by Aly Martinez
He pauses only momentarily to drag his warm tongue over each nipple. I grab the blankets, pulling them tight across my body, remembering that I'm naked. Very, very naked. All the memories from last night, and again earlier this morning, flood my mind. I had sex with Brett freaking Sharp last night. Just to be sure it wasn't just a dream, I squeeze my legs together feeling the tenderness that lingers after a night of unbelievable love making. Oh, who am I kidding, that was the first night of good sex I've ever had. God, it was-
"Brett!" My eyes pop open as I feel his finger thrust inside me.
"What?" he asks, pretending to have no idea what I'm talking about. "I just wanted to make sure you're awake. Don't you have to work today?"
"Crap!" I fly out of bed careful to drag the sheet with me. I can't believe I forgot this is my weekend to work. Kara and I swap working every other weekend. Nell used to schedule us each for one day every weekend, but Kara got sick of not being able to party one night each weekend. We agreed that every other weekend, one of us would work both Saturday and Sunday. It's great because Nell gets coverage without having to hire a third person, and we each get two whole weekends off each month.
"It’s only seven, gorgeous. Slow down."
"CRAP!" I scream. "I'm supposed to be there at seven! I'm late! I'm never late."
"I'm already a bad influence on you," he laughs, throwing his hands behind his head and crossing his ankles.
He's lounging on my bed fully nude, and I've see never seen anything sexier in my life. I want to pull a Leonardo DiCaprio and whip out my sketch pad to draw this Adonis, Titanic style. Although, with my artistic abilities, he would end up a sick man with an over-grown mushroom between his legs. I may not be able to draw, but I can still take mental snapshots of him relaxing in my bed. God, he is hot! My mouth goes completely dry at how confident he is. Here I am, tugging a sheet tightly around my body, while he’s all but showing off.
My eyes must be glued to him, because he has to snap me out of it. “Babe, go get in the shower. I'll make you some coffee."
"Make it breakfast. I can get coffee at work," I shout over my shoulder rushing into my bathroom to unfortunately wash him off my over-sexed body.
"Shit," he says to himself, reminding me that he can't cook.
I want to tell him not to worry about it. I've eaten breakfast more than once at Nell's. Although, I'm really interested to see what he comes up with, so I keep my mouth shut and head for the bathroom.
One minute into the world’s fastest shower, I'm adding the conditioner to my hair when I hear Brett on the other side of the shower curtain, "Um, Jess? What's a vegetable report?"
"What?" I ask confused.
"Kara left a note. You can calm down, she went in for you today. She said a bunch of stuff then ended it by saying she earned a vegetable report for working for you Saturday." Noooo! I scream in my head while trying to play it cool on the outside.
I never was any good at acting. I know Brett immediately catches on to my little cover. Willing to momentarily forget about my nakedness in order to forgo any further embarrassment, I rip back the shower curtain and snatch the handwritten note out of his hand. I feel his eyes accessing my soapy body, but I'm too focused on the note in his hand to care.
Jesse,
You dirty girl! I hope you know what you are doing, and not just falling prey to Tightass McCrazyson. Either way, I'm jealous. I just heard a few unbelievably hot noises come out of your room, so I'm sleeping with ear phones on so I don't feel the need to physically assault you...or my vibrator :) Anyway, I saw Brett's hot guy car out front, so I assume that is where the noises are coming from and you guys are patching things up. I'm working for you tomorrow. You can pay me back when I land a stud of my own. However, I do have one requirement for working your Saturday! I expect a full vegetable report. You have denied me for entirely too long. It's been like four days now. No more holding back. Best friends, remember? XOXO (Although I'm betting you have been doing enough of that tonight, hooch!)
Love,
Your horny and jealous roommate.
I quickly ball up the note, and search the shower for some way to dispose of it. You have no idea how tempted I am to shove it in my mouth and eat it. When I glance up at Brett to find him smirking, I know that isn't an option. He read it, and he's read me too. He knows I'm hiding something, so I have no other option than to pull out every woman's secret weapon: boobs. Men get confused so easily when they come face to face with boobs. I can definitely use this to my advantage.
