The Virgin Ceremonies Ch. 22

Brent: A Little Trust

Ginny and I were teasing each other in the shower the next morning. She was dancing and singing while I was trying to wash her back, and front, and every other crevice between the verses.

"Stand still, you."

"Can't wash this!" she said, slapping her ass.

Out of the shower, we shared my toothbrush in front of the huge mirror. She blow-dried her hair and had to borrow my deodorant.

"You know, next time you run away, you can grab some toiletries," I said.

"Next time you write a girl a love letter, throw a PS in there about bringing toiletries," she said.

I chuckled. "I'm just glad you read it."

"Mmm, now I smell like a cool mountain boy. So sexy," she teased.

"You are so sexy," I said, kissing her.

Max barked, watching us from the doorway, his head tilted. He whimpered.

"He's hungry," I said.

"Well, I know he's not thirsty. He was drinking from the toilet. Don't let him lick your face."

"Dogs' mouths are cleaner than humans," I said. I scratched Max's head. "I have food in the car, buddy. Ten minutes."

We dressed in jeans and long-sleeved shirts and jackets, and then headed out, saying goodbye to our hotel room. Then we took advantage of the free continental breakfast. I grabbed a bagel, a pastry, and a coffee to go. She took an apple and half my bagel. We briefly walked around the hotel grounds so Max could pee and sniff.

"You know, I normally eat healthy grains and granola for breakfast," she said, sucking the cream cheese off her finger.

"Oh, yeah, I know all about your healthy diet," I said as I finished my bagel. "One mocha cappuccino, extra mocha, extra sugar, and a cookie please. Is that your healthy breakfast?"

Her mouth opened and she laughed. "You owe me a lifetime of mocha cappuccinos for running away with you. And what do you give me? A continental breakfast."

I laughed at her and kissed her beautiful smile. I felt so lucky that I got to look at this beautiful woman for the rest of my life.

"I guess we know our next stop, a proper cafe."

"Aw, we don't have to," she said. "You know I'm only teasing. And if you're not making it, I won't like it anyway."

"No, I want to get you your favorite drink."

She smiled at me. "That's sweet, but I have about $500 to my name. You?"

"$1000."

"Hm, $1500 between us? Yeah, not enough for mocha cappuccinos."

"Yeah," I admitted. "Sorry."

"I'm not. I don't care about that anymore. I'm rich with love, remember? I hope I can make you rich too."

I took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "You already have."

She jumped up and wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me. "My Beau."

"My Virgin Ginny."

She gasped and laughed. "Ex-Virgin. You saw to that."

"Max, come on, buddy! Time to go!"

We headed back to our car, Max tugging on my arm.

"Easy, boy."

"So," she said, "where are we headed?"

"I dunno," I said. "The highway is 10 minutes down the road. What do you say, north or south?"

"Easy, south," she said. "Why winter in the north when we can nest in the sun? You said Miami, right?"

"I think we can make that work."

"Perfect," she said. "You'll mix drinks in some cute coffee shop. I'll be your best customer. Or maybe I could serve? Yeah, I could be a cute little waitress with a cute little tray. As long as we're together, I don't care."

"Exactly. We are the masters of our destiny."

"Mmm-hmm, and after a couple months, we'll move somewhere new," she said, her eyes sparkling.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"To the love mobile!" she said, pointing.

We packed our things in our little car, with Max in the back. I started it up and away we went, heading southbound. As we drove, Ginny kicked off her shoes and turned halfway in the seat, stretching her legs, putting her bare feet in my lap. I held her toes and stroked the bottoms of her feet with my thumb while my other hand stayed on the wheel. She had her nose in a map, a real map.

"Oh, my God, baby," she said. "I just had a cool idea. It's almost New Year's Eve. Do you think we can make it to New Orleans before then? We could see some fireworks, do some dancing, party and have some fun. What do you think?"

"Hell, yes. Let's go. We'll make love with the sky exploding above us."

"Mmm, so romantic!" She wiggled her toes. "You never say no to me, huh?"

"Have you ever asked me for anything I couldn't give you?" I asked.

"Even if I did, I think you'd move Heaven and Earth to give it to me because you're pretty much head over feet."

"Pretty much," I admitted. I tickled her feet, and she squirmed and giggled.

"I must have some amazing pussy for you to have fallen so hard."

