A Moment Like This
by Nalysia
"Don’t they give you a break over Christmas?" The young woman asked through the phone line as she ran her hand through short blonde locks a sad look in her sea green eyes.
"Yes but with the time it takes to get there and back here I’d only have a day. It wouldn’t be worth it."
So I’m not worth the trip? Was the unspoken question that for some reason Julie didn’t have the nerve to answer.
When it didn’t seem like his fiancé was going to respond Brad spoke up again.
"I don’t like it either Jules."
"Really? You don’t sound that shaken up about it."
"Well it’s not like pouting around about it is gonna change anything." The snippy tone angered the young woman, but before she could respond Brad spoke up again. Perhaps catching his mistake his tone was now softer and almost loving. Almost.
"It’s ok Honey. It won’t be that much longer before we see each other again. I will be able to take some time off in February, when it slows done here. It won’t be over our anniversary, but close enough that we can celebrate."
Julie’s anger faded but was replaced by a stronger feeling of sadness. "Our anniversary is March 13th."
"I know that’s why I said, it won’t be over our anniversary, but close. So we can see each other in February. Then you can come over here for the summer once school’s out.
"Oh happy day."
"You don’t need to be that way…" Brad started, but was cut off.
"What do you expect? You’ve been gone since September, now you’re not even going to be home for Christmas. Then you say you will be coming some time in February for our anniversary that isn’t until the next month. To make things worse you just assume that I’m going to spend my whole summer over there. Don’t you ever listen to me? Not even a week ago I told you that I am thinking of taking classes over the summer so I can graduate next December?" The anger in the blonde voice was unmistakable.
"Baby I’m sorry that I forgot about that. We can work it out."
Julie let out a frustrated sigh, trying to let go of her anger.
"Brad we are supposed to be getting married sometime after my graduation but we haven’t spent more then three months together in the last two years."
"We haven’t been together because I am trying to build a future for us, so I can support you with money that I earned on my own. So when I can give you all the things you want it’s not my father paying for them." This time Brad’s own anger was showing. Something that Julie didn’t think was justified at all.
"That’s bullshit! My love don’t coast a thing and you know it! You’re just trying to please your father and nothing more. What the hell happened to you? You were not this way when we first got together. What happened to the man that wanted to break away from his fathers name and money? That’s why you hooked up with me wasn’t it, because I’m not a little rich bitch that never did anything for them selves, just lived off their daddies until they found a rich husband to live off of."
"You know it is, I can’t stand those women."
"Then why are you trying to turn me into one?"
"I’m not…" He tried to cut it.
"And why are you turning into your father?"
Hitting a nerve, that comment brought Brad’s anger out in full force.
"Because I opened my eyes and I saw the light. Living as a chef with you as a wife, just having some small apartment in the city and being happy that way? Those dreams were childish, now I’ve grown up enough to see that in the real world money and power talk Julie. I was already born with both so why should I give them up to become nothing?"
"Maybe it’s a good thing you won’t be home for the holidays. I like to spend them with people I know, and you’ve changed so much
I have no idea who you are anymore." With that Julie slammed the phone back in the cradle.
"I can not fucking believe him! What a fucking asshole!" The angry blonde yelled to the empty room. The picture of the afore mentioned asshole that she kept on her bookshelf caught her eye. "I can’t believe that last week I told someone all I want for Christmas is you." With that said she threw the picture across the room, watching it smash against her closed door with only a small amount of satisfaction.
"Damn girl what’s got up your ass?" Julie spun around to see Tina standing in the doorway and for some reason the sight of the tall, blue eyed beauty made her burst into tears. The brunette quickly rushed to her friend’s side, closing the door behind her to give them privacy if any of their other roommates came back.
"What is it? What’s wrong?" She asked while pulling the sobbing woman against her shoulder, knowing that physical comfort was something that always seemed to help Julie.
All she could make out through the sobbing was something about an idiot boyfriend and put two and two together.
"Well that explains the yelling."
The blonde head just nodded against the taller woman’s shoulder.
Tina brushed a lock of hair away from the side of her friends face in a soothing gesture. "He isn’t going to be coming back for Christmas his he?" She gently asked.
This time the head shook, knocking the lock of hair back down.
"Come, sit down and tell me about it." Leading them toward the bed Tina sat down first, guiding Julie down beside her and putting her arm around a slim shoulder.
Julie angrily wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"I don’t know why I’m crying over that jerk."
"Cause you love him." Tina stated simply.
"Don’t remind me." Julie answered with a grumble, then sighed. "Things are really bad. I don’t know what to do. It’s not just the physical distance. The emotional distance seems twice as far. He’s become a stranger, there doesn’t even seem to be a spec of the man I fell for left. I don’t know if I’m just not seeing it cause we are so far apart or if he really has changed that much. All he seems to care about now is staying on lifestyles of the rich and famous, and before he was the kind of guy that knew that the best things in life are free."
"I wish there was some great advice I could give you, or that I could reassure you, tell you it’ll be alright. But I don’t know him at all and I don’t know the two of you as a couple so there is no way to do that. What I do know is that he would have to be crazy to be able to stay away from you this long." Tina said in an attempt to encourage her friend. "Either that or he’s gay." She added, hoping humor would help too, which it did.
Julie chuckled and smacked across the stomach with the back of her hand.
"Hey it could be true, does he spend a lot of time at the Y.M.C.A.?" The brunette went on after getting her desired response. This time rewarded with a laugh as Julie pulled away from her shoulder.
"I don’t think so, trust me he has A LOT of heterosexual urges."
"EEWWW hetro sex!" Tina responded, with a truly disgusted look.
"Come on, it’s not that bad. You really shouldn’t knock it unless you’ve tried it."
"Nope, no thanks no way. I have been happy staying far, far away from THAT part of a man."
"Isn’t that gonna be hard once you become a doctor?"
"Not if I’m a gynecologist." The grin that Tina now wore was a mix between mischievousness and joyful anticipation and it made Julie’s breath catch. Until she noticed the way her friends eyes were glossing over, which made her laugh.
"You’d be in heaven."
"Yes I would, and it’s something I’d do for free. Doesn’t that mean it would be my perfect job?"
The blonde just shook her head. "You are such a goof." She then continued after her sea green eyes met sky blue, to make sure her friend could see the seriousness in them.
"Thank you, you always seem to know how to make me feel better."
"My pleasure, that’s what friends are for right?" after getting a nod, she continued. "So what are you going to do for Christmas now? Are you going to your dads?" she asked, knowing that her friend’s mom’s wasn’t an option.
"I haven’t thought about it, but I know I’m not going there. He’s going to his in-laws place. I’ll probably just stick around here."
"You all alone in this big house? Yeah right, you know you’re a chicken shit."
"I am not."
"You are too."
"Am not"
"Are too"
"Not"
"Too and before this gets ugly, why don’t you come home with me?"
Julie was truly surprised. "Oh, ah I couldn’t impose like that Ti, but thanks for the offer."
"You wouldn’t be imposing at all."
"There are so many people going to your place already, wouldn’t it be a little crowded?"
Tina laughed "It’s not the amount of space you’d take up that I’m worried about, it’s the amount of food you’d eat."
"You really think you’re a funny girl don’t you?"
"I know I am, it’s all part of my charm. Seriously, I can’t leave you here alone to have a blue Christmas. We have plenty of room and you’d be very welcome. Plus my mom has been after me for years to bring a girl home." giving another grin that would leave anyone breathless. "Hey we could say you’re my girl that would really make my mom happy."
Green eyes rolled. "I’ll go, but I am not going to lie to your mother."
Tina tried her most irresistible pout. "Ahhh why not? It’s not like us kids never did it before."
"Yeah, and how many times did you get away with it? And what did she do to you when she caught you?" Julie questioned with the arch of a perfectly shaped blonde eyebrow.
"Point taken"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A week later the pair watched out the window as their plane made its descent into Billing Logan International Airport.
"I never thought snow would be one of the things I’d miss about home. Ohh this is gonna be new for you huh? Being a California girl." Tina teased.
"I’ve always wanted a white Christmas, let it snow."
"That’s the Christmas spirit."
"Who’s picking us up?" Julie asked, wanting to make sure she got the names right. For some reason she was nervous about meeting Tina’s family.
"My Dad and my brother Rudolph."
Scrunching her nose up in confusion Julie turned to her friend. "Rudolph? I thought your brothers names were Jake and Tony?"
"They are, Rudolph is on of Jake’ nick names."
"Why do you call him that?"
"It’s short for Rudolph the red nose reindeer." Tina answered.
"And you call him that why?" The blonde questioned when no further explanation was given.
"When we were kids we went through a Bruce Lee stage and did a lot of Kung Fu fighting. During one of the fights Jake broke his nose by smashing it into my foot."
"So you broke your brother’s nose?"
"It was an accident."
"Sure it was"
"That’s my story and I’m sticking to it."
"That still doesn’t explain the name."
"I was getting to that. Anyway he started to cry and because it nose was broken it was red and bloody. Of course being the wonderful big sister I was my response was to say. "Shut up Rudolph, you big cry baby." It’s just sort of stuck I guess."
"Geez, you broke his nose, and isn’t he the one that gave you the scar on your leg?"
"Yeah that was when he shot me with his pellet gun."
"I’m never going to be alone with you two in the same room." Julie declared.
"That doesn’t guaranty anything. I was laying on the couch in the living room and he was fifty feet from the window when he shot me."
"Oh Brother"
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Daddy!" Tina greeted as she threw her arms around the big man.
As her friend greeted her family Julie took this moment to take in their appearance.
Her father was at least 6’4" with a strong build to match. His hair was graying at the temples but the rest was black as night, just like his daughters. His features were strong, a clearly defined jaw line, a straight nose just short of being too long for his face. High cheekbones seemed to be a pedestal for warm brown eyes. She knew from Tina that her father was just over 50 but he didn’t look like he had even reached 40 yet. Moving her attention to the man that was unmistakably Tina’s brother. They could be twins. She thought to herself. When he noticed her gave Jake grinned, showing his pearly whites. Oh yeah, drop all the muscle, a couple inches off the height and add a couple of breast and you couldn’t tell them apart. If everyone in her family is this good looking sign me up for the Chandler Family Fan Club!
"Dad, Jake I’d like you to meet my friend Julie." Hearing her name brought the blonde back from her thoughts.
"Julie, this is my Father my brother Jake."
"Hello Julie," the eldest of the Chandlers stepped forward extending his hand. "Welcome to Montana."
"Thanks you, it’s nice to finally meet you Mr. Chandler, Tina talks so much about her family."
The big man laughed. "Please call me Jerome, Mr. Chandler was my father."
"Ok, I can do that. Thank you for allowing me to stay at your home."
"My pleasure, it’s always nice to have new blood around, especially with this bunch." Nodding his head toward the siblings that were now standing side by side.
"Hey I take offense to that." Jake spoke up.
"You should" Jerome said smoothly, showing a sense of humor Julie found totally charming.
The younger of the Chandler men stepped up next taking her small hand is his much larger one.
"Hi Julie, forget everything my sister has told you about me. I am actually quite charming." He boasted, lifting her hand to his lips.