"You okay?" he asks as I stare up into his eyes.
My goal was lust-filled bedroom eyes, but I think it's coming off as bug eyes with a slight twitch.
"What are you talking about?" I ask, dropping Kara's note into the shower, successfully ruining the physical evidence.
"You're acting weird."
"What? No, I'm not," I say, shoving my hands into my hair and pushing my breasts into his face. His eyes automatically move to my chest as I unnecessarily scrub the conditioner into my hair. My boobs are swaying with my motions, and I quickly stretch to my tip toes under the water to make them bounce just a tad too. I'm willing to do anything to keep from having to explain Kara's note. I have nothing to feel guilty about. I didn't kiss and tell. But darn it, she really said too much this time. I'm going to kill her, but first I have to deal with Brett.
After last night he must be partially immune because even watching my boobs bounce, he still asks questions.
"Is Kara a vegetarian or something?" He offers me the out I was mentally searching for.
"Yes!" I jump at his explanation. "She is strictly a vegetarian. Although, I have it on good authority that she doesn't like baby carrots." I start to ramble. The more details I give, the more he will believe me, right? So I begin a five minute soliloquy about all the vegetables Kara likes. By the time I'm finished, the water is beginning to run cold and Brett hasn't moved his eyes from my naked body once.
"So, there you have it, she doesn't eat anything but vegetables, and I give her a report every week about what's in season."
"What's in season this week?" Eek! How did I not anticipate this question?
"Umm..."
"What's wrong, Jess?" He smiles knowingly.
He then reaches down and pops open the button on his jeans, muddling my already frazzled mind even further. As he begins to push his jeans to the floor, I can see a thin trial of hair running down his body. I swallow deeply very aware where this is going.
"Gorgeous, I have no idea what you are trying to hide here, but it's pretty cute listening to you talk about seasonal vegetables while trying to distract me with these beautiful tits." He reaches one hand forward, cupping my entire breast and stepping into the shower. "I know we haven't been together long, but I have a feeling we are going to be together quite a bit from now on, so there is something you need to remember about me. I'm a detective. My job is to figure things out and recognize when someone is lying to me. I'm good at my job because I see the little details others miss. Like just a minute ago when you tossed that note down into the water so I wouldn't read it again." He raises one eye brow at me before continuing. "I'm also not a quitter. I'll search for answers long after everyone else has given up. So it would probably save us both a lot of time if you just come out with it." He rubs his thumb across my nipple.
"However, you are so fucking hot right now, I'm willing to let this slide long enough for us to christen your shower properly. I'll just talk to Kara when she gets home." He leans over, placing a very promising kiss on my shoulder.
I jerk away from him, slipping and sliding in the shower. Thankfully, he grabs my hips keeping me from toppling out onto the bathroom floor.
"You can't ask Kara!" And I'm serious, he can't. She will make it sound way worse than it really is. She would probably even hit on him and stare at his pants while she tells him.
"Then why don't you let me in on your little secret. I probably wouldn't care if you weren't so desperate to h
ide it from me."
Crap, I'm going to have to do this. I let out a frustrated groan and stare at the ceiling to avoid his eyes, "She wants me to tell her what vegetable your penis most closely resembles." I sigh and wait for his reaction.
Brett has a great sense of humor. I'm sure he'll laugh about this. But I hate being laughed at, even when it's obviously something as silly as this. I feel his hands grip my hips a little tighter. My eyes slide back to his, where I find him standing with a blank look on his face. No humor dancing in his eyes. Nothing.
"Well?" he asks, void of all emotions.
"Well, what?"
"I have no idea how to feel about this until I know what vegetable you picked," he says seriously.
"Oh, um...I don't know. I didn't exactly plan on answering her." I stumble over my words.
"Okay, well let's discuss this." He backs up, gliding his hands through the air, showcasing his privates like a Price Is Right model. "See, if you said green bean, I'd be very upset. However, if you told her an eggplant, I'd probably never wear pants again. So what's it going to be Jess?"
