Heartbeats Away From Disaster

"Jason! Quit tormenting my guests!" I scolded from my place beside the barbeque. "I swear, I'm going to stab you with this if you don't stop freaking people out." I threatened him, raising my hand to show him the gigantic fork I was using to turn over the steaks.

Jason just laughed in response, and then waved his hand, waving off my threat before he stood up and went to go visit with a couple of our high school friends, leaving the girl he had been talking to alone. Dee was the new bartender I had been telling Craig about, who I was trying to set up with Matt. So far, he had been too shy to talk to Dee, whereas she had been preoccupied by the crazy stories Jason had been telling her.

I opened my mouth to invite her over my way, but stopped short when Matt came into view, taking the empty seat Jason had just been occupying. A smug smile on my face, I turned my attention back to my cooking.

I turned the steaks over, stabbed one or two, and was convinced that it would just be a couple more minutes before they were done. I set my 'fork' down on the side of my grill, and then reached over, grabbing my margarita Derrick had concocted for me. As I took a sip of it, a pair of familiar arms wrapped themselves around my waist.

A smile crossed my lips as I leaned back into Craig. Kissing my temple softly, he began to rock me gently in his arms as he held me tightly.

"How's the steaks?" He asked.

"Almost done." I replied. "A couple more minutes."

"Sounds good." He muttered before his lips found their way to the sensitive spot on my neck. I inhaled sharply, and then closed my eyes, feeling Craig's lips pull upwards into a smirk.

"No fair." I growled. "Don't tease me like that."

Craig giggled like a little kid before he reached up, cupping my chin and guiding me toward his lips. He kissed me sweetly and gently, not pulling away until someone thought to ask me if the steaks were done yet. He pulled away, allowing for me to answer, and then continued to whisper some sweet, yet explicit, words into my ear.

Blushing slightly, I grabbed my fork and piled the steaks onto the serving plate. "Go put these with the rest of the food." I directed Craig.

He did as I asked while I turned off the grill and then went inside to wash my hands. By the time I got back outside, everybody had gathered around the table that held the food. Sighing softly, I grabbed a plate and made a move to get in line when I saw Craig already sitting at the table. Spotting me, he waved me over, and then motioned to the second plate he had set beside his. Putting my plate back on top of the pile, I made my way over to him and then sat down beside him.

"I figured that you didn't want to stand around in line after spending the last half an hour cooking." Craig said, handing me a bottle of water.

"Thank you, babe." I said softly before I leaned over, giving him a quick kiss.

Before long, we were joined by Brad and Pat, while Dee and Matt took the seats across from us. I eyed the latter for a few seconds before I glanced at Craig, only to find that he too was watching Dee and Matt. He raised his eyebrow momentarily, and then, as if he felt my eyes on him, turned his gaze in my direction.

"What?" He asked.

Smiling, I shook my head and then reached over, sliding my hand into his as he took a bite of potato salad. "How's your food?" I asked.

Chewing and swallowing what food he had in his mouth, Craig gave me a cute smile and reached over, giving me a loud, sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"The food is good." He replied. "You're an excellent cook babe." He said, nodding his head in approval. "I almost forgot how tasty your cooking is."

"I know," I grinned, "it's been a while since I've actually cooked; these past few months it seems like we've been a couple of lazy asses who just decided to order take out."

"You should cook more often." Craig mumbled as he cut up a piece of steak.

"I probably will now that you guys are back home." I said.

"Are you gonna cook for me every night?" Craig asked sweetly.

"I don't know about every night." I grinned. "Remember that deep down inside I'm still a lazy bitch."

Craig laughed softly before he shook his head. "You're not a lazy bitch." He said quietly before he kissed my cheek once again. "You're perfect."

"Oh my gosh, enough with the 'perfect this' and 'babe that' and the smooches thrown in between every sentence." Pat laughed from beside me. "We're here to eat and visit, not watch you two love up on each other."

"Hey, if that's how you're gonna be, Pat, you can see your ass off of my property." I joked.

"Whatever," Pat smirked, "if you're gonna be this crude to your guests, you just may find yourself hanging upside down from the second floor balcony again."

I narrowed my eyes at Pat in fake hatred. "You're still a jerk for pulling that stunt last time. I could have fallen two stories and broke my fucking neck."

"Yeah, well you didn't, did you?" Pat teased.

Not wanting to continue the conversation, I rolled my eyes and instead turned my attention to Dee and Matt, both of whom were watching us in amusement. Recalling perfectly well the situation in which Pat was referring to, Matt snickered to himself before he turned to Dee and offered up an explanation.

