Incest/Taboo The Anderson Women

"Well do you?"

If it was any other day, she would have just waved her mother off. She never bothered to bring any of her boyfriends to meet with her parents and was otherwise not fussed with the societal obligation of "finding" someone. But today... today was different. She felt a sense of inferiority compared to her sister and cousin. They both appeared to her as if they had found what they were looking for yet she was still miles away. So she lied...

"Yes... Yes I have." Her tone grew strong with each syllable.

"Really!?

"I have to make a call."

Julie walked out in a hurry as she dialed Ryan's number on her cell.

When Julie arrived at the party, it was already in full swing. The dance floor was crowded. She spotted most of the board members either with a glass of drink in their hand and chatting or with their spouses hovering all over the room. She marveled that her uncle had managed to build such an outlandish thing in their backyard. Nervously she looked for her mother when...

*Beep*Beep*

She checked her phone. It was a message from Ryan.

'I'm right outside babe'

Julie let out a long sigh. She was quite nervous to introduce him to the family. It had been a long time since she brought anyone home and she was feeling jittery. Still unsure why she had felt the need to bring Ryan to the party, she didn't even like him or know him that well. But there was this sinking feeling in her pit that if she didn't bring a date with her tonight then she would somehow lose out in some way. It was as if there was a billow of dark clouds closing in over her head, pressuring her to prove that she wasn't a loser.

"It should be alright. It should be..."

"Hi. It's nice to meet you." Ryan shook hands with Mike. Before Mike could introduce himself, Ryan jumped towards Sarah who had just stepped up to Mike with Joe in tow.

"You must be Sarah! It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Likewise," Sarah glanced at Julie who was mouthing Ryan's name, "Ryan. Julie talks about you often." Sarah effortlessly sidestepped a potentially awkward situation. She gave Julie a look, a secret sign of sorts between the sisters, meaning they had to talk about this. It was a surprise for her that Julie had brought with her, this guy she never heard a word about and it would have been beyond weird if she said something that would put a dent in their relationship. Joe had climbed up in Mike's arms in the meantime and was looking around restlessly.

"So you must be Rick."

"No, actually-"

"I could tell from the first glance. You two make a very lovely couple. Babe, you never told me you had such a cute nephew!" Ryan turned to Julie.

There was a look of horror on Julie's face. Whereas Mike was trying hard not to laugh out loud as Sarah elbowed him gently.

"He's Mike. Mike."

Julie pointed to the left of her towards a man in brown suit who was locked in a conversation with her parents, "That's Rick," she then gestured to Joe, "And this is Joe, Mike's son. NOT Julie's." She gnashed her teeth in frustration by the end. She was already regretting her decision to bring him as her date and couldn't wait to get him out of there.

"But you two looked so-"

"Ryan! Why don't you get us some drinks?"

"Sure, babe." Ryan walked towards the mini-bar, still looking bewildered.

Mike burst into a laugh as soon as Ryan was a few steps away. "Babe!?" he mocked Ryan's tone, which made Sarah giggle along with him. Joe who had barely a clue joined in with them.

"Shut it." Julie was seething inside. Sarah and Mike, and even Joe were laughing at her, because of the buffoon of a date and it only added to her growing sense of defeat. 'This is all going to shit, I should have...' she thought to herself wistfully.

"I'll k-"

"Julie!" Deborah called for Julie just as she was about to launch herself on Mike. She had never liked when someone laughed at her, especially Mike. But her mother's voice sobered her right up. 'Fuck, I can't run away now.' The one thing she dreaded the most was about to happen. She was about to disappoint her mother and then she was going to get that look. Whenever her mother sighed at her in disappointment, she couldn't wait to cover herself with a blanket and curl up in her bed. Though she very much despised her mother's chastising comments, she absolutely abhorred it if her mother only just silently sighed at her, as if it was too tiresome to even expect a little better of her.

