perfection in pointe

“Ah, well, Aunt Allie it is. And she will gladly take them so you and Matt can enjoy your weekend together.” Getting to babysit Lizzie’s kids would be a nice distraction for her, a nice breath away from everything in her life and the mess that it really was at this point. At Lizzie’s question about her writing, she had to be grateful for her old friend. So many want to turn questions around to her about how she’s ‘doing’ after her break-up but the fact that her and Lizzie were, seemingly close enough that they can read each other so well makes her happy that she has her in her life. “It’s going. Kind of got a bit more done recently than I’d been able to.”

“I know you will, you’re the sweetest. And the kids do love spending time with you.” Allie was so great with children, even during Lily’s bad tempers and Oliver’s clingy crying. And she didn’t just stand them for the sake of the friendship, so Elizabeth trusted her to care and love her babies—at least for the weekend. “I’ll definitely talk to Matt we have you lined up for the winery weekend so we can decide a date to go after New York.” She raises her glass to that and sips. “Thanks, love. You’re really the best.” It was Lizzie who was lucky to have such a great friend like her. “Well, that’s great, Allie! Is it the book or are you working on something new?”

“Oh my god, Lizzie, that’s amazing,” she said, genuinely happy for her friend. With everything that sucked in her own life, it was nice to hear that Lizzie’s was doing a bit better even if she felt terrible for leaving out parts of her own life. She didn’t call because what was she supposed to say to her best friend? ‘Oh I keep going to my ex’s house because I can’t stop and I don’t know how to?’ So instead, she just hid away and hated herself. “You know, you can also take weekend trips whenever because I do like seeing those two little ones. I’m the fun pseudo-aunt who lets them stay up and eat whatever they want.”

“It is really great. Halloween we even won the costume contest in that party that happened?” It seemed like such a small thing but Lizzie felt that it showed how much of a united front they were becoming again as a couple—plus Lizzie loved winning overall. “You’re no pseudo aunt. I may not have blood siblings but you’re sure my sister.” Elizabeth gave her a reassuring smile, reaching to pat her friend’s shoulder briefly. “Well, I might take you up on that? We did win a winery weekend visit with the contest thing. But for veterans day it’s all good, don’t worry. Matt’s mom misses the kids so it’ll be good!” Feeling the subject too on her, Elizabeth tried to change it a bit, not wanting to be too direct though. “How’s the writing going?”

“They really are.” It was like everyone managed it every week, but no matter who was hosting each week, it was good to see a good chunk of his family on a regular basis, particularly after so long of relying more on phone calls and the occasional text. It was part of what made the town feel like home. “I like that,” he said, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he grinned. “It’s more about spending time with family than the actual activity.” Though, clearly, the activity played some role in bringing the family together, particularly in Elizabeth’s case. “Well, those of us who go to church do that in the morning, and then my mom, or one of my aunts, will start cooking in the afternoon, we’ll trail over to whoever’s house around four or five, hang out, put on a game if there’s something. And whoever doesn’t cook helps with the dishes. It’s messy, and it’s loud, but it’s– it’s always inviting, you know?”

“Yeah, it was always about spending the time together, no matter what we were doing really.” Lizzie missed those times with her mom and dad but she also loved creating memories with her own family, as stumbly as things were now. “I’m slowly creating these traditions with my own family. Pancakes are a thing in our household, usually Saturdays.” She shared with a chuckle. Her daughter’s favorite undoubtedly, and Lizzie’s too when it was her husband that made it. “It sounds very inviting. Large families are truly great, I guess I’m trying to build that for my children, cause I didn’t have it and my husband did and he adores.” She smiles. “It’s nice everyone in yours help in some way. Must be a true blast.”

“Fries are perfect,” she said, looking over to the bartender as he moved towards them and put in her order. Being out with Lizzie was nice because she could pretend like she wasn’t lost in her own sense of confusion. With everything in her life, she tried to find the clarity of the situation. Tried to make it all make sense and yet here she was, still struggling to figure out how to move on and function as a person. 