"See I told you he was delusional." Tina piped in, wrapping an arm around her friends shoulder. Neither of them seemed to notice it, or the way that Jerome grinned when he saw it.
"We should get going, I promised your mother I’d have you there in time for dinner. She is making your favorite chocolate cake. "
Tina let out a moan that could only be described as orgasmic at the mention of her favorite treat, and it effected Julie in away that she didn’t even want to think about at the moment.
Jesus! No wonder women never seem to get enough of her. If she sounds like that at just the thought of that cake it’s gonna sound like a porno when she is eating it.
~~~~~~~~
They had been driving for just over an hour when they pulled to a stop in front of the large ranch house.
"See I told you we’d have enough room." Tina teased.
Julie just starred at the large house, she knew that her friend’s family wasn’t poor, but the size and beauty of the house still surprised her. It was an old house, but every well kept. It was large and elegant with a look of wealth and class but not flashy or extravagant.
"I can see that, it’s a really beautiful house."
"Thanks, there is a story that goes along with it, I’ll tell you about it later."
"I can’t wait to hear it." Julie responded honestly.
Stepping out of the car the California beach girl was hit with her first real blast of Montana weather. "Holly Shit its cold!" She complained, as she pulled up the collar of her coat, very thankful that Tina had been thoughtful enough to take her shopping for the right winter wardrobe.
"You girls go on inside, we’ll get the bags." Jerome insisted.
The friends eagerly agreed as they made a dash for the door, neither wanting to spend a moment longer then needed in the cold of a mid-December day in Montana.
Before they even made it up the steps to the porch the wide front door was opened for them. Once inside Julie looked up to see the person she would be eternally grateful for.
She didn’t need to be told that the woman was Tina’s mother. Her hair was a dark brown that shone red where the light hit it, and she was shorter then her daughter, probably about 5’7" but those were the only differences. Her sky blue eyes were a perfect match to Tina’s. So was the chin, mouth and the shape of the nose. Moving her gaze lower Julie also saw that this is where her friend got her figure. What the hell do these people eat? They are all drop dead gorgeous and the parents look like they’ve found a fountain of youth.
"Hey mama. I’ve missed you." Tina said, hugging her mom in a much gentler way then she had her father.
"I’ve missed you too baby girl. It’s so good to have you home, at least for awhile."
"It feels so good to be home." Tina said, releasing the older woman. "Mom this is Julie."
"Hello, it’s good to finally meet one of Ti’s friends from school. She’s said a lot of good things about you."
"Thank you Mrs. Chandler."
"Mrs. Chandler was my mother-in-law. Call me Rhonda."
The younger woman smiled, remembering how the woman’s husband had brushed of her formalness in much the same way.
"Ok, thank you for welcoming me here." Julie said as Tina took her coat to hang in the hall closet.
"You’re welcome dear, but you are going to have to earn your keep you know." The older woman said, in a joking manner. "Tina has told me that you’re a great cook, and if there is one thing my daughter knows about it is good cooking." She continued, smiling at her daughter as she led the way to the kitchen. "I think the perfect way for you to earn your keep is by helping me in the kitchen."
"My two favorite cooks in the same kitchen, what more could I want for Christmas?"
Jake and Jerome came through the door in time to hear the last part of the conversation.
"Mom must really like her, Tony and Anne have been together for 10 years and she still isn’t allowed in Mom’s Kitchen."
"Son, that’s because the girl tried to bake a no bake cake and found herself almost burning down the house."
~~~~~~~~~~~
After super the two friends relaxed on the bed that would be Julies for their three week stay.
"You’re family is so nice, Ti now I know where you get all your charm. Both your parents are to die for, and my god they are gorgeous! I’m still trying to figure out what your family does with all your fan mail."
The blonde found the blush that covered her friend’s cheeks completely adorable. Do you have any idea how often you take my breath away? You are so beautiful, inside and out…and you’re my friend and I’m not into girls so I better stop thinking like that. ‘If you’re so straight then why did you get so turned on when she was moaning over her dessert earlier?’ Her little devil clone, with a voice from munchkin land, pointed out as she materialized on her left shoulder. Go away she ordered, as she mentally smacked the little devil off her shoulder. ‘Ahhhhh you stank ass hoe!’ The munchkin yelled as she flew across the room. Julie shook her head. There was not really a little devil with a blue dress on sitting on my shoulder that called me a hoe. I’m not that crazy. Wanting to forget about her hallucinations she started another conversation.
"This house is awesome. It’s so big I almost got lost trying to find the bathroom earlier."
Tina studied her friend just a little bit longer. What are you thinking about when you space off like that? You’ve become quit the wanderer lately. She thought to herself then figured if her friend wanted to tell her she would. "Yeah, it is pretty cool. It even has a couple of secret rooms and passage ways that we used to play in as kids."
"Sweet. Can you show them to me some time?"
"I’d love to. The secret rooms are the best. There is one behind the fireplace in the family room and the other one is on this floor. It leads to a secret way into the attic."
"How did you find all of them?"
"My father showed us. He grew up here, so did my grandpa and his father. My great, great grandpa came from out east and built this house after he bought the land. A rich man he knew left him everything in his will, with the stipulation that he had to move out here and make a place for himself. It had always been my grandpa’s dream to move out here, and his friend new that."
"He must have really liked your grandpa."
"I guess so; rumor has it that they were lovers."
"Was it true, that they were lovers?"
"No one knows for sure, cause you know how those gossip folks are, it was probably worse back the. I do know that the old man was never married, and that my grandpa was orphaned so maybe they just found good company in each other, but I think they were. If you go over the river and through the woods behind the house there is a memorial that my great great grandpa build for the guy and when he died grandpa requested that he be buried there. His wife was later put to rest there too, so where their kids. It’s become a kind of family tradition that anyone that grows up in this house is buried there, with their spouse of course. My cousin Bille Jean is buried out there too. She was killed in a car crash as 16."
"I’m sorry, that must have been horrible."
"It was, I was 14 so I can remember all of it. Billie didn’t grow up in the house but she spent a lot of time here, coming out almost every weekend and most of the summer. She really loved it here so it just seemed right, because now she will be here forever."
"Where you two close?"
"Yeah, I got along better with her then I did my sister because we were more alike." Unable to ignore the pain in her friend’s voice, Julie moved closer to her, taking her hand in hers. The brunette smiled her thanks before continuing. "My sister Janet was more into boys and going into town shopping while we’d spend the whole day out riding and things like that."
"So you’re a real cowgirl huh?" Julie teases, wanting to lighten the mood.
Tina smiled, "I guess you could say that. It’s one of the things I miss being able to do when I’m away at school. Do you ride?"
"Once, Brad took me to a fancy riding club, but the horses were just as snooty the people so I didn’t really enjoy it."
"That’s too bad; maybe if you can come up again in the summertime you can ride wit me? I know you’d enjoy it a lot more, we don’t have and snooty horses here."
"I’d like that." Julie smiled, then looked confused when Tina chuckled. "What?"
"Oh I was just remembering something your snooty horse comment reminded me of. My brother Tony used to date this girl named Sally that was like that. He was going to go riding with some of the guys one day and she wanted to go with, and whined until she got her way. My cousin Kevin was ticked but it so he wanted to mess with her. So he told her "I’ll go get a different horse to ride, Sally ride Kaw Liga here, he is the gentlest horse around." Which was true, but before she got a chance to mount him properly he smacked Kaw Liga’s hind quarters and of course the horse took off. Sally screamed and clutched onto his main, which only made Kaw Liga run faster. He went over a mile before the guys finally caught up with them. Poor Kaw Liga was never the same after that. I had him out front once when Sally came by, he took one look at her and his eyes looked as if they were gonna pop then he bolted. I found him hiding in the cow pasture, trying doing his best to blend in."
The blonde was laughing so hard at the mental image that she had tears in her eyes. "How did you ever find him there?" She teased.
"Well, he almost had me fooled. I haven’t seen any, but I’m sure there are golden colored cows out there some place, and I’m sure some could have a long neck with a main. But the thing that gave him away in the end was his moo. It wasn’t very convincing."
"Oh my god, that is hilarious."
"It was even funnier in person."
"I bet." The small blonde agreed, before moving on to a new topic.
"Can you tell me more about your family tree?"
"Sure, what would you like to know about?"
"Where does youre Native American blood come from?
"I get it from both sides. My father’s mom was a half-breed Cheyenne and my mother’s mom was half Blackfoot."
"Do any of you take part in the culture or anything?"
"My mother doesn’t really no much about hers because grandma was adopted by a white family and never got to learn anything about it. But my dad learned a few things from my grandma. He knows a few words, and a few of the beliefs. We go to Crow Fair and a few other pow-wows during the year."
"Crow Fair, what’s that?"
"It’s a huge pow-wow that’s south of Billings, the second largest in the country."
"That must be fun."
"It is a lot of fun because there is so much going up. They have the pow-wow, a rodeo, horse races, parades and a fair. Almost all my dad’s family goes and we all camp together. There are so many of us that we need five huge tee-pees to hold all of us."
Tina stopped when she saw her friend trying to cover up a yawn.
"It looks like it’s past somebody’s bedtime."
"But I don’t wanna go to bed yet" Julie protested, trying to fight off another yawn.
The brunette just smiled, "It doesn’t sound like you have a choice there buddy. Get some sleep, we had a long day and tomorrow’s gonna be worse." Getting up off of the bed, she leaned and gave her friend a goodnight kiss on the forehead. "I’m right next door if there is anything you need."
"Ok, Goodnight Ti, sweet dreams."
"Goodnight sweetheart" Her friend responded as she closed the door.
Julie’s eyes widened. Did she just call me sweetheart?
On the other side of the door Tina froze when she realized what she’d said. I didn’t just call her sweetheart. Oh go I did…
~~~~~~~
The next week flew by for the friends as Tina and Julie hardly spent anytime apart. Tina showed her friend a part of her that wasn’t as visible when they were back at school. The future doctor was in general a happy person but she came into a whole new zone when she was at her home, with her family. Apparently the setting had the same effect on Julie. She opened up more, and Tina got to see a side of her that she never had before as well. Living together the last semester at school made them close friends, but Julie had always seemed to be distant from everyone and everything, she was very withdrawn and there always seemed to be walls up around her. For the first time those walls seemed to be coming down and Tina was lovin every minute of it and was starting to like the new Julie more and more.
The pair’s new found closeness was noticed by everyone around them, and when the two walked into the kitchen on the morning of Christmas Eve Rhonda tapped her husband’s leg under the table to get his attention. When he looked at her over the top of The New York Times that he was reading she nodded her head toward the two young women. They both watched as the two worked together perfectly to make breakfast without sharing so much as a word about it. Tina was explaining how the whole family would show up today for Christmas but they wouldn’t open presents until Midnight, then the close family members would stay overnight and have a big dinner tomorrow to celebrate the holiday. As she was doing that she went into the fridge and got the orange juice and the milk. On the other side of the kitchen Julie was reaching into the cupboard for a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and a box of Frosted Flacks. After placing the drinks on the counter Tina got out two bowls and placed them in front of the blonde woman just as she finished opening the boxes.
