Love In The Wild West

“I do not think Kurt would mind if I did that,” said Lila. “He seems like the kind of person who would… Oh, I do not know. He just seems like the kind of person who would be okay with me living my own life, and doing all of the things that I want to do.”

“Really?” asked Louise. “You really think that he would be okay with you going out and dancing with other guys while you are in a relationship with him?”

Lila thought about it for a moment and then said, “Yeah. Yeah, I really do think that he is like that. He just is not the type of person that would get extremely possessive. If there is something that I really want to do, he would not stop me from doing it at all. Besides, I think he trusts me a lot. He knows that I would not cheat on him. There are a lot of reasons why I think that Kurt is a good choice for me to start a committed relationship with.”

“If he is the kind of guy who would not restrict you at all like that,” said Louise, “then I think you should marry him now. Do it, I will find someone to conduct the ceremony.”

Lila chuckled and put a piece of bacon in her best friends mouth. “I think that you are getting far ahead of yourself. Remember, I am the person that is hopelessly in love. I am the person that should be thinking of doing things that she really should not be doing.”

Lila thought about what Louise had just said. She realized that she would actually quite like marrying Kurt. She did not know how to feel about this realization.

*****

“Wake up!” said Louise, throwing a pillow onto Lila’s face. Lila awoke with a start. “What’s going on?” she said.

Her mind was filled with scary thoughts. Thoughts of fire and death, injury to the people she loved, thoughts of terrible things having happened. None of this was true, however. The only truth was that Louise was waking her up for a single specific reason.

“Happy birthday!” said Louise, hugging Lila tight.

“Oh baby,” said Lila kissing her best friend on the head, “thank you so much. Also I am going to fu*king kill you for waking me up by throwing a fu*king pillow in my face, but for now thank you so much.”

“Do not be a little bi*ch,” said Louise. “I am going to treat you to a long, fun filled day. You are going to enjoy yourself more than you have ever enjoyed yourself. Is that understood?”

“Yes ma’am,” said Lila. She buried her face in the pillow and said, “Can we delay this by a couple of hours? I mean, I am sleepy as fu*k, I might die while we are celebrating and I do not think that this would make for a very good birthday.”

“No,” said Louise. “You have slept eight hours, and that is more than enough. Now you are going to have to get up and go shower. We are going to start with a long brunch. Kurt is going to meet us for lunch, I have already talked to him about it.”

“Really?” asked Lila. She felt a little nervous about meeting Kurt in such an intimate setting. She and him had been intimate together and since then they had met last evening during the horse riding sessions. Lila had not really avoided him per se but she had not gone out of her way to talk to him either. She was extremely confused. On one hand she really wanted to be with him, and she was honestly ready to leave behind her life in the city to do so. At the same time, however, she was afraid that she was rushing into things, and that she might end up regretting it if she was not careful.

“Yeah,” said Louise. “Do you want me to cancel with him? I just figured that it’s your birthday and that the two of you are… well, you know. You are not officially a couple but you have had s*x and I think you both have feelings for each other. I just figured that it would be nice to have him there.”

“No you are right,” said Lila. “It would be really nice to have him there. I just do not want him to… you know… try and talk to me before I have made my decision. The thing is, I know that if he talks to me I am going to end up agreeing to be with him. His voice, the way his mouth moves when he talks… these things tend to have an effect on me. They cloud my judgment and make me forget what I really need to be thinking about. Even though I know that I need to think about this before making a decision, if I am faced with Kurt in front of me and he looks at me the way he looks at me, you can be damn sure that I am not going to be making any sensible decisions in that moment.”

“Do not worry,” said Louise. “You are overreacting right now. I know Kurt a little too, and I know a lot about him from what you have told me. I am sure that he is not the type of person that would talk to you about something like this on your birthday, at least not at lunch. He would probably try to talk to you about it later when he can speak to you alone without inconveniencing you or making you go away from something that you are already doing. Just relax, you like him a lot and he is going to have lunch with us. It’s going to be a lot of fun, is not it?”

“It is,” said Lila. “I am so excited. Thank you, Louise, for everything. You have put so much effort into my birthday.”

“Of course I was going to put so much effort into your birthday,” said Louise. “This is your special day. Did you really think that I would allow you to go through it without being spoiled rotten? You have spoiled me so much, you have always made sure that I had everything that I needed. I wish that I could do more, honestly, because you did everything for me when you thought that you would never get anything in return.”

“Oh stop it,” said Lila. “You are my best friend. Of course I am going to help you out when you need help. Of course I am going to make sure that you have everything you could possibly need. I love you.”