Aidan and Katie Ch. 03

"Too?" I said puzzled.

"Too, as in as well as finding this lovely young lady." Mom smiled.

I could see the relief in Elle's body. She reached out her hand and said, "Hello, Mrs. Cunningham, I'm Elle Nichols."

Mom took Elle completely by surprise and drew her into a big hug. "We'll have none of that Mrs. Cunningham nonsense. If you don't feel comfortable calling me Mom, you can call me Maddie."

"O-OK, M-Maddie." Elle was completely disarmed by Mom's overt friendliness. Her arm was wrapped around Elle's waist as she guided Elle to the house. I had to smile at the confused look on Elle's face.

"Mom?" I said.

"Yes, baby?" she answered.

"Why is Dad's car here?" I asked.

"Because when I told him you were bringing Elle home to meet me, he came rushing home." She laughed as we walked into the house. She leaned into Elle, "You have a big fan in my husband, my dear."

About that time, Dad met them in the foyer. "Elle, it's good to see you again."

"You, too, Mr. Cunn..." Elle started to say before Dad cut her off.

"We'll have none of that Mr. foolishness, I'm either Dad or Mike, is that clear?" He had the biggest grin on his face.

"O-OK, M-M-Mike..." Elle stammered. I could tell that the Cunningham family had Elle almost completely overwhelmed.

"Mom, Dad, give her some room to breathe," I said, "We're gonna go to lunch and then we'll be here the rest of the day, OK?"

"Great," Dad said. "But, I've gotta get back to work after lunch."

"Do you guys want something to drink?" Mom asked.

"Why don't we just go to lunch and then we can settle in when we get back, OK?" I said.

"That sounds good," Dad said, "where are we going?"

"I left that up to Mom, but I'm guessing Fat Boy's, is that right, Mom?" I smiled.

Mom blushed and nodded. "Am I that transparent?"

I went over and kissed the top of her head. "I just know what you like, Mom."

"OK," she said, "then let's go."

Dad drove separately so he could go back to work. We went to Fat Boy's, Mom got her Chicago burger, Dad got the cholesterol bomb known as the Triple BAR-B-Q Combo basket, ribs, chicken and hot links. I got hot wings and onion rings and Elle got a Caesar salad. Dad tried to get her to get something more, but she said she wasn't hungry. I could tell that she was nervous and didn't want to eat very much.

We didn't talk very much as Mom, Dad and I dove into our food. Elle picked at her salad and drank her iced tea. Mom asked how our dating was going and Elle said we were doing well. She explained that our schedules were making it difficult to see each other at times, but we spoke on the phone every day. She also explained that since both of us spent so much time in bars and restaurants, that we truly enjoyed spending time at home, watching movies.

Dad wiggled his eyebrows and said, "Is that what kids are calling it these days?"

Dad got a simultaneous, "Daaaad!" from me and "Michael Aaron Cunningham!" from Mom.

Elle giggled, but blushed. She started to say something and I stopped her.

"Sweetie, I got this." I said, reaching over and taking her hand. "Dad, even though it's none of your business, Elle and I are taking this slowly. We love each other and we want to know everything about each other before we take the next step. We think we're in this for the long haul and we're not rushing into anything."

I had to laugh; Mom and Dad had stopped eating and were sitting there with their mouths hanging open. Mom's eyes were huge and she spoke first, "Are you guys..." and then she stopped.

I was lost, "Are we what?"

Elle leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I think she's trying to ask if we're engaged."

I looked back at Mom and Dad, "No, not yet." I saw Elle turn and stare at me. "Like I said, we're taking it slowly and someday, we may get engaged." Elle squeezed my hand.

Dad smiled and said, "You know what? Since you guys are romancing each other, you ought to go up to the cabin after it snows. It is very romantic in the snow with a fire in the fireplace. Your Mom and I go up there and snuggle in front of the fire when we need some alone time."

"Daaaadddd!" I exclaimed, "Oh. My. God!" I was mortified and I knew I was blood red.

Elle, Mom and Dad all dissolved into fits of giggles. "Aidan, how did you think you got here?" Mom giggled.

I stuck my fingers in my ears, "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah...I don't hear anything."

Elle was laughing so hard there were tears running down her cheeks and she was having trouble breathing. She slugged me, "Aidan...Stop it!"

I grinned at her, "What?"