"About a year or so ago, Mitzi was in a real ... 'foul' mood one night and was treating pretty much everybody who was here at her house like crap, so Pat thought that he'd teach her a lesson." Matt stated. "He somehow managed to get a hold of her and packed her upstairs to the second story landing, and then hung her upside down off of the side."

Around the table, every one erupted into a fit of giggles as they remembered exactly how it had looked as well, causing my cheeks to burn in embarrassment.

"It wasn't funny at all." I mumbled. "Pat seriously made me cry." I admitted.

"I did." Pat said, nodding his head in pride. "Mitzi is scared to death of heights."

"I was crying like a fucking sissy," I told Dee, "and all anybody did was sit back and laugh at me."

"Not everybody," Craig said defensively, "I rescued you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did." I agreed, "But only after you had had your share of laughs at my expense."

Craig laughed softly and nodded his head. "It was pretty funny seeing the look on your face when Pat first dumped you over the side, but then I felt bad when I saw you were crying." He admitted. "So, I had to rescue you, and then beat up on Pat afterward."

Beside me, Pat rolled his eyes but chose not to reply before took a sip of his drink. Taking that as the end of that particular conversation, Matt turned to Dee and began to tell her another funny story about us growing up. Time passed us by as we laughed about certain memories someone would bring up, and before I knew it, it was already a quarter after midnight.

I watched as my guests left in twos and threes, bidding them all goodbye as they went. Soon, the only guest of the evening who remained was Matt who was lying on the hammock. While Craig brought the leftover food into the house, I joined Matt on the hammock. We lay there in silence for a couple of minutes, both of us staring up at the stars while thinking to ourselves. Finally, I decided to break the silence.

"So what do you think of Dee?" I asked.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips before he replied. "I think she's a sweet girl." He replied.

"Did you get her number?"

"Yes." He said, the sound of a smile clearly evident in his voice. "We're going to dinner and a movie on Thursday." He added.

"You two would make a cute couple." I stated. "Ask her to be your girlfriend."

"Mitzi, we've only just met tonight." Matt laughed softly.

"I don't care." I retorted. "Ask her."

Matt just shook his head slightly as he continued to laugh to himself. "We'll see." He said. Pausing for a couple of seconds, he turned his head so that he was looking directly at me. "How are you and Craig doing?"

"We're doing good." I said softly. "Things are just like old times."

"He's treating you better this time through though, right?" Matt said quietly.

"Yeah, he's been such a sweetheart to me, and he's a lot more support this time around." I replied. "You were right when you told me to take some time and date someone else while Craig got his head straight. I think that when he told me he loved me that day, he realized that he was going to have to step it up if he expected me to stick around. He's not going anywhere this time. Neither of us are."'

Matt reached over and caressed my cheek gently with his fingertips as he studied me. "Remember, Mitzi, Craig tends to get scared when it comes to love - if he tries to back out of your relationship again because he doesn't think he's good enough for you, don't let him go so easily. Fight for him, and get it through his thick skull that there's nobody else out there for you but him."

"Do you think he'll pull something like that again?" I asked.

Matt shook his head and then shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I never know what he's gonna do, Mitzi. I never thought that he was going to leave you for the first time, so you never know. I'm just saying, if he ever slacks off again, don't dismiss him so easily."

Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly before I nodded my head. With that, we fell silent once more, our attentions turned back to the night sky. A few minutes later, I heard footsteps approaching before they came to a stop right beside the hammock.

"Everything's put away, Mitz," Craig said softly, "but, there was a message on the answering machine; Justin wanted to know if you would be able to go in a little earlier tomorrow because he had some other things he wanted to talk to you about."

"Alright babe, thanks." I replied.

Beside me, Matt shifted his position a little, and then sat up. "I'd better get going then if you need to get up early tomorrow sweetheart."

"Okay," I whispered as he leaned over and kissed my forehead softly. "Goodnight Matt."

"Goodnight Mitzi, night Craig." Matt said as he straightened himself out.

"Night." Craig called after him as he walked toward the house and disappeared through the sliding door.

Craig let his eyes linger on the spot where Matt had disappeared for a few moments before he slowly turned his blue stare to me. Not know what was behind the sad expression on his face, I gave him a questioning look.

"I overheard what Matt told you about fighting for me if I fuck things up this time." He said quietly.

Silently, I watched him as he took the spot Matt had just been a minute before. Wrapping an arm around my waist, Craig pulled me close to him, letting me rest my chin on his chest while I continued to look at him.

"I should have fought for you last time." I mumbled. "I honestly thought that you didn't want me anymore then, so I didn't; I just let you go."

"I've always wanted you." Craig whispered. "What was just a stupid mistake on my part, but I'm making up for it now. I'm not going anywhere this time."

"Good." I said softly as I closed my eyes.