Fight or Flight

"You’re telling me that you choked the waiter in the men's bathroom?"

Veronica nodded and shrugged, "Pretty much."

She shoved a forkful of salad into her mouth. She’d decided to spend a few hours at Nate’s house since she hadn’t visited in a while and had nothing better to do. After all, he always showed up at her place too.

Nate shook his head with a laugh, "Can you please stay out of trouble? For me?"

"He’s not telling anyone about that," She assured him. "He wouldn't want to tell anyone that a woman beat him in the bathroom. Plus, I told the manager to call the cops on me if he wanted to, and he backed out so it’s okay."

"Whatever you say.” Nate shook his head again. He took a seat at the kitchen bar across from Veronica. "What else happened?"

Veronica looked up at the hanging kitchen lights, thinking. "Hm, not much. We went to In-N-Out for dinner after that whole ordeal, then he dropped me off at my place and we said goodbye."

"No goodnight kiss?"

“Okay, seriously, sometimes I question you," She said, looking at him with doubt. She was completely comfortable sharing things with Nate, but sometimes he truly acted like a woman. That was supposed to be Audrey’s job. "I kissed his cheek."

"Yes!" He pumped a fist in the air. "I'm all for it, you know. That’s the first step.”

They heard the front door slam closed and a childish shriek echoed through the foyer. The two of them listened to the little thumps and light steps coming through the first floor.

"Hey," Audrey smiled at the sight of Veronica, walking into their kitchen with Alexander by her side.

Audrey was the ultimate sun-kissed, stay-at-home mom. She peeled her floppy, black summer hat from her head and threw her sunglasses and keys onto the counter. Her blonde hair was always at its best and she always had a smile on her face.

"Hey," Veronica greeted her.

The two women exchanged kisses on the cheek. The blonde greeted her husband with a peck on the lips.

"Auntie Vee!" Alex screamed, grabbing onto her legs and hugging them.

"Hi, sweetheart," Veronica said, ruffling his dark brown hair.

Every time she saw her nephew she swore that he grew by inches. He was getting bigger every day and looked exactly like the kid version of his father. He was also smart for a three year old boy. Veronica always reminded Audrey and Nathaniel of that.

"What were you guys talking about?" Audrey asked when Alexander preoccupied himself on the floor with his toy cars.

"Veronica had a date last week," Nate told his wife.

"Oh, right! You sent me those pictures," Audrey said as she remembered the photos of Veronica’s makeup and outfit. "How'd it go?"

"At the restaurant, not well. But she did kiss his cheek when he dropped her off," Nate explained before Veronica could even open her mouth.

"I’m sorry, who went on the date, me or you?' Veronica snapped at him.

"Sorry, sorry," Nate said with a goofy grin, putting his hands up in defense. "I'll let Veronica tell you all the details."

"Thank you," Veronica rolled her eyes, flicking a piece of lettuce from her salad at him. "Basically what he said. We had terrible service at the restaurant so we left and got In-N-Out, and then he dropped me off and that was it."

"Wow, you’ve gotta get out more,” Audrey said blandly. “What’s his name again? Matt, right? I’ve gotta meet him.”

"Yeah, it’s Matt," She nodded, wondering what was wrong. “What was I supposed to do?”

"I mean- I just," Audrey sighed in mild frustration.

"You thought I was going to be like you and Nate on the first date?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. She didn’t mean it to be offensive in any way. "Definitely not."

"Hey, that was a great first date," Audrey said with a giggle. Her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.

"Sure was," Nate nodded in agreement, suggestively.

"Gross." Veronica put her hand up for them to stop talking. She was the first person Nate had told the morning after his first date with Audrey. Sex on the first date was not something that Veronica did. However, she was no saint. She’d had a one night stand or two before. "I'm happy you guys did that and lasted this long, but this is me we're talking about."

Veronica was glad that Nathaniel was fully committed to Audrey and wasn’t the type of guy to play games. She’d quickly warned him about hurting Audrey’s feelings well before she even got to know Audrey.

"You're right, this is you," Audrey said. "Nate knew you way before me but seriously, hon, you've gotta get some these days."

"I'm perfectly fine," Veronica said. She didn’t need sex to make her feel loved or make her feel better about herself. Companies created adult toys for a reason. "I don't want to talk about this in front of Alex."

"Alex, sweetie," Audrey said, waving her son over.

She’d almost forgotten that her son could hear everything they were saying. She took the silver canister of dog treats from the cupboard and opened it, grabbing a handful.

"Yes, Mommy?" Alex ran over to her.

"You wanna go give these to Chip and play with him for a while?" She asked sweetly in her natural soft-spoken voice. "I think he wants someone to play with."

"Okay, Mommy!" He said without question, taking the dog treats from her hand. He ran off into the living room to find their Jack Russell terrier.

"Now we can talk." Audrey turned back to her. "I'm saying that dating is good for the soul.”

Veronica rolled her eyes. She felt like they were having an intervention. She was used to Audrey and Nate pretending to be the gurus of her love life.

"I tried to tell her that," Nate muttered under his breath.

"I mean, everyone wants someone, you know," Audrey continued.

"Yeah, well, I don’t.” Veronica shook her head. "Like I said before, I've got my parents and Gabe."

"She's still in denial," Nate muttered again.

"Who are you going to pass your traits down to?"

"Guys, I've got plenty of time," She voiced, trying to get the two of them to be quiet. "Maybe I will settle down one day, but that day is not soon."

"But it’s your biological clock," Audrey pressed.

"Look, I get that you guys want me to do something with my love life and I’d love to," She admitted to herself and to them. "I'm just not ready yet. I can't be like you two."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Nate asked.

"I mean that you're a man. You can do your job while Audrey gives birth and waits for you to come home. I can't. I've gotta take off work. I can't be a mom and a Marine at the same time."

"You can," Nate countered.

"Yeah, when I fully retire from active duty and decide to stay at the base," She said with a scoff. "I don't see myself leaving active duty anytime soon."

"I don't want you to leave anyway," Nate grumbled, letting up the interrogation. "We're honestly not pressing you to do anything. We're just giving you options."

"I know my options, thank you very much," Veronica retorted with a sarcastic smile.

"We're just saying," Nathaniel and Audrey said in unison. They looked at each other with coy expressions at the coincidence.

"I get what you're saying," Veronica nodded. She placed her hand over her chest to feign hurt. "You two are getting tired of me."

"Tired?" Audrey laughed, looking at her like she was insane. "I feel like you barely come by to hang out anymore."

"We can't ever get tired of you," Nate added, leaning on the counter. "Who else will we go to for threesomes?"

"Oh my god," Veronica groaned, putting her head in her hands. "That was only once. Do not ever bring that up again."

"That's the side you need a man to see," Audrey teased, snickering.

"Yeah, yeah." She flipped them off.

Alexander came running back into the kitchen with his childish laugh. He skidded to a halt in front of Veronica, looking up at her with his big, blue eyes.

"Auntie Vee, look!" He yelled, showing her the dog slobber on his hands. He placed his hands right on her jeans.

"Oh man, bud," She said with interest but grimaced at Nate and Audrey. "We've gotta go wash your hands."

"Okay," He said, reaching upwards for her to pick him up.

She hopped off the bar stool and picked him up into her arms with a fake groan. He only weighed about thirty pounds, and was as light as a feather to her. Alexander, however, liked hearing his Aunt struggle as he grew older.

"You're getting big, buddy," She grunted, holding him on her hip.

"Daddy says vegetables and milk will make me strong like him," He grinned, pointing at Nate.

"Yeah, your daddy's right, buddy," She laughed, turning her head to wink at Nate on his good parenting.