Hidden Barriers (29 page)

I glance over my shoulder as I hear my parents approaching. They also channeled their inner ‘80s, which wasn’t too hard, since I’m pretty sure they still have clothes in their closets from that era. Being born in 1985, I don’t have anything I can still fit into from those years. Mom and Dad coupled up and dressed as Mork and Mindy.

As Dad stands next to me, tugging on his rainbow suspenders, I lower my aviator shades to the end of my nose and shake my head. “You two look ridiculous,” I say, laughing before pushing my shades back onto my face.

Dad slaps his suspenders against his chest. “Nanu, Nanu. Let’s go find the birthday girl, Maverick.” God, I’m glad Jeremy won’t catch this sight tonight. He has a hockey game and has taken Emily, Sue, and Dave with him, giving me more time to figure out how to introduce Sam into the situation.

Lucy appears dressed as someone from the movie
Grease
. “Hey, Josh! Great outfit. Sam’s still inside getting dressed,” she says, completely engrossed in derby talk with the other girls. I give her a brief nod before heading over to where Drew is with Courtney.

“Dude, what? You couldn’t find another actor to dress as?” Drew asks, reaching out to slap my hand in greeting. Pulling up my aviators on my head, I laugh at him. “At least I remembered to wear my pants tonight, but, hey, nice underwear,” I joke, because at least in my pilot jumpsuit, I’ll be warm tonight.

Another older couple makes their way from the house and walks in our direction. Drew calls over to them, “Mom…Dad…” The couple is dressed in casual attire, not so much dressed for the party. “Mom, Dad, this is Josh, Sam’s boyfriend,” Drew introduces.

“Mr. and Mrs. Daley, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you both. Sam has told me so much about you.” As I reach out to shake their hands, Sam’s mother pulls me in for a quick hug.

“Call me Corrine, and this is Patrick.” I turn slightly to my parents, who are still standing near me, but talking to Courtney. “These are my parents, Travis and Grace, and this is my sister Courtney.” They all fall into casual conversation as I grab a beer from the ice bucket. A few minutes later, after some small talk with Sam’s parents, I excuse myself.

I make my way through the kitchen that is still littered with the balloons I brought over this morning. “Sam?” I shout from the bottom of the staircase.

Moments later, I hear her voice from the hallway. “Up here.”

I quickly take the stairs up to her room as I hear her spewing profanities. “Fucking ‘80s hair. I’m going to kill Kim for this.”

I turn the corner to her room, stopping instantly at the sight before me. My eyes roam from the floor up to see her black high heels covered by black leg thigh-high leg warmers. Her ass is barely covered by an oversized off-the-shoulder gray sweatshirt that has “Flashdance” written on the front of it. Sam continues to tease her hair and spray it with hairspray. She catches me standing there and adjusts her pink and gray fabric headband on her forehead.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Thank God my jumpsuit is loose fitting because I’m seriously having an image of some ‘80s dress up sex night happening later. This is not the outfit she told me she had planned on wearing tonight. This is
sooo
much better. “Ummm…Sam, what happened to the green spandex and rainbow leg warmers?” I ask, watching her take a sip of her wine that she grabs from her bureau.

“Well, Maverick, somehow Kim decided to steal those from me earlier and replace them with this ridiculous attempt at clothing,” she says as she tugs at the sweatshirt that is clearly aggravating her to no end.

“Are you even wearing underwear under that? Because if not, that will make things much easier later,” I tease as I make my way across the room to her. She playfully slaps my arm before I pull her in for a kiss. My hands roam up her thighs to her ass before I pull away from her lips. “Damn,” I say as she giggles and pulls up her sweatshirt to reveal her booty shorts.

“I’m not about to reveal my coochie to my parents or yours tonight,” Sam says, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Which, by the way, how is that going down there?”

“Fine, as far as I know. They were talking when I came up here. Why?”

“No reason. I was just worried they wouldn’t get along. It’s the first time…well, it’s just a first for my parents to meet another guy’s family.”

“Sam,” I pull her to arm’s length before I continue, “what’s going on in that head of yours?”

She hesitates and chews on her glossy lip before answering me. “It’s just that by our parents meeting tonight, that means…it means this thing with us…it’s real and serious.”

“Sam, this thing with us is not just real or serious. It’s fuckin’ permanent. I’m not leaving you, ever. You have to know how much I love you by now.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just taken me a while to finally realize it. Ask Rose what happened this morning.”
“Do I even want to know?”
“Not unless you want to know why I needed a shot of Jack at ten in the morning.”

Something tells me this has nothing to do with the number of balloons I set up before I went to work.

I explain to Josh just how much being in a “serious” relationship scares me. It isn’t so much the relationship that freaks me out anymore; it is the fear of the unknown.

What does this mean for us in the future? Are we moving too fast? What happens if one day we wake up and realize that we’re no longer working as a couple anymore?

I tell him how much I love him and how much it will kill me if he ever decides to leave me. I explain it isn’t so much us breaking up the relationship as it is about losing him as a friend. Losing that connection will crush me more than I think he knows. Somewhere over the course of the past three months, he’s become my best friend.

