Marriage of Unconvenience

“Oh my god, you have to stop!” I put my hands on my ears and started singing loudly.

“SO, CAN WE KISS GOODNIGHT at least?” I asked later that night when we were getting ready to go to bed. Now we were sharing the bathroom, even though it was a little bit of a tight squeeze. I didn’t mind.

Cara spit out her toothpaste and rinsed out her mouth.

“Yeah, we can kiss goodnight. But no tongue, and no sneaking into my room for hanky panky.” I almost choked on a glob of toothpaste before I coughed it out into the sink.

“Hanky panky? Seriously? Is that what you call it?” I hadn’t heard anyone under the age of eighty use that phrase.

“You know what I mean,” Cara said, glaring at me in the mirror. “You’d better not sneak into my room and crawl into bed with me and then seduce me.” The idea of me seducing anyone was hilarious, and I definitely didn’t think I was going to be seducing Cara. Her seducing me on the other hand...

“Why are you pointing the finger at me? Who’s to say that you’re not going to be the one who gets into bed with me and whispers sweet nothings into my ear?” While it was true I had more experience with girls, it wasn’t like Cara was a shy virgin. This might be new, but sex was always a new experience with a different partner. A lot of the mechanics were the same. The key was finding out what they liked, and I could not wait to find out what set Cara off like a rocket. I had theories, but I wanted to know if I was right. I also wanted to discover all the little things that I didn’t know about, that surprised me. Couldn’t fucking wait.

“Because I have more self-control?” she said, twirling around and then leaving the bathroom, leaving me sputtering and indignant behind her.

“Who was the one who kissed me at the wedding? And who was the one who attacked me with her mouth at my parent’s house like, two nights ago? Who was that again?” Cara paused in her doorway.

“Fine, that was me. But I’m much more mature now.”

“More mature than two nights ago? I don’t think so.” We’d always had playful banter back and forth, as friends did, but now there was this extra flirty edge to everything and it made my heart race. This new dimension was intoxicating.

“I can keep it in my pants, Loren. Can you?” I gave her a defiant look.

“Are you trying to get me to challenge you to a bet?”

“No, that seems like a bad idea. I’m just curious which one of us is going to cave first.” If the past month were any indication, she was going to cave first, which was a shocker. Cara didn’t do anything impulsive. My spreadsheet queen.

“It’s not going to be me,” I said in a sing-sing voice.

“We’ll see about that,” she said, and then puckered her lips for a kiss. I took a moment to brace myself before I gave her the briefest of kisses. If I let myself have anything other than a peck, I wouldn’t be able to stop.

“Goodnight,” she said, leaning on the door.

“Goodnight.” I gave her a little wave before walking across the house and heading into my room alone.

CARA DIDN’T SURPRISE me in the middle of the night, and I stayed up for a little while just to make sure. Also because I couldn’t stop thinking about how easy it would be to go to her room and knock on the door. I had to press myself to the bed to keep myself still. The temptation was especially bad when I went to the bathroom because her door was right there. She was just on the other side, all warm and drowsy and beautiful.

No. I would be good. I would respect her wishes that we take things slow. It was only for a little while. At least I hoped so.

I CAME HOME AFTER CARA on Monday night, and I was completely exhausted from the weekend, and work had been a little rough for the first time. I’d had a woman who wanted a refund and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Trying not to cry had been my main battle as she berated me. At last one of my coworkers, an older woman who was basically everyone’s stand-in grandmother, had rescued me and had made the customer happy somehow.

When I walked into the house, I was met with the smell of lasagna. My mouth started to water instantly.

“Are you making lasagna?” I called out as I walked into the kitchen, dropping my bag in the hall.