Just Tell Her

by Nicole Pyland

  “It’s perfect, Charlie.” She leaned forward and kissed her gently. “I can’t wait until we can have this one day.”

  “Hails, we can have it now,” Charlie said.

  “What?” Hailey pulled back slightly to take a look at her.

  “Hailey, I’ve been saving up to buy a place for the past five years. I’ve been squirreling away money as I could, because I knew I’d get tired of renting. Especially now that Ember and Eva have their place, and Alyssa and Hannah have their place, and they’re both kind of in the suburbs, I thought it made sense to start putting more away for it. The job with the firm made that a lot easier, and with my promotion, I won’t have any problem with a mortgage.”

  “So, you want to do this now?”

  “We have a year on our lease here,” Charlie explained and took Hailey’s hand, placing it into her lap. “I had an agent scout some potential properties for us, and there are two that I think might work.”

  “What? When did you do this?”

  “A couple of weeks ago, when you were in meetings all day.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I wanted this to be a surprise. I want to take you to them to see if you like them. I made sure they wouldn’t take too long for either of us to get to work, that they’re in safe neighborhoods, or as safe as you can get in Chicago, and they’re in pretty good school districts. There’s even a private school near one, if we went that way.”

  “Baby…” Hailey placed her free hand on Charlie’s cheek.

  “I know a lot of the good contractors in the city, thanks to my job, and I’ve reached out to the one I like working with the most. Their work is always good, and they meet deadlines. I’d like us to meet with them about this. They’ll likely give me a pretty good discount, because I’ve thrown them some good accounts over the years.”

  “So, you want to build our dream house now?”

  “Why buy something we like, when we can have something we designed ourselves, Hails?” Charlie proposed. “We can afford this, and it’s what we both want, right?”

  “You still do that, you know?” Hailey said.

  “Do what?”

  Hailey laughed silently at her and then pushed her backward onto the couch so that she could hover over her.

  “You still check to see if I want things with you,” Hailey said. “I’ve basically been living in this apartment since before we even started dating, and when my lease was coming up, you asked me if I was sure about moving in. When you had to go to Detroit for work for two weeks and I asked to come along, you asked if I was sure I wanted to spend two weeks with you in Detroit, like the location makes any difference to me. I just wanted to be with you.” She paused and stared down into Charlie’s brown eyes. “Charlie, I love you. I want this with you. I want this house with you, and everything that comes with it. I even want the mortgage with you,” she joked.

  “I’m sure I’ll stop doing it eventually. It’s only been like six months. I’m still getting used to it.” Her hands went to Hailey’s back and lifted up the t-shirt that read, “I love Charlie Adams.” Hailey wore it to sleep in at least once a week.

  “I think it’s cute,” Hailey said.

  “Oh, you do?” Charlie gripped Hailey’s ass and pressed her down into her firmly, causing Hailey to laugh. “You think my inability to grasp that you chose me is cute?”

  Hailey kissed her neck and then pulled herself back up.

  “I still think sometimes about how you chose me over all those girls who went after you.”

  “All those girls?” Charlie laughed. “All what girls?”

  “I don’t know, Charlie. How about Lena, and then Summer, and then the girl at The Lantern that night. Oh, and then there were those two women at Windy’s a few weeks ago.”

  “Oh, I guess,” Charlie agreed.

  Though she rarely noticed other women hitting on her, and she’d not really paid attention to it before she and Hailey got together. She’d always had blinders on for this woman on top of her.

  “You guess?” Hailey laughed and lifted Charlie’s shirt up a little to run her hands up and down Charlie’s stomach.

  Charlie watched the movement and felt the familiar pulse between her legs.

  “Hails, I’ve only ever seen you,” she confessed and slid Hailey’s hair behind her ears so she could more easily see her eyes. “So beautiful.”

  Hailey took Charlie’s bottom lip between her own, and her hands moved up under Charlie’s shirt to encapsulate her breasts in a firm grip. Charlie’s nipples reacted immediately, and Hailey probed her mouth with her tongue.

  “Can we-” she started.

