I woke before my alarm.
I was excited. My body knew something was happening and refused to waste it sleeping.
Leah was coming over at five.
I lay in bed for another minute, staring at the ceiling, before admitting I was never getting back to sleep. I slipped out from under the duvet as quietly as I could and padded into the kitchen.
The apartment was already clean.
That didn’t stop me.
I emptied the dishwasher, even though there were only three plates inside. I wiped down the counters. I lined up the coffee mugs so their handles all pointed the same way, then immediately wondered why I’d done that.
I opened the fridge.
Nothing had changed since yesterday.
I closed it again.
I filled the reservoir with fresh water even though there was enough left for another pot.
I measured out the coffee.
Then I measured it again because suddenly it looked wrong.
Lin wandered into the kitchen halfway through my battle against imaginary dirt, still in her pajamas, rubbing sleep from one eye.
She watched me for a few seconds before speaking.
“You know she’s already seen pictures of the apartment, right?”
“I know.”
“And she’s bringing dinner.”
“I know.”
“And she isn’t coming here to inspect the kitchen.”
“I know.”
Lin reached for the coffee.
“Mia.”
“What?”
“…You’re nesting.”
“We have visitors coming over Lin, it won’t hurt to pick up the place.”
She looked around the kitchen.
Every surface gleamed.
Even the toaster looked vaguely intimidated.
This continued through the apartment. I vacuumed. I wiped down surfaces. I dusted.
By noon, the place was ready for a showing.
I looked down at myself and realized I was not.
I jumped into the shower and stood under the hot water longer than I normally would, washing my hair twice for no reason other than nerves.
Afterwards, I reached for my razor.
Nothing.
I checked the little shelf.
The drawer.
Under the sink.
Still nothing.
“Lin?” I called.
“Yeah?”
“Have you seen my razor?”
“No. You never put anything back where it belongs.”
“I do sometimes.”
“Name one thing.”
I opened my mouth.
…
“Fine.”
I searched for another minute before giving up.
Leah wasn’t exactly coming over to inspect my bikini line.
It would be fine.
Probably.
Fresh from the shower, I dried my hair and started looking for clothing. Hoodie after hoodie, I settled on a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants. I put on some red socks to offset it all. After a look in the mirror, I was surprisingly pleased with myself.
I’d fuck me.
I checked the time.
4:30.
Waste away thirty minutes, then we’d be ready.
I headed to the couch where Lin was already sitting and picked up my phone from the table. Girl Talk was already packed with messages.
Leah:
Picking up sushi and bringing sake.
Leah:
Do you drink sake?
Lin:
It might be a bit much if that is all we are drinking. Do you have any umeshu?
Leah:
No worries. I’ll bring some umeshu and a few bottles of Sapporo.
Lin:
That should cover all the bases.
Leah:
Any sushi requests? Favourite rolls, things you don’t eat, allergies?
Leah:
I was thinking a mix of nigiri, salmon and tuna rolls, and a few California rolls to keep everyone happy.
Leah:
Might also pick up some chicken katsu roll if they have them.
Lin:
California rolls are good. I like salmon too, but nothing too spicy.
Leah:
No Spicy rolls, check.
I looked at Lin, “What’s umeshu?”
“Sweet plum wine. I think you will like it. The beer is also good, lighter and smoother than standard stuff.”
I nodded my head and typed into the Girl Talk chat.
Me:
I am not as experienced in sushi as you both, so I will trust your judgement.
Leah:
Always fun trying something new.
My brain immediately stopped being useful.
Did she know about yesterday?
Had Dan told her?
Was she teasing me?
Was this flirting?
It was probably about sushi.
That did not stop me from panicking.
I switched over to imgur on my phone, and pulled up my cute animals feed to calm my mind.
I felt a wave of cute animal sedation wash over me, and my brain slowly let go of all those stressful thoughts.
I heard a key go into the lock, and I was suddenly back in panic mode.
Lin saved me, rising to welcome Leah and Dan and take the sushi off their hands.
I met Leah’s eyes for the first time and felt a wave of excitement hit me. It was strange, like meeting someone you had known digitally for months and suddenly discovering they existed outside the little screen you had built them in.
She was a bit taller than me, not by much. Maybe an inch? The rimmed glasses framed her face more than I remembered from her selfie with Dan. She wore a simple black V-neck sweater, dark jeans, and ankle boots. Her bracelets were stacked on one wrist, and the Hello Kitty bracelet stood out among the more subtle ones. It should have looked childish. Somehow, on her, it didn’t.
I smiled and started to lift a hand.
Leah didn’t give me the chance.
