Lights, Cameras, Outsiders!

Chapter 63

LCO 63
"You know something? That second visit wasn't all that bad," Matt said, closing the truck door and locking it. He went around to the front of the truck and held his elbow out. I looped my arm around his elbow and we walked back into the Tulsa hotel with luggage trailing behind us.
We got up to the room and Matt dug in his pocket for the key and opened up. A table and two chairs were spread in the middle of room and a vase of flowers sat in the middle of the room. Ralph stood up from sitting on the bed and smoothed out his tux.
"Hello," he said with a smile.
"What, what is this? You got a date tonight?" I said.
"No, you do. Let me take your luggage," Ralph said, grabbing out suitcases and stuffing them in the corner. We walked in and Matt put his arm around me as Ralph closed the door.
"Now Matt, I know this isn't what you expected but-"
"Nah, it's good, looks good," he said.
"How the hell did you arrange something like this? We've been driving all day," I said.
"You know how in Wendy's I said I needed to pee...I lied," Matt said. I hugged his torso and kissed his cheek.
"I love you," I said.
"Take a seat," Ralph said. I took the one closest to the door and Matt sat closer to the bed.
"Now when room service gets up here, I will gladly serve you," Ralph said before leaving the room.
"What'd you do this for, Matt?" I said a couple minutes after he left and silence settled in.
"For you. We needed a break and I just thought it'd be nice to give you a little treat," he said.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." The food came minutes later, Ralph served us, and we were well into dinner when Matt started talking.
"You know, Essie, you really mean a lot to me," he said. I just couldn't help but smile and not look at him.
"You mean absolutely everything to me, and you know I've been thinking a lot about marriage." There it was. The M word. He was gonna pop the question, wasn't he?
"And I got your father's blessing today...but I decided that if you don't want to get married now, we won't."
"Matt, I c-"
"Let me finish. So I just want to say that I respect every word that comes out of your mouth but I was watching how your parents interact today...there's no spark, Essie."
"There obviously was one night where there was a spark about a year ago." He chuckled.
"I'm eager to get married, but I don't want to get married so young that by the time we're forty or fifty, there's no spark left. Nothing we can do," he said.
"Matt, if we still have spark after all we've been through this last year and a half, I think we'll have spark for a number of years," I said. He smiled.
"I just don't want to be a dull husband. People end up divorcing and cheating on and fighting and abusing each other. I don't want that to be us."
"Me neither."
"So, I thought about this thing with Cruise, and if you want to talk to him I respect that and I'm okay with it as long as if anything goes wrong, you
Tell me. And now I know you will. Okay?" I smiled.
"Okay."
After dessert, I put my long pajama bottoms on and one of Matt's oversized shirts and crawled into bed with his bare arm around me and watched The Godfather for about the millionth time.
"You know Francis's nephew, Nic?" Matt said, kissing the top of my head.
"Yeah. What about him?"
"He just got a role for Rumblefish."
"Who's he playing?"
"Either Steve or Smokey. I really want the Rusty James part, Essie. I want it so bad."
"Then we'll look through the script. I'll tell Susie," I said. He started to stroke my cheek with the back f his finger.
"You're so beautiful," he whispered before laying his lips on mine for a long while. We took a breath for air, but we connected again, and I felt the room get warmer and warmer. I started to push my fingers into his back as he continued to kiss me and when he started to kiss my jaw, I dug my fingers in. He snickered a little and kissed behind my ear before turning the TV off.
"I'll tell Ralph to not Come in for a while," Matt stood up and started towards the door in the dark.
"And put a do not disturb sign on the door." He opened the door and smiled, hanging the paper on the doorknob.
"Yeah, do not disturb."