One summer night, Stormie and Mark invited the entire family over for a barbeque. Rocky and I brought our son, Reid, hoping that the fun would stay rated PG. When the sun went down and things died down, Riker lit the fire pit and pulled out the alcohol. We all circled up in our lawn chairs, but I wasn't exactly ready for the fun that was yet to come.
Reid was playing on the swingset that the Lynches still had in their backyard, but eventually got tired out and joined our party, sitting on the ground between Rocky's legs. "Dad?" our son suddenly asked, pulling on the leg of Rocky's jeans. "How did you and mommy meet?" He looked up at us innocently, and batted his long eyelashes a couple of times. He definitely inherited those from his father.
Ross and Riker stifled their laughter, disguising it as coughing. They were right to laugh, because the story of how Rocky and I got together was anything but rated PG. It was extremely inappropriate, and I was hoping the little bit of alcohol he had in his system wouldn't make him slip up and recount the dirty details. Rocky's eyes shifted to me nervously, taking a deep breath before exhaling and looking back down at our child. "It's a long story, buddy," he covered. "Maybe another night."
"We have plenty of time," Riker urged with a wink, causing the guys to laugh some more. Riker took a long swig of his drink and his eyes twinkled mischievously. It was a dare. They desperately wanted a show. I was going to have to hurt him later.
Reid laughed, not understanding what was going on. He was amused by the way his uncles were behaving. I leaned into Rocky, cupping my hand over my mouth as I whispered into his ear. "Just make some stuff up," I told him quietly.
"Excuse us," Rocky said to the group, holding up a nearby magazine to act as a partition. "They'll know if we lie outright," he explained in a low whisper. "God only knows what Riker will do. You know he's daring me, right?" I nodded with a little nervous laughter leaving my mouth. "Okay, how about I just use code names? We can tell the basic story, but in code."
"Yeah," I agreed.
He pulled down the magazine and we saw that everyone was still sitting with their legs crossed and beers in their hands, staring us down with evil grins. Reid had taken a seat in an empty lawn chair and looked up at both of us. "We're back," Rocky joked before turning to our son and clearing his throat. "So, you want to know how me and mom met, huh?"
"Mhmm," Reid murmured, accompanied by a chorus of Rocky's siblings. I held up one hand to cover up the middle finger I flipped at them with a smirk across my face before Rocky continued.
"Okay, so one night, your uncles and I were very...'hungry'. It was late at night, but we really needed to 'eat'." Rocky furrowed his brow as he spoke, trying to think of how exactly to explain this. I buried my face into his arm, covering up the growing smile across my face. He shifted under my weight, wrapping his arm around me before he continued with more confidence. "So, we went to 'McDonalds' and your mom was there with some of her friends, eating 'McFlurries'."
"I love McFlurries!" Reid yelled out in excitement. "What kind was it, mommy?"
"Yeah, mommy," Ross said with a tight expression. He was trying hard not to completely lose his shit over his older brother's bullshit story. "What kind of McFlurry did you have?"
"M&Ms," I managed to get out before I buried my face in Rocky's side once again.
"Your uncle Riker ordered us 'McFlurries' of our own and we were just hanging out," Rocky continued. "I saw your mom and thought she was the most beautiful girl ever. And she still is," he threw in for extra brownie points.
"So you went to talk to her?" our son chimed in.
"Yes I did. I brought her another 'McFlurry' and asked if she wanted to hang out with me. But she had a few too many 'McFlurries' and had a stomach ache, so I offered to take her home." Rocky let out a little laugh as he saw Riker wiggle his eyebrows across the firepit.
"Aw, mom you should have had less ice cream," Reid said sympathetically, looking over to me. "It's not good for you."
"You're right," I said. "Too much 'ice cream' is really bad for you."
"What else happened that night?" Riker prodded. We had gotten through the drunken clubbing part of the night we first met, but there was still more to the story. He was referring to the tango between the sheets. I cocked my head slightly, not breaking eye contact with the blond. He just laughed and cracked open another beer.
"I took mom into her house and 'put her to bed'," Rocky said, ending the story. He wasn't lying; he did put me to bed. I was thankful that he wasn't going to try to go any further with the code words, because I was about to lose it.
"That's really nice of you," our son said, getting out of the chair. "I'm glad you and mommy were both at that McDonald's. I love you!"
"We love you," I called to him as he skipped towards the screen door, entering the house where grandma Stormie was doing the dishes. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I picked up the magazine next to me and threw it at Riker. "I can't believe you," I laughed.
"He's had a few too many 'McFlurries'," Ross snickered, then shielding himself from anything that I could possibly throw at him as well.
"I think we all have," Rocky said, getting up out of the lawn chair that he had made himself comfortable in. "You good to drive, babe?" he asked me, dangling his keys in front of my face.
"Yep," I laughed, hopping up and snatching the keychain from his fingers. "See you losers later."
We said goodbye to Rocky's parents as he scooped up our kid and threw him over his shoulder. After buckling him into the carseat and shutting the door, Rocky pulled me into him and hugged me tightly. "I love you," he sighed.
I giggled as his lips laid tiny kisses along my neck. "You're a little buzzed, huh?" He laughed and nodded. "Let's go home."
"Will you 'put me to bed'?" he asked with a wink.
"Definitely," I said, rolling my eyes before meeting his lips with my own.
