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IVY
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THE WORLD FINALLY STEADIES, and I look over at David. He’s looking at me with what I have dubbed as my look. It’s a look of wonder, awe, and love.
“You okay?” I ask him.
“Yes.” He looks around with wonder in his eyes.
I nod, and I take his hand and start walking out of the rocks and down my road. A few minutes later, we reach my driveway, and he stops. He is staring up at the house.
I’m proud of my house and being able to buy it on my own. It’s got four bedrooms, a finished basement, and a big fenced-in backyard. In the driveway is Brian's car, a sharp contrast from the car styles he’s used it.
“What do you think so far?” I ask. He just smiles at me. We walk to the front door, and I unlock it and enter. Brian comes running up with a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream.
“I’m prepared this time, sugar and alcohol. How was your visit? Did you sleep with him? How did he take it when you said you wouldn’t go back until after his Army time? And HOLY SHIT!! IVY, WHAT DID YOU DO?!”
That would be the moment Brian saw David. I shrug my shoulder.
“This is Brian. Brian, this is my... boyfriend doesn’t seem strong enough of a word.” I laugh. “This is my David.”
David holds his hand out to shake, but Brian just stands there with wine in one hand and ice cream in the other, and his mouth wide open, and his eyes huge just staring at David.
“Okay, then.” I take the ice cream from him. “Maybe, let’s not waste this.” I grab David’s hand and bring him to the kitchen. I put the ice cream in the freezer and turn around to see David standing in the middle of the kitchen just looking.
I point at the microwave. “Did they have microwaves back then? I didn’t see one in your kitchen.”
“Yeah, my mom has been talking about them nonstop and begging me to install one.”
I then look in the fridge and see the pizza Brian had ordered. I pull out a slice, put it on a plate, and put it in the microwave for a minute. When the timer goes off, the pizza is warm but not hot, and I hand it to him. He touches it, amazed, and picks it up to eat it, and his eyes go wide.
“This pizza is amazing!” he says.
“Well, David Miller likes Pizza Hut, huh?” Brian says now that he’s finally composed himself.
“Brian, make yourself useful. David needs clothes. You know what I like, so do your thing.” I wink at him.
Brian's eyes light up, and he goes to grab his tape measure and takes a few measurements. I hand him my debit card and tell him to pick up David’s toiletries too, and he’s out the door.
I watch David slowly walk around the kitchen, taking it all in much as I did to his house that first day. He opens my dishwasher and shakes his head.
“A lot different than the one you have, huh?”
“Nancy would go crazy over this. She loves that dishwasher and won’t let anyone, even me, touch it still.”
“Oh, I know I got the talk.” I laugh.
I follow him into the living room as his eyes land on my large forty-inch TV, which I turn on, and his jaw drops at the color, quality, and that there are, in fact, over a hundred channels.
“I know you said a hundred channels, but...” He trails off.
“I know. It’s hard to imagine.”
I watch him nod, and he just looks around. I show him what a CD and DVD are, and my computer before I pull him to my room and lock the door.
He sits down on the bed and looks at the two framed photos on my nightstand that now match his. I come up and stand between his legs, and he rests his head on my chest and wraps his arms around my waist.
“A lot to take in, isn’t it?” I ask.
“Yes, but seeing you here in your world, your eyes lit up today, talking about this stuff.”
“David, my eyes lit up because I got to share it with you, and I got to watch you take it all in. None of this means anything without you, though, I’d give it all up in a second to just have you.”
He looks up at me with his arms still wrapped snugly around me. “How can I help? Can I leave you some money in my will or hell, leave you my house? Please let me take care of you.”
“Baby, you can’t be linked to me. How would you explain leaving money to someone whose parents haven’t even met yet at the time of your death? It would raise too many questions. Your house is going to be a museum dedicated to your career, and your fans will be visiting it. Millions a year will come and see where you lived and visit your grave and your parents' graves. It will provide hundreds of jobs for this community, and we aren’t changing that.”
He squeezes me tighter. “Our house, beautiful, that isn’t my house. It’s our house.”
That makes me smile. I wish it could be true more than anything, but I take what I can get.
