Blaze - Part Nine
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here. The first half of the episode below is NSFW and contains mature content.
Moonlight is spilling over our bed, silver shadows dancing with our movements. Aiden’s body and mine are fused together, locked in motion, panting and heaving for breath.
“This - is - gonna - kill me,” I moan, between hoarse, sharp little gasps.
Aiden purrs out a breathless, husky laugh against my neck. “Oh, me too. But I’m gonna die happy.”
My laugh unravels into a heavy, stammering exhale. Aiden’s body is smooth hot perfection laid over me, and the heat coursing through me is enough to leave me burnt to cinders by the time this is over.
My cheeks are a deep shade of fiery scarlet, my fingers closed tightly around Aiden’s flexed biceps. He’s slick with a sheen of sweat, just like I am. I taste it when I turn my head to bite down into the hard muscle of his arm.
I did it so that I wouldn’t moan again, but another vivid inrush of heat floods through me when Aiden lets out a low, shuddering groan in response. I look up at him again, breathing hard through my half-open mouth, my eyes hazy.
Aiden stares right into them, his blue eyes molten. Without breaking the rhythm of movement of his body, he spreads my parted lips further open with his thumb, then sinks his tongue deep into my mouth. Kisses me down into the bed, tasting me, licking me.
And now I can’t help but moan, right into Aiden’s mouth. His breath hitches sharply. He shudders again between my parted thighs. He breaks off the kiss, panting, blue eyes intoxicated, but doesn’t slow the pace of his hips.
A bolt of Heliomancer lightning licks its way up my body.
“Fuck,” Aiden groans into my ear, a spill of rough, breathless, bass voice. “You moan so pretty.”
Somehow I manage to gasp out an answer. “Not - too m-much, actually - before - you.”
I open my eyes just in time to see the fire in Aiden’s smoldering gaze blaze up at my words. But even if I hadn’t, I’d have felt the response of his body. Oh, I felt that.
Another immense wave of delirious ecstasy instantly rushes through me. I throw my head on one side, my chest rising and falling hard with my breaths, my fingers tightening their grasp on Aiden’s biceps. If I keep looking into those eyes, looking at the expression on his face…
He doesn’t answer me with any words, this time. But he hasn’t shied away from talking.
It’s an unusual thing to happen, actually. Aiden has been doing a lot of talking during this, and I’ve barely said a word.
He’s been pouring sweet, purring words into my ear. Telling me how he daydreamed about me at work today, how all he could think of was stuffing the tie in my mouth so no one would hear us and then having me pressed up against his office door…
And all I’ve been able to do is blush even deeper and hold tight to him and gasp for air.
We’re both so completely lost in this that I can’t even talk, and Aiden can’t help but talk.
The spell of tension and torment, the passionate, wild fever of desire that Aiden and I ignited and let blaze over the last few days - I thought we’d let it all out downstairs, on the rug in front of the fireplace. It was fierce and hungry and frantic. Burned in my memory forever, even now sending residual thrills rippling through me.
But this - this is something else.
It’s some insatiable continuation of what Aiden and I already did. The electrical storm of tension hasn’t given up its effects. The way it intensified every touch, every taste and sensation, every rush of pleasure.
Actually - it’s like the effects have grown deeper. More powerful.
Aiden and I wanted to go nice and slow, this time. We have time to savor everything to the fullest, and we are.
We’re both doing everything we can to make this last. Aiden keeps slowly, so slowly bringing us to the brink of sweet oblivion, then falling back just before the moment when he would have pushed us over.
What he’s doing is slow and teasing, driving us both wild, right to our limits, as far as we can go - but without ever giving release to the ache. If Aiden hears my moans starting to rise in pitch and tempo, or if he feels himself starting to move with abandon, he stops.
Breathes.
Then starts again.
The pleasure mounts and sweeps upwards and starts to rise like a wave, but he lets it slowly sweep back instead of crashing and breaking.
The result is that I’m feeling not only the waves, but the whole ocean, the whole burning thing.
