bitty words #14

"Well, that answers that question," I murmured against his shoulder.

Our bodies were still tangled together. the sheets knotted and twisted around us, and I never wanted to move.

"What question?" he asked, only half engaged.

Why was I not surprised that he couldn't recall the catalyst for our urgent second round? I reminded myself, boys are ridiculous.

Reality started to crack the magic sex spell and I started to roll away from him. "Nevermind."

He made a soft noise of confusion and his arm around my back tightened ever so slightly. "Where are you going?"

A small laugh grew in my throat, clinging to the sweetness that was quickly evaporating like the sweat on our skin.

We stayed entangled for a few more minutes as I inspected the popcorn texture of his ceiling. It almost felt like I had been there the week before instead of more than three months ago.

"Remind me why we waited so long to do this again?" I asked before good sense could stop my tongue.

He half laughed. "I don't know. We were busy, I guess."

I was sorry I asked the question and his response was such a lame non-answer that I had to disentangle myself to distract myself for my own disappointment. I don't know what I wanted him to say but I knew that wasn't it.

Moving out of his grip, I moved to the edge of the bed. I saw my pile of clothes on the floor and hated myself for coming straight here in my dress. There was no comfy half-dressed option; it was either lingerie or fully clothed.

I chose the lingerie option because fully clothed might look like I was leaving and I wasn't sure if I was. I slipped out of bed and slithered into my panties as quickly as possible.

"I'm hungry," he said, behind me.

I turned to him, a little shy despite it all. "Seriously? You're ridiculous?"

He sat up in bed. "I'm tired, I just worked hard. I need nourishment and I don't have any food in the house"

I rolled my eyes so hard, I was lucky they didn't fall right out.  "I feel like this is a reoccurring thing for you."

He tilted his head to the side for a moment until he remembered. "Oh, that's right, you took me for tacos once didn't you?"

"In the middle of the night," I added. "That is an important detail."

He laughed and I smiled, too. It had been ridiculous at the time and it was even more ridiculous now.

"Do you want tacos again?"

He checked the clock above his bed. "I actually think I'm going to walk around the corner for pizza, they're open for another half hour."

"That is my cue to get out of here." I reached for my dress. Was I glad to have an easy out or did I want to be staying? Especially after all this time?

He still hadn't moved from bed. "You don't have to go, you can hang out."

"No worries,  I should get home."  I had already stepped into my dress, there was no turning back now. At least not without a more concrete invitation than "you can hang out."

Finally extricating himself from the bed, he grabbed his boxers off the floor. "I'll walk out with you."

"How gentlemanly of you," I said with a laugh.

He smiled. "You know it."

I had my arm twisted up behind my back trying to zip my dress but I had to admit defeat. "Could you?" I turned my back to him.

"What? Oh. Sure."

I could fell the warmth of his body as he stepped in close and fumbled with the tiny tab. His fingers grazed my back as he zipped me up and his breath danced across my neck. I inhaled, anticipating that he would kiss my neck but there was no kiss. After a long second, he stepped away and I turned back to face him, trying to keep the disappointment off my face.

"That dress really is great." His eyes were no where near my face.

"Thanks for the stamp of approval."

A touch of snark crept into my voice and we carried the banter out of his apartment and down the street.

He kissed my cheek on the corner. "Thanks for..." His voice faded.

I smiled. Was he really going to be shy about this on a dark street corner in the middle of the night? Apparently. "You too."

As we walked away from each other, of all the things we'd done together, him zipping up my dress was the thing I couldn't get out of my mind.