A week after our wedding, James and I are trekking through the underbrush of the Australian Outback. While Annie and Georgie seem to be having the time of their lives, James and I are sweating to death. “Is it usually this hot?” I ask, gasping for breath in the dry heat. Annie looks back at us, “Ali it’s August. We’re lucky it was a mild winter this year.” She looks to the sky and muses, “it could still snow though.” “Snow?” I deadpan. “You’ve got me out here in shorts and you’re saying that it could snow?” She laughs, “just be glad it’s not spider season.” I stop on the trail, making James bump into me, “spider season? That’s it’s, I’m going home!” Not that I really knew where home was at this point. Sure I could go back to my dad’s house, he’d love to have me home. And while I did miss my childhood house and my dad, the thought of going back to a mundane life made a pit form in my stomach. “You ok?” James asks quietly. “Aside from the snow and spider prospect.”
We finally make it to the waterfall two days into our trip, which is what I almost did right into it. I’d been staring at my feet so long, trying to shield my eyes form the blinding sun as much as possible, that I didn’t notice the others stop and step off of the trial until James grabbed my backpack and pulled me to a stop. “Careful,” he says as I come to a stop. “You almost fell in.” “Fell in what?” I grumble as I look up for the first time in hours. “This!” Annie exclaims as she throws her arms wide. Looking past her, I make out a large open area about twenty feet below us with trees, tall grass and bushes surrounding a rippling lake with a waterfall at one end. “How do we get down there?” I ask her as I take it all in. After the dry dirt of the past few days, the greenery was a nice sight. “There’s some steps carved into the cliff wall over there,” Georgie answers as he points to some steep steps. “There’s also a rope we can climb down or-.”“We jump!” Annie yells as she th
“I- what?” I stutter out in complete shock. While Annie was random at times, I did not see this question ever coming from her. “A relationship,” Annie says again as she sits up and looks at me. “Where all four of us would date each other.” I sit up and look at her in confusion, “but.. why?” She smiles softly, “because you’re beautiful and I enjoy spending time with you. And James is handsome and Georgie has had a crush on him since the second day we’ve known each other. We like being around you two and we’ve been looking for another couple to date and travel with and potentially live with us at the house. It’s too big for just the two of us.” “So,” I ask slowly. “You guys are..?” “Both bisexual,” Annie confirms. “Both into consensual polygamy. Both very keen on the idea of having a relationship with the two of you.” I breathe deeply for a moment, “I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting this. Just a second.” “Take your time,” Annie tells me as she lays back down. I watch her
We sit there awkwardly for a long moment before James finally asks, “so what do you think about it?” “I’m not sure,” I admit. “I love you and being with you so the idea of being another person is weird.” “But?” “But,” I say slowly. “I kinda of want to know what it’s like to kiss Annie.” I glance over at him as I wait for his response, hoping he wouldn’t be mad or weirded out by my answer. But as always, James just shrugs and says, “if you want to kiss her then you can.” “What?” I ask in surprise. “You want me to kiss her?” “I love you,” he starts seriously. “And I’ll support whatever it is that you want to do. If that’s traveling the world or making out with girls, I’m happy if you’re happy. But,” he adds. “I don’t like the idea of you kissing Georgie.” “Baby I don’t want to kiss Georgie,” I tell him quickly. “You’re the only man for me and I don’t even know if I really want to kiss Annie or if it was just because she brought it up.” “I kinda feel the same way,” he adm
By the time we made it up to camp, Annie and Georgie had both tents set up, a fire going and dinner cooking. I recognize the smell of Annie’s homemade pasta sauce as we get closer, “I thought you were saving that?” I ask her. She’d only dehydrated one jar for this trip, saying that her sauce was so complicated to make she only did it once a year and this was one of her last jars. She looks up from the pot she’s stirring, “I figured tonight was as good a night as any. Besides,” she grins. “Given how long you two were gone I thought you’d need some refueling.” I match her grin, “like you and Georgie didn’t do the same. Don’t think I don’t see that new hickey on your neck.” Annie’s free hand goes to her neck, “that’s a bug bite.” “Yeah if the bugs name is Georgie,” I snort. “Speaking of, where is he?” Annie rolls her eyes, “playing jungle explorer.” She waves her hand towards a nearly invisible trail, “he disappeared down there a few minutes ago.” “Ooh babe?” James asks
“So how was your jungle trip with Georgie?” I ask James later that night as I lay on his chest in our tent. “You guys were gone for a while.” A while was an understatement. By the time they’d gotten back to camp, the fire had died out, supper was cold and the sun had set. It had gotten so late that Annie and I were about to call in an air rescue. “Sorry,” he says sheepishly. “We found this really cool cave with lots of crystals and it has a little river in it. It’s like a different world in there and we lost track of time.” “Did you guys talk?” I ask as I glance up at him. He nods, “yeah we did. I told him how I’m only interested in him and you’re only interested in Annie and he was cool with that.” James chuckles, “actually I think he was relieved.” “Well,” I say slowly. “He’ll be even more relieved to know that there’s nothing between me and Annie. I kissed her and to use her words, it was the most platonic thing ever.”“So you don’t like her?” He asks curiously.“Not in
