Mike and Sarah Pt. 04

"Mike, it's beautiful I've never seen a black gemstone like this. Where did you get it?"

"It was my grandmother's. The stone is Whitby Jet, some say it's the finest black gemstone in the world. It will never fade or crack. The story is that the term 'jet black' comes from Whitby Jet. My grandfather's family is originally from Whitby, we can actually trace our roots there back to the 1500s. While they were alive, my grandparents visited Whitby most years. Somewhere along the line, my grandfather gave my grandmother that necklace, and I wanted to give you something special."

Sarah looked at me before looking back at the necklace, her look was almost reverent. Eventually, she looked back at me and let out a small sob, "Mike, you can't give this to me. It's too precious."

"It's because it's precious I am giving it to you. It's too beautiful to remain in a box. Can you see Edward, Dad or even me wearing it?"

"Why me? Why hasn't it been given to Karen or your stepmum?"

"I suppose the simplest answer is because Edward and I agreed you deserve to wear it. The longer answer is that it isn't theirs. I'm the last child in the family. Unless we all agree otherwise, all family heirlooms will become mine one day - we do have some stuff set aside for my adopted sister Maggie. I wanted to buy you something for Valentine's but I couldn't think of anything. I asked Edward and Karen if there was anything in Grandma's collection I might like. He mentioned that necklace, once I saw the picture I knew it was perfect, and now it's yours."

Sarah stared at me, she wasn't exactly crying but I could see the tears streaming down her face. Eventually, she picked up the necklace and unclasped it, before walking over, handing it to me, turning around, and moving her hair to expose her neck to me. Silently, I put the necklace on her. The chain was a perfect length with the pendant sitting just below her collarbone. She picked up the pendant and examined the stone again. Turning around she gave me a deep emotion-filled kiss, before excusing herself to go to the bathroom. She returned 10 minutes later wearing her favourite lounging hoodie. Her face was freshly washed and she had let her ponytail down.

Taking my face in her hands she looked deep into my eyes, before giving me another emotional kiss.

"Mike, this is the best present I've ever been given. I'm going to wear it every day because you haven't just given me something beautiful, you've given me another piece of yourself and that makes it all the more valuable to me, thank you. Now you owe me Lord of the Rings and it's getting late."

Throughout the first half of the movie, I caught Sarah examining the pendant. Each time I caught her she'd give me a loving smile before returning her attention to the screen. As we came to the disc change I checked my phone while refilling our glasses. There was a text from Adam,

Adam: She said yes! We aren't going public yet not even Sarah, group drinks on Friday?

Me: Congrats mate. See you Friday.

Changing my mind, I opened a bottle of champagne we had left over from Christmas. Sarah heard the bottle popping and came out to investigate.

"Babe? What's going on? I thought we were saving that."

It's our first Valentine's Day together, that's what's going on. I should have opened it earlier but it slipped my mind.

"You're an idiot, we don't need champagne I just need you."

I laughed, "Come on love, if we don't celebrate our firsts we'll regret it."

"I want to say you're lucky I love you, but I feel lucky too and I'm too happy right now to argue about who's the luckiest," she replied before taking the bottle and glasses to the living room.

Going back to the format of our original date, we shared a cigarette on the patio before going back to the movie. After the movie ended we cleaned up side by side. Sarah sat at the kitchen table while I made sure the house was locked up properly. When I was done she took me by the hand and led me to the bedroom. She made me sit on the edge of the bed while she lost the hoodie, underneath she was wearing brand-new red lingerie.

She gave me a twirl, before carefully taking off the necklace. She straddled my lap and gave me a deep kiss, "Mike I have a problem. You see this lingerie, I had special plans for tonight, my pussy has been leaking for so long tonight that I'm certain I've ruined this set of lingerie. My problem is you've shown me so much love tonight that I just want to please you, either with my mouth or making love. You've ruined my plans of having you pound me into the mattress."

I kissed her deeply, "What if I told you that nothing would please me more tonight than if you let me eat your pussy until you beg me to stop and then pound you into the mattress."

Sarah gave me a deep moan and kissed me, "You're far too good to me baby."

Once we got started Sarah was insatiable. I tried my best but she broke me that night. It was 4 in the morning when she finally gave up on the idea of keeping me up all night. Kissing me goodnight, she cuddled me.

