“Whoa, slow it down man. You’re talking about more babies already? You think you should marry her first? I mean. Damn.” Smitty takes a drink of his beer and sits it off to the side of his built-in grill, flipping over the burgers.
Zoey’s in town for the weekend, and since he barely lets her out of his sight anymore, I had to convince him to let us come over for a cookout so my girl could spend time with her friend. I might have mentioned something about wanting to knock Kelsey up again, and now the old fart wants to give me shit about it.
“Dude. Hold my beer. I got this,” I hand over my bottle of Blue Moon, and turn around to find Kelsey. We’ve been living together for two months now. I’m damn sure I’ve got this. When I spot her a foot away, I call out her name. “I have a question for you! What are you doing for the rest of my life!?”
I hear Smitty snicker behind me.
She puts Reid on her hip and walks over. “How much have you had to drink?”
“Just answer the question,” I say back as I reach into my pocket and hit one knee. “Kelsey Josephine, what are you doing for the rest of my life?” I thought about waiting another week for Reid’s birthday but today felt like a good day, so why not?
Kelsey bites her lip. Zoey lets out a squeal, and Smitty yells at Kelsey, “Kels, I think the answer to his question is, ‘Spending it with you.’ Say yes!”
“What he said,” she answers as she starts to cry. “Spending it with you, Rhys Mitchell, spending it with you.”
I slide the ring on her finger and stand up, pulling my two-favorite people closer and kissing her lips. “I love you so fucking much.”
“I love you too, Rhys.”
“Thank fuck you said yes. I was worried you were going to break his heart,” Smitty hands me back my beer and gives Kelsey a hug. “I guess we’re all stuck with you now,” he winks.
“Move over,” Zoey's hip checks Smitty and I both to get to Kelsey. “Let me see the ring!”
Smitty claps me on the back, hard enough that I nearly choke on my beer, “Congrats pretty boy.”
“Thanks,” I smirk. “I told you I had this under control.”
“It’s a good thing she really likes you because you’re really lacking in the romance department man.”
“Whatever. I’m not lacking anywhere.”
Smitty shakes his head, “Stop right there. Don’t say anything else,” he hands me a plate. “Make yourself useful and help me serve this food.”
“You’re really one to talk,” I tell him as we put the burgers and hot dogs on the table.
I take Reid from Kelsey to strap him in the high chair while she gets food for him. Smitty follows Zoey inside the house and the next thing I know, we can hear the two of them arguing with each other. I move to intervene, but Kelsey puts her hand on my arm.
“Let them work it out.”
There’s a storm that’s been brewing just under the surface with Smitty lately. I’m worried the dumbass is going to say something he’ll later regret.
“Whatever Zoey, walk the fuck away then. You wanted this remember? Don’t fucking expect me not to give a damn about you!” His voice rages on.
Yep, exactly like that…I knew he’d put his foot in his mouth.
We hear the front door slam closed. Kelsey’s cell phone pings at the same time that Smitty comes back outside alone.
“That’s probably your friend telling you what a dick I am,” he grunts and throws himself into the patio chair, popping the top on another beer and guzzling half the bottle before he comes up for air.
Kelsey reads the message but says nothing at all.
“You two women, it’s like you’re both hell-bent on giving us a run for our money,” Smitty grumbles as he throws food on his plate.
“Yo, you can be pissed at your girl all you want. But watch yourself with mine.”
He nods but doesn’t say anything as he takes a bite of his burger.
Spending the rest of the evening watching Smitty lose his shit over Zoey is the last way I wanted to spend my Saturday.
While he drowns his sorrows, Kelsey is glued to her phone between cleaning up the dishes and putting all the leftovers away. At least that will be one less thing Smitty will have to deal with when he wakes up.
My phone pings and I laugh when I see it’s from Kelsey, who’s sitting right next to me now.
KJ: I told her to go to our place. She has a spare key.
Me: You’re really texting me right now? ;) That’s fine. She ok?
KJ: Yes, I am. So Jerk Face doesn’t hear me. No, she’s not.
Me: I can stay with this one, you go be with her.
A case of beer later for him and I’m seriously fucking tucking my best friend into bed and wishing him luck in the morning with the killer hangover he’ll have.
I contemplate taking his truck and going home. He’ll probably wake up thinking someone stole it.
Fuck, even better. I laugh to myself as I grab the keys off the hook and lock up behind me. He’s going to shit a brick when he wakes up in the morning and finds his black F-150 gone.
* * *
I’m still asleep on the couch when my phone starts ringing, Smitty’s name flashes on the screen as I pick it up and answer.
“Where is my motherfucking truck?”
Aww, Smitty’s cranky.
“In my driveway,” I yawn.
“Son of a bitch. You stole my fucking truck?”
“Borrowed. Calm down. I didn’t want to spend the night with your drunk ass, and I needed a way home after Kelsey and Reid left.”
“If you put a single scratch on her…”
Oh, this was too much fun, “Well, I mean I did go four-wheeling with her. She’ll need a good bath when you get her back.”
“I’m going to punch you in that pretty face of yours when I see you. Bring my truck back, asshole.”
“Later, I was sleeping until your grumpy ass woke me up.”
“Goddamn it, Rhys. I need my truck to go find Zoey and make up for being a dick last night.”
“Zoey’s fine. She’s here with….Whoa,” the phone nearly falls out of my hand when Zoey, who I thought was sleeping, walks in my front door with fresh bruises around her neck. “What the fuck happened, Zoey?”
“What the fuck do you mean, ‘What happened?’” Smitty barks. “Is Zoey ok?”
“Gotta go, Smitty,” I quickly disconnect the call with my best friend yelling in the background. Kelsey’s out of the bedroom and chasing after her friend who took one look at me and bolted. Fuck.
Shit just got real.
THE END…for now.