Accept

Chapter 15- Chris

The half-empty glass of whiskey sat on the tray in front of me as the captain announced our descent into Minneapolis. The red-eye flight from New York to Minneapolis was nearly empty. Most people were still enjoying Thanksgiving weekend with their families, but I couldn't wait to escape mine. My family had never been good at celebrating traditional holidays. However when they came to visit last fall, I thought things had changed for the better, but I was mistaken.

After listening to the continuous arguing from my parents, I made up an excuse to return to Minnesota for an emergency at our house. I thought it was odd when my father also unexpectedly announced he needed to leave for a business trip.

My mother didn't seem surprised and suggested we ride to the airport together. It sounded like a good idea to me, but my father was adamant about going separately. However, after much persuasion, he agreed.

I was certain he was meeting another woman and sure my mom had the same idea. However, I never expected to see Bella waiting for him. She wasn't surprised to see me, so I knew she had been warned by my father. The three of us had a drink together before our flights and after a few minutes it was apparent something was going on between them; their actions were obvious.

"Can I get another one?" I asked the flight attendant as she passed my seat. Whiskey was the only thing that was helping to erase the image of my dad and Bella.

"Sorry, we are about to begin our descent now."

"Believe me, I can drink it before we even start to descend," I laughed taking the empty bottles out of the seat pocket in front of me.

The flight attendant looked around to see if anyone awake was watching and slipped a bottle into my hand. "This one is on me," she winked.

I took the bottle and I poured it over the glass of ice. My muscles ached and I wasn't sure if it was from the continual weights I had been lifting trying to survive the weekend, or the tense feeling I had when thinking of my dad and Bella together.

Through the seat cracks, I watched the happy faces of the couple in front of me and slammed my drink. The girl resembled Lexie with her natural beauty and hair pulled on top of her head. I could hear her talking about her family and her boyfriend contently listened to every word while holding her hand. I would have done anything to have a moment like that back.

Watching her talk with her hands, I could feel Lexie's gentle hands on my shoulders while she massaged my tense muscles. Her hands were as light as feathers and yet she managed to relax every tense spot in my body. I closed my eyes imagining her rubbing my shoulders and easing her way down my body. Her fingers gently skimmed my skin as she kissed every spot she touched until she reached my feet.

Lexie was the only person I confided in with my story of Eva's forceful blowjob when I was a boy. Since that time, I never enjoyed oral sex and probably never would. Lexie was considerate of this and understood my situation. She had been forced into giving Ben blow jobs as he held her head down and afterward ridiculed her for the sloppy efforts. I clenched my fists thinking of what I would do if I ever saw him.

Watching the playful couple made me feel sorry for myself. Would I ever have someone look at me in that way again? I felt sorry for my mother with her masquerade of marriage and my cheating father. But my life wasn't any better. For the past month, I had been trying to erase the memory of Lexie by living a masquerade with Caroline.

I told myself I would never forgive Lexie for cheating on me, but I had come to realize I was partially to blame. We had promised to keep our relationship casual and light, but my selfishness made her choose between my career and hers, and she choose hers.