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“Well, yeah,” I say matter-of-factly. “And for entertainment, this.” I pull out a DVD that has four different rom-coms on it from the early 2000s that all feature Matthew McConaughey.
“A Matthew McConaughey smorgasbord?”
“Hell yeah. I love that guy, so how bad can these movies be?”
Charlotte fights to contain her smile. “This is by far, one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me, Damien.”
I pull her into my arms again, resting my forehead on hers and breathing her in. She smells like my soap from when she showered at my place earlier, and her body is warm to the touch. “I care about you, Charlotte, and I couldn’t stand the way you left. Obviously, sex is off the table tonight, but that’s not the only reason I want to hang out with you. I just want to be…with you.”
She peers up at me before sighing. “I want to be with you too.”
After we grab our plates of food and pop the DVD in—settling on How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days first—Charlotte and I eat side by side in comfortable silence. We pause the movie once we finish with dinner, and we’re ready to move on to dessert. She decides to share the ice cream with me, and then as the movie continues playing I revel in unwrapping Dove chocolates and feeding them to her as she rests her head on my lap.
“Thank you for this again,” she says, staring up at me, chewing her chocolate.
“You’re welcome. Thanks for letting me crash your night.” She rearranges the heating pad on her stomach as she lies there.
“Does the heat really help?”
“Yeah. Between that and the ibuprofen, it makes the first day or two bearable. Luckily I started over the weekend this month, so I can lounge like this.”
“So what happens if it’s not the weekend when it comes?” I ask, genuinely interested. Before Charlotte and this Remedy account, the last thing I wanted to talk about was periods. But this is part of her life, and as real as it gets when it comes to understanding what women go through, so my mind is reeling as I take in as much information as possible.
“Well, if it’s a weekday, I pop some ibuprofen, stick one of those heat patches on my stomach, and keep doing my job.”
“You don’t take time off?”
She laughs. “No. It’s not like they give us period days as part of our sick leave, which I fully believe should be a thing, by the way.”
“Wow.”
“Yup. And if I leak through something like my clothes at work, I’m kind of shit out of luck. This morning I was lucky I had clothes to change into, but that’s not always the case.”
“Does that happen a lot? You…leaking?”
She shrugs. “It depends. The first few days my flow is heavy, so it might happen. And it’s a pain in the butt to deal with when the world just continues to spin around you.”
“I can’t imagine,” I say as I stroke her face, pushing her hair back so I can see all of her deep brown eyes.
“At least I won’t be on my period in Hawaii. That’s a plus.”
“God, I couldn’t imagine having to deal with that while on vacation.”
“Yeah, it sucks, but it’s part of being a woman. And we’re just expected to smile and act normal every month when it happens while our insides are literally ripping themselves to shreds. Men like to make comments that if a woman is in a bad mood, it must be that time of the month. Meanwhile, we’re on the verge of crying or screaming or simultaneously doing both some days because our bodies are pumping copious amounts of hormones through our veins, and we’re powerless to stop it.”
“I see that now. You don’t really have much control over it, do you?”
“Nope. Not when it starts, not when it ends, nor how painful it can be.”
“The woman who helped me at Target said she had a hysterectomy because hers were so bad.”
“Yup. I’ve heard of that.”
“I guess this morning just gave me a different glimpse of what it’s like being a woman,” I say softly, staring down at her.
“Yeah?”
“Uh-huh. And now lying with you here—I know there’s nothing physically I can do to help you, but part of me feels like you’re more fragile right now, and all that makes me want to do is hold you.”
Her bottom lips trembles. “That would be nice.”
We rearrange ourselves on the couch so I’m spooning her from behind while the movie continues to play, nearing the end.
“Is this okay?” I whisper in her ear, placing my hand on her tender stomach and nuzzling my nose against the back of her neck.
She pushes her ass back into me, and even though I know there’s nothing more that will happen, it still makes me hard. “Yes.”
“Good.”
“Damien…”
“Yeah, babe?”
“I need to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“My mother wanted me to ask you if you would walk me down the aisle during their ceremony. You don’t have to, but…”
“I’d love to,” I say, cutting her off and holding her tighter.
“Really?”
“Hell yeah. Although, if I do, I won’t be able to stare at your ass as you walk down the aisle, so maybe that’s not the best idea now that I think about it…”
She elbows me in the ribs. “Pervert.”
“When it comes to your body, I’ll wear that badge loud and proud.”
She grows silent again as we continue to lie there. “Damien?”
“Yeah, Char?”
“You’re the best fake boyfriend I’ve ever had.”
Her words make me smile. “I told you I was going to be.”
* * *