Four days later we are back at Annie’s house. The rest of the trip had passed in slight tension between James and I, something that I never thought would happen and wasn’t prepared for. By the time we got back to civilization we’d hardly spoken a word to each other in twelve hours and we hadn’t even used any of the ‘special supplies’ that Annie had stocked up on. Thankfully she didn’t comment on it when I have it all back to her once we got to her house. And while we were all exhausted, the boys immediately left to go to the arcade. Georgie gave Annie a long kiss and I glance hopefully at James but he just grabs the keys and walks out. When the boys are gone, Annie finally asks, “what the hell is going on with you two?” “He wants to tell our parents about us,” I tell her with a sigh as I practically fall onto the couch. “And he’s mad because I don’t want to.” Annie sits next to me, “so the usual?” “Pretty much. He.. asked if I was ashamed of us,” I admit. “Are you?” Annie asks
Four Months Later "This better not rip my nip off," I mutter as I use the double sided tape to stick a gingerbread cookie to each of my tits. "The things I do for this man." I pick up the Santa hat that's on the counter and pull it on. James's voice comes from the other room, "where's my cookies!!?" Opening the bathroom door, I say cheerfully, "here they are Santa!" James stands in the middle of the bedroom wearing red boxers, a long red robe with a Santa hat on with a red sack slung over his shoulder. "Well now Mrs Clause, don't you look just ravishing." I shake my tits at him, "why don't you sit those packages down and come eat your cookies?" He grins and drops the sack, "I've got a very special package for you Mrs Clause." Glancing down, I match his grin, "can I unwrap it early Santa?" "I think for you I can make an exception," he says. Walking slowly towards him, I pray that the cookies don't fall off. Getting to James, I run my hands up his hard stomach m
One Year Later“Ali!” Annie yells as she walks into my house, her arms loaded down with brightly wrapped packages. Georgie follows close behind, even more packages in his arms. “Annie,” I greet warmly as I go and take the packages from her. “Jesus,” I grunt as the weight of them settles in my arms. “What do you have in here?” Annie laughs, “you’ll see. Just promise you won’t be mad.” Setting them in the gift table I give her a suspicious look, “and why exactly would I be mad at my son’s godmother?” “Well, I may have bought him a few things that aren’t technically suitable for a one year old,” she admits sheepishly. “That’s why these are from me,” Georgie says as he puts his packages on the table. “Someone had to buy gifts the little man could actually play with.” Annie claps her hands, “speaking of! Where is my godson?” “He’s out back with..” I don’t even get to finish before she’s racing out the back door, my sons name being shouted so loudly it echos through the house. Even
“Drive faster!” James yells at my dad who is already speeding and swerving through traffic. “Why couldn’t we have just called an ambulance?” Mary asks, hanging onto the panic bar for dear life. “In this economy?” James and I both answer. I groan as another contraction hits me, squeezing James’s hand so hard I’m sure I’ll break it. He doesn’t complain, even though I’m sure it hurts. It seems to take an eternity to reach the hospital but we only live twenty minutes away and with my dad speeding, we made it in ten. Dad screeches to a halt at the ambulance doors, honking his horn rapidly as Mary jumps out of the truck and runs inside, coming back out with a nurse and a wheelchair. James lifts me from the truck, setting me into the wheelchair and rushing me inside, nearly leaving the nurse behind. She follows us, a mixture of confusion and amusement on her face. “First time?” She asks when we finally stop at the front desk. “We need Dr Jones!” James all but yells at
The next few weeks are full of shopping, painting and furniture building. Mary and dad are truly a godsend. Mary knows everything there is to know about babies and what they need, while dad can build a crib in twenty minutes flat. Before I know it, our house is full of everything we need, and a week before I’m due, our house looks like a home. Especially since Mary insisted that we needed to have a baby shower. So, here I was, just days away from giving birth, sitting in my living room surrounded by paper storks, gifts and people. Most of whom were my parents friends since I didn’t keep in contact with anyone from my school days. I did invite Annie and Georgie but when I called them, it went straight to voicemail, Annie’s chipper voice saying that they were off the grid for the foreseeable future. They must have been checking their messages though, because a small package showed up at the house, postage from Zimbabwe and Annie’s handwriting on the label. While I wouldn’t t
