Cheer Up!

Chapter 17

Two days later, I woke up in the morning with familiar, yet unwelcome sensations in my lower body. I got out of bed, glancing over at Luke, who was still asleep. I went into the bathroom, pulling down my panties for confirmation; and sure enough, my period had started. I sighed heavily, peeling off the crimson stained garment and tossing it and my other clothes aside, turning on the shower. Luke and I had been together less than a month, so I hadn't had my period while with him yet. I worried about how he would react to it as I waited for the water to warm up.

There was suddenly a loud boom as the door flew open, and Luke burst into the bathroom. I cringed as he quickly embraced me from behind. "Look at you, all naked and sexy," he said, nuzzling his face into my neck. His hands reached around and squeezed my breasts, and I tried to protest.

"Wait, Luke, I - " Before I could say more, one of his hands had slid between my thighs and was touching there insistently. "No! Don't!" I squealed, mortified.

Luke pulled away obediently, but looked puzzled as I turned to face him. "Why not? You were so wet..." As he spoke, he glanced down at his fingers, and I could see the surge of horror on his face when he saw blood there. "What the fuck?"

Tears of embarrassment sprung to my eyes. "I told you not to touch!" I wailed.

To my great surprise, Luke looked up at me, close to tears himself. "Why are you bleeding? Did I hurt you?"

This was not at all what I expected, so I just stared at him in disbelief. "I...I started my period." Luke just continued to look anguished, and it immediately struck me that he had no idea what I was talking about.

"Huh?" he said, looking bewildered.

I was initially in disbelief that a grown man could have no idea that girls had periods, but then I had to remind myself that his mother had died when he was very young, and he had lived around nothing but males. His father had obviously told him about where babies come from, but I supposed that the other details seemed superfluous, in the face of Luke not having to be around women. And I was sure that Selena, being the way she was, just avoided him one week out of the month, and he chalked it up to her temperament.

So, as strange as it seemed, there I was, standing naked in my bathroom, explaining menstruation to my husband. He just listened with wide eyes, like a little kid. I had an additional detail to tell him, one that I wondered why he had never noticed. "But my period is only about three days long, because I take the birth control pill. The foster home I stayed at before I came here strongly encouraged us to take them, because the last thing they wanted was more kids to take care of. I wasn't sexually active, but one good side effect is that it makes my periods only about three days instead of seven like they used to be. They gave me like, more than a year's supply when I left, so I've still been taking them. Which is a good thing, because of how much sex we have. Didn't you ever wonder why I wasn't worried about getting pregnant?"

Luke shook his head sheepishly. "No, I just didn't think about it." He bit his lip. "So this means..."

I nodded my head sadly. "Yeah, just until it's over. It should only be three or four days."

He looked devastated. "Three or four days of no sex?" he wailed. "I'll die!" He paused for a minute, in thought. "Okay, wait. We can't do it because it hurts if you're on your period, or just because you think it's gross?"

I blushed. "Well, I don't know if it hurts or not, but I don't think it would...I think most girls don't do it on their periods because of the mess."

His eyes lit up. "Well, I don't give a damn about that! I just want you! I don't care if it's messy." His attention was suddenly drawn to the shower, which had been running all this time. "Come on, we can do it in the shower!"

"But, Luke, I..." I vainly tried to protested as he herded me towards the shower. His hands were all over me under the warm water, and I couldn't help but relax in response to his caresses. "Luke, are you sure?" I managed to whisper. "This isn't going to gross you out?"

He kissed my neck. "I just won't look down," he murmured, and I shivered as his hand slipped between my thighs and rubbed at me. Before I knew what was going on, he had me backed up against the shower wall, one leg around his waist, as he pressed himself inside of me. "Oh, fuck," he groaned. "You're all hot inside...damn, it feels so good." I blushed, but closed my eyes and enjoyed his movements against me.

After a few minutes, he began bucking a little more erratically into me. "Shit...I'm gonna come...come with me, Angela...please," he groaned. I needed no prompting, as I was pretty close myself. I wiggled my hips furiously against him, then let loose a sharp cry as I climaxed. He cried out even louder as he released inside of me. Then he slowly slid out of me, as I unwrapped my thigh from around him. We washed ourselves off without looking down, and I smiled at him, blissful.