  “Yes,” Charlie interrupted, knowing the question.

  “Bed,” Hailey stated and was standing in an instant, pulling Charlie up with her.

  They stumbled as they walked, doing their best to keep their lips connected while clothing was tossed aside first in the living room and then in the hall to the bedroom. Charlie ended up on top, but Hailey rolled them over quickly.

  “You are such a top sometimes,” Charlie teased.

  “You love it,” Hailey replied with an eyebrow wiggle.

  “I do.” Charlie returned and felt Hailey’s lips on her collarbone.

  It always surprised Charlie how quickly Hailey could get going like this even after claiming she was exhausted from a long day at work. It seemed to take no time at all for her to get turned on. Charlie could already feel it on her thigh as Hailey pressed herself down onto her leg. She could sense Hailey’s impatience, and she loved that it was her that made Hailey that way. She lifted her thigh up a little to give Hailey something to move against.

  “Is that okay?” Hailey asked as she rubbed herself harder and used her hands to hold herself up as Charlie toyed with her nipples.

  “Definitely okay,” Charlie confirmed, watching as Hailey’s hips moved a little faster, and she felt Hailey’s own thigh press a little more firmly into her center. “Yeah, definitely okay,” she repeated.

  Hailey smirked and reconnected their lips.

  ◆◆◆

  Charlie woke up wrapped around her girlfriend. Hailey’s breathing was even, and her heartbeat beneath Charlie’s hand, which Hailey held in her own clasped to her chest, was paced evenly as well. She glanced at the clock over Hailey’s shoulder and noticed it was 6:30 am on a Sunday, which meant Hailey would likely want to sleep in. However, Charlie also knew her girlfriend well, and that included her morning mood. She felt Hailey move a little, as if she was in the beginning stages of waking up. Charlie smirked and kissed her shoulder while sliding her hand out of Hailey’s grasp. She moved a little, but no more than before. Charlie placed her hand over Hailey’s breast, squeezing it lightly and feeling the woman in front of her stir. She moved her hips against Hailey’s ass, while at the same time, continuing the squeezing motion on her breast. Hailey let out a soft moan. Hailey’s hand moved slowly to Charlie’s hip and pressed down, encouraging her to continue that movement. Charlie did and injected her thigh between Hailey’s. The angle allowed her center to press lightly into Hailey’s ass, and Hailey gasped when she felt the wetness Charlie had felt the moment she woke up.

  “Oh,” Hailey gasped out.

  Charlie played with her nipple while slowly rocking herself into Hailey from behind.

  Charlie’s hand slid down Hailey’s abdomen and between her legs. She kissed the back of her shoulder, cupped her, and felt Hailey’s hips rock in both pleasure and anticipation for what was about to come. Charlie’s hand didn’t stay long. She rolled Hailey over onto her back and drove her hips down into her when she did. Hailey gripped Charlie’s hips to have her repeat the action, while Charlie’s lips engulfed a tight nipple and sucked it into her mouth.

  “Good morning,” Charlie greeted her unnecessarily, after disconnecting her lips from Hailey’s nipple with a pop. She repeated the action on the other one, while continuing to rock into Hailey, who was now thrusting upwards. “Impatient?”
Charlie teased and kissed her lips, bringing her tongue to Hailey’s eagerly.

  “You started it,” Hailey pointed out when they parted.

  Charlie smiled and lowered her head to kiss her neck, her breasts, her abdomen, where she felt muscles beneath her lips twitch with desire, and then she placed both hands on the inside of Hailey’s thighs and spread them apart, relaxing herself between them.

  “I plan to finish it too.”

  Charlie lifted an eyebrow and wasted no time before dragging a velvety tongue up her girlfriend’s center, stopping at the tip of a hard clit that she flicked back and forth, earning a loud moan from Hailey and a hand on the back of Charlie’s head, asking her to continue. Charlie tasted her and felt her own arousal in the pit of her stomach, begging her for some form of release, but this was part of Charlie’s release. They’d spent over an hour the previous night making love. She’d fallen asleep sated, as had Hailey, but she’d woken up with a mind and body that wanted Hailey again and again. She wondered, as she licked Hailey up and down, if this was because she’d gone without her for so many years, while she’d wanted the woman in secret. She knew that was likely at least a small part of her ever-present need to make love to Hailey and have Hailey’s hands and mouth on her own skin, but she also knew that sex with Hailey was remarkable.

