AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know it,” I reply with a smirk, leaning in and stealing another kiss.
“Just you wait,” he warns, “I’ll turn those tables on you later.”
“Is that a threat, or a promise?”
“Yes.”
We both laugh, and I finally, reluctantly, release him. He finishes prepping the chicken and gets it into the oven. “How long does that stay in for?” I ask.
“About twenty minutes,” he replies.
“And people probably won’t start showing up for at least thirty.”
“Yeah, or longer, knowing our friends.”
I wiggle my eyebrows at him. “Maybe that’s enough time to run upstairs for some fast fun,” I propose.
He chuckles. “You’re insatiable.”
“That wasn’t a no.”
“No, it was not.”
“So…bedroom?” I ask.
But before the two of us can dart upstairs, our doorbell rings. I groan in frustration and Andrei furrows his brow in confusion. “That can’t be any of our friends, we told them seven thirty, right?”
“I think so, unless I made a typo,” I tell him, reluctantly heading for the door.
When I swing it open, I’m surprised to see our friend Marlene standing on our doorstep. “Hey, Mars, you’re early,” I remark.
She wrings her hands, and I notice that they’re trembling a little. “I know, I’m sorry, I should have called you guys and asked if I could come by early to talk, but I wasn’t even sure I was going to go through with it until I was halfway here.
“Go through with what, honey? What’s going on?” Andrei asks her worriedly, appearing over my shoulder like the angel half of my conscience.
“Can I talk to you guys about something serious and maybe a little bit crazy?” she asks.
“You can talk to us about anything, Marlene,” I tell her sincerely, “You know that. Come on, come inside, sit down with us.
We shut the door behind her and lead her into the living room, where Andrei and I sit together on the sofa and she hovers, pacing briefly. “Mars,” I say softly, “Please sit down, you’re worrying the hell out of me.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” she assures me, finally sitting down at the edge of a chair opposite us, “Nothing bad, at least I don’t think so.
“So what is it?” Andrei presses.
She opens her mouth, then closes it again, making a small sound of frustration. After several long moments of silence, she speaks. “I’ve been doing a lot of research lately, and a lot of thinking, and I have a favor to ask you guys. Something that’s kind of huge, so I want you to know that there’s no pressure to say yes. If you don’t want to do this, I completely understand and there will be absolutely no hard feelings.
“Okay,” Andrei and I exchange a look, and my heart is pounding, wondering what this crazy request could be, “What exactly is this favor?
She takes a deep breath. “I was wondering if either of you would be willing to be a…mys-” her voice falters and she pauses to clear her throat before finishing: “My sperm donor?
I blink. Of all the things I was expecting Marlene to ask us, that had never crossed my mind. I thought she was going to ask one of us for a huge loan or something. Or hell, the way she worded it made it ask like she needed one of our fucking kidneys. Either of which I would have been happy to do for her, honestly, but her real request seems like a pretty tiny favor by comparison.
I think we’re both pretty caught off guard, because we’re both silent for a long moment. Marlene gnaws on her lower lip, fidgeting, and suddenly springs to her feet. “N-never mind, you know what, Cassidy was right, this was too crazy.”
“Hang on a sec, Marlene,” Andrei holds up a hand, “We never said it was crazy.”
She stops and turns to look at us. “It’s not crazy,” he says, “But you’re right, it is kind of a big thing, and we might need to take a little time to process and think about it.”
