But when we had the time, I wanted most every free moment with this woman. We would share our lives, our work, our other activities… And we would fuck each other’s brains out, gleefully. We would do it through our future together, and we sure as Hell did so when we got back to our house that specific afternoon.
Finally, we stirred ourselves from the bed, didn’t bother with a shower that we both knew would need repeating later anyway, and repaired to the kitchen to cook dinner. Monica took lead that evening. Honestly, I had become so used to cooking for myself, and had become so smug about my skills, I found it far harder to wrap my head around letting someone else cook for me than to deal with the idea of a girlfriend with ‘outside interests’…
Much harder, I reflected as I found myself chopping onions, carrots and celery for the mirepoix Monica required. I snorted at myself as I swept the carrots off the chopping board. In addition to all my other bizarre and unique world outlooks, I had to be the only guy who was grumpy that his new lady could cook as well as he could.
Okay, she could cook better than me.
Some things at least…
“Clark,” Monica said, fairly quietly as she slowly blanched the mirepoix. “I’d like your advice… your input really,” she went on slowly and seriously.
“Shoot,” I said, sitting on a stool since I had no current tasks.
“I haven’t tried anything for a bit, but I have not given up the idea of exploring the Other Side,” she said slowly.
“Good for you,” I said, with only a slight leer.
“As I said, finding the right person has been the problem,” she said.
“I under…”
She cut me off, raising a finger to hold our conversation as she added the meat to her rocket hot pan. Instantly, she was surrounded by a cloud of unfairly aromatic steam.
I really needed to up my game. I needed to find a new dish that would really bring it, and soon. This smelt amazing.
“I mean, with guys… it’s kind of easy, you know?” Monica went on as the initial cloud of steam dissipated.
“Must be tough, being a smoking hot woman,” I said, with vast sympathy.
“I still fail to see how you, of all men, were sexless for half a decade,” Monica shot back over her shoulder.
“I… I spent most of that time thinking I was kind of a loser, to be honest. That’s how. Now, after a summer of positive reinforcement that would kill most guys, I think my game’s pretty good, thank you. But even in my wildest dreams, I can’t just smile at a random woman, bend over a little, and just reel them in,” I said jealously.
Monica snorted. “Well, neither can I, with any woman.”
“Ha! My heart weeps.”
“Not with any guy, either, you jerk,” she said affectionately. “But I’ll admit, I do have the easier dynamic to work with there.” She stirred her sauce lightly, introspectively. “But I sure do not have that dynamic working with women.”
I nodded sympathetically. I also appreciated her ass as she bent over the stovetop, but that is because I am a beast.
She reduced the heat and stood back. “It would be easier if I could do it with someone I knew. A friend,” she said.
“I hope you have someone in mind at your work,” I said sympathetically. “The only lesbians I know are Ursula and Janet. Unfortunately, they are married to each other, so off limits. And anyway, I am only speculating, but I’m still pretty sure either one of them would be far too advanced a ride for little inexperienced you. I’d like you undamaged, please!”
Monica snorted amiably. She was still holding back on me, but I could be patient.
“Um,” she said quietly. “That’s where I need your advice and your… input. There actually is one person I know where I have been getting a few… vibes maybe? That maybe I might be attractive to her? And…”
“Hardly my area of expertise, babe!” I laughed heartily. “Who is it, though? I’m curious. Do I know her?”
Monica said nothing while she took the meat off the heat, and combined the sauce. Another cloud of unfairly delicious-smelling steam later, and she let everything rest for a minute.
She turned to me. “It’s Anne.”
Whoa.
Wow.
I had not told Monica about the Carol and Anne experience. Not even a hint. They had asked me not to tell anyone, and I kind of needed to respect that. It was before Monica and I were an Us, so I was within my rights to not spill the story…
Aaaaand that was all just a bullshit excuse I’d already come up with to justify not telling Monica, if she found out about it from someone other than me. Truth was, I was saving the story for a birthday present, or maybe for Christmas, if I ended up having as hard a time shopping for Monica as I always had for Rebecca.
Monica took my silence for shock.
“I wouldn’t not have thought it myself, Clark. But… well we went to the movie on Monday while you are out of town? And I’ve just sort of been on alert for signals or signs lately. And I think she thinks I’m not just good-looking… but attractive. Moreover, I look back, and it wasn’t the first time I kind of feel like I’ve been checked out… and approved of, you know?”
