Against the Wall (26 page)

Matty puts his hand on my shoulder. “Hey, I’ll be right back. I gotta take a leak and I wanna be back for the half time show.”

“
Okay.” He kisses the top of my head and jogs off the field.

“
Damn, Matty’s taking forever,” I shout to Mel. “He’s gonna miss the crowning.”

Mel rolls her eyes at me. “Like he cares. He’s probably in the parking lot drinking beer with Chase.” I look around. He’s gone too.

“
Those bastards. Matty was just saying he didn’t want to miss it.”

“
Was that before or after you chopped off his balls and put them in your purse?” she teases me.

She’s probably right.

“
Ms. Cruz, Ms. Gelson, Ms. McGallian, we need your help,” a little mousy girl calls out to us.

“
Okay, hon, whatcha need?” Mel asks her.

“
We need one teacher to stand with each one of the guys. There’s a rumor something might go down so we need to have more teachers out there. One of the guys found out his girl cheated on him with one of the other guys. It’s dumb, but it would make the principal feel better.”

“
Alright, alright,” Mel says. And the three of us walk on the field spreading out with two other staff members till we’re all paired up with one of the boys.

Dumb. These losers are going to fight about some girl on their big night. If I knew which two were the culprits I’d tell them what idiots they are.

The National Anthem blares through the speakers, and I put my hand to my chest. Looking toward the gates and the sidelines, Matty still isn’t anywhere in sight. Well, I guess if I was a dude, the high school king’s court halftime show wouldn’t be on my top ten list of events to oversee.

Bummer though. I wanted him to see how cute it is when the Tiger runs around the field before kneeling down in front of the winner and crowning the King. It’s always so exciting to see the parents react and the cheers in the crowd.

Oh, here comes the Tiger now.

“
I’m Too Sexy,” sings through the speakers and the Tiger shakes her booty, and swings her tail around. How cute.

Here she comes. She’s doing her fake out moves.

Is it the first prince?

Nope.

She dances near the prince on the right.

Nope.

The one in the middle.

Nope.

Oh, his mom looks so disappointed.

She’s going Mel’s way. Her prince is going to win.

Nope.

Oh shit … the kid I’m next to is going to win.

But the Tiger is not kneeling in front of the prince. Can’t she see out of that big head?

She’s standing in front of me.

Mel walks over to me and points to the bleachers.

Oh. My. God.

A giant sign spreads from one end to the other and it has to be at least four feet tall.

It reads:

Ms. G, Will You Marry Mr. Fuller?

Tears fill my eyes as I look down at the Tiger kneeling before me.

“
Matty?” His name barely escapes my mouth.

My dad appears behind the Tiger and starts to lift off his mask.

Oh goodness. I look at Mel to tell me this is real. Tears stream down her face, as my brother holds her in his arms. Tyler. He’s here.

I look back at Matty, kneeling, smiling, tears in his eyes, and I can’t believe I love him more than I did already. He sheds his giant paw gloves and my mother places something in his hands.

He holds up a square chocolate covered gourmet rice crispy treat.

“
Will you marry me, Shelly Gelson?”

I look closer and sticking out from the middle of the dessert is a very nicely sized diamond ring.

“
Oh, hell yes, Matt Fuller. Hell frickin’ yes!”

He takes the ring out, gives the treat to Mel, and rises to his feet.

“
I love you, Shel,” he says, his beautiful blue eyes sparkling through a sea of tears.

“
And I love you, Matty.”

He slides the ring on my finger for a perfect fit.

Just like us.

It’s my wedding day.

Impatient me is not a fan of long engagements, and neither is Matty, so just a few months after his amazing and well-planned proposal, we’re already getting hitched.

Spring break is always a good time for weddings. We will get married today, and then tomorrow, we’re setting sail on a cruise for a week.

My mother tried to talk us out of it, of course. I mean, how can she possibly plan a wedding fit for a debutante in just two months. When Matty reminded her I’m a far cry from a southern belle, she backed off. My mother loves him, and he knows exactly how to handle her without her even knowing it. Matty has really taken a liking to my mother, probably because he misses his own. His mother died when he was in college, and he never knew his dad. So my family has just gobbled him up.

My brother especially. I’m starting to think they’re having an internet affair, constantly emailing each other or posting lame videos on each other’s Facebook pages. They even connect through their video game consoles, wearing headsets, speaking into microphones, and blasting each other to pieces.

Mel comes into the dressing room. “Are you ready, Shel?”

“
Definitely,” I tell her, taking one last look in the full length mirror. My hair has been curled and pulled to the side in a loose ponytail. My makeup is soft as usual. But I really love my dress. I feel like a princess. A heart-shaped strapless dress in satin is fitted past my hips before it spreads out into a full gown with layers of tule underneath. Beads and lace cover the upper part of the dress and the lights will help them to sparkle as I walk down the aisle.

“
You look stunning, Shelly,” she says, a lone tear rolling down her cheek.

“
Shut it,” I tell her softly. “You’re gonna ruin your makeup.”

We both smile.

“
You’re first.” I gesture to the door, and she walks out holding a bouquet made of stems of orange Gerbera daisies. My own bouquet is similar to hears, just a bit bigger with all white daisies. My mom almost had a stroke when I refused roses. Daisies are my thing.

