Right in Time

Chapter One

“Chair sex.” Taylor quipped.  “Chair...sex?” she questioned once again in a volume that showed she either didn’t care or was oblivious to the numerous other people in the cafe around them.

“Yes!” Maggie shot back, her tone hushed and urgent, hopefully bringing this conversation back to being just between the four of them.  Sure, she was the one that brought it up, but she had no intention of sharing the details of her recurring dream with the few choice strangers who had shot them questioning looks, with one guy even craning his neck to try to hear more.
 
Not going to happen, buddy
, she thought to herself.  Apparently even sounds of coffee bean grinders, milk frothers, and other patrons can’t drown out people’s curiosity when they hear the word sex being discussed.  Maggie Sloan now found herself sitting at the small round table, her friends looking at her expectantly.  I guess, ultimately, she couldn’t
not
go on. 

“Okay, okay.  Yes, chair sex.  I don’t know but I keep having this dream.  I didn’t think anything of it
the first few times, but now there’s been like half a dozen of them and it’s the same thing.”

“Uh huh.  Details, please.” Piped up Callie
.

“Yeah, like was this your standard kitchen chair or one of those off
ice types with wheels?  Because that could get dangerous.  Oooh, did it have an ergonomic pad thing you see in the doctor’s waiting room?  Handy. Leverage.” Shot Taylor, never one lacking in sarcasm.  Maggie always chopped up her fiery wit to her fiery red hair.

“Guys.” Alexis cut in,
ever the voice of reason.  Sure she was eager to hear the details like the rest of them, but she knew when they needed to cut it out and get down to business.

“
It’s just a metal kitchen chair,” she started, shooting look at Taylor who just smirked in response, “and I don’t know...it starts off differently sometimes.  But usually it involves me...you know...with my hand...and then he pulls me around so that I’m on top of him and we basically just have sex.”

“And that’s it?
” Callie asks.

“Well, yeah.  I know, nothing earth shattering, but...the orgasm sure is.” She added in a quiet, almost embarrassed tone that had her friends howling.

“So, who is this guy that rocks your world...and buggers up your hardwood floors?” Taylor asked with a chuckle.

“See, that’s the thing.  I don’t know.  I never see his face.”

A thoughtful “huh” escaped Callie’s lips as they turned to look at her.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.  I just think it means you need to get laid.” She responded in a serious tone.  “And badly.”

“Gee, thanks Doc.”

“Hey, it’s true.  I learned in Psych class at college that dreams are partly wish fulfillment.  So, deep down you’re wishing for a big ol’ coc...”

“Don’t.” Interjected Maggie.

“You know, I agree with Cal.” Added Taylor.

“You would.”

“I kinda do too.” Cut in Alexis in an almost unsure tone.  Mainly unsure as to what wrath Maggie would bestow upon them. 

Growing up in small town suburbia, Taylor, Alexis, and Callie had all known each other since the time they attended the only elementary school within a ten kilometer radius of their homes, and when Taylor moved and ended up transferring the first year of junior high, meeting Maggie, she infiltrated their close little group, fitting right in.  Despite their differences, the four of them were thick as thieves and because of that they supported each other to the end.  But that didn’t mean they weren’t honest with one another where it counted.  Even if they didn’t know what reaction might be waiting on the other side.

“What?!  Okay, you know what?  Conversation closed.  Forget I even brought it up.”  Maggie waved her hands in defeat, hoping that one of them would pick up on another conversation path and forget about her dream analysis.  She herself wasn’t even sure what the big deal was.  Why she was so offended at the prospect that she just needed to have sex.  Release some endorphins. 

Maggie had never been that vocal about her personal life.  She had been a very careful person since birth her parents told her.  She chose her words, her career, and most importantly, the people that she allowed in to her life very carefully.  For her friends, sex wasn’t that big of a deal.  Yes, when it came down to the time for them all to lose their virginities, some made a big hoopla about it, while others didn’t even share that it had happened until it was just casually brought up over drinks one night.  For Maggie, she wanted a special person to share that with.  She wasn’t a prude at all and sure, she had done things; risqué and otherwise, but with the way she lived her life, she looked at every option and every possible outcome. Only one guy had ever entered it that made her want to jump in head first.  However, before she could, he pulled the rug out from under her so fast she didn’t know which end was up.

Chapter Two

Maggie was ecstatic to have made it out of the cafe with some of her dignity left intact.  She was also ecstatic to not have had her dream occur again the next few nights; this time imagining them rolling across the floor on a wheeled office chair, slamming head first in the wall.  Talk about a mood killer.  Thanks, Taylor.  Instead, she shelved any of the analysis her friends provided and dove head first back in to her work. 

Sole pastry chef and owner of a little studio called
The Sweet Tooth
, Maggie produced custom cakes and pastries that rivalled those in magazines.  On this day, even though it was approaching 7pm, the sun still shone brightly through the windows that framed the front of her store.  Drinking it in, she relished in the fact that despite the hour, it was still bright outside for it made the long days more bearable.  She sighed as she sat alone in the front of the shop, finishing up the paper work for the wedding cake order she had just received, the heat that started coming when late Spring was getting ready to turn in to Summer hitting her just right. 

