Socially Distanced: A Quarantine Novella

“What’s that?”

“You do realize there is a door connecting our suites.”

“Well, yeah, but there’s no handle or anything, at least not on this side.”

“No handle on this side either,” Kendra says, “but there are hinges.”

“Hinges?” I have no idea where she’s going with this.

“They’re painted over, but I think I can use the metal nail file to remove them.”

“Remove the hinges? And then what, come into my room?”

“Exactly.”

“Are you serious?” My stomach does a little flip-flop.

“Very. I told you, I want to see that cock, and clearly you’re nervous about doing that out here, so I had to come up with something else.”

My head is spinning. I’ve barely even noticed the suite door, let alone considered trying to get through it. To actually construct a plan to remove a door with a nail file seems so far-fetched, I can hardly wrap my head around it. I stare at Kendra, half waiting for her to laugh and say she’s only joking, but her expression is dead serious.

“Okay.” I take a deep breath and let it out in a loud burst. “Let’s try it.”

It takes a while. Kendra and I try to talk through the door, but her voice is too muffled to make out a lot of what she’s saying. I can hear the slight scraping noises as she digs at the hinges with her nail file, but I can’t really ascertain if it’s working until I hear her shout.

“Push, Sean! Push the door!”

I stand up and place both palms against the suite door and push as hard as I can.

“Trying!” I yell when nothing happens. I plant my feet firmly on the floor and move my hands a little lower to get more leverage. This time when I push, I feel movement.

“Yes!” Kendra yells from the other side.

She says something else, but I can’t make it out. I push again. And again. All of a sudden, I lose my balance and fall to my knees as the door cracks open. From the floor, I watch Kendra’s slender fingers wrap around the edge of the door, and the opening widens.

“Hi there!” She grants me a beautiful smile as she sticks her head through the opening, pulls the door once more to make more space, and then steps through.

I can’t quite process what’s happening, and for a long time, we just stand there looking at each other. I could take one large step forward, reach out my hand, and touch her.

Red Rover, Red Rover, send Sean right over.

I don’t move. It’s like my mind can’t remember how all of this is supposed to work. It’s been so long since having the possibility of human contact—real human contact—even existed that I don’t know what comes next. All I need to do is move, but I can’t.

Thankfully, Kendra can.

She takes two steps, hesitates, and then reaches up to wrap her arms around my neck. I respond automatically—at least something in my brain remembers this—and coil my arms around her back. I close my eyes as her body presses against mine.

Contact. Warmth. Connection.

My knees buckle a little, but I catch myself. I tighten my grip and feel Kendra do the same. I keep my eyes closed and just focus on every single inch of her body where it presses against mine. Every slight shift in our position changes the pressure in one place or another, and my attention is drawn from her hands behind my head to her forehead pressed to my shoulder to her hip against my thigh.

“I don’t think I’ve actually taken a full, deep breath since I got here,” Kendra says quietly. “Now I can.”

I can only nod in response. I squeeze my eyes closed, trying to force back the tears threatening to break through.

“Are you okay?” she asks as she pulls back a little. I press my hands to her back, not wanting to break the contact.

“Yeah. No. I don’t know.”