“You feel so fucking good.” Ethan moaned and bucked against me a few more times before letting out a sound that might have been my name, tensing all his muscles around me, and then slowly relaxing with his forehead on my chest.
Ethan pulled out of me slowly, his eyes never leaving mine as he tossed the condom in the trash. He wrapped his arms around me again, rolling us until I was lying on his chest. He tilted his head up under my chin and started nibbling my skin.
“Move in with me,” Ethan said with his mouth against my neck and his arms wrapped tightly around me.
He said it after every time we made love. I had a pretty good idea that he was saying it when I was in a state of vulnerable, post-coital bliss in order to catch me off guard. The past week started running through my head. The times I had been happy, content, and at ease had all been here, not necessarily lying on top of him with parts of him buried inside parts of me, but in this place, with Ethan. Every time I had been in my apartment alone, I had hated it. I had been uncomfortable, at best. Most of the time I was there, I had felt like something drastically important was missing, and it finally hit me exactly what it was. I raised my head, pulling away from his lips at my throat, and stared down at him. His cheeks turned pink, and he graced me with his cocky half smile.
“All right,” I said, smiling back.
“All
right?” His smile faltered, and he narrowed his eyes at me, confused.
“I’ll move in with you.”
“Seriously?” Ethan sat up against the headboard, pulled me onto his lap, and took my face in his hands. “Do you mean it?”
“I mean it, seriously,” I said with a laugh. “I mean, if you really want me to.”
“Fuck yeah, I do!” Ethan exclaimed. I laughed at his exuberance.
“But not until the first of the month,” I said, clarifying my plans so there would be no misunderstanding. “I need to give my landlord some notice if I expect to get out of my lease without paying for the whole summer. That will give me time to figure out what to bring with me and what to put in storage.”
“Deal!” Ethan cried. I watched as his tongue darted out over his lip rings, and I just had to kiss them. He kissed me back and then started mumbling against my mouth. “I can’t wait. Your being here…it just feels so right to me. I’ll get better food in the fridge, too—I swear…”
I laughed and shook my head.
“I think there are a few other things we’ll have to tackle,” I said. “The fridge isn’t my main concern.”
“What is?” Ethan asked, his eyes showing a little wariness.
“Telling my dad would be the main one. He still won’t talk to me about you at all. After I hung up on him, he’s refused my calls. I talked to Vanessa for a while, but she said he’s still mad and won’t talk about you.”
“He hates me, doesn’t he?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. Then I felt bad about lying. “I mean, he hasn’t given you a chance, so whatever he feels isn’t justified.”
“He has seen one side of me,” Ethan said quietly, his blush returning. “I can understand why he wouldn’t want you to be with me.”
“He’s not giving you the opportunity,” I argued. “He’s going to have to give you a chance. What are you doing Sunday?”
“Um, bikes, hanging out—the usual. You said you were busy with your graduation stuff all day. If you were going to do the whole graduation processional to get your diploma, I’d go, but you said you weren’t.”
“It’s a long and boring ceremony,” I said. “I don’t think any of my friends are going, and Dad said a long time ago that he hates those things.”
“So yeah, I’ll just spend the day with CeeCee.”
“No, you won’t.” I smiled at him. “You are going to be my date at my stepmom’s luncheon.”
“Ashlyn, that can’t possibly be a good idea.”
“Of course it is,” I said definitively. “Dad will have to acknowledge you and be at least reasonably polite. It is my graduation party, and Vanessa would murder him if he caused a scene at one of her gatherings.”
“I don’t know…”
“Please?” I asked, knowing it was underhanded to resort to begging. “I want you to be there, and Dad will get a chance to see how wonderful you are for me.”
Ethan furrowed his brow and looked away for a minute, then back again.