“I promise,” he said, kissing her again. “Right back.”
Before she could say anything else, he shoved his feet into his shoes and ran out the door, leaving her there butt naked and still a virgin.
Five
Max felt it shouldn’t be this hard to find a condom in a sex club. In fact, if Miles did invest in this place, Max would tell him they should have bowls of condoms at the bar and on all the tables.
That idea didn’t help him tonight, however, and the more time he spent trying to find any semblance of protection, the more worried he became that he was going to lose his chance with Cherry. And it wasn’t only that he wanted to sleep with her, although of course he did. There was just something about her that he liked. It was rare for him to meet someone and like them right off the bat. Miles liked to say Max had to grow on people, but Max always thought it was more that people had to grow on him. He didn’t let down his guard for just anyone, and yet one spilled drink, and Cherry had somehow wormed her way in.
And now he was going to lose his chance with her, all because he didn’t think to double-check that the condom heswore he always kept in his wallet was there. Although in his defense, when he left his house this morning, he had no intention of getting laid tonight.
After walking circles around the club, asking various servers and bartenders about a condom, Max finally did what he should’ve done in the first place. Tapping the shoulder of a man in the middle of somehow being kissed by two women at the same time, Max said, “Sorry to bother you, but do you have a condom?”
Surprisingly, the man didn’t seem bothered at all. He simply slid a hand into his pocket and pulled out a strip of condoms, tore one off, and handed it to Max, all while the women moved their mouths from his lips to his neck.
“Thanks, man,” Max said. The guy just waved him off, which was great because Max was already running back to Cherry. He knocked on the door once, and then again when he heard nothing. He wasn’t sure if the music blasting through the club was just too loud, so he knocked a third time and then finally let himself into the room, only to find it empty, all traces of Cherry gone.
Six
In Stella’s defense, she had waited.
But there was only so long someone could lie on a bed that wasn’t her own without any clothes on before asking herself what on earth was she doing. For starters, she had no idea how clean those sheets were. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, was she really just waiting there, tits out, legs open, serving herself up on a platter for some guy she didn’t even know to come back with a condom and have his way with her? Was she really that desperate?
If she was really Cherry, or Chelsea, she would’ve put her dress back on, stormed out into the club, and found someone else to sleep with. Stella wasn’t Cherry, though, so instead, she put her clothes back on, grabbed her stuff from coat check, and went home. Which was good, because apparently Chelsea had locked herself out of their apartment and needed Stella to let her in.
In sum, the whole night was a bust. Okay, maybe not thewhole night. She would never forget the feel of Max’s mouth or the orgasm that he coaxed out of her in record time. That was at least worth something. Still, she felt unsatisfied.
She hated that at twenty-seven years old, she still felt so behind. When she’d graduated high school, it hadn’t bothered her much that she hadn’t had sex despite various sources of media telling her high school was the time to swipe your V-card.
Going into college, most of her friends also hadn’t had sex, and Stella was confident (for some reason) that it would happen within those next four years. But then she graduated college and started interning, then working full-time. Then it felt like suddenly, overnight, all her friends were having these different experiences that she could only smile and nod at, until finally she looked around and she was the last virgin standing.
Stella didn’t want it to matter. She knew there were probably plenty of people just like her who lacked experience and that at twenty-seven, she was actually still pretty young. That didn’t stop her brain from often wondering why it seemed so easy for her friends to get dates and fall in love, or at the very least hook up, and yet it seemed almost impossible for Stella.
Even last night with Max, he didn’t like her because she washer; he liked her because she was Cherry. Hot, daring, exciting Cherry, who would’ve already forgotten Max by now instead of wondering if she should’ve just waited a bit longer for him to come back so they could have the kind of sex that led to fireworks. She was sure, based on what had transpired before he left the room, he definitely would’ve given her that.
Stella tossed and turned all night over these thoughts, and the temptation to call in sick to work was high, but it wasWednesday, which meant it was pitch meeting day, and Stella couldn’t miss that.
She was coming up on her three-year anniversary at Yellow Sparks, the popular list and quiz site that published everything from what some would call “real” journalism to quizzes like “We Know What Size Mattress Your First Child Will Be Conceived on Based on Your Zodiac Sign.” That had actually been one of Stella’s ideas, and it had gone viral.
When she first joined the company as an editorial fellow, she didn’t think she’d stick around for this long, but the pay was decent and, honestly, trying to find a solid writing gig anywhere these days was nearly impossible. So now she was a quiz writer, a concept her parents, who’d paid for her education at Georgetown University, did not fully understand. Most people didn’t, even though it was exactly what it sounded like. Stella’s job was to write quizzes for Yellow Sparks, which could be as simple as just clicking your zodiac sign and being told a mattress size, or a more traditional personality quiz format where someone answered multiple questions to find out which Powerpuff Girl they were. Stella was hoping to move over to the Spark News side, which unlike the content team that only did posts in the form of lists, was able to write more traditional news articles, including everything from investigative reporting to personal essays or profile pieces. She’d also be happy to just become a full content writer, but despite having written a few long-form pieces here and there for the site, anytime she’d broached the idea of switching teams, her boss, Melanie, had shot her down.
Hence, why Stella had to be in the pitch meeting. It was the only time she really had a chance to sign up to writesomething that wasn’t in the form of a quiz, and so far, most of her ideas had been successful. Stella was sure that if she kept pushing, eventually Melanie would let her move away from quizzes.
Or she’d have a good enough portfolio of writing samples to jump ship. Whichever happened first.
After snoozing her alarm three times, Stella finally found the strength to get out of bed and ready for work. Thankfully, the Yellow Sparks dress code erred on the more casual side of business casual, so Stella could throw on her best pair of jeans, a yellow sweater, and her go-to black Dr. Martens and be office ready. She put her braids in a half-up/half-down style and was out the door in record time. She even had a brief moment to throw the finger at Chelsea’s closed door, where Stella could hear her still snoring soundly. It was days like these that made Stella wonder if she chose the wrong career path.
While she had to get up to go to work for a salary that was barely livable, Chelsea got to sleep in and was still able to cover more than half of their rent. So unfair.
Thankfully, the subway was on Stella’s side for once and she got to work with just enough time to grab a vanilla latte and ham and cheese croissant from the coffee place across the street. She was supposed to be cutting back on buying food like that, but she decided she’d earned it since she was operating on maybe five hours of sleep at best.
Stella attempted to wake herself up by patting her cheeks as she walked into the office building. Like most businesses in New York City, Yellow Sparks shared the building with a few other companies, including a yoga studio, a dentist office, andan independent book publisher that sometimes gave them free books in the hope of good reviews.
Yellow Sparks had the top floor, and Stella always had fun seeing who got off on what floor as the elevator made its way up. Unfortunately, today she had the elevator all to herself and there was no one to stop her thoughts from wandering back to Max.
And how his lips felt pressed to hers. Trailing down her neck. Then lower, until he was kneeling in front of her, his face between her thighs, tongue right on her—
Ding!
