“Are you fucking serious?”
Without too much forethought, I followed him down the hall and burst through the door to Eli’s room. “Marlon, you gross motherfu—”
I choked on that last syllable, begging my body to backpedal. But I couldn’t. My feet were stuck. I was rooted to the floor, unable to move.
Eli lay in bed, the duvet slung low on his hips as he pumped his fist. His eyes were shut, like he was trying to revisit a trapped memory, and I couldn’t pull my gaze from the head of his thickened penis, the only visible part of his anatomy. My filthy imagination didn’t require much else. Before I had a second to be embarrassed, my thighs clenched against the slow throb building in my lower abdomen.
Eli froze, his eyes now wide.
And then the panic hit. My body suddenly remembered how to move and I stumbled backward. “Oh my god, oh my god. I’m so sorry. I am—I’m so— I shouldn’t have just barged in like that and—” I spun around so I couldn’t see him and then I shook my head. “I’m—”
Behind me the sheets rustled. “Maybe knock next time.” There was a slight laugh in his voice.
“Well, that’s helpful. The door was open, by the way,” I told him. “It was technically cracked. And your keys weren’t in their normal—” Why were we having this conversation right now? Why was I arguing the technicalities of his door and car key placement? Why was I still in the same room as his erectmember? His manhood. His velvet rod. His shaft of steel.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Did this make me a peeping Tom? A peeping Tammy?
“Vera.” His voice was even, and if he was uncomfortable, he was doing an excellent job at hiding it.
“I’m sorry,” I squeaked again, and then rushed toward the hall.
Fuck. My underwear.
I spun back around with my eyes shielded and tugged the underwear free from the vicious clutches of a very disgruntled Marlon.
“Okay, I’m going now.” I rushed back to my room and slammed the door shut.
Immediately, I jumped into bed and pulled the covers over my head as if Eli and his dick were some kind of monster I could hide from. Like I was the terrified woman in one of Ruby’s creature features.
Maybe if I closed my eyes and fell asleep, I would wake up in a different dimension or just die in my sleep.
EXT. CLIFF OVERLOOK—MORNING
Sitting on the hood of his car, they eat cereal out of the box.
POPPY (V.O.)
I knew he couldn’t possibly be mine.
But he kept showing up like he could be.
May 23, 2021
Vera S.
For posterity’s sake: Every time I decide this whole thing is shit, I read this line and think I could write a novel about it.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
After a few moments, Marlon began to scratch at the door and whimper. “Sorry, buddy,” I said mostly to myself. “It’s every mammal for themselves right now.”
And then there was a knock.
Maybe I could ignore it.
“Vera?” Eli called.
