by J. Judkins
Kim pushed the door opener hanging on the visor. Once the door opened far enough, she parked inside and killed the engine.
Angel sidled up next to her. "You’re not driving now," she whispered into her ear.
"We can’t do anything while the garage door is open. People will see," Kim pointed out.
Angel reached up and pushed the button. The door started to close. Kim sighed and pushed it again, stopping it.
“You can wait until after we’re inside. And food. Remember, food? And a shower, please?”
Angel simply smiled.
Both kept their distance as they crossed the parking lot. Angel followed her up the stairs and waited at the door while Kim fumbled for her keys. The instant the door opened, Kim breezed past Angel, heading straight for the kitchen.
Once there, Kim found and nuked some leftover pizza. While she ate, she listened as Angel started a shower. Kim began to take her time. She gave Angel an extra five minutes to finish, then five minutes more just to be certain. Only then did she take her chances getting to the bathroom.
She was midway through her own shower when it dawned on her what she’d been doing with her verbal placations to Angel. She’d been using delaying tactics, one after the other. Now she realized she hadn’t really solved anything.
Delaying tactics were just that, delaying tactics. They wouldn’t discourage Angel at all. Each time Kim asked for one more delay, she’d been in essence promising to do it afterward, each and every time. That would only save her until her excuses ran out.
Which they had.
No wonder Angel kept grinning like a loon.
Now nothing was going to save her. As of this weekend, she and Angel were now in an officially serious, sexual relationship. Kim knew exactly what to expect from that point on. Once the sex started, it didn’t stop for anything until one of them broke up with the other. Or until they married, for some odd reason.
Why is that, anyway? Kim frowned, thinking about it. She never understood why the act of marriage would kill a couple’s sex life. But that was the inescapable reality, according to her married friends. You’d think marriage would spice things up, but that didn’t seem to be the case. At least, not according to what she understood.
Kim realized her shower was going extra-long. All she was doing now was delaying the inevitable. The sex would continue. Nothing could stop it now. That particular genie had escaped the bottle and wasn’t going back inside anytime soon.
She looked down at her naked body.
Might as well go out as I am.
Putting on clothes would only be another delaying tactic doomed to failure. At least this way, she wouldn’t have to go hunting for clothing left scattered all over the room.
She dried herself off and took a deep breath.
Guess this is it. Angel is waiting.
Kim left her towel behind and walked into the hall. She felt a bit flushed with excitement with each step, which she thought was pretty ridiculous considering what she’d spent an entire weekend doing. Wasn’t the elation supposed to die down at some point?
Yeah…constant, never-ending sex? Not so terrible.
Love would have been nice, but since when had she been a romantic that craved love, anyway?
She took another step. Then another. Her breath started to catch, and she reached out a hand to steady herself against the wall. Why was she feeling anticipation, all of a sudden? She felt warm and heated despite the cool air on her naked skin.
Was it because no one was influencing her this time? Kim could blame the entirety of last weekend on Angel, but couldn’t blame anyone for anything tonight. Tonight, this was all on her. Kim was making a conscious and informed choice to sleep with Angel. Did choosing to do it of her own free-will make all the difference?
Kim was even making it easy for Angel. No clothes to take off. No resistance, token or otherwise.
But it couldn’t be helped, right? They were in a relationship. Angel had won. It was all over but for the mocking victory laugh and jeering at the loser.
There are worse fates.
In her mind, she envisioned Angel lying in bed, the covers pulled away to pool halfway to the floor.
Not so terrible…
Or maybe she’d be lying in a seductive pose? Or with one sheet pulled up in a futile attempt to obscure how she was naked beneath? Kim tried to make herself stop smiling.
Yeah. She could suffer through it, somehow.
She took three steps inside the bedroom before she realized Angel was doing none of those things.
Angel sat in the bedroom chair, fully dressed with a book in her hand. Their eyes met, both filled with identical looks of surprise. Then Angel was rising from her chair, the book dropping from her fingers, and the moment elongated to one of those crystal clear moments where time itself slowed to a crawl.
Kim tracked the book’s progress as it fell, its long fall taking four times longer than it should. When it hit the carpeted floor, it was with a crashing note of finality, the sound identical to someone clumsily hitting all the lower keys of a piano all at the same time.
“But...weren’t we going to tonight?” Kim asked softly, her voice one of horrified realization.
Angel’s initial look of surprise became nothing more than a distant memory. In fact, it had vanished so quickly Kim began to doubt she’d actually seen it. Between one breath and the next, Angel was across the room and holding her in her arms. “Yes. We were,” Angel answered.
“But…but you’re dressed,” Kim stammered.
“I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
Angel nuzzled into her and began kissing her neck. Kim fought down the rising desire, trying to keep her head clear of the distraction.
“We could always do this some other time,” Kim said in a rush.
“I’d love to do this some other time,” Angel told her, while continuing to do what she was doing. Her hands began wander.
