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Part 37

In the middle of the kiss, I heard a sweet, feminine voice say, “Hey lovely couple, am I interrupting something?”

I froze. My stomach dropped, and all the nerves I had managed to suppress came rushing back. I reluctantly pulled away from Gabriel and turned to face her.

There she was—Ms. Slippery Thong herself, standing right in front of us.

Even if I wanted to say anything, I couldn’t. Gabriel quickly pulled her in, without letting me go, said hello and kissed the top of her head as she instinctively lowered her head for his kiss. – "My kisses, you whore!" Rushed through my head, while I shyly smiled and Gabriel quickly said “Chrissie, this is Red.”

All sorts of things were going through my head.
How do I even say hello?
Do I put my hand out for her to shake it?
WTF!! I should’ve asked Gabriel what to do before she waltzed ger bubbly ass here.

She made eye contact and then looked at Gabriel and said “Sir, would it be OK if I hug Red?” wtf? She wants to hug me? Aaaarrrrggg!
Gabriel looked at me and calmly asked “Red, would it be OK with you if Christina hugged you?”
What the fuck am I supposed to say? “No, No Thank you”?
I sheepishly said “Yes, it would be OK”.

She hugged me... I really don’t know what I was expecting, but her hug felt welcoming, warm… almost loving. I felt an instant connection. Not at all what I thought was going to be like.
And then it occurred to me, “wtf! Did they take hugging classes? Cause this is Red-iculous!”
The hug lingered, but if I am being honest, I did not mind.
I thought this was going to be one of those face-offs at high noon between two pistoleers, but apparently Christina is a hugger.

When the hug broke, she warmly looked in my eyes and with a smile said, “Hi Red, it is so nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so many good things about you and you’re just as beautiful as he described you.”
I got shy and blushed; this was nothing like what I thought this was going to be like.
I just stammered a “you too”, she smiled and responded “Don’t worry, he mentioned that you are shy. It's OK.”

Gabriel then said “Chrissie, can you please get a table for us?” She responded “Yes, Sir. Anything specifically?” and he replied, “Please make sure they give you one of the round tables close to the tree.” She said “Yes, Sir.” And walked away.

Gabriel then shifted all his attention to me, pressed his forehead to mine again, making intense eye contact and said “Everything will be OK, beautiful. We’re going to get through this together. OK?” and I just nodded.

He then took my hands, stood in front of me and said “How are you feeling? Are you OK?” I responded with a sigh and said, “I am a lot better than I thought I would be, she is nice.” And he responded “She is nice. Are you comfortable?” I replied “yes, Sir” and he said, “That’s my girl, give me a kiss and let’s go inside?”
I was still shocked and whispered “Right here? What if she sees us?” He started laughing and said “Red, we’re not cheating. It is OK, just give me my kiss so we can go inside.” I kissed him and he held me for a minute.
Being held by him, felt especially good this time. I felt so protected.

I think that’s one of the things I really enjoyed about him, he was protective of me. I had never felt protected before, it felt good. It wasn’t just about feeling physically safe, I also felt an emotional protection I’d never experienced before.

We then started to walk towards the café.

When we arrived inside, I saw Christina just standing behind a chair by a round table waiting for us to get there. Gabriel guided me to one of the chairs and pulled the chair for me so I could sit, I did and then he kissed my forehead, then he repeated the same thing for Christina.
It was awkward, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

It was surreal, there I was sitting across from this girl whom I saw as a rival. Her flawless, deep brown skin had a radiant glow, making her even more striking as she sat there with her big smile, full lops, sparkling brown eyes, and pretty braids... looking very athletic and fit, in her yoga pants and fitted workout shirt. Made me sick! Put in a sweater girl, we can see your nips!

Gabriel broke the silence and asked me how I was feeling and if I was comfortable with everything, I said “Yes, Sir” and then he asked Christina the same thing and she replied in the same way.

Gabriel just sat back and said “Good, I am glad. How is everyone’s day so far?” Christina jumped ahead and said “Sir, may I please take a moment to say something and be honest with you both?” and Gabriel said, “Of course you may.”
Christina took a deep breath and nervously said, “I just want to be honest and say that I am very nervous, and I am so jealous right now.”
Wait what?
This is allowed?
She gets jealous?

Gabriel said “Thank you so much for your honesty and vulnerability. And I am so proud of you for handling it the way you are.” Then he looked at me and said “Red, is there anything you’d like to say?”

I stammered nervously and said “I am nervous too, but I feel a little better knowing I am not the only one… And I don’t know if Gabriel has told you, but I am a bit jealous too.”
We all chuckled a bit and Gabriel said “Thank you so much Red, I especially know how difficult this is for you. So, thank you so much for being brave and strong.

I am hoping that we all see that while this is uncomfortable and difficult, it will all be worth it.”

I jumped in without thinking about it and said, “You’re just happy that you can have your cake and eat it too.” Christina and I started laughing. Her laughter was bubbly and full of joy, with every little bubble of her laughter her boobs jiggled. I thought to myself “I guess it is safe to say that Gabriel is a ‘ boob man'. Are those things even real?” Just saying, I noticed.
Gabriel chuckled and looked at us with playful disappointment and said, “I have never made a secret of that, you two calm down.”