He stands, silently listening to me spill my thoughts. Once I finish, Josh holds me tightly in his arms and tells me that he doubts his love for me will ever go away because it is the real deal. But, if ever the situation comes up when we both feel we are no longer working as a couple, he will never stop being a friend.

I’m not sure how to take that confession, considering he did stop being a friend to Sue shortly after he found out she was pregnant with another man’s baby. I can only hope he’s changed his ways enough to not let that happen again with her or with me.

I know now the only way to truly understand the whole story is to meet her. She’s part of the unknown, but she holds the answers to many of the questions. What is it about her that he’s been keeping from me? Does he still have feelings for her and just doesn’t want to tell me? Jesus, I have to stop letting my mind wander. It’s these thoughts that will get me into trouble again, like what happened with the redhead on the phone.

The party is in full swing now. Everyone is puttering around and chatting with each other. My parents are sitting around inside the house with Josh’s parents, sipping wine and getting acquainted.

Josh, Courtney, and Drew have joined me around the fire pit. Evidently, my brother’s attempt at dressing up meant wearing no pants at all. The minute he found out Courtney was coming, he changed his mind about what to wear. The last I heard he was supposed to dress up as Marty McFly from
Back to the Future
. Apparently, he decided to go a different route. I’m still uncomfortable with the idea of my brother hooking up with Josh’s little sister, but I’m keeping my mouth shut for now. I know my brother, and he breaks a lot of hearts. I just don’t want Courtney to be on the receiving end of the heartbreak.

As I finish licking all the frosting from my cake off my fork, I see Josh remove something from his pocket. He hands me a small wrapped box, and my eyes widen with shock. I lower the fork from my tongue as I watch his every move. Standing in front of me, he hovers over
my chair, resting his hands on either side of me before pulling away the empty plate and tossing it into the fire.

“Josh, what are you doing?”

“Sam, I still have one more gift I need to give you for your birthday.”

I look up at his serious face. “But, you already gave me so many gifts this morning. Between the sweater and wine glasses, you’ve spoiled me enough. Seriously, you went way overboard.”

Crouching down into a squatting position in front of my low chair, he pulls up the box to place onto my lap before running his hands over my knit-covered knees. “The gifts I gave you earlier were gifts for my girlfriend. This,” his eyes trail to the box as he says, “is for the woman I love.”

I glance over at Courtney, whose smile is infectious at the moment, as she claps her hands in anticipation. Clearly, she’s already aware of what’s inside the box. I return my eyes to the box in front of me as my hands begin to pull away the wrapping paper. Josh remains quiet as my hands run the length of the black velvet box. I slowly click it open, and my mouth drops at the sight in front of me.

“Do you like it?” Josh’s voice interrupts my admiration of what I see. I struggle to find my voice as I take in the sterling silver bracelet adorned with a number of charms that signify something about me. A roller skate, a wine glass, a slice of cake, tulips, and initials when put together spell out “J ♥ S”.

“Josh,” I barely whisper as his fingers pull the bracelet from the box and begin to wrap it around my wrist. I continue to watch him clasp it together before he stands over me again. My hand reaches up to caress his cheek as his lips part. I watch as the flames from the fire ripple over the silver bracelet jingling on my wrist.

My lips curl into a soft smile as I pull his face to mine. “I don’t think I’ve had a birthday like this, ever. You, Josh Page, have made me so happy, and I love you more every day.” My lips linger close to his, but never touch. I gently brush my nose with his, encouraging him to kiss me, and when he does, it’s like fireworks igniting. Nothing else around us exists; it’s just us.

Josh’s arms push under my legs and behind my back, lifting me. Our lips may no longer be connected, but as I’m cradled in his arms, he continues to walk with purpose as we move across the yard and into the house. We pass both of our parents sitting in the living room. They are engrossed in conversation to not even notice us moving across the room. As Josh bounds up the stairs and into my room, he lowers me onto the bed. I watch as he crosses the room to lock the door and turn on the music on my phone in the docking station. Josh Radin’s calm voice fills the room as Josh moves to my bed.

He climbs over me, as he remains perched above me, our chests barely touching. A look passes over his face that I’ve yet to see from him as his hand cups my cheek. His thumb runs along my lips. “Sam, I love you with all my heart. Let me make love to you. Let me show you how much you truly mean to me.”

Tears threaten to fill my eyes, but I force them away and find that tough girl that I know needs to come out. If I don’t, I’ll be bawling in seconds before I finally make love for the first time. “Josh Page, are you going all soft on me?”

“Sam…” His eyes and the tone of his voice tell me he’s dead serious, and it’s no time for jokes.

I shut my sassy mouth for the time being and let him love me. “Josh, make love to me tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of my days,” I say as I slowly unzip his jumpsuit, running my hands down his back as his hands tenderly caress my thighs. Josh pulls down my shorts to my knees as I make quick work of removing my heels before he slowly peels off my leg warmers.