"Babe, here's your drink." Ryan handed her a glass of wine. She glared at Mike, warning him, daring him to say anything. Mike pretended to fix Joe's clothes, but there was a smirk on his face. She noticed it, she didn't know why it was affecting her so much but it was, and her already fragile mood plummeted to rock bottom.

'God! Just kill me now!' She took Ryan's hand and dragged him towards her parents.

Julie was sulking in a corner and nursing a drink, alone. She was embarrassed at herself more than ever. The last fifteen minutes spent in the company of her parents were like hell for her. Deborah sighing every time Ryan opened his mouth was like a punch to the gut. And even John who had been his usual cheery self was shaking his head by the end. It was like a double whammy, to disappoint the one parent who was always on your side or the other one whom you never wanted to give a chance to criticize you.

"Babe, let's dance!"

Ryan shrugged his shoulders and walked away when Julie waved him off. She was not in a mood for a dance now. 'Why did I ever think it was a good idea? I should have known better,' she thought for the umpteenth time as she downed another glass.

Looking around she could see everyone in her family was having a good time, except for her. John was telling some story and George was there with him, the two of them doing what they did best, bring in more business. Her mother and aunt were chatting in their own little group. Sarah was wiping the crumbs of snack off of Joe's mouth. Rick was looking uncomfortable in the company of Ryan. 'Serves you right, Rick the dick, suffer some more,' she chuckled at the unusual situation. If there was a single bright spot in Ryan's visit that was the look of discomfort on Rick's face. She never much liked him and as time passed it got worse and worse to the point that she now openly disliked him. Sarah had been dating him for a long time and he still hadn't popped the ring, this just pissed her off.

After having a little chuckle to herself she searched for Mike. 'There he is,' Mike was chatting with some nobodies and he looked like he was enjoying himself.

'He's... he's not miserable!?'

This came as a shock to her. Mike used to be miserable in these kinds of parties, and she thought that at least he would understand her pain, that it would be just like the old times where they mocked the guests in their own little corner, giggling and teasing each other. But Mike was not miserable, and it wouldn't be like the old times.

She watched him as he floated around in the hall, having menial conversations with the guests, laughing at their bland jokes, complementing them on their little success, 'For someone who doesn't want do this, he's awfully good at it,' she scoffed. But the more she watched him the more impressed she was with his attitude. It seemed as if the whole room was his stage and all the guests were just puppets dancing to his tune.

It was another eye-opener for her. Her gangly, anti-social cousin had somehow grown into some kind of savvy, handsome man. The way he conducted himself, his whole aura seemed much more mature than his age. For the first time in her life, she felt like he was the mature one, like he was the kind of intellectual, rooted and driven man that she often imagined herself to be with at this point in her life.

Julie glanced back and forth between Ryan and Mike, and couldn't help but compare the two of them. Ryan, a retired pro-athlete, handsome, rich, fantastic in bed, seemed like a very decent choice to her, until this evening. Now as she watched Mike weave his magic across the hall, as the men seemed to hang on his each word, and as the ladies kept giving him second glances, Ryan suddenly seemed like an afterthought. She was having a hard time coming to grips with this new reality.

It had been more than six years since she last met Mike but she could not believe that a man could change so much in a few short years. 'What the fuck happened to him? What did I miss? Sarah never mentioned anything... and why does he keep looking at her direction every few seconds?' then she realized that he was not looking at Sarah, but Joe. He was checking if Joe was doing alright. She felt further ashamed of herself, she had completely forgotten about Joe, whereas he behaved as a proper parent and not some guy who had been saddled with his friends' kid.

'I should've asked Ashley to come. Shit...'

She felt overwhelmed by all the different emotions running rampant in her brain. It was as if she was drowning in a cocktail of regret, longing, shame. She needed her friend, she needed Ashley.

Ashley had stayed away from tonight's party as was the case with any other party at the Sutton household. Julie's entire group of friends knew one thing about her to be true, she didn't like these grand get-togethers, and she absolutely hated it if ever any of them made an appearance. Tonight though she missed her friend and wished she had asked her to come, surely she would have helped her to calm down.