I watch Mel walk out the door, and I’m so grateful I have her as my best friend, my sister.

Matty and I are having only two people in our wedding. My maid of honor and his best man. Mel and Tyler. The two most important people in our lives.

But ... our guest list is a bit larger. Like the size of a school. We decided to do something that’s never been done before.

When I walk down the aisle to meet Matty, I will be walking down the aisle of our school auditorium. It’s time to make some new memories at my school, and the venue couldn’t be more beautiful.

We invited the entire staff, and most of our students, including some special ones we had in the past. Neither one of us has a large family so the bulk of our guests are from work.

Maybe this is one reason workplace relationships
shouldn’t
be frowned upon. Because if they weren’t, we’d all be invited to a lot more parties.

“
It’s time, princess,” my daddy says. He holds out his hand to me. “I’m very happy for you, Shelly. You have found yourself a good man. I wish you many years of happiness.” He kisses my cheek, and wraps my hand around the crook of his arm.

“
Thanks, Daddy,” I murmur. I release a deep breath and tell him, “Let’s do this.”

The doors fly open and I can hear the bridal procession begin.

Here I come, Matt Fuller.

I lock eyes with his the whole way, and we smile. I notice the creases in the corners of his eyes are magnified with happiness and his baby blues sparkle in the spotlight.

When I reach him, he takes my hands in his and the joy I feel is overwhelming.

We say our vows, exchange rings, and when my husband kisses me for the first time, I shiver with excitement as tears stream down my face.

“
I’m so glad you fell in love with me, Shelly.”

“
And I’m glad you were so confident that I would.”

He kisses me again before we turn around to see our family, friends, and students.

The minister says, “I now introduce to you for the very first time: Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Fuller.”

As we make our way out of the auditorium, I think back to the evening on the football field and can’t believe Matty did all that for me. He actually pulled it off and I had absolutely no idea. After the surprise engagement, we all went back to my parent’s house, where I learned Matty had visited my parents to ask for my hand in marriage. From that moment, my parents accepted him into our family with full hearts and open arms.

Talk about new traditions. Maybe Matty started one. Maybe next year, someone will follow his lead and propose marriage on the fifty yard line with a rice crispy snack and a giant sign. Our aides rolled up the banner for us and it’s like a foot in diameter squished in the corner of our closet. But I had to keep it.

My rice crispy treat is still in the freezer at our new home. We bought a three bedroom house together close to work. We got lucky on a thirty day escrow and have been living there for two weeks, taking care to christen every room with our love making.

We never made it to the dance the night of the engagement, but we did make it to a fancy hotel with a Jacuzzi tub, a giant bed, and plenty of wall space.

It’s crazy I’m even thinking about this now. How many other “just married” brides walk back down the aisle smiling at their guests thinking about the first time she made love to her brand spanking new husband? Not many, I’d guess. Leave it to me.

But I can’t help it.

When we entered our hotel room on our engagement night, we both knew what was going to happen. There wasn’t a doubt in our minds. Matty plopped our bags down on the leather bench seat at the foot of the king sized bed. He looked at me with his hands on his hips and grinned.

I smiled back, wondering how long it would take for us to get naked.

He stepped toward me, pushing his chest to mine, till I backed up against a wall.

“
How’s this?” he had asked.

“
It’ll work,” I answered, remembering The Notebook.

He covered my mouth with his, and kissed me deeply, our tongues tangled together, my palms were pressed flat against the wall holding me steady, and Matty’s fingers weaved in my hair. Without touching him, the pressure of his kiss had my senses on high alert. He sucked hard on my bottom lip before dragging his mouth down my neck, and yanking open my hot pink cardigan. Buttons popped off along the way, and he cupped my right breast in one hand as he lifted my shirt with his other.

With a moistened kiss planted to my belly, I could almost hear a sizzle as his tongue flitted across my skin. He unfastened the buttons on my jeans with one hand, and with each press of his lips on my navel, and my hips, my pants slid down my waist and then my thighs. When Matty pulled down my black panties, he traced the path with his warm tongue and I almost came right then, but he stopped me.

“
Oh, no you don’t,” he said. “We haven’t even gotten to the good part.”

“
Shit, Matty, I don’t know if I can handle anymore,” I told him, through heavy breaths.

With a quick kiss pressed to my sex, he stood to lift me and pin me against the wall. I could feel his erection rubbing against me and I wanted nothing more than his jeans to disappear. It was as if Matty could hear me because he put me down and without ever removing his lips from mine, he kicked off his shoes, yanked on his pants, and both them and his boxer briefs shimmied to the floor.

My hand shot to his shaft, my fingers strummed along his smooth skin and I had the impulse to bend down and take him into my mouth in one big gulp of flesh. I felt him slide across my tongue as my mouth opened, and my lips closed around him, just one slow glide down his length, and one pulsing glide up. He gasped when the wet suction of my lips lingered on his head, and I squeezed my fingernails into his ass.

Then, I let him go, and our lips found each other once more.

He lifted me again and I tried to raise my legs to wrap around his core, but I couldn’t. My jeans and shoes were still on and we laughed. He found the hem of one of my pant legs and yanked it over my shoe. I shook my foot loose from one side of my panties, and his hands dropped from my ass to my thighs. The next time when he propelled me against the wall, my legs were free to encircle him.