Paper Planes

When I got back to the house the only sensible thing to do was clean. Or at least that's what it felt like.

I cleaned Tucker's room.
I cleaned the kitchen.
I vacuumed the hallway.
I scrubbed the tile in the entryway.
I dusted on top of fans.

And that was only the first hour.

"Vera?"

"Yes, Padma, is something wrong?"

"Yeeees. I'm... confused."

"I'm coming right over."

Click.

I sat on the couch, brows furrowed, and just breathed heavily.

Vera came bounding through the door. "Come on, honey, we'll settle this with shopping."

I sipped on a green tea latte from Starbucks while she pushed through a rack of clothes. "So tell me what happened. Is Tucker being a jerk again?"

"No. This morning when he left for work, he kissed me."

She laughed. "Is that it? Are you not comfortable with being in a relationship with him?"

"No... last night we went out to dinner, too."

"Where?"

"Some nice restaurant downtown."

"Honey, is this a psychological thing, because I'm not seeing anything here."

"No, let me finish." She nodded. "Okay, so we've been getting along better lately, I don't know, I guess we've both just been trying harder. So he took me out to dinner last night, and we ended up... well we both ended up getting terribly drunk. And then we... well thenwegotahotelroomandhadsex."

Vera's eyes went wide. "You had sex with him?"

I winced. "Yes."

"Well... were you safe at least?"

I sat down on a bench and sighed. "I hadn't even thought of that." I sighed.

"Sweetheart, I'm sure it's fine. At least it's you guys are engaged!"

I sighed again. "You aren't helping."

Her cell phone starting ringing some American music and she answered. "Hello?" she asked in English. The rest of her conversation was blurred out as I thought.

I thought.

And I thought.

"Sweetheart?"

"Hmm?"

"Come on. If you're going to start having sex with Tucker, we might as well get you some cuter underwear."

I chuckled. "Vera, this really won't--"

"Shush. Now let's go."

After underwear shopping, Vera took me to grab a bite at a bar near Tucker's house.

"Are you really going to make me drink after last night?"

"We're going to practice not getting drunk. And I figure if I loosen you up you'll tell me some of the details."

I laughed. "I can't remember anything."

"Well, we'll drink to memory then," she said, clinking her glass with mine.

I drank a little then started telling her about my dress and how awkward it was asking him to zip it up and how he changed in front of me and how that was awkward, which is all kind of ironic. I told her about our night, and how it was all my fault as I pressured him to keep drinking with me. I told her all of the juicy details as far as I could remember.

Then I told her about waking up all the way up until we got home.

And by that time I was already tipsy again.

"Alright. Now you know. Can you please take me home?"

"That's weird."

"What is?"

"You've started calling Tucker's house home."

I blushed. "Must be the TV I'm watching."

She laughed. "Right. Get in the car."

When she dropped me off, I grabbed my few bags and went inside. The house smelled amazing. Tucker must be home.

"Padma?"

"Hey Tucker," I greeted as he came in the doorway.

"Hey, I got home early and you weren't here so I called Vera and she said you were out. I ordered us dinner. Have you ever had Chinese food?"

I shook my head. "It sounds delightful."

"What did Vera make you buy this time?" he asked.

I blushed. "Oh, nothing really."

We ate dinner and he told me about his project at work he's wrapping up.

"That sounds really cool," I said, clearing the table.

"It's awesome. It's so much fun," he said, closing off the paper boxes and shoving them in the fridge. "So really, what did Vera make you buy?"

I blushed again. "I told you, nothing really."

He laughed. "Oh, nothing?" he started walking towards the couch where I threw the bags.

"Tucker!" I yelled, running over to the bags. I threw myself on top of them.

He laughed and picked me up with both arms. He threw me over his shoulder and held me there with one arm and tried to pick up the bags with the other. I flung myself down and jumped on his back, tackling him over the couch.

I pinned him down and smiled triumphantly at him.

"Oh, you think you've won, huh?"

"Oh, I know I've won, huh."

He laughed at me. His laugh turned into a smirk. My smile faltered. "Tucker... what are doi--- AAAH!"

He flipped me over, but I managed to grab the bag from behind me and fling it over my head. He was low enough on my body that he couldn't reach them, so he started sliding up.

"Ew! Tucker! Your... pants... are in my face!"

He laughed and jumped up, grabbing the bag. "Haha, Vera made you buy underwear? Wow, not just underwear." He held them up to himself. "Niiice."

"Tucker," I blushed. "Give those back."

He laughed and threw them at me to keep digging. I cleaned up the linens that were strewn across the ground and folded my, ahem, underwear and held them in my hand. When I turned around, Tucker had one of my bras on and was still digging through the bag.

"Tucker!" I yelled out.

"Padma!" he called back.

"Take that off."

"Make me."

I glared, then pounced. I jumped on top of him and we started wrestling around on the floor.

Five minutes later I finally had him pinned again. "Truce!" he called. "How do you move in these things?" He asked, acknowledging the bra.

"Well usually we wear on in our size."

We both laughed and looked at each other.

Tucker happens to have the most gorgeous eyes.

They just happen to have me staring...

And inching towards....

And within a few seconds, we were locking lips.

He grabbed my head and pulled me in deeper as I put my weight more on my elbows so I could get closer to him. I was straddling him when I realized what we were doing and I pulled away.

"Uh, you should sleep in my bed tonight. My mom might be coming over in the morning," he said as I scrambled off of him.

"Okay, I'll just... clean this up."

I sighed and flopped on the couch once he'd gone upstairs.

And I thought....