Deep at the core of myself, I feel it. A red-hot ocean of pure pleasure, flooding me. And the whole thing is rocking in one immense, slow swell towards ecstasy, heaving closer until my body is trembling in the throes of it, anguished and holding its breath, waiting for the break - and then it falls back, gives me just enough time to catch my breath before it begins to gather for another slow, burning rise. Each time it comes back stronger, carrying the cumulative power of each wave to come before it.
Over. And over.
And I’m so, so in love with Aiden, it’s - a whole other ocean, even vaster. Flowing into the first, enriching waters already heaped with natural riches.
The sweet sexy words he keeps spilling into my ear are teasing ripples of pleasure dancing on the surface. I feel every one of those, too.
I never want this to stop.
The whole run of my body is burning, the intensity of every slow move Aiden makes knocking the breath out of my lungs. I’m trembling and shaking, breathless sounds escaping my mouth that I didn’t even know I could make.
Aiden’s dilated eyes are on my face, drinking everything in. Blurred with fiery pleasure, but never breaking away.
I would be self-conscious to be this lost in what’s happening, but I know that Aiden is feeling this, too. The flames in us are matched, burning to the same heat and ferocity. It shows in Aiden’s eyes, how he’s touching me, the tremors of his bronze body, his breath, his voice, everything.
Aiden slowly locks our bodies all the way together again, his hip bones pressing against me. The rush of pleasure strikes me like a lightning bolt, and I let out a sharp gasp, my whole body tightening with delicious bliss.
Aiden hisses through his teeth, then stops abruptly, panting, trying to get control of himself. His cheeks are the deepest crimson I’ve ever seen them go. His breaths are coming up hard and fast, his chestnut hair in a fucked-up tumble from my grasping hands.
He swallows hard, drops his head. He licks my adam’s apple, then kisses the hollow of my throat.
“You - feel - so - good,” he pants, moving between my parted thighs, a slow, teasing slide back that makes me bite down hard on my lip, fighting with all the force of my body not to start writhing. “How do you feel so good? You were fucking made for me, I swear, I wish I could keep you in this bed forever…”
God, that voice.
I open my eyes, and they catch Aiden’s. The sultry blue is the thinnest ring around his huge pupils. He looks right into my eyes as he does some swift little movement with his hips - something that sends a shock of pleasure through me so instantly and powerfully that I let out a sharp, punched-out moan.
Aiden catches it in his mouth, kisses me, and holds that kiss. I cling to him, then let my hands begin to roam, sliding down his spine. Aiden stumbles over the breath he was taking, lets it out as a jagged rush into my mouth. He loses control of himself as he starts to move again, falls into a trance of steady rhythm, slow and deep.
I break off the kiss so I can finally gasp out a few hoarse words, my whole body shuddering, my back arching, my toes curling.
“Oh, god, Aiden, I - I-”
I could nearly scream with desperation as he suddenly falls all the way back, sits up on his knees. I start to go up on my elbows to look at him, but before I can, I’ve been turned over, and he’s on top of me, flattening me onto my stomach on the bed.
I gasp out a choking cry of pleasure, then one sharp moan, then another, then another, because Aiden is not going slow anymore. This is as rough as I can stand it, as wild as I wanted it.
Aiden’s hands are braced on the bed, spread over my wrists, pinning me in place. But I lift my hips for him, then shiver when I hear a stuttering, heavy rush of breath fall from his lips in response.
My teeth clamp down on the bedding, my hands, too, but I know that’s not going to slow me down now. If anything, I’m lifting my hips even more, spreading my legs wider to feel him better -
“Fuck.” It comes out as a breathless, half-moaned whimper, but I can’t help it. “Oh my god, Aiden - please - don’t - stop-”
He doesn’t, not this time. The pleasure mounting in me is so intense that it’s painful, mounting spasms of ecstasy coming closer and closer together, Aiden letting out rough, soft little moans with every movement, lowering one hand down to grip me tightly by my hip.
