Best Man

As raindrops pelted the windowpanes, the overcast September morning made everything feel more sedate and noncommittal. Every movement of every thing or person seemed to be on the languid side; as if even the most important of tasks, the most urgent and dire, could be put off for just one more day. Rainy days were lazy days. Days where the procrastinators of the world united!

Tomorrow.

And isn't it ironic that rainy days usually end up being Mondays? Go ahead and look back at every rainy day you've lived through and take note of just how many Mondays they were. It'll make you chuckle.

But, analyzation on rainy days aside, this particular September one was nothing special, but yet...it was.

Mike rolled around on his side of the bed, feeling a bit stir crazy.

He just couldn't sleep.

With so many things on his mind, all he wanted to do was walk around his house and pace; despite feeling tired at the same time.

Turning his head to the right, the bassist studied the curve Caroline's body; from the hill of her hip, down the valley that was her waist and up the gradual climb to her upper body and then, like a cliff dropping off, down the slooping curve of her neck that was exposed from keeping her hair tied up in a very careless and sleep-worn bun.

He smiled.

Scooting forward a few inches, Mike pressed his chest against her back and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her tightly against him as he leaned over to place his lips on her cheek and inhale her scent as subtly as possible.

"Where it began, I can't begin to know when. But then I know it's growing strong..." Mike whisper-sang into Caroline's ears, his voice quite husky and yet soft like a feather. Lifting the arm he had wrapped about her, Mike slowly dragged it up her arm and leaned his head to the left to kiss her shoulder as he mumbled against her skin, "Was in the spring...and spring became the summer. Who'd have believed you'd come along?"

"Why're you singin' Neil Diamond to me?" Caroline suddenly muttered, sleepily.

"Just shut up and enjoy it," Mike snickered as her body shifted slightly against his as he continued to serenade her, somewhat cheesily. "Hands, touchin' hands...reachin' out...touchin' me, touchin' you..."

Then, out of nowhere, Caroline felt her body jerk backwards as Mike grabbed her shoulder and pinned her to the mattress so he could look down at her. She blinked sleep away a few times and raised an eyebrow.

"Sweet Caroline...bah bah bah! Good times never seemed so good!" he belted as if her were trying to mimic Billie Joe. But, not. "I've been inclined...bah bah bah! To believe they never would. But. Now. I--"

"Dork," Caroline giggled, smiling broadly.

"Look at the night, and it don't seem so lonely. We fill it up with only two," Mike continued, ignoring her comment, as he rolled over onto his back, while still holding her shoulder, so that he had propped her up in his lap. "And when I hurt," he pouted. "Hurtin' runs off my shoulders," he added, dragging his hands down her shoulders to grasp her hips. "How can I hurt when I'm with you?"

Caroline cocked her head to the side and just stared down at him.

"Warm, touchin' warm. Reachin' out...touchin' me, touchin' you!" Sitting up he enveloped his arms around her waist until their chest were pressed against each other and his lips an angel's breath away from hers. "Sweet Caroline--"

"Bah bah bah," she interjected.

"Good times never seemed so good," he sang seductively. "I've been inclined--"

"Bah bah bah," she repeated.

"I believed they never could...oh no, no..." Mike trailed off, not bothering to attempt the chorus once more. Instead, he chose to simply hold his beloved in his arms, pressing his forehead against hers and brushing the tips of their noses together in an Eskimo kiss. "Morning, beautiful," he whispered.

Caroline scoffed, lightly. "Yeah, right. I look like shit."

Pulling his head back, Mike lifted his right hand and pushed some loose strands of her dark hair away, studied the contours of face and responded with, "Beautiful shit."

Smacking him playfully on the chest, Caroline leaned in kissed him.

"We've been engaged four whole months today," he muttered into her mouth.

"Mmhmm."

"When do you want to set a date?" he asked almost out of the blue.

Caroline snapped her head back and furrowed her brow. "Why do we have to make any definite plans right now? We should be taking it one day at a time. Live in the now."

"Well, pretty soon now will be tomorrow and tomorrow will become the day after tomorrow," he replied, the gentle expression he'd been showing getting a little hard. "I don't want to keep putting off the inevitable. We're gonna have to decide sooner or later. And the sooner the better."

"What's the rush?"

"Because I want you to be my wife. It's what I think about day in, day out. It's the thought of you walking down the aisle, or...sidewalk -- wherever we get married -- that fuels my energy each day. It's what gets me moving. You, me...and in a few years time, children of our own."

