satisfaction still on hold

The first week Ricki was at Topher's she imagined she must have been his dirty little secret. He still hadn't told his parents about her. Her parents were a different story. There were a lot of phone calls. Mad phone calls. It got to the point where Topher didn't even let her speak to them. He was afraid it might make her blood pressure go crazy.

It didn't. She got a check up right away. The baby would be born in late December. Maybe January. Of course, her little body looked as if she were carrying twins, but there was only one baby. She'd told him this, but he wanted to see for himself.

Most days they were on the same page, same chapter in their lives, but sometimes, Topher made her feel she was hiding something from him.

And then he found a job on campus helping out at conventions and activities at the Student Union building. She thought she might never see him. Classes. Work. Still he came home tired and she slept with him.

Wasn't quite what she hoped for. Topher hogged the bed.

"Well, maybe if the bed was bigger." It was a simple solution to Luc. Of course, he was the easy one to talk to. Dorian soon followed. She was glad they were both around. She thought they might be a couple for the longest time, but they had separate rooms and a guy hung out with Dorian ever so often.

Luc asked her if she'd mentioned it to Topher, about the bed. She'd tried, but it didn't seem to go anywhere. He was busy and she needed to rest.

"I know someone at work, wanting to get rid of a bed." It was queen sized. The co-worker and her husband were buying a king sized. "Its like new. They don't want to throw it out." Luc told her they'd take care of it. In a couple of days they did. But she didn't think Topher really noticed. Still, he was a bit clingy in bed. She was used to sleeping alone. Yet, it was getting lonely. She was used to a houseful and of course, the music.

Soon enough, Dorian was asking about how to cook, and he was happy to drive her anywhere to get whatever she needed. At least Dorian and Luc were trying to make her feel at home. Yet she felt she'd let down her family. They really needed her for the polka hour. Maybe there wasn't a huge demographic on TV, but still she knew they counted on her.

She went in bouts of sleep and then to wake up to guilt. Fortunately, Dorian's pastas and stews helped. Ricki guessed she could get used to living at Topher's.