"Promise not to say anything.
Keep this secret. I'll join you in secrecy."

"Antigone," Translation by Richard Emil Braun. Lines 105-106. Used without permission.
 

MICHAEL:

Fridays are supposed to be a light day. Right?

Fat fucking chance of that today.

I got people right and left in here, looking for help, mostly for writing class because the assignments are due Monday, and it's a zoo. And I really got to get out of here at 5, because I got tons of stuff to do.

Martha's coming over tonight to help me clean up the place, which I was gonna do tomorrow but we got to help the prof move. They got professionals helping, but there's still a lot of little stuff to do, and Juliet's kind of limited with her gimpy leg. So I said yes.

Least it doesn't involve crawling through the heating ducts in a steam tunnel! Jesus. I shudder when I think about that. I've been having nightmares all week. I didn't think it freaked me that much, but I woke up in a cold sweat Sunday night and then on Monday and on Tuesday...and Wednesday and Thursday...

I'd like one good night of sleep, thank you very much!

I've been having Kelly stay with me, but much as I like her there next to me, I'm worried. She still hasn't gotten her period, and the longer it goes out, the more we panic. Even though she wanted a baby, now that she might get one, she's like getting real edgy.

I already told her I'd marry her if she was pregnant. I mean, I'd marry her, but I'd do it sooner.

Not the way I'd like it to happen, but hey, if I got her pregnant, I have to.

The idea that I might be a dad makes me shudder, too. I get the steam tunnel and maybe a baby all in one week.

I'm going insane. And not sleeping isn't helping.

Dad's been pretty grumpy, but he's not bashing on me quite so bad. Maybe he's figured out I'm working my butt off. Would be nice if he did.

Martha's been keeping him pretty cool. I'm still kind of worried that once he gets out, she and he are gonna start doing the nasty...

Frohike, you're losing it. There is NO WAY they could be doing the nasty. Dad's been way too sick for that. Right now, he can barely walk. And he gets the wind knocked out of him so easy.

One night in the sack'd probably do him in permanently.

Martha better not do anything to him like that.

Kelly's gonna help us do the apartment. She'll get there when she finishes work.

"Michael!" I got to be going out of my mind. Now I'm hearing Kelly's voice...

And seeing Kelly...in the tutoring center...on a Friday afternoon...

And she's smiling. Big. She looks like she's so happy she could burst. I see her eyes and it looks like she's been crying she's so happy.

"Kel? What's doing down here, thought you were working." I stand up to kiss her, which brings a few titters out of the girls at my table.

Fuck them. They're probably jealous.

Ha ha. I'm getting kissed and you're not, so there.

"I had to come tell you," she says.

Oh God, give me some good news.

"Not here."

"Okay, guys, g'bye, see you next week," I tell everyone at the table.

"But I've got more problems!" One brain-dead chickie whines.

"Monday. Adios, amigos." I stuff my things in my backpack and we walk outside, where the air is actually cool...I think it must be down to like 75 degrees.

Good sign.

"Michael, I got it!" She's just about jumping up and down, which Kelly doesn't normally do.

"Got what?" I'm so brain dead right now, nothing computes.

"Michael, I got my period!"

She did?

"When?"

"About two hours ago...oh, God, Michael, I was getting so panicked I was almost ready to go to Rite-Aid and get a test...and then all of a sudden I had to run to the ladies room, I felt really lousy...and there it was. Oh God, I'm so happy!"

I feel all my nerves, which have been wound up like wire, melt into soft little threads.

And then I just melt into her arms.
 

This calls for a celebration.

True, I'm totally busted, but Dad keeps some cash around the house, for emergencies, and I borrowed some (which, by the way, I WILL put back, so don't give me any shit about it!)...

I think we need some serious Italian food. Bustamante-style.

I don't think I've been too hungry lately. All my clothes are loose, even though I haven't gone swimming.

All that is about to change.

Kelly says she'll meet me at my house, and then, it's pig out time.
 

I'm not gonna be a dad. Yessss!!!

I think about that one. I think I would like to be a dad.

Just not this year.

Not for a while.

I beat Kelly by about two minutes, and she jumps on me when she gets there, and I carry her in the apartment and I almost kill my back in the process, and I don't care.