"See, that was pretty awesome, wasn't it?" Luke asked, and I just nodded. I discovered that my cramps had faded away after I climaxed, and I realized that I had found a natural solution to part of my monthly curse.

That day was the Arts Festival, so once we were dried off and dressed, we headed down to check it out together. Luke immediately gravitated towards a stall that Bo had set up. "No fair! Why is Pops letting you have a booth but he wouldn't let me have one?"

Bo just shrugged. "I dunno. I guess it's because I do more work with small furniture than you do." I had to admit that Bo had a point there. Since he wasn't as physically strong as Dale and Luke, he tended to work on smaller projects, as well as being a sort of go-fer for the two of them while they worked on construction projects. Luke frowned, but his envy faded away as he examined some of the things that Bo had made. The booth was full of chairs and stools of all different styles; and in addition to them being expertly constructed, they were also rather exquisitely painted.

Luke chuckled. "Yeah, you know, I can build a bed frame in like an hour, but I could never paint stuff like this. It's almost like a girl did it!" he chirped, and Bo's face reddened.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he fumed.

Luke held his hands up in a gesture of peace, backing away slightly. "Whoa, chill out, dude. I didn't mean that in a bad way. It was supposed to be a compliment." He reached up and smoothed at his bandanna, laughing nervously. Bo finally calmed down, and I ended up purchasing a lovely little stool, if only to appease him a bit.

We browsed around the square a little more, stopping in at Owen's booth and talking to him. Owen and Luke were pretty good friends, and Luke expressed surprise that Owen was now building furniture in addition to his blacksmithing. "We better watch out. You're gonna take away some of our business!" he chided good naturedly.

Owen laughed, then spoke in his smooth brogue. "Ah, don't you worry about that. Most of what I make is mechanical type furniture, like these refrigerators and these fold out couches. That's the kind of furniture construction I'm interested in: stuff with a metal based foundation. So, I won't be building beds or dressers any time soon!"

We moved along, looking at Mira's booth. It was full of lovely jewelry. I looked at it only half heartedly, as I had never really been into jewelry - the only piece I cared about was the simple gold band around my finger. We turned around when I was finished looking and nearly barreled right into Dr. Jin. He smiled kindly at us. "Hello, you two. How is your arm feeling, Luke?"

Luke moved it around a bit to show that it was still functioning properly. "It's cool. Oh yeah!" I cringed as I anticipated what he was about to say next. "It didn't hurt at all when I got on top of her the other day!" he said loudly, causing a few nearby people to look. My face burned, but I plastered on a grim smile. My shame deepened when I saw that two of the people who heard were the mayor, who looked perplexed, and Gill, who had already started howling with laughter.

"Luke is such a retard," he said through his giggles. "Angela - I told you so!" I shot him a malevolent glare, and he immediately shut his trap, for fear that I would throw something at him, I'm sure. Luke just looked at me innocently, then looked at Gill.

"Hey, silly Gilly! What's up?" he said, oblivious to everything. Gill just snorted and stalked away. Luke looked after him, puzzled. "What's wrong with him?" I just shook my head, sighing and shrugging. "Silly Gilly needs a girlfriend to make him happy," he commented, taking my hand.

"Yeah, maybe that's his problem," I murmured.

Luke suddenly wrapped me up in his arms, kissing me, and then he picked me up and twirled me around. I squealed as I flew through the air, then he set me back on my feet. He pulled me close once again. He stroked my hair while gazing into my eyes. "I could never be all pissy like Gill, because you make me so happy that I can't stop smiling." I smiled up at him, and gave a little shiver of joy.

We were staring back and forth at each other, so enraptured that we were oblivious to the world around us. Suddenly, I was snapped out of my blissful daze by the sound of someone going "Hmph!" angrily. I turned, but all I saw was a red ponytail disappearing around the corner of a stall. I looked around, and when I spotted Samson and Sue smiling at us a little apprehensively, I deduced that it had been Selena. I smiled at the older couple as we approached them to exchange greetings, but my eyes darted around nervously, afraid that Selena might pop up from any direction.

"We came to check out the arts festival," Sue explained. She hung her head a little. "Yes, all of us came. Selena's home from the dance troupe for a few days." She could tell I was nervous, and patted me on the arm. "Don't worry, dear. I told her to just leave you two alone."

