My Love

Time passed crazy fast, over the course of a year, many things had changed. I no longer worked at the science facility. I started my own garden, selling the produce to the local market for  a nice chunk of change.

The local newspaper had been hearing great reviews about my food, so they asked me if they could come by and interview me. I was delighted to help them out. They came by and we did a short twenty questions, then they wanted to take a bunch of cheesy photos of me by the plants.

When they left, they promised me a whole front page about me. I didn’t care either way. The next day when I got the paper, I scanned through article after article until about four pages in I found a short blip about me. It didn’t really say much and was honestly a waste of ink to print. I did sell a little more produce then I had before, so it was a win for me.

Stella graduated high school and had been given one week to find her own place to live. William had given her five hundred dollars to get her started, I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy for her to find anything at that price.

She was at my house one evening talking to me about her house hunt, “There are no places available here in Riverview. I don’t want to move away, but I don’t know where else to go. Five hundred dollars isn’t going to get me anything anywhere I go.” She heaved a dramatic sigh, “You are so lucky you inherited this place. It’s so beautiful.”

I looked around the empty room. White walls and cheap flooring. I had the house remodeled but ran out of money to do the interior. “Yeah, you’re right. I just wish I could have known my dad. Did I ever tell you that he was a musician? His name was Crow.”

“I never knew that, no wonder you could afford such an awesome house!” She made a funny face at me, “Can we please focus on me and my situation right now?”

I knew she was just messing with me, trying to act snobby. There wasn’t a snooty bone in her body though. “Well, I do have these three empy bedrooms. Since I don’t see any kids in my near future, maybe you could borrow one for the time being?”

She tried to act puzzled, “You mean, I could live here? With you? In this mansion?”

I laughed at her, “Only if you want, I mean I know how much you’ve been wanting to move to the big city.”

She giggled, “Totally. Watch out though, I may never leave if I move in. This place is like a girl’s dream.”

We moved Stella in that day. She took the second largest room with a private bathroom attached. She and I both knew that room was built for her specifically, but we liked to pretend that she was only going to be there until she got herself up on her own feet.

For the first few days, Stella didn’t do much other than lounge out by the pool after she cut her hair and spent all her money designing her room.

 

After a week of doing nothing but sunbathing, she decided it was boring and switched to learning how to bar tend. She wasn’t very good at it. After seeing her taste-testing expressions, I wouldn’t let a drop of her concoctions touch my lips.

 

One evening, after finishing my workout, I came into the kitchen to the smell of tofu hotdogs. Stella was a vegetarian and enjoyed making me try her animal friendly meals. I picked up one of the dogs and studied it. It looked alright, and smelled ok. I tried it; surprisingly they were rather good.

“What do you think, Raven?” she was always eager to hear my feedback.

I swallowed the bite, “Meh, not bad I guess. Needs mustard.” She slid the bottle to me, knowing that I ate mustard on everything.

As I took another bite, she began talking, “So, I went down to the shelter today to help care for the homeless animals.” I nodded. This had become a new favorite thing for her to do. She was always talking about a new animal they got in. “They found a little of abandoned kittens out under the bridge today. They are so super cute, and totally friendly.”

I looked up at her, “They always are, but they grow up to be monsters.”

Stella laughed lightly, “These kittens are wonderful, I have completely fallen for them. I was kinda thinking about adopting the smallest of the kittens. It’s a little boy named Snowshoe. He is just a tiny ball of fluff. You would love him.”

I knew that one day Stella would ask me if she could bring home one of the shelter animals, I hadn’t really ever considered having a pet, though. “Oh, I don’t know, Stella. They are so much work and they scratch everything to shreds.” She gave me the biggest puppy-dog eyes she could muster. “Fine. But you are taking care of it. Not me.”

She started clapping excitedly, “I’m so glad you said yes because I already brought him home with me!” It was perfect timing, as soon as she said that, I saw a tiny grey blob of fur crawl out from under the table and look up at me.

Stella promised that she would take complete care of the kitten and that I wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. She was so attached to that little guy, she carried him everywhere with her.

When she was working on her drink mixing, he was right there beside her watching over her. I started to find myself liking him a little bit, but I never petted him. I simply let him coexist with me.

Andrew and I had become really close. He lived outside of Riverview and would often stop by after he got done working down at the police station. He liked to sit in the hot tub with me and relax and talk.

I found it amazing that we were brought together by a burglar. It was even more crazy that he happened to be the only gay cop, and had picked up hours that night for one of the other policemen. It was like fate unraveling before us.

As we sat in the tub together one evening, when Andrew looked me in the eyes.

“Raven, you are such a great guy. I can’t believe how well we get along. It’s like we were meant to be together, don’t you agree?”

I nodded at him, pulling his warm body closer to me.

“I think you should be my boyfriend. We can let time tell if we should stay together, but for now, let’s make some memories together.” His way of asking me out was a little strange, but I happily agreed by pulling him in for a passionate kiss.

