I woke up to the soft electronic chirp of somebody moving through menus.
I dragged myself out of bed, found yesterday’s shorts and T-shirt on the floor and went looking for coffee.
Lin was sitting cross-legged on the rug in front of the television with a remote in one hand and her mug balanced between her knees. The screen was filled with text boxes, on a pink background.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking.”
“For anything in particular?”
I stepped over a cable running toward a black box beneath the television and headed into the kitchen.
“Dan let me borrow it, it’s a karaoke machine,” Lin said. “He got it from work.”
I looked back at her.
“You like karaoke?”
She shrugged and clicked into another list.
“I used to.”
Learn new stuff every day apparently.
I poured myself coffee from the pot and carried it back into the living room. Two wireless microphones sat on the table beside the remote.
“So Dan coming over to sing with you later?”
“No, he is away for his work thing, three days, remember?”
“Oh right, that was today?”
“Yup, you and me sister, three days, no Dan, do you think we will survive?”
She backed out of another menu and into a new one.
I smiled and took a drink.
“I am sure we will find something to do.”
I turned and looked at my laptop, “Right. I need to log in before work notices.”
Lin kept scrolling.
“What are you doing today?”
“Dunno.”
“That sounds productive.”
“I’ll think of something.”
She said it without concern, still moving through the song list.
I watched her for another moment, then went to work.
Around noon, I gave up pretending coffee counted as food and made myself a bagel.
Lin had moved from the floor to the couch, but the karaoke machine was still glowing quietly beneath the television. I sat at the kitchen table with cream cheese on one thumb and my laptop open beside me when the apartment group chat lit up.
Apartment 38B Group Text
Dan:
This thing is so fucking boring.
Dan:
Fiscal plans for the next eight quarters.
Dan:
We have now discussed projected staffing needs for a year that does not exist yet.
You:
Thoughts and prayers.
Dan:
Lunch is tiny sandwiches and sparkling water.
Lin:
Stay strong.
Dan:
Found a new work friend though, so not everything is horrible.
I took another bite of bagel.
You:
Does he have a smoker and strong opinions about power tools?
The typing bubble appeared.
Dan:
Nah. Don’t think she’s into that.
I stopped chewing.
Lin:
Remember, Dan. Don’t shit where you eat.
Dan:
Naa, I am a perfect gentleman.
Lin:
That sentence has never prevented an HR meeting.
There was something slightly too quick about her answer. Not angry. Just alert.
I did not see the problem.
You:
Oh Dan, you are none of those things
Who is she?
Dan:
Oh, gotta go. Chat to you guys later.
I was now slightly interested.
Dan was social. He had friends. But he rarely talked about anyone from work.
Had Dan found himself a little side piece? Were Lin and I somehow not enough for him? Or had we driven up his appetite, and now he was out gathering a harem?
Nah.
Our situation was more of a happy accident he had been smart enough not to question.
I waved the thought away and glanced over at Lin.
“You up for pizza tonight? I can order when I’m done working.”
She gave me a thumbs-up without looking away from the screen.
I shrugged and went back to work.
Before I finished work, I ordered our standard pizza: half Hawaiian, half pepperoni.
I shut down the computer and headed into the living room. Lin had made a small shopping trip while I was working and returned with wine and chips.
The evening had a comfortable start to it.
I put on some trash TV, poured myself a glass of wine and took a sip.
It tasted like cheap wine and hurt slightly on the way down.
I raised the glass toward Lin.
“Excellent choice.”
She looked over and smiled.
“We’re poor-adjacent, Mia. If it gets us buzzed, it’s doing what it’s supposed to do.”
I nodded at the wisdom of this.
My phone lit up on the table.
Dan again.
Apartment 38B
Dan:
Her name is Leah Tacanashi. She’s new at the company. Social media and community stuff, I think.
Lin:
Sure it’s not Takahashi? Is she Japanese?
Dan:
Yeah, that might be how you spell it. She was born and raised in London, I think her parents might be Japanese? She certainly sounds English.
You:
Is she hot, Dan?
Lin turned to me from the couch with an Are you thirteen? expression.
I smiled at her.
“It’s important information. If she’s an uggo, we have nothing to fear.”
Dan:
She is no uggo, if that’s what you’re asking.
My eyes went straight to Lin.
I gave her the most obnoxious smug grin I could manage.
You:
Do you have pix? I am very interested.
Dan:
We’re heading to the social area. They have a bar there. I’ll see if I can get some for you later.
