- EDEN -
Seeing as it's a Sunday morning, and we're all hungover, either in the very-drunk-last-night or the I'm-over-thirty-and-was-out-past-my-bedtime way, Heath and the other girls at Moonlight are covering for us and so Luna, Nella and I decided to ease into the end of the weekend by going out to brunch after getting some sleep. Soaking up the remaining alcohol in our system with food and coffee seemed to Luna and I to be the best use of our time.
"I haven't felt this exhausted since I gave birth to Riv," Luna said, taking a sip from her third chai of the morning before yawning and stretching her arms over the back of her seat. We'd managed to snatch the last outdoor table so we could soak up the sun outside with Hades and Medusa, who have become staples at our best friend brunches these days.
"Right there with ya," I said, and actually meaning it considering that eventful day. My own two caffeinated beverages have done nothing to ease the headache I've got, and the focaccia I'd already eaten was sitting uncomfortably in my hungover stomach.
Nella, however, unencumbered with an alcohol-induced hangover like Luna and I, had perked up after her coffee and was now looking over my shoulder with a wide grin on her face. But before I could question what she was smiling at, Hades stirred beside me where he lay at my feet, jumping up and very uncharacteristically walking away behind me on the footpath.
"Hades! Come back!" I growled, turning in the direction he was headed and freezing instantly when I caught sight of Echo and Hades engaged in their doggy greeting of sniffing each other's asses, and my handsome boyfriend watching them with a chuckle. "Shit," I muttered quietly, but not quietly enough for Luna and Nella not to hear.
"Uh, Edes?" questioned Luna, one curious eyebrow heading way north into bangs territory. "Why, pray tell, is Hades so familiar with Miles' dog's ass?”
Stalling while waiting for my brain to catch up with my mouth with an explanation as to why Hades and Echo know each other so well, and the accompanying disclosure of Miles and I dating being the the reason for it, I believe the sound that came out of my mouth was something along the lines of, "Ughhmmn," followed by an awkward, fake and very obviously so, cough.
"'Morning, sweetheart," said Miles as he stood behind me, rubbing my shoulders and leaning down to kiss my temple. Luna and Nella watched, perplexed and eyes bulging from their sockets, as Echo pawed my lap to say hello, too. "I wasn't going to bother you, but Hades and Echo seemed to have other ideas." Turning to my friends sitting across from me, he greeted them cheerfully. "’Morning, ladies."
The dawning realisation on Luna's face said it all, as flashbacks of me professing my love for Miles last night in a drunken haze really set in. Luna turned to Nella, stunned, as she said, "Miles," emphasising the 'Mi' like she did last night trying to think of other names beginning with the same sound.
"And hello also to the boy my girlfriend won't shut up about," Miles said looking down at three month old River asleep in my arms. "It's a good thing you're so cute and that I'm not the jealous type, otherwise you and I would have some problems, mate."
Luna couldn't help herself, nor could she hold in her questioning any longer, though I was surprised she was able to pose it at all considering how low to the floor her jaw had dropped when Miles referred to me as his girlfriend.
"I'm sorry, Miles. Did you just say Eden was your girlfriend?"
I cowered my head and focussed on River stirring at the sound of his mother's incredulous voice, all the while anticipating the disappointment in Miles' reply. He obviously doesn't know that I haven't told everyone yet; or didn't until right now I suppose. I hadn't lied to him about it, but I avoided the topic whenever the idea of hanging out with my friends popped up, and he hasn't seen Wolfe much in his morning classes considering he's taken a break from them with a newborn River.
Besides, I was enjoying all the thrills of having Miles to myself for a while. I even took over the cutting of his hair from home so I didn’t need to try to pretend I hadn’t seen him naked a hundred times in front of everyone at Moonlight.
"Unless she's changed her mind about us in the twenty-four hours since I saw her last," Miles said confidently.
"And you guys have been dating for how long exactly?" asked Nella, unable to hide her grin.
