Chapter 5

• Sleepover
• [Arthur]
• She surprised me by inviting me in. I don’t think twice as I chase her inside.
• We flop together onto her oversized futon couch, laughing at the silliness of it all. Her hair comes out of its wrap and tumbles around her face in loose, long, deep red ringlets. She bites her lips, and I lean down to kiss her, her legs wrapping around me as we make ourselves more comfortable. We stay like that for several minutes, making out roving over us when we hear the door unlock. We try to untangle, but we don’t quite make it before a young woman with slick black hair in braided pigtails sees us. She stares for a minute before saying “Excuse me,” in heavily accented English, turns around, and slams the door, locking it again. I hear a smattering of what sounds like Mandarin chatter between the young woman and several others followed by a deep, unmistakable, masculine laugh. Faye and I sit still while we hear the footsteps make their way down the stairs.
• We both start laughing.
• “Oh My God!” she giggles “Why do I feel like a teenager who just got caught with her boyfriend making out?”
• “Well, I am still technically a teenager…and did you just say boyfriend?”
• She smacks me hard with a pillow. “Shut up! God, you’re so young.”
• “Hey, I’m getting older every day!” I shout in exaggerated offense. “You wound me, fair lady.”
• “You are such a geek!”
• “Look who’s talking!” I point at her laserdisc collection by the door. “Shoujo Kakumei Utena on laserdisc? Who even has laserdisc anymore?”
• “Hey, those are collectibles!”
• “And the Sailor Moon figurines….” I point to the small shelf above the oversized TV that takes up most of that wall. “And is that a Charizard?”
• “Actually,” she explains “those aren’t mine…”
• “Riiiiiight”
• “No, honest, they belong to my roommate, Embyr. She’s my best friend so don’t make fun of her figurines.”
• “Oh,” I look towards the door. “Do you think she’ll be coming back soon?”
• “Who knows? I never know half the time. I think I saw her leave your party with the DJ.” Faye scoffs, “She does stuff like this ALL THE TIME. I love her but, jeez I can’t believe she left me at your house without saying anything.” She picks up her phone to search through the messages. “No new messages. She’s probably in the city sleeping off some kind of post-concert hangover. That isn’t too weird for her.”
• I look back at the door. “Maybe we should just watch some TV then, I’d hate for her to come in at the wrong time…”
• “Yeah…” Faye blushes. “We have like 5 streaming services. What do you want to watch?”
• We spent the next ten minutes deciding which fantasy or historical drama we were going to pick and finally settled on binging a bit of both.
• At some point, we fall asleep. I wake up as the sun filters through her plastic blinds, muted with sheer white curtains. Faye seems to be sleeping peacefully, her head in my lap. I smile as I watch her drool. I don’t know why I find it so adorable, but I don’t have it in my heart to disturb her.
• Very quietly, I move her head off of my lap. Finding a napkin, I search for a pen and find a broken pencil underneath the couch. I write a brief little note letting her know I’m going for a run, and then I head out the door.
• I close the door behind me very quietly. Stretching, I hop down the stairs and head down the block. After running down to the bay trail I head towards the bridge. Just as I’m about to turn around to surprise Faye with some muffins, I feel my phone vibrate with a text.
• DAD: Elaine and I will be leaving this morning to go to the Beach House. We’ll be back on Tuesday. I expect you will be around then. We need to talk.
• Placing my hand on my head I close my eyes. My heart is pounding from both the run and my anger. I take a moment before responding. My first reaction is to tell him to leave me alone. But I realize that isn’t going to solve anything, and we do need to talk. So I settle for a simple “OK” and then shut my phone.
• I need to run off some of this anger.
• [Faye]
• I wake up to find Arthur gone
• “Maybe he just had to go to the bathroom.”
• I check the bathroom, the kitchen, and the rest of the house.
• Nope. I’m completely alone. I don’t know why, but it makes me sad that he left without saying anything.
• “Looks like it was just a fling after all,” I mumble. “Ah well, that’s going to make family reunions a bit awkward.” I laugh. It isn’t funny but at the same time, it also is. Technically we were brother and sister now.
• Oh, yeah…let’s not think about that too much.
• I put the kettle on to make some pour-over coffee when I hear someone try the door handle.
• I run to go lock the door but I get there too late and almost run into Arthur, who is holding two drinks and a large bag.
• He laughs. I smack him on the arm, gently so as not to spill what smelled like amazingly expensive coffee. I do have a weakness for good coffee.
• “I guess you can come in,” I shrug.
• I don’t want him to notice I was upset just a moment ago, so I try to put a smile on my face. It must not have reached my eyes because he placed everything on the coffee table and then turned around to hug me. He then looks over at something underneath the couch and picks it up to read it.