While Julie filled each bowl with a cereal her friend went back to the cupboard to get out two glasses. Returning to the counter she poured milk into each of the bowls as Julie moved to pour the O.J. into the glasses. As soon as she finished Tina was there to take the jug from her hand on her way back to the refrigerator as Julie moved to get the spoons. They were like a smooth operating machine, not once getting in the others way or even breaking the conversation.
Rhonda waited until the two had taking their breakfast out of the room before she turned to look at her husband.
"We’ve been together for 35 years and we don’t even run that smoothly."
"Sure we do, just in a different room of the house." He said with a wiggle of his dark brows.
"You’re scandalous."
"Just the way you like me." He teased, taking her smaller hand in his much larder one.
"Yup, don’t you dare change a thing." She agreed, leaning over for a kiss.
"So, do they know?"
"I doubt it but I hope your daughter doesn’t take as long as you did to make a move."
"Well if she does I’m sure that little blonde spitfire will kick her ass into gear just like you did mine." Jerome declared, lifting the hand that he still held to his lips for a kiss.
An hour later the two friends are on the floor of Tina’s room, wrapping paper, tape, bows, ribbons and gifts, both wrapped and unwrapped, surround them.
"I don’t think I’ve seen this many presents in all my life."
"And these are just ours, wait until we get everybody’s together in the living room, no one will be able to fit in the room."
"I wish I was able to get more then just a couple of things."
"Oh don’t worry about it, since you’re being my little helper elf we can just say they are from you too."
"Was that a short joke?"
"Of course not" The brunette batted her lashes, giving an innocent look.
"Uh huh" she wasn’t convinced, but totally forgot about it when one wrapped gift caught her eye. "Oooo that is really pretty paper, do you have anymore of it?" She asked, picking up the small package.
"Uh, no, um it was wrapped at the store."
"There’s no tag on it, who’s it for?" Julie asked as she turned the box around in her hand.
"Just a friend" Green eyes looked up as a blonde eyebrow arched.
"And would that friend just happen to be me?"
"Maybe, and no you can’t open it early." She teased, grabbing the gift from her friend’s hand.
"You just ain’t no fun sometimes."
~~~~~~~~~~
Later that day Christmas time had finally arrived and the house was alive with activity. Jerome’s brothers Sammy and Johnny and his sisters Birdie, Jolene and Irene came with their families. Rhonda’s sister Rosetta also came with her family, as did her aunt Irene’s family. Plus a slew of second and even a couple third cousins that were too many to list. Needless to say the house was full, and voices of all ages could be heard in almost every room.
Being a newcomer Julie was a little overwhelmed at first, but now she absolutely loved it. They had already broken out the games, from Twister to Monopoly and now Tina’s Aunt Dot was telling the most amusing story of her friend back in the day.
"I just happened to walk by the kitchen window and out in the back yard I saw a ring of fire floating between two trees that the kids were playing around. Running out of the back door I had hardly cleared it before little Tina started running toward the fire. She ignored my yells for her to stop and jumped right through the fire. That was when I saw that it was actually being held in the air by two chains tied to the trees. Apparently they were playing circus, and that was part of their act." The whole room busted out laughing,
"The kids were always getting into a whole lotta trouble."
Tony leaned over to speak directly to the young blonde.
"These aren’t even the good stories, I’ll tell you the less innocent ones after the kids go to bed."
Laughing, "Those should be interesting."
He winked, then spoke to the whole room.
"My favorite has to be when she broke dad’s toe."
"Hey now, what is this pick on Tina day or something?"
"Yes" everyone answered together.
"Its only fair little sister, you told every story you knew about me when I brought Jordan home." He pointed out, knowing she couldn’t argue that. "Anyway, Ti was bout 8 or so and there was a big Christmas party over at the community center. Dad had been asked to dress up as Santa but we weren’t supposed to know that so he said that he had to tell us he was saying home. Tina, being the daddy’s girl that she is didn’t wanna go without him." Mocking his sister’s voice from years back "Come on dada, Santa Claus is coming to town, don’t you wanna see him? It took awhile but we got her to go, without dad. After we had been at this thing away Tina noticed that mom wasn’t where she had been sitting so she went looking for her. I saw her stomping back over so I knew she was mad, when I asked her what was wrong she said "I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus." Of course I didn’t believer her but she swore it was the truth. Just then Santa came into the room to hand out gifts. When he got to us he knelt down in front of Tina and said "Well hello there little girl.." before he could say anymore she yelled at him "You’re a bad Santa!" and stomped on his foot as hard as she could and ran out of the room." Laughter filled the air again as the story finished.
"Jerome had to try to hide his limp for a week and Ti didn’t speak to me for twice that long." Rhonda added
"I was just glad that she didn’t like anyone else kissing her mom, not even Santa."
"Tina the Avenger!" Tony called out as if he was calling Superman.
"You know, Dad did look pretty fly in the red suit and a beard."
"But not as fly as he did the time he was pimpin in his blue suede shoes and black velvet suit." Jake piped in.
"Why the hell were you dressed like a pimp?" Uncle Sam asked his brother.
"It was for a theme party my darling wife drug me to, I went as ‘Big Pimpin’."
"As if, you loved it and you went all out. Even had the walkin stick, the feather in your hat, the cape and the gold chain."
"Well if you’re gonna go ya gotta go all the way."
"I may have done a lot of things, but at least I never got a riot started at school.
Uncle Arthur took his turn to tell a story. "Before we get too far off the topic, we haven’t told Julie the Jeremiah story yet."
"Who’s Jeremiah?" The blonde asked, looking at her friend, who didn’t notice because he had her face buried in her hands.
"Jeremiah was a bullfrog that the kids had as a pet," Arthur answered, "one day we were all over here for dinner, and our little fallen angel over there thought it would be funny to put Jeremiah in the soup. It must have been sitting down toward the bottom because a few people had already filled up their bowls and were eating by the time her mom was scooping some into Jakes bowl. The frog was in the ladle and jumped right into Janet’s bowl, splashing soup all over her. She started screamin and when everyone realized why we all looked like a bunch of fountains spitting the soup out. "
"God, that was so gross" Janet said, shuddering at the memory.
"That one wasn’t even my fault," Tina tried defending herself, pointing at her older brother. "He told me to do it," not addressing him. "You used to get me into so much trouble.
"He is your brother, that’s what they do." Tina’s cousin Jenny explained.
"Ain’t that the truth, its how my brother over there got the nick name Johnny B. Good. He was the one always getting us into trouble."
The conversation moved on as Tina leaned toward he friend, asking in a voice only she could hear. "Are you having a good time?"
"A wonderful time, your family is a riot, I love em."
"That’s good, cause you have them wrapped around your little finger already." The comment made Julie’s cheeks turn scarlet. Julie smiled at the blush, then added to herself. Just like me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When you told me that there wouldn’t be any room to move once all the gifts were in the family room I thought you were exaggerating." Julie admitted as they dropped the last of Tina’s gifts onto her bed. It had taken them four trips to carry all their stuff upstairs, and she needed a little rest.
The taller woman just laughed as her friend flopped down on the bed next to the gifts.
"I’m serious, I have seen more presents in that one room tonight then I have in my entire life. Hell I probably got more gifts tonight then I have in the last five years and they just met me! And all the people, there were more people in this house tonight then there are in some of my lecture classes."
"Well, I do have a pretty big family I guess." Tina reasoned, as she started to put a few things away.
Julie lifted her head off the bed and just looked at her. "You guess? I could probably look at the last one hundred years of my family tree and not have nearly as many family members as you did here tonight Ti."
Not being sure if her friend was meaning this all as a good thing or not the brunette figured that it was best to just ask. "Do you have a thing against big families or something?"
Realizing that it must have sounded like she was complaining Julie hurried to correct herself. "No, not at all. It’s just really new to me, I’ve never been around anything like I was tonight. The most family members we ever had at Christmas was seven, and I thought that was big. I really didn’t mean it to sound bad Ti. I love your family and I loved being here tonight."
"I know that, guess it just sounded like you thought it was crazy or something."
Laughing, "Well it is crazy, but in a good way."
"Uh huh, hey we better get back down there or the guys will eat up all the treats my mom left for us."
Up off the bed and out the door in no time, calling back on her way to the stairs. "Aren’t you coming?"
Tina just shook her head and chuckled. "Where does that small of a thing hide all the food she eats?" She caught up with her friend at the top of the stairs where the young woman had stopped to talk to one of her aunts.
"If those boys give you any trouble tonight just let me know, I’ll take care of them." The older woman was telling Julie as Tina came up.
"I’ll do that, but I don’t think I’m gonna have a problem with that group, no matter how rowdy they get." She reassured, then kissed her cheek "Goodnight Irene"
"Goodnight ladies." Irene said with a smile after returning the blonde’s kiss and repeating it on her niece.
"Goodnight Aunty." Tina answered, before starting down the stairs.
"You’re aunt is a doll."
"Which one?" the brunette teased.
"All of them actually." Julie answered as they reached the bottom of the stairs where they run into one of the afore mentioned aunts getting read to leave.
"Aunt Birdie, aren’t you going to stay overnight?"
"No baby girl, I have to finish up some cooking in the morning, your mom has a big kitchen but it’s not big enough for all the food we’ll need to feed this army."
"Are you making your famous American Pie?"
"Do you think I could get away without making it?"
Tina laughed, "Good point," then hugged her aunt and added "drive safe."
"I will," she assured, then looked at both young women and smiled, "it’s so good to have both of you young ladies here for the Holiday. Don’t stay up too late."
"We won’t," her niece agreed as she opened the door for her. "Bye Bye aunty."
"Bye bye Birdie." Julie added, with a smile.
"See you in the morning girls." With a little wave she stepped out the door, and Tina closed it behind her before turning toward Julie.
"So are you ready to wait up for Santa?"
A blonde eyebrow arched. "That’s why we are hanging out in the living room tonight?"
A big child like smile graced the tall woman’s beautiful face, "Yup, well that’s how it started anyway, we used to stay up late waiting to give him cookies. Now we stay up late and eat the cookies." She explained, leading the way toward the living room.
"Ah, I get it now." Julie said as they walked into the room.
"Well its good to see you two finally decided to show up." Jake teased.
"Oh please, like you even noticed." His sister shot right back.
"Well actually we didn’t even think about you until we started to wonder where Julie was, and figured you were hording her again." He explained, as he walked over to where the two had stopped.
"She’s my friend, I’m allowed." Tina reasoned, then stuck her tongue out at him.
"Now there’s no need to fight over me, there is enough of me to go around." Julie joked along with the siblings.
"Well I hope that’s true cause all three of you are standing under the mistletoe." Jordan informed them from her spot on the couch in her husband’s arms.
Jake looked up to verify and smiled happily. "Yet another reason why I love Christmas." And without warning he wrapped his arms around the cute little blonde, and dipped her as he kissed her in away that would put Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind to shame. He was enjoying the laughter from their family, and the kiss itself until he felt his sister tapping him on the shoulder. Breaking the kiss he looked up at her and grinned as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Hey sis, a man's gotta take advantage of an opportunity." He reasoned, as he straightened up and let the woman out of his embrace.
"Wow, I think that kiss just gave me a fever." The kissed proclaimed as she fanned herself. Causing her kisser to puff up is chest in pride as he strutted off to a seat.