Caroline swallowed a lump in her throat.

"You still want all that too, right? Please, tell me I'm not the only one."

Licking her lips, she let out a sigh and shook her head. "I still want it, but I'm just..."

"Just what?"

"Scared."

Studying her eyes, Mike frowned, almost sympathetically. "Why scared? Scared about what?"

Caroline climbed off Mike's lap and threw her legs over the edge of the bed as she got to her feet. Walking over to the window, she sat down on the ledge, her back against the cool, rainsoaked windowpane, and faced Mike, who'd turned to face her as well.

"I'm not exactly sure. But I know I am."

"Is it cold feet?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe. But...I still wanna marry you. I'm just not sure when. Or where. Or even how."

"Do you know why...why you wanna marry me?"

"Because I love you with all my heart."

"Then that's all you need to know."

Standing up, Mike walked over to Caroline and pulled her to her feet. He turned her about and pressed his chest to her back as he wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned his head down on her left shoulder; both of their reflections mirrored in the window.

"Everything just feels like it's happening too fast. I wanna take it slow."

"I ain't gettin' any younger," Mike teased, kissing her neck. Letting out a sigh, he decided that maybe he better change the subject before his joking comment ignited an argument because, at the moment, this seemed like that's where the conversation would end up. "Have you noticed how Giselle and Tre have been hanging out a bit these past couple of weeks? Almost like, well...a couple."

Caroline's pout became almost rock solid. "Yeah, and it's...weird. Bordering on 'that's just not right.'"

"Why? Now we know Tre's finally moving on and things can get back to normal. No more tension," Mike replied. "I can get my best friend back instead of having him as anything less. And maybe the two of you can find a friendly ground where there's no awkward feelings."

"But it's my sister. It's like she has to have everything of mine. I want something, she has to have it first. Then she jumps at the chance at having sloppy seconds?"

"Are you angry or jealous?"

"Why the hell would I be jealous?" Caroline spun out of Mike's arms and faced his with her hands on her hips.

Fuck. I was supposed to be leading the conversation away from a fight. Not into one, Mike thought.

"I dunno," Mike admitted. "It's just a vibe I'm getting."

"Yeah, well, keep your vibes to yourself because they're wrong." Turning on the heels of her bare feet, Caroline stalked off toward the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Mike, completely dumbfounded by how quickly his fiancee's mood went timid to sour, shouted back at the closed door. "If my vibes are so damn wrong what's it matter to you?"

Moving toward the bathroom door, he lifted a fist to bang on it just as---



Giselle laid in her bed, just down the hall, as the argument between Mike and her sister began to grow from a petty tiff turned into a heated fight. Their voices were mumbled only slightly. For the most part, she caught all of what they were saying, and it made her lie still in her bed, like a child listening to her parents -- and if she made a single peep, it would only add fuel to their fire.

Unfortunately she happened to be on her cell phone with Tre at the moment, so no peeping at all would prove to be a difficult task.

"You still there?" he voice questioned.

"Yeah," she whispered back.

"Why're you whispering? Are you hunting rabbits with Elmer Fudd?"

"Mike and Care are fighting. I'm trying to keep quiet so I can listen," she half-lied. Truth was, she didn't really want to hear the fight at all. She wanted to believe there wasn't a bad moment between her sister and future brother-in-law. That they were Mister and Missus Brady.

"What're they fighting about?"

"Wedding plans, I think. And..." Giselle trailed off, sitting up on her bed, Indian-style. She didn't want to tell him about the other part. "I think I'll call you back later when the storm's passed."

Her blue eyes flitted over to the window as the rain seemed to be hitting the pane even harder than before.

Giselle frowned.

"Why don't you just come over here?" Tre asked. "The only shouting you'd have to listen to is Frankito's as he jumps for joy every time he kicks ass on his video games."

"As tempting of an offer that may be, I think I'm gonna decline this time. The rain's too heavy right now." Then, she added, "Maybe later, though."

"Alright. Then I'll see ya later?"

"Yeah," Giselle nodded.

"'Kay. Love ya."

As the line went dead, Giselle pulled her phone from her ear and stared at it.

Did Tre just say 'Love ya'?



Did I just say 'Love ya?'

Tre was looking at the little screen of his cell phone with wondrous blue eyes as he closed the device and set it down on his coffee table.

What he said was unimportant at the moment. What was?

Mike and Caroline were fighting.