by Bella Jewel
Roman laughs.
“I’d pay you fifty bucks to do that.” I chuckle.
“I’m doing it.”
“You’re an idiot.” I shake my head with a grin.
I make him a coffee and slide it over to him.
And we spend the rest of the morning laughing together.
Laughter, it really is healing us.
CHAPTER 9
“What time are they coming over?” Roman asks me, after our fifth beer.
He came over earlier than my sister and TJ, to have a few beers with me, but we’ve been sitting here for the last hour waiting for them, and our beer number is lining up. I’m well beyond tipsy, and so is he.
“I have no idea, so much for being on time!”
“They’re probably doing each other’s hair,” he snorts.
I burst out laughing. “Oh, my god, they probably are.”
“Come out to my car,” Roman says, standing. “I have something for you.”
I stand too. “Are you going to kidnap me and kill me, because that would be unprofessional. At least drug me first.”
He laughs, grabbing my arm and pulling me through the house and onto the street where his truck is parked. We walk over to it and open the door, when we hear a voice behind us. We both turn to see my neighbour standing, smiling at us. She’s never come over and introduced herself, but she always waves to me when I’m passing by.
“Hi,” she says. “I thought I’d come over and finally say hello. I never manage to catch you. I’m Amilie.”
“Hi,” I say. “I’m Molly. This is Roman.”
Roman steps up beside me and grins at her.
“Have you both lived here long?” she asks, shifting nervously. She seems like the nervous type.
“Oh, he doesn’t live here, he’s just my sex slave.”
Roman makes a snorting sound in his throat, but doesn’t laugh.
Amilie laughs nervously, like she’s not sure if we’re kidding or not. I’ll let her ponder that.
“Have you lived here long?” Roman asks her, putting his charming smile on.
Sucker.
“Yeah, I had the house built. It’s a nice area,” she says, smiling at him.
Double sucker.
“I think I’ve seen your pussy running around.”
I inwardly burst out laughing, and it takes everything to keep my face straight, especially when Roman looks over at me, a twinkle in his eye, waiting for my reaction. I hold my breath to stop the hysterical laughter from leaving my throat.
“Oh,” she says, her face going red. “Yes, that’s my cat. Sorry if she’s been bothering you.”
Breathe.
Do not laugh.
Do not.
“Not at all, I’ve pet her a few times,” he says, and I swear my chest starts shaking with supressed laughter. I can’t hold it in.
“Well—” she smiles, waving lightly “—I’ll talk to you later. Have a good night.”
“Bye!”
When she’s gone, I turn to Roman and thump his arm. “Oh, my god! I can’t believe you just did that.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t laugh,” he chuckles. “It was fucking funny.”
“It took everything for me not to laugh, I swear. It was so hard. I’ve seen your pussy running around.”
We both burst out laughing. I have to wrap my arms around my stomach to stop it shaking.
“Poor woman. She’s probably wondering who the hell her neighbours are.”
I nod, still laughing. “Yeah, I’ll get kicked out for being a nuisance. You’re bad for me, Roman. Seriously.”
He grins, nods, and turns to the car, leaning in to get whatever it is he needed out. I glance over the road and see my elderly neighbour peering out the window. She hates me. I’m not entirely sure why. She’s a sour old thing with a poor attitude. She never says hello, she never even waves when I wave to her. Now she’s literally peeking through the blinds at us.
With a wicked grin, I step up to Roman who is still bent over rustling through his truck. I grab his hips, and start thrusting.
“Wha—” he starts, but I thrust into him to keep him from standing up.
“Play along.”
I keep thrusting, then I look over to my elderly neighbour and give her a cheerful wave. With a horrified look, she closes the blinds. I roar with laughter and let Roman go. He stands up, turning around and looking down at me. “Explain.”
“The old lady over the road was spying on us, I just wanted to give her something to talk about.”
Roman snorts a laugh. “By dry humping me?”