I laughed. "Hey, you're the one who's always like, 'ohh, baby, your cock is so big and fills me up so nice.'"

She opened her mouth wide in shock. "How dare you, sir? I don't love you for your cock, you know? And I refuse to inflate your ego. Besides, size doesn't matter. You just happen to use it really well, and you know how to tease a girl until it doesn't matter what you put in her pussy, she goes crazy."

"Is that what I'm doing?"

"You know, I used to think you teased me to be sexy, but now I think you do it just to torment me and make me beg for dick."

"A good lover never reveals his tricks."

She laughed and threw her head back. "I love you so much. This is so fucking wild, just you and me, just driving. I'm so free and happy and terrified at the same time."

"Terrified? Of what?"

"Manual labor," she said. "I've never had a job. But I'm also really excited. This idea of just earning money. Whatever we make, we get to spend, and I don't have to explain the charges to my mom. It's mine, ours. We eat and sleep by what we earn. It's terrifying and exciting, right?"

"It is," I said, "but I don't care if we make one dollar or a million. At the end of the night, if we're together, that's all that matters."

"Mmm, exactly! So, no night shifts. We need our evenings together."

"Damn right."

She laughed and looked ahead at the road again.

"Do you have any gum?" I asked. "That hotel coffee was awful."

"I know, right? I do secretly want a mocha cappuccino, just throwing that out there if you see a decent cafe off the highway."

"I think we can splurge on our first day."

She grabbed her purse and dug through it. She pulled out an envelope with a green logo on it. She put it in her lap and kept digging for gum. "No gum, baby. I'm sorry." She put the letter back and put her purse away. "Now we definitely have to stop for something."

"What was that letter?" I asked, glancing at her before putting my eyes back on the road. She was a lovely vision. It was hard to focus on driving, especially with her cute feet in my lap.

"I dunno. Nana gave it to me."

"Why?" I asked.

"She said to open it if I need it."

"Why would you need it?"

"I have no idea. I had a lot on my mind at the time."

"So, open it."

"But I don't need it," she said.

"Woman, you have a real aversion to opening your mail, don't you?"

"Kinda!"

"Maybe it's a coupon for a free coffee."

She laughed. "Nana does know I like coffee. Okay, let's check it out."

She took the envelope out of her purse once more, and opened it, pulling out the paper inside. Her eyes were getting bigger and bigger.

"What is it?" I asked.

Her mouth was wide open. She moved her feet out of my lap, and sat up straight. "Oh, my God."

"What?"

"It's an investment statement."

Max barked at the window, taking my attention. "Buddy, calm down. We'll walk when we find a cafe." I looked at Ginny again. "What did you say?"

Ginny was still looking at the papers. "Brent, it's a trust fund. Nana made investments in my name when I was little. It's irrevocable, and it's mine now that I'm 18."

"I don't get it. Why did she give this to you now, and not when you turned 18?"

"I don't know. Maybe she was going to give it to me later, probably when I finished university or something."

"So, it's just a bunch of stocks? Well, that's nice of her, I guess."

She looked at me. "Beau, it's more than that. There's real money in this account, almost a million dollars."

"Are you serious?" I asked, shocked. I nearly swerved off the road.

"Yes! Like, we could walk into a bank today and transfer this money into an account and just walk out with cash, and, like, spend it. I mean, I have my ID, and with the account number, I can access it any time."

"So, wait, let me get this straight. You have a million dollars?"

"If we cashed it all out tomorrow, yes. Of course, there'd be taxes, thousands and thousands in taxes, so it would be better to draw it out over time, but, yes."

"Wow. You're rich."

"We're rich," she said. "Beau, do you know what this means?" She sat up on her knees. "We're going to be okay. Like, I was so scared about our future, but we're really going to be okay."

I smiled at her. "I'm glad you feel secure, but this doesn't change anything for me. I still want to take care of you."

"You can," she said warmly, grabbing my hand. "It's you and me, baby. This money is for us. It gives us freedom to spend a million nights in a million different hotels, making love a million times."

She leaned across the car and kissed me hard on the lips. This time, I did swerve.

"This is amazing," she said. "I can't believe Nana did this. Now, we can do more than survive, we can thrive. We can enroll in online universities together, study while we travel. We could even buy a house one day, settle down somewhere, start a business or something, do whatever we want. Even... get married."