All three of them regained their composure and took sips of water to calm down. The conversation turned to safer topics. Well, mostly safer. Mom took her shot, not so much at Elle, but at Elle's future.

"Elle," Mom said, "I know you're a bartender, but is that what you want to do with the rest of your life?"

"No, not really, but, kinda..." Elle said slowly.

Mom stopped eating and peered at her. "What do you mean?"

"I have an idea for a sports bar, restaurant kind of thing..." Elle hesitated and looked at me.

This was the first time I'd heard this, but I reached over and took Elle's hand. "Go ahead."

"There are a lot of transplanted Midwesterners out here." Elle explained. "While there are several places that have part of the Chicago experience... " She stopped and looked around, "including this one, none of them really do the whole thing. I'd like to do one that not only features the sports, but as much of the food as I can. Chicago style hot dogs, deep dish pizza, Italian sausage and Italian beef with the Giardiniera, you know; the whole thing. I've been researching for the best recipes at home on the internet. I cook them and try them out on my friends and neighbors. I think I've found some of the best out there, so I think I've got most of the menu down. I've been saving my money; I don't go out much..." She smiled at me. "Except with Aidan and I've been looking at places downtown, but they're so expensive..." She trailed off.

I was stunned; I didn't know any of this. Before I could speak, Mom beat me to my questions.

She reached over and took Elle's other hand. "How long have you been at this?"

Elle smiled shyly, "A couple of years."

"Can't your parents help?" Mom asked.

"My Dad died when I was in high school and my Mom waits tables," she looked at the table, "kinda like me, so no she can't help."

"I'm sorry about your Dad, sweetie." Mom said.

Elle smiled, "It was over ten years ago, so it's no big deal, anymore."

"That was your Daddy, sweetie, so it is a big deal." Mom said gently.

Elle looked up and smiled at her. "Thank you."

Mom looked over at Dad. "Isn't your golf buddy Steve in commercial real estate? And isn't Max in banking?"

Dad looked up from his meat platter, eyeing Mom suspiciously. "Couldn't they help Elle out?"

Dad paled and was nearly speechless, "I, uh, uhhh, I..."

Mom exploded, "Jesus Christ Mike! I'm not asking for them to give her money! I thought they could give her advice on how to proceed from here! You know, business plans, how to find the right property, how to approach a bank, that sort of thing."

Dad sat back, "Oh, yeah, I could ask them to do that."

Mom looked at Dad and shook her head and then looked at Elle. "Sometimes he's an idiot." She said with disgust.

I looked over at Dad and he was fiddling with his Blackberry. Mom saw what he was doing and asked him what he was doing.

"I'm sending Steve and Max emails to set up appointments for Elle and me." Dad said. When he was done he asked Elle for her phone number and email address. He saved them in his Blackberry.

"But," Mom said, looking at Elle, "he's a sweet idiot."

"You guys don't have to do any of this." Elle protested. "You don't know me."

Mom patted Elle's hand. "You're right, we don't. But my son knows you and I can tell by the way he looks at you that he adores you. I can also tell by the way you look at him that you feel the same way. That's enough for me."

Dad had finished his meat plate and emails and looked at his watch. "I really need to get back to work. It was nice to see you again, Elle." He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "Let me know if he gets out of line, I'll kick his ass."

Elle giggled. Of course Dad's whisper would be appropriate on stage on Broadway so Mom and I heard it.

Mom just shook her head. "I told you he's an idiot."

Dad shook my hand, "It's about time meathead." Then he grinned and winked. He kissed Mom and left.

The server came over and asked if we needed anything else. I told her that we needed the check. She told me that Dad had gotten it, plus anything else we wanted.

I thanked her, she walked away and I cursed, "Goddamnit!"

Elle looked at me, alarmed. "What is it?"

"He always does that." I muttered. "He won't ever let me pay."

Mom smiled, "Did you really expect anything else?"

I sighed, "No."

"Then get over it." Mom then looked over at Elle and said, "We'll have to get together for a girls day, with Katie. Won't that be fun?"

Mom looked at me and I must have looked as terrified as I felt because she started laughing. "It's OK, Aidan. We won't trash you too badly."

I just groaned, "There's no way this turns out well for me." They both laughed and I knew I was toast. Mom and Elle had bonded and I knew that Elle and Katie would eventually do the same. Elle was already as good as a member of the family.

Mom looked at her watch and said, "I've taken up enough of your day off, you two. Take me home and go do whatever it is that you do."

