The Incident: A Night With Rebekah

“You’re absolutely insane, you know that, right?”

Jada looks at you with a smirk on her face as you continue to knead the dough you’re working on with vigor.

“Look, Rebekah’s coming back tonight and she once told me she had this at a five-star restaurant one time and it was the best meal she ever ate,” you reply. “Kind of a birthday present she gave herself when she came into some money.”

“And you think you can cook a dish you’ve never even heard of before like a five-star chef today?”

“I… can try. Pass the margarine, will you? I think I need more for the pastry.”

“Margarine?” she asks.

“Well yeah, I mean the recipe I found said something about Frunjipang needing something called Plugra or Ishni Saint Mare or something but I looked it up and it’s just butter so it should be okay.”

Jada casts a glance at the printed recipe lying on the counter next to you and gives you an odd look.

“That appears to be making some kind of tart. You know, small pastries. You have a large pie tin?”

“Well she’s gonna be hungry!” you state. “And besides, we didn’t have the right size cake tin. This’ll be better anyway.”

She reaches a hand into her hair, rubbing the back of her neck. Her head shakes as you give her a desperate look. The truth is, it doesn’t seem to be going right and you haven’t even finished making the pastry cover yet. You’ve never baked before, not seriously, but this is for Rebekah’s return home.

“I’m sure she’ll love it,” says Jada. “At least I hope so. Anyway, I’m heading out to the movies so you two can have a quiet night together.”

“Thanks, Jada,” you reply. “I wouldn’t ask, but…”

“But you haven’t spent any time with your fiancée since Rebekah’s pregnancy was confirmed about a week ago? Of course you want some free time. Besides, they’re showing a movie about the rise of ancient Babylon, and how the laws of Hammurabi were first devised down at Joey’s Nerd Shack.”

You give her a look. “You watch that kind of thing for fun?”

“I do,” she replies. “And do you really want to compare what extra-curricular activities we’ve both been involved in this year?”

You shake your head, well aware that any rational consideration of what you’ve had to do in College Spread won’t come out with you looking as good as you’d like to think.

“Okay, have a great time!”

When you finally take the frunjipang pie out of the oven, you’re not sure it resembles the food in the recipe at all. You’d added a pastry lid, because Rebekah also likes a fruit pie sometimes. You hadn’t had any almond paste, but did read a suggestion online that you can replace it with crushed breakfast cereal. That meant Rebekah’s favourite, Fruity Twists, could go in there. You’d even added an extra two cups of sugar because she liked her breakfast cereal sweet since she’d become pregnant. Whatever it is though, you’ll have to hope for the best. Rebekah messaged you from the station already and will be home in thirty minutes. That just about gives you time to call for a pizza.

You’ve barely put the pizzas down on the table when you hear Rebekah’s car pull into the driveway. You’d recognize the sound of that engine even if there was no reason to expect the car to be anyone else’s. Hopefully, now that HexDrive has serious sponsorship, she’ll be able to get it fixed. That’s barely a thought, though, as you run to the door.

“HONEY!” you yell as Rebekah crawls from the car.

She smiles, weakly though, exhaustion making more than that impossible. She steadies herself on the hood of her car and you dash out to help her. Your arms wrap around her, scooping her up into a cradle carry before you head into the house.

She giggles. “You’re so cute, baby,” she says.

“And you’re exhausted,” you say. “You’ve been doing way too much, but tonight I look after you.”

You set her down next to the couch and she slumps into it with a smirk. “‘Look after’ sounds… fun. I’ve had to ‘look after’ myself all week.”

You know what she’s getting at and you can see she’s way too tired for anything sexual right now. Not that that fact stops your dick responding to her teasing.

“Heh. You’re so tired I doubt you’d even know what’s happening. No, right now I mean I got pizza and Doctor Lisa Lemonade…”

“Poop,” says Rebekah, giving the fakest frown you’ve ever seen.

You raise her chin with your finger and give her a soft kiss. “Maybe when you’ve rested,” you say. “I mean I’ve missed you too.”

She sticks her tongue out at you, but doesn’t press the issue.

“I rented your favourite movie too, Chaos Gone Wild.”

Your fingers curl around the remote control as you turn the TV on. A few button presses later and the movie starts. You’ve never really understood the storyline properly, but the heroine is very Rebekah - driven, determined, and unable to stop before enough becomes too much. What matters tonight is that she loves it.

