Gray Area (sequel to White Noise)

Ch 26 - Back To Reality

I pressed my lips to his, and the result was the single most perfect kiss of my life. So was the entire experience that followed, with both of us putting our sober, unrestrained feelings into it as though our lives depended on it.

Don't get me wrong. The first time had been amazing, too, even more so than I was willing to admit. But that was an 'in the heat of the moment' situation, motivated by a little brave juice. This time really meant something. It meant everything, actually. My head was clear, and my heart was free. I loved Michael. I really fucking loved him, more than I knew was possible.

We took our time and savored every moment. I watched his face as he undressed me, and as I did the same for him. The playful smirk was still there, but his eyes told me this was no joke. They were full of love and appreciation, which is exactly how he made me feel: Loved and appreciated. Those are the two things a man had never made me feel before.

My emotions were in such a heightened state. I was so happy I could have cried, but I had done enough crying lately. The only other thing I could do was laugh. And right before we were about to seal the deal, I could no longer control it.

"Are you laughing at me? What did I do?" Michael asked, incredulously, with a grin on his face.

"Nothing, silly. I'm laughing at, well, I don't even know. I'm sorry, I'm just so damn emotional right now. If I don't laugh, I'll cry. I can't believe this is finally happening. I mean, it's not like it's the first time. It's just that I can't believe it's happening like this: The way it should be." I cradled his face, trying to read what was going on in his head, afraid he had taken offense to my laughter.

He kissed me softly and said, "I know what you mean. And don't be sorry. Our whole friendship has been based on laughter and fun. There's no reason this should be any different, right?" He wiggled his eyebrows before bombarding my neck with playful nips and a muffled growl.

His actions had me laughing once again. But as the nips slowly turned into sweet, slow kisses, the laughter gave way to a few quiet moans from both of us. Holy shit. I can't even tell you.

There wasn't much cuddling after the fact. Instead, we were lying there face to face, simply staring at each other for the longest time. We were both pretty fucking pleased with ourselves.

I was the first to speak. "Thank you for making me to listen to you."

"Thank you for listening." He chuckled and continued, "I can't believe I finally grew the balls to tell you that shit."

"It was a pretty impressive speech, Clifford."

"Really? Thanks," he replied with an exaggerated smug look.

Then I remembered we were supposed to be somewhere else. "Speaking of speeches, we have to get back pretty soon."

"What do you mean? No we don't. It's not our wedding," he argued, reaching over and pulling me closer to him.

"Yeah, but we have speeches to give and shit."

"Speeches?" Michael asked, his eyes widening from what was apparently news to him.

"Yes. You didn't know that was one of your best man duties? Dude, you're screwed."

"Screwed? Yeah we kinda just did. Wanna go again?" he asked, rolling on top of me, connecting our lips once again.

I was very tempted to stay put, but knew we really needed to go back to the reception. I playfully tried to push him off of me, but wasn't having much luck. "Stop it, punk. Seriously, you need to get your mind out of the gutter and make up some profound, deep shit to say. We'll have plenty of time for this later."

He whined, as I expected he would. But then serious Michael returned. He pushed my hair put of my face, and looked down at me. He got that little wrinkle between his eyes that he gets when he's thinking too hard. "Promise me there will be more of this. Promise you're not going to change your mind when we go back to reality."

A lump formed in my throat realizing his heart was in my hands. "Michael, this is reality. I promise I'm in this for as long as you'll have me. I'm so sorry I didn't make it easy getting here."

"Me, too. But good things come to those who wait, right?" I nodded in agreement. Then he said, "Just a warning: We've wasted like four fucking years. We have a lot of time to make up for. Just saying," he said with a shrug and smirk as he sat up, offering his hand to help me up as well.

"I'm looking forward to it," I replied, giving him another kiss. Really, I was.

We got dressed in silence, then I had to touch up my makeup and hair, of course. When we once again looked presentable, we lingered by the door, both of us still not really wanting to leave. But we did the right thing. After one last kiss and an "I love you" spoken in unison, we exited and made our way back to the party.

Michael took my hand as he opened the ballroom door for me. I doubted anyone even knew we were gone. But I found out otherwise when I locked eyes with Tori as we walked in. Of course my friend had noticed my absence, despite the fact that this was her wedding day and she had a hundred other things to think about.

From across the room, I noticed her eyes move from mine down to my and Michael's hands clasped together. She smiled so big when she looked back up at me, and I knew I had her seal of approval. That meant everything to me.

I no longer had a reason to envy the love that my friends shared. At that moment I couldn't have been happier that their happily ever after was now official. And that mine was finally beginning.