“I will find a way to take care of you. Mark my words, I will find a way.”
I laugh because somehow, I know he will.
“So, we have ten days?” he asks.
“Yes, what do you want to do while you’re here?”
“I want to go for a drive and see your Nashville.”
I think about it. We can take Brian’s car because he has tinted windows, and if we stayed in the car, and he wore a hat and sunglasses, it could work.
“Okay, but we do not get out of the car, and you have to wear what I tell you.”
He nods and agrees.
“Baby, I need you.” I run my hand over his already hard cock.
I stand and slowly strip, giving him a show once I’m naked. I move to him and help him take his clothes off. Then I crawl into bed, and he’s right beside me.
We lie on our sides facing each other, and his eyes never leave mine. He grabs my leg and pulls it over his hip, then slowly slides his cock into me. His strokes are unrushed but firm. His hand comes up to cup my breast, and his thumb rolls over the already hard peak and strokes it in time with his cock moving in and out of me.
He’s so sweet, and it breaks my heart. Between kisses, he tells me how much he loves me and how his life held no meaning until I walked in. How he lives for me, how he doesn’t care if it’s in my world or his, but he will find a way for us to be together.
I love his dirty talk, but this sweet side of him is just as much of a turn-on, and I’m already so close.
“My sweet, sweet Ivy, I’m going to spend the rest of my life living for you. I’m going to make you so damn proud of me, and everything I do will be for you. I love you more than words could ever express. Come for me, my sweet girl.”
He kisses me and moves his hand down to stroke my clit. I shatter in his arms with my heart full and my body locking up and clamping down on him. He thrusts a few more times before pulling out and coming on my thigh without ever breaking the kiss.
When he’s done coming, he slides his cock back into me. It seems to be his favorite thing; he loves falling asleep with his cock inside me. But this time, we just lie there staring into each other’s eyes, neither of us wanting to break the spell. I tell him how much I love him and how my heart and soul are his for always.
After a bit, we hear Brian come home. The door closes, and we hear him yelling, “My eyes are closed. I don’t know where you ended up, but I promise I can’t see a thing just... OW!” I hear him run into a wall and can’t help but laugh.
David has a huge smile on his face too. “I think I like him,” he says, making me smile.
“Ivy, are you here? MARCO!” Brian yells.
I laugh. “POLO! We are in my room and will be out in a few. Your eyeballs are safe!” I yell back.
“Oh, thank god! I’m going to unload my car!” Brian yells back.
I turn to David, who is still looking at me with so much love on his face I tear up.
“Let’s get dressed and go see what he got for you. Then we can spend the day exploring the TV, okay?”
His eyes light up, and he nods. We get cleaned up and dressed. I dress in my normal clothes, yoga pants, and a racerback tank top.
“That’s what you wear around the house?”
“Yes,” I say a bit hesitantly
“Beautiful, that is so damn sexy. How am I ever going to get enough of you?”
“I hope you never do because I couldn’t bear to lose you,” I say honestly.
“I couldn’t agree more.” He kisses me on the forehead.
We walk out to see Brian standing around a pile of bags, and I groan. “How did my bank not call and say my debit card was stolen?!”
“Girl, because you go on worse shopping sprees than this, just with food!” he says, and I laugh. He continues. “The girl at the counter thought I was crazy as we hunted down his scent bath products, but because I’m awesome, I found them! Oh, and look at this,” he pulls a shirt from the bag.
It says, “I’m not old, I’m vintage,” and I bust out laughing.
“Wait, one more!” Brian says, looking so proud of himself. This one says, “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” My eyes tear up instantly.
“Beautiful, please, you have to tell me why you’re upset, so I can fix it.” His thumbs are brushing away my tears, and I faintly hear Brian saying how freaking perfect he is.
“The Hall of Fame, you get inducted into it. It opened after you died, and you were one of the first people they inducted at their opening along with Elvis, Chuck Berry, and a few others.”
David looks back at the shirt, and a slight smile crosses his lips, but he looks a million miles away before his eyes land back on me.