"Really?"

"Yes, Brent," she said with a giggle. "What, did you think I was only running away for a weekend?"

I grinned, because I knew something she didn't. I hadn't pawned everything in my old apartment. "You know, if you think about it, when you ask a girl to run away with you, it's like a proposal without a ring."

She kissed my hand. "That's adorable, but every girl wants a real ring, you know?"

"I know," I said.

She wasn't finished. "Because every time you make love to me now, I'm thinking, 'I want to spend my life with this guy. How long until this beautiful man puts a ring on it?'"

I laughed. "I'll make you a deal, rich girl. If you get the gas, I'll get the ring."

"Deal!" she said with a laugh, sitting back in the seat. "Oh, God, Beau, you know what else?"

"What?"

"This means unlimited coffee."

I laughed. "You might have an addiction."

"Coffee and sex," she said. "Mmm, imagine if we opened a little cafe. I'd love to watch you work."

"Or a Veterinarian Hospital."

"Oh, God, don't embarrass me. Every little girl wants to take care of animals."

"So, what do you really want to do?" I asked her.

She bit her lip. "I don't know, just that I don't want to be a lawyer." She looked out the window for a moment, getting lost in the rolling scenery. "I think this is the first time I just thought about it, you know? Like, I can really do whatever I want, can't I?"

"You can. The most important thing is you have time to decide."

Max barked.

"Max agrees."

I turned off the highway when I saw a sign for a service plaza with a cafe. I parked the car, and Ginny unbuckled her belt, giving me a devious grin. She crawled across the divider and straddled me, bringing our lips together. I held her, and my hands traveled up her spine as we kissed.

"God, I'll never get tired of your lips," she said.

"I love that you gave up everything for me. But I'm glad you can have some of it back thanks to your Nana."

"It's a bonus, Brent. You're all that matters. If we can live a little more comfortably, it only means it will give me more time to spend loving you."

"I'm glad you took a chance on me, Ginny."

"I'm glad you came after me. I'm glad you knew right away, after the first time we made love, that this was real, that this was fireworks, that this was the big bang, the start of our universe. You saved my life, Brent. You saved me from a bleak future with a man I hated, with parents I loathed, with a career I didn't want."

"I'll always save you, Ginny," I said, stroking her cheek, "because you saved me."

We kissed one more time, and then I dramatically said, "Ow, ow!"

"What?" she said, sitting up, trying to get off my lap, but I held her there.

"Your knee, your knee!" I said, reaching for my pocket and slipping my hand inside.

"Well, let me go! I can't get off!"

I pulled my hand out and held up a diamond ring. "Virginia Duclark--"

"Oh, my God, you are not serious!"

"Will you marry me and stay with me in the light forever?"

She was blushing and shaking her head. "I can't believe you. Yes, you crazy boy! Yes, a million times!"

I laughed and slid it on her finger. "Did you think I was only asking you to run away for a weekend?"

We held each other in a tight hug, which turned into deep kissing. Max barked, picking up on our excitement.

"Yes, you're the best man!" I told him.

"You never disappoint me," she said, looking at the diamond on her finger. "It's so beautiful, so classic. I love it."

"It was my grandmother's."

"Aw, baby. I'll make her proud. Don't we both have the best grandmothers ever?"

"We do."

We kissed again, and her hands were all over me.

"Mmm, I have a new idea," she said, biting her lip and looking excited. "What if instead of New Orleans we go to Las Vegas?"

"And what ever would we do there? A little gambling?"

"Maybe a little honeymooning," she said, her grin big.

"I love the way you think," I said, kissing her soft lips.

She kissed me back but then stopped. "Wait, I forgot to ask you something! I never brought it up, because I didn't want to scare you, but it's kind of a big deal."

"Okay?" I said in confusion.

"Do you want children?"

"What, like, right now?"

She laughed. "No, one day, far away, when we're ready. But it's always been my dream to have a baby. Don't you? Please say you do."

"Of course, I do, my love," I said. "I want everything with you, including a family. I know you'll be an incredible mother one day."

"Aw, really? I won't be anything like my mother. That's for sure."

"Just promise me one thing," I said. "No more virgin ceremonies, okay?"

Ginny laughed. "I promise. No more virgin ceremonies."

The End