We're laughing and crying and hugging each other, and God she's never looked so beautiful as she does right now.

We're lying on the sofa together, just cuddling each other and ignoring the news.

"Michael." Her voice turns soft.

"Hmm?"

"I meant it when I said I wanted a baby."

WHAT the ?!

"Only I think I want one in the more distant future."

I can catch my breath again.

"Know something? Think I would, too. In the future."

"It'd be nice. You'd be a great dad, Michael."

Don't know about that, but it's nice she thinks so.

I listen to her breathe. All I can hear is the drone of the news, which is turned down low, and her heart. Or is it mine? I can't tell whose is whose.

"Kel." My own voice starts, without me even thinking about it.

"Mmm?"

"Marry me."

She looks at me sort of puzzled. "When?"

"Graduation?"

She smiles an even bigger smile than she gave me before, if that's possible.

"You bet."

I'm not sure, but I think I just proposed...and she accepted.

Now we really got to celebrate!
 

I'm really, really hungry. I think I've been ignoring food, which for me means things have been real bad. I really have to be in a bad way to not eat.

I also want to take her into my bedroom and take off her clothes, then take off mine, and then soak up her scent and her skin and oh God...

"Michael? I'm starved."

Hmm. Maybe we'll eat first.
 

And it's great. The waiters, they all know us, they're like where you been? I tell them my dad's been real sick, they're like, you should've told us sooner! I tell them he's hopefully coming home Sunday.

It feels like a special occasion.

And it is. Two reasons. One, we aren't gonna be parents right now. This is a good thing.

And two, I think we're really engaged now. And this is great.

"You know, Michael," she tells me when she's between bread-the bread here is to die for, as good as Ally's and it just keeps coming, "it's funny, but it's like, when you told me you'd marry me if I was pregnant, it was like-it was right then I started to panic."

"What? You changed your mind?" I don't understand women, they keep freaking me out.

"No, silly! It was just...it started to get real."

"This is real, Kel."

"I know...but I realized then that, as much as I want to be with you-"

"Good thing, you're stuck with me now."

"That I really wasn't ready to be a mom yet."

I can live with that.

She grins. "But I want to be your wife, and I think that'd be the best graduation present of all."

My wife. Wow, that sounds weird.

But nice.

"I gotta get you a ring."

"You do not."

"Yeah, I do. I'm a Frohike, I gotta get you a ring."

"Michael, it can wait! Really!"

Okay, it can wait...

Till Christmas. Her birthday's close to Christmas, too.

By then I should've hopefully saved enough to get her something nice.

"Michael. I don't need a ring. Really, I don't."

You may not need one, but if you're gonna marry me, I need to get you one.

Sorry. We Frohikes are like that. Slaves to tradition in a way. That way, anyway.

Wonder what a diamond ring costs. I've never even looked at diamond rings.

Our waiter, Guido, who always waits on us, comes over. "You two, you look so happy, special occasion?"

I smile kind of wickedly at Kelly. "You could say that."

"Oh?"

Kelly grins at him slyly. "We're going to keep it private tonight." She winks at Guido.

"One of those." He grins like he knows. "Let me see. Bow tie pasta with arrabiata sauce for the young lady, eggplant parmigiana for the gentleman, no?"

We both laugh. We always get the same thing.

And we don't tell Guido a damn thing, but wouldn't you know, a bottle of Asti Spumante turns up at our table.

"Um...I don't think I ordered this." And I got no idea what it costs.

Guido laughs. "I don't know what you're celebrating, but celebrate! It's a gift from Guido, to my good friends Michael and Kelly."

I don't suppose this is the time to tell him Kelly's underage. Not when he brings out two glasses for us and toasts us.

"To Michael and Kelly, whatever you're celebrating, enjoy. Salut!" We all drink up.

I think this stuff is sort of sweet, but Kelly's like, this is good.

When Guido goes off to take care of his other customers, Kelly says, "I think we should tell your dad first, before we tell anyone else."

"Yeah. Only thing is, Kel?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we better not tell him right yet. Let's see how he's doing."

"Agreed." She lifts up her glass again, which she's put more in. And we toast.

About a hundred more times that night.

To everything there is. And will be.
 