“Yes, by dry humping you. Don’t pretend you didn’t like it.”
He chuckles. “You’re a fucking feral.”
He thrusts something at me, and I raise my hands, catching it. I glance down, it kind of looks like a flag, maybe?
“What’s this?”
“Open it.”
I open it and unfold it. It’s a large sign, made out of material. On it, it has a picture of Dr Seuss, with the text ‘Some people are cunts’. I squeal happily. “Oh, my god, this is so awesome!”
“Let’s go hang it on your fence.”
“Eeeeek!”
We both run inside, like two rebellious teenagers, and rush out to my backyard to hang the sign on my fence. When it’s up, we both admire it. “Gosh, it’s beautiful,” I say. “Let’s get a picture.”
“You go stand next to it,” Roman says, pulling out his phone. “I’ll take a picture.”
I rush over, squatting down so I don’t cover the text. Then I give him a thumbs up. Laughing, he snaps a few photos.
“It’s so cool!” I say, following him back onto the patio to continue drinking.
“Where’s your damned sister? We’ll be drunk and in bed by the time she arrives.”
I nod, rolling my eyes. “Right? She’s so painful.”
“What’s Calvin’s real name again?” he says. “I’m totally going to call him Calvin by accident.”
“It’s TJ.”
Roman snorts. “Nope. It doesn’t suit him. Calvin it is.”
I punch him in the arm.
Then we keep drinking.
~*~*~*~
“Matilda, this is Roman. Roman, this is my sister Matilda,” I say, introducing my sister to Roman when she finally arrives with her overly pretty, overly girly boyfriend.
“Nice to meet you,” she says. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Roman shakes her hand. “All good I’m assuming.”
She nods, grinning. “Oh, of course. Molly would never tell me all the juicy details.”
Roman glances at me, and I give him an enthusiastic thumbs up.
“Roman, Molly, this is my friend TJ.”
TJ steps forward, and he’s even prettier in real life than he is in the photos. Roman is right, he really does look like a Calvin Klein model. His hair is perfect. His skin is perfect. He’s just damned perfect. He’s also feminine as hell. Not my type.
“Hi,” he says, extending his hand. Roman takes it, shakes it, and then drops it.
I hope he squeezed some masculine into poor TJ. God knows he needs some.
“Nice to meet you.” I smile. “Come, sit down.”
“Have you two been drinking all afternoon?” Matilda says, staring at the line up of beer bottles on the table.
“Yep, we sure have. We were waiting for you two.”
“Nice sign,” TJ says, nodding at the sign on my fence.
“Thanks.” I laugh. “Roman put it up for me.”
“It’s awesome,” Matilda says.
“It matches its owner,” Roman says, grinning at me.
I flip him the bird.
Matilda smiles at both of us.
I lean over and turn on some music, and TJ starts singing straight away. And dammit, of course he can sing. I want to roll my eyes, but that would be rude. I look over to Roman, and he rolls his eyes. Yep, he’s thinking what I’m thinking.
“You have a good voice,” Roman says. “You should be on a singing show.”
TJ instantly lights up at the compliment, and starts going on and on about how he wants to go on one of those shows, but they’re all rigged and he wouldn’t get a fair chance. I shoot Roman an annoyed look, and he’s already laughing. Jerk. He totally knew what he was doing then. Now we all have to listen to pretty boy talk about his amazing voice for the next hour.
I stand and go inside to get some snacks, and Matilda stands and follows me.
“So?” she says, stepping up beside me. “Roman ...”
“Yeah,” I say, glancing at her. “What?”
“You two get along well.”
“Yeah, we do.”
“Especially considering you haven’t known each other long. It’s not awkward between the two of you at all. I could swear you have known him your whole life with the way you act around him.”
I laugh. “Yeah, it’s weird, hey? I just feel like I’ve known him forever.”
“He seems like a really cool guy.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “He is. He’s good looking too.”