This conversation has just crossed over into crazy town. Brett is always funny, but this ludicrous conversation is a bit odd even for him. Just as I'm about to mentally inventory the produce department, I catch a small glimmer in his otherwise serious eyes. Oh my God! He's messing with me. Again. Hopefully I'm not wrong about this, because I'm about to turn the tables on this jokester.
I slide my eyes down his body. Swaying my head side to side, I pretend to weigh my options. "Well," I answer quietly, "I guess I would have to say a kosher dill pickle."
"What?" he asks incredulously.
"Yeah, definitely a dill pickle spear." I look down at his feet pretending to be embarrassed, but really trying to keep him from the seeing the smile I'm desperately attempting to hide.
"What?" he yells. "A spear?! Not even the whole pickle? Jesse, you need glasses!" he screams, trying to defend his deflating manhood. I can't hold back the laugh that's building inside any longer. I burst out laughing causing the disbelief to fade from his face.
"Oh, I get it. You're a funny girl today, huh? Ha. Ha. Hilarious, smart ass." He pretends to be annoyed as I continue to laugh. "Yeah, laugh it up now, because I'm about to pickle you." He leans forward, so close I can feel his breath against my ear as he whispers, "hard." I abruptly go quiet, as I feel myself getting wet and it has nothing to do with the chilly water coming from the shower head. Who knew such ridiculous words could have this kind of effect on me, but the way Brett says them, instantly turns me into a wanton woman.
Lifting me off my feet, I wrap my legs around his waist as he pushes me against the wall. He uses one hand to turn the water as hot as it will go. It only warms a fraction of a degree, but it's just enough to keep us in the shower for another twenty minutes. Brett utilized those minutes and made good on his promise. We properly christen my shower. Hard.
Brett
IT'S BEEN seven weeks since Sarah showed up at Nell's. I have to say, I thought I would never have another shot with Jesse after those first few days. Everything went so wrong so fast, but I never should have underestimated her. She hasn't asked about Sarah again, which really surprises me. I keep waiting for her to sit me down to have "the talk" one day, but she never does.
After the first two weeks, I realized how weird she gets when I drop her off on Wednesday nights. She always hugs me extra tight and repeats over and over again what a good time she had. She talks a million words a minute, and chews on her thumb nail. I've learned both are telltale signs that Jesse’s nervous. At first I couldn't figure it out, but when she made zero attempts to reach me on Thursdays, it didn’t take me long to figure out why.
Jess and I text all day. She sends me sweet notes, and I send her dirty ones. On Thursdays though, she goes quiet. I realized she must remember that I visit Sarah on Thursdays. So, I go out of my way to call her every night as soon as I get home. We talk for hours, and those are the best hours of my entire day.
Jesse may dread Thursdays but I've grown to loathe them. I went to Sarah's every day after her freak-out at Nell's. For the first two days, she stayed locked in her bedroom. She wouldn't eat anything, and if it wasn't for the fact that I could occasionally hear her TV changing channels and the shower going on and off, I would have worried. On day three, I ducked out of work a little early to check on her and when I got there, she was standing in her kitchen with a huge smile on her face.
"Hey Sexy! I was wondering when you were going to show up," she says, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. As she moved her hands back down I caught the sparkle off her left hand.
"How you doing, Sarah?" I ask, trying to figure out what the hell she's doing still wearing her rings.
"I'm good. Are you just going to stand in the doorway and stare at me all night, or are you coming inside?" Her candor is nothing unusual, but I'm still suspicious as hell.
"I made dinner," she says, pulling a casserole dish out of the fridge. Sarah always made the weirdest food. I guess they aren't weird to everyone, but I was never a fan. She made southern dishes like potato soup, made with more butter than milk, or fried macaroni and cheese bites. I'm sorry, but does Mac n' cheese need to be deep fried? Her family raved about her cooking, but I never could get on board with soggy bread-like noodles in chicken soup. She called it chicken and dumplings. I called it gross. However, when she would branch out into different types of food, it was always delicious.