You:
Do it, and I’ll make sure it’s worth your while. 🍑
Dan:
Oh. Well, I gotta do it now then.
Lin eyed me.
“Stop encouraging him. Things are already complicated.”
The doorbell rang. Pizza had arrived.
We put on reruns of some early-2000s sitcom, stuffed our faces and drank our fill.
After eating, Lin turned the karaoke machine on again and opened a playlist she seemed to have made.
“I worked on setting this up all morning.”
I looked through the list. A few big hitters, plus songs I knew mostly through cultural osmosis.
I was drunk enough by then to be willing to sing with my roommate.
I grabbed a microphone and picked a song I thought I knew the lyrics to.
I did not.
I stumbled through half the verses and discovered that rhythm was apparently another skill I had failed to develop. This was not my specialty.
Still, I came out the other side with a score of sixty-five percent.
I was slightly impressed with myself.
Could have been much worse.
Lin clapped and made a big show of praising the effort. Clearly, this was something she actually enjoyed. I was not especially comfortable singing, but I liked that I could do something with her that made her happy.
Lin went next and chose a country song I had maybe heard once or twice.
She finished with eighty-nine percent.
Apparently, she had heard it more than me.
Our phones lit up with a new message.
Apartment 38B
Dan:
Here you go.
Dan sent an image.
The photo showed Dan and a woman taking a selfie in a dark bar-like room.
She looked somewhere in her early twenties. Long dark hair, round glasses, a focused face and only a little makeup. She wore several bracelets on one wrist and a dark top with some kind of bright graphic across the front. She had a genuine smile, and both of them were holding bottles of something alcoholic.
I studied the picture, then caught Lin’s eye and said,
“She looks dangerous.”
You:
Nice work, Dan. She looks nice.
Lin:
Yes, Dan. Be careful. You don’t want to get exploited.
Dan:
Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.
I put down my phone and looked back at the playlist.
I found another song and started it.
When it ended, I had managed seventy percent and felt absurdly proud of myself.
I picked up my phone and found several new messages waiting.
Dan:
So… about that reward?
Lin:
Hush. She’s concentrating.
Dan:
Oh? On what?
Lin sent an image.
Lin:
We’re doing karaoke.
Dan:
Nice. So the machine works?
Dan:
It has all the songs?
Lin:
Yeah, it’s actually really impressive.
Lin:
It can strip the lead vocals out of almost anything without removing the backing singers.
Lin:
It understands which parts belong to the main singer instead of just cutting out everything in the middle.
Dan:
Impressive, I was not so sure it would handle that when they first pitched it.
You:
What reward are you talking about?
Dan:
🍑
You:
You horny for me, Dan? One day away and you’re already lusting after me?
Dan:
You know me too well, Mia.
I lifted my T-shirt, squeezed my left boob and tried to take a picture with my other hand.
Lin sighed at me and shook her head.
“Let me help.”
She took my phone, flipped the camera around and pointed it at me.
“Be sexy.”
I put one finger in my mouth and tried to give her sexy eyes.
“Perfect.”
Click.
She handed the phone back.
I looked a bit silly. I was not exactly a professional at sending risqué pictures, but for my first nude photo to Dan, it would do.
I attached it to the chat and sent it.
You sent an image.
Dan:
👀
Dan:
Lin helped?
Lin:
Anything for my girl.
You:
Very helpful. Couldn’t have done it without her.
Dan:
Wasn’t a pic of your 🍑 though.
You:
Dan! I am a decent woman. I don’t go sending pictures of my ass to just anyone.
You:
You’re going to have to work harder for that.
Dan:
Sure thing, ma’am.
You:
How are things going with your new friend, Dan? Is she digging up all your secrets?
Dan:
She’s asking me a lot of questions.
You:
Ask her about her bracelets. Girls usually wear that kind of thing for sentimental reasons. They love talking about it.
Lin kept scrolling through the songs until she suddenly stopped.
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “This will be good.”
I saw the name Elle King before the song started.
Lin grabbed the microphone, turned her back to the television and met my eye.
“If you don’t like filthy songs, please leave the room.”
I gave her a puzzled look.
Then she started singing.
Her voice dropped deeper. Slower. Almost sensual.
“All the ladies pop your pussies like this.”
She thrust her hips forward with the rhythm, one hand reaching into the air like she had an audience larger than me and our half-eaten pizza.
What in god’s name is this?
“My neck, my back, lick my pussy and my crack.”
Okay.
I had done filthy things with Lin. I had watched her do filthier things. But this was a woman who barely swore and said crud when she dropped something.