I've never seen Kelly drink before, and Asti gets you drunk fast, like all fizzy stuff. She's giggling worse than Ally by the time we leave the restaurant.

I haven't laughed this hard or this much in ages. It feels great.

I know what else would feel great, too.
 

Except that I know Kelly doesn't like it at that time of the month. She thinks it's such a mess.

I'd like to convince her otherwise, and besides, I am so horny I could burst.

She's lying against me on the sofa and she looks uncomfortable. Wonder if the Asti made her sick.

"You okay?" I stroke her hair.

"I've got cramps."

I massage her belly, hoping she'll feel better. She seems to like it...

"Michael? I read in one of Dr. Scully's books...that orgasms are a great cure for cramps."

Really?

"If you don't mind..."

Oh, like she has to ask twice!
 

We grab some dark towels and spread them on the bed. I start by taking off her shirt, and then I unhook her bra. She looks kind of swollen, which is really kind of nice...

I take one nipple between my thumb and finger and roll it a little. "Careful. Really sensitive right now." I soften my touch, then I bend over and gently take her nipple in my mouth, kissing softly so I don't hurt her...and I get rewarded with this moan of total pleasure. I can tell the difference now when it hurts her and when it feels good...

"Don't stop," she says, and her breath's getting rough.

Don't need to ask me twice.

I work my way to her other tit, and just being real soft with her is getting her so turned on. I want inside her jeans. I help her pull them down over her hips, and then I work her undies off...God, she is beautiful.

"Michael. That thing you were doing to my stomach in the living room..."

I lower her on to my bed and start massaging her belly again. It's more swollen than usual, but she says she gets like that.

She's like, more, and she starts tugging on my clothes, till one piece by one piece, I'm totally naked and she's totally naked.

It feels like forever. We haven't done this much lately, between Dad being sick and being scared that we're gonna be parents a lot sooner than we'd like...

How I lived without it, I have no idea.

She brings her mouth down to my cock and sucks me, soft at first, then harder.

"Don't...wanna come yet, Kel." I can barely talk.

"You think it's okay?"

"We'll be careful." And we will.

More hugging, more kissing, more touching each other everywhere. She reaches down for my balls and squeezes me lightly, not so it hurts, but that it's just enough to drive me wild.

"I love you, Michael Frohike."

Her eyes are big and dark, and she's all flushed and hot as she opens up her legs for me.

First things first. We grab a condom, and I don't care what it looks like, just so long as it holds. Having her slide it on me, I'm just about delirious here.

"Love you, Kel." It's all I can get out.

I want inside her so bad, but I want to savor it, too. So I move in gentle, like the first time, I don't wanna hurt her. First entry I make, she cries out a little, but she wants me to go deeper.

Soon I'm in her all the way, and it's heaven.

If orgasms cure cramps, I want her to come like crazy.

And I touch her all the ways I know she likes.

"Michael...Michael...aaaargggh!" She lets out a scream, and her face, it's like, it's not pain, it's pure pleasure, and I feel myself starting to reach the point of no turning back as I watch her.

I come with a vengeance. I can't help it, I want to be gentle, but it's so fierce and I'm trembling so hard...

We both end up screaming.
 

"Oh God, I love you, Michael." She's shaking and smiling and flushed and glowing when we're done.

"I love you, Kelly. The future Mrs. Frohike." I lean over and kiss her, hard and deep. Her tongue reaches out and plays with mine.

"That's Dr. Frohike. Actually, I think it's going to be Dr. Martin-Frohike." She grins. "I don't know. I'll have to think about
that."

"Well, one thing about Martin, people don't fuck it up."

She giggles. "No, they don't. But I want people to know you're mine, and I'm yours."

"Oh, I think it's pretty obvious."

She grins, big.

"Michael, I'm so happy..."

"Me too."

And I am.
 

We fall into that kind of drowsy buzzed state you get when you've had really great sex. I'm almost asleep when all of a sudden I hear my name.

"Michael? Are you here?"

Oh hell. Martha's here. Dad must've given her his keys.

Oh shit.

Kelly's like, what's wrong?

"I'll tell you what's wrong, Martha's here!"

"She's not gonna say anything."

"It's not that. It means we gotta clean the house!"

She giggles. "Well, we might as well get used to it."

END OF PART 41