The One That Got Away

She had come in through the window; a habit she’d gotten into after the third time Oliver’s mother gave her the stink eye for ‘staying over too late’. She couldn’t risk his parents complaining to hers about how often she was over at the Knowles house; half the time she’d told her parents she was going over to her friend Sandra’s to study. Sandra was game to cover for her; it was her way of repaying Monique for hooking her up with Tim. Little did her parents know that she and Oliver took every chance they got to fu*k like rabbits. After that first time at the motel, it had become a habit that quickly transformed into an addiction. They used protection every time though; but Monique had not been able to get on the pill. Her father was a doctor and she was afraid that doctor-patient confidentiality notwithstanding, if she went to get a prescription, he would hear about it. Besides, she was on his medical plan so it wasn’t like he wouldn’t know she had been to a doctor. So they relied on condoms, which were supposed to be at least 98% effective.

“Looks like we’re in that 2%,” she continued nonchalantly. She was scared out of her mind, so much so that she was conversely calm and collected about everything. Oliver continued to stare at her with his mouth open.

“Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?” she asked him.

He closed his mouth and dropped his eyes, and then looked up at her, brilliant green shining so bright his eyes looked like emeralds.

“Marry me?” he said.

Monique wrinkled her nose, “I’m being serious.”

“So am I.”

“You can’t be. Marriage? Who does that anymore? Shot gun weddings went out with mullet rock,” she said.

“I thought you loved me,” Oliver said.

“What has that got to do with anything?”

“You love me, I love you; we’re having a baby. The logical thing to do is to get married.”

Monique’s eyebrow lifted, “Logical? We’re high school seniors. How is it logical for us to get married? Besides, your mother hates me and my dad will kill you just as soon as he finds out about this.”

“I have a small trust fund; it kicks in on my twenty fifth birthday or my wedding day; whichever comes sooner. We’ll be able to live comfortably even if our parents disown us. Which they won’t.”

Monique just stared him, head shaking in negation. It worried her how much of an optimist Oliver was. While it was one of the things she loved about him, it was also one of the things that really irritated her about him. He couldn’t seem to see the truth for all the rainbows he painted.

“There is no way this can happen,” she told him.

*****

Three weeks later they were married in a small ceremony by a Justice of the Peace, in his office. Age of marriage consent was sixteen so they were able to elope without having to get permission from their parents. Monique could feel her heart beating in her throat, she was so scared. But she also couldn’t recall a time when she’d been happier.

“I blame you,” she told Oliver. He reached in and captured her lips with his, pressing down gently and then licking softly, causing her to shudder against him.

“I fully shoulder that blame. What did I do now?” he asked as their witnesses, Sandra and Tim, came forward to congratulate them.

“Convinced me this was a good idea,” she said.

“It is babe. You’ll see.”