Ever After

“What is there to do?” Ian asked glumly. He sat on the couch with his girlfriend, Matt, Chelsea, and Brett. He was throwing his phone in the air and catching it, just for entertainment.

Josh, Kali, Mike and Sam sat on the other couch, equally bored. Kali was actually falling asleep on Josh’s shoulder. They’d been in the tour bus all day, travelling to their next show in Edmonton. They were just arriving in Edmonton and they all desperately needed to get off the bus and find something to do.

“I say we hit up the West Edmonton Mall,” Mike grinned enthusiastically. “Think of all the rides!”

“But there’s so many people,” Matt sighed. Mike rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“We can go swimming,” Josh proposed. “We haven’t done that in forever.”

“Mm, you can, but I can’t,” Kali moaned in a stretch.

“Why not? You’re a great swimmer.”

“I’m pregnant, remember?” Kali pointed to her stomach. “I can’t be submerged in all those chemicals. No more risk-taking for me.”

Josh gave her a look but smiled and kissed her temple. “You may be pregnant, but you’re not showing yet. Which means you can wear a bikini, which also means I don’t want to pass up an opportunity to see that. Even if you just watch, I still say we go do it. I can watch you, you can watch me, it’s a great deal.”

Kali rolled her eyes but giggled. “It’s up to all you guys.” She waved her hand at everyone else now looking awkwardly away from Josh and Kali. She wanted to shake her head at them all but she refrained. They can’t handle any intimacy when it’s coming from a couple that isn’t them, she sighed.

Josh raised his eyebrows at them. Everyone nodded and murmured their consent.

“Looks like we’re going swimming!” Josh said in a goofy voice. He pulled Kali off the couch. “C’mon, let’s go get ready!”

It wasn’t long before everyone had their bags of towels, swimsuits, and other pool essentials all packed. The bus driver gratefully got them to one of the local pools and they all piled out.

“One thing I hate about public pools,” Josh groaned, “it’s separate change rooms. I was looking forward to helping you get your bathing suit on.” He winked at Kali.

“You poor, unfortunate soul,” Kali stuck her bottom lip out and kissed Josh quickly. “How will you ever cope?”

“I won’t.” Josh faked crying until Kali disappeared into the women’s change room, giggling.

She slipped into one of the cubicles and pulled the curtain over. Slowly, she changed into her two-piece bathing suit. It was black with thick red, green and blue stripes going diagonally across the fronts. She pulled her long hair up into a messy bun and stepped out from behind the curtain, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Everyone else was still changing, so she tentatively sauntered over to a full-length mirror on the far wall. Chewing her lip, she turned to her side. Her stomach was still flat, and she put a gentle hand on it. How far along did you have to be before you started showing again? The doctor she’d seen in Calgary had said 14 weeks, she remembered. Kali would only be about 4 so far. The little thing inside her was barely anything at all, but it didn’t matter to her. It was still in there, slowly growing. That knowledge felt so weird but so interesting at the same time. She had something that was part her, part Josh inside her! Something they had made together out of love and appreciation. And also out of Josh’s insatiable appetite, she thought snidely.

Kali was just turning to her other side when Chelsea stepped out from behind her curtain in her designer one-piece. She looked stunning, all long legs, sun-kissed skin and flowing hair. Kali spun around to face her and blushed softly.

“Whatcha doin’, Momma?” Chelsea asked with a knowing smile.

“N-nothing, just waiting for you guys,” Kali mumbled. “You look great, Chelsea.”

Chelsea beamed at her. “So do you. No one can even tell you’re preggers.” She lightly tapped Kali’s stomach as she walked past her.

The heat in Kali’s face intensified and she shook it away. Way to make this way more embarrassing than it needs to be, she thought with a chuckle. At least Kali knew Chelsea’s heart was in a good place. She could always count on her best friend, especially in a time like this. She still thought it was so odd. Back in high school, Kali really hadn’t been that close with Chelsea. But since Chelsea started dating Matt and Kali was with Josh, they became inseparable. Kali had quickly realized that Chelsea wasn’t half as bad as she’d thought she was way back when.

Kali put her sunglasses on and followed Chelsea out of the change rooms to the outdoor pool. The sun was beaming down warmth and Kali pulled a pool chair up. Draping her towel on it and pulling out the book she was reading, she got herself comfy. Quickly she did a mental check. Did I put sunscreen on? Yes. Did Josh put sunscreen on? God, I hope so.

“Nice body, sexy lady,” Josh’s voice came out deeper than usual and he slid up next to Kali with a raised eyebrow. He kissed her cheek, slipping his clothes and sunglasses into her bag.

“Drink it in, in another couple months it won’t look so nice,” She chuckled and patted his bare chest.

“I’m sure I’ll still appreciate it just the same.” He smiled and looked out at the practically empty pool. “God, it’s been a long time since we went swimming at all. Do you remember the last time we all went?”

Kali thought for a moment and then grinned. “Oh, I remember. Speaking of, did you remember to put sunscreen on? We don’t want to rehash that aspect of the last time.”

Josh smiled sheepishly. “Yes, I remembered to put sunscreen on. Well, if we can’t rehash that aspect, can we rehash the others later on?” He climbed on top of her on the pool chair, his knees against hers, and his hands on the sides by her shoulders. He kissed her jaw and nipped at her throat playfully.

“Would you just go swim already before I push you in there myself?” Kali laughed and shoved him off. As much as she’d like to rehash the other aspects of the last time they went swimming, she didn’t want to do it in a public place. Not to mention the fact that since she was pregnant now, although sex wasn’t a problem during pregnancy, she just wasn’t feeling it. She wanted Josh, of course, he was her husband, but she was comfy as she was. Unlike him, she didn’t have an insatiable sexual appetite.