"Mo-om!" I said, exasperated.

"Aidan Scott Cunningham!" She said sternly, "You know very well that I didn't mean anything by that!"

I just sighed, and they laughed at me again. We took her home, she insisted on sitting in the back, even though Elle offered her the front seat. When we got there she got out and had Elle get out, too.

I started to get out and Mom pointed at me and said, "Stay!" I sighed again, in what I feared was the beginning of a pattern.

Mom hugged Elle and I could see her whispering in Elle's ear. Elle giggled and nodded and Mom kissed her on the cheek. Elle got in and said; "Your mom wants to talk to you."

I sighed, again, got out of the car and walked around. She hugged me, kissed me on the cheek and said, "Aidan, Elle is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Don't you hurt her."

"Mom," I said, "I love her very much and will not do anything to hurt her."

"You'd better not," Mom grinned, "or else you'll deal with me, not your father."

"Uh-huh," I said drily. "What did you tell Elle?"

"None of your business," Mom said, "and don't you go grilling her about it, either!"

"Jesus, Mom," I said, exasperated, "who do you think I am? The Master Inquisitor? Listen to me; I will not browbeat her, grill her or harass her, I love her!"

She smiled softly, patting me on the cheek. "I know, baby. You're every bit as sweet as she is."

I sighed, "Then what the hell is this about?"

"I'm yanking your chain." She giggled.

I just stared at her. "Nice, Mom."

She got on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek. "Be nice, and be good to her, I really like her."

"OK, Mom," I said, "I'll talk to you later."

I climbed into the car and Elle leaned over and kissed me. "Thank you." She said.

I started the car and turned to look at her. "For what?" I drove away.

"For introducing me to your parents," she said with a smile. "I really like them, they're nice people."

I smiled, "I like 'em."

"But," she said seriously, "I have a question."

"Shoot." I answered.

"What did you mean by; 'We're not engaged...not yet?'" she asked.

I was not going to have this conversation while driving. I put up a finger for her to hold that thought and pulled into a church parking lot, putting the car in park.

I turned to look at her, taking her hands in mine. "I meant that I love you and while I could see us eventually getting there, we are still getting to know each other. I don't want premature questions about our future to cloud whatever future we may have. We haven't talked about marriage and I haven't given the possibility of us getting married a lot of thought. I do know that if and when I get married again, I intend for it to be the last time I get married. Those are the reasons that I said, not yet. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

Elle leaned over and kissed me, a sweet, soft kiss. "I understand completely. I want the first time I get married to be the last and only time I get married. Thank you."

The 'Thank You' puzzled me. "For what?"

She kissed me again, the same sweet, soft kiss. "For being open, honest and trusting and well...for being you."

I smiled, "Ahhh..."

I kissed her and drove out of the parking lot. "Where do you want to go now?"

She giggled, "I'd like to go to your place and have a Star wars and Star Trek marathon."

We stopped at a stop light and I turned to stare at her. "What?!?!"

"You're so sweet, putting on romantic comedies and other chick flicks for me." She giggled again. "I saw that you have all of the Star Wars and Star Trek movies and I love science fiction. My dad and I used to watch those movies together while he was sick. That's when I fell in love with Star Wars. I'd like to watch them with you." She reached over and took my hand.

I shook my head. "Surprising, always surprising me."

I drove home, Elle holding my hand the entire way. She said very little, just remarking again how much she liked my parents. I drove to the office to park the Lincoln in my parking space in the garage and then started walking to my apartment building. Elle snuggled in under my arm, wrapping her arms around me and holding tight. She stayed like that until I had to free my hands to open the door. She slipped into the bathroom as soon as she walked into my apartment. I was on my knees in front of the Blu-Ray player when she came out. I felt her kneel behind me when she wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her chin on my shoulder.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey, yourself," I answered. "What do you want to watch first? Star Wars or Star Trek?"

"Let's watch Star Trek," she said. "I haven't seen the first one in years."

I put it in and then we went and sat down on the couch. She burrowed in under my arm and settled in to watch the movie. After a few minutes she got up and got a throw blanket from the linen closet. She snuggled back in and watched the movie. Normally, when we watched a movie, we would be kissing about ten minutes in. Today, Elle was raptly attentive to the movie. Evidently, it had been a long time since she had seen it. She barely moved until the final credits rolled.

She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek and said, "Thank you."

