Page 18 of After Effect

The older woman took me by the hand as the bartender made last call, and the three of us made our way out of the front entrance. I followed along, though at 2:00AM, I’ll admit I was officially much more interested in sleeping than fucking.

Meep meep

A ridiculous noise snapped me out of my daze. I stopped in my tracks to scan the area. Then I heard it again.

Meep meep

“That lady’s waving at you.” The brunette told me, pointing toward a woman sitting on a little pink scooter. It wasn’t even a Vespa. It was like a Chinese knock-off of a Chinese knock-off. Why would someone like that be waving at me?

“Finch!” And then I heard Lilly’s voice. “I’m here to pick you up, remember?”

Fuck. It had been over two hours since I last talked to her. I thought I was in the clear. I looked frantically between my two would-be hosts.

Lilly dismounted her scooter and came over to us. She was wearing a silly red half helmet, made more ridiculous with its white racing stripe, and a brown leather jacket. “Are these friends of yours, Finchy?”

Finchy? Seriously? This better not become a thing.

It seemed that she was making her voice extra friendly. Like a subtle way of announcing her personal connection with me, in case these people were trying to kidnap me or something.

“They’re uh…” I was at a loss for words. How am I supposed to answer that? ‘Oh, yeah, let me introduce you. This is Miss Cougar and Miss Club Bunny. We’re just going to have sex real quick so I can stop thinking about all the filthy things I want to do to you. Nothing to see here.’

“We were just heading home. Not trying to get in the middle of any drama.” The older woman interrupted with exaggerated annoyance. “Let’s go, Clara.”

After a whole night of tolerating them, just like that, the ladies dispersed. What a waste of patience. And now I was standing alone on the sidewalk with Lilly. The first and last person I wanted to see. I no longer had a chance of getting laid tonight.

“Sorry it took so long. My old girl isn’t the fastest little scoot. I had to take backroads the whole way, since it’s not highway legal.” She laughed sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck. I can’t believe she came all this way on that little scooter. And on back roads? How did that seem worth it?

“I didn’t expect you to actually come.” I was outwardly annoyed and inwardly relieved to see her at the same time. “I hope you know you just completely cock blocked me.” My plan was to shake a finger at her, but just lifting my arm to shake it threw me off balance, and I instead stumbled into her. She instinctively steadied me with her arms.

Her body shook lightly from laughter. “I never would have taken you for such a party animal. Do you spend all of your Friday nights playing with cougars?”

“Of course not. I was… I mean, I guess that is what I was doing, but…” I only got more and more frustrated the more I tried to justify it. “It’s not like I want to be here… I was only doing this to take my mind off of you.” Those vibrating chuckles got harder, coming in short pulses. That’s about the time it dawned on me that I had just said that out loud. It suddenly seemed near impossible to differentiate between my spoken words and my silent thoughts. Great work, Finch. This is absolutely not what I need right now.

“Oooh, Finchy. Such a lightweight.” Yep. This is going to become a thing. She patted me on the back, while I could feel her smile against my neck. She tightened her hug and whispered. “I came here because I couldn’t get my mind off of you either.”

It was so soft, I nearly didn’t hear her at all. But I’m certain that’s what she said. Or maybe I just wanted that to be what she said.

With that, she gave me two solid pats on the back then wrenched me upright, placing her hands on each of my shoulders for stability. “Do you think you can hang on?” Lilly motioned to her little pink scooter.

“To that?”

“No, silly.” She ruffled my hair, then moved in close to whisper in my ear again. “To me. You have to promise you won’t let go.”

“I would never let go of you.” My face flushed a new shade of burgundy as I heard my own words in my ears. I couldn’t find any of the ability or willpower to hide it anymore. Lilly grinned back at me, reassuring and collected. Why am I so lame while she’s always so cool?

She walked over to her scooter and pulled a spare helmet from the trunk under the seat. Amusement danced in her eyes as she strapped the pink lid onto my head. I can’t believe I’m really going to do this.

“Let’s go!” Her sing song voice was impossible to say no to. She fired up the single cylinder engine, and all eight horsepower puttered to life. I threw a leg over the peeling leather seat and placed my hands on her shoulders. It felt like I had a sewing machine between my legs.

“Now what do I do?” This is so awkward.

“Hold on to me.”

“Like this?” I placed my hands on her shoulders. She laughed at me again.

“What will you do if we hit a big bump at high speed and your hands go flying off my shoulders?”

“High speed? On this? You mean 30 miles an hour?”

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