Her eyes were fixed on Mike and she couldn't take them off no matter how hard she tried. She was transfixed.

'At least I don't have a kid to look after...' It was the only thought that had kept her from going crazy. The one thing she could say was not ideal about Mike. But then she got scared, scared about the choices she made and scared about the possibility of a lonely future.

It was quite hard for her to understand why she was feeling so much inferior in front of her cousin. Up until a day ago she was a confident young woman at the prime of life and nothing could faze her, but at the moment she only saw further doom and gloom for herself. She felt like she was at a standstill and everybody else, including Sarah and Mike, had moved on. 'Mike is essentially a parent now. I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like. I don't know if I even want to know...'

Her train of thought was cut short as she saw Mike talking to Sarah and no other guest nearby. "Finally the vultures are away," Julie muttered to herself. She downed her drink and moved towards Mike, there was so much that she wanted to say to him, to apologize to him for not being there in his time of need. She felt weighed down, like she had to get it all off her chest as soon as she could. But before she could get to him, Mike had pulled Sarah with him to the middle of the hall.

"Fuck... Let's just wait till the song ends," she sighed ruefully, cursing at her bad luck.

Mike and Sarah seemed very comfortable in each other's arms, like they had been doing it for a long time. Joe was also dancing to the side of them trying to get in on the act. Vanessa swooped in from behind the little guy and took him away which made for a funny scene, even Julie, in her terrible mood, had to laugh at that.

"At last, the song's over..."

Julie bit her thumbnail, suddenly very nervous at the prospect of opening up to Mike, but she had made the decision that she would not hold back anymore. For the first time in years, she realized how distant they had grown to each other. She always believed that once he returned home they would pick it right back where they left it, that even though it would be awkward at first, it would be just a matter of time before they were back to the way they were before. Now, there was a sinking feeling in her gut that time was running out.

Mike and Sarah had continued their dance, leaning against each other. Sarah was giggling as the tune picked up and their moves grew bolder along with it.

'Whoa, he can even dance!? What can't he do?'

She got herself another drink as she gazed at her sister and cousin moving in sync with each other.

'Sarah I can understand but Mike!? And Sarah is looking so... radiant. It's been a while since I saw her this happy." Julie glanced at Vanessa and then Deborah, 'Humph... both of them are also much more chipper than usual. It's not like he is a magician or something...' She once more turned to look at Sarah, 'She really is looking beautiful tonight. Well she's always looked nice...'

For as long as she could remember, Julie had always thought that Sarah was the most beautiful of the four women in the family. Growing up she always idolized the beauty of her mother and aunt, who looked absolutely stunning tonight, and she was sure many a heads would turn if they took a walk out on the street. But there was something about Sarah that she always thought made her the prettiest. If she had to describe her in one word, it would be elegant. Though her mother was also very graceful, it just came naturally out of Sarah, each and every little action oozed elegance.

Julie was still staring at them when the song ended and a round of applause rung out, to which Mike and Sarah bowed lightly in acknowledgement. She had only just taken a step when Joe, who had been watching them with teary eyes, ran into Sarah and hugged her legs tightly in his little arms. He was still clutching her finger in his hands when Mike raised him to his shoulders, as if afraid that he would be whisked away from their side once again if he ever so much as let go of them. This act would seem cute to Julie on any other night, but there was something else that had crept into her mind.

'They do look like a couple...'

"Babe, I-"

"Let's go," Julie said to Ryan. She took the glass from his hands and drank it in a single gulp, and took off towards the door. Ryan quickly followed behind, a little confused by the sudden change in her mood.

The party was winding down. Sarah had earlier put Joe to bed, and left with Rick. Deborah had also retired to the guest room since John had led George and some of the other board members to their house. After seeing off the last few guests, Mike came up to his mother.

"Care for a dance my fair lady?" He bent down and took Vanessa's hand in his own.

"Don't tease me!"