How the fuck did she know these lyrics by heart?
“A good girl like me likes to moan and cream.”
Where was my phone?
I needed to record this for posterity.
More importantly, evidence.
By the time I got the camera running, Lin had one hand gripping her breast through her dress.
“Lick it now, lick it good, suck this pussy just like you should.”
She was not nervously following lyrics from a screen.
This was a performance. For me?
She moved with the rhythm, hit every line and knew exactly where each gesture belongs.
“So do it, do it, do it, do it now.”
She rolled her hips toward the camera.
“Lick my pussy and my crack.”
The song ended.
Lin looked at me and smiled.
“What in the holy hells, Lin?”
“What?”
“You said you knew the song. You know that song better than I know ‘Happy Birthday.’”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “It’s one of my favorites.”
“So singing smut is a secret hobby nobody thought to mention to me?”
Lin gave me a superior little look.
“It isn’t smut, Mia. It’s modern feminism. Sexual imagery is no longer a field owned entirely by the patriarchy.”
“‘Keep it up until I shake and cum, make sure I keep busting nuts’ is feminist literature now?”
“Could be. It’s been a while since you read anything about modern feminism.”
“Oh, I have to send this to Dan. He’ll never believe me.”
I started fumbling with my phone.
“Sure, whatever.” Lin handed me the microphone and headed toward the kitchen. “I aced it. There’s no shame in documenting greatness.”
I glanced at the TV, and indeed, she had 100% that song.
About a minute of the video was sent to the apartment chat.
Dan answered almost immediately.
Dan:
There’s some hoes in this house!
I frowned at the screen.
Dan did not usually talk like that.
Lin started typing.
Lin:
Certified freak, seven days a week.
What in God’s name was happening?
Dan and Lin were communicating in some secret pornographic language I had never learned.
I shouted toward the kitchen.
“Lin? Since when are you secretly a filthy little whore, and how are you communicating with Dan in hoe language? He’s too dense to be bilingual.”
She leaned back through the doorway.
“Mia, you wouldn’t recognize culture unless it was naked and fighting on reality television.”
“That feels unfair.”
“It’s from a song, dear. Dan actually knows a lot about music.”
“He does?”
“Yes. He doesn’t bring it up much, but if you ask him something, he’s a well of useless information.”
That bothered me more than it should have.
Lin knew what songs Dan knew. Dan knew how Lin would answer him. They had apparently built a whole little musical bridge while I was standing nearby, assuming I already knew everything important about both of them.
Beer. Fixing things. Sex.
Apparently that was the complete Dan biography according to me.
Both our phones vibrated.
Dan:
Leah says Lin is an amazing singer and performer.
But Mia’s camera work needs polish.
I burst out, “Needs work? What a bitch, I hate her now.”’
Lin smiled at me, “I think I am warming up to her.”
You:
You’re showing our chat to Leah?
You didn’t show her my boobs, right?
Dan:
Nah. Just the video.
Dan:
She’s asking about you two now.
Lin:
Yeah, tell her all about how you regularly fuck two women. I’m sure that’ll make her interested.
You:
Try to make our relationship sound more like friendship and less like extracurricular activities.
Dan:
I know how to talk to people. Stop giving me guff.
You:
Did you get anywhere with the bracelet?
Dan:
Yeah. The Hello Kitty one is from a competition where she came fifth in Oki-habra.
Lin:
Akihabara? In Tokyo?
Is her family from Tokyo?
Dan:
Nah. From someplace called Cyoto.
Lin:
Dan, make sure you show Leah this chat. I’m sure she’ll be amazed by how international you are.
You:
Dooon’t do it, Dan. Lin is trying to cock-block you.
You:
If she hangs around nerd central and wins competitions, you should definitely ask more about that. Nerds love talking about their obsessions.
Dan:
Yeah, we’re talking about that now. She’s into cosplay.
You:
Oh, definitely ask more. Ask to see pictures.
You:
Go get this woman, Dan. I believe in you.
Lin stared daggers at me.
“Do you have to encourage him? You know how he can be.”
I gave her my best puppy eyes and snuggled against her on the couch.
“Oh, let Dan have his fun. We can take care of each other while he’s away.”
The daggers disappeared. She bent down and kissed the top of my head.
“You’re a horny little bitch, aren’t you, Mia?”
“Seven days a week?” I said.
I had no idea which part of the phrase was supposed to carry the emphasis, but at least I was trying to speak their new secret language.
I stayed curled against Lin for another minute, then picked up my phone and searched for the song.
Reading the lyrics should have made the whole thing seem cheaper.
