Amung Us

I felt absolutely, positively, like a piece of shit. Trudging through the streets during a torrential downpour, on a gloomy day, in a gloomy city, without my coat and clutching a singular piece of now destroyed paper, informing I’d been laid off. The sole beacon of hope, shining ever so brightly in the distance, was my girlfriend, Keira. Keira, with her bubbling happiness and contagious laughter made ruining a pair of clothes worth it. And just as these thoughts ran through my mind, the clouds parted long enough for a golden ray of sunshine to cast down upon me. I cracked a smile, chuckling as I took the steps to Keira’s front door, the worn bronze knocker awaiting me. I gazed at the damp paper before crumpling it and tossing it into the waste bin on the corner. Returning my full attention to the door, I reached up and grasped the cold damp metal, clanging it against worn wood. What I heard next was pure bliss, as Keira called to inform me she was on her way.
Several moments later I heard the heavy sound of metal on metal as the door was unlocked, and then a swollen creaking as it was cracked to make sure it wasn’t an intruder outside her door. I smiled in at her and raised the bouquet of roses, “For you.” Keira beamed, her beautiful pink lips spread, her pearly whites behind them. The door creaked yet again as it opened fully, and I stepped into the portal to her front hall. I wiped my shoes off on the mat and follow her into the kitchen; her tight, round rump swaying in a ‘it’s seductive, but not on purpose’ manner. Keira turned back with a playful grin, bending over and finding a vase to become the new home of the flowers. Her blue denim jeans were stretched tight across her, showing off her stunning figure, in conjunction with the slightly too small blouse that emphasized her bust. The flowers were then happily sitting in moderately cold water.
When Keira stood I wrapped my arms around her waist and planted my lips up her shoulder and into her soft cheek. She giggled playfully, reaching up her slender hand and ruffling my hair. I ran my own fingers through her long, silky brown locks, feeling increasingly joyful at the warmth we shared. Together, not breaking our embrace, we waddled slightly awkwardly to the couch and flopped down, cuddling together on the plushy pillows.
Now seemed just as well a time as any to inform her of my employment status. “So, baby, I…I got laid off today.” I forced the words out of my larynx, ending with a loud and drawn out sigh- well deserved at that, I might add. I rolled over slightly, so that Keira and I were more or less a twisted web of limbs. I looked into her soft face for the guidance I so desperately needed. Keira could always stay calm, and never seemed to be infected with worry.
Keira slowly cracked a smile, “We’ll get through this. Remember, things always work out. Look, let’s go out and have some fun- my treat.” Keira always knew just the right antidote to whatever unhappiness I had. It wasn’t just that she would pay for the trip out, but she seemed to be able to pinpoint exactly what would brighten my day. And Keira always had the means to do it too- money was of no object to my girlfriend. While her house may not be the wet dream of people who watch Home and Garden, she always had just the right amount of money tucked away for a rainy day- metaphorically or literally.
“Sure, I’d like that. Thanks.” I pecked her rosy lips and untangled, wiping my eyes and putting on my happy, ‘Oh my God my girlfriend is the best’ face. “Hon, you’re the best.” I moved in and planted another kiss, this one big and passionate.
Keira giggled and kissed back. “I know,” She cooed, again, seductively without meaning to. Or, perhaps it was. Either way, her voice was an arousing one. Keira stood up with a cute little yawn, starting to take off her home clothes in a slow, deliberate manner. “Just…let me change…” she sang, obviously signaling me to follow her up the stairs to her bedroom.
The room was small, but exotic. Her large queen sized bed dominated the eye, with its dark lavender covers and pillows, black frilly laces, and see-through curtains of a slightly lighter shade of purple; her private quarters were those of a goddess. And not just to the sense of sight. Laying my fingers on her bed, it was a soft, foreign silk that, as I knew from experience, I could melt into with Keira in the throes of passion. Other than the medium sized plasma screen mounted on the wall, the only other thing in the room of note was Keira’s large, antique oaken dresser. Keira stood before it, backside to me, and grabbed at her big baggy t-shirt, pulling it from her body and revealing that she only had on a pair of tiny pink underpants.
Throwing her heavenly strands of hair over her shoulder, she turned back ever so slightly and winked at me, covering her impressive breasts with an arm. I smirked and shook my head with a laugh, “Such a tease!”
Keira turned so her smooth, nearly naked body was facing me. She had that wry, playful grin on her face that I knew would be followed by something incredibly sexy. Keira raised an eyebrow, turning back around and giving her soft round butt cheek a spank.
I coughed, “Damn…better be careful Keira, getting a bit hot, don’t you think?” I murmured, eyes traveling up and down her body at record speeds.
“Yup, and that’s exactly why I’m going to get dressed. Don’t want to accidently find ourselves with a kid, now do we?” She said, pulling on some tiny, barely-qualifying-as-shorts shorts and giggling. “So, I was thinking we go talk to your boss.”
