Brie stayed at the hotel the next to welcome Marc and his girlfriend to Chicago. When they arrived, Brie was getting ready to meet David for lunch. “Christopher, you’re not staying in the same room as your father and I. This room is only big enough for the two of us.”
“What about the rest of us?” he asked his mother.
She got into a drawer in the desk. “This is the room key for the room right next to us.” She handed him the key card. “Make yourselves comfortable. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to meet your father for lunch. You two are welcome to join us if you like.”
They exchanged a look. “You want to eat lunch with my folks?” Marc asked Mercedes.
“Sounds like fun. It will be nice to enjoy a meal with your parents without your brothers and sisters making a ton of noise”, she said with a smile.
Brie smiled back brightly. “Great. I’ll text him on the way to the restaurant to let him know to get a bigger table.” She grabbed her purse and coat and made her way to the door. “My limo will be here soon. Put your room and hurry down. I can keep the driver waiting for a little bit but not forever. Your father has a reservation at a very exclusive restaurant and it’s going to be hard to get a bigger table.”
They exchanged a looked again. “Then why don’t you and Dad eat lunch alone today and we’ll join you for dinner. It will give us time to get comfortable in our room”, Marc said.
“Are you sure, Marc?”
“Yeah, Mom. Go and enjoy lunch with Dad. Tell him I’ll see him at the park after lunch and we’ll join you for dinner tonight.”
Brie moved toward the door to leave and placed a kiss on her youngest son’s cheek. “Thank you, son. I’ll see you at the park as well.”
Marc’s cheeks turned bright red. “Mom, just go, please. Text me with the time lunch is over and you meet you and Dad there.”
Brie laughed quietly to herself as she walked away. It’s funny how all of my boys do that after they become teenagers, she thought to herself as she made her way down to the hall to the elevator. The moment I kiss them on the cheek, they turn redder than beets. I’m going to have to ask David about that over lunch. She stepped into the elevator and hit the button to go down to the lobby shaking her head.
She walked straight out of the hotel and got into the limo with a smile. Soon, she would be sitting with her husband and eating lunch, discussing what events that happened in the room before she left. She couldn’t understand why her boys all blushed when she would give them a kiss on the cheek. She had to understand why.
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“Marky, I didn’t know that a peck on the cheek from Mom would turn your cheeks fire truck red”, Mercedes laughed as the unpacked her toiletries.
“I’m not used to Mom kissing me anymore.”
“And why would that be? Who pulled away, you or her?”
“I wouldn’t say I pulled away, I just became a man.”
Mercedes looked at her boyfriend skeptically. “Are you serious? I think it’s more that all young men seem to pull away from Mom when they become adolescent and never really get over the embarrassment of Mom giving them a cheek. I’ll bet your Dad went through the same thing.”
“I wouldn’t know. Dad never really talks about his parents. From what I understand he and Grandpa Draiman weren’t really speaking to each other there for a while.”
“Well, that’s sad. Does your Dad blush when your Mom kisses him on the cheek?”
“Not that I’ve noticed. Do I blush when you kiss me on the cheek?” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tight against the front of his body.
“Not that I’ve noticed.” She laced her fingers in his as he kissed on her neck. “Marc, stop. I want to get a shower before we go to the park to meet your parents so that you can work.”
“Why don’t we take this to the bathroom then?”
“Why are you changing the subject?”
“Because I want to.” He paused and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Can I ask you a serious question?”
“What’s up, baby?”
“Now, mind you, this is hypothetical. If I asked you to marry me, what would you say?”
She froze. She wasn’t even breathing. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I really want to know what you would say. Hypothetically, of course.”
She blinked as she tried to gather her thoughts. “My first question would be, ‘Have you talked to my father?’”
“Say I had and he’s ok with the idea.”
“Then I’d say yes. I’d break into tears more than likely as I answered, but I wouldn’t turn you down. Does that answer your question?”
He smiled. “Yep. That’s all I needed to know. Now, why don’t we get ready to get ready to go to Millennium Park? I’ve got a massive production to help produce.”
She smiled back. “Why don’t we take that shower you suggested? I don’t know about you, but I could stand to have to hot water loosen up the tight muscles in my neck and my ass.”
He took her hands and pulled her toward the bathroom. “Why don’t we take that shower then? I’ll help the hot water help you relax.”
