Chapter Three
“So, let me get this straight… my little sister is dating a rock star.”

India rolled her eyes at Chasity, “Oh please, he’s not a rock star. He’s a…pop star at best.”

“At best? What’s that supposed to mean?” Chasity inquired, re-folding herself on the lounge chair to get a better angle of the sun.

India moved her chair across the deck a little, in case Chasity wanted to completely rearrange herself. “Like… it means I don’t even care. Maybe he is a rock star… what do I know? He makes music and he’s good at it, end of story.”

Chasity sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to get any more dirt out of her on the fame aspect. “What are your kids going to think about this?”

India shrugged, “Who knows. What do teenagers ever think about anything? They’re too worried about their own love lives to even give a thought to mine.”

“Ohhh… so you’re already acknowledging he’s part of your ‘love life’… impressive.” Chasity said, nodding her hair in a knowing manner, making her dark red hair swish around her shoulders.

India shook her head at her sister’s attempt to analyze everything she said. “We’ve gone on like… four dates… so, let me rephrase that. They’re too worried about who they’re dating to worry about who I’m dating.”

“But you are ‘dating’… like, semi-seriously, though, right?”

“CHAS! We’ve gone on four fucking dates! I think it’s a little too soon to say whether or not something is serious!”

“But you like him… don’t you?”

India slouched down in her chair, already tired of this conversation. Under normal circumstances, she’d consider Chasity her best friend, as well as her sister, but when it came to relationships… that was the one thing she’d prefer not to discuss with her.  Chasity considered herself a sort of relationship guru- despite the fact she could never make any of her own last longer than a few months. “Yes, Chas, I like him. He wouldn’t have made it past the first date if I didn’t like him.”

“What do you like about him?” Chasity asked, prying for all the details she could possibly get. She figured India had everything else in her life together… it was about time she got her love life sorted out.

“What do I like about him? I like the sound of his voice… I like his laugh… I like the way his eyes sparkle when he’s happy or content… I like that he thinks I’m funny and is impressed by my education… I like that he likes that I’m independent and love my job… I like his smile… I like the way his ass looks in jeans… I like the tattoos on his arms… I like that he has his ears pierced but doesn’t wear earrings most of the time… I like that he lives so close to his parents… I like that he’s still afraid of girls… I like the way he covers his face when he thinks he’s said something silly…. I like that we laugh at the same things and both always have at least one tequila when we go out… I like that he plays drums on his dashboard at stoplights… I like his hands… and his wrists…” India stopped talking when she noticed the startled expression on her sister’s face.  “What?”

“You can give me a list like that and you’ve ‘only gone on four fucking dates’ and think it’s ‘too early to know whether or not something is serious’???” Chasity asked.

“Why?!? What are you saying?!?” India squealed, afraid of what Chasity thought she might be implying.

“I’m saying you REALLY like this guy.” Chasity said, her voice solemn as if this occasion were so important, it called for the utmost respect.

India thought for a moment, recalling what she’d been saying. “Yeah… I do, don’t I?”

~~~

“What’d you do last night?” Nick asked, as he and India sat back in their chairs at the restaurant, having giving the waitress their orders.

“Hung out with Chas… made triple-chocolate peanut butter chip cookies…” India said, smiling. “Each cookie only adds two pounds to your weight and takes three years off your life.”

Nick chuckled, “Did you save me any?”

“Are you crazy? We polished those suckers off!” India said. “The recipe is supposed to make something like, 40 cookies… but we eat so much of the dough while we’re getting them ready, we generally only end up with about 10 cookies.”

“Sounds like my house growing up… my mom could never get anything made without us kids trying to steal bites of whatever she was working on.” Nick said, laughing at the memory.

“We were the same way, but most of the time my mom avoided that problem by giving Chasity and I our own project to bake while she worked on whatever was actually supposed to be baked.” India told him, then took a sip of her water.

“This is kind of a strange question… but how did your sister end up with a more… normal name?” Nick asked, hoping he wouldn’t offend India, not meaning to sound as though he was implying her name was weird.

India smiled at him, able to tell he was worried. “Her name was actually supposed to be Chastity, but she was born before our parents were married… although, I was born before our parents were married, too… but my mom’s mom pitched a fit about her grandchild being named after a virtue that was obviously not being practiced. So, they just dropped a letter and ta-da! There was Chasity.”

“Ah ha…” Nick thought about what she’d said for a moment, then asked, “You parents didn’t get married until after both of you were born?”

“Nope. I was three and Chasity was four… we were both flower girls in the wedding.” India said. “I will never understand how they managed to plan and pull off a wedding with two small children.. but they did it… and it was pretty damn cool from what I can remember.”

“Was there any particular reason they waited so long?” Nick asked, kind of intrigued by the story. He knew a lot of people who had kids before they were married, but usually they didn’t stay together to have more than one kid, or to have two and then get married.

“They wanted to be sure they were totally, completely ready to be married. They got engaged after Chasity was born… they’d known they were going to be together from the time they started dating.. so they saw no point in rushing it. They got us through the toddler time- terrible twos and all that… and then decided it was time to focus on themselves for a while… so they got the wedding together and did it.” India explained. “And it’s worked out amazingly… they’ve got the best relationship I’ve ever seen two people have… they’ve been married 21 years and are just as happy as the day they got married.”

“So… like, do you want to do things like that? Or do you think, marriage first, then kids?” he asked, curious as to how the way she’d grown up had effected her views on how things should be done.

“I don’t think it matters. Chasity was a surprise… had she not come along, my parents may well have gotten married before they had kids. But I think things work out the way they’re supposed to. I may get married and not have a kid for five years…. or I may have a kid and then not get married for five years… however things happen… I’m cool with that. I don’t think there’s a right way to do things, or a specific way that’s better than any other.” she said, smiling to herself at the serious, thoughtful look Nick had as he listened to her speak.

“Whenever it’s right.” Nick said, summing up what she’d said in just a few words.

“Exactly.  Whenever it’s right.” she echoed, suddenly wondering if that ‘right time’ was sneaking up on her, and then wondering where that thought had come from.

****

Nick opened the door for India, and helped her out of the Escalade, holding her hand as he walked her to her door. His hand slid around to the small of her back as she unlocked the door, then he pulled her a little closer to him, anticipating the same kind of sweet, innocent kiss he’d received on their previous dates. He loved that she initiated the kisses, and always found himself wanting more after she moved away from him.

India gave him a little smirk, and leaned into him, her tongue gently brushing across his lips before she kissed him- a deep, teasing kiss that caught him totally by surprise. She bit his lower lip as she stepped back from him and winked, “Good night.”

He watched as she went inside and closed the door, and then turned to walk back to the Escalade, a wide grin spreading across his face. He loved that she continually surprised him… always doing something he wasn’t expecting. He needed a girl like that… and he was becoming increasingly sure- despite the short amount of time that he’d known India- that he just may have found her.
to chapter four

1