“Wow,” I said. Should I tell her? I decided, no. She wanted this adventure, it would be better for her in the long run if she worked her way through it herself. Plus, this was too damned funny.
But she was looking at me expectantly… pleadingly. I huffed. “Well, if your senses are not deceiving you, she might be ideal. Or not. I mean, if she is interested, she still is in no way a lesbian, I can tell you that for sure.”
“No shit, Cassanova!” Monica snorted with a smile, as she started to plate up the dinner.
I stuck out my tongue at her and poured us both a beer as she brought the food to the table in the kitchen where we often ate. “I obviously can’t say whether she is bi-sexual or not, through,” I went on. That was true enough as well, though I was pretty damned close to sure. “But I can’t say if you are bi-sexual either, so maybe you two are a perfect match!”
We both sat down and had a first bite.
Fuck! I really needed to up my cooking skills. I might need to take some classes.
After a few minutes of intense enjoyment, and a mixture of smugness and continuing hesitation on Monica’s face, she started talking again.
“All that aside, um, what about… I mean, she is, you know… You and she… Would you be okay with that?”
“Ha!” I laughed out loud. “Babe, come on! I’m not jealous of you doing your thing, how the fuck would I be jealous of Anne?”
“Yeah, but I haven’t horsed around with any friend of yours yet, much less a friend with whom you have an ongoing thing yourself!”
“Look Monica, our whole discussion about clearing people was about if one of us…” I trailed off.
“Yeah,” Monica said. “The key is, no matter their plumbing, if one of us knows someone, and they’re interested, we need to make sure that indulging that interest isn’t going to create some tension, of any kind, for the other. Right?”
I nodded in happy agreement. “You have your adventure, Monica. Have your freedom. And who says Anne and I have an ongoing thing?” After all, I was trying to be a semi-decent human. Or at least semi-human.
“Ha, yourself!” Monica laughed back. “I know for sure you fucked her already, obviously. Even if you hadn’t told me yourself, that girl is full-time smug about being first with you. And,” she said, brandishing a forkful of that delicious beef, “you both want to fuck each other again. It’s just that neither of you have decided to lure the other in yet. Why not? I have no idea.”
I could hardly deny it, could I? I could lie to myself, but not Monica.
“Look, if she attracts you, and you think you might attract her, then I say go for it,” I said. “I for one will not be pissed if you make it happen. I’m sitting here with half an erection right now just from the discussion!”
“Only half an erection?”
“The food is so good it’s distracting.”
She smiled at that, then looked worried again.
“Look,” I went on. “What do you have to lose?”
“A friend?” Monica said sadly. “What if she is, like, really not into the idea and I gross her out?”
“Monica,” I said firmly. This part I knew I had right. “I don’t know exactly how she would react. But I am certain of this: If you make a pass at that girl, she will in no way be insulted or grossed out. She might say no, but she won’t hold it against you.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am certain.” There. That’s all the help you get, babe.
We ate happily in peace. Then, if she had wanted to discuss things further, Monica made a mistake. Because she produced a dessert that came with whipped cream. She might not have Wanda’s boobs, but she was still more than well-equipped enough for my now favorite game…
The conversation was tabled. Then it was floored. Then it was bedded. There was going to be so much house cleaning in our future…
*
“I think she knows already,” Monica said as she came in and tossed her keys on the side table. Getting her to learn to negotiate parking her frankly excessively large SUV inside the garage had sort of been the final step in making her feel at home. As long as she had been parking in the driveway, she could still pretend she was a visitor. Now that she was using the garage, I knew she really had to feel that this was her home.
“Who knows what?” I asked. I had beat her home that evening by all of about three minutes, and was going through the mail. The junk mail that is triggered by a change of address had already started to flow in, and Monica was inundated with ads for house painters, mattresses, and the like.
“Anne. I think she knows I’m interested in her.”
“Oh? Do tell,” I replied. “I mean, if you are right, and she is already at least a little intrigued by you, she would likely pick up any signals you make, right?”
“I hope I’m right all the way around,” Monica said. “It would be pretty embarrassing otherwise!”
“You’ll be fine. What did you do?”
“I just was texting her and threw in just a little flirtiness,” Monica said, trying not to be too excited. “And I’m pretty sure her responses were meant to be a little flirty too!”
“Excellent! What were you talking about?”
“I suggested that we go see the new Ryan Reynolds movie.”
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