“It’s a lot to take in.” Aerin gives me a sad smile.
I volunteer to clean up while Aerin heads into the bathroom for a shower. As I wash each dish, I keep thinking about Aerin in the shower, running soapsuds over her naked body. I think about how it would feel if I were the one washing her, and I nearly drop a dish.
Aerin walks out of the bathroom right as I’m placing the last dish in the cabinet. She’s wearing shorts and a rather tight, light blue tank top.
Though her clothing isn’t drastically different from what I’ve seen her wear to bed before, the color of the tank top combined with her slightly damp skin has made one drastic difference—I can see her nipples poking out. They’re perfectly round and just right there. I swear I can hear them calling me, and my fingers twitch uncontrollably.
I tear my eyes away and lick my lips. How long had I been staring? Long enough that my dick is threatening to poke out as much as her nipples, and I have to turn away from her as I try not to let my increased heart rate move into the full-fledged panic that would come if she noticed me staring.
“That felt good,” Aerin says. “I needed to get warmed up.”
My mind runs through all the different ways I might keep her warm. Without answering, I close my eyes and will my dick to behave.
“It was so cold outside, I thought I might never be warm again.” She laughs nervously.
I hear her footsteps getting closer to me, and I force myself to turn toward her.
“Yeah,” I say, feeling like a fool when I can’t think of anything else to add. I clear my throat a couple of times as she comes right up next to me and reaches up for a cup from the cabinet.
“I found something else,” she says with a sly grin. “Are you thirsty?”
“Thirsty?” My mouth is watering, and I wonder if that counts.
Aerin grabs a second cup and hands it to me before she heads over to the pantry and pulls out a recycled cardboard box with a picture of grapes on the side of it.
“Want some?” She pops open the top and pours wine into her cup while I watch. She sniffs it before taking a sip and making a face. “Ugh! It’s awful.”
“Gone bad?”
“No, it just is bad.” Aerin laughs. “Still, wine is wine, right?”
“I suppose so.”
She pours some of the fermented liquid that has probably never seen a grape in its life into my cup and places the box on the table before looking up at me expectantly.
I lean against the counter and take a small drink of the wine. It’s bitter but not any worse that the homemade wine often found in Plastictown. I nod and try not to let my eyes wander back to her chest as I hold the cup in the air.
“Cheers!” I say out loud. Here’s to nipples, I say in my head.
“To getting some answers,” Aerin says as she raises her cup.
We both drink, and Aerin wrinkles her nose again.
“I think you must be used to good wine,” I say.
“I wouldn’t say I’m used to it,” she replies, “but what I’ve had was definitely better than this.”
Aerin finishes her drink and pours another. She holds the box out to me, and I quickly down my first drink and accept another. Tasty or not, the wine is doing a good job of relaxing me a bit. I’m not a drinker, and I can already feel it going to my head.
“I’m really glad you’re here,” she says softly. “I haven’t had anyone to talk in so long, I’m surprised I still speak English.”
Aerin walks up to where I am still leaning against the counter next to the sink. I grip the cup a little tighter to hide the way my hand is starting the shake. It’s taking all my willpower not to look down at her chest to see if her nipples are still sticking out.
They are. I know they are because I can’t help but glance at them again.
“It’s nice not to have to hide who I am,” I say, forcing myself to stare right at her face. “I mean, you already know, so it’s not like I can keep it from you.”