• “I guess you didn’t see this.”
• It is a note, from Arthur:
• “Going for a run, be back in an hour --your BOYFRIEND”
• “Nope.” I look up at him, “Did you have to write that part in all caps?”
• “Yup.” He grins like a satisfied cat. “I wouldn’t want you to forget what you said to me last night.” Catching my face in his hands he claims my lips until we are both out of breath.
• “Mmmm,” I pull away. He’s covered in sweat from his long run. He has a deeply masculine scent, not entirely unpleasant except that no one smells all that great after a long run. “Not that this isn’t nice, but I think you need a shower.”
• “Shower?”
• “Yeah, you stink,” I confirm. “Sorry,” I add to make it seem less mean.
• I show him to the bathroom and give him a pair of my larger sweats. They’ll fit his waist, but be WAY too short on his legs. I don’t have any underwear for him, so he’ll just have to suffer for now. The evil part of me delights in the knowledge that he has to go commando.
• He enters the room, and I leave him in peace. I head to where the coffee is when I hear him singing. Something about moons. I smile. I don’t know why, but hearing him so at home with me makes something inside me grow warm.
• Feeling impulsive, and a little bit brave, I head down to the bathroom.
• Knocking on the door I ask “can I come in?”
• I hear the shower stop and the rusty sound of the curtain opening. Before I have a chance to lose my courage and turn around, he opens the door.
• There he stands before me, completely bare, covered in water, clean and perfect. “I was hoping you might help me wash my back” he smiles. I nod and he sweeps me into his arms.
• Our kiss isn’t as chaste as our one last night. He kicks the door closed and I feel the wall vibrate as we slam against it. His hands brush the waistband of my tights and I shout “off!” and he complies, helping me shimmy out of them. He stays kneeling before me, his eyes twinkling with mischief as he looks up at me coyly from beneath the longest lashes I’ve ever seen. He licks his lips and I shiver as he kisses my mound.
• “Is this okay?” he asks.
• “Yes.”
• He licks the front of my opening and I brace myself as I stand with my legs further apart, just wide enough for him to place his face between my thighs. Holding onto his shoulder for balance, I moan as he licks me clean with delicate nibbles.
• “Mmmm, you taste so good…” he hums against my round belly as he makes his way up my body. Caressing my ribcage he reaches for the edges of my shirt. I stop him before he completes his task, pushing him down onto the toilet.
• “My turn,” I smirk, looking him up and down, stopping my gaze at his engorged member. “If you don’t mind.”
• He gulps and nods as I bring myself to my knees before him. Looking up at all his glory I wonder how could I have ever mistaken him for a boy, Arthur is definitely all man. With one hand gripping his base, and the fingers of my other hand teasing his balls, I make him moan as I place my lips on his tip, tasting the saltiness of his pre cum. His expression changes as my mouth captures him, tasting him, swallowing him down as my lips spread to accommodate his girth.
• Holding onto the edge of the toilet seat, he begins to thrust to match my rhythm. I begin to suck harder as his rhythm increases. I sigh along his length and his face becomes wild, frantic. Just as I was sure he was about to finish, I stop, stand, and pull off my shirt, releasing my breasts. Falling on my knees, I grab his hardness and place it within my cleavage, looking up to receive his consent. He smiles, nods, and places his hands on either side of my breasts as he begins to pump once again, his thumbs circling my dark areolas, already small and hard as my hands reach down to play with myself.
• “Oh gods, yes! Faye ah..!”
• “Arthur, oh Arthur. Fu…” I don’t get the words out before his seed spills across my breasts and face, and into the edges of my hair.
• Looking at the mess he made he grins, but then pauses when what he did to my face and hair.
• “I’m so sorry, your hair..”
• I laugh, “I can’t believe you’re worried about my hair!”
• He shrugs in response.
• “It's okay,” I confirm. “I think today was going to be a wash day anyway.” I pull a leaf out of the tangled mess on top of my head. I’m not even sure how it had even gotten there, maybe at the marina? I shrug.
• We are both smiling as we enter the shower.
• It is in this moment as we wash each other gently that I realize I don’t want to give him up. Not now. Possibly not ever. I have never felt so comfortable and at peace with anyone else before.
• I don’t believe in fate, or love at first sight, but I am beginning to wonder if maybe I was wrong.
• “So I guess this means we're going steady?”
• “Ha ha!” I smack him in the butt with my loofa.
• “I’m serious though,” he isn’t laughing. I stop laughing too as he pulls me into him. I’m not sure if I can answer him yet in words, so I use my body to show him.
• I guess you could say I am his girlfriend.
• Regardless, I knew what I needed to do next.
• I need to talk to my mother.
• But not today.
• Later.