---------------
“Maybe you can clear something up for me, honey”, Brie said after she and David placed their orders for their food and their drinks had been delivered.
“What’s that?” he asked as he took a sip of his tea.
“Why is it that our boys blush when I kiss them on the cheek? It’s not like I haven’t kissed their cheek before.”
“Which one has done it most recently?” he asked as he folded his hands in front of him on the table.
“Marc. I invited him and Mercedes to join us. At first they were going to, but he changed his mind when I told them how difficult it was going to be to get a bigger table. I only needed to give you a little bit of notice. I know that. Anyway, I kissed his cheek as I walked out the door and told him that we’d see him at the park. He turned redder than a damn fire truck, David.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little at the end.
He chuckled and nodded. “I know what you’re talking about. A couple of the girls do that to me at times. When I was still speaking to my parents I would do it to my mom. It’s a guy thing. I don’t think I can explain it to you.”
“It’s a guy thing. It’s like the boys are embarrassed but me showing them affection. Malachai does it. Jacob does it. James, Jeremiah, Marc; they all turn into beets if I kiss them on the cheek. It’s that, ‘Geez, Mom, you’re embarrassing me’ look.”
He reached across the table and took her hands in his. “Baby, that’s not true. Our boys all love you. It’s just something a young man goes through when they hit a certain age. Sometimes we grow of it. Sometimes we don’t.”
“Seriously? They don’t blush when their respective women do it.”
“Unless you’re in the room.”
She blinked. “I didn’t know that.”
“Sweetheart, you cannot tell me you haven’t noticed.”
“No, I haven’t. This is honest to God the first I’m hearing about it.”
He chuckled. “Oh, honey, you’re so funny. I don’t think I can explain why they do it, but I know that it happens. Is you’re ever so watchful eye starting to go a little blind, love?”
She laughed. “No. I’m just not looking hard enough. I’ll just have to start looking a little closer from now on. That’s all.”
-----------------
“Ok, Dad, here’s what I need to know”, Marc said as he tinkered on his iPad, “that you know of, are all of the bands using visual effects?” He and his father walked side by side through the venue where his father’s final career performance would be held.
“I couldn’t tell you. I know that we are; your sister is. Matt’s bringing some special footage for his and Syn’s performance with Reckless Disregard. I think 5FDP will bring some footage.”
“Here’s what I’m going to do, then. I’m going to create an app on my iPad for each band participating. If they have footage, I need it. I will also need a set list and timing these cues is essential. I cannot stress how important it is, though I’m sure you know why I’m saying this. Another question, will there be any other effects? Pyro? Anything like that?”
“Again, son”, David said in an exasperated tone as he rubbed his hand over his bald scalp, “I couldn’t’ tell you. Your Uncles and I are pulling out all the stops for this show. We’ll have everything. I think we’re even going to have a laser light show at some point. You’re going to end up spending DAYS programming the three hours of our show into that little thing.”
“Good thing I’ve modified it and put extra RAM in it or we’d be fucked, huh?”
“Yeah. But, why are you programming everything in your iPad?”
“It’s going to help me with timing everything down to the millisecond if not less. The more efficient the timing is, the better the show will be for the crowd.” He continued to tinker with his iPad as they walked. “Dad, I wanna talk to you about something and I want you to be completely candid with me, ok?”
“Absolutely. What do you want to talk about, son?”
Marc sighed. “I’m thinking about marrying Mercedes. You and Mom wouldn’t be opposed to that, would you?”
David looked at his son in shock. “Why would we be opposed to that, Marc? You guys have always been free to be with whomever you chose. Have you spoken with her father about it?”
“Yeah, I’ve talked to JJ. He thinks I’m the coolest thing since sliced bread. He has called me dark and morose before though. Said he liked that most about me.” Marc brushed his shaggy bangs out of his face.
David chuckled. “Well, it beats nothing I suppose. I’ve never understood why you kept your hair so long and chemically straightened, Marc.”
“Why do you shave your head?”
David shrugged. “Touché. You do it to differentiate yourself from Jake, Jay, and ‘Miah who keep their hair short.”
“Exactly and you do it just to do it.”
David shrugged. “It makes sense, I guess.” He looked over at the stage to see what was going on, then back at his son. “Back on the subject of Mercedes. Marc, if you want to marry that beautiful young woman, then go right on ahead. Your mother and I would love to have her in the family.”
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