Kim sought to puzzle through this. Angel had made an exploitable mistake, she knew. When someone says, “I’d love to do this some other time,” that meant they were going to stop doing it now. Anyone with a halfway decent grasp of the English language knew this. It further indicated the speaker’s willingness to do it some other time. As in, not now.
She wanted to point out the flaw in Angel’s logic, but was having difficulty maintaining her focus.
“No. You’re still dressed. You weren’t expecting to do it tonight,” she pointed out logically, rationally, and with a hint of panic.
Angel’s pants dropped to the floor. A neat trick, considering Angel did so without using her hands.
“Mostly dressed...” Kim amended weakly.
Angel slid Kim’s own unresponsive hands underneath her own shirt. With a quick tug, the shirt was sent flying. Angel wore nothing underneath.
Kim’s hands half rose at the sight. She pulled them back down again. “I didn’t come in here wanting sex,” she said again.
“We were going to do this,” Angel breathed against her neck.
God, that feels nice! “But I wasn’t…you weren’t--”
“We were going to, Kim.”
“You planned this--” Kim whined.
“Yes, I planned this. I planned all of this. You fell into my trap. Insert maniacal laugh here.”
“But...but I don’t see how.”
“You’ll figure it out by morning. I can’t wait to hear how I did it.”
“But--”
“Shh. By morning, Kim.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Angel sipped at her orange juice. “Have you figured out my evil plan, yet?”
“Almost.”
They were seated at the kitchen table, but there was no sign of breakfast. At some point they’d run out of supplies, and Kim was never one to go shopping for food until the moment she was technically starving to death. There was still the thousand year old oatmeal on the shelf, but she had been hoping to leave it for the next generation of owners.
<
br /> Kim nursed her own drink while she gathered her thoughts. Naturally, there was a danger in telling Angel anything. She’d already fallen into one trap last night, but she didn’t doubt that what she said today could also be taken and twisted into something unintentionally meaningful.
Angel didn’t seem bothered by Kim’s silence. Her hands rested on the table, carefully folded before her in a picture-perfect image of someone genuinely curious to see if anyone would be able to figure out her devious machinations before a certain someone ran out of time and had to leave for work.
The sight didn’t bother Kim. Angel never gloated about her success or lorded it over her. Half the reason she thought Angel’s plans so fascinating was because Angel rarely took credit for them. Those blatantly obvious plans she did take credit for were the exception, not the rule. Complex, twisted, and, more often than not, borderline illegal.
Last night’s trap had been one of the former, despite Angel claiming “credit” for being behind it.
Kim knew Angel worked under the assumption she’d brought her home for romantic reasons. This mistaken belief gave Kim a means to resist. Because Angel also assumed she was shy, it allowed Kim to play the “excessively shy” card with impunity. Angel even expected it of her. Kim could be as reluctant as she wanted, even to the point of doesn’t want to do it, and never be considered out of character.
Unfortunately, Angel countered her shy card with the dreaded “you don’t know what you’re missing, let me show you,” card. Kim would have loved to play further defensive cards to counter hers, but apparently those cards were exceptionally rare. Instead, all she had were several variants of the “I love it, please don’t stop,” card, which didn’t help her situation in the slightest.
Both of them knew that once the sex started, it would continue for the life of the relationship. Kim knew it, and she didn’t doubt Angel knew it. The fact that they spent an entire weekend in bed proved Angel knew it.
Or so she’d believed. Now, she wasn’t so sure.
It was possible Angel wasn’t to blame for why they kept at it so much last weekend. Kim had been overwhelmed by the experience and didn’t want Angel to stop. Everything felt too amazing and wonderful. She hadn't been in the right state of mind to resist.
Angel sprung the trap that weekend, but Kim couldn’t bring herself to step out of the trap, even knowing the door was not only unlocked but swinging wide open. Her attitude for the rest of the weekend had been one of “looks like you got me!” and resigning herself to the situation.
“This is one of your ‘it’s all Kim’s idea’ victories,” Kim told Angel.
Angel ran a finger on the glass of her drink. “Interesting. How did I manage that?”
“First of all, we can’t go back in time to a point of ‘not having sex’. It’s going to continue.”
Angel looked surprised for an instant, but she quickly concealed it. “Agreed,” she said.
Kim grinned. She’d noticed Angel’s minor slip. That minor involuntary reaction confirmed she was on the right track.
“You knew I expected the sex to continue night after night until we couldn’t tell the nights apart anymore. But instead of meeting me halfway, you deliberately got dressed and waited in the bedroom to pretend you didn’t know it was expected.”
“Why was I pretending not to know the sex would continue?”
“Let me finish. The moment I walked in the door, and before I realized what had happened, you claimed responsibility by telling me we were going to because you weren’t willing to risk me agreeing with what you were pretending.”
“Why was I pretending not to know the sex would continue?” Angel asked again.
“In order to pretend it was my idea.”
“Is it that important to me that it appears as if it’s your idea?”
“Yes, because then it makes it look as if I want sex more than you do.”
Angel nodded sagely. “I see. That was very clever of me. So if you happened to agree I didn’t know sex would continue night after night...” Her voice trailed off.