Vanessa got up from the couch and stood looking at Mike. She felt incredibly proud of him. The whole night all her attention was focused on him, and she was glad that he didn't shy away from anyone or anything. It was a load off her mind that he at least seemed like he was over the death of his two closest friends. Though she very much expected him to enjoy himself, there was still a little shadow of doubt in her mind that he was still not back to his usual self. He had been indifferent to "fun" the last few times when she had gone up to meet him. It was as much a relief as joy to see him getting back to his usual self.

"Do you even have the energy for me after your little performance with Sarah?"

"For you, I'll always have the energy!"

Vanessa's jaw dropped in surprise, 'Did he just...' But then she saw a little smile threatening to break out at the corner of his lips and her eyes widened at his audacity. She swatted his chest, "You little..."

"Come on. You know you want to..." Mike said as he dragged her with him.

"But there's no mu-"

"We don't need it," Mike lifted her hands to his shoulders and pulled her to him by her waist.

Vanessa gave in to his demands. She leaned her head on his chest and let him lead her around in a slow dance. Oddly, she was quite comfortable in this unexpected situation. It had been a while since she enjoyed herself to the full out there on the dance floor.

'He's got me there, I did want to.'

In her high school days she was an exceptional dancer and had won a number of amateur contests. But that was all in the past. Since George was never that big on learning it, she was restricted to only a few minutes of a few simple movements with her husband and that too on occasions. So it was a very special feeling, as a mother and as a woman. There were just too many emotions welling up inside her for her to make sense of them. Mike had grown up to be such a handsome, attentive and thoughtful man. She had been tapping her legs to the tune when he was on the floor with Sarah.

'He must've noticed...'

Now here she was, in an empty room, only the two of them without a care for anyone else. She gave herself to the moment and her earlier reservations flew out the window.

"It's nice."

"Yes," Vanessa sighed in contentment. She locked her arms behind his neck and closed her eyes. His racing heartbeat was a sweet melody to her ears. A naughty thought came to her mind which then led to a smile and a question, "How do I look?"

"Beautiful."

"Come on, be honest. How do I look?"

Vanessa tilted her back to stare at him. Their dance slowed down to a halt. Mike chuckled at her playfulness; it was her trademark thing to ask. He could honestly say that there wasn't a single day in his life that his mother had not looked pretty. He was quite sure that even when she was a young woman she must've looked gorgeous. But she was always so nervous about it or pretended to be just to make him uncomfortable. He didn't actually believe that anyone that beautiful would ever need someone else to compliment them on their beauty. But he knew that she liked to play this little game with him, to make him sweat, to get something sleazy out of his mouth. And then the teasing would follow.

"Honest. You look absolutely stunning. Black suits you; you should wear it more often."

"Really?" Vanessa was beaming. She quickly gave herself a once over, very pleased by his flattery.

"Really. I even had someone ask me if you were my sister."

"Yeah, right."

She missed this closeness with him. In the past few years, she was always looking for an excuse to fly over to his place, but it just wasn't the same. Her head resting over his chest, she hummed, "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"Don't lea-" Vanessa didn't finish her sentence. She was not supposed to restrict his freedom, but it was hard. She was supposed to support his choices, even if it meant not being able to see him for months, but it was hard. She was not supposed to act like a clingy mother, but it was hard. It was hard for her to not have her son around. The last few years she had missed him dearly and if she was being honest, she didn't want him to leave ever again.

"I won't." Mike kissed her on top of her head.

Vanessa squeezed him in her arms; his words were like a shot of adrenaline. Her whole being was vitalized. Those words alone were enough. Sensing her mood, Mike increased the tempo of their dance. She had no trouble keeping up with him, she giggled as their movements got flashier. It had been a long time since she had this much fun on the floor. Her body was pulsing with energy. In her mind she could do this forever. She loved that she could well and truly let go, she loved that she could share this with her son and she loved the fact that this might not be the only time they were going to dance in each other's arms.

'It's my new favorite thing, to dance with Mike.'

He spun her by her finger and jerked her towards him. She stared intently into his eyes, "Sarah's not the only one..." and spoke as she caught her breath.