My vision is blurring, my veins melting, the oceanic wave is rising, rising, rising…
I lock eyes with Aiden over my shoulder, stare into that wild, beautiful blue - and the wave crashes.
Pure ecstasy crashes through my veins, bursting through me. My back arches, my head snaps back, and I let out a breathless cry that feels torn from my mouth.
Aiden hisses through his teeth, going even rougher and harder. He keeps going right through it, as I twist and tremble beneath him, every movement sinking me deeper and deeper into the bed. I cry out and cry out, flooded with pleasure so immense that I think it’s going to break me…
Aiden lets out a shuddering, gasping rush of breath, half-formed into my name. My vision whites out as he uses his grip on me to slam me back against him, holds me there. I moan and convulse with helpless pleasure again, and Aiden lets out a deep, whimpering groan.
He sinks us both deeply into the bed, and goes still.
Not completely still, though. We’re both trembling and shuddering, panting.
When I can finally lift my head to look at Aiden over my shoulder, I find him looking down at me with something like awe in his eyes.
I look back at him the same way, smiling with my open, panting mouth, my face glowing with residual heat and happiness. I was really, really hoping that he felt the miracle, too.
He must have, or he wouldn’t be looking at me like that.
Aiden lets out a dazed, wild little laugh, and I hear myself do the same thing. We stare at each other for a long moment, and then he settles himself softly onto my back, so that our hearts beat against each other.
I smile into the pillow, feeling bathed in love.
It takes a long, long time for Aiden to find any words, but when they finally come, they catch me by surprise.
“That’s all the rest of the talking I can do about this right now,” he rumbles, his soft-spoken voice unwound and husky. “S’that okay?”
I don’t understand what Aiden means, at first. My thoughts are slowly trying to pull themselves together out of the mindless bliss. But I get it after a moment.
He doesn’t want to talk anymore about what happened with the conduits. Not right now. He definitely needs time for it to sink in before he can talk more about it, and - honestly, I do, too.
So this, what we just did… that was the last bit of talking Aiden is doing about it for now. That… that was him wordlessly telling me how he’s feeling about me, after what happened.
And I didn’t realize it, but that was me talking to him, too. Telling him the same thing.
I smile happily, my toes curling in the sheets. I love you, too, Sugar Maple.
“Mmm.” I close my eyes, softly run my hand over Aiden’s forearm. “Yeah. That’s okay.”
He lets out a relieved sigh, kisses my shoulder blade. “Thank you.”
“No problem. Whenever you’re ready, Callahan. I’m not going anywhere.”
He tightens his arms around me, holding me even closer.
Speaking to me without words, in that way only he can do.
~~~~
“Okay,” Noah says, narrowing his grey eyes at me and Aiden. “What’s going on with you two?”
“What?” My cheeks instantly start to burn flaming red. “What are you talking about?”
Ralph, Raj, and Noah are all staring at me and Aiden suspiciously.
I can’t deny that it’s been extremely hard to keep away from Aiden after what happened last night. Especially since we spent all day apart at work, regrettably, until we got to Mel, Noah, and Raj’s house.
I kind of just want to stare at him, if I’m being honest. But I’m making myself not do it. Trying to, anyways.
Aiden is leaning back against the couch with his muscled arms crossed and his knees spread wide, and I couldn’t resist folding one of my knees over one of his, but other than that - we’re being totally normal, I thought.
“I know what’s going on,” Raj snickers, lounging back on his elbows, watching us from the carpet in front of the TV. “I know those facial expressions.”
Ralph’s amused grey-green eyes flit to Raj. “Enlighten us, man.”
Raj nods his head at me and Aiden. “They had some real good sex, that’s what happened.”
“What-?” I let out a sputter of indignation, the blush in my cheeks darkening. “Raj, oh my god - we-”
“Oh, yeah, you right,” Noah chuckles, pausing the video game to take a closer look at me and Aiden. “That’s most definitely it.”