My favorite of all her meals was her seven layer Mexican dip. She always made it for my birthday, or any time we were celebrating something special. God, it was good. So when I see her unwrap a dish topped with lettuce and decorated with dollops of sour cream, my eyes jump to hers.
"What is that?" I ask skeptically.
"Seven layer dip." She acts like it’s nothing more than ingredients tossed in a bowl. We both know it’s more. It's a memory. It's happiness. It's our past. I have to restrain myself from reaching out and slapping that stupid ass dish across the room. I want to see it shatter into a million pieces, just like our future. Fucking seven layer dip!
I try to compose myself enough to speak. "I'm glad you're feeling better. I need to get back to work."
"Baby, you haven't eaten yet."
"Don't call me that!" I shout.
"Jesus, it's just fucking dinner. Stop freaking out," she responds, rolling her eyes at my outburst. "You’re acting like a douche right now." Yep, still the same new Sarah.
"Dinner, right." I nod knowing she's flat out lying, but I can't figure out why. "What are you doing? You haven't cooked for me in years. Now two days after showing up and freaking out on the woman I'm seeing, you make my favorite meal? For what?" I begin to get angrier as I talk. It's one head trip after another with this woman. "Please, just tell me why!" I scream across her room.
"Because you are the only one who hasn't turned their back on me," she rushes out, stepping towards me. "Because I know I messed things up for you a few days ago with that girl. And...and because I miss you," she says, in a voice unlike any version of Sarah I've ever seen.
I take a step forward trying to get a better read on the situation. She's done nothing but push me away, now she misses me? Stunned by her admission, I can't even stop to evaluate my feelings, but that doesn't stop a knot from forming in my throat.
She closes the distance between us, resting her hands on my chest, "I miss you, baby," she repeats, staring down at the ground. "Maybe we could try to work something out, get to know each other again." Using her foot to draw patterns in the carpet, she leans into me. I don't recognize this woman. She is so timid and shy. She's so...Jesse. Shit! Jess. I quickly take a step backwards out of her reach, and thankfully she doesn't follow.
"Start talking," I demand.
I have an unexplainable need to hear her out. My mind is racing but I'm not excited like I thought I would be at finally hearing those words come out of her mouth. A few weeks ago, I would have been at her mercy
, ecstatic to have another shot at a life together. Only now, I feel apprehensive.
"Um, I just thought..." she trails off. Any hope that started to fill my heart quickly deflates when I see the humor twitch in her cheek. This is yet another one of her games.
"Fuck, Sarah!" I explode, unable to can't catch my breath.
This woman stands before me joking about missing me after the hell I have been through. Years spent holding on to hope that one day I would get my wife back, yet it’s all one big joke to her. The only thing stopping me from unleashing the brunt of my anger is that I know it's not her fault. I lost my wife, but she lost herself.
These games are a different story all together. I have every right to be pissed about this. She may not be able to control who she became after the wreck, but she made the decision to wage emotional war on me over the past few days. First with Jesse, and now with this bullshit. It’s drama upon drama where Sarah is involved. I have nothing left to say. I've already tried every possible combination of words to move past this. It's time to suck it up and admit there is no fixing us. At some point, you have to cut your losses and walk away, but I can't seem to convince myself the fiery woman who used to own my heart, is a complete loss.
I turn to walk out the door. I won't give her the satisfaction of seeing me react again.
"Brett, wait!" she says, softly laughing. "I meant it. Maybe not the way you want me to mean it, but I do miss you. You won't believe me, but I remember being happy with you. I remember the day you proposed. Jesus, that was corny. That whole Jeopardy thing." She laughs a little louder. "Seriously, that was cheese dick." I put my hands on my hips, assuming the position for her to sling hate filled words at me.
"But I do remember the way I felt when you asked." She reaches down spinning her rings around her finger. "I loved you," she says, completely devoid of emotion. "I want to feel like that again." She finally looks into my eyes, and I see a flash of something genuine before they go blank again.