Miles rubbed my shoulder comfortingly with what felt truly like acceptance of my unspoken apology to him in not telling the girls about our relationship. "Well, I guess you could say our first date was the day this sweet thing was born," he said, delicately touching River's cheek as he lay in my arms, and reminding me of how gentle he was with me that day. "So, three months?"
"So, I actually wasn't drunk-imagining you professing your love for him last night?" Luna turned back to me and said with a large dose of playfulness in her tone; playfulness that is intended to embarrass me for my secrecy regarding Miles, which she has achieved and accomplished in spades considering I've not told Miles that I've fallen in love with him and she basically just did that for me. Not really how I had envisioned this going down.
"Ohmygod," I sighed, closing my eyes in an attempt to hide in plain sight and regretting my secrecy for no longer than three seconds when I heard Miles finally chuckle.
"Well that's good to know considering I'm completely in love with her too," he admitted, kneeling down beside me with tears in his eyes, taking hold of and kissing the back of my hand.
Still trying to reign in her hormones post-River, Luna couldn't help but gasp and it didn’t take long before she needed to wipe her own tears. And Nella, too, was reaching for her napkin to dry the streams flowing down her cheeks.
"Well, pull up a seat, Miles," Luna said excitedly once she'd collected herself, whipping her head around trying to spy an unused chair Miles could plant his gorgeous ass on, not even once questioning this new reality where Miles and I are in love with one another. "Welcome to your inaugural best friend brunch. Tell us everything. All the gory, hot sex-related details."
Miles laughed, squeezing my hand still holding his and looked up at me from the floor as if asking permission to stay and regale my friends with the details of the most intensely passionate and intimate sexual experiences I've ever had with another person, which every single time with Miles has been. He's got moves unlike anyone I've ever slept with, and instinctively understands my body better than even Trey, who had seven years to explore and uncover and familiarise himself with these secrets, though never quite achieved.
It's honestly unnerving at times. He can bring about a full, body-arching-involuntarily, crying-out-his-name-loud-enough-to-traumatise-Graham-Penny-and-all-the-neighbours-in-the-whole-street, orgasm in under a couple minutes. Minutes. Such is his attuned focus on my physical and spiritual needs while naked. I swear one time he had me so worked up that he simply sucked on my nipple and it initiated what was my first ever touch-free orgasm.
I reached for Miles' face and kissed him unabashedly, not even remotely concerned about the PDA I usually hate to see in everyone else. With Miles it's just not at all cringey like I used to think it was. Sometimes I feel like if I don't kiss him, I won't be able to breathe.
"I love you, and forgive you for all the sex tales I know you want to share now with my best friends," I said, watching his eyes well up again upon hearing me tell him I love him aloud and the corner of his mouth to twist wickedly. "But don't you dare ever tell my brother a single word. He won't cope."
Luna erupted in fits of laughter, so animatedly and loud she woke River in my arms, who I stood up to settle and rock back to sleep, allowing Miles to take my seat and turn back to Luna and Nella both still giggling excitedly. Miles was just as giddy as he readied himself for sex gossip. It seems he's been looking forward to this moment for a while---meeting our friends as my boyfriend, not just a client of Moonlight or a gym buddy.
"I mean it," I said seriously to both Miles and Luna with a pointed finger. "Not a word to Wolfe."
I didn't believe either of them as they mimed zipping their lips shut, locking it and throwing away the key, but I loved so much seeing the man I love genuinely getting along with my friends that maybe I didn't care so much about the third degree and lecture I was undoubtedly going to cop from Wolfe when he got wind of this news.
"So, Eden can do this thing with her tongue…" Miles started, and I chose to zone out and stare down at River wide awake looking up at me instead of hearing Miles describe me giving him a blow job. I've been there. Many, many times. I know what it's like and how much his natural excitement about seeing me naked makes me want to give him everything and make him feel just as sexy and adored as he makes me feel. I know how much he swells in my hand or mouth when I trace the circumference of his tip with my tongue and the exact tone of his low moan of pleasure. I don't need to hear him trying to put into words what he's usually too breathless to speak when it's actually happening in real time.