It did not.
The words were still filthy, but that was not how Lin had sung them.
She had not sounded like she was shouting instructions at a room full of men. She had sung it like a love song. Low and warm, with that little pull in her voice people used when singing about someone they wanted badly.
Like she was singing to one person.
Like she was telling her boyfriend exactly what she needed from him tonight.
I looked up at her.
“So.”
Lin kept her eyes on the television.
“So?”
“Is that how you like having sex?”
She turned toward me.
“What?”
I held up the phone.
“This. Is it fantasy, instructions, or is it the Lin user manual for maximum nuts?”
“It’s a song, Mia.”
“A song you really really like though?”
She reached for her wine.
I scrolled back through the lyrics.
“You didn’t sing it like a joke.”
“I didn’t say it was a joke.”
“You sang it like you wanted someone.”
That stopped her for half a second.
Then she took a drink.
“I like the way she sings it.”
“Filthy?”
“Not just filthy.”
Lin looked toward the television again, and her shoulders dropped.
“I like how she is so clear about what she wants. There is no shame, no reprimand. I like that idea of freedom of sexual wants that is as clear as that song makes it.”
“And that she wants someone specific to give it to her?”
Lin shrugged.
“Maybe.”
“So you like certainty? Being given clear instructions?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You nearly did.”
“I said I like the song, not that it’s a cornerstone in my identity Mia”
“You grabbed your tit during the song.”
“That was a performance, I might have practiced it on my own a time or two.”
“You thrust at me.”
“You were the audience.”
I smiled.
“So if I had been sitting closer, would I have become part of the performance?”
Lin gave me a look over the rim of her glass.
“You really do hear whatever answer you want.”
“Prevents me from being disappointed.”
She looked back at the television, but there was a small smile at the corner of her mouth.
I moved closer against her.
The song was not Lin demanding someone kneel.
It was Lin wanting someone confident enough to know what to ask of her.
I was not sure she knew that yet.
I was not entirely sure I did either, but I really wanted to test something out.
I set my phone down and turned toward her on the couch. My heart was hammering.
“Lin,” I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could. “I want you to go down on me. Right now. I want you to use your mouth exactly how I tell you. No guessing. Clear enough?”
She stared at me for a long moment. Then the corner of her mouth curved.
“Are you …”
“Yes”
“Okay then, didn’t expect this from you.”
She set her wine glass down, stood up, and held out her hand. I took it and let her pull me toward her bedroom.
The second the door shut she pushed me against it and kissed me, hands already sliding under my shirt. I let her get my top off, then grabbed her wrist.
“Bed,” I said. “Now.”
We moved to the bed. I shoved my shorts and underwear down and kicked them away, then sat on the edge of the mattress, legs spread. Lin knelt between them without being told twice.
I put my hand in her hair and guided her closer.
“Start slow. Just lick me. Use the flat of your tongue.”
She did. The first long, warm stroke made my breath catch. She was tentative at first.
“Harder,” I told her. “Like you mean it.”
Lin pressed her tongue firmer, licking from my entrance up to my clit. I tightened my grip in her hair.
“Good. Right there on my clit. Suck it gently.”
She wrapped her lips around it and sucked. My hips jerked. Fuck, that felt good.
“Two fingers inside me,” I said, voice getting rough. “Now. Curl them up.”
Lin pushed two fingers in and curled. I moaned and rocked against her mouth.
“Faster with your tongue. Don’t stop sucking. Yeah… just like that.”
She found a rhythm, fingers pumping steadily while her mouth worked my clit. I was soaking her chin and didn’t care. I kept talking, telling her exactly what I wanted.
“Add a third finger. Stretch me. Harder.”
She obeyed, and the fuller feeling made my thighs start to shake.
“Don’t stop. I’m close. Keep going exactly like that.”
Lin moaned against me, the vibration pushing me over. I came hard, hips grinding against her face, hand fisted tight in her hair as I rode it out.
When the shaking stopped I pulled her up and kissed her, tasting myself on her mouth.
Lin looked a little dazed, lips shiny, eyes dark.
I smiled against her mouth.
“Good girl.”
For a while, neither of us moved.
Lin lay beside me, one arm across my stomach, both of us still breathing too hard for the amount of effort I was pretending it had taken.
I stared at the ceiling.
“So,” I said.
Lin made a small sound against my shoulder.
“Was that what you meant?”
She lifted her head.
“What I meant when?”
“With the song. No guessing. Someone telling you exactly what they wanted.”
Lin looked at me for a moment