  Six months in, and she craved her. She was certain that would never go away. Hailey was a part of her in the same way that Ember and Eva were a part of one another and had built a life together because of it. She would be building a life with Hailey, and she knew now that no matter what or whom tried to get in their way, they wouldn’t allow obstacles to overtake them. They’d worked too hard to get to this place where they could be fully open to one another and risk their hearts no matter the consequence, because it was too important not too.

  “There. There,” Hailey repeated in rapid succession.

  Charlie had come to recognize that rapidity as Hailey’s indicator that she was almost there. Charlie circled her tongue several more times around Hailey’s swollen clit and felt Hailey’s hips move up and down faster, until Charlie heard her cry out as she came. Charlie slid two long fingers into her. Hailey gasped out as Charlie’s lips continued their work on her clit, while the fingers slid in and out, seeking deeper and deeper recesses to explore. Charlie knew Hailey’s second orgasm was always more intense when she came back to back like this, and she wanted to deliver. Hailey yelled out as she came again a few minutes later and rolled over almost to her side, forcing Charlie to lift up and out of her and then roll her over onto her back.

  “You okay?” Charlie smirked and then climbed on top of her.

  “I’ll let you know in, like, five minutes.”

  Hailey’s breathing was ragged, and her body looked languid and relaxed. Charlie leaned in for a kiss and enjoyed the feeling of Hailey’s breasts gliding softly against her own. She realized at that that the reason her breasts were gliding was because her hips were moving against Hailey. She hadn’t planned on that, but her body wanted more. Hailey gave her a look that told her she understood and would help however she could. Her hand slid down between Charlie’s legs, and in one fluid motion, her fingers were inside. Her palm was pressed against her. Charlie leaned back to sit up and pulled Hailey to her. She rocked her hips against Hailey’s body, as Hailey held onto her with her free hand and coaxed her to take her pleasure.

  “Hails, I want it like our first time,” Charlie uttered and moved her hand behind her own body to slide fingers against Hailey’s still firm clit.

  “I don’t know if I can again,” she said.

  “Yes, you can.”

  Charlie took two fingers and alternated them up and down on either side of Hailey’s clit. They’d reversed their positions from their first time together, but the movements were the same, and, yet, somehow different. They knew one another now. They understood the sensations that drove the sounds and the other toward their peaks. They found heightened pleasure with every encounter like this, thanks to that familiarity. She knew that Hailey would take a little longer to come this time, since she’d just come twice only moments before. Charlie also knew how turned on she was and that her body wanted its first orgasm of the day, but she slowed her rolling and, instead, focused on the feeling of Hailey’s lips on her neck and her own fingers, dancing in Hailey’s arousal. She heard the tell-tale signs of Hailey’s climb and felt her teeth grazing and nipping at her skin, indicating she was ready for Charlie to come. Charlie pulled Hailey’s face up to kiss her lips, and while their tongues played together, Charlie moaned into Hailey’s mouth when Hailey’s fingers curled inside her, beckoning her forward into her palm. Hailey could tell Charlie was close now, and she used her free hand to tweak a nipple in the way she knew would likely push Charlie higher.

  When it did, Charlie felt a jolt of electricity thunder through her body, and she jerked forward and back, trusting Hailey to hold her up and in place, while her fingers still moved against Hailey’s clit. Charlie rode out her orgasm, and as she was coming down, she recognized Hailey was on her way up and refocused her efforts on getting her there. Hailey came, as Charlie massaged her clit between her two fingers, and then fell back, bringing Charlie with her.

  “Baby, you are really good at that,” Hailey told her with a deep throaty laugh.

