She's My Ride Home

“You put your arms around me and I’m home…”

I felt him press his lips against my cheek, and when he pulled away not only was my cheek cold, but it was wet and sticky.
“That better have been vanilla ice cream that was all over your mouth or we’re gonna have an issue sweetie.” I laughed.
“Ah well…erm…hate to break it to you baby but, I was with Zack earlier and…well…” He tried to keep a straight face, and I knew that he would fail miserably in about five seconds flat.
“I knew your fans were right! So that Synacky stuff is real!” I laughed.
“Hey!” He defended, wiping his mouth quickly with one of the napkins on the table and turning to face me, his face partially darkened by the shadows the moon was creating outside.
“I knew that would get you!” I laughed.
“You know how I feel about that Synacky crap,” He laughed. “All these girls love to imagine me boning my best friend.”
“Well, aren’t you boning your best friend?” I asked, batting my eyelashes.
“If by best friend you mean Zee, then no,” He said rolling his eyes and then grinning. “But if by best friend you mean you, then absolutely.”
“Well I hope we keep it that way.” I said, leaning in and kissing him before getting up and making my way into the house.
“Hey, wait for me!” He laughed, chasing me up the stairs.

I found that as time moved us all forward I was dreaming of a better future less and less; the dreams that had at one time or another plagued my life and made me wish that I had never done half of the things I set out to do were soon long forgotten about. All of our lives were moving at a pace which seemed only appropriate for the time being, and left us all with busy hands and occupied minds.
Not only was I neck deep in building the new west coast corporation, but I also found that trying to decorate your new home because at one time it was your boyfriends bachelor pad wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. I felt bad when Brian had told me it was okay for me to get rid of the black leather couches he had in the living room and replace them with something more “couples” like. I still felt bad as I stood with a painter, that Brian insisted we hire, and gave him instructions on what to paint within the house. The one thing that never seemed to falter throughout all of the mess, planning, and scheduling the two of us were working with was that we were always happy. Coming home to each other at the end of the day, crawling into bed next to him every night, left me nothing but happy; and when he whispered I love you in my ear while he wrapped his arms around me I knew he meant every word of it.

“You need to stop feeling so bad about changing this house.” He whispered, coming up behind me and resting his chin on top of my head.
“You spent good money on all of this stuff!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms up in the air for proper emphasis.
“We’re not throwing it out babe,” He chuckled. “We can put it in the basement with the rest of the furniture so that we have a sort of spare bedroom down there.”
“Why are you being so good about all of this?” I asked suddenly.
“Because it doesn’t bother me in the least that we’re changing this place!” He laughed, turning me around and holding me at arm’s length.
“And why’s that?” I asked, scrunching my nose up and giggling as he poked me in the side.
“Because this is our house now,” He smiled, leaning down to kiss me gently. “And I want our house to be something we can both enjoy, not just a mess of my old furniture that we felt bad about throwing out.”
I nodded as I stood on my toes to give him a quick kiss, smiling when he held me there with no intentions of letting me escape. When we finally did pull away for air, it was at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind us. I turned around and saw Zack and Johnny standing with their hands on their hips, expressions of mock anger masking their faces.
“Don’t you two knock?”
“Well we shouldn’t have to walk into your house and see you two exploring each other’s tonsils Gates.” Zack chuckled.
“You shouldn’t be walking into our house like that period.” I laughed, moving away from Brian and towards the kitchen.
“Jesus, she’s home for a month and it’s like nothing’s changed at all!” I hear Jimmy laugh, turning at the sound of his voice to see him standing in the kitchen with me.
“I’m the same person Jimbo,” I laughed. “A little older but the same crazy redhead!” I chuckled, letting him pull me in for one of his classic crazy Jimmy hugs.
“Good, because you’ll always be my favorite ginger baby.” He said, lifting me off the ground and carrying me into the living room where everyone else was waiting.
“I’m not a ginger you lanky ass!” I screeched, knowing the feeling of him throwing me over his shoulder.
Of course Brian was the first person I heard laughing, and I knew that he was gearing up to smack my ass.
“Smack my ass like that and you’re sleeping down here with Pinkly tonight.” I deadpanned.
“Jim put her down.” I heard him laugh.

It was nothing like the mess I once called my life. In fact, it was my family; all of us together. All the boys, all of the girls, and it screamed dysfunction. We truly were the world’s most dysfunctional family but we wouldn’t have it any other way.