Page 13 of A Very Friendly Valentine's Day
She nearly chokes on her wine and I swear to God I didn’t even think that comment through before I said it.
That was my bad.
“You okay?” I reach over to rub her back, but she steps away from me.
Her eyes are watering, but when she finally regains her composure, she is frowning at me. “I happen to be all good on the orgasm front, thanks.”
And now I’m just thinking about all the things I’d do to the front of her to give her an orgasm. Or twenty.
“Happy to hear it.” I raise my mug. I think it’s about time my friend meets the O’Sullivan side of Eddie Cannavale… “May your giving hand never fail you, Birdie Beckett,” I offer as a toast in my finest Irish brogue.
She blinks once and then I am met with a blank stare.
That may have been too brief of a toast, so I try again. “May your troubles be less and your blessings be more. And nothing but happiness come through your front door.” I polish off my wine.
Crickets.
More blank stare.
Total broguemance fail.
Serves me right. I will have to try harder, re the friend thing. Or possibly try harder at seducing her. But I can’t do both at the same time…Can I?
She takes a deep breath before asking, "Question. Did you, by any chance, see my nipples earlier?"
If I hadn’t already swallowed the wine, I would have done an awesome spit-take. "Yes. Yes, I did."
"Okay.” She puts her mug of wine down on the counter, combs her fingers through her long, wavy, dark blonde hair and then twists it up into some kind of knot on top of her head. Which is really annoying because now her long, slender neck is exposed, and so are her collarbones and the top of her cleavage and I really like her bare arms too. She sighs and then crosses her arms in front of her chest. “I just want you to know that it was an accident. Revealing them. I forgot that I wasn't wearing a bra."
"Understood."
"But I mean…” She shrugs and then takes a sip of wine before continuing. “It happened. I think we should just acknowledge that we had a brief, nipple-y, mildly boner-y moment and move past it. So we can get back to being friends. Right?"
"Agreed. I hereby acknowledge the aforementioned mild boner and nipple slip and I would also like to acknowledge that both of your nipples looked great."
She snort-laughs and covers her mouth with one hand and it’s so fucking cute. "Shut up.”
"No, I'm really proud of you. As a friend. They're top-notch."
"Okay, moving on!"
I clink mugs with her, even though mine is empty. “To being friends with absolutely no benefits.”
She pauses, contemplating me for a brief but very telling moment and then nods definitively. “Exactly.” She takes a huge gulp of wine and then pours the rest of it into the sink.
I try very hard not to take in the entire length of the backside of her slender frame and I should have tried a lot harder not to emit a wistful sigh like a total fucking pussy. “So…New York.”
“Yes…New York. Flying to the Big Apple to meet your Instagirlfriend for Valentine’s Day, huh? Baller move.”
I bend down and nudge her leg so I can open the cupboard beneath the sink. “I need a paper bag for the recyclables.”
“Just use the bin,” she says before discovering that the recycling bin under her sink is already full.
“I’ve been putting empties in the bin all night. That’s why this place isn’t a mess right now.”
“I didn’t even realize that… Thank you.” She steps aside to let me grab a carefully folded paper bag.
“Thankyou.And yes. It is a baller move.” I start picking up empty beer bottles and cans. “Why areyougoing?”