  ◆◆◆

  Sundays were their favorite days. Throughout the week, they were usually both so busy that they never had the feeling of just being able to relax together. Hailey’s arms were around Charlie’s waist, pulling her back into her, while Charlie attempted to make them coffee.

  “Did you need something there, Hails?” Charlie smiled at herself and felt Hailey’s hands slide up under the t-shirt Charlie’d just thrown on.

  “Just thinking about how I’m going to even the score,” Hailey explained and grabbed two breasts in her hands.

  “Even the score?”

  “Well, I feel completely satisfied right now, thanks to the intense round of orgasms you just supplied me with. I want to make sure you also feel just as satisfied.” She kissed the back of Charlie’s neck just below her hairline.

  “Oh, I’m feeling pretty damn satisfied right now, Hails.”

  “Yeah?” Hailey kissed her again.

  “Let’s eat breakfast and then talk more about this house we’re going to build,” Charlie proposed.

  “That sounds like a good Sunday.” Hailey planted another kiss in the same spot and pulled back so that Charlie could turn and pass her a cup of coffee that Hailey already knew would be perfectly mixed for her.

  They ate in near silence, as Charlie watched Hailey read the back of the cereal box, which had puzzles for kids on it. She thought to herself about what a wonderful mom she’d be one day. Hailey crunched on her cereal, while Charlie ate the oatmeal she’d prepared for herself, and the entire time they sat, side-by-side in silence, Hailey’s right hand was somewhere on Charlie’s body, as if reassuring herself that Charlie was there and wasn’t going anywhere. Charlie watched her in awe the same way she always found herself watching Hailey, adoring her messy bed head and the fact that she was only wearing a t-shirt and underwear while eating breakfast. She knew she could do this forever with her, and she knew now that they would. Hailey pulled out the box that once had a bow on top of it and took out a small scroll, setting the box aside, as they each took their usual spots on the couch. Charlie was lying in Hailey’s lap, while Hailey unrolled the scroll.

  “Because you always make sure I’m warm enough,” Hailey read.

  She smiled, rolled the paper back up, and sat it along with the ribbon that held it together on the arm of the couch, before looking down at Charlie.

  “You do,” Charlie said.

  “You know how sometimes you’re too busy living your life to really notice things enough?”

  “I guess,” Charlie said, placed Hailey’s arm over her stomach and then her own on top of it.

  “I think that’s what I was doing all those years. N
ow that we’re together, I can go back in my mind and realize that all those things, they added up to me loving you and not knowing it yet.”

  “What do you mean?” Charlie asked.

  “The first time I realized you were cold,” she said and then looked up and ahead, as if drawing the memory back into her mind. “You were living in that crap apartment, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah, I remember.” Charlie recalled the first apartment she’d gotten after moving out of her mother’s house and arriving at UC. “Four-hundred square feet, with the bed about ten feet from the stove and the door to the building that never had a working lock.”

  “We were hanging out one night. I think it was just a few months after we met. Ember had been there initially, but she’d gotten a call from some girl she was hooking up with.”

  “Sometimes, I forget what a total player she used to be,” Charlie said. “She’s changed so much; it’s crazy.”

  “It was just you and me. We were sitting on the floor in front of your bed. You were studying for a class. I was scrolling through my computer, checking out internships. It must have been the dead of winter, because it was cold inside even with your old heater on, but then it went out. We called that guy to fix it, but he couldn’t get there right away.”

  “You made me pack up my stuff and stay with you until it was fixed,” Charlie added to the story.

  “You were so stubborn. You wouldn’t say yes right away. You kept saying you could fix it yourself, which was ridiculous, because you had no idea what you were doing. It was at least two hours before you finally gave up and came with me, but neither of us had cars back then.”

  “And we had to walk to the train,” Charlie said.

  “It was freezing, and then we walked to my place, and even though I turned the thermostat up as high as it would go, you were shivering like crazy.” Hailey placed her hand on Charlie’s cheek. “I got you in the shower and thought that would warm you enough, but even that didn’t work all the way. I think, that night was the first time we slept in the same bed together, and I held onto you all night.”