He continued to kiss me, harder and more fiercely. I knew that he wanted me, but I was nervous. I was still a virgin and had always worried about being intimate. There was so much that I didn’t know, but I didn’t think I was ready to know just yet. As Andrew began to make his move on me, I gentle pushed myself back from him.

“Andie, I really like you, but I just don’t think I am ready for that kind of relationship yet.” I felt my heart flutter, I really wanted to experience it, but I was also too afraid.

“I understand, Rav. I’ll let you wait as long as you need. I know that it’s scary the first time. I promise I will be slow and gentle.” He smiled at me, reassuring me of his honesty.

After that, we spent the rest of the night joking around and just having fun with each other. I was so lucky to have a boyfriend like Andrew, he really was the best man I could have ever imagined.

As the months flew by, I started to fall in love with Andrew. Every moment with him drew me closer to him. After almost a year of dating, I decided that he was the right person for me. I loved him and I couldn’t picture myself without him. Stella went to the jewelery store with me and helped me pick out the perfect engagement ring.

I made a date with him and drove nervously over to his house. I was going to pick him up and take him back to my house. I had never picked him up before, but his car was at the mechanic’s getting repaired. Blown head gasket or something like that.

When I arrived, he quickly came running out to my truck. He jumped into the passenger seat and gave me a kiss.

“Ready to go?” I asked, obviously he was, but it seemed like a normal question to ask.

He nodded at me, smiling, “I’m always ready when you’re around.” I chuckled a little.

We drove to my house talking about typical things. How his job was going, what Stella’s latest drink mixture was like, just our normal everyday chit-chat. We listened to some music in the background and drove happily all the way home.

Stella had made us some strange-looking vegetarian dinner. It was actually quiet good, but neither of us asked what it was. Sometimes, it’s best not to know what it is you’re really eating.

After the dinner, I pulled Andrew into my big empty study. It had a fireplace and a bookshelf, but nothing else in it. I didn’t care, I just wanted somewhere private to talk to my lover. He gave me a quizzical look when I moved us in front of the fireplace.

I dropped myself down on one knee.

As I pulled out the box, Andrew’s eyes started to water. “Andie, I have loved you since the day you saved me from the robber. I’ve always known you were the perfect man for me and I will always love you. You hold a special place in my heart and I hope you feel the same.”

I opened the fuzzy, velvet box, showing him the ring I had picked out for him.

“Andrew Gavin Lyngs, do me the honor of being my husband.” I held the ring out to him and he squealed out in excitement.

“Rav! I never thought you would ask! Of course I will marry you! I love you too!” He slipped the ring on his finger and flung his arms around me.

I held him tightly and let his sweet scent fill my body.

The next day I went into the courthouse to see about getting marriage licenses for Andrew and I knew that it was illegal to get married in Riverview if you were gay, but I had the help of a very unlikely person.

My uncle, Garett. He had moved back to Riverview a few years back and had reached out to me. He told me that he had made it all the way up to the law enforcement ladder and worked for the FBI for a few years before retiring back here. He fully supported my marriage and was going to do anything that he could to see that I would be happily married.

We spent four hours in the courthouse talking about gay rights and were finally able to persuade them to let me elope. There was only one catch, divorce would not be allowed.

As we walked out of the building, I turned to my uncle, “Thanks for all your help. It’s nice to finally have some family supporting me.”

He smiled warmly at me and put an aged hand on my shoulder, “It’s my pleasure, Raven. If you ever need anything, let me know.” As he walked away her winked at me.

I called Andrew up and told him the good news. I couldn’t wait to get home and celebrate with Stella. She told me she had a fun bachelor night set up.

When I arrived home, I found her at the bar. She and I started drinking and goofing around. After a couple of hours, we went upstairs and raided the closets and put on the weirdest outfits we could come up with.

After we changed, we met back downstairs. I had found a bottle of champagne so I shook it up and just as Stella came around the corner, I let the cork fly off, dousing her in the nectar.

We talked and drank and goofed around; it was a really enjoyable night. As the sun started coming up over the horizon, casting a yellow glow around the room, I pulled Stella in for a good night hug.

“Thanks so much for the fun night. I owe you my life. I love you so much Stella. You have always been there for me. I know you always will.”

After our embrace was released. We stood there, staring into each other’s eyes.

“I love you too Raven.” Stella seemed almost distant as she said it.

I can’t explain what happened next. Maybe the nectar had gotten to us, or maybe our feelings for each other were something more than we had ever thought. All I know was that for one brief moment, our lips licked together. It was a quick kiss, but it left me with hundreds of questions spiraling around in my head.

*BTW: I promised a photo of Rent’s son, Allen. Here is one. I think I may have accidently deleted the toddler photos I had of him, I’ll keep looking though.* Sorry that this kinda ruined the end of chapter love moment.*

Chapter Five: Perfection