We spend the rest of the day with me cooking and Brian showing him all about the TV. I put his clothes in my closet with mine and his stuff in the bathroom. I get now what he means about his stuff mixed in with mine. At one point, when I brought out some more snacks, David grabbed me around my waist and pulled me onto his lap.
“Sit with me, beautiful. My skin is crawling from having you so close and not touching you.” He kisses my neck.
An hour of snuggling later, he asks, “When will I see color TV in my time?”
I pull out my phone and google it. “Early 1960s,” I say, and he nods.
We have dinner, and I show him a bit of what I do with the food and pictures and some of my work. Brian agrees to let us take his car out tomorrow so long as we stay IN the car, and we agree.
Then we spend the night making love soft and sweet just like we did that afternoon.
***
IN THE MORNING, BRIAN helps me get David ready to go out. We used a hair spray color leftover from Brian’s Halloween costume to dye David’s hair and assured him it would wash out tonight. Then I have the best time dressing him. I put him in a pair of medium wash jeans and a button-down shirt the same color blue as his eyes. I roll the sleeves up on the shirt, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look more handsome.
“You look so freaking sexy. I don’t want to let you leave this room, much less the house.” I run my eyes down his body.
“Stop looking at me like that beautiful, or you will never get me to go back home when our ten days are up.”
“Looking at you like what?”
“Like you’re fucking me with your eyes.”
“That’s because I totally am,” I admit, and he growls at me. After a day of TV, he is talking a bit more like Brian and me; it makes me smile to myself. I wonder if he even realizes he’s doing it. His words are a bit more relaxed and not so properly spoken.
I sigh and take his hand. I put sunglasses on him, and we get out the door and into Brian’s car. Before I can even back out of the driveway, I see him fidgeting in his seat.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, and I pull on to the street.
“This is wrong. I should be driving you around.”
“This isn’t 1958, David. Us women like to drive ourselves, thank you. We aren’t helpless, you know,” I say a bit harsher than I meant.
His head snaps to mine, and he takes my hand. “No, not like that, beautiful, I just like taking care of you, and that includes driving you around so you can relax. I trust you completely, I just...” I squeeze his hand and interrupt him.
“I’m sorry, I understand.” I take a deep breath.
Taking him downtown, I drive many of the same roads he took me on and point out some of my favorite places. We drive down Broadway, and there are a few places with statues of him, Elvis, or Johnny Cash outside. I point them out, and he just shakes his head.
“It’s just hard to wrap my head around it. I never expected to be anybody. I loved to sing, and it just took on a life of its own. But here. I’ve been dead how long?” he asks.
“Just about forty years.”
“Forty years, and I’m still such a big name like this? I just can’t wrap my head around it is all.”
“Well, I think a part of it is you died in the height of your career; people speculate where you would have been if you lived. Johnny Cash was a huge name in your time too, and he stayed popular all his life and is still pretty big now seven years after his death, but the hype around you is even bigger. Many people from your era made a huge impact on music and what it is today. Elvis, Dean Martin, Patsy Cline, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Chuck Berry, and later, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys.”
I continue. “If that isn’t enough, you go on to star in some of the most iconic movies. I think I read you starred in over twenty movies! Two of the most popular being the one in New York and the one in Hawaii, and baby, when you are filming in Hawaii, think of me and bring me back Hawaii as best you can. It’s been a dream of mine to visit there someday.”
He leans his head back against the headrest, taking it all in, then he rolls his head to the side to look at me.
“I will get you to Hawaii, beautiful. I’ll use a fake name if I have to, and we will make love on the beach. Give us both something to look forward to.”
“I want to show you something even though I probably shouldn’t.”
We drive down by Ivy Hill. We can’t get close unless we get out of the car, and we can’t do that, but he can see the buildings across the street that holds his awards and cars and all his memorabilia. He can see the signs and his fans walking around.
“This is what has become of your house. They proudly display all your awards, outfits, cars, and your home is open for tours.”
He nods. “Is the blue one on display there?” he asks.
My face flushes as I think about what exactly we did in the back seat of that blue car. “Yes, it is.”
He groans. “We need to talk to Brian. I want to see all this. Please, I’ll wear a wig. I don’t care, I just... I have to see it,” he begs.