I sighed with relief. "Good. I don't feel like getting slapped again."

I didn't realize what I had said would have such an effect on them, but Selena's parents had an immediate reaction to it. "Selena...slapped you?" Sue asked in a hushed whisper.

I squirmed. "Well, yeah."

Luke growled a little next to me. "And she cut your cheek with one of her rings too. I was so pissed, I couldn't see straight!"

Sue inhaled deeply through her nose. "I can imagine how you felt, because that's how I feel right now!" For a split second, I was worried that she was mad at me, but she glanced up at Samson and spoke. "I am going to give our girl a piece of my mind! I did not raise her like that!" She stormed off in the direction that Selena had gone, with Samson close on her heels. Luke followed them, pulling me along behind him.

"W-wait, Luke! I don't want to go!" I protested, dragging my heels as I tried to slow him down. He stopped, but we were still close enough to see Sue berating Selena.

"I can't believe that you would disrespect me and your father by behaving like that! Hitting another person!" Her angry shouts had drawn the attention of everyone in town, and people had gathered around that section of the square to see what was going on. "I want you to apologize this instant to Angela for slapping her!" I heard a shocked murmur go through the crowd. No one had known about what happened, and it was going to be a nine days scandal now, I just knew it.

Selena folded her arms over her chest and turned away slightly. "Hmph. I am not apologizing to anyone." She then uncrossed her arms and balled up her fists. "Especially not that ugly little bitch! She stole my boyfriend!" she spat venomously, finally looking at me. I shivered at the hate in her eyes.

Sue gasped, as did the rest of the crowd. "Selena! You watch your mouth this instant!"

Selena just seethed. "I'll say whatever I want!"

Samson groaned. "Ay, mama, it was such a mistake to bring Selena here. She obviously has a lot of growing up to do." He shook his head sadly at the disgraceful behavior of his daughter.

Selena tossed her ponytail defiantly. "I am grown up, thank you very much. Unlike some ugly little child brides around here!"

I shook a little with indignation, but said nothing. Luke surprised me by speaking up. His voice was calm. "Stop, Selena. I am so tired of you. I've been tired of you for a long time. I was your boyfriend, but that was a long time ago, and I'll never be your boyfriend again. I love Angela, and she makes me happy. You couldn't make me happy, because you're not happy yourself. Please, please, just give this up. You're only making yourself look totally stupid. Nothing you say or do is going to stop me from being with Angela." He shook his head, then squeezed my hand tighter.

The crowd murmured in reaction to his little speech, and I happened to see Gill's face. He looked a little startled at the eloquence Luke had suddenly displayed. Selena sniffed haughtily, and rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I don't know what I ever saw in you, anyway."

Luke shook his head. "I don't know, either. So, see? You don't really want me. You're acting like a little child who threw away a toy she didn't want, and is now pitching a fit because another kid is playing with it. It's sad." Selena gave a long sigh, then turned with her parents and left the square.

I was still shivering a little at encountering her again, and Luke released my hand, putting his arm around me. "It's okay, honey. It's over."

"Is it?" I asked him, looking worried.

He nodded. "I think so. She looked like she finally got what I was saying. And hopefully, Sue is going to watch and make sure she doesn't come here any more. She was pretty pissed at her!"

I giggled in spite of myself, imagining Sue dragging Selena around by her long ponytail, then beating her behind with a tiki torch. I nuzzled up to him. Bo ran up suddenly. "Wow, Luke! That was pretty bad ass!"

"Was it? I don't know, I was just talking and stuff."

Bo nodded furiously. "You were all like, being Angela's knight in shining armor!"

Luke began laughing. "Ohoho! Now I know whose romance novels those were all over the shop! You tried to tell me Pops was secretly into that stuff, but it's you, you silly boy!" Bo's face reddened like it had earlier.

"I-I-I do not read romance novels! Those are just for girls!"

Luke laughed some more. "Apparently not! 'Made for girls, but Bo likes them too!'" he sang, and Bo tried to kick him in the leg. "Hey, watch it, boy!" Luke gasped, dodging him. "I need that leg to do knight in shining armor stuff!" The thought made him laugh harder, Bo squawked angrily, and I just giggled at the two of them.