by Lexi Aurora
Two weeks after the article came out, I trudged back home, wrapped tightly in my coat but feeling like it was making little difference as to how warm I was. No matter what I did, it seemed like there was no way for any warmth to penetrate through the cold. I moved slowly down the street, barely able to move my legs, overcome with exhaustion and cold. It seemed to take me hours to get back to the apartment, and I sagged against the doorway as soon as I got in there, stumbling forward to the elevator.
“Ali,” came a voice behind me, and I turned my head to see that Tyler had walked in the door. The motion made me dizzy, and I opened my mouth to say something, but wasn’t able to speak a word before the room went black and I crumpled to the ground.
I didn’t know how long I was out before I woke up later in my bed, tucked underneath the covers, drooling on my pillow. I wiped my mouth, stretching, looking down at my body to see that I was wearing a large, oversized t-shirt that I often slept in. I remember the last thing that had happened before I had passed out—Tyler had seen me, had probably caught me. I looked down at myself again, flushing with embarrassment when I realized that at some point he had changed my clothes, and seen me naked. I was suddenly furious, scrambling out of bed, stumbling slightly before I caught my balance. I ignored the fact that I wasn’t wearing pants as I stormed out of my bedroom, heading to Tyler’s apartment. I froze when I saw him sleeping on the couch, covered by only a tiny blanket, his eyes closed. They opened when I stepped toward him and he looked up at me with a smile. He frowned when he saw that I was glaring at him.
“What happened?” I asked him.
“You fainted,” he said. “You could barely walk—you were so exhausted. You really need to get more sleep.”
“I’m fine,” I snapped. “But that’s not what I meant. You took my clothes off?”
“Of course I didn’t take your clothes off,” he said. “I had Trixie come over and do it.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling some of the tension go out of me. He huffed.
“Do you always think the worst of everyone or is it just me?”
“It’s just you,” I said, but a small smile passed over my lips. His face softened a little bit as he stared at me, studying my face.
Chapter 13: Tyler
“How do you feel?” I asked her. She took a step forward, unsteady, then another before she started to fall again. I rushed over, grabbing her by the waist, steadying her by wrapping my arm around her. She looked up at my face as I led her over to the couch, laying her down there.
“I made soup last night. I’ll warm some up.”
“You made soup?” she asked with a small, amused smile on her face. “All by yourself?”
“Yes, all by myself,” I said, beaming at her. “Stay here. I’m going to warm some up.”
“Okay,” she said, and I left her behind to go into the kitchen, taking the soup out of the refrigerator and heating it on the stove. I hurried it out to her, setting it in front of her and handing her a spoon. She looked at it skeptically, and I had to laugh.
“Just eat it,” I said.
“What—what kind of soup is it supposed to be?”
“It’s chicken and dumplings,” I said to her, sitting next to her. She lifted a spoonful of it to her face, smelling it. I watched as she blew on it, and couldn’t help but smile as she took a sip of it. She swallowed, keeping her face even and blank.
“What do you think?” I asked her. She looked away from me, and I saw that her body was shaking.
“Ali?” I asked, my brow furrowed. I heard her giggling and she turned toward me, covering her mouth with her hand.
“What is it?” I asked her.
“This is so—this is so bad,” she said between giggles, putting her spoon down, laughter pouring out of her. I started to laugh, too, at the look on her face, and within seconds we had both dissolved into hysterics. I wiped tears from my eyes after a moment.
“Listen, I had the same thought last night,” I said to her. She laughed again.
“And you gave it to me anyway?”
I shrugged. “I thought it would help.”
“Thank you,” she said softly, then looked down at the bowl. “Do I—are you going to make me eat the rest of it?”
“No,” I said, pushing it away from her. “I’ll get you take-out or something.”
“I can do it,” she said, standing up, going for her phone. I took her wrist and pulled her back down, and she looked up at me with an eyebrow raised.