"You know what babe? This is your fault. If you weren't so determined to give me a perfect Valentine's I'd have been satisfied hours ago. You've made me so happy tonight that I can't stop wanting more. You give my second favourite part of you some good rest because I'm coming back for him," she said without any humour.

Despite her humourless tone, I chuckled gently, kissed her goodnight and settled down to sleep.

Sarah's threat proved pointless. We were both so tender from our Valentine's efforts the next night that any desire for intimacy beyond holding each other in bed was an absolute turn-off. Sarah wasn't entirely pleased and for the first time in our relationship, she demanded to be the big spoon as we slept. We must have looked ridiculous, her petite 5 foot 4 frame trying to hold my decently built 6 foot 1. As soon as she got comfortable, her hand went straight to my cock which she cupped gently.

I was about to ask what was going on when she spoke up, "Just because he can't have me tonight doesn't mean he shouldn't know I'm here."

I gave an incredulous sigh, "And this is different to you grinding into him every morning how?"

She gave me a sad sigh in return, "Because when I grind him in the morning Miss Kitty wakes up too, and she's out of commission for the night."

"So shouldn't you be the small spoon with me cupping Miss Kitty?"

"Mike, I'm not joking, if you try and touch me there you're sleeping in the spare room. Now hush and sleep. We have group drinks tomorrow and with rest and booze I should be back to full strength."

Both of us laughed at her false threat of sending me to the next room, and we both quickly fell asleep.

Adam and Mandy were late for group drinks the next night. When they finally arrived, Mandy was predictably subtle with their news.

"WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!" She screamed for the whole pub to hear. Applause broke out and the girls were gushing over the ring when James the general manager came over with 2 bottles of Prosecco.

"On me, congratulations. Perhaps your group would like to go next door so you only disturb the other regulars with your celebration."

Taking the hint I picked up the bottles, while Tom and Henry picked up the glasses and we ushered our group next door.

In a nice gesture, the old boys welcomed Adam and Mandy with a large round of applause and the promise that their tab for the night was covered. I ducked my head but Mark and Bob caught me, "You're contributing too, Smithy,"

Mandy had just finished her third telling of how Adam popped the question before she got serious.

"Right ladies, let's get serious, the three of you will be my bridesmaids. Sarah, will you be my Maid of Honour? If you need extra motivation, Adam has already asked Mike to be his Best Man."

Sarah gave Mandy a long hug, and they had a muffled conversation into each other's necks for about a minute before they broke apart. When Sarah looked at me, her eyes were shining.

"You knew! You fucking bastard, you knew!" she yelled while approaching me with Mandy. I tried to back away but the boys didn't give me any room for escape. Reaching me Sarah gave me a deep kiss, "Good job Best Man."

As soon as Sarah let go of me Mandy claimed me and planted another kiss on me, "Mike, thank you for being the best guy friend I've ever had and thank you for giving Adam the talk he needed to ask me," she said giving me another kiss before letting me go.

"Hey Bitch, I said one! I said you could give him one thank you kiss," Sarah said with mock annoyance.

Mandy held her ground, "Fuck you bitch, if I didn't have Adam when I met him you would have never got near him. I did give him one thank you kiss, the other kiss was for agreeing to be part of my wedding," Mandy said quickly. Turning her attention to Tom and Henry, "Oi! You two, come here, you get kisses too."

Beth finally spoke up, "That's not fair. if Mandy gets to kiss all the groomsmen, then all the bridesmaids should get a kiss from the groom. But Mike got a kiss from the Maid of Honour, I think it's only fair if all of the bridal party get a kiss from the groom and groomsmen."

"He's my boyfriend bitch," Sarah hissed but Beth just stuck out her tongue before planting a kiss on me before moving on. Penny followed, Sarah just sighed and snuck in another kiss with me before moving down the line.

Kisses exchanged. It quickly became an impromptu engagement party. James had gone to the office and printed some sheets out closing our side of the bar for a private event. The boys and I worked with the other older regulars and quickly raised a cash kitty to ensure an open bar for the rest of the night. James promised to use his manager's discount if I would put my card down to guarantee any spending over the kitty.