“Baby, I will do anything for you. Just let me find a way, okay? Now one more stop before we head home.”
We stop at Panera Bread and get several chicken salad sandwiches for dinner. “Remember when I said I’ve had a better chicken salad sandwich? Well, this is it, and it will be dinner.”
His eyes light up. “I can’t wait to try it.”
We get home, and Brian isn’t home from some work meeting yet, so David pulls me to the couch and kisses me long and hard.
“Thank you for today. As hard as it is to be away from you, seeing how important my staying in 1958 is helps. It’s one thing to hear what my legacy does, but another thing to see it. I’m not sure I fully grasp it, but I understand it a lot more now. For that reason, I will live my life in 1958, but only if you promise to visit as much as you possibly can.”
“Of course, I will, baby, and I promise to be there when you need me at every event in your life. I will make sure of it.” I smile at him. He lays me down on the couch and kisses me as he lays on top of me, and we have a good old fashion make-out session.
That’s how Brian finds us when he gets home.
“Oh, god! Couldn’t you have at least put a sock on the door?!” he screeches.
Laughing, I sit up and adjust my shirt, and David adjusts himself.
“We weren’t doing anything, and besides, we aren’t in college anymore, so no sock on the door, but we do have something to ask of you.”
“Anything if it means I don’t walk in on that again.” Brian makes a fake disgusted face.
So, I go for the shock factor. “Well, I want to go back when David does just for two weeks. I’ll come home the day before he gets his draft orders. I think it’s best I’m not there for that.”
I see David’s eyes go wide, and a huge smile spreads on his face. He leans into me and kisses me. “So I will get two more weeks with you?” he asks with so much hope in his eyes.
Brian looks at me, then shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t see why not.”
David’s face lights up, and he kisses me again.
“One more thing. David wants to go tour Ivy Hill while he’s here.”
“WHAT?! NO!” Brian screeches.
“Wait. Hear me out, okay? What if he dyed his hair AND we had him in a baseball cap, sunglasses, AND he grew out a beard? There are next to no pictures of him in a beard, and that wasn’t until he was older. Come on, they have the impersonators go there all the time, all dressed up who actually look and sound like him. He will fly under the radar, and if he doesn’t, we’ll bolt. And they chalk it up to the crazies having another sighting, but how would they explain a sighting of twenty-three-year-old David when he should be close to seventy-five by now?”
Brian pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes and takes deep breaths. “Okay, how about I promise not to go into the depression like I did last time I came home? It will be two years this time. I can’t promise I won’t have bad days, but I promise to be myself and reinstate weekly movie nights and going out and being your wing-woman to find you, Mr. Right. Please, please, please?” I try to bribe him.
His eyes soften, and he looks over at David and then me. He hugs me tight. “Okay, but just so you know, I was never upset at you over the past seven months. I love you, Ivy, you’re my best friend, and more than that, you are family.”
Then he pulls back and looks at David. “Okay, buddy, one week. Don’t shave, and we will be dying your hair, and you won’t be talking while we are there. Oh, and Ivy, teach him to use an iPad. They use them for the tours there. I’ll plan an outfit that won’t draw attention. And whatever you two do, please keep it to your bedroom, and I promise to call you on my way home from now on and announce myself coming in the house.” He forced a whole body shudder out.
I laugh and get out the bag with the chicken salad sandwiches in it for dinner, and we three all sit at the table.
“Okay, so the first day we met, we had lunch together, and he serves chicken salad sandwiches and claims they are the best he’s ever had,” I tell Brian.
“In which case, she takes a bite and says she’s had better and tells me the little deli by her house makes them.” David holds up his sandwich.
Brian laughs. “Okay, take a bite, and let us know what you think.”
Then we watch David take a bite. “Don’t think I’ve had people watch me eat so intently before,” he says before taking another bite.
He nods his head and swallows. “Well, as always, my woman is right. This is much better than what I served her. I need this recipe for Nancy.”
I laugh. “Oh, this will be one of many recipes you add to your collection I plan to rock your food world over the next three weeks.”
David just smiles at me and gives me my look. The one that tells me everything I need to know.