She laughs. “Yeah, he is. Trust you to notice that.”
I shrug. “I’m allowed to look.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m glad you have someone like him in your life. He seems genuine, and he’s funny.”
“I know, did you hear his comment to Cal ... ah ... TJ?”
She raises her brows. “I did, it was funny, and what’s Cal?”
“Okay, so.” I giggle. “He thinks your boyfriend looks like Calvin Klein, so he’s given him that nickname.”
Matilda gushes. “He does look like Calvin, though. He’s so good looking. I honestly can’t get over it.”
Inward eye roll.
“Yeah. He’s too pretty for me. I’d want to beat him when he spent more time in front of the mirror than me.”
She laughs. “You always did like the rugged ones.”
I nod.
“Roman seems rugged.”
She wiggles her brows.
I flip her the bird. “Stop it.”
“Oh, come on, you’re both single. You should have some fun.”
“We’re friends.”
“Mmmmmhmmmm,” she says, raising and lowering her brows over and over.
“My god, you’re painful.”
“I’m your sister, I’m allowed to be. Come on, we better get back out there before Calvin torments Roman.”
We both burst out laughing.
Yep, this should be a good night.
CHAPTER 10
“Oh, my god, let’s do it!” Matilda squeals, running at me.
“There is no way I can lift you.” I laugh. “No way.”
“Come on,” she pleads. “It’s ... like ... epic!”
“Go on,” Roman urges. “Do it. I’ll film it.”
“Gah!” I giggle. “Okay. Let’s do it. But I’m laying on the ground for it, there is no way I can lift you.”
“I’ll play the song,” Calvin says.
He goes over to the speakers and plays around with the phone for a minute, then “Time of Your Life” from the movie, Dirty Dancing, comes on. I run out onto the grass and lie on my back, and in slow motion, Matilda runs over and throws herself on me. I lift her with my hands and legs, holding her in the air. We’re all laughing so hard I don’t know how I don’t drop her.
“Oh, my god,” I giggle, letting her down. She flops down beside me on the grass. “That was amazing.”
“I think we did it way better than the movie,” she chuckles.
“You two are fucking crazy,” Roman says, huge grin on his face.
“Have you ever seen an egg roll?” I ask him.
His brows go up. “No.”
“Do you want to?”
He nods, holding up his phone again.
Matilda and I both sit up, bringing our knees to our chest and wrapping our arms around them, then we let our bodies roll back. The position is meant to make you roll like an egg, but we kind of just splat onto the ground.
“Pretty sure that’s not how an egg rolls,” Roman snorts. “Loser.”
“Hey,” I say, trying again. “Don’t be a hater.”
“You’re embarrassing yourself, it makes me feel sorry for you.”
I flip him the bird, and try again. Flopping backwards again. “My God! I suck.”
“Could have told you that,” Roman adds.
I stand up and charge over to him, punching him in the arm. He roars with laughter. “You’re such a tosser.”
“You love it.”
I grin at him, and we both turn to see Matilda and Calvin climbing the fence. It’s a really high fence, but one side is easier than the other to get over. They hop down onto the other side and we can hear their laughter.
“Ten bucks says he’s copping a feel,” I say to Roman.
“He’s copping a feel all right. I just want to see them get back over the fence.”
We both sit down, taking a beer, and we watch as Calvin lifts Matilda back over the fence. She climbs over, cheeks red, big smile on her face. Yep, she was getting felt up.
“I don’t think Calvin will get back over that fence, the ground is lower on the other side, he’ll never be able to jump that high. Maybe this will be the moment he looks like shit. He can’t be that perfect,” I whisper to Roman.
“Yep, no way he can get over that. We’re going to watch him fall. And it’s going to be fucking hilarious. It’ll make me feel better about his perfection.”