I look to Aiden for help, then toss my hands up when I see him sitting there with a little smirky grin on his face. He huffs out a laugh and shrugs his broad shoulders when I swat his chest with the back of my hand.
“The look on Jamie’s face,” Raj laughs, sitting up for a better look. “Do you suddenly feel like we should be getting tips from Aiden, Noosh?”
“Nah, I’m good. My wife already thinks I’m sexy.” Noah pauses, his eyebrows furrowing in a troubled kind of way. “Pretty sure she does, anyways. I mean, I think so. Hey, Mel!”
She stops at the bottom of the stairs, finishing up her french braid. “What’s up?”
“You think I’m sexy, yeah?” Noah seems to have talked himself out of it already, somehow. In fact, he looks faintly alarmed. “These guys wanted to know.”
“Did we, though?” Aiden snickers, and Melanie laughs, too.
She comes into the living room to affectionately twine her fingers through Noah’s long hair. “Yes, stupid.”
“Yeah?” Noah looks immensely relieved. He breaks into a bright, devious grin, gazing up at her. “When was the first time? Just curious.”
“High school, unfortunately,” Melanie sighs, turning to head for the front door.
We all stare at her in startled, taken-aback silence. Noah sits frozen for a second, then sits bolt upright on the couch.
“High school?” he repeats, his grey eyes wide and incredulous. “Are you s-? Really?”
“Mhm, high school.” Mel pauses halfway across the living room, her eyes darting to Aiden. “Oh - sorry, Aiden - it wasn’t - Noah just did something once that was-”
Aiden shrugs his shoulders, unconcerned. “I mean, I don't really think that diminishes the feelings you had for me, given that I now know you're comfy being attracted to more than one person at a time.”
Melanie gives him a bright, relieved smile. “True!”
“Noosh, on the other hand.” Aiden levels his blue stare on him, arches an eyebrow. “What did you do?”
“What - nothing, bro, I swear to God!” Noah turns to Melanie, obviously bewildered. “What are you even talking about, Mel? Seriously, I have no fucking idea.”
“There was…” She trails off, blushing. “Nevermind. Forget this.”
“Okay, you have to tell us now,” Raj laughs.
“Yeah, are you fucking kidding me?” Noah jumps in, staring at her with enormous eyes. “When did this even happen, and why don't I remember it?”
“Oh, god.” The rosy blush in Melanie’s cheeks deepens, and she giggles a little. “I shouldn’t say. You were being such an asshole, too - it’s very embarrassing that I liked it.”
Noah’s pierced eyebrows shoot up in disbelief. “I was acting like an asshole, and you found me sexy?”
“It - was…” Mel fades off, nibbles her lip. “Do you guys remember coming to parties at my house in high school, when my mom was out of town for work?”
Noah, Aiden, and Ralph nod at her, looking baffled.
“Your house had those sick speakers,” Noah remembers out loud, and Mel nods.
“Yeah, those giant speakers, um… Noah, you and I were arguing about what music should be playing. I don’t know if you remember, but you picked me up and sat me down on top of one of those big speakers. You said - sit right there, if you want to be all high and mighty.”
Noah winces deeply, pressing his tattooed fingers over his mouth.
“I didn’t want to jump down in my short little dress, and you wouldn’t help me down,” Mel goes on, as Noah sinks down on the couch, looking increasingly mortified. “You, um - plugged your phone into the speaker and started playing some song with this slow, deep bass beat. And then you started dancing around the speaker, looking at me like you’d won.”
She crinkles her nose at Noah, giggles again.
“I was just sitting there on the corner of this speaker that was vibrating really hard with every bass beat, and you know, you’re a good dancer, and you were - cute, and looking at me like that…”
She fades off and shrugs her slender shoulders, blushing.
Noah stares at her in wide-eyed, amazed silence for a long moment, then slowly turns back to all of us with a stupidly huge grin on his face.
“What do I always say, boys?” He’s half-shouting, stabbing a finger at us with every word. “Fat! Beats! Only!”
