Love and Marriage

“Good morning, Sunshine!”

I whispered to Jonah as his eyes fluttered open that morning. He furrowed his brows for a second before he responded.

“Were you watching me sleep?” He stretched out his arms, but then wrapped them around me again.

“Of course not!” I looked around, obviously lying, and smiled.

Jonah laughed and brought his forehead to mine.

 I looked at his eyes while he stared down. “You look so...pretty when you sleep.” I scrunched my nose. Jonah already liked me, so I didn't know why I was feeling so nervous laying there with him.

His eyes looked up at me. “I look pretty when I sleep?”

I nodded my head, “for lack of a better term.”

Jonah smiled. “I could literally think of a million other terms.” His hand moved from my back up my body and rested just behind my neck. His thumb gently played with my ear.

By now I could tell that he knew I was feeling anxious and was just trying to egg me on.

“Jonah, you know what I meant.” I sighed and rolled my eyes. I pushed his shoulder back, hoping he would move so I could get out of bed.

“Where do you think you're going?” He grabbed my hand and rolled me back. “You think I'm going to let the most handsome girl get out of my bed just like that?”

I felt my cheeks burning red as I laughed.

Jonah kissed my neck and the tiny stubble on his face tickled my skin. I flinched at the feeling.

“What is it?” he asked.

“it tickles”

“What? This?” He rubbed his face on my neck.

I laughed as I tried to push him away. He pinned me down and refused to let me go. I squirmed and begged for mercy, but that just made him do it even more.

I finally broke free and jumped off the bed. “You're such a freak!”

“Don't act like you don't love it!” Jonah laid back on the bed with his arms behind his head. I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

That afternoon a few of Jonah's old childhood friends invited him to go play basketball. He wanted me to come along with him, but I refused to be one of those clingy girlfriends that never let her man do anything by himself. Leeches, as me and Kadie would call them.

So, Anna, Casey, and Mandy decided to show me the local mall. Plus, Mandy had an upcoming school event and wanted to buy a new dress.

We spent a couple of hours shopping around when Mandy finally found a few dresses at a cute little boutique that she liked. Casey, Anna, and I sat in the waiting area of the fitting room drinking our boba lattes. It was setup nicely like a showroom of an upscale furniture store.

“So” Anna said quietly. I was sitting in between her and Casey. “Will you be converting?”

“Pardon?” I almost choked on the damn tapioca balls in my drink.

“Mom!” Casey reached over and lightly nudged Anna's knee “Lynn, don't pay my mom any attention.”

“What? He's my only baby boy!” She threw a stare back at Casey. “Look, don't take this offensively, but if you want to be a part of Jonah's life, you're going to have to learn our traditions.”

“They've just barely started dating again, you can't ask her something like that!” Mandy chimed in. The three of us looked over to see her standing in the dress she'd tried on.

“Oh my God, Mandy” I looked at her with wide eyes.

“Honey you look beautiful!” Anna stood up from her seat and walked towards Mandy.

“Mom, did you hear me? That's so inappropriate!” Anna was pulling at Mandy's dress trying to fix the lining.

Casey followed after her. “If you don't get this dress, I'm gonna have to!”

“Yes, I heard you and I don't think it's inappropriate. I think it's a fairly reasonable question to ask.” She finished fixing the dress and spun Mandy around to look in the mirror.

Casey glanced over her shoulder at me,“She can be a little... blunt”

“I...” I stood up from my seat and joined them at the mirror. Before I could finish, Anna cut me off.

“Unless you don't see yourself with Jonah.” The three of them turned to look at me and I felt like I was on trial for murder.

“I...” I stumbled on my words. She was asking me things Jonah and I hadn't even thought about discussing because they were so far in the future.

“Mom!” Mandy irritatedly looked at Anna. “You're doing it again. You're making her feel uncomfortable.”

Anna continued to look at me and respond, “Amanda, as Jonah's mother I have to make sure the woman he's dating has pure intentions.”

“Of course I do!” I was suddenly irritated at the judgment of my character.

Casey noticed my defensiveness and stepped in, again. “I've gotten to know you over time in a way that my mother hasn't yet” She turned towards her mom as if to direct the rest of her statement towards Anna. “And I know, in the future, you and Jonah will work through any differences that may come up between you two.”

“Look, Lynn” Anna grabbed my hands as she spoke to me. “I like you, I really do. But, you have to understand that Jonah's my only boy. When two people are in a relationship from different backgrounds, it can be tough.”

Mandy sighed heavily and interjected, “I'm gonna change.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed the next dress to change into.

“I love Jonah enough to look past any differences.”

“If that's the case, I think you should consider converting.”

“I don't see why that's necessary”

“It's not” Casey added. “Mom, religion is the least of people's worries these days. Can you drop it already?”

Anna ignored Casey. “It's necessary because a woman carries the tradition along. I can't have my grand kids confused about their beliefs.”

There was a second of silence before Casey, Mandy, and I bursted into laughter. I hadn't even spent a full 48 hours with Anna and she was already talking about grand kids. The whole conversation seemed hilariously bizarre yet understandable.

Mandy came out of the fitting room and rested her hand on my shoulder. “You're the first one of Jonah's girlfriends I actually like. Please don't let my crazy mother drive you away!”

I kind of felt like I knew where Anna was coming from. She and Jonah seemed to have a close relationship and if anyone was going to look after him it was her. So, I brushed the conversation off knowing that discussing it was going to get us nowhere.

“Spending time with you two this weekend makes me feel like y'all are the sisters I never had.” I turned towards Anna, “And I hope one day I can call you my mother, but that's something that's light years away from even discussing, and when it is time to talk about it, it's something Jonah and I will have to figure out together.”

She looked off into the distance and curled her lip in. “Okay” Her arms opened up to give me a hug. “I just want you two to be happy. That's all.”

“Aw how cute!” First Mandy joined in on the hug then Casey.

We were having a bonding moment when the sales associate walked in on us. “Uh, are you gonna buy that, or not?”

After we were done shopping we went back home for dinner. Jonah's aunt, uncle, and cousins stopped by and after a night of games and conversations, we were back in bed.

Both Jonah and I laid on our backs in the dark room looking up at the ceiling.

“Hey, you promise you won't tell anyone?” I whispered.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Today, when we went shopping, your mom asked me if I was planning on converting.”

There was a few seconds of silence.

“Converting for what?” I felt him lean on his elbow, facing me.

“That's what I said!” I loudly whispered back.

“I'm surprised Casey didn't try to stop her.”

“She did. Multiple times. And so did Mandy.”

“Mandy was there?” His voice grew. “My mom is too much. I'm sorry you had to deal with that” He sighed and fell onto his back again.

“It's okay. I just thought it was something I needed to let you know. But I don't know why she would assume that we're planning on getting married.”

It was quiet for a while.

“I may have talked to her about you.”

“What?” it was my turn to dramatically lean up on my elbow and stare at him. “You talked about getting married? To me? With your mom?”

“Not exactly getting married, but more so along the lines of love.”

“So she thinks you're getting married because you're in love.”

“Well, can you blame her? Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. You can't have one without the other.”

“Stop quoting Frank Sinatra.”

“I can't help it.”

“This is why we can't get married.”