Old Bob once again proved why he was the unofficial Godfather of the pub. He refused to contribute to the kitty but he bought another glass of prosecco for all 25 people in the room. Raising his glass to the room he gave a toast, "Some of you call me the old man of the pub, and I am, I've been drinking here for 30 years now. In that time I've seen many groups of youngsters come and go. The 8 of you have lasted the longest. You do your own thing, which I respect but all of you understand that at its core a great pub is built on community and each of you contributes to this community in ways that many who've been coming here longer than you never will. Smithy you're our captain, Sarah you're the newest so for now you're just the captain's missus, but I'm sure with that group around you, you'll carve out your place. Beth and Penny, you always help out with the charity nights. Tom, Harry you're both pricks, every group needs a couple of those, but you never miss an event. And to the couple of the hour, Adam you're the perfect pub chameleon always there to support your friends doing whatever is asked of you, and finally beautiful Amanda, the youngest ever member of our social committee and undisputed queen of the young regulars. I and everyone in this room wish the two of you all the best in your upcoming marriage so this drink is for you." After we had raised our glasses for the toast and had taken a deep sip, Bob continued. "And the rest of this glass is for your friends, because speaking for myself now when I see the 8 of you together, I know that the future of this pub is in good hands. So from the old man to the 8 of you, my greatest respect and appreciation."

With loud cheers, we all drained our glasses and as a group, all of the girls went forward to hug and kiss Bob. After his last kiss from Mandy, Bob burst out with one last declaration, "Fucking hell gents, I haven't had that much excitement since the second wife."

It was one of those truly special nights at the pub that only a regular would understand. We weren't just a pub or even a community. We were one weird fucked up eclectic family.

Finally, the pub had to close and when I tried to settle the final bill, James informed me we still had 200 pounds to spend. Meeting our friends outside I tried to give the change to Mandy and Adam saying it was their engagement present from the pub but Mandy wasn't having it.

"No Mike," she whined. "It's been ages since we went to town as a group. Me and Adam are getting married! Let's go out, out."

I looked at Sarah for support but she was already in another conversation with Penny. Adam just shrugged so I recruited Tom and we quickly organised a couple of taxis for 8 of us. We ended up in Hank's, every town either has or should have a version of Hank's. It was somewhere between a nice late-night cocktail bar and wannabe nightclub. But that wasn't its selling point. It was a feel-good place where the DJ didn't try to be trendy, the playlist was purely crowd favourites designed to cause the crowd to dance and sing along and for our group it was perfect. We managed 3 hours before the DJ called the final song. Despite my best attempts to stick to the sidelines, all of the girls managed to get 3 dances out of me. They probably would have got more if Mandy hadn't kept demanding more drinks to celebrate her engagement.

Somewhere along the line, it was agreed that there would be a nightcap back at my and Sarah's place. It must have been the girls' decision because I certainly wasn't consulted, but I wasn't in any condition to refuse. And that's how I found myself in my living room at 4 in the morning watching the girls do a badly coordinated Spice Girls performance, only made worse by our equally bad attempt to match them with *NSYNC. Despite my proclivity for alcohol, I would've normally ended the night hours earlier but my favourite people who weren't family were having so much fun, I didn't have the heart.

In the end, Tom and Harry staggered home while Mandy and Adam passed out in the spare bedroom. Beth and Penny helped me set up the sofa bed before asking for t-shirts as pyjamas.

Sarah surprisingly, was still awake when I got to bed. Opening my arms as she crawled into her usual spot and snuggled into me tightly, "Thank you for tonight, baby, you made Adam and Mandy so happy. The pub party would never have happened without you. Bob and the others may like the rest of us, but they respect you. It's different. I'm too tired and drunk now, plus we have too many guests but I'm going to thank you big time tomorrow."

"It wasn't that big a deal, you heard Bob's speech, they respect you guys too. The party would've happened whether I was there or not, Mandy and Adam are just as loved there as I am."

"Don't make me fight you when I'm this tired and drunk. I know it's your nature to downplay yourself and I love you for it, but Mike you aren't just a 'young regular'. Well, you are by age, but you have a seat on the 'High Council' as you call it. Look at what James did, he put the party tab on his manager's discount because you guaranteed the bill. Without his discount, you'd probably owe them another 50 pounds, so don't tell me I'm wrong when it's obvious. If you don't believe me we can ask the others over breakfast. Now shut up and hold me. It's way beyond our bedtime."