That was kind of a surprising statement and I didn't understand it. "For what?"

"For putting this in." She smiled and then giggled. "I guess I first realized that I was attracted to girls as well as guys when I first saw this movie. I thought Persis Khambatta, Lieutenant Ilia, was the sexiest and most beautiful human being I had ever seen."

I chuckled, "Even with the bald head?"

She poked me in the ribs, "Especially with the bald head. She turned me on...I wanted to rub her head and kiss her allll over. Her skin was so smooth and perfect; it just looked yummy to me."

"OK," I was nearly speechless.

Elle climbed off of the couch and headed to the bathroom. "Put the next one in, please."

I did and settled in on the couch. Elle came back and we watched Ricardo Montalban as Khan played cat and mouse with Kirk for the next two hours. Elle was a little more playful with this one than she was with the first one, but I was still disappointed because we weren't kissing or touching. We were still sitting on the couch rather than lying down. The movie ended and Elle went to the bathroom again. I went in after she came out and when I returned, she was lying on the couch. She scooted forward to allow me to lie down behind her.

I looked at her and asked if she wanted the next movie in. She nodded and lay her head down on the pillow. I put in The Search for Spock and wriggled in behind Elle on the couch. She pulled my arm tight around her waist and laced her fingers with mine. We lay and quietly watched as Kirk and Scottie tried to deal with McCoy's irrational behavior as Spock's life-force tried to assert itself. About halfway through the movie Elle started squirming around and by the time she had finished, she was facing me. Her skirt had ridden up above her knees and she smacked me as I leered at her legs. Then she leaned forward and rubbed her nose against mine, Eskimo style.

"Hi," she whispered.

I smiled, "Hi yourself."

"Whatcha doin'?" she smiled and brushed her lips against mine.

"Watchin' an old movie with my girl." I said and she giggled.

"Anything else?" She asked as she giggled again.

"I'm kinda hopin' there'll be some kissing involved." I answered with a chuckle of my own.

"Oh really?" She grinned. "What kind of a girl do you think I am?"

"Well," I said as I leaned in to steal a kiss, "I'm hopin' that you're the kind that kisses and likes it so much she doesn't tell her mom or my mom."

She met me halfway across the small gap between her lips. Our lips merged in a soft, tender kiss and she giggled. She withdrew just enough so that her lips brushed against mine as she spoke. The light brushes made me tingle all over and my dick jumped a little. She grinned when she felt it.

"You'd better be good," she said, "or I'll have to tell my mom about you."

"I'll be verrrry good, little girl." I said, waggling my eyebrows.

She pressed her forehead against mine. "See, now that's what I'm talking about."

"OK," I said, moving back to press my lips to hers, "I'll be as good as you want me to be..."

The kiss deepened as Elle brought her hands up to caress the sides of my face. She pulled away and said, "You're so goofy."

I laughed, "And here I thought I was Mickey... or Lightning McQueen..."

She shook her head. "More like Sully..."

I acted insulted, "You think I'm big, blue and hairy?"

"No," she said, kissing me, "The way your mind works, you scare me..."

"OK," I conceded, "legitimate point."

"But that goofy shit that comes from your mouth is part of your appeal." She said, snuggling deeper into my arms. "That's a big reason I love you."

"I,...mmmppphhh," I started to answer before she cut me off with a kiss.

She pulled away from her kiss to say, "Just shut up and kiss me, fool."

I answered with my lips. I drew her close again and kissed her gently, softly, passionately. Elle melted in my arms and molded her body even more deeply into mine. She opened her lips and shyly touched her tongue to my lips. I opened up and let her in; her velvety tongue gently caressed mine. The tenderness of her touch made my dick jump, again and again, I felt her smile. My hands had worked around her back and found the warm, smooth skin just above the waist of the light cotton, peasant skirt. I felt her shiver as I lightly stroked the skin of her back and sides.

"Mmmmm," she moaned deep in her throat as she pulled her lips from mine, "That feels niiiicccceee..."

I just smiled and moved my hands higher on her sides, grazing her ribs. She twitched and squirmed, "That tickles..."

I just said, "Sorry..."

I leaned back in and kissed her lips and as I moved to my right, kissing her cheek, she moved to her right, opening her neck to me. I moved slowly, kissing the delicate skin of her cheek, moving up to kiss her eyelid. She sighed as I made slow, soft love to her face. She turned her head even further, inviting me to move to her ear and her neck.