The next day, dad and Mary come by the house. The boys immediately say something about power tools and building furniture before disappearing, leaving Mary and I in the kitchen. “So, what are we doing with the nursery?” Mary asks, sitting down her large bag and pulling out containers of leftover food. “Do you know what you’re having yet? Also, we should do a baby shower in a few weeks.” She glances up at me, “hungry? I can make you a plate.” I sigh, “honestly, just give me that bowl of coleslaw and a fork.” Mary laughs, “I was the same way with James. Couldn’t get enough of the stuff.” She pops the lid off the bowl and grabs a fork, sticking it in the bowl and sliding it over to me. “Nursery?” She asks again. “There’s a room next to ours that’s connected by a bathroom that we were thinking about using as the nursery,” I tell her as I take a large bite. “But I’m not sure if I want to do a theme or just paint it.” Mary nods, “we can make a trip to the baby store and look a
By the time we made it home and unloaded all our things, several hours had passed since the incident with Samantha. And even though nobody had called us and we hadn’t seen anyone else we knew, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone in town already knew about James and I. Rationally I knew that everyone would find out about us eventually. It wasn’t like James and I were keeping our relationship a secret anymore, but I did hope we would have more time before the entire town found out about us. And maybe I could have handled it better if I wasn’t pregnant, but I was, and somehow that made the thought of facing the town much harder. The ride from our home to our parents house is a silent few blocks as I stare out the window, my mind running wild with all the things that people are probably saying about us. James holds my hand the entire way, his thumb running over my knuckles soothingly and I’m so lost in my mind that I don’t notice we’ve arrived until James lets go of my hand.
The next morning James and I are at the mall as soon as they open. More specifically, at the home goods store that takes up two levels of the mall. Equipped with two different lists and carts, James is in charge of getting the large appliances and I’m off to find kitchen and bedroom essentials. Since it was so early in the morning, I wasn’t expecting anyone to recognize me. But as I was comparing bedsheets, a voice behind me asks, “Alison?” Turning, I force a smile, “Samantha.” Her eyes flick down to my stomach and back to my face, “look at you girlfriend! How long has it been?” “Since graduation,” I tell her while praying she’d go away. Samantha was the type of girl who’d be friendly to your face and then gossip about you behind your back. “I see that congratulations are in order,” she gushes. “I have to say, the girls and I were surprised when we heard that you dropped out of college to travel the world. Honestly, we didn’t think you’d ever leave this town. But, look at
Two weeks later James and I are sitting on the plush carpet of our new living room, sunlight streaming in through the large windows. The keys to the house sit between us as we both sit there, still in shock that we’d actually gotten the house below market value and so quickly. Finally, James just asks, “how?” Shaking my head I answer, “I have no idea.” And I truly didn’t. One second we were in Iceland and the next we were in the realtors office in our hometown being handed the keys to our own home. Everything in between was a blur, and normally I’d find that concerning, but right now I think I was still in shock. Shock that was quickly giving away to the reality of the situation. “Oh my god,” I groan as I turn to James. “We bought a house!” He gives me a puzzled look, “yeah. Isn’t that what you wanted?” “Yeah!” I exclaim. “But now we have to be adults and pay bills. We have to get the utilities turned on, but furniture, decorate, paint, put together a nursery, get a car,
The next morning we are once more in the doctors office. We’d been here so much over the last month that I could tell you how many ceiling tiles were in this room without looking. The answer is fifty-four. And since we’d been here so much, we knew all the nurses by name and they didn’t even bother to show us to our room. Yes, our room. We were always brought to the same exam room so it’s gotten to the point when they’d call our name, they’d just tell us to go to our room. So here we were, both sitting on the weird chair that was covered in white paper, waiting for Nurse Franklin. We’d opted to have her give us the results instead of the doctor since we’ve been seeing her more often than him. When she walks in the room, she takes one look at us and says, “I was going to start with the pleasantries but judging by the looks on your faces, we should just get to it.” “Yes please,” James says as he takes my hand. Nurse Franklin sits down and smiles, “I’m pleased to tell yo
“Babe, you’re missing it!” James teases excitedly as a woman on the tv screams. “It’s like the Aliens but it’s a baby!” Peaking through my fingers, I was just in time to see a bloody baby rip it’s way from its mother. How he had convinced me to watch the Species series I’d never know. I’d made it through the first one just fine, but the second was starting to get to me. “Why did you think this was a good movie for me to watch?” I ask as I try not to gag. Even though I know it’s fake blood, the sight of it still makes me nauseous. James glanced over at me and frowns slightly, “honestly I forgot that this one was mainly killer babies.” He grabs the remote and turns the movie off before kissing my head, “I’m sorry, princess. I didn’t mean to make you sick.” “I’m not sick,” I start to argue, but the churning in my stomach only got worse and in a flash I’m off the couch and running to the bathroom. I barely make it before I’m heaving my guts up. I don’t notice when James enters the b