Given the night before I could never have predicted how I would be woken up the next morning. But being kicked out of my bed would never have been on the list. I woke up to the sound of our bedroom door opening which confused my hungover mind. I looked up to see Mandy standing at the foot of the bed looking straight at me.

"Mike, I don't want to be rude, but can I have some best friend cuddles with Sarah this morning? It's been so long since we had a slumber party."

I was about to refuse when Sarah kicked my shin. Reluctantly I got up after Sarah asked for a minute so we could get dressed. I just got to the door when Mandy added a request, "Can you wake up Beth and Penny and send them up too?"

Thankfully I could hear Beth and Penny whispering as I walked past the living room. They went silent when I knocked on the door.

"Girls meeting in the bedroom, I'm making teas and coffees." I had just made it to the kitchen when I heard the door open and footsteps running up the stairs.

I was making a large pot of coffee when Adam found me in the kitchen. Wearing a spare pair of my pyjama trousers and a t-shirt, I briefly wondered if there was a person in the house who didn't have at least one piece of my clothing on. He poured himself a glass of water which he downed before helping himself to the coffee. He gave me a long look before putting his mug down and giving me a big hug.

"Mate it's too early and I'm too hungover for that much male affection in the morning. What was that about?" I asked him.

Adam gave me another long look, "Fuck you, you earned that. Mike I've known you long enough now to know you're a decent guy. I also know you're Mandy's friend first which is why I've always drifted closer to Tom and Harry." He paused so I nodded at him to continue.

"In the last few weeks, you've been the best friend I've ever had. I know a lot of it is Sarah's influence, I certainly wouldn't have expected it from you a year ago. I get it now. I get why the girls are drawn to you. I've been feeling it for a while now, and while girls are upstairs I'm going to say it, I love you mate."

"You're quite a romantic when you're hungover you know that? Adam, you're right, I have been Mandy's friend first, and that's how you should know I've always respected you."

"I should have known you respected me because you're Mandy's mate. What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means if I didn't think you were good for her, we would have fought a long time ago. We're roughly the same size, you're even a little bigger than me, but we'd both remember it," I replied with a laugh. "Now help me make breakfast because if I know my girlfriend, she'll have them down here soon enough looking for food and coffee."

The words had barely left my mouth, when I heard Sarah's voice, "You should listen to him Adam, he's the boss in this house." She came straight over to me and pulled me into a kiss, "Morning baby."

Mandy had just given Adam the same treatment when Beth or Penny coughed loudly, "Excuse me guys, have a little sympathy for your single friends" Beth said.

Sarah laughed, "Sorry ladies, in this house, Mike gets morning kisses."

Penny laughed and got up from her seat, "Well if that's the rule..." she joked moving towards me.

Sarah stopped her in her tracks "Penny! Cheek only, last night was your last freebie until the wedding."

Penny looked at her before laughing and sticking her tongue out, "Spoilsport," she teased before sitting back down.

Beth decided to change the subject, "Mike, what's for breakfast?"

"Bacon, sausage, scrambled egg, hash browns and all the toast and coffee you could ask for."

"I knew I should have snapped you up ages ago," Beth replied, sticking her tongue out at Sarah.

"Oi! I know you're joking and I love you but as Mike's mum told me a few weeks ago it's too early and I'm too tired for teasing," Sarah responded testily.

"What is the famous Amy like?" Penny asked.

Sarah burst out laughing, "If you think I'm scary where Mike is concerned then she's the most terrifying person on the planet. Scarlett and Becca aren't that far behind, if you didn't catch that vibe when you met them then you didn't meet them properly. Scarlett breaks up with boys who don't acknowledge Mike as her full brother."

Despite knowing the truth of Sarah's words, I wanted to tone it down. "They aren't that bad, yes they love me and are protective. But they also trust me, you're my friends and I love all of you, so they'll love you too."

Beth ignored me and kept the questions up, "So Sarah how do you get on with them?"

Sarah gave me a mischievous smile, "Have you met me? They love me. Becca and Scarlett adopted me as their bonus sister on my first day, and Amy called me her daughter on my second day after telling Mike I was the love of his life."