"I can see that."

"Well, Robin seems to have taught you well." Vanessa winced as soon as the words were out her mouth. "I'm so-"

"Shhh. It's alright. You don't have to apologize every time you say Robin or Phil. I'm fine."

Mike placed his fingers on her lips. He raised her chin to make her look him in the eyes. He only continued when she finally did so, "And yes, she has taught me well." They both stopped their movements as they leaned against each other. There was a sudden feeling of intimacy in the air. She felt his finger retreating after it had slowly traced over her closed lips. Her breathing quickened as he seemed to pull her closer into him, negating the distance between them to nil.

The time seemed to stop for Mike as he stood there, staring at Vanessa. Sheen of sweat coated her face and her arms. Her shoulders trembled ever so slightly, and a pink blush had crept up on her fair cheeks. Only the right strap of her gown was holding it in place, preventing the dress from falling down and exposing her breasts to his eyes while the other one had slid down her shoulder giving him a mesmerizing view of her deep cleavage. He placed his hands on her waist, ever so close to her butt. The heat radiating from her body and the heavy breathing coming from her mouth only made him hold her tighter.

'She's a vision...'

Vanessa was like a deer in headlights. She knew she was supposed to do something, but her feet were rooted. She continued to stare at Mike, unable to take her eyes off him. It was getting harder for her to make sense of what was happening to her. As if in a trance she stood there, waiting for something to happen, something to break this spell. She watched his lips close the distance between them and she shut her eyes in acceptance.

She felt him tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear and place soft kiss on the tip of her nose. When she opened her eyes, she saw his broad back walking away from her. Her heart raced when he halted his steps. Only his voice rung out in the otherwise empty room as he continued walking forward without turning back.

"Goodnight mom."

"...Good...night," she whispered.

"You feel incredible, babe."

Julie was back at Ryan's place, and in his bed. She wanted to forget everything for a while. What was supposed to be a nice, relaxing day, a day when her cousin had returned home after being away for six whole years, had gradually turned into one of the shittiest days of her life. Now all she wanted was to turn off her brain and stop her mind from sprinting a mile a second. 'A round of good, hard fucking ought to take care of it...' was what she thought when she asked Ryan to take her to his place.

"You feel so tight, babe."

So here she was, lying under Ryan, getting her pussy drilled by his cock. Her hair was a mess due to the rough banging and her clothes were strewn on the bed, an indicator of her hurried actions. There was no foreplay, no teasing, but only pure fucking. It was usually the way she did like it with all her one night stands but tonight even more so. She sought release and didn't care for much else, and was very thankful that Ryan was already hard by the time she was on the bed. So she hadn't had to work his dick to make it hard to enter her pussy.

"Babe... so good, babe."

Ryan rammed into her and groaned. Julie was pinching her nipples and rubbing her clit to further increase her arousal. It was something she used whenever she was in a hurry. Usually it would do the trick, but not tonight. Tonight she wasn't feeling anything. Her pussy wasn't even getting wet. By this time she would be groaning and moaning in pleasure but not tonight. It was like some switch had been flipped inside her head and she could not stop thinking about Mike. She kept coming back to the image of Mike and Sarah together with Joe and it was throwing her mood off the good time she was supposed to be having.

'What's the fucking deal!?'

It was way past being funny. There was a certain disconnect in her mind and she could not keep her mind from going back to Mike. On any other night she would have been enjoying the thrusts to her pussy but tonight Mike's face would cross with Ryan's and she was getting tired of it. She tried to push him away but he kept coming back. So she decided to embrace it. She thought about how she would look if she was standing next to Mike and her pussy gave an unexpected jerk in response.

'What!?'

Her eyes opened wide, she was stunned at this revelation. 'Where did that come from? Do I want him!? Do I want to be married!? It's crazy...' she pictured herself as a young wife with a husband but it didn't do much for her. Gulping in a breath she replaced the faceless husband with Mike and a flood of juices were released from the depths of her opening. Like her canal had suddenly widened, inviting the invading member with open arms.

'Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What the fuck!' she shut her eyes tight in an attempt to forget the image of Mike at the chapel, kissing her.

"Oh Babe, I'll cum in a second if you do that again."

Julie was quite shocked by the arousal she was experiencing. Against her better judgment she dared to replace Ryan, who was busy rocking his hips on top her, with Mike. A shiver ran down her spine as her pleasure valve turned to full. The experiment was a resounding... failure.

"Oh babe, you are killing me!"

She was sure now. It had nothing to do with being a wife or a mother or anything close to that, but it had everything to do with Mike. 'I may have developed a crush on Mike...' she whimpered at the thought of it. In between two minds, she chose pleasure, mind numbing pleasure, over moral integrity.

'There's nothing wrong with thinking it. It's just some plain-old, innocent imagination... it's not like its incest...'

She envisioned it was Mike who was on top of her, that it was his dick inside her pussy, that it was his finger flicking her clit, that it was his tongue licking on her nipples.

"Yes, just like that, do it more..."

"What babe? You like that? Sure, I'll do it again."

Julie had tuned out Ryan, already immersed in her fantasy. Her pussy got wetter and wetter as she fell deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole. She had completely lost all her inhibitions against the moral implications of fantasizing about her own cousin, justifying it as just a fantasy. She flipped her position and sat down on his cock in the reverse cowgirl position, best way to not get distracted by Ryan's face, which suddenly seemed quite repulsive.

"Oh babe, I love it when you take charge!"

Julie was in the zone and not even that surprising comment registered in her brain. She was moaning as she rode on Mike's dick, at least in her mind. Her whole body grew hotter with each passing second. 'Oh Mike, Oh Mike, fuck me...' she called out her cousin's name in her mind as she had another orgasm.

"Babe, I'm gonna cum..."

Julie was pulled back to reality by Ryan's warning. She increased the pace of her ministrations over his cock, put more pressure on her clit as her twerking changed to grinding, and pinched her nipples.

"Mike..." she whispered, unaware that her voice was leaking out.

"Babe, d-"

Ryan's voice changed to a grunt as the pressure on his dick made it impossible for him to have any faculty of his being. The vaginal walls around his dick were churning it between them.

Julie could sense she was on the verge of one of the biggest orgasms of her life and as a result of it she was muttering incompressible words, barely able to think anymore, lost in the sinful pleasure as she was.

"Ooohh..." Julie screamed as she came and came. Her eyes were shut with her head tilted back as globs of cum hit her stomach coming out of Ryan's dick.

She climbed down from over him when her senses came back to her. Breathing out a sigh of contentment, she wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her arm, and there was only a single thought that ran through her mind at that point.

'So, I guess I'm hot for my cousin.'

She closed her eyes and let out a long, weary sigh.

'I'm fucked...'

"Babe, you could've stayed the night."

Ryan was driving Julie to her home, quite puzzled by her insistence to return back. She had stayed the night many a times previously and he didn't see any need to bend over backwards just because her car was parked at her mother's house. He gazed at her for a few seconds more but didn't harp on any longer seeing as she was not paying attention to him.

"Ryan, we have to talk," Julie said as soon as Ryan turned off the engine.

"Okay!?"

Julie glanced out towards her house. The light from the neighbor's window illuminated the sidewalk. This did nothing to calm her anxious mind. There was an awkward silence in the car as she kept avoiding his gaze while he waited for her to talk. She sighed as she finally turned to face him.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore."

"Okay, babe."

"It's not y-" Julie paused, she stared at him for a moment as her eyes turned round. "What?" she asked in a surprised tone.

"It's okay. I'll meet somebody else," Ryan said, totally nonchalant. There was not a moment of hesitation in his voice.