The two friends were about to fallow when Kevin’s voice stopped them. "Hey, you two were under that thing too, you know the rules."
They both paused, and blue eyes met green as Tina grinned, before she leaned down to give her friend a quick kiss on the lips.
"Oh come on! You call that a kiss?" Janet taunted.
"You’re not gonna let our little brother show you up are you Ti?" Tony continued.
"You all are just a bunch of horn balls." Tina shot back.
"Yes we are, so give us what we want." Kevin’s wife Angela demanded.
Tina looked down at her friend again, silently asking if another kiss was ok. Julie just smiled and nodded, then tilted her head back and waited. Tina bent down to meet the upturned mouth, both their eyes fluttered closed as their lips met. Tina paused there a moment, not wanting to go too far but as Julie’s soft pillow lips parted she instantly responded by sucking a pouty bottom lip between her own. The kiss was slow and very gentle, and the friends quickly got caught up in the heat of the moment as Julie ran the tip of her tongue over a sweet strawberry flavored upper lip. Instinctively Tina parted her lips further as her own tongue slid out to brush the other.
Just then a wolf whistle cut through the air and the others in the room started to cheer.
Their perfect moment broken the two women reluctantly broke the kiss, but didn’t move back. They stayed there a moment, gazes locked. Something had passed between them, they both knew it but neither knew exactly what it was.
The pair was so lost in each other they didn’t notice Kevin approaching them until he wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders.
"Now that is what I call a kiss!"
Shaken from their trance they realized what the others were cheering for and they turned matching shades of scarlet.
"Damn girls, if all lesbian kisses are that hot I’m thinking I need to jump the fence." Jordon informed the room as she fanned herself with a paper plate.
"I’m with you there J." Angela agreed, making a show of holding her cup of cold pop against her forehead.
"They’re hot, but they’re not all THAT hot." Janet informed.
"And how do you know that?" Angela asked, and Janet just grinned. "Ohhhhhh I think someone needs to share…."
Kevin let out an almost painful grown. "Come on girls, don’t be cruel."
"Cruel? How are we doing that?" His wife questioned.
"Please, we have two women sharing the hottest kiss I’ve ever seen, and we have you three talking about how hot it was. That would put us all on the edge of heaven if all but one of you wasn’t related to us." Tony answered for him.
"That makes it cruel and unusual punishment." Jake finished off.
Janet, Jordan and Angela all laughed.
While the others where talking the two friends took seats on opposite ends of the only open sofa. Each of them with the same thought. What the hell just happened?
Tina risked a glance over at her friend, who seemed to be fascinated with a spot on the wall across the room. Sensing her friend’s gaze Julie turned, theirs eyes met and held. I have kissed A LOT of women but they’ve always had to do a lot more then just one kiss to effect me this way. Julie my friend you really know how to start a fire. Tina told her friend, as if she could read her thoughts, while at the same time Julie was sending her own message. Do you know that you just caused a reaction in me that I haven’t even felt with my fiancé? You just made it impossible for me to deny any attraction to you.
From their respected seats Janet, Jordon and Angela were all keeping an eye on the two roommates. When they saw the two gazing into each others eyes again, and smiling shyly before moving a little closer together they couldn’t help but smile themselves. All three women shared a knowing look, and a self satisfied smirk with each other that went totally unnoticed by the rest of the room.
~~~~~~~
Later that night bare feet quietly made their way across the polished wood floors, stopping in front of a closed door of matching wood. A soft knock is heard, then another before a whispered reply.
"Come in"
The door is opened slowly, and the feet move into the room, even quieter then they had moved down the hall.
"Mama?" Whispered the owner of the feet.
"Tina Marie is that you?" The woman in the bed asks.
"Yeah"
"What is it?" Rhonda asks, sitting up straighter in bed.
"Something is bothering me and I can’t sleep."
"Come on in here and close the door and tell me what’s bothering you."
"I don’t wanna wake up dad." Tina said hesitantly.
"He is dead to the world, now come here and tell me what’s wrong."
"Ok," the daughter responded, quietly closing the door and moved toward her mothers side of the bed were open arms awaited her. She climbed up into the bed and into the loving embrace like countless times before. No matter how old she was climbing into her mothers arms like this always seemed like the right thing to do. Almost all her problems growing up had been solved right here, starting with being scared of the dark, to nightmares or sickness. All the way up to cramps and fears of leaving home to go to school far away. She had even gotten the courage to ask out her first girlfriend right here in this spot, and this was where she had returned after the girl dumped her to get back together with an ex-boyfriend. Tina’s lips turned up in a sad smile at the last memory. I hope this isn’t history repeating itself.
Rhonda stroked her daughters long raven hair and waited, knowing Tina would speak up when she was read. She didn’t wait long.
The young woman let out a breath and went strait to the point. "Julie and I kissed tonight."
Rhonda raised an eyebrow, even though her daughter couldn’t see it in the darkness of the room. "That’s why you can’t sleep?"
"No…Yes. It’s complicated." Tina sighed. "We were under the mistletoe so I gave her a little peck on the lips, but everyone said it wasn’t good enough. So we kissed again, and…um…it was more then just a little peck. Everyone thought it was really steamy, but it wasn’t." Pausing as she felt heat rise to her cheeks. "Well it was, I mean it did affect me like that, but it was more slow and gentle then hot and steamy. It was so nice Mama, I’ve never had a kiss like that before." She continued in a dreamy voice. "It was really special and something happened between us and I think Julie felt it too."
"Mm hm," was the only response Rhonda had, knowing there was more to the story.
"At first I was really happy about it, until we all came up to go to bed I felt like I was walking on air."
"You don’t feel like that anymore?"
"No, once we weren’t in the same room anymore I realized it’s complicated. Julie is my best friend that alone makes it complicated. Then add in that she is strait and has a boyfriend and it’s all a big mess."
"I don’t think she is as strait as she thinks she is." The older woman said cryptically.
"Huh?"
"I’ve seen the way that girl looks at you, trust me it’s not that innocent. Even your first night here at dinner she looked like she was ready to jump your bones."
"Mama! Tina whispered loudly.
"Well it’s the truth." Rhonda defended. "But its not just lust in her eyes Baby Girl, there’s also the look of love. It’s in her body language too, both of yours actually. I love to stand back and watch the two of you together because you’re feelings are clear to everyone but yourselves. Even Jake sees it and we both know how blind he usually is to things like that."
Tina sighed again, "Even if what you’re saying is true mom, it doesn’t change the fact that she is spoken for and you taught us to respect that."
"Yes, but I’ve also taught you not to let love pass you by so don’t let this be a lost opportunity. From what she has told me it doesn’t sound like there is much of a future for her and Richey Rich unless he does a total 180."
"No, things haven’t been good for them lately." A hint of anger started to show in her voice, "She is such a wonderful person mom, and she hasn’t had that great of a life. Julie deserves someone that is going to treat her right, not someone that has no problem living half way around the world, she should be…."
"With you?" her mother cut in.
"That’s not what I was going to say."
"No, but it’s the truth." Rhonda started to stroke her daughter’s hair again. "Ti you don’t fool me at all. You were falling in love with that girl back in California and not you are totally gone but you’re afraid because you don’t wanna lose the friendship you already have with her right?"
"Yeah, we have a really good friendship and if I tried for anything more, especially without being sure of her feelings, I might lose that."
"Sweet child o’ mine, Love’s a hard game to play but if you play and succeed love is a gift that will never stop giving."
Tina looked up into her mothers eyes, thankful for there being just enough moonlight coming through the window for her to see them.
"So you think I should go for it?"
"I think that you should be open to the possibility and when it happens just go with it and enjoy love. Julie is still engaged but I really do believe that she loves you and will find it out in her own time. So don’t force it or her, just let it happen."
Tina smiled up at her mother, "Thanks mom, I don’t know what I was so worried about, how could she ever resist my charm?"
Blue eyes rolled, "You’re so vain, "tweaking her daughter’s nose before she continued, "just like your father."
"Hey, you’re pretty confident too ya know."
"There is a big difference between being confident and being vain."
"If you say so," the younger woman responded as she rested her head back down on her mother’s chest and noticed that her feet were almost hanging over the bottom of the bed. "Hey, did you and dad get a smaller bed?"
Rhonda laughed softly, figuring if her husband hadn’t woken up already he won’t now. "No sweetie, you are just a lot taller then you were when you were five."
Tina grinned impishly in the darkness. "I guess I’m getting kind of old to be doing this huh?"
Rhonda kissed her daughters head again. "You’re never too old to need a mother’s love."
~~~~~
"Julie…." Tina called her friends name softly, from her spot sitting on the bed. She couldn’t keep from smiling as the short, blonde locks that were sticking out from the top to the covers slid further underneath the blanket. Reaching out and gently pulling the covers down she chuckled as the cute upturned nose of her friend wrinkled in irritation.
"Hey Julie, come on, it’s time to get up now."
"Na uh" was her answer, finalized as the sleeping woman rolled over and pulled the blanket completely over her head.
"Does that mean you don’t want to see what Santa left you this morning?" She asked, reaching for the covers again, only to have her hand swatted away.
"Na uh"
It took all her will power not to laugh at how adorable she found the small woman this morning.
"If you don’t get up I’m gonna keep your present."
This time there was mumbling, it took her a minute to decipher that it meant ‘Santa not real.’
"Someone let you a present this morning, but if you don’t want it I will." Tina said, as she reached over her friend to place the small box with the pretty paper her friend had noticed the day before on the pillow.
The covers moved down just enough to reveal a few blonde locks, and one green eye as it slowly opened. That green eye first looked at her with apprehension, then moved to the box. It blinked once, then twice before its partner came out to inspect the present as well.
"See, told ya you had a present."
"It better be a good enough one to make it worth getting up so early." The sleepy woman grumbled, as the rest of her head was uncovered while she reached for the gift.
This time the already wide awake woman did laugh. "Early? It’s 11am sweetie."
Green eyes turned to her again, "Yeah…and?"
Tina just shrugged and smiled. "Go on open it."
Julie looked at the package a moment, before remembering why it looked familiar. "Hey, this is the one from yesterday. This is from you?"
Grinning shyly, Tina’s fingers played with the end of the blanket. "Yeah, I wanted to give you something special." Figuring it was best to leave out that the reason for it was to make up for her fiancé not being around.
Now more awake, with a happy smile on her face Julie started to undo the wrapping. "You didn’t have to do this."
"I know, but I wanted to."
"Well that’s good enough reason for me." The smaller woman said with a laugh as she got down to the green jewelry case. Looking up at her friend again, she slowly opened it to reveal a black hills gold heart on a chain. It’s red and green leaf pattern clearly visible on the small heart as she gently traced it with the end of her index finger. "Tina, it’s so beautiful." Julie praised softly.
"You really like it?" Tina asked timidly.
"No, I love it. Help me put it on?" Julie asked, as she took the chain from its casing.
"Of course" Tina agreed as she took the ends of chain. Holding it out, then laying it along her friends defined collar bone as she clasped the two ends together.
Turning back around to face her friend Julie traced the small heart with her finger tips again. "I really love it," she declared, then wrapped her arms around the taller woman, "thank you."