After giving her the remote, you head to the kitchen and grab some plates for the pizza. Four slices each, two Hawaiian Jalapeno and two Big Sausage Specials. Again, the two kinds she loves most. She takes the plate in a hand that shakes under the weight and thanks you. She seems to be barely awake, and after travelling across half the country that’s really no surprise, but she never goes to bed without unwinding with a game, a movie or a fuck first. Often all three.

As she eats, she lays her hand on the front of your pants, stroking slightly. It seems almost automatic, a self-soothing motion. You don’t stop her. If she needs this right now, then you can hardly refuse her. It feels good, even if you’re going to end up a little frustrated. On screen the heroine rages at a judgmental neighbor who just called her out for wearing a bikini as she walked through the street.

“If I wanted your opinion, I’d give it to you!” she snaps.

That is Rebekah, perfectly displayed in 210 minutes of video.

“I made you some frunjipang,” you say.

She pauses in the middle of her fourth piece of pizza. She’s eaten so fast she can barely have tasted it. You wonder just how hungry she is.

“What, baby?” she asks.

“Frunjipang… I remember you said you had it once and absolutely loved it.”

“Frunji…” she pauses, seemingly deep in thought. A slight laugh later and she smiles. “Oh yeah… er… Frunji… pang? Frunjipang. That’s amazing, baby. You’re so good to me!”

You finish the piece of pizza you’re eating and walk into the kitchen. You’ve kept the frunjipang pie warm in the oven. When you take it out, you can’t help but think it looks a little… you’re not sure what the word is, but hopefully it’s good. You put the pie on the table and cut her a large slice. It seems nice and firm; the crust thick and tasty, you’re sure. The smell isn’t fantastic, but then you’ve never had it before so you assume that explains why. You cut a second piece for yourself, put both on plates and bring it and two spoons to the couch.

“Thanks… er… what is it?” Rebekah says as you pass a plate to her.

“Frunjipang, like I said,” you reply.

“Oh. You made it into… a pie?”

You nod enthusiastically. “I know you like fruit pies and I didn’t have any small cake tins like in the recipe, so I just thought this would be better.”

She pushes her spoon through the crust and pauses.

“It’s… very firm.” she says.

She’s smiling, but it doesn’t look like her normal smile. It reminds you of the one she wore when HexDrive came in second in Nationals and it seemed like the orgy you and Priya had offered had been lost. It just shows how tired she is.

“Thank you,” she says. “It looks like the crust is glazed somehow too?”

You nod vigorously. That was your biggest stroke of genius. “It’s honey, HONEY!”

She gives a short laugh. “Sweet…”

You watch as she raises the piece on her spoon to her mouth. Her lips open, the spoon goes in, and she bites down. She makes a sound and jerks like she’s about to throw up. Her hand goes to her mouth and her eyes open wide.

“I’m sorry,” you say. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

She chews, but the delighted look on her face is as plastic as the vibrator in the picture she sent. She winces, her smile dropping to a grimace before it’s nailed back in place. Finally, she manages to swallow.

“It’s… ummm. It’s probably the best FRUNJIPANG in the whole world!”

“Don’t lie to me, please,” you say.

“Well… I mean… the real thing is called frangipane, so this is all your dish, baby. And I absolutely adore you for trying so hard, but…”

“But?” you ask.

“But can I maybe have a slice of pizza instead?”

Rebekah’s virtually asleep before the movie ends. You realize just how tired she is when the final piece of pizza falls from her mouth onto her chest. With a chuckle, you nudge her gently.

“Come on, honey,” you say. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“You wanna have sex…?”

You can’t resist the laugh that escapes your throat. “I mean, I would, but you’re too tired, honey. Let’s go.”

“You’re no fun!” she complains.

There’s the sound of a chime from the table where she tossed her jacket. It’s probably a text message, you think, and so it can wait until tomorrow.

“Can you get that for me, baby?” she slurs.

“It can wait,” you say.

She shakes her head. “I jus’ wanna make sure it’s nothing important.”

“Okay, okay,” you say as you stride over to get the phone.

The text message is still on screen, and it doesn’t look good.

“Who’s Titus?” you ask, reading it.

She’s suddenly alert and startled, as if she’s snapped out of a deep sleep suddenly.

“He says he thinks they broke his arm…”

She grabs the phone from you, shaking her head and moaning, “No, no, no.”

“Who is it? What’s going on?”

Her brow is creased into deep furrows, her eyes wide, her lips trembling. “M-m-my b-brother!”