Aiden and I break into helpless laughter, and Raj fixes Noah with a big, affectionate grin.
“Okay, I’m out of here,” Mel laughs, bending to accept a kiss from Raj before she heads for the door.
“You guys did so much better with girls than I did in high school,” Ralph suddenly grumbles beneath his breath. “Even when you weren’t trying.”
Everyone turns to look at Ralph in surprise. He blinks when our eyes fall on him, the expression on his face suggesting that his brain just caught up with his mouth.
He shifts awkwardly in the armchair, and Mel pauses by the door, her gaze lingering on him.
“Yes, Ralph,” she says, like he’s missing something obvious. “That’s because sullen, sneering resentment towards women is actually not something women find attractive. You were cute back then, just like you’re cute now, but you shot yourself in the foot.”
Ralph looks up sharply, blinks at Mel with startled eyes. He looks faintly pleased and surprised, but also a little shamefaced.
“Good thing you’re not doing that anymore,” Mel says lightly, pulling her jacket on over her dress, then bending to straighten out her tights. “Or you would have missed out on Calla, and she’s the best. Seriously, don’t fuck it up, because I love her. She and I are doing lunch tomorrow.”
“Are you serious?” I stare at Mel, then exchange a startled glance with Aiden. “You and Calla?”
“And Alix.” Mel spreads her hand in a little wave, flashes us a smile over her shoulder. “So I’m gonna go take care of my tomorrow errands right now.”
“Mel, you still got those speakers, by any chance?” Noah calls, the massive grin still on his face. “I wanna try something!”
“Wow, okay, bye!” Mel slips out into the cool night air. “Keep an eye on Nik!”
“Love you, angel!” Raj calls after her, then turns back to Ralph. “Calla’s in town tomorrow? Guessing that means she’s staying the night at your place?”
Ralph nods, breaking into a small, warm smile.
Noah fixes him with a big grin. “Bet you’re gonna have Jamie-face tomorrow.”
“Okay, we are not calling it Jamie-face,” I cut in firmly, the blush in my cheeks deepening. “I’m vetoing that right the fuck now.”
“Fair enough,” Noah laughs.
Ralph hasn’t said anything. He kind of laughed at what Noah said, but it was half-hearted, anxious. He pushes a hand through his blonde hair, then swiftly gets to his feet.
He holds up his beer, heading for the kitchen. “Anyone else want another?”
“Over here,” Noah calls, and Ralph nods without turning around.
I stare after him, nibbling my lip thoughtfully.
Tonight has been fun, despite the fact that Ripley had a school commitment and couldn’t make it. It’s been a good opportunity to let go of all the thoughts swirling around in my head, let them settle down before I try to sort through them. I think Aiden is feeling the same way.
But now there’s growing concern in my chest as I watch Ralph slip silently into the kitchen.
Raj clearly sees the problem, too. He’s biting the inside of his cheek, staring after Ralph, his dark, angular eyebrows knitted.
He gets up at the same time as I do. We both head for the kitchen, falling into step together.
“Off go the cupcakes,” Aiden chuckles, then pauses when the baby monitor crackles to life with a soft little squeak from Nikita.
Noah throws down the Xbox controller, slaps Aiden’s arm. “That’s our cue, dude.”
The two of them disappear upstairs as Raj and I follow Ralph into the kitchen.
He’s leaning back against the counter, absently twisting his fingers around his wristbands, staring blankly at the floor. He quickly rouses himself from his thoughts when Raj and I step into the kitchen, straightens up a little.
“What’s going on, brother?” Raj slaps his arm, leans his hip against the counter beside him. “You wanna talk about it?”
“What?” Ralph’s eyes flit uneasily to Raj, then to me as I hop up to sit on the countertop across from him. “The fuck sort of ambush is this?”
“It’s not an ambush, dude.” I fold my hands around my beer, searching Ralph’s face with my eyes. “It’s just obvious that something is bothering you.”