Returning the hug Tina smiled, "I’m glad you like it. I know you used to have one something like it."
"Yeah, and I haven’t been able to find it but this one is a lot prettier." Pulling back from the hug just enough to smile up at her friend, "You give the best gifts."
Tina’s smile widened at the complement. "Thanks, I just like to give people things that will make them happy."
Greens eyes looked deeply into blue. "You do a lot to make me happy." Julie said as she cupped her friends cheek.
Tina returned the woman’s gaze and leaned into the touch as their mouths unconsciously moved closer together. "I like it when you’re happy." She responded.
Kiss me Tina, please kiss me like you did last night. Julie pleaded, mentally willing it to happen. As the mouth above hers lowered, she parted her lips, and her lashes fluttered closed. They were so close she could feel her friend moist warm breath against her lips, and that’s where they stayed. Once she realized that the kiss didn’t happened Julie blinked her eyes open to see disappointment filling the blue ones so close to hers. Confused for a moment, she heard the knock on the door and felt her own disappointment.
Tina rested her forehead against her friends and shook it lightly.
"That is one downfall of living in a house with so many other people, I’m interrupted every time about to kiss a beautiful woman." She said in a joking tone.
Julie smiled at first, then her brows knitted together as her nose wrinkled. "What do you mean every time? How many….." She stopped when there was a knock again, fallowed by one of the younger cousins calling out. "Julie is Tina in there with you? She promised to go out sliding with us today but I can’t find her."
"Yeah I’m in here squirt, I’ll be out in a minute. You guys can go out and get the sleds from the shed ok?" Tina called back.
Sounding much happier this time the young voice replied. "OK I can do that, but don’t take to long K?"
"I won’t" she called back and waiting to hear the footsteps as the young boy ran down the hall before turning back to her friend. Who was still looking at her, now with one eyebrow raised in question. "What?" she asked.
Julie opened her mouth to ask again what the other woman had meant by every time, but stopped herself. Why am I jealous over the thought of her kissing other women? She’s just my friend, I have no reason to be jealous of that. She told herself, You’re jealous cause you don’t want her kissing other women idiot you want her to kiss you and only you! Her little devil yelled from the shoulder it just appeared on. Shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about. The blonde growled back mentally at the annoying presence. Hey I’m not the one that needs to buy a clue here little missy. Oh, that touched a nerve Who are you callin little, fish bait? And aren’t I supposed to have a little angel too? What did you do kill her off? She questioned the devil version of herself. Hmm I wish, but she’s on vacation because you’re so friggin boring she doesn’t need to work. Me on the other hand, I have to work over time because you insist on being so damn good. Why I got stuck with you I don’t understand. To think I passed up Britney Spears for you, who would have thought the little mouseketter would turn out like that. Oh what fun I could be having right now. But noooo I had to pick you, thinking cause you were smoking cigarettes in the bathroom you’d be easy. Just my luck you got sick and never tried it again. The little devil looked up to see that her charge was talking to the big woman again. Hey I was talking to you! You’re such an ungrateful little twerp! Crossing her arms in front of her chest. Kids these days, they have no respect. With a nod of her head the Minnie Julie popped out, ala Dream of Jeanie.
"Are you ok? You were making a lot of weird faces a second ago." Tina asked, concern coloring her voice.
A warm hand on her shoulder brought the blonde out of her argument with the little evil version of herself. Mentally shaking her head clean she met her friend’s worried blue eyes and smiled. "Yeah I’m fine, I was um…I was just imagining what it would be like to be out in all this cold and snow, and be doing it for fun!" She said, after stuttering a moment trying to think of anything but the truth to tell Tina.
The brunette just shook her head. "You Californians are weird."
"I could say the same about you Montana people." Julie retorted.
Tina laughed, "That’s true, anyway, I better run or one of the other kids will be back to get me."
"Ok, and thanks again." Julie said, reaching for the small heart resting just bellow her neck. "I really love it."
Tina smiled, her eyes shinning. "You’re welcome." With that she turned and left the room, the smile never leaving her face as she remembered what was about to happen before they were interrupted. She was disappointed that the kiss didn’t happen, but seeing that Julie had looked just as disappointed over shadowed that they were interrupted. Mama looks like you were right again, she wanted that kiss as much as I did!
Back in the room Julie froze half way out of bed with an almost horrified look on her face. Oh shit I was gonna kiss my best friend, AGAIN!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rhonda walked down the hall of her home, searching for the only other person in the building for a much needed talk. Before leaving with her father and brother Tina had come up to her and asked that she try and talk with their guest. She explained to her mother that the young blonde had been acting distant since the morning before when they had almost shared a kiss. Tina feared that maybe she had gone too far, but didn’t know for sure because Julie denied but still refused to talk about what was troubling her. The pain and worry had been evident on her daughters face and in her voice. The need to do something to ease Tina’s worries and at the same time maybe help out the young woman she was already starting to think of as another daughter sent her one the quest that now brought her to the doorway of the library at the Chandler Ranch. Glancing in the room she found her elusive house guest sitting on a large leather couch, watching the snow falling through the tall narrow windows of the room. So lost in the world of her own mind Julie didn’t hear the lady of the house walk up behind her.
"That look is not allowed in my house on such a beautiful day." Rhonda addressed the sad looking woman on the couch, causing her to almost jump out of her skin.
"Jesus, you scared me."
"Sorry, didn’t mean to do that." The older woman apologized, the corner of her mouth turning up in a crooked grin. Julie couldn’t help but smile back, the woman remaindering her so much of her friend.
"It’s ok, I’m told I scare too easy anyway."
"So I hear" Rhonda responded with that same crooked grin, taking a seat on the couch next to the blonde before continuing. "So why do you look like you just found out that your Grandma got run over by a reindeer?"
Julie laughed at the description as Rhonda smiled as she got the reaction she was looking for, then continued. "Seriously, what’s on your mind child?"
The mood returned to serious as green eyes studied the loving mother as she sat back patiently waiting for an answer to her question. Julie was finding it almost impossible not to want to confide in this woman. Maybe it was that she emanated strength, yet love and compassion at the same time. Whatever the reason, she decided that it wasn’t the time to turn down the opportunity to have some input on the things that were troubling her. "A few things actually," she started off "I was thinking about my time here and how different your family is then mine."
"How are we different?"
"Well, I’m an only child as you know and since I was born five months after my parents wedding its safe to say I wasn’t planned." If it was possible to shrug eyebrows that’s what Julie did as Rhonda nodded in understanding. "Anyway, my parent’s marriage wasn’t a very happy one. Dad was a serial adulterer while Mom found the best way to deal with that was in a bottle. They didn’t divorce until I was in high school and that was because Dad got his 24 year old secretary pregnant. My new step mother didn’t want to have to deal with a teenage girl so I stayed with my mother." Sad green eyes lowered to a spot on the sofa as she continued. "Mom started to drink even more and didn’t really want to deal with a teenage girl either." She added softly.
Rhonda reached out and took the woman’s hand in hers, offering quiet comfort. Julie squeezed the warm hand back before moving on.
"I don’t think I need to tell you how that is different from your herd." Julie said with a teasing grin, choosing the term Rhonda herself had used many times. "Being up here, with a family like yours, in this winter wonderland, really means a lot to me. I’ve gotten to experience something that I’ve always wanted to. Which I now know is the reason Tina invited me."
"My darling child works in mysterious ways." Rhonda joked, causing her companion to smile.
"Well the mysterious one is another thing that’s on my mind." The younger woman offered then paused as if she had said too much.
"What about my daughter has you thinking of her?" Rhonda asked, after sensing Julie’s hesitation.
The cute face scrunched up a little. "It’s kind of weird telling her mother about it." This reasoning caused the other woman to laugh.
"Please, there isn’t anything anyone could say that involved my children that I haven’t heard by now."
Smiling as she remembered how honest all the Chandler children were with their parents Julie’s hesitation eased. "That’s probably true but it’s still weird."
Rhonda just cocked an eyebrow with an expression that basically said ‘Shit or get off the pot’ and Julie decided to go for option A.
"Well, um…" the blonde paused, scratching the side of her neck as she tried to find the words to say what was on her mind, now more uncomfortable with those thoughts then the woman across from her. "I’m confused about my feelings for her," she finally got out.
"And those are….?" Rhonda coxed gently.
"I’m attracted to her." Julie admitted with a blush that made the other woman smile.
"You don’t say?" the brunette asked in with surprise too exaggerated to be sincere, which caused the blush to deepen. Rhonda just chuckled, then explained. "I was told about the kiss the other night." Deciding against giving her the same explanation she had given her own daughter the night before last.
"It’s more then just that kiss," Julie admitted, "we almost kissed again yesterday morning. If I’m honest with myself I think it’s something that I’ve felt for awhile, it’s just stronger now."
Rhonda picked up on the blonde’s nervousness, something that showed Julie wasn’t exactly thrilled about being attracted to her friend.
"Why does that bother you?" she asked, hoping the answer wouldn’t make her regret asking.
"Because I am engaged," Julie explained, as if it was obvious.
Internally the older woman was smiling I can work with that she thought to herself, while outwardly she just nodded. "That’s a problem."
"Yes, and I don’t know what to do. It’s easy to understand why I’m attracted to Tina, I think almost everyone that knows her and most everyone that just passes her on the street, no matter what gender or orientation, is attracted to her." Julie admitted with a smile before focusing on her hands as they played with the hem of her jeans. "But I’m not just physically attracted to her" she continued softly, not seeing the huge smile that was threatening to overtake her confidants face.
Forcing the smile down to just a twitching of her lips Rhonda questioned the confused young woman. "So, you feel more then just friendship toward her?"
"I think I’m starting to." Julie answered, before looking up with pleading eyes. "Does this mean I’m like my Dad?"
Blue eyes softened as she saw the fear and guilt in the pained green eyes, opening her arms she motioned for the small young woman to find comfort there. "No darling, that doesn’t make you an adulterer like your father, it just makes you human."
"I see how much love you and Jerome still have, and it shows me that there is something missing between Brad and I and we are having some problems but I still love him and I don’t want to do anything that would hurt him." Julie declared as she let herself be comforted by the motherly love she was being offered.
"Do you think that maybe you’re starting to feel love for Tina because things aren’t going good with Brad?" Rhonda offered.
"What do you mean?"
"What you told me before was that he has changed right? That money seems to be more important to him now, so much so that he is living on the other side of the world? That the comfort and friendship you two had before seems like nothing but a memory?"
A blonde head nodded in confirmation.
"You also told me how much you miss that, how much you want him to be with you planning a future together, not of making his own and leaving you behind right?"
Again a nod was her answer.
"Do you think that maybe you’ve found some of those things in my daughter? That the reason you are having feelings for her is because she is giving you what you’ve been longing for, giving you what your fiancé hasn’t been?" Rhonda offered gently, waiting to see if the young woman would take this reasoning.
Julie lifted her head and met the older woman’s eyes, "That does make sense, do you think that’s what’s happening?"
"What’s important is if you think that is what‘s going on," she gently smoothed down a lock of blonde hair that was out of place before continuing, "but yes I think that is what is happening. I think that you’ve found something in my daughter that you’ve been longing for."