Trying to figure out how to answer her question, Allie shrugged slightly. “It’s going,” she said, knowing that the minute she told her friend about her own struggles with not talking to Robert, she’d end up getting the second degree and she was trying to keep that from happening until they at least had some drinks in them. “What about you? Any updates on you and Matt?”

She frowned a bit to her response. Obviously, she didn’t expect Alison to respond that she was doing splendidly but just going worried Lizzie some more. “You haven’t called in a bit, I was worried I’d need an ice cream intervention.” Her tone was playful though, with a kind smile—not pitful, just understanding. With the question about Matt, her smile grew a bit. “We’re getting better. Therapy is helping a lot, we’ve been finding some tools to communicate and express our feelings. And well, it’s been working.” Halloween's blast was proof of it. “We got really hammered on Halloween and had fun together after we went trick or treating with the kids. It was good having us time. We’re planning to travel to New York on Veteran’s day, my mother-in-law is coming to stay with the kids.”

Matt was entirely focused on Lizzie and what she wanted to do. His vision zeroed in on the sweaty hair sticking to her neck and her painted fingernails. The loud bass heavy music seemed to spur him on as he crowded closer to her at the bar. Her idea did sound really good and he was about to grab her hand and pull her into said dark corner when a bright spotlight spun around the club and landed on them. Squinting in the light and giving a bemused smile, Matt struggled for a moment to realize what happened. When Lizzie cheered, he couldn’t help but share her excitement and he pulled her into one of those excited jumping hugs. “You’re to thank! These costumes are amazing and I’m so glad you were praised for them. Thank you everyone!” He shouted to the club. They cheered in response and Matt raised his beer. The bartender tapped his arm and told him to come to the bar when they were done for the night to get the envelope with the prizes. Which, he didn’t even know what they were, so that would be a nice surprise. “Way to go baby. Now let’s go celebrate!” 

“I couldn’t have done it without you, babe.” She said as her lips collide hard with his, devouring his mouth with sheer excitement and happiness for their win. Lizzie let her hand slip down his arm and caress his muscles with her fingernails, sending a thrill down her spine. “Let’s celebrate like we were planning too.” She says tempting and shameless, her teeth nibbling his lips. It seemed the tequila and the victory were taking over her and perhaps her libido was a bit over the top cause that hand traveling their bodies reached between them to give a firm squeeze to his private parts, as an amused chuckle escaped her still firmly red painted lips. “I want you now, master.”

Allie didn’t know what she was doing, she kept going back to her old ways and eventually, it was going to make her isolated from all those around her. She knew she couldn’t keep turning to her friends and brother when she kept making the same mistakes and yet here she was, heading to a girls night with Lizzie despite knowing that Lizzie probably wouldn’t be too happy with her.

“Hi,” she said with a soft smile, hugging Lizzie back as she glanced to her friend. “Speak for yourself, you look adorable.” Allie had tried to make herself presentable, wanting to look okay so that she wasn’t giving too much of herself away because she knew that if Lizzie or Adam knew that she kept trying to talk to Robert, they weren’t going to be happy about it. 

She didn’t realize how she had been missing her friend until she saw her there and got to greet and hug her. But she could see Allie wasn’t at her highest moment and that worried Lizzie dearly. She put a smile over the compliment and nodded. “I am trying...” Elizabeth’s life too had been an emotional rollercoaster as of late, but she still had Matt through it all by her side, wanting to make things better. It ought to be harder on Alison with the breakup, she imagined.

“So how’s it going?” She cut to the chase, signaling the bartender to come collect Alison’s order and an added portion of french fries for the to share. “Fries okay? I am starved and I only had time to drop the kids off with the nanny on the way here.”

Elizabeth loved girl’s night and she hadn’t had one with Alison in a while. Sure, when the breakup happened Lizzie came over to support her dearest friend with ice-cream, wine and trash-talking the ex—mostly on Lizzie’s side. But since they’d only spoken after it over the phone, she felt the need of them to have a night for themselves again. Lizzie too felt like she needed to give her friend some attention as she had been investing a lot of time working on fixing her marriage. But she didn’t want to neglect the rest of her life, especially not Allie now with all those turbulences in her life. She suggested a bar insisting that as a single woman, Allie needed to get herself out there into the world and meet people and flirt. Lizzie even said she’d be Alison’s wing woman.

