AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Keiko nods, and happiness blooms in my chest.
We head next door to my place, and when we get in she looks around. Her eyes lock on the stacks of books alongside the wall, then to my red bean bag chair, round coffee table and red and orange rug on the ground. I only have one painting on the wall. It’s a painting I did, and I see Keiko looking at it.
“What do you think?” I ask nervously. No one’s ever seen my panting before. They’re so personal, and I didn’t need anyone telling me they weren’t good.
“It’s beautiful,” she says, and I let go of the breath I was holding.
“Really?”
I stand next to her as we stare at the painting. It’s a sunset, but it’s a specific sunset. It’s the last Texas sunset I saw. I did this the night before I moved to Canada. I needed something to remind me of home, and I thought this was a good choice. It shows the end of my time there in a beautiful and warm way.
“Yeah,” Keiko says, her voice almost wistful, “I love the colours and how well they blend together. It feels extraordinary.”
“You like art?” I ask, shocked at how transparent my painting is.
“Yeah. I went to art school.”
We stand, staring at the painting briefly before I clear my throat. “The bedroom is over here.” I point to the adjoining room, and we walk in together. I can feel Keiko’s body heat as she walks next to me. And the rush of energy when our fingers graze against each other. Only for a second, but it was enough to make me blush.
I can’t even look at her face. In my head, she’s as flustered as me, but I could be wrong. I’d like to live in a fantasy where I’m affecting her as much as she is me.
“So my bed frame is in pieces. I can’t quite figure out how to put it together.”
Yeah, right.My inner monologue decides to jump in, and I shake my head.
Regardless of why, Keiko is here now.
She looks at the pieces of wood lying on the floor, along with nuts, bolts and two different screwdrivers.
“You don’t have a manual?”
“I kind of lost it.” I shrug and take a seat cross-legged on the floor. Keiko joins me on the other side of the mess.
We start putting things together. Keiko is really good at puzzles and blazes through once she gets going. Basically, she put it together, and I handed her stuff. We’re now sitting inside the frame and putting the rectangles of wood that keep the mattress on the frame.
“So, UBC, eh?” Keiko casually asks while screwing in the wood.
“Yeah. Needed something new.”
“Yeah? Where are you from?” I hand her another screw.
“Austin, Texas. Born and raised.”
“Cool.” She rattles part of the frame to test if it’s solid.
“So, who were those guys at your place?” I ask, trying not to sound too interested. I don’t even know if Keiko’s into women, and I don’t want to weird her out.
“Oh, um, just some friends.” She puts her hands up in a “waving stop” motion. “They’re not my boyfriends or anything. I mean, I’m bi, so I like dudes too, but not them.”
Oh, so she does like women. I try not to show my excitement.
We keep chatting about nothing in particular. I tell her about how my parents go on several cruises a year. And she tells me about her archaeologist parents and how she works at a tattoo parlour.
“Ah, that’s why you have so many tattoos,” I remark.
She chuckles, “Yeah, what can I say? I love my job.”
I can see a thigh tattoo peeking from her skirt underneath her stockings as she kneels. She’s got one down her arm, too. And the T-shirt she’s got on makes her breasts look amazing. My hands itch to touch them. To cup them and press my face against them. Her hair with the white stripe down the middle is long and wavy now that her hair is dry. My mouth waters as I think about how she’d look naked. Keiko tells me that she does Yoga with Daisy. It definitely shows how fit her arms and legs are. Muscular but lean.