Pulling out of the motherly embrace to lean back against the couch Julie ran the idea through her head, seeing if that explanation fit into the puzzle and it did, perfectly. "It makes sense, Tina and I do everything that Brad and I should be doing, or at least what I want us to be doing. We live in the same house, spend time together just relaxing at home or go out to movies or dinner. We talk about future plans and work out ideas together. We are even celebrated the holiday together. That could even be the reason my feelings have come out more here." Julie rationalized.
"How is that?" Rhonda asked, genuinely curious.
"Well, I was really upset when he said he wasn’t coming back for Christmas that was almost like a physical blow. I was really angry with him and coming to realize that we need to make a change, one way or another. Then Tina came in right after that and asked me to come up here with her." She paused there to look over at the other woman with a small smile. "You have to admit that we have acted a lot like a couple while we’ve been here." Rhonda returned the smile, nodding to acknowledge the truth of the statement. "So Brad disappoints me again, then I come up here with Tina and get to be part of a real family, another thing that I wanted with Brad. I was accepted here more then I have ever been with his family." She admitted with some disappointment as silence fell between them.
Rhonda was the first one to speak up as she gently, but seriously asked what was on her mind. "Do you think what you feel for my daughter is real, or that you are only having those feelings because you aren’t getting them with the one you want?"
Julie met the sky blue eyes again, seeing the clouds starting to roll in as the woman’s protective streak was calling for her to make sure her daughter wasn’t going to be hurt or used. Knowing that this was a very important question Julie took a moment to find the honest answer, which didn’t take very long at all.
"I really am falling in love with Ti." She admitted for the first time, even to herself.
The clouds started to part but blue eyes still weren’t clear of them as Rhonda asked another important question. "Then what are you going to do about them?"
Julie sighed as she lowered her gaze. "That is the problem. Even my friendship with her is much better then my relationship with Brad but that doesn’t change that I love him and that I made a commitment to him when I accepted this ring." She explained as her fingers played with the nice sized diamond on her left ring finger. "I need to focus on that, to find out if we can still fix things before it’s too late. While I do that I can’t do more then admit my feelings for Ti, and try not to do anything that would turn her feelings for me into something hurtful for her."
Rhonda was surprised when she heard the last part. "You know how she feels?" she asked to clarify.
Julie looked up again and smiled. "I have never known Tina to be good at hiding emotions, she’s an open book."
The older woman smiled back in what the blonde thought was acknowledgement. Only to those that she lets in her heart. Rhonda said to herself. Now that she was reassured that this young woman was going to be true to her heart and respectful of her daughters as well she focused again on advising the troubled young woman.
"So do you have all the thoughts in that pretty head of yours organized now?"
Smiling at the compliment Julie thought a moment before answering. "Yeah, but now comes the hard part of dealing with them all."
The darker head nodded in understanding. "That usually is hard but being able to be honest with yourself helps. My only advice is to fallow your heart, don’t force yourself into anything you are not 100% sure of and don’t give up on something unless you are positive it won’t work or there will always be the "what if" questions." Rhonda advised, looking deeply into the younger woman’s eyes, making sure that she understood completely.
Julie nodded in agreement, "I won’t," she vowed, when smiled as the other woman relaxed back against the couch again. "Your daughter is right, you are the world’s coolest mom."
Rich laughter filled the room as Rhonda reacted to the statement. "Thank you, best compliment I’ve had all day."
"So Jerome must have been gone before you woke up too huh?" Julie questioned with a knowing smile.
"Yup," the brunette confirmed before she shook her head, "I have never been a morning person, I don’t understand that husband of mine, or the half of my children that inherited that trait."
"Me either, Tina hardly ever stays in bed past 9am, and that’s only one the weekends. She’s halfway down with her classes for the day before I even have my first one." Julie added her own bit of information to the conversation.
"Well be glad you weren’t the one that had to get up and make her breakfast in the morning, I was so happy when one of the other early risers was old enough to cook so I could sleep an hour later. "
"So when did they head out this morning? And what are they doing out there in the snow exactly?" Julie asked, her not being a morning person had missed what time exactly her friend left the house that morning with her father and brother.
"Jerome was up at 5 this morning, they wanted to be up and ready to head out soon as the sun was up. They are out checking the herds, seeing how they are faring in this weather."
The thought made the Californian shudder, "it’s too friggin cold to be out riding around on horse for hours."
Rhonda’s music laughter rang out again, "You’ll get used to it, your blood is just too thin."
"I don’t want to get used to it, my blood is just fine the way it is thank you."
Companionable silence fell between them as they gazed out the window at the snow continued to blanket the earth.
Julie broke the silence some time later when she asked "Would you mind if I used your phone to call Brad? Just let me know how much the charge is and I’ll pay you for it."
"Of course you can and you don’t have to worry about the money. You’ve officially been adopted into the family, hard labor will do."
"How could I forget that?" Julie teased with mock agitation, then turned serious as she got to her feet. "I better go call him, I’ve been putting it off but now that I have everything figured out there’s no reason not to."
"Alright, I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me." Rhonda informed, as she fallowed suit and left her spot on the couch.
"Ok, and thanks for everything Rhonda, talking about it really helped." The smaller woman admitted as she reached out for and hugged her confidant.
"I’m glad I could help, if anything is troubling you like this you can always come to me. Ok?"
"I’ll remember that." Julie promised as she released the hug. "I’ll just run up and make the quick call and see you down in the kitchen." She said on her way out of the room.
"Take your time." Rhonda answered the retreating figure, before heading toward the other door to the room. Well girls I’ve done all I can, the rest is up to the two of you.
~~~~~~
Five minutes later Julie still held the phone in her hand, her thumb poised over the talk button.
She knew the main reason for not calling him before was her guilt but that was taken care of now so why was she still afraid to call him? Come on Julie, even through things aren’t that great at the moment he is still your fiancé and it’s bad enough you didn’t call with him yesterday.
They had only talked once since their big fight and that was only to tell him that about going out of town for the Holiday and wouldn’t be back until close to the end of her winter break. At the time she told him it was best if they had some time without contact but not talking on Christmas was never part of her thinking.
Letting out a heavy sigh she hit the button followed by the phone number. After the forth ring she looked at the clock, making sure she had calculated the time difference right. It was only 3pm for him so he should be awake and he did say he was just going to chill out at home over his break so he should be around. Assuming that he must have gone out for food or something she waited for his voicemail to pick up but just as the sixth ring ended the phone was answered. Green eyes widened in surprise when an out of breath female voice answered.
"Hello" the voice answered.
What the hell? The thought that she had dialed the wrong number crossed her mind, but she knew that wasn’t the case.
"Hello?" the voice asked again.
Pink lips moved, but no sound came out, clearing her throat she tried again. "Sorry, I must have the wrong number. I’m calling for Brad." Julie said, hoping for a miss dial.
"Oh no you’ve got the right number, he’s still in the shower. Would you like to leave a message? We’re going out soon as he is finished, so he won’t get back to you until tomorrow though." The stranger explained, in an annoyingly friendly manner.
Julie started to grind her teeth. The way the woman had said he was still in the shower and how they were going out made the woman sound way too familiar with HER fiancé.
"Hello? Are you there?" that annoying voice asked.
An eerily calm washed over the small blonde. "Yes, I’m here and could you tell him that Julie called to wish him a very merry Christmas. He doesn’t have to worry about calling me back, he’ll be hearing a whole lot from me very soon."
"Oh you’re the American woman."
"Excuse me?"
"You’re Julie, his friend from school right?"
Soft lips formed a snarl that would scare off anyone. "Yeah, that’s me, his friend from school, and you are?"
"I’m Anita, you know his girlfriend?"
Closing her eyes tight and grinding her teeth Julie controlled the anger that was rolling off her now. Knowing that it wasn’t the woman’s fault that it best to just hold it, then let it all out on the two timing cock sucking mother fucker that was really to blame.
After the extended silence the woman continued, "Hasn’t he told you about me? We’ve been going out for over two months now, I thought he had…" TWO FUCKING MONTHS!? Julies mind screamed, that explains a lot about the son of a bitch lately.
Getting her anger under control again she directed her thoughts to the conversation again.
"Oh yes, Anita. The name had just slipped my mind." Julie responded, full of sarcasm.
"That’s alright," Anita said, totally pissing Julie’s tone, "Oh he is out of the shower now. I’ll let him know you’re on the phone, he’d wanna talk to you. But don’t keep him too long ok? We need to be one our way soon."
"Not a problem" Julie responded, then listened to the voices on the other end of the line.
"Honey Pooh, you have a phone call. I’m going to finish getting ready."
"Ok, just don’t take too long, the sooner we get there the sooner we can get back." The sound of their kissing almost made Julie vomit, instead she clenched her fist, nails digging into her palm.
"Hello" Brad’s voice came through the line.
"Hello Honey Pooh." She greeted with sarcasm.
"Oh Julie," Brads voice took up a note of surprise, "I didn’t expect to hear from you." He continued nervously.
His nervousness had a calming effect on her, "Apparently." She responded smoothly.
Sensing that he was in trouble Brad tried to cover. "I see you got to talk to Anita. She is a friend from work…."
"Cut the shit. She already told me."
"Told you? Told you what?" He question, playing dumb.
"You’re girlfriend might not be that sharp, but I know you are. How many others have there been?"
Knowing he couldn’t lie about it now he stopped the dumb act. "She’s the only one."
"Liar, I want the truth."
Knowing her well know to know that honesty was the best bet right now Brad took her earlier advice and cut the shit. "There have been a few others I’ve been with, but Anita is the only one that could be called a girlfriend."
At least you have the decency to sound ashamed. "You’ve been working over there for almost two years, I should have known that you couldn’t keep it in your pants that long. I thought you know that you can’t have your cake and eat it too?"
He was silent a moment, not knowing how to take her calmness. "Julie let me explain…"
"You can’t explain something there is no explanation for, and I don’t want to hear your lame excuses."
"Okay, then lets talk…"
"The one thing I can not forgive is someone consciously betraying me," anger starting to fill her words, "and you knew that yet you still made the choice to do it. That means you also know that since the truth is out we are over."
"You can’t just walk away from a three year relationship and an engagement like that."
"I just did."
"But we have so much…" He again tried to reason.
"We have nothing Brad, nothing!" Her voice rising with each word. "We don’t own anything together, we don’t live together, hell we don’t even have drawer space!"
"This isn’t what I want…"
"Do you think I give a rat’s ass what you want?!?" The volume and anger in her voice caused silence on the other end of the line. Julie took the time to calm down again before she spoke, this time much lower and calmer. "We’re through Brad, it has been leading to this for along time now. It’s just take you this long to show all your true colors and now that I know who you really are I am not going to keep wasting my time."
"Yes I’ve changed, but I still love you."
"What’s love got to do with it now? Apparently it didn’t come into play when you were jumping from woman to woman practicing your one minute man drills." She snipped.
"Just wait ok? You’re just mad now, take time to cool down then we can work it out."
Julie just shook her head. "Do yourself a favor and don’t speak another word," she warned. "It’s a little too late for that now. You can cry me a river, even claim you still love me but don’t you dare patronize me. "
Brad was quiet for a moment, maybe sensing defeat, and then spoke again. "I’m sorry Julie, I never meant to hurt you."