Getting there first, dressed rather nicely, Lizzie ordered a vodka with cranberry while she waited and texted the nanny about the kids and Matt to let him know she’d be offline while with Allie but to call if any emergencies appeared. With the arrival of her friend, she got up from the bar to hug. “Look at you, all cute!”

Clinking his glass with Lizzie’s, he licked the salt from his hand and threw back the shot, quickly grabbing the lime to offset the burst of alcohol. He really didn’t have a problem with tequila, the taste was smooth. But something about the smell really threw him off sometimes. The bar spun a little beneath his hands and then settled. “Yeah, I know. Maybe only one for right now.” He replied, grabbing her chin with his finger and thumb and kissing her swiftly. “Are you having a good time? It seems like you are but I wanted to make sure. I figure we can dance for a little more and then head home. I feel like this shot gave me a second wind but it won’t last forever. And if we’re gonna fuck when we get home, I want to have some energy to do it, you know?” He said loudly, not really caring about his volume with the buzz of alcohol in his system.

“I’m having a great time, baby.” She grinned over his lips, always so damn sweet how he acted so caring. And then the carefree affection made her feel warm and fuzzy, and well free too. “You know we don’t really have to wait for home to fuck.” Her voice came out warmly and sexy, even for a half-shout over the loud music. Perhaps it was just the way she pressed her body close to his, the stockings on her thighs brushing against the fishnets on his. “There’s a bunch of dark corners in this place.” Her whisper on his ear was sexier, daring. A prompt drunk attempt to get those needs she was suddenly feeling well satisfied. But as she was on her way to make another illegal suggestion, the costume contest announcement came up. And honestly, she’d have gone by completely disregarding of it had she not heard their costumes be called out. “Baby, that’s us! We won!” Hell, Lizzie just loved to win, it was a great turn on.

The blonde couldn’t help the small smirk that graced her features as the other woman spoke. Sirena was a huge Rocky Horror fan, so she definitely loved the costume and the way the other woman seemed to be embracing the character. The moment her own costume was recognized, Sirena grinned. “Thank god someone gets it,” she said. “I was almost Tinkerbell, but I figured it was a good idea to think outside the box,” she explained to her. “I’m having a fairly good time.”

“Oh, this is much more clever than Tink. I love her, but he’s so much more relatable.” Elizabeth chuckled with a broad grin. “I have little kids, they love Monster’s Inc so I quickly put two and two together.” Which Lizzie was surprised for since she’d had some drinks already. “Did you come in a group or something? Now that’s a cool group to make on Halloween, Monster’s Inc is awesome.”

“A little party never killed anybody, right?” Beau offered the sentiment with a genuine smile. “Wilmington’s a great place. I grew up here, left for a little while… still seemed to find my way back. It’s just what’s felt like home.” It was true, even on the days when he couldn’t believe he was back where he’d started, Beau could still admit it felt nice to be where things felt familiar and safe. “Brave guy - great costume.” He made sure to emphasize. “How long have you two been together?” Beau inquired before ordering another whiskey and a water for Scarlett. He was the best at small-talk when sober, but with a few drinks in him he could be quite personable.

“Definitely!” Lizzie chuckled at it with a nod. “It seems a lot of locals leave and come back, can’t really blame you guys because it’s a nice little town. But I miss my big apple a lot.” Her heart was wherever her family went, but Lizzie sure missed their times in New York. When he complimented Matt’s costume, Lizzie chuckled. “Only he could pull out fishnets, not for all men. But I’ll take credit on his makeup.” She said half as a confession with a bit of laughter. “Oh, over ten years, actually. Married is less, six. But we’ve been dating for a little over ten now. Long road. What about you and your girl?”

Mia took her drink and bit her lip. “ I found my real father.” She said and gave a nervous smile. “ I know my mom told me not to go looking for him but I couldn’t help it. I don’t even think he knows about me.” She fell silent and gave a sad smile. “ I want to tell him, but I don’t… “ She took a swig of her drink and sighed. “ I don’t know what to do.”