“Alright, alright, but you better watch me! I’m a fucking pro in the water. It’s like if a dolphin and a mongoose had a baby. Or, so I’ve been told.” Josh smirked and got off of his wife’s chair.

Kali laughed. “Oh, I bet.” She watched Josh dive into the water and held up her hands to protect herself from the splash. What an ass-hat, she thought with a smile.

She reclined back in her pool chair and sighed in contentment. The sun warmed her body and she flipped her book open to her marked page. However, the words seemed to simply fall off the paper. She couldn’t concentrate on the book. She was thinking back to what Josh had talked about. She was thinking back to the last time they’d all gone swimming together. It’d been a month after Josh’s 22nd birthday…

“Last one in the lake gets to give Casselman a sponge bath later,” Matt said as he dived into the chilly water.

Mike followed, quickly resurfacing and screeching, “My balls are in my throat! Holy shit this is cold!”

Josh and Kali walked to the end of the dock, hand-in-hand, only to have Ian bust through them.

“I’m not giving myself a sponge bath, look out!” he yelled. He, too, resurfaced screaming because of the cold water.

Kali couldn’t help but laugh. “You guys are ridiculous,” she said. “You should ease yourselves into it first.”

“Yeah, you heard the lady,” Josh nodded, folding his arms across his chest. “You guys are dumb.”

“You’re not much better,” Kali said, turning to face Josh.

He raised his eyebrows at her. “What do you mean by that?!”

Kali shrugged and pushed Josh off the dock, sending him flailing into the water. He resurfaced gasping and coughing for air. Kali was laughing at him as she sat down to ease her legs into the water.

“What the hell, Kali!” Josh choked. “What was that for?”

Kali shrugged. “Just for my own personal kicks.” She slowly eased into the water, gasping a little when it got to her belly. Eventually she had herself submerged to her chest.

Josh swam up to her and raised an eyebrow. “I think you deserve a dunk for that.”

“Mm, I dare you to try.” She ducked under Josh’s arm and swam away from him towards the rest of the guys. She liked playing around with Josh sometimes. It was like their own personal game and it only got them riled up and usually ended in laughter or sex, whichever they decided on at the end of the day.

Quickly, Kali swam behind Mike and used him as a shield. He raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder at her.

“What are you doing, Cooper?” he asked.

“Josh threatened to dunk me, I’m using you as my human shield.” She whispered back.

“What? That’s no fair! I don’t remember agreeing to this.” Mike protested.

“It must’ve been in the ‘Terms and Conditions,’” Ian winked, causing everyone to laugh.

Josh swam up to Mike and Kali and raised his eyebrows at Mike. “C’mon, Ayley, step aside,” he said, waving his hand at Mike.

Mike blanched. “I don’t know about that, man. Your girl told me to protect her from you. Word is you threatened to dunk her.”

“I sure did, and I’ll dunk you without hesitation if you stand in my way.” Josh smirked and lowered an eyebrow daringly.

“I’m out.” Mike raised his hands in surrender and swam away, leaving Josh facing Kali.

“Michael Ayley, you traitor!” Kali screamed.

“You’re mine now, baby.” Josh raised his hands and reached out to grab Kali with that evil look on his face.

Kali squealed and dove under the water, slipping past Josh as fast as she could. She popped up a few feet away from him and caught his bewildered stare. She laughed with success and turned away to face the other boys. They were all talking and goofing around and she was entirely focused on them until she felt light fingers at the nape of her neck. She gasped and felt the top of her bikini come loose. She managed to hold it up but spun around to see Josh looking at her innocently.

“Oh my, that’s embarrassing,” He smirked.

Kali tied her top back up and grumbled. “Josh Ramsay you’ll be the death of me.”

He kissed her lightly and smiled. “Mm, but let’s not hope for that.”

“Is she sleeping?”

“I can’t tell.”

“Take off her sunglasses, maybe then we’ll see.”

“She’s been doing this a lot. Kali? Are you off in la-la land again thinking naughty things about me?”

Kali opened her eyes and lifted her sunglasses up. Josh was leaning over her with an arrogant smile on his face and everyone was standing around them. She sat up in her pool chair and blinked.

“Huh? What’s everyone looking at?” she asked groggily.

“She was definitely asleep.” Chelsea nodded. Everyone departed and left the couple alone.

Josh chuckled at her. “How was your nap? More dreams of our sexy past?”

Kali lightly smacked his shoulder. “I told you I wasn’t thinking about those times! But yes, actually, I was thinking about our past. And I was daydreaming, not sleeping.”

Josh sat down on the edge of her pool chair by her feet. He grabbed her bag and fished around in it for the container of watermelon she’d brought along. He took out a piece and bit into it, careful to not let the juice spill off his chin.

“How come you’re dwelling in the past so much lately?” he asked around a particularly large bite of watermelon.

Kali shrugged. “I don’t know. Just random things come to me and I just relive them a little bit. For instance, I was just thinking about the last time we were all swimming together.”

“Mm, baby, I was thinking about that, too.” He winked at her and tried to look as sexy as he could despite the watermelon stashed in his cheeks.

Kali rolled her eyes and sat up, grabbing her bag and the remains of his watermelon from his hand. She smiled at him.

“Like I said, I wasn’t thinking about that part.” She took a bite from his watermelon and walked towards the change rooms.

Josh just watched her go and smirked to himself. She’ll be the death of me.