "Damn straight! It was one of the best nights in Delta history! But I'm kind of surprised to see you here; this is about the bachelor party, isn't it? Cuz Franklin seemed sure it was a no-go!"

"I only found out about it a few days ago." He led me into a large drawing room and we took seats in two wing-back chairs. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he commented on my ring and I replied, "Yeah, a lot has changed in the last few months, for sure!"

"In my humble opinion (and I'm rarely humble,) whoever this guy is, he's one lucky dude!"

I laughed, "Yes, and in MY humble opinion, I think you're right!" and he laughed too!