Julie was more than a little surprised by this display. She had been worried about his reaction but it looked as if he was completely fine with her decision. It would have been better if she did it later but once she had made up her mind about breaking it off with him, she couldn't wait to get it over with. She had realized it while she was in his bed that he wouldn't do it for her anymore, so there wasn't a point to keep him around. It had always been her policy to get rid of the dead weight. But she didn't for a second believe the easy going attitude of Ryan.

"Really? You're not upset?"

"It's okay, babe. I can tell that you like someone else. It's cool."

Julie was unaware of her earlier slip of tongue, that when she was in throes of passion, having the time of her life, she had called out Mike instead of Ryan. So she guessed that Ryan was just giving the both of them a way out of the situation without making it weird.

'Huh... I didn't expect this.'

Though she was oddly disappointed by his lack of reaction, she was thankful that it was all over and hadn't turned into him making a big deal out of it as she had expected him to. Throughout the car ride she had thought up a various different ways to placate him as she had done with her past boyfriends. But now there was no need for them anymore.

'It's better this way, anyway.'

She got out of the car and leaned in from the window to give him a final kiss of parting. Without a second glance she walked away from his car.

"See you around, babe."

Julie smiled to herself at the entrance of her house as she heard him drive away in the night.

Sarah took off her earrings and put them on her dresser. She was a little tipsy from the wine she had over dinner. So she was slow in her actions when she took off her necklace. As she was washing up her makeup in the sink, she replayed the events of the night in her mind.

'Rick was a little weird tonight...'

It was the usual, once a weekend, date night with Rick. She could tell that he was fidgety throughout their time in the restaurant. When she had asked him about it, he played it off as something work related which was a little unusual as he was generally quick to discuss and seek her opinion in any of the tricky issues. Though she was a little upset that he didn't confide in her, she didn't push for it. Deborah had once advised her, "Don't rock the boat," and she took it to heart. So she was fine that he was hiding something from her, as long as it wasn't anything big she could just overlook it.

Earlier she had not been in the mood for a night out as she was quite tired after spending the day with Mike and Joe, but it was a date night. So she got dressed in nice evening dress, put on a little makeup, wore her jewelry and accompanied her boyfriend to their usual place for date night. And though she had dressed modestly for the occasion and nothing as extravagant as the gorgeous blue dress she had worn a few weeks ago for Mike's welcome back party, she was quite pleased with the way she looked.

Some may call it boring, Julie did always call her unadventurous, but she was fine with it and didn't see it the same way. Never the one to rock the boat, she was comfortable in the way things were going, even if they seemed a bit monotonous at this point. That's why she made herself presentable for a night out, even if she would've much preferred to spend the night curled up in their bed.

'I wonder what happened!'

She went up to check up on him only to find him pacing around in their bedroom nervously. A little worried, she gently placed a hand on his back, but flinched back when he jumped up in reaction to it.

"You scared me!"

"No. You scared me." Sarah retorted.

"What happened? Why are you so-so... on edge?"

"Oh, it's... can you sit down for a moment?"

Rick held her hands and made her sit on the edge of the bed while he kneeled down in front of her. Sarah was quite confused by his actions but kept quiet and waited for him to say whatever was in his mind, because she was sure there was something.

"Sarah... I love you. Words aren't enough to describe how much I love you. So I want to show you. I want to show you how much I love you. For the rest of our lives."

Rick took out a ring from his pocket and held it to her.

"Will you marry me?"

Sarah was stunned by this sudden turn of events. She hadn't a clue that Rick would propose marriage to her. They never talked about it and he had expressed to her very early in their dating days that he was not interested in getting married, ever. So this was a shock.

"Sarah?"

'What's happening? What's he doing?'

She was not prepared for this. There were a whole lot of things going through her mind. It was confusing, it was unnerving and it was frightening. She was comfortable with the way things were going and didn't think that she would have to make this decision, ever. Her heart was racing and her mind was right there with it.

'What about Joe?'

"Sarah?"

'What about Mike?'

"SARAH!"

It was a Saturday morning and Julie's sweet sleep was disturbed by her ringing phone. It was her mother on the line. The last person she wanted to hear from.
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