The revelation really took her aback, actually, by surprise on all that the girl as seeming to go through. “Wow, Mia. That’s major. Are you alright?” Elizabeth couldn’t picture what it was like growing up not know her dad and then having to go after him, but she could imagine it wasn’t exactly easy. She couldn’t help but wonder if she knew the man though. “I can’t really tell you how to live your life, but I do think if he doesn’t know about you maybe he’d be happy to learn it. You have to do what your heart tells you, you know. If you want to tell him, they surely do so.” Lizzie knew secrets only made things worse, by personal experience.

     With the last-ditch encouragement, Dominic obliged– knowing there was little drawback in chugging down the last remnant of his beer. Head tossed back, the only hitch had been trying not to laugh at how very frat boy it felt. Nimble fingers displayed the empty bottle in a small jostle back and forth, before turning to discard it. “That is a plus, but as much as I like a good spy movie James Bond isn’t really the kind of character I want to emulate.” The more modern films were better, so he heard, but previous incarnations of the character were a little sketchy. The way his current company seemed to light up as he showed off his little toy replica encouraged a warm broad grin to sweep across his features. Glad someone else could appreciate it. “You never know, if either of us do anything embarrassing out on the dance floor I could just make everyone forget.” Hickory hues skirted dowards to the thick plastic toy gun, “hold on. I’m going to let the bartender babysit this.” Purely for the sake of a laugh, Dominic had given the laser gun an affectionate morning pat before turning on his heel. 

Elizabeth half cheered with him chugging the beer down, it wasn’t much left but she wasn’t also a hundred percent self-aware with some drinks already in. “There, now you can dance-off.” She clapped as she half-shouted over the loud music. “Yeah, it’s not really my type of character or movies, I’d much rather go with MIB so good choice. Mission Impossible is pretty awesome too.” Even if none of the mentioned were her genre of flicks, she surely had seen a few of those and it’s sequels. “Oh, now that’s a nice skill set to carry!” She laughed in agreement. Lizzie hadn’t anything that embarrassing but it was always possible. She chuckled and waited for him to return empty-handed and smiled. “’Kay, now show me your moves!”

At her cheer, Matt pulled out some very silly and slightly cringy dance moves. The Lawnmower, the Sprinkler, etc, just to make her laugh. He pulled her around the dance floor in fun twirls and overdramatic dips, all for her smile and her love. He thought in that moment, that if he hadn’t already married her, he would want to marry her. Their problems weren’t over, not by a long shot, but he was glad they were here together. “Fine okay, just one! And I’m sticking to light stuff for the rest of this party.” He conceded, rolling his eyes at her accent. He smacked her ass lightly as she all but pulled him over to the bar. Because of the crowd, he had to move in very close. “Keep that up and see what it gets you.” He promised, soft and low in her ear as they maneuvered around their friends. He’d seen her in sexier things, but something about their costumes together and her playing along was making him very aware that he was only wearing underwear himself. At the bar, he gave a put upon sigh and ordered two shots of tequila.

She was thrilled as they headed to the bar for a drink, filled already with the sheer excitement of their drunk dancing moves. Although she was the dancer between them, Lizzie pretty much felt at ease letting Matt lead with his goofy dance moves. She loved him for it as much as she loved the tingling he left on the pit of her stomach when he planted that sweet whisper in her ear. “Oh, Master...” Before they reached the bar, Lizzie had only managed to give him a gaze with more lust than she would have expected herself. As their tequila was brought, Lizzie did the honor passing on the lime slice and then the salt after she had placed some of it on her hand, over the curve of her thumb and pointer. She waited for Matt to follow with his own routine and raised the shot glass. “Cheers to us, Matt.” Taking a tequila shot wasn’t exactly a sensual ritual, but she sure felt such with the strong alcohol hitting her system—a lick of salt, a gulp of tequila and a suck on the lime and Lizzie felt quite the satisfied wife by her stunning husband dressed in thighs. “Shit—I forgot how strong these were!” She says it mid laughter.

The caption says it all.

Well, we’ve been slowly finding out we need time for ourselves away from the children. I really enjoy it when we get to watch something together or go on a date. I think helps us keep the flames up and escape the routine.