“The fuck it is.” Ralph’s eyes harden, a defensive thread coming into his voice. “And if there was, it’s - personal, none of your fucking business. I can deal with it, I don’t need help.”
“Oh, down with that manly pride bullshit, man,” Raj half-groans.
“It’s not manly pride, it’s just - fuck off, okay? I can handle my own-”
“You’re talking to two people who want to help, and who might have the answer to your problem,” I cut in, catching Ralph’s eyes with mine. “And the only thing standing in your way is that you’re not telling us what it is.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got reason for that.”
“What reason besides your pride, exactly?”
Ralph opens his mouth to answer, then stops.
He nibbles his lip for a moment, considering, then casts me a dark, irritated glare. “Hate you, Sharpshooter.”
“That’s what I thought. Just tell us, man.”
“Yeah, bro, you can talk to us.” Raj gives Ralph’s elbow a nudge with his own. “I’m your brother-in-law, now. And we’re all your friends.”
Ralph’s eyes dart hastily to Raj, then away again just as fast. He hesitates, then glances at me uneasily. I give him an encouraging nod, then spread my hands to show him that I’m waiting.
Ralph sinks into silence, his sage green eyes clouded with his thoughts. He doesn’t move, but I can sense him having some kind of silent fight to the death with his instinct to keep this to himself.
“It’s Calla’s business, too,” he finally says, in a rough voice. “Not mine to share.”
“It doesn’t have to leave this room,” Raj answers easily. “And if you think that Calla doesn’t talk to Mel about you, that’s hilarious.”
Ralph is silent for another moment, chewing his lip.
“It’s - just-” He blows out a frustrated breath, carefully not looking at me or Raj. “You guys all make it sound so easy. All Noah has to do is plug his phone into a fucking speaker - Jamie and Aiden look like that, you and Mel and Noosh clearly aren’t having any problems… but for me and Calla, it’s - been…”
Ralph falters into uncomfortable silence. I sense him sinking in a fierce internal effort to get to the end of his sentence, but he doesn’t.
“The - sex isn’t good?” Raj asks after a second or two, caught by surprise.
“No, we haven’t-” Ralph winces and runs a hand through his blonde hair, struggling. “We haven’t. She’s got serious trust issues left over from her last relationship, so we said we were gonna take it slow. But now it’s starting to feel… less like we’re taking it slow, and more like we’ve - hit a roadblock?”
“Oh.” I hesitate for a second, slowly turning my beer in my hands. “Are you sure that she’s into sex, man? She might not be.”
“No, she is.” Ralph nibbles his thumbnail distractedly, not looking at me. “We’ve talked about it, and I believe what she said. We promised not to lie to each other. And she’s frustrated about this, too. She seems like she really wants to keep going, but soon as I go to take her clothes off, I can feel her, like - closing up. So we stop. And then she looks like she wants to fucking wail with frustration.”
There’s a silence while Raj and I absorb that.
“And Calla hasn’t given you an explanation?” I ask tentatively. “You said you guys talked about it.”
“She said she gets anxious about it, ever since her ex cheated on her.” Ralph shrugs uncertainly at me, rubbing his elbow. “That was all she said, though. Seemed like she didn’t know how to explain beyond that. And I don’t - don’t totally get it, ‘cause like, I’m fucking nervous, too, it - it’s been a while, but I can get past that, I don’t know why she…”
Ralph stops, clears his throat gruffly, and takes a hasty sip of his beer.
Raj has been listening silently, staring straight ahead, his eyebrows knitted with thought.
“So - what are you doing about it?” he asks.
Ralph glances at him, his eyes narrowing in confusion. “Doing about it?”
“Yeah, I mean.” Raj finally turns his dark brown eyes back to Ralph. “You and Calla have a problem you’re both frustrated about, so - what are you doing about it?”
“I don’t know.” Ralph blinks at Raj, looking bewildered. “Waiting for her to get comfortable enough, I guess?”
“Right, but - have you done anything to help her with that?”
