36.2
Georgina
One year later
"I swear, if either of you have another sparkly sex toy up your sleeve for this Fourth of July…" I threaten, but my tone is playful. Nathaniel slaps me on the ass, and I try to swat him but miss.
"Well, now I feel like it's my patriotic duty to find another July Fourth sex toy,” Adriano says.
“Do not,” I tell him. “We’re staying at that bed and breakfast near town. Thin walls– that means no shenanigans, or else the entire town of West Bend will be talking about it."
“Shenanigans? You sound like Nathaniel,” Adriano comments.
“She’s picking up my vocabulary,” Nathaniel agrees.
“Great. Now I’m going to sound like an eighty-year old woman?” I groan exaggeratedly.
Bess pulls the door open, slinging a checkered red-and-white towel over her shoulder. “Why are the three of you standing out here on the porch instead of walking inside the house like normal people?” she asks, shaking her head. “You’re not strangers, so you don’t need to wait out here for me to come get you!”
“Hi, Mom.” Nathaniel kisses her cheek and Adriano follows suit.
When Bess reaches me, she gives me a one-armed hug, her flour-covered hand away from my shoulder. “I’m baking, and I’m going to cover you with flour here if I don’t watch it.”
“It’s all right.” I laugh as we follow her to the kitchen and then out to the backyard. Bess decided that the Fourth of July backyard barbeque should be a tradition, so here we all are together.
“Hey, big brother!” Annie sees us from across the yard and runs headlong at Adriano.
“Dude, when are you going to stop tackling me?” he asks. “You know you’re never pushing me over, kiddo.”
“Whatever. You’re getting soft in your old age,” she says, grinning.
“You’re really going to smack-talk me?” Adriano asks. “You know what happens when you do. I’m going to give you a noogie right now.”
“No way!” Annie squeals. “I just had my hair blown out! Georgina, tell him not to mess it up!”
She takes off running and Adriano takes off after her. Bess stands in the doorway to the kitchen, looking out at us and shaking her head. “They’ll never grow up,” she calls. “You know that, don’t you?”
“I’ve figured that much out by now,” I tell her.
Annie has grown up, though– except for when she's around Adriano. She's bright and articulate and exactly what my new foundation needed. So I hired her on a month ago now. That’s right, I’ve started my own foundation. It's six months old now, and it's challenging and exciting and I’m not doing it under the thumb of my parents.
I haven’t spoken to my parents in the past year– well, other than when my mother called to express her disgust at the interview I did with Nathaniel and Adriano. To be fair, they were in a tough position; even if my father had secretly wanted to support our very public relationship, the people who put him in office wouldn’t have stood for it.
And if there’s one thing I’ve always known about my father, it’s that he’d choose politics– he'd choose himself– over anything else, every time.
So he and my mother expressed their profound regret at my “lifestyle choice” and that was that. He was banged up in the polls for a little while, but even so, he was re-elected. He tried to call me last month– I got the “Please hold for the President of the United States” call– but I declined it.
Maybe he was going to try to patch things up, since he'd won the election, or maybe he was calling to remind me what a mistake I was making with my life by being with Nathaniel and Adriano.
But either way, I didn't care.
Nathaniel and Adriano never lost their contracts. In fact, Nathaniel said his head coach's exact words were: "This couldn't make me like you any less than I do right now." He never could stand Nathaniel anyway. Nathaniel just shrugged it off and went back to playing what he loves.
Now that it's been almost a year, everyone seems pretty used to the idea of the three of us together. I've been at every game cheering them on. I did learn a little bit about football during the month I was hiding out from everything. But mostly, I remain blissfully ignorant of everything except the fact that Nathaniel and Adriano look pretty damn hot in those tight pants.
My phone buzzes. Vi sends me a photo of her in a piece from her new swimwear line, sitting on a yacht and holding a champagne flute while two shirtless men kiss her on the cheeks.
Adriano comes up behind me and peers over my shoulder. "Is Vi hanging out with strippers?"
I squint at the photo. "I'm about eighty percent sure they're not strippers."
The phone buzzes.
Two rugby players! I might have found my own Nathaniel and Adriano. If I ask them to spit-roast me, do you think they'll say yes?
Adriano chuckles. "She's talking about asking the rugby players and not me and Nathaniel, right?"
"Um… I'm eighty percent sure," I joke.
I text her back.
Use the words spit-roast and spooge. Let me know how it goes.
Nathaniel walks up and slides his arm around my shoulder. "This year, we get to take you downtown to your first ever West Bend Fourth of July celebration. Aren't you excited?"
"I don't know. Are you going to win me an over-sized stuffed animal at one of the carnival games?"
"Obviously. I'm also going to buy you a funnel cake and cotton candy and take you on rides until you puke."
"You know, I don't care what anyone says about you. You're such a romantic."
"Romantic as hell," Adriano agrees.
The truth is, they are romantics– in their own ways. They're also rude, crude, obnoxious jackasses who didn't have a clue what to do with a relationship. The thing is, I don't have a clue what I'm doing either. I'd never been in a serious relationship with one man, let alone two. But Nathaniel and Adriano are also kind- and thoughtful and funny– but most of the time, just so damn easy to be with.
I needed them. I didn't know what I was missing in my life until the two of them barged their way in with all of the Georgina of bulls in a china shop.
Nathaniel and Adriano hug me close. "You ready to go play some carnival games?" Nathaniel asks. "I've always been a ton better at them than Adriano."
"Like hell you are," Adriano argues.
"Play nice," I say, laughing. "I love both of you."
"But me more," Adriano says.
"Equally," I insist. I slip my arms through their arms, walking between them as they joke about something that I just ignore. My heart is full to the point of bursting. I'm happy and I'm content, and I know that- no matter what anyone else thinks- this is exactly where I'm supposed to be.
Even if our story isn't exactly a classic fairytale romance—
Girl delivers sex dolls to naked bongo playing boy's house.
Boy chases girl on riding lawn mower.
Girl meets second boy. Second boy accidentally tears off her dress and gropes her boobs.
Girl and boys fall in love.
There's lots of sex, and misunderstandings, and there's a condom-depositing drone. And a banana band. And for a minute, they break up. Then they come to their senses.
And they live happily ever after.
Or something like that.
