Page 25 of The Love We Make

“Wait up for me.”

I had planned on watching the game on TV, so I knew I would be up.

“Ok,” I repeated one more time.

“I will bring the vodka.”

???

Ethan was supposed to pitch again tomorrow so he wasn’t even in the dugout with the team much during the game. Every time the camera panned the dugout, I looked for him to be sitting there laughing with a teammate about my stupid request.

But he was never there.

By the 7th inning, I had a knock on my door. It was kind of late to have a visitor but I rushed to look through the peephole.

Ethan.

I opened the door and he walked in wearing athletic shorts and a t-shirt, his hat on backward. He was holding a brown paper bag with what I assumed was the vodka he said he would bring.

“Why did you knock?” I asked as I closed the door behind him.

“Didn't want to scare you.”

“Yeah you are kinda supposed to be at the game,” I said while pointing to the TV.

He shrugged. “I pitch tomorrow. So I have a free pass to do whatever I want until then.”

“And that is?”

Sex? Was he here to have sex?

“To drink this vodka and try and figure you out.”

Bummer.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. There wasn’t much to figure out.

Nonetheless, I let him pour some of the vodka over ice and downed it. I pointed to the cup for a refill. After we each had two shots worth, we discarded the cups and sipped from the bottle. I needed liquid courage.

Apparently he did too.

I didn’t say no. His earlier words repeated in my brain.

“Tell me what’s up,” he said once we were situated on the couch.

How did I start? Did we get right into it? Did I tell him what I wanted?

“I just need you to poke the hole,” I blurted, his eyes widening as he grabbed for the vodka. I turned bright red, embarrassment once again taking over.

Why did I say that?

“I already know I won’t have an orgasm, so it should be easy,” I continued. Despite my embarrassment, the vodka had taken over my mouth and brain. “Just, like,poke,” I suggested, adding a pop to the wordpoke.

Ethan still wasn’t saying anything. He just kept taking gulps of vodka. Eventually, I grabbed the bottle from him and took a few more gulps myself. “We can even be drunk, I don’t care.”

Stop talking, Madison.

“You love me right? We can make lots of love because we love each other.” My words were beginning to slur. I wasn’t past the point of no return, but I was buzzing pretty good. “We have even already seen each other naked before.”

---