Page 108 of Paradigm

“I’m sure, but let’s get me some of that coffee.” Arlowe nodded toward the café that they’d been to a few times now. “I’m getting the largest one they have. What about you?”

“Decaf and small,” Eline said.

“Decaf? Quitter,” she teased before she pulled open the door and let Eline go in first.

At the counter, Eline ordered for them in Dutch and paid with her phone before she took Arlowe’s hand, and they walked over to wait for their drinks. Then, just like she always did while they waited, Eline wrapped her up in a hug, with her arms around Arlowe’s waist, and her face pressed to Arlowe’s shoulder. These were the moments that Arlowe lived for. She wrapped her arms around Eline’s neck and rested her chin on Eline’s shoulder.

“So, you’re really all right with meeting them again? It’s not too soon?”

“I’m good,” she said. “I hope they’re okay with us, with me, but if they’re not, that will just have to be whatever because I’m in love with their daughter, and I really don’t care about anyone’s opinion on that.”

Eline kissed her on the neck just as her name was called, but Arlowe didn’t want to let go of her yet, so she pulled Eline’s face to her own and kissed her sweetly. After that, they took their coffee outside to continue with their walk, and instead of talking about their classes and their professors or what they were going to do on the weekend like they’d used to, they discussed their work, their friends, and what they wanted from their life together. Tourists bumped into them. Eline nearly spilled her coffee. Arlowe held her closer, and the sights and sounds of the city made her feel alive just like it had all those years ago, but as much as she loved it here, and she did, she knew she didn’t want to live in Amsterdam permanently. She couldn’t wait to get home to be with her friends, see her own parents, who had only learned about her trip to Amsterdam after she’d arrived, and she wanted to get back to the office, which her younger self never would have thought she’d say. Most of all, though, she wanted to start that part of her life with Eline.

They ate dinner at an Argentinian restaurant, choosing to sit outside to watch the crowds of tourists pass them by, and they laughed about how Arlowe wanted yellow mustard, but the restaurant only had the brown or the spicy stuff. They found ice cream at a small shop when they were done with their meals, and they headed back to their apartment building and up the steps, finishing their ice cream just before they got inside. They threw their trash away in the kitchen, and Arlowe watched as Eline pulled a giant bottle of water from the small refrigerator and poured two glasses. She moved behind her and wrapped her arms around Eline’s middle.

“I love days like today,” she said.

“Me too.”

“But I can’t wait to be back home with you, too. Is that all right to say?”

“Of course, it is,” Eline replied, placing her arms on top of Arlowe’s. “This is our temporary home, and we both love it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be excited about what’s to come elsewhere.”

“What’s to come?” Arlowe asked, kissing Eline’s neck. “Or, maybe you meant who’s to come…”

Eline chuckled as Arlowe reached for the button on her jeans and said, “Smooth.”

“I know,” she replied before undoing the button, followed by the zipper, and moving her hand down and inside Eline’s underwear. “You know that thing we bought this past weekend?”

“Yes, I was there when we bought it.”

“Well, we cleaned it,” she said as she slipped between Eline’s folds. “And put it into the harness.”

“Yes,” Eline whispered when Arlowe dragged her index finger along her clit.

“Maybe I could put it on for you.”

“Yes,” Eline repeated and wrapped her arm around the back of Arlowe’s neck. “But in a minute.”

“Yeah?”

She smirked against Eline’s neck before she nipped at it.

“Yes, but this… now.”

“This always,” she replied and stroked Eline to a very quick orgasm.

After coming down, Eline turned in her arms and kissed her hard before she said, “Get it.”

“Come with me,” she said.

“No. Out here,” Eline replied and pointed to the sofa.

“Oh…” Arlowe said with a smile.

They’d gone to the same store that Eline had taken her to when they’d been in school as sort of a joke, really, but they’d ended up buying a dildo and harness set and getting some free lube for their trouble. Arlowe hadn’t brought any of her stuff with her because she didn’t like the idea of people at the airport going through her stuff and finding her sex toys, but also because she wanted something that belonged just to them.

When she came out of the bedroom naked, save the harness and the dildo between her legs, she found Eline closing the curtains, which Arlowe hadn’t even thought about. Eline was standing there in only her jeans, though, and when Arlowe approached her, she turned and began to push them down her legs.