Ralph jerks his head back, grey-green eyes startled. “I’m not gonna do anything to push her, man!”
“Fuck no, of course not!” Raj looks alarmed at the suggestion. “Jesus Christ, don’t do that! I didn’t say have you pushed her, I said have you done anything to help her?”
Ralph stares at Raj blankly, like he doesn’t understand the question.
I’ve been silent for a little bit, because I doubt that I have any solid advice about girls to give, but now I bite my lip, lean forward to catch Ralph’s eye again.
“Some plants need the right climate to bloom,” I tell him.
“Exactly, dude.” Raj points at me, still looking at Ralph. “You’re sitting around waiting for Calla to get comfortable all on her own. Waiting for the right moment to just happen. You can try to make the moment right, though.”
Ralph stares at Raj, his eyes narrowed. “But how do I, like - how?”
“You gotta be thinking about things like ambiance, atmosphere. But, honestly, mostly you just gotta think of her.” Raj sets his empty beer aside, leans into the hand he has on the counter. “Make her feel cozy, and relaxed, and safe, and sexy. You know your girl, you know how to make her feel like that. You wanna make her feel as gorgeous as she looks in your eyes.”
Ralph absorbs that for a moment, his fingers fidgeting with his wristbands. “Think that would help?”
“Yeah, maybe.” Raj nods, tossing his dark curls out of his eyes. “Try it. But don’t get sulky or disappointed if it doesn’t go where you’re hoping. Even if it doesn’t solve the problem, you’ll have had a sweet night with your girl. S’a reward all by itself.”
Ralph stares silently at Raj, his eyes narrowed in thought, then breaks his gaze away. He shakes his head, takes another sip of his beer.
“Got any other tips for me?” he asks, only kind of managing to make it sound like a joke.
“Yes,” Raj says firmly. “If it does work out, and you two get down to it - if Calla tells you to change something you’re doing, say thank you, not I’m sorry. You don’t want her to think she made you feel bad about it, ‘cause then she might not tell you next time. It’s a gift when girls give you direct feedback, so you gotta treat it like one.”
“Talking about girls?” Noah asks breezily, stepping into the kitchen. “Only two things you gotta know, dude. Cheese, and chocolate.”
Ralph lets out a sputtering groan of laughter, running his hand over his eyes. “For fuck’s sake.”
“No, really, that’s true too,” Raj says very seriously, and Ralph laughs helplessly again, shaking his head. “Hang on, there’s this specialty food store near Greenrock where the cheese is like, fucking insane - Noah, can you-?”
“Texting it to him right now,” Noah says, looking down at his phone, and Ralph’s phone buzzes on the countertop beside him. “Calla’s not vegan, is she? Because then this rule doesn’t apply.”
“Are you guys s-?” Ralph snatches up his phone and stuffs it in his pocket, his cheeks burning. “Okay, this is not a team effort, you fucking dumbasses-”
“You’re welcome,” Raj says brightly and warmly, slapping Ralph’s shoulder before he follows Noah out of the kitchen.
Ralph watches him go, looking - a little relieved. Definitely better than he looked before.
I hop down from the counter, give his sleeve a tug.
“Feeling better?” I ask, all innocent. “Now that you talked it out?”
Ralph’s grey-green eyes flit to me in a dark scowl, but then away again. He thinks silently for a moment, then sets down his beer and heads for the kitchen door.
“Where are you going?” I ask, caught by surprise.
“Does my place seem cozy to you, Keane?” He’s already slipping his car keys out of his pocket. “I’ve gotta go buy a few things. Shit - she’s coming tomorrow - yeah, I gotta go. I got things to do.”
“Ralph,” I call quietly, and he pauses by the doorway, looks at me over his shoulder. “Regardless of whether or not it works out tomorrow night, I’m sure that everything is gonna be fine. You and Calla have something special. You’ll figure things out together.”
Ralph stares at me with unreadable eyes, then turns and silently slips out of the kitchen.
But I could swear I saw a smile flash across his face before he left.
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