Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“You know I would never expect special treatment. You don’t owe me anything.”
“Your writing blew me away long before this career. I believe in you. We’ll work together. If nothing comes of it, then at least we tried.”
“If nothing comes of it, I’m still the luckiest man in the world.” He whispered to himself, still thinking of my admission. “That’s wild.”
I got up to straddle him and brushed my finger over his side. “Speaking of lucky, I noticed this new tattoo right here.”
He started to tickle me. “Oh, you did, did you?”
It was a small Lucky Charms cereal box with the words Get Cereal above it.
How cute but bizarre.
Even though it went along with the Irish theme of all the other tats, it made me chuckle. “What’s the significance of this?”
“Honestly? I just got this recently. It reminds me of you and the horseshoe up your ass. Also, you’re my lucky charm. More than once in my life, you turned something miserable into something magical for me. He pulled me into a deep kiss then said, “And if you scramble the letters of Get Cereal, you get our names.”
Get Cereal=ElecGreta
Oh my God. I loved him.
“That’s my favorite anagram you’ve ever come up with.”
“It was either that or Rectal Gee, which made no sense. Then I would have had to get an ass tattooed on my side. That wouldn’t have worked.”
***
A few months later, it was Christmas in New York. This was my favorite time of year with all of the lights and decorations adorning the city. This Christmas was like no other because Elec and I were experiencing it together in love for the first time.
We’d be going out to San Francisco to spend the actual holiday with Pilar. Per Elec’s suggestion, he had me speak to her on the phone to take some of the edge off. She was surprisingly cordial to me, and it made me feel a lot better about the trip. Things would never be perfect between us, and I was sure she would have preferred him ending up with Chelsea. At least, though, with Randy gone and through the passage of time, she was able to accept me.
A few days before we were set to fly out west, Elec and I were invited to a Christmas party at Sully’s.
Sully’s apartment was very classic New York, lots of dark wood crown molding and a hefty built-in bookshelf lined from top to bottom with books ranging from erotica to military history. She’d gone all out, hanging plastic mistletoe and white lights all throughout the apartment. There was even a gold banner that read, Eat, Drink and Be Mary. She also set out a table of spiked eggnog and assorted appetizers. Elec and I were feeling pretty good after a few mugs of the eggnog.
He looked so sexy in a velvet Santa hat when he led me to a private corner of the room.
I pulled on the fuzzy ball at the end of his hat. “You know you’re the sexiest Santa I’ve ever seen, right?”
His slid his hands down my waist. “Lucky for you, I’ll be coming way more than once a year.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned into him. “And I’ll be giving you way more than cookies.”
“I wouldn’t mind spreading some cheer in that bathroom right now,” he said.
So, that was what we did.
When we emerged, it was time to open presents. Sully gave Elec his first. They’d actually grown pretty close and were constantly busting each other’s balls.
“Oh, Sully. You shouldn’t have.” The room burst into laughter as Elec lifted a t-shirt that displayed the photo of his bare-chested self, holding the cardboard fuckface sign. There was also a mug and mouse pad featuring the now classic image.
Sully laughed. “With all this book stuff, I just didn’t want you to forget your roots.”
Elec took it in stride then accepted his actual present, which was a gift certificate to Starbucks where he spent a lot of time writing after work. We’d recently inked a publishing deal for Lucky and the Lad and a yet to be written sequel he was developing now. He was still working at the middle school during the day.
Elec’s present to me was the last to be handed out. I was surprised he even brought something for me since we agreed to exchange gifts in California. Let’s just say, once I opened the box, it made total sense. This wasn’t my actual gift. It was the last pair of underwear he’d stolen from me all those years ago. They were turquoise lace. I remembered them well and shook my head.
“I can’t believe you’ve held onto this all these years.”
“It was the one memento I had of you for a long time.”
I whispered in his ear. “You’re lucky my ass still fits inside these.”