Page 115 of Once a Month

“If you’re over here, you can kiss me,” I say.

She stands up instantly, and it makes me laugh a little again.

“I didn’t exactly dress for sitting on the floor,” she says.

“You can take it off,” I reply, looking up at her. “I really wouldn’t mind.”

She passes me her wine, and I watch as she unzips her dress and lets it fall to the floor.

“Better?” she asks.

“Definitely,” I say, licking my lips because I want them on her.

“You don’t have to make me snacks to get me into bed,” she says as she sits down on the rug.

“Really? I was hoping to impress you.”

“You’re already impressive,” she tells me.

I wish I could actually believe her, but I am totally unimpressive. I have a dead-end job that I’m lucky I haven’t lost yet, a college degree I’m not even using, no family I can count on now that my aunt is gone, and a house I don’t really want to live in, but it just makes the most sense for me to keep it. I’ve spent most of my life there, and I can make it my own, I guess. It is home. I just never thought I’d be there forever. I have no money saved. What I do have, I’ve recently been spending on sex toys and clothes for parties like this one instead of applying it to the debt I’ve collected. Oh, yeah, there’s that, too – the debt. Compared to her, I am the most unimpressive person on the planet.

I hand her the skewer, and we roast our marshmallows. We sit there silently together, and it’s nice. I pull mine out of the fire probably a moment too late, but I don’t mind them a little too done. She pulls her out right after me. I make a s’more with the one I roasted and hand it to her because I don’t want her to think hers is terrible since hers stayed in the fire a little longer than mine. Then, I do the same to the one she roasted and take that one for myself.

“Are you ready?” I ask.

“Sure,” she says.

We take a bite and make a total mess as we laugh. I make us each a second s’more because we might as well enjoy them while we can. We talk as we eat, and it feels like we’re here on vacation – a couple that’s maybe celebrating their anniversary. I decide I should pack up everything because it gives me something else to think about. I put it all on the table and turn back to her. She’s a goddess.

“Oh, you have chocolate on your–”

“I do not. I–”

I kiss between her breasts and lower her to the rug. I kiss her collarbone and then her neck.

“Smooth,” she says as I climb on top of her.

“What? I didn’t want it to go to waste,” I lie.

There was no chocolate there. She laughs as my hand begins to skate over her skin. I lift her up a little and unclasp her bra. We remove it, and I kiss her breasts.

“Can you–”

“Yeah,” I say.

I lean up and take off my shirt.

“There they are,” she says, squeezing my sensitive breasts. “I’ve missed them.”

“They’ve missed you,” I say.

“Have they not been taken care of by anyone else in my absence?”

“No, no one has taken care of them,” I tell her.

“Not even…”

“No, babe. I haven’t been with them since that night,” I say, deciding not to tell her about that strange but very nice phone sex call.

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