She opened her arms and pulled me into a hug.
“I am so happy to finally meet you,” she whispered.
She smelled clean, but not like soap. There was something woody underneath, warm and subtle, mixed with something that reminded me of tea. It was the kind of scent that made me think someone had their life together.
She let go of me and turned toward Lin, giving her the same hug she had given me.
I stood there for a second, suddenly unsure what my role was.
I looked at Dan, who was gathering plates and glasses, and realized he had already moved on to logistics. I realized we were eating around the coffee table in the living room, not the kitchen table.
That made sense, the kitchen table is tiny, and could barely fit three people.
I turned around and saw Lin and Leah sit down on the TV side of the table, I put myself down across from Leah, with Dan beside me.
The sushi was being unpacked and placed on the table, and Lin was handing out the chopsticks.
I picked up the chopsticks, snapped them apart like everyone else, then reached into my pocket and pulled out a hair tie, and tied my chopsticks together at the top.
Leah looked over at me, “What are you doing?”
“My patented sushi technology.”
Leah stared.
“You carry a hair tie specifically for chopsticks?”
“No. I carry a hair tie because I’m a woman. The chopsticks trick is a bonus.”
Leah watched me wrestle with my patented chopstick technology for about ten seconds before setting her own pair down.
“May I?”
I looked up.
“…Sure.”
Leah shifted behind me, one leg on either side of mine, then moved close until her front rested lightly against my back.
One arm appeared on either side of me.
I was suddenly sitting inside a Leah-shaped cage.
She reached for my chopsticks.
“Could you hand me those?”
“Sure.”
My voice sounded remarkably normal considering I could feel her breathing against the side of my neck.
She slipped the hair tie free and placed it beside my plate.
“You’ve invented training chopsticks.”
“They work.”
“Yes, but training chopsticks are for children, and you are a woman.”
Her hands closed gently around mine.
They were soft. Ridiculously soft.
She definitely moisturized.
Was that what I kept smelling?
“Rest this one here.”
She shifted the lower chopstick against the base of my thumb.
“It doesn’t move.”
Her index finger pressed lightly against mine.
“Use this finger and your middle finger for the top one.”
She moved them with her own, opening and closing the chopsticks.
“See?”
I saw absolutely nothing except her hands wrapped around mine.
“Again,” she said.
Together, we lowered the chopsticks around a piece of salmon.
“Not so tight.”
“I’m afraid it’ll slip.”
“Then turn it slightly. Let it rest on the lower stick.”
My hand was turned by hers, so the little salmon sushi was lying on the stick my thumb controlled.
She loosened my grip, guided my hand upward, then steered the sushi toward my mouth.
I ate it.
“Good.”
Her voice was right beside my ear.
Warm breath, faintly sweet with sake.
I took a deep breath.
This was an instructional exercise.
Not foreplay.
My body disagreed.
“One more.”
This time she let me do most of the movement, her hand still resting over mine.
We picked up another piece.
She tilted my wrist and dipped only the fish into the soy sauce.
“Not the rice.”
“Oh?”
“Rice will soak up the soy, and you get too much. You just want a light coating on the fish.”
She guided it back toward me.
I opened my mouth and took the second piece while she was still wrapped around me.
Somewhere across the table, Lin was being suspiciously quiet.
Leah released my hand, unfolded herself from behind me, and returned to her place across the table as though nothing unusual had happened.
I sat there holding the chopsticks in exactly the position she had left them.
They suddenly felt like delicate machinery.
Leah picked up another piece of sushi.
“What courses are you taking this year?” she asked Lin.
Lin brightened.
“I am doing Art History 103 and 104 – We’re doing Rococo this month. We just finished the Renaissance.”
“French Rococo, or broader European?”
Lin started explaining.
I tried to follow.
Gold. Churches. People lying around in expensive clothing. Something about patronage.
Mostly, I was aware that she wasn’t behind me anymore.
I focused.
My entire world had shrunk to two wooden sticks.
This one stayed still.
This one moved.
I picked up another piece of sushi.
Steady.
Fish first.
I tilted it into the soy sauce exactly the way Leah had shown me.
Just the fish.
As I lifted it back up, I caught Leah looking at me.
She smiled.
Just a tiny one.
Then she turned back to Lin without saying a word.
I don’t know why that felt so good.
I popped the sushi into my mouth and smiled.
After dinner, Leah mixed Calpis sours and poured umeshu over ice. Dan had some of the Sapporo, and complimented Leah on a good beer pick.
We pushed the table away from the couch, and Leah sat on the floor, and I sat with my back against the couch. Lin and Dan were on the couch.