Gabriel then said, “I would also like to take a moment to say that while I am not as nervous as you may be, I am jealous too.” Christina and I looked at each other in confusion and she asked, “jealous of what?”
Gabriel responded “I am jealous of ME! My life is sooo good!” and we all laughed… loudly.
Christina looked at me and said "He loves his dad jokes, you get used to it."

The waiter came along and asked what we wanted. Gabriel ordered tea and two pastries for us all to share, and honestly, I didn’t mind.
Christina on the other hand, playfully pouted like a child and said, “but I wanted my own.” Gabriel said “it is OK Chrissie, if you want more when those are done, we can order more. Is that something you can live with?” Her face lit up and said “Yes, it is!” We all chuckled.

Gabriel then said “Chrissie, tell us about your day, we want to know.” – he then turned to me and said – “Right, Red?” and I said “Yes, we do”.

She started telling us about her day and how she was overwhelmed with some of her client’s situations and that the city just kept adding more to her workload, but overall, it was OK because she enjoyed her work and was helping people.

This obviously triggered my curiosity, but I did not know if it was OK to ask questions.
I figured I would ask if I could ask questions, so I said to Gabriel “Sir, is it OK if I ask questions?” and he said, “Of course it is OK, we’re all in this together.” – he turned to Christina and said – “Right Chrissie?”
She just looked at me and said “Of course, Red! What do you want to know?”

They just opened pandora’s box, I am going to ask questions until they get tired of me.
I asked Christina about her work, and she said that she had just started her career as a therapist and was working for the county, working with people with low resources.
Wow! So grown up!

I was curious about her age, so I asked, and she said while smiling, “I just turned 26, you missed my birthday, but I am still accepting gifts.”
Gabriel stepped in and said “Chrissie! You have to ease her in, you can’t just jump people into the extravaganza that is your birthday. No gifts.”
Christina just smiled and said “Alright, but next year you’re on the hook, deal?” I said “Deal, Chrissie!” hey, why not, right?
Of course, Mr. Gabriel did not let that one slide and said “Look who’s coming out of her shell! Great job, REDiance!”
I just blushed while he and Chrissie had a laugh at my expense, but I was OK. I was getting comfortable.

Gabriel then asked Christina about her class, and she said, “It was good, a lot of fun. Red, you should join me sometime!” while looking at me.

I knew it, hugging classes!
“What kind of class?” I asked, just to be sure.

She glanced over at Gabriel and said while laughing, “What? Gabriel hasn’t tried to force that upon you yet?”

Gabriel just looked at her in playful shock, as if saying “how dare you?” and then just laughed. Then, something awesome happened — Christina and I looked at each other and, in unison, said, “We’re going to need you to use your words.” We all laughed.
Apparently, “I’m going to need you to use your words” was something Gabriel said… a lot.

This was such an unexpected turn of events. Since I found out about her existence, I had created an image of her in my head that made her my rival. Yet here I am, laughing with her and enjoying her presence.

Gabriel laughed too and said, “This isn’t the kind of tag-teaming I was hoping for, but it’s a start.”
Chrissie and Gabriel both laughed, but I did not understand the joke, so I said, “What’s so funny?”

Something told me to dig deeper into this joke, but by the time I had made up my mind to find out, Gabriel was already jokingly saying “First of all, I don’t force anything on you, I make strong suggestions backed by carefully articulated arguments.

Red, I did tell you that you would start training martial arts and that is what Chrissie’s class was – she does Brazilian Jiujitsu and Muay Thai a few times a week, in fact she just got out of class before coming here.
I do expect you to start taking classes as well.”

What the hell was this? A cult? And don’t think for a second that you’re going to get away with not answering my question about that joke.
The whole martial arts thing really didn’t bother me, I had always secretly wanted to try it, but did not have the drive to do it. The thought of walking into a room full of strangers and letting them touch me, and possibly hurt me, was just physically and socially overwhelming to me.

I said “You did mention it and I am willing to try it. But why? You want to keep us nice and skinny?” and he said, “Fitness is a good reason, but I just like the peace of mind that comes with knowing that if someone threatens your safety when I am not around, that you at least have a fighting chance.
If something were to happen to you, the last thing we want to be thinking about is ‘we could’ve prevented this’.”

Hmmm… he did make sense. Though looking at Chrissie, I could tell there were definite benefits to this. She was FIT!
Though the thought of stepping onto a mat and getting thrown around by strangers… yeah, that was still terrifying. But if Chrissie could do it, maybe I could too? I will not be out-girlfriended!

I said, “Alright Mr. Gabriel, I will give it a try.” Chrissie jumped up and said “Yay! We can train together! It’ll be fun.” I just smiled.

I just sat there thinking about how this whole thing was not as bad as I thought it was. Chrissie was really nice and so bubbly, perhaps annoyingly so, but not that bad. However, from thinking she is nice, to spending time with her in a class, I may need some convincing.

Our tea and pastries got there, Chrissie was super excited and, honestly, so was I.
Chrissie and I jumped at the pastries while Gabriel just looked at us, smiling and drinking his tea.

There was a moment of silence, but it was not awkward. It kind of felt like Chrissie and I were freely enjoying the sweets while being cared for and protected by Gabriel.
It certainly was… different.

to be continued...