I could vaguely hear the "Madonna, mia. Yes, guuurl!"s from Luna, and the "It's really that good? Maybe I'll try that on Mason tonight?" from Nella as I continued rocking River back to sleep. He was fighting it, but he's still in that adorable stage where he still doesn't do much more than sleep right now. That's all he needs to focus on. Just eating, sleeping, and being the intense brightness that he is in Luna and Wolfe and all our lives. Much like Miles has become for me these past few months.
"How you've kept this a secret for three months is beyond me, Edes," Luna said incredulously. "But it makes a hell of a lot of sense now I know you've been getting the good loving from this gorgeous hunk of a man for months. Girl, you have been glow-ing. And here I was thinking you just invested in a really good vibrator or something."
Wolfe's brazen, no-filter sense of humour has really rubbed off on her. She doesn't even care that we're out in public and there are other people around.
Miles cut in before I could stop him. "Oh, we did. Took a few trips to Sexyland to try out some new toys. Got a few I'd highly recommend, and I'm sure Eden would, too," he said, grinning back at me with a wink and playful slap on my ass.
My eyes narrowed on him before I couldn’t help but smile, especially with my friends howling in front of me with laughter. Miles, looking so chuffed and pleased with himself, got up out of his seat and encouraged me to sit back down. "Alright, I think my business here is done. I'm going to let you enjoy the rest of brunch with your girls and baby boy, but call me later so you can tell me again that you love me?” I nodded and reached back up for his mouth, my craning neck resembled an emu or flamingo or something, desperately wanting a kiss before he left. “I love you.”
I could listen to him say those three words on repeat every day for the rest of my life. I guess I now know how all my friends feel every day with each other---absolute bliss. He's completely upended any previous notion I had about what it means to be in love.
“Ladies, it was a pleasure as always. Look after my girl for me, and I’ll no doubt see you all soon,” he said, placing a hand on both Luna and Nella’s shoulders with a squeeze before he winked at me and blew me a kiss, calling for Echo to follow him. Hades and Medusa both looked devastated. As I’m sure I did too considering my heart was aching more and more the further he walked away from me.
“Well, well, well,” said Nella with one of the most wide grins I’ve seen on her face in a while. It would have made me feel embarrassed if Miles hadn’t done such a good job wearing away those previous insecurities I had which in the past would have made me blush and hide. I’m also going to attribute part of it to the sex toys. They’ve definitely expanded how I previously viewed intimacy, and have made me a lot more comfortable in my own body, which in turn has also impacted every other aspect too. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so happy before, babe.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy before!” cried Luna, back to tears yet again. “Miles is a total hunk, and a complete gentleman. You’ve snapped yourself up a good one, Edes.”
I really have, and I don’t understand how I could have ever previously thought I was happy in a relationship when I now know how it feels to be with Miles. I’ve spent most of my last eighty-three days waiting for something to go wrong, but everything continues to develop in the complete opposite direction. I’m trying not to be scared, and to just take it day by day; but this feels bigger than anything I’ve experienced before. Even the pregnancy and termination, which I don’t say lightly. That was huge for me, and it was Miles who stepped in at that low point and made me see I was worth the freedom and joy I was searching for in that difficult decision.
Now I was crying too, thinking back on how things have developed with Miles.
“Wolfe is going to lose his mind,” Luna said, tearfully but excitedly, no doubt wanting to be the one to break the news to Wolfe. “Babe, we’re so stoked for you. I don't know why I never thought to set the two of you up.”
Nella nodded in agreement, taking my hand in hers to reiterate her point, tears in her eyes as well. We must look and sound mad. Three women---two very hungover---and a baby, crying and talking about sex toys and blow jobs at brunch.
“Eden, not to rain on your parade; but seeing as you’re both here and now sober, I'm going to capitalise on the current waterworks and perhaps keep the tears flowing a little longer," said Nella quietly, letting go of my hand and lowering them both to her stomach. "Twenty-two weeks.”