I groaned, flopping back on the bed, “Why? It’s not his decision if I have a job or not anyways. I know you have that womanly charm, but I think we’ll just be wasting our time, Keira.” I said, sitting back up and cuddling around her bare back, “Thanks for offering though.” I gave her neck a smooch, while running a hand up her taught, fit stomach.
“Well, it would make me feel better if you at least let me try to talk to him…please, for me?” She put her slender, manicured fingers on my chest and kissed my forehead with her soft pink lips. “It never hurts to try.” Keira whispered softly.
I couldn’t resist it; Keira was throwing out all the stops. I finally nodded, detaching and grabbing her lacy Victoria’s Secret bra off the floor. Keira hadn’t always dressed in these types of clothes. Since we’d started dating, I noticed that she’d started to buy things that I found arousing. To say the least, she was the perfect girlfriend. I walked over to her bedroom window and looked out into the bustling streets. “Stopped raining thankfully. I wouldn’t wear your good shoes though; there are ankle deep puddles all over the place.” I informed her, walking back over and picking a small frame off her dresser with our first picture in it. It was at a gaming convention, believe it or not. As a homebrew developer, I had a booth there. I chuckled; that day was the first day Keira had ever played a videogame. She had bought tickets for her previous boyfriend and herself. Sadly, when she arrived she found that he was already there, only with another girl. Funny how things work out.
Suddenly Keira’s arm around my waist awoke me from the nostalgia, “I’m all set.” She said, taking the picture from my hand and setting it back. “Ya know, maybe your getting laid off is a sign to put more attention to your game development.” Keira was always supportive of my creative endeavors and had helped me through several writer’s blocks just by sitting next to me and cuddling. She was probably right.
“Let’s go see what my boss has to say, and we’ll go from there.” I said, smiling as we walked down the stairs, out the front door, and into the sunny day.
Before long we were entering the hallowed gates of my former place of employment: a technology firm where I could flex my coding muscles. It wasn’t game development, but any programming experience helped. We walked up to the secretary’s desk, manned ironically enough by a woman generically named Janette. Janette was the strict businesswoman type who always followed the rules, but that proved to be useless against Keira. Despite Janette and Keira both being members of the fairer sex, Keira only had to say a few majestic words and we were being escorted back to my boss’s office. Absolutely incredible.
Keira whispered to me, “Just let me do the talking, ok?” I nodded, hugging her as the door was opened and we entered the office of Design Manager Robert Fulligan.
Robert was a morbidly obese individual and had what can only be described as a ‘perma-wedgie;’ every time that man turned around there was a horribly visible crevice up his rear end. Needless to say, it was the butt of many cruel, albeit hilarious, jokes. Yes, by the way, that was a pun. He obnoxiously cleared his throat in a unnecessarily loud manner and looked up, setting down his pen. “Yes, what can I do for you?” He rasped: being as fat as he was, the mere act of speech could wind him. There was something that fueled an anger inside of me at this, that someone so weak could control my fate in such a way.
Keira bent over at the desk, batting her eyebrows, “Is it at all possible to give Matt his job back? I know it’s not your fault Robert, but maybe you could use your vast influence to pull a few strings? For me?” If Keira hadn’t instructed me to keep quiet I would have either exploded with laughter or have had a very loud heart attack. The results of her seductive pose and voice were damn-near instantaneous! Rob was visibly affected, turning bright red and beginning to sweat, and you didn’t need the wet spots forming under his man-breasts to inform you of that; it was beginning to stink horribly.
He cleared his throat once more, “Why, I’ll see what I can do right away! I’ll tell the boys upstairs that Matthew was the best designer we’ve ever had! Hell, I’ll tell them he was a vital part of the operation, and that we just can’t function without him!” He exclaimed, jiggling all over the place as his meaty fingers wrapped around the phone.
“Thank you, Robert.” Keira said, waving and turning, taking my hand in hers as we left the office. I turned my head, looking at her stupidly. I was stunned.
Once I was sure we were out of earshot, I began to dissect the events that had just occurred. “How did you do that? Everyone knows he’s a grouchy bastard who doesn’t give praise to anyone! I mean, your voice was sexy, the bending over too, but even then I’m not sure that would be enough to convince him. Oh my God, Keira, that was just incredible! I begged for my job earlier, even offering lower pay, and that didn’t do it!” Keira just gave her wry smile, giving me a kiss and winking.
“We women have our ways.” She said, giggling, “But back to more important things!” I wasn’t quite sure what could be more important that the near miraculous event that just took place, but I gave her my full attention. “Do you want to hop on over to the theme park and ride some rides?” She blushed, “I was thinking maybe we could make out in the Ferris Wheel, to be honest.”
I chuckled; Keira loved those physical exchanges in public places. I guess she got some sort of thrill out of it. “Sure, as long as we can still get in some roller coaster riding, yeah I’m down for that. I’ll buy.” I grinned and gave her a tight hug, kissing her on the lips.
I heard a grunt, “Save it for the Ferris Wheel, won’t you?” Came the callous voice of Janette.
