Discipline

“Hold on, let me process this.” Adriana held her hand out, indicating that she needed silence for a couple moments. “So… the two sexually repressed Woodhill folks got down and dirty and filthy — and on Sunday? The day of God? I love it,” Adriana squealed as she rolled onto her back in my bed, her bright eyes sparkling up at my ceiling as she processed the story of my date with Daniel, though I wasn’t sure if our extremely brief time at the restaurant qualified as being a date. “Nina, I’m so proud right now. And happy for you. And I really hope you washed your sheets since last night.” She grabbed the pillow from under my head and held it to her face, taking a big, long whiff.

“Ade!” I cackled “What if I hadn’t?” She gave me a dirty smile.

“I’d probably be less disturbed about it than I should be.”

“That’s… lovely. At least you’re honest about it. But in case you’re wondering, I changed the sheets that night and the other ones are in the laundry right now.”

They had to be. That night, our bodies had shone from so much perspiration that they actually reflected light. And his had never resembled a marble statue more.

After catching our breaths, Daniel had helped my weak legs up and out of bed so we could jump into the shower before he left, just to be extra safe in case Kelsey for some reason came back. I soaped his body by heaping suds onto his broad shoulders and watching them cascade down the slope of his V-shaped back and slip into the deep lines of his muscles. The light pitter patter of the raining water was a good match with the shift of our energy, which had gone from wild and carnal to something gentle and easy, his kisses on my skin and lips soft and sweet when ten minutes ago, they’d been quite the opposite. Holding me down with his strong arms, he had licked sweat from my skin and tugged my lip with his teeth.

“So, you know what this means right?” Adriana asked, her fingers curled excitedly into fists right in front of her mouth.

I laughed nervously. “What?”

“You have to take him to Labor Day weekend.”

“Oh.” My mouth dropped. I’d completely forgotten about the restaurant’s summer tradition. The owners of Todos Santos were two young brothers who owned three restaurants in the city, Todos being by far the most casual one. To cap off every summer, they closed all three of their restaurants and rented several massive mansions in East Hampton, inviting the waitstaff, bar staff and kitchen of all three spots to stay for about three nights. “Those things always get… pretty wild. I don’t know if he’d be into that.”

“Come on!” Adriana pleaded, laughing at my face of nervous excitement. “Linh’s invited and if she has a plus-one, she can invite Mike! Please. You’ll be surrounded by a bunch of drunk crazies, but at least they’ll be drunk crazies who don’t care who Daniel is. They’ll just know he’s some dude you’re seeing. And you’ll get your first real vacation in God knows how long. It’s perfect. He’ll be away from Woodhill, you’ll be far away from Ben.” She flashed me a look. “Plus, Daniel’s a much better person to bring than say, Kelsey.”

True. The one year I’d gone, I’d taken her and she’d gotten blackout, vomit-while-sleeping drunk on the very first night. She spent the next two nights completely sober, which would’ve been fine had she not also complained about feeling “bored” and “out of place.”

“Well. Just think about it, okay?” Adriana pouted at me. “You’re seeing him again tonight, right?”

I nodded. “I was thinking of cooking dinner for him here. I haven’t made my broccoli cream pesto in awhile and I actually want to for Daniel,” I laughed.

“Oh God, slay that heart of his, girl. Watching you cook is gonna make him want to get these clean sheets dirty again… which is good, because I’ve never seen your skin look this good. I swear your face is still glowing,” Adriana giggled, giving my cheek a little poke with her pointer before suddenly gasping. “Holy shit. I just realized that that was probably the first orgasm a penis had given you in like, a year!”

I grimaced. “Try three.”

“What? You never even got one out of him?”

“Only when I, um, gave him a hand.”

“Jesus, Ben. Selfish or inept?”

“Both.”

“You poor thing. And he wasn’t ever ashamed about going the entire relationship without hearing his girlfriend reach orgasm?” Adriana asked, propping herself up on her elbows to look at me with utter disbelief.

“No. I faked it for awhile but then I realized that he didn’t care one way or the other.”

“You never asked him to finish you off?”

“He never would, but he said I could do it myself. Though one time he asked me to cook dinner right afterwards because he’d worked up an appetite, so I didn’t even have the time.”

“Oh, what the hell?” Adriana raised my pillow over her head and threw it against the wall with real force. “What grade-A fuckin’ asshole! That is so offensive my face is literally red right now.” I looked at her and laughed because it actually was. “Thank God you finally got to jump in bed with a guy who knows what the hell he’s doing and isn’t a selfish loser. And the fact that he was your teacher crush makes it even — ”

Click. Adriana’s mouth snapped shut at the sound of my front door closing. Eyes wide, we both popped up in my bed, craning our necks to look out the doorframe.

“Kelsey?” I called, my heart pounding. I hadn’t expected her to be back till evening. Adriana and I stared at each other as we waited for a response.

“Hey,” came her voice. Eyes darting from side to side, I tried to detect anything different about her tone, if she’d possibly heard Adriana speaking. “Hey, Adriana. Oh wow, I really like your top.”

“Oh. Thanks, girl.” Adriana cocked her head, looking down at her plain, tan-colored T-shirt. “Um. Sorry if I was being loud,?

?? she said, no doubt to gauge whether she’d been audible.