This was her; always taking the time to muse about what was going on around her.  Today, the sun added to her sunny disposition, but on other occasions, this tendency to muse took on a mind of its own in the form of overthinking.  Maggie was a logical person; a thinker.  Sometimes, too much so.  Yet right now, taking these quiet moments allowed her to think about how far she had truly come, but there was still one thing that was missing; a man to share it all with.  Life can’t be all sunshine and sugar.  Sure, she had a great group of friends supporting her, and they were more than willing to lend her an ear whenever needed, but it was not the same.  Cliché maybe, but Maggie was always a fairy tale type of girl.

“One year,” she thought aloud, “one year and I’m still hung up on this.”  Frustrated, she groaned to herself, only to be cut off by the familiar ring that let her knew she had a new text message.  Reaching in to the pocket of her chef’s coat, Maggie retrieved her phone and slid it unlocked.  “
You’re still at the shop aren’t you
” she read in the message sent from Taylor.  Laughing slightly at how well she knew her, she continued reading the text, “
We’re all going out to The Blue Room after dinner at The Creperie.  Jake’s in town and I want you to meet him! Alexis and Callie are picking you up at your house at 8.  Be ready!
”

She had it in her right mind to reply back with a
large, capitalized NO! But she knew she would never be able to get off that easy, plus she did really want to meet Jake.  Taylor had been going back and forth to LA for a while, trying to get her foot in the door of the entertainment industry and on one of those trips she met Jake, a drummer in an up-and-coming band.  Maggie had remembered Taylor mentioning a small West Coast tour to her a few weeks back and suspected that now was their Vancouver date.  Groaning once again (that seemed to be a trend the past few minutes, didn’t it?), she quickly typed two letters in a reply and hit ‘send’;
OK
was all it said.

“Crap!” Maggie called out
as she stubbed her toe rounding the corner of her apartment in the hunt for her missing red high heel, tying her long black hair up in to a ponytail in the process.  Multi-tasking had never been her thing. Making her way to the couch to check for blood, she caught the current time on the clock in the corner of her eye.  “Crap!” she cried out again, even louder.  8:07pm blinked back at her.  Luckily, she knew neither Alexis nor Callie were known to be on time so she should be alright, but just as that thought passed in to her head, the buzzer went letting her know they were here. 

“Augh!  20 more minutes would be nice, thank you!” she
said half-jokingly in to the receiver. 

Met by
laughter, Callie burst her bubble by saying, “Sorry, no can do.  Jake’s band is on at 10, so if we want to get in dinner, we’ve got to go now.  We’re late as it is.” 

“Fine, I’ll be down in a second.”
Maggie responded, hanging up.    She stood there for a moment and surveyed the home in front of her.  She had lived in the small one bedroom apartment for almost a year, but it already felt (and looked) like she had been there for years.  It was a comfort aspect for her.  The day she moved in, the minute her family and friends had left after helping her unload her boxes, couch, and bed from the truck, she went to work on putting things away, cleaning, putting up art work.  She needed everything in its place and everything ‘right.’  After spending a few weeks at her mom’s place after everything fell apart, she needed to get out, move forward, have a fresh start.  And by setting everything up and getting her home in order, she felt that she might be able to actually get the rest of her life in order. 

Again. 

But it had been taking a little bit longer on the personal side than she had expected.

One tiny speck of red poking out from under the couch caught her eye and brought her attention back to the task at hand.  “Aha! Found you!” she proclaimed as she quickly retrieved the missing red shoe, slipping her foot inside as she made it to the door as gracefully as possible.  Taking a quick moment to examine herself in the mirror before proceeding, she gave her look the once over.  Her naturally tan, olive skin shone and her dark brown eyes popped with her choice of make-up.  Her simple black dress hugged, yet flowed over her slim frame, with the once-MIA red heels giving her outfit the pop (and her 5’4” frame the height) it needed. 

When she finally made it down to the street, she could see Alexis in the driver’s seat and Callie leaning against the passenger side door waiting for her.  The tall leggy blonde of the group who couldn’t help but drive men wild was dressed to impress tonight.  Effortlessly so. 
How the hell did she do it?
Maggie couldn’t help but think to herself, her toe still aching from the shoe hunt. When she moved to give her a hug, Maggie caught sight of Paul in the seat next to Alexis.  Internally she groaned for the umpteenth time today.  She knew Taylor’s boyfriend would be there, but she had not expected it to be a couple’s thing.  Pulling away from Callie’s hug, she said hi to Paul over her shoulder as they made their way in to the back seat. 

“What? Ben’s not coming too?” she asked Callie. 

“Uh, no.  Ben was told to start walking weeks ago.” Callie replied nonchalantly. 

“What?!  Why had I not heard about this before?”
Maggie retorted.  Sure, she knew Callie wasn’t interested in a serious relationship and had a few boyfriends in the past couple months, but she thought she’d at least be told when they moved on. 

“It’s no big deal, really.  I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I know it was a busy week at the shop for you.” Callie exp
lained. 

And she was
right; Maggie had been the busiest she has been in a while.  Three weddings in four days took the wind right out of her and she barely spoke to her family, let alone her friends.  What can you do though?  Everyone wants to be a Summer bride.