I detached and gave her a smile; the kind that had the pretense of ‘you’re an asshole’ behind it. “Right, sorry. Come on Keira.” I must have been elated, because I went so far as to sweep Keira off her feet and carry her, much to her squealing delight.
“Oh my!” She squeaked, giggling once more, “So did I somehow give you muscles all of a sudden?” She teased, poking my biceps and giving a fake laugh. “Kidding of course! You’ve never carried me like this though…do you plan on doing all the way to the park?”
I nodded, holding her tighter, “Hell yeah, can’t half ass it; not with you. Now Janette maybe, but you, not a chance.” Keira howled with laughter, resting her head against my chest. I walked up the street for a ways before reaching the park. I sat Keira down and bought the tickets from the teenager behind the counter, and we were inside. “So, you said something about the Ferris Wheel?”
“Come on, I don’t want to have to wait any longer than necessary,” Keira took my hand and sprinted off, dragging me behind. I would never understand her fascination with public displays of affection, but if it made her happy I was fine with helping her experience it. I didn’t see what Keira was so worried about though; it’s not like the Ferris Wheel ever has a long line. I climbed up into the compartment and offered Keira a hand, pulling her up into it as well. She closed the metal door behind her, preventing anyone from spoiling our romantic solitude.
“Let’s wait until we’re out of sight, alright? Last thing we want it to be thrown out of the park, especially considering that the tickets were sixty bucks.” Keira gave a pout, but conceded, sitting on my lap.
“We can at least cuddle a bit then, right?” She asked cutely, grinding her butt on my lap. “Besides, they can’t see me doing this, can they?”
I shook my head, “No…no they can’t.” After what seemed like ages we were finally high in the sky, and I turned her around and set my lips on hers. For several minutes the entire world was encompassed by Keira and me. That is, until the sound of wrenching metal tore us from our ecstasy. “What was that?” I looked over the edge of our basket, to see people fleeing in just about every direction but towards the Ferris Wheel. Well, everyone but a single person, whom I can only assume was looking up, frozen with fear. The wheel appeared to be collapsing in on itself, as if one of the metal supports had snapped or just disappeared. Our basket lurched, and the light bulbs that adorned the wheel began to shatter as the metal buckled. I had to act fast if we were going to get out before it fell. I opened the metal door and let Keira out first. Neither of us was speaking; it was if we just knew what we had to do and what we would do next. Just as Keira clambered out onto the surface of the basket, the connection broke and our basket began to plummet. I could hear the collective gasp down below, and I wrapped myself around Keira, hearing screaming wind in my ears. I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for the bone shattering impact, but nothing came. Perhaps I had died instantaneously; I wasn’t sure. Finally I cracked open an eyelid and looked around. Sure enough I was still holding tightly onto Keira, who was only smiling at me. We were floating in the air. In the fucking air. Floating.
“Actually, we’re levitating.” Keira said as we slowly lowered to Earth. “No use hiding it now, as you can probably figure it out.” I was completely stupefied. I gazed up at the Ferris Wheel. It was frozen in place, mid-collapse. “Come on, we should go home…we can discuss this when we get there, ok baby?”
I just stared blankly at the frozen wheel, “Yeah…right…” Her arm wrapped around me as she led me back to her house. I expect something about the event will be on the evening news. Finally home, Keira laid me down on the couch.
“Are you ok?” She asked softly, resting a hand on my forehead. “Are you in shock? Just amazed? Or…afraid?” Keira sighed, standing and going into the kitchen. She returned with a glass of water. “Here, drink up.” I took the glass and drank, clearing my throat.
“I guess…well I’m feeling a lot of things. I’m amazed for sure, a bit afraid I suppose, curious, worried, maybe even a bit jealous.” I said, looking at her. “I mean…this would explain how you convinced my boss to give me my job back…and you must be able to read minds to correct me about the floating thing…I guess I’m a little worried about our relationship.”
“Why?” She asked, sitting down and cradling my head.
“If we have a fight…what’s from stopping you from going into my head and changing things around so that we’re cool? I love you…I just don’t want our relationship to be hollow. Do you understand?” I asked, clasping hands.
Keira stared blankly for a moment, pondering. “Yes, I understand. Relationships are built on trust…I can see why my abilities could put that in jeopardy. You’ll just have to believe that I never have and never will use them to change you. I’ll be honest with you though; I have looked in your head before.”
I blushed, clearing my throat, “Really, now…Does what you see…how’s it make you feel?”
“I like everything I see in there. I know you love me, and it’s helped me to see things from your perspective. Like last year when we were planning our vacation. I was able to understand why you didn’t want to go to the Grand Canyon. I didn’t realize until then that you’d had a childhood trauma there.” She smiled softly, “I will let you in on another little secret.”
I was feeling a lot better about things, so I was eager to hear what she had to say, “And what’s that, babe?”
“I didn’t stop the Ferris Wheel from falling.”
It took a minute for me to process that. “You mean…”
“Yup.” Her wry smile had returned to her face, “Guess you don’t have to be jealous now.”