Leah asked a lot of questions. None of them felt intrusive, yet somehow every answer turned into a conversation.
How long had we been living here?
How did we meet?
What was our favorite place in New York?
We learned things about Leah too, but compared to everything she had quietly learned about us, it felt almost unfair.
Around ten, Leah glanced at her watch and sighed.
“I should go. I’ve got a booking first thing tomorrow morning. Six o’clock start, and if I miss it, I lose the slot.”
We all stood. She hugged Dan first, then Lin.
When she wrapped her arms around me, I held on for just a fraction longer than I probably should have. That familiar scent lingered, warm, woody, with something that reminded me of tea.
“Next time, you come to mine,” she said as she stepped back. “You’ve all been wonderful hosts.”
She smiled between Lin and me.
“I can see why Dan’s so fond of you both.”
It was such a simple thing to say.
Not sure what she meant by it.
Once the door clicked shut behind Leah, I didn’t even give Dan time to breathe.
I shoved him back onto the couch, pulled off my pants, and straddled him. Already grinding down against the bulge in his pants. My mouth found his, greedy and messy. I could still smell her on him. That warm, woody scent she’d left all over my brain, mixed now with his skin.
“Fuck, Mia—”
“Shut up. I’ve been edging all evening. I need this.” I yanked his belt open, shoved his pants down, and freed his cock. It was already thick and heavy. I stroked him once, twice, then rose up, shoved my soaked panties to the side, and sank down onto him in one slick motion.
We both groaned.
I started riding him, rolling my hips, taking him deep, feeling him slide in and out of me. Lin sat beside us on the couch, stroking my back with one hand while the other disappeared beneath the waistband of her shorts.
I leaned down, looked him straight in the eye.
“Did you go down on her?”
Dan looked confused, “What, who are you talking about”
I grabbed his hair, “Leah, did you lick her pussy Dan? Did you go down on her?”
Dan’s hands tightened on my ass. “Yeah… fuck, yeah I did.”
I moaned and slowed down, clenching around him. “What did she taste like? Tell me.”
“Sweet,” he panted. “Really wet. She kept her hand in my hair, grinding on my face like she couldn’t get enough.”
The image flashed through my mind: Leah’s elegant thighs spread, Dan’s mouth buried between them. I whimpered and grinded against Dan.
“Did she sit on your face, or was she on her back?”
“On my face,” he gasped. “She pushed me down on the bed and told me to make her come.”
I let out a small moan.
“Did she suck your cock?”
“Yes. God, Mia” He thrust up to meet me. “She was good. Took me deep, used her tongue on the underside just right.”
Lin kissed my neck while whispering into my ear, “She is such a slut, don’t you think?” while her fingers were stroking my asshole.
I sat up straighter, rocking my hips back and forth, making Dan squirm.
“Did she swallow?” I demanded, voice shaking. “Did you cum in her mouth?”
Dan groaned, eyes rolling back. “No… not this time. She pulled off and jerked me off onto her tits instead. Said she wanted to see it.”
I let out a broken little cry and clawed at his chest. The image was a live wire through my entire body.
“Did she come on you?” I gasped. “Did her pussy squeeze your cock when she came?”
“Yeah… twice. First time when I was fucking her from behind. Second time she rode me just like this, fuck, Mia, just like you’re doing right now. She was so loud. Kept saying my name.”
Lin’s fingers from behind caught me by surprise when they entered, and she bit gently at my ear at the same time.
I let out a groan. So close.
Every new detail painted Leah in my head. Naked. Riding him. Laughing. Smiling. Wanting him.
“Was she tighter than me?” I asked, voice cracking. “Did her pussy feel better?”
Dan hesitated half a second. I clenched hard around him.
“Tell me the truth.”
“She was… different,” he admitted, voice wrecked. “Really fucking warm and silky. But you, you feel like home. You’re so wet right now, baby.”
I moaned loudly, the praise and the filthy comparison sending me spiraling. I rode him like I was trying to erase her and mark him at the same time.
“Come inside me,” I ordered, voice husky. “Fill me up like you filled her.”
Dan groaned my name and thrust up hard, pulsing deep inside me as he came. The feeling of him pulsing inside me, the warmth, Lin beside me, it all crashed together and pushed me over the edge. I came hard, shaking, crying out as my pussy milked every drop from him.
I collapsed onto his chest afterward, panting, sweaty, his cum already starting to leak out around his softening cock. Lin leaned in and kissed my temple softly.
“Jesus Christ,” I whispered, half-laughing, half-wrecked. “I don’t think I’ve ever come that hard.”