Something in his voice made Julie know he meant what he said, and for the first time the hurt really go to her, causing tears to build up.
"You didn’t mean to, but you did. Maybe you can live with you’re cheatin heart but I can’t." She stopped there and let her tears fall, both of them were silent for awhile, until Julie spoke up again.
"We weren’t meant to be, and if I’d opened my eyes it would have been clear along time ago. I’m just really angry and hurt because it didn’t have to be like this. Things have been hard for some time now, but I still held on. I even felt guilty when feelings started to grow for someone that has been there for me a lot more then you have because I was with you. Now I find out about this…" she stopped there, unable to say anymore.
Sensing this was his only chance Brad spoke up. "I know what I did was wrong and like you said there is no excuse. All I can say is that I am sorry. You deserved better and I hope that you find it." He paused and cleared his throat. "I know you don’t believe in staying friends after a break up, so I know this goodbye is forever."
"I guess I will always love you in some way, so I do wish you the best." Green eyes closed for a moment then simply said "Goodbye" before ending the call.
~~~~~~~~
"Are you sure you’re up to this?" Tina asked her friend softly.
The blonde turned to look at her friend from across the backseat of Jake’s car and gave her a small reassuring smile. "Yeah, tomorrow is the start of a new year and as much as I might have wanted to I know that sitting at your place eating popcorn and watching Dick Clark isn’t the way to start it off."
The brunette returned the smile as she took one of her friend’s hands in her larger one. "You are handling this very well, if it had been me I’d have flown over there and had his chestnuts roasting on an open fire."
Julie smiled, not sure if it was at the thought of her seemingly gentle and calm friend actually doing that humored her or if it was the thought of that being done to her former fiancé. Glancing ahead of her to see that Jake and Cousin James were in a discussion of their own she turned back toward her friend. "Do you think it’s strange that I feel more like a friend that I used to be a lot closer with betrayed me rather then feeling like my fiancé cheated on me?"
Tina took a moment to consider the question before she answered. "No I don’t think so. They two of you haven’t even really been around each other for what two years? You’ve mentioned many times that your relationship was suffering and that there was distance between you. I think one of the hardest things about a break up is the changes it causes in your life, in your daily routine. That hasn’t really happened for you because you’re used to not being around him now, only having phone calls. You probably won’t feel that until some time has gone by and something really cool happens that you’d normally rush back to call him about or when you have a make a choice on something by yourself that normally you would have talked to him about first."
Julie was silent a moment as she mulled over her friends reasoning then nodded in agreement. "In all likelihood that’s probably what will happen, I’ll just deal with it then."
Squeezing the small hand that she still held in her own Tina gazed affectionately into sea green eyes. "You know that if that happens and you need someone to fill in I’ll be here to share good news with, help you make decisions or anything else that might come up."
"You already are there for me when I need those things." The blonde reminded her supportive friend.
"Hm, well guess you can’t improve on perfection." Tina joked with a playful grin.
"You’re so vain." Julie declared, her smiling not making her annoyed tone very convincing. When Tina opened her mouth to say something the blonde cut in saying, "I know I know, it’s part of your charm."
"Good to know you agree."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once they had reached Billings the group checked into the hotel and met up with the rest of the family and friends that had already checked into their rooms before heading out for dinner. Julie had learned that this was yet another Chandler family tradition. While the older members of the family gathered together for a more private celebration with the under aged children the younger adult generation planned for a more energized way to ring in the New Year. Sometimes they threw there own party but normally the picked a club or event they wanted to attend and that’s where they would all go. If it wasn’t at someone’s home they planned for safety by getting a block of rooms in a hotel near by rather then all of them trying to make the drive home after their late night celebrations.
After the dinner everyone went back to their rooms to prepare for the night and by 9:30 the vivacious group was ready to start ringing in 2004 and Julie couldn’t help but be caught up in the energy of this family that she had been welcomed into.
As the large group consisting of exceptionally beautiful and energized Chandler’s entered the already hoping party Julie couldn’t help but noticed how they became the focus of most everyone else in the build. The people reacted to them as if a celebrity and their large entourage was now in da club. She also noticed that a good number of the patrons had waved, nodded or in some other way greeted the new arrivals, a few were already making their way toward them. Looks like I was right about the Chandler Family Fan Club. She thought to herself with a smile.
As it grew closer to midnight members of the group were spread out on the dance floor, at the bar and at a group of tables in one of the corners. Which was where the two friends could be found laughing and joking with the people around them?
"Ah shit!" Jordan exclaimed as she grabbed and her chest.
"What?" Tony asked as everyone looked curiously at his wife.
"The clasp on my bra just busted," she explained.
"Geez Ton, couldn’t you waited until you got back to the room before you started ripping your clothes off?" One of his friends teased.
He was about to reply when his wife started to pull the strap of her bra off through the sleeve of her tank top, "What are you doing?" he questioned.
"Taking my bra off" the tall woman answered simply. Once her task was complete she got up from her stool chair and step up onto it on her way to the middle of the table.
"Honey, why are you on top of the table?" Tony called up to her.
"I’m gonna get rid of this thing" she said before bringing the hand without a bra in it up in a C shape around her mouth.
"IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE THAT WANTS THIS?" She yelled out to the crowded dance floor while holding the broken bra up for them to see. Surprisingly a few dozen people had heard her over the pounding music and when they turned to see what she was taking about more people followed suit to see what had drawn the others attention.
"I SAID DOES ANYONE OUT THERE WANT THIS?" Jordan yelled out again as her family and friends either laughed or looked on in surprise. This time her question was met with roar from her audience, which she replied to by tossing the bra out into the crowd with a flawless underhand pitch causing a free for all as a quarter of the dance floor dove for flying undergarment.
"I can not believe you just did that!" Tina laughed as she watched as a blonde haired man swung his new souvenir above his head. "What can I say? I was born to be wild." Jordan claimed with a grin as she was helped down off the table.
Julie laughed at the antics, "There is never a dull moment with this group" she declared before turning around when as someone walked up behind her.
"Hey everyone" the handsome man greeted as he looked around the table at the people that he was apparently acquainted with.
"Hey Maurice, how are you doing?" Tony greeted with nod of his dark head toward his high school friend.
"Real good actually, enjoying the celebration." He answered before turning to focus on Tina. "They little Ti, how is school going?"
"Its going good but I'm enjoying my break from it." The blue eyed woman answered easily before asking the man to join them.
"Actually I just stopped by to say hello and to ask your friend if she would like to dance." He said, addressing the last part to Julie with a very charming smile.
Blonde lashes blinked in surprise "Ah…um… yeah, I’d love to actually." She finally agreed after recovering from the initial surprise.
Maurice’s smile grew as he held out his hand for the small blondes before leading her onto the dance floor.
"Damn that girl is overflowing with pimpjuice." Jake commented as he walked up to the table, his eyes fallowing the duo.
"What?" Tina questioned, her own blue eyes following the same trail as her brothers, but with a hint of what could easily be seen as jealousy.
"She is bootylicous and a lot of guys are noticing it." He further explained to his sister.
"Oh" she huffed while lifting her glass for a drink. Too distracted to notice the knowing look that passed between Tony and Jordan at her behavior.
As the beat changed with the start of yet another song Julie laughed as Maurice swung her around to face him and away from the guy she had been dancing with through most of the last song. The rhythm of the new song was slower so the blonde wrapped her arms around the taller man’s neck as his strong arms enclosed her slim waist. When a muscular denim cover thigh slide between her own she adjusted as they started to move with the beat.
The rhythm of the song progressed and everyone started to sway along with it. Maurice’s strong hands moved to Julie’s ribs as he slowly worked his way down, his face brushing her over heated body from neck to rippling abs. As his shoulder cleared her line of vision Julie instantly locked gazes with a pair of ice cold blue eyes. The frigidness of the look that she had never seen in her friends eyes before cause a gasp of shock to leave Julie’s lungs. It seemed much longer but an instant later the cold blue eyes shifted their attention to a tall red headed woman that looked to be invading every inch of Tina’s person space.
Julie watched as her friends said something to the woman that caused her to smile. The darker woman then took the hand offered to her and allowed herself to be led to the dance floor. Just then Maurice’s shoulder blocked the short woman’s view. Agitated with the interference Julie forced him to turn sideways, just in time for her to see the red head plaster her body against Tina’s. Green eyes grew darker as she watched the two attractive women move together in a very sensual and erotic way that seemed familiar to them both.
The shift in Julie’s temperament didn't go on noticed back at the tables her friends were occupying.
"Would you look at that?" Jordan asked.
"What?" Her husband questioned. In answer she nodded to the spot on the crowded dance floor where the blonde was.
"It seems the sweet little Julie has a jealous side."
As the people that heard her turned to focus at the spot pointed out to them. Even from their distance they could swear lightning bolts were shooting from the normally gentle green eyes.
When a snarl transformed the attractive face four pairs of eyes moved in a team to find what had caused the snarl.
Tony busted out laughing once the cause was figured out. "If Barbara Anne doesn't remove her hand from my sisters ass soon it looks like Julie is gonna chew it off." The observation caused everyone else to laugh along with him.
"That one beats Tina’s glare from earlier hands down," James declared.
"They should just go upstairs for some sexual healing, they have been practically screaming ‘Me so horny, let's get it on’ to each other all night." Jake suggested, earning himself a smack on the back of the head by his sister-in-law.
"Ow, what did you do that?" He questioned, glaring at Jordan.
"Because I couldn't reach you," Tony answered for her, "and mom isn’t here to smack you herself for being nasty."
Back on the floor, despite using all her considerable will power to keep from doing it, Tina glanced in the direction where she knew Julie was at. When she did the look on her friends face almost stopped her cold but the fierce look softened somewhat when the angry eyes met her gaze. Dark brows furrowed as she questioned the reason for such a look. When she saw Julie’s eyes lower in embarrassment realization donned. She jealous! The brunette yelled mentally, the thought of her friend sharing her feelings made Tina smile and instantly she distanced herself from the woman that was molded against her body. For the first time she gazed upon the small blonde openly, not guarding any emotions.
When Julie curiously lifted her gaze again the look that her friend was giving her it was as if a warm blanket was being wrapped around her heart and soul. Lowering the arms she still had around her dance partner’s neck, totally forgetting his existence, the small woman just stood in place as she watched the tall, elegant form of her friend guide across the dance floor in her direction. Both so lost in each others gaze they almost didn’t hear the DJ’s words when his voice cut through the crowded building.
"Boys and Girls it’s almost that time. Grab your special someone or the hottie next to you and get out on the floor, if you aren’t there already. This is the last dance of the year!"
With perfect timing Tina stopped before the blonde just as the song started to play.
"Would you like to dance?" she asked with a confident and charming smile.
"I’d love to." Julie answered immediately.
As the two women embraced their bodies fit together perfectly and they started to move together as if they’d danced together a thousand times before.
For Tina everything was magnified. The heat of the firm yet soft body against hers, the feel of the small hands as they were entangled in her hair and the smell of apple scented shampoo and Eternity, the blonde’s favorite perfume.