“You’re not doing anything but sitting on this couch for a couple of days,” I told her.
“No, I have to go to work—” she said, but I cut her off by putting my hand up.
“I found your partner in your phone. Melissa. I called her to tell her what happened, and she said that you need to take a couple of days off.”
“You did that?” she asked. I nodded. She settled back into the couch then.
“So what now?”
“I’m going to hang out here for the next couple of days and wait on you hand and foot.”
“Why?” she asked with a curious smile on her lips. I shrugged, not answering, standing up instead.
“Do you like Chinese food?”
“Yes,” she said.
“I’m going to go next door and grab the menu. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” she said, looking up at me in surprise. I ran into my apartment and got the menu, and when I got back we ordered dinner. She sat cross-legged on the couch, propped up by pillows that I had slipped behind her, staring at me with an interested look in her eye.
“What kind of movies do you like to watch?” I asked her, picking up the remote and turning on the TV.
“Horror movies,” she said.
I laughed, looking over at her. “You’re joking,” I said.
“No, really. I love horror movies.”
“Really?” I asked. “And yet the closet seemed to freak you out.”
“That’s because I was trapped in there with a monster,” she said.
I laughed. “But you don’t mind monsters on TV,” I said.
“Nope.”
“So you want to watch a horror movie?” I asked her doubtfully.
She laughed. “Are you scared, Tyler?”
“No,” I said, though the truth was that horror movies had always freaked me out. I didn’t want to show that around her though, so I switched over to the movie app and scrolled through the horror section until she saw one that sounded interesting, an old 70s slasher called Black Christmas.
“This is my favorite Christmas movie,” she said, settling back into the couch as I started it.
“That’s pretty grim, Ali,” I said.
She shrugged. “It’s the only one without all the stupid music,” she said.
“What are you, the Grinch?”
She nodded, grinning as the doorbell rang. I got the food and brought it over to her, sitting next to her on the couch while it played. It was dark and creepy, not my type of movie at all, but I found that I enjoyed it just sitting next to her.
“Have you ever seen that before?” she asked afterward.
I shook my head. “I haven’t seen most of those old horror movies,” I said.
“But you’ve seen like, Halloween, though, right?”
“Nope,” I said.
Her mouth dropped open and she gaped at me. “How many days did you say I have off?” she asked.
“Your partner said two. But if you need more—”
“We’re having a marathon,” she said decidedly.
“A horror movie marathon?” I asked.
She nodded, an enthusiastic smile on her face. “God, there’s so much you’re missing out on. Have you ever seen any Wes Craven? John Carpenter?”
“No,” I said. “I haven’t even heard of them.”
She gave a low, disbelieving whistle. Despite the fact that it ordinarily wouldn’t sound fun to me to watch a bunch of horror movies non-stop, I found myself getting caught up in
her excitement, looking forward to experiencing them with her for the first time.
“So what are we going to watch first?” I asked her, settling into the couch. For the next two days, we watched a series of horror movies, spending all day on the couch staring at the screen. All of it was horrifying, and yet I found myself caught up in the excitement of it, grinning at how much Ali was clearly enjoying herself. Between movies, we would talk—I found out a few things about her, that she was young, only twenty-five and already having opened up an extremely successful restaurant. She was proud of her cooking and her accomplishments, and she radiated that every time she talked about them, beaming at me while I listened to her.
The night before she was supposed to go back to work we were having dinner together, curled up on the couch eating pizza from the box and drinking bottles of lukewarm root beer that the pizza man had brought for us. I didn’t care at that moment how bad it tasted—I wanted to drag out my time with her, knowing that I would be going back to my apartment when we were done.
“Hey, Tyler,” she said after a moment of quiet. I looked at her and she met my eye. “I’m—I’m really sorry for how rude I was to you before I got to know you.”
“I’m sorry, too,” I said to her. “I was an asshole. I know that.”
“You were,” she said with a sly smile. “But so was I.”