Grinning, Roman and I watch, waiting. Effortlessly, Calvin launches and lands on the top of the fence like it was no effort at all. Then he gracefully slides off the other side and lands on his feet. My mouth drops open and I look to Roman. Our eyes meet, and at the same time, we both roll them.
Dammit.
He’s perfect.
The jerk.
“Let’s go and get some food,” Roman huffs, standing.
We both move inside to the kitchen.
“Can you believe his perfection?” I say, opening the fridge and pulling out a steak.
“It’s ridiculous.”
I turn with the steaks in my hand, and Roman is standing in the kitchen, staring down at me. He grins, and his eyes are soft. It’s the first time I’ve really seen him with his guard down. He holds it up so tightly every other time, it’s nice to see him at ease. He stretches his hand out and gently moves a lock of hair off my face.
My heart does something strange. It flutters.
I redirect my eyes and smile, handing him the steak, because I honestly don’t know what else to do. It threw me. I mean, sure, I’ve felt a stirring for Roman, but I didn’t think it was the same for him. That was one of the nicest, simplest gestures any man has ever done to me. I felt it. Right down to my heart.
We just had a moment.
And I didn’t see it coming.
~*~*~*~
I flop down onto my bed and Roman lands on his back beside me, both of us lying side by side. It doesn’t feel weird, or awkward, or even wrong. It feels nice lying beside him, he’s a comfort I never realised I needed until now. I’ve missed having someone around who could make me laugh and enjoy life without any pressure.
“That was the funniest night,” I say, staring at the ceiling. “Matilda is smitten with Calvin.”
Roman snorts. “Well, it’s not a wonder. That kind of perfection should be illegal.”
“True, but he has the personality of a sponge.”
“Yep. Only so far looks will take you.”
“Here here.”
I roll to my side and stare at him; he does the same. Up close, his eyes are lighter than they first appear. They’re almost milk chocolate in their appearance. He reaches over and takes hold of my hand, curling it in his. Neither of us says anything. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening, but it feels nice.
“I think Matilda thinks we’re weird.” I laugh.
He grins. “Yep. Who cares
anyway. At least we have fun.”
“I think we laughed more than they did, honestly, I’m not sure people get our sense of humour sometimes.”
“I don’t get our sense of humour sometimes.”
“Tell me a funny story,” I say, rolling over onto my back again.
“What kind of story?” he asks, putting his arms behind his head.
“A sex story.”
He snorts. “Of course you’d want a sex story.”
I laugh. “You’re getting to know me. You’ll get used to it.”
He grins and I glance at the dimple in his cheek. Hot.
“I’ll give you one of my most embarrassing sex stories.”
I wave my hands to encourage him. “Okay, hit me with it.”
“This friendship is weird,” he murmurs.
I shove him. “Come on, don’t be a baby. Tell me your story.”
“Okay, but if I wasn’t drunk you would never hear this story.”
I rub my hands together.
“So, I was only young, but I was with this chick. She was ... going down on me. I had figured that’s all we were doing, so I was rolling with it, you know?”
I snort. “Of course you were.”
“So, I’m nearly there, it feels pretty good, and she stops and says ‘are we going to have sex or not?’. So, being the young champion I am, I pull out a condom and give her what she wants. But it was over so fast it was embarrassing, because I didn’t think we were fucking so I got too close when she was giving me head.”
I burst out laughing.
“Poor girl, she must have been horrified. Spent all that time down there and then when I did give it to her, it was pretty well a failed attempt.”
I keep laughing.
“Fuck you.”
“That’s so funny. Poor girl, you let her down.”
He punches me lightly in the arm. “I was young, we all have one young, doesn’t last long, story.”
“That’s true,” I snort.
He rolls his eyes at me. “Tell me one of your embarrassing sex stories.”
“I did,” I point out.
“There has to be another one? Everyone has a couple.”
“Not all of us are hobags.”
He roars with laughter and rolls towards me. “Fuck off. You have to have at least one more.”
“Nope. I’m a damned angel.”