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S I X T E E N
- Aiden -
I was surprised how exciting it was to pursue Lucy.
I figured it wouldn’t be as thrilling as seducing a new woman because she was so familiar to me, but it wasn’t like that at all. On the contrary, it was arguably more nerve wracking.
Maybe because there was more to lose if it didn’t work out. But how could it not? I mean, we were so compatible, so comfortable with each other.
But the whole thing still felt a bit naughty, seeing her in this new light. She was always so off limits before so even flirting with her felt scandalous.
Frankly, she was kind of like a red onion. Not cause she was stinky and made me cry, of course, but because there were so many layers to her. And I was eager to discover them all, to memorize the different shades of pink her cheeks turned when I complimented her, to hear how her laugh changed depending on her level of nakedness.
Naturally, I never thought the guys she went for were good enough for her. She was too gorgeous and intelligent for any of them, at least the ones I’d met. Heck, she was probably too clever for me, too, but I was hoping my inherent charm and genuine affection for her would make up for that.
Cause ever since I realized there was a sexy woman hiding inside my best friend, I’d been desperate to coax her out and make her blush all over.
And she was so easy to be with. Plus, having her on my arm made me feel smarter, and I didn’t have to ask around to know if it made me more interesting. I guess the best way to describe it is that I stood taller when she was around.
Not that how tall I was mattered when we were horizontal, which is how I intended to spend more and more of our time together now that I’d seen how responsive she was to my touch. I mean, some women just laid there and let sex happen, but her noises filled the room. Even thinking about the sound of her hips swishing against my sheets was enough to fill me with fire.
And she didn’t make any stupid, sexy O faces. In fact, nothing about her was contrived. She was so natural, even the way she relaxed into me when I slid inside her.
I don’t know why she went to so much trouble to hide behind her thick eyeliner and her black clothes and her newly purple streaks. She didn’t have to do all those things to seem more complicated or interesting. She was perfect the way she was, and I was a perfect idiot for taking so long to realize it.
I smoothed my hand over my hair and rang the buzzer.
“Who is it?” Fiona asked.
“Aiden.”
I waited through the next buzzer and when I heard the latch click, I shoved the main door open. By the time I’d climbed the stairs, Fiona had already opened their door a crack.
I pushed it wider gently and looked around. “Hello?”
“Make yourself comfortable,” she yelled from down the hallway. “I’ll be out in a second.”
I closed the door behind me and looked around, smiling when I saw the flowers I got Lucy in a vase on the kitchen counter. Otherwise, their apartment looked the same as it always had, except now it wasn’t just a friend’s place, but the home of a woman I’d slept with and intended to sleep with again.
In the past, I’d been known to let myself in and grab a beer, but now that I was here with new intentions, I figured I would err on the side of being polite. Plus, Fiona was a wild card so I didn’t want to get too comfortable just yet. I’d always found her to be a bit manic for my tastes. However, I gave her the benefit of the doubt since she and Lucy were close.
I walked over to a bookshelf by the TV and looked at some pictures I’d never paid attention to before. There was one of Lucy and Fiona from several years ago where they each looked gloriously shitfaced, laughing with open mouths. There was one of Lucy’s brother holding her in a headlock not long after he’d shot past her in height and weight.
I skimmed over the ones of Fiona and her family and my eye was drawn to a small brass frame. I recognized Lucy’s Mother’s face instantly. Not just because I’d seen the same picture in Lucy’s wallet a thousand times, but because when we were kids, I thought her Mom was the coolest lady I’d ever met… Besides my second grade teacher, Miss Buckley, who was the first woman who made me realize that women’s legs were far more interesting then men’s.
Anyway, Lucy’s Mom used to let us eat ice cream for dinner sometimes. At my house, I could only have ice cream if I cleaned my plate of all its unsightly vegetables first. But as everyone knows, when you’re hungry, everything tastes way better.
As a result, ice cream always tasted better at Lucy’s house. And with Lucy. And it still did to this day. I can remember being hesitant sometimes when her Mom was getting a bowl out for me because I didn’t want to get in trouble. But as she scooped the ice cream, Mrs. Ryan would say, “Don’t be silly, Aiden. Life may be short, but it can still be sweet.”
I don’t know whether she knew she was sick then or not.
But she wasn’t sick in the picture because I know it was taken before Lucy was born, probably in the seventies since her straight hair was parted in the middle and too long to fit in the portrait.
“Can I get you a drink?” Fiona asked.
I jumped at the sound of her voice, not having realized she’d entered the room. Then I jumped again when I turned around and saw her green face.
She laughed. “Sorry. I hid as long as I could, but I need a top up.”