“So what do you think?” I asked her, putting my hand forward, offering it to her. “Friends?”
She took my hand, her soft palm slipping against mine, and I could swear that I felt electricity flowing through my body.
“Friends,” she said with a bright smile. I wanted to kiss her then, and felt overwhelmed with the urge. But I resisted, not wanting to ruin it, not wanting to risk jeopardizing the friendship we had built over the past couple of days.
“I’d better get back to my apartment,” I said. “Hopefully, Trixie hasn’t torn it apart.”
“Did you let her stay there?”
“Yeah,” I said, standing up. “I’m hoping that I’m not going to regret that.”
“Thank you again for staying with me,” she said, looking up at my face. “I appreciate it.”
“It was fun,” I said. “I learned a lot.”
She grinned. “Good,” she said. “Who directed Halloween?”
“John Carpenter,” I said. She nodded, a satisfied look on her face. I was tempted again to kiss her but didn’t, instead telling her goodnight and leaving, going back to my blessedly empty apartment. I had told my sister what I was doing, taking care of Ali, and she had teased me relentlessly about it, about the fact that I continued to deny that I had any feelings for my neighbor. That fact was getting harder and harder to deny though, especially whenever I climbed into my own bed for the first time in days, my mind filled with thoughts of her, as usual.
I fell asleep and found myself in a dream of her. She was naked, her skin perfect and soft, naturally golden. Her body was spread out in my bed, naked, her breasts full, nipples pink and hard. In the dream, I took one of her breasts into my mouth, tasted her nipple while my finger traveled over the soft curve of her belly, down between her legs. Her pussy was soaking wet, and I felt my cock grow hard as I started to stroke her swollen lower lips, teasing her, sucking on her nipples.
I spent the rest of the night like that, not quite getting to go all the way with her in my dream, always getting stopped before I could slip inside of her. I woke up sweating, hard as a rock, and shook my head. There was no way to deny it anymore, not even to myself—I was desperate to touch Ali, to fuck her, to make her come, and there was nothing that I could do to change that.
Chapter 14: Ali
I kept my promise to Tyler over the next few weeks, not overworking myself. Melissa made me promise, too, that I wouldn’t work twelve-hour days anymore, and though I put up a fight, I decided in the end that I couldn’t afford to crash again the way I had after the last time I’d worked so hard. Instead, I went home early, letting our night cook handle dinner while I went home to get some rest or relax in my apartment. Sometimes, I would invite Tyler over, and we would watch a movie together or have dinner. I found that I genuinely enjoyed his company, that he was fun to have around. I enjoyed being friends with him, and constantly ignored the sexual tension between us, knowing that going in that direction would only complicate things again.
One evening I was baking brownies, trying a new recipe, and decided to bring them over to him. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of days and if I was honest with myself, I missed seeing his smile, hearing his voice. I knocked on his door and he answered, and for a moment I was frozen there, heat spreading through my body. He was wearing only a pair of shorts, his body glistening with sweat. His bare chest was carved and perfect, all hard lines and muscles. His arms were thick and strong, the v-lines of his hips dipping down below his shorts. He was absolutely mouthwatering, and for a moment, I stood there stricken, unable to take my eyes off of him. He cleared his throat, and when I met his eye, he was grinning.
“Are those for me?” he asked, gesturing toward the plate.
“Y—yes,” I said, cursing myself inwardly for being such a stuttering idiot. He gestured for me to follow him inside, picking up a towel and wrapping it over the back of his neck.
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Working out?” I asked him.
He nodded. “I have a room back there with a big dummy,” he said.
I raised my eyebrows. “I thought you said I could kick your ass,” I said.
He laughed. “Oh, Ali, that dummy’s got nothing on you.”
“I bet,” I said, taking a seat at his counter. He disappeared into his room, and a few moments later he had emerged, dried off and dressed, smelling like soap and deodorant. I took a deep breath as he walked by, picking up one of the brownies off the plate and taking a bite of it. He closed his eyes, smiling.