“You were pretending sex wasn’t expected. If I agreed at that moment, that would have given me an excuse I could use. We wouldn’t have done anything last night if I had, because I would have stepped out of the trap.”
“Clever.”
Kim made a sour face as she conceded her loss. She’d fallen into the trap because she’d made an assumption about Angel’s behavior. That wouldn’t happen again. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. “But you didn’t give me the chance to ‘agree’ with you. You claimed you were behind it all.”
“Clever.”
“By clever, do you mean me, for figuring it out? Or you for planning it?”
“Both of us, I suppose,” Angel admitted.
Kim pushed back her chair and rose to her full unimpressive five-foot height. “You may have won that battle, Angel, but this is far from over,” she declared, doing her best to loom and add gravity to her words. “Our relationship isn’t a normal one. We are not going to have constant sex on a nightly basis, no matter what the rule for new couples is supposed to be.”
Angel looked notably unimpressed at Kim’s attempt at intimidation. “Are you sure? I’d hate to break the rule.”
“Well, we’re going to. Break the rule, I mean. Break with tradition. Sex isn’t going to be a given, something you can expect automatically.”
“Okay.”
“You’re going to have to work for it.”
“Okay.”
Kim blinked at her. “That’s it? Just okay?”
“Your terms are acceptable. I agree with them.”
Kim harrumphed and sat back down in her chair. “Now, I’m suspicious.”
Angel laughed. “Now, you’re suspicious? Do you ever stop being suspicious?”
“You just thought of something, or you’re up to something. What is it?”
“No idea. I’m sure you’ll tell me once I figure it out.”
“I mean it, Angel. You’re not going to be able to take anything for granted. Nothing. Nothing at all, starting now.”
“Speaking of which, it’s about time for you to leave for work. Goodbye kiss?”
“Okay.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kim may have been new at this, but she knew the stories. Whenever a person started having sex for the first time, co-workers automatically knew it. Something about their mannerisms gave them away. What it was exactly, she could only guess. Was it their changed outlook? Their attitude? The huge, sappy grin on their face? It could be anything, and she was wary that others would notice the subtle change in her.
The prospect of teasing was one thing, but even relentless teasing paled in comparison to the thought of anyone knowing anything about her personal life. Kim hoarded information like a miser, never volunteering anything about herself or sharing facts with others. This guideline had served her well throughout her entire life.
Kim was determined not to become a victim. She kept her behavior firmly in check as she walked to her cubicle. If there was an extra spring in her step, she suppressed it.
Just another dreary Monday, she thought, and suppressed a goofy grin for the fifth time that morning.
The concept of “glowing” was another mystery. She had no idea what a glowing person was supposed to look like, but she guessed it involved a general sense of happiness, easily recognizable by others. Kim assumed this applied to her. She felt insanely happy, so she needed to quell any outward signs and concentrate on keeping her demeanor grim and dour.
It was vital she not dwell upon the events of the last few days. Work would keep her occupied. There was always work. This was going to be a day just like any other. Miserable and tedious, if she was lucky.
When Kim reached her cubicle, she threw herself into her chair and glared at the cubicle walls. The soulless, grey walls silently mocked her.
This isn’t working. No matter what she tried, her good mood wouldn’t die. Sh
e could mask its effects and pray she didn’t make a mistake, but that was it. She was doomed. The others would find out. The thought of her imminent failure depressed her. She latched onto that feeling, trying to concentrate on the distressing thought.
It didn’t work. The elusive dark feelings slipped through her fingers.
Kim let her forehead thump against the cubicle wall, miserable in her happiness.
She could see it now. Why does Kim look so paranoid, self-conscious and mind-numbingly cheerful today? Oh, I know! She must have spent the entire weekend having hot, lesbian sex with her hot, lesbian girlfriend. That must be it.
"Morning, Kim," said Andy.
"Good morning," said Kim in a depressed and an “annoyed its Monday” tone, carefully crafted to conceal everything, while simultaneously sounding not at all cheerful.
"Busy weekend?" he asked.
Kim laughed in a disarming manner. "Busy? What do you mean? Why would last weekend be busy? I wouldn’t know anything about that. Just an ordinary weekend for me.” She absently picked up a pen from her desk, click it a few times, and then set it back down.
Andy smiled at her.
He knows! Kim realized in horror.
“See any good movies recently?”
Only Kim’s eyes threatened to betray the abject panic she felt washing over her. What was it? What did she do? What gave her away? It had to be something, but she didn’t know what!
“Kim? Any movies?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“Maybe it's because you’re one of the few people I know who tries to see a new movie every weekend?”
“Well, I didn’t see one. I was...busy this weekend.”
“Oh.”
What was she doing? She’d just finished telling him she wasn’t busy. “Busy, as in, doing other stuff, busy. But not seeing movies.”
Andy nodded and turned to leave. “Got it.”
“I wasn’t doing anything else,” Kim clarified, “just...not seeing movies.”
Andy nodded again. He started to walk away.
Kim rose to her feet. “But I wasn’t busy doing something not movie related, I was-“-