In Julie’s heart something clicked into place, for the first time in her life the young woman felt like she belonged.
They moved together in silence for some time before Tina spoke softly.
"Do you know that people wait their whole life and never have a moment like this?"
"I believe it because I know that I’ve never felt this way before." Julie answered as they felt silent again.
Slowly the music faded as the DJ’s voice was heard again. "Here we go everyone...10…9…8…"
"You have my heart." Tina proclaimed her lips now a mere inch from her partners.
"….5…"
"and you have mine" Julie added, lifting her lips closer.
"....2…1…" with each scent left in the year they moved closer, until finally two sets of eyes closed as two pairs of soft lips brushed together. Instantly the kiss depended but stayed soft and gentle as tongue slipped pasted opened lips to explore and caress.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everyone shouted, putting their noise makers to work as balloons and confetti rained down upon them. While in the middle of all this the pair stayed lost in each other, oblivious to it all.
High above in the rafters of the club two figures watched from the shadows. A pair of very familiar blue eyes met an equally familiar pair of green.
"Not bad, but not as good as our first kiss."
"We are probably biased, but it was the perfect kiss."
They glanced back down at the couple still locked in a lovers embrace.
"Our work here is done, let’s go home."
"Where you go I go."
Time — Back Street Boys
Julie — David Bowe
Up — Shania Twain
Change — Tears Of Fears
Mistake — Godsmack
Honey — Mariah Carey
Enough — J Lo
Celebrate — Three Dog Night
Stronger — Faith Hill
Anniversary — New Found Glory
Summer — Lisa Loeb
School’s Out — Alice Copper
Oh Happy Day — Sister Act 2, St. Francis Choir
Be That Way — Scandal 'Us
September — Earth Wind & Fire
Home For Christmas — Dolly Parton
You Say You Will — Trisha Yearwood
December — Collective Soul
Baby I’m Sorry — Ricky Nelson
We Can Work It Out — Steve Wonder
Graduation — Vitamin C
Together — Busta Rhymes
Love Don’t Coast A Thing — J Lo
Hooked Up — " Jamiroquai
Rich Bitch — D.O.A
Anything — Janet Jackson
One — Faith Hill
I Saw The Light — Hank Williams Sr.
Happy — Ashanti
Real World — Matchbox 20
Home For The Holidays — List #8
You’ve Changed — Diana Ross
All I Want For Christmas Is You — List # 1
Satisfaction — Tom Jones
Damn — Fabolous
Tina — Frank Sinatra
In The Doorway — Misfits
If — Pink Floyd
Idiot Boyfriend — Beyonce Knowles
Tell Me — Toni Braxton
Physical — Oliva Newton —John
Distance — All Saints
A Stranger — Perfect Circle
Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous — Good Charlotte
The Best Things In Life Are Free — The Badless
Alright — Janet Jackson
Crazy — Patsy Cline
YMCA —Village People
Breath — Pearl Jam
Heaven — Bette Midler
Free — Faith Hill
Perfect — Alanis Morisseta
Thank You — Boys 2 Men
Pleasure — Spandau Ballet
Friends — Bone Thugs N Harmony
Funny Girl — Barbra Streisand
Blue Christmas — List #2
Anyone — Sugar Ray
Breathless — All 4 One
My Girl — The Temptations
Irresistible — Jessica Simpson
California Girl — Lucky 7
White Christmas — List # 24
Let Is Snow — List #13
Christmas Spirit — Donna Summers
Dad — K Choice
Brother — Alice In Chains
I Thought — Brandy
Call — Ashanti
Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer — List # 17
Kung Fu Fighting — Carol Douglas
That’s My Story — Jimmy Buffet
Cry — Faith Hill
Wonderful — India Arie
Shut Up — Kelly Osbourne
Cry Baby — Madonna
Oh Brother — James Taylor
Daddy — Beyonce Knowles
Too Long — Daft Punk
Everyone — Backstreet Boys
Fan Club — The Damned
Father — Amy Grant
Please —Chris Isaack
I Can — Nas
Side By Side — Earth, Wind & Fire
Favorite — Liz Phair
Think — Toya
Beautiful — Snoop Dog
Honestly — Leann Rimes
Cold — Ashanti
Grateful — Bangles
Mother — Barbara Streisand
Daughter — Pearl Jam
Sky Blue — Peter Gabriel
Drop Dead Gorgeous — Aerosmith
Hey Mama — Black Eyed Peas
Feels So Good — Ashanti
More — Trace Adkins
Burning Down The House — Tom Jones
Fan Mail — TLC
You Take My Breath Away — Queen
You Are So Beautiful — Babyface
Munchkin Land — From The Wizard Of OZ
Little Devil — Adam Ant
Stank Ass Hoe — Cypress Hill
Devil With A Blue Dress On — Mitch Ryder
Hallucinations — Antrocity
Just A Little Bit Longer — Maxi Priest
The Wanderer — U2
Lately — Faith Evans
Secret — Maroon 5
Everything — B2K
Rumor Has It — Reba Mcentire
Gossip Folks — Missy Elliot
Good Company — Queen
Over The River And Through The Woods — List # 15
Family Tradition — Hank Williams Jr.
Billie Jean — Michael Jackson
I Can Remember — Korn
Forever — Ashanti
Sister Janet — Tori Amos
Cowgirl — Tracy Byrd
The Things I Miss — My Bloody Valentine
Fancy — Reba Mcentire
Too Bad — Nickleback
Summertime — Beyonce Knowles
Ride Wit Me — Nelly
One Day — P.O.D
Wanted — Alan Jackson
Cousin Kevin — The Who
Ride Sally Ride — Lou Reed
Kaw Liga — Hank Williams Sr.
Finally — Blackstreet
Caught Up — 112
Oh My God — Pink
I Bet — B2K
Tell Me More — Sandra
Family Tree — Bone Thugs N Harmony
Half —Breed — Cher
Cheyenne — Good Riddance
Beliefs — Texas
So — Static X
Rodeo — Garth Brooks
Family — Nas
Bedtime — Usher
I Don’t Wanna — Aaliya
Goodnight Kiss — Geri Halliwell
Anything You Need — Faith Evans
Goodnight — Evanescence
Sweet Dreams — Patsy Cline
Goodnight Sweetheart — David Kersh
Sweetheart —Mariah Carey
The Other Side —Wynonna Judd
Oh God — Annie Lennox
Anytime — Brian Mcknight
Living Together — Bee Gees
Walls — Tom Petty
For The First Time — Mya
Coming Down — David Gray
Lovin Every Minute Of It — Loverboy
More And More — Joe
The New York Times — Everclear
Machine — Crossbread
Scandalous — Case
Doubt — The Call
Hope — Alien Ant Farm
Make A Move — DMX
All My Life — Barbara Streisand
Pretty Paper — List # 16
Ain’t No Fun — Snoop Dog
Christmas Time — Christina Aguilera
Alive — Pearl Jam
Sammy — GWAR
Jolene — Dolly Parton
Sister Rosetta — Alabama 3 (A3)
Twister — Weird Al
Monopoly — Urge Overkill
Aunt Dot — Lil Kim
Back In The Day — Missy Elliot
Ring Of Fire — Johnny Cash
Through The Fire — Chaka Khan
Whole Lotta Trouble — Stevie Nicks
Innocent — Fuel
Yes — Beyonce Knowles
Little Sister — Elvis
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town — List # 19
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus — List # 9
Anymore — Whitney Houston
Superman — Eminem
Pimpin — Big Tymers
Blue Suede Shoes — Elvis
Black Velvet — Alannah Myles
Pimp — 50 Cent
Uncle Sam — Madness
Big Pimpin — Jay —Z
Walkin Stick — Powderfingers
All The Way — Celine Dion
Uncle Arthur — David Bowe
Pet — Perfect Circle
Fallen Angel — Neil Young
Funny — 3LW
Screamin — Macy Gray
Trouble — Pink
He Is Your Brother — Abba
Jenny — Lisa (Left Eye) Lopez
Johnny B Good — Chuck Berry
Riot — Busta Rhymes
Blush — Bows
Just Like Me — Usher
Rowdy — K —Kwik
Goodnight Irene — Peter Paul And Mary
Goodnight Ladies — Lou Reed
American Pie — Madonna
Bye Bye — Jo Dee Messina
Bye Bye Birdie — From The Musical Of Same Name
In The Morning — The Bee Gees
Clark Gable — The Postal Service
Gone With The Wind — The Bee Gees
Fever — Elvis Presley
Angela — Motley Crue
Lips — The Beautiful South
Pillow Lips — Modern English
Heat Of The Moment — Babyface
Strawberry — Everclear
Perfect Moment — Van Morisson
The Kiss — Cure
Shades — Iggy Pop
Scarlet — All About Eve
Don’t Be Cruel — Elvis Presley
Edge Of Heaven — Ace Of Base
Cruel — Human Nature
Punishment — Shedaisy
One Kiss — B2K
How To Start A Fire — Further Seems Forever
Tina Marie — Perry Como
Innocent — Fuel
Baby Girl — B2K
The Look Of Love — ABC
Stand Back — Stevie Nicks
Spoken For — Mercyme
Respect — Aretha Franklin
Lost Opportunity — Queen
You Don’t Fool Me — Queen
Falling — Olivia Newton —John
California — Kid Rock
Friendship — Judy Garland
Sweet Child O’ Mine — Guns N Roses
Love’s A Hard Game To Play —
Love Is A Gift — Olivia Newton —John
Hey Julie — Fountains Of Wayne
Touch — Amy Grant
Little Angel — Bad Company
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer — List # 7
Winder Wonderland — List #25
My Darling Child — Sinead O’connor
American Woman — Guess Who
Excuse Me — Peter Gabriel
Son Of A Bitch — Uriah Heep
Liar — Queen
Can’t Have Your Cake — Motley Crew
True Colors — Cyndi Lauper
Wasting My Time — Eminem
I’ve Changed — Missy Elliot
I Still Love You — Alan Jackson
What’s Love Got To Do With It — Tina Turner
Woman To Woman — Beverly Craven
One Minute Man — Missy Elliott
We Can Work It Out — Beatles
Do Yourself A Favor — Stevie Wonder
Don’t Speak — No Doubt
Another Word — Talk Talk
It’s A Little Too Late — Mark Chesnutt
Cry Me A River — Justin Timberlake
I Never Meant To Hurt You — Barbara Streisand
Your Cheatin Heart — Hank Williams Sr.
Believe — Cher
Goodbye Is Forever — S Club 7
I Will Always Love You — Dolly Parton
Goodbye — Everlast
The Call — Backstreet Boys
Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire — List # 3
You’re So Vain — Carly Simon
In Da Club — 50 Cent
Born To Be Wild — Steppenwolf
Julie With — Brian Eno
Pimpjuice — Nelly
Bootylicious — Destiny’s Child
Sexual Healing — Marvin Gaye
Me So Horny — 2 Live Crew
Let’s Get It On — Marvin Gaye
Nasty — Janet Jackson
Hottie — Take 5
Eternity — Chaka Khan
Life — Arid
A Moment Like This — Kelly Clarkson
Never Felt This Way Before — Brian Mcknight
The Perfect Kiss — Bette Midler