“You are an angel,” he said.
I smiled at him, pleased. “You like them?”
“Better than sex,” he said. “Definitely.”
I chuckled. “I don’t think you’ve had the right kind of sex.”
“I think you’re right about that,” he said, holding my eye as he sucked the tip of his finger. He winked at me and I blushed, glancing away from him, avoiding his eye.
“I have a question for you,” he said. “A favor to ask.”
“What’s that?” I asked him.
“There’s a party for my work. A company Christmas party. I was wondering if you would go with me.”
“What—me?” I asked him, stunned by the question.
He nodded, holding my eye. “I don’t want to invite just anyone, and my sister can’t come.”
“You asked your sister to be your date?” I asked him.
He laughed again, shaking his head. “She knows everyone at my company. She’d just come as a guest. But she can’t, and showing up alone would be lame—”
“Don’t you have some model you can bring with you?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “Nobody half as interesting as you,” he said.
I blushed, glancing away from him.
“So will you come?” he asked.
I was reluctant to say yes—that sort of party was not the kind I was used to attending. It would be filled with rich, beautiful people, and I was nothing but a dumpy girl who worked at a country diner. Still, the way he was looking at me with such earnestness in his face was enough to convince me. When I nodded, a relieved smile passed over his face.
“Thank you,” he said.
“When is it?” I asked him.
He gave me a bashful look. “Tomorrow,” he said, cringing before I even got a chance to react.
“Tomorrow?” I asked him. “This fancy party is tomorrow and you’re just now asking me?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’m sorry. But it’s nothing. It’s not even a big deal.”
“What’s the dress like?”
He winced. “Formal.”
“Please, Ali,” he said, pleading in his eyes. He took my hand, bringing it up to kiss my fingers. “You’re going to love it. I promise. I’ll treat you like a princess.”
“Better than a princess,” I said. “A queen.”
“Of course,” he said, kissing the backs of my fingers again, this time allowing his lips to linger on my knuckles. I pulled my hand away from him before the heat could spread too far through me, reminding myself of my vow to keep this a friendship and nothing more.
“Okay,” she agreed, half-reluctant. “I’ll come.”
A look of relief passed over his face.
“Thank you,” he said.
I nodded. “But it’d better be fun. And there’d better be an open bar.”
“There is definitely an open bar,” he said with a grin. “And dancing.”
“No dancing,” I said, frowning.
He shook his head. “Dancing is part of the deal,” he said, leaning in quickly to kiss my forehead before he stood up. “Thanks for the brownies.”
“You’re welcome,” I said to him, hot and overly aware of my body after the simple touch. I told him goodnight then and left, going back to my apartment, wondering what the next evening would be like. In the morning, I got up and got ready for a reluctant, begrudging trip to the mall to buy a dress. I didn’t own anything formal and hadn’t since I had been young. I went into the first store I found with what I needed, determined to make a choice there no matter what. I didn’t want to search all day, so I would settle on the first thing I found that didn’t make me look frumpy and misshapen.
Despite my vow to get in and out quickly, it took me most of the day to pick a dress. It seemed like everything I tried on fit wrong, and I was filled with frustration by the end of the day. I was down to my last three dresses, and I held my breath when I slipped into one that was made of green velvet, long-sleeved with a low neck and an a-line waist. I looked at myself in the mirror—the color flattered my skin and made my eyes pop, while the shape of it accented my waist. It looked the best of all the ones I had tried on, but I still frowned when I looked in the mirror. My ass was much too big, making the dress shorter than it was supposed to be, and the shape of it only accented the fact that my hips were wide enough to hold babies comfortably on either side. I found my mind wandering to Amanda, to all of the other models that might be there at the party, and I had to fight hard not to compare myself to them. It would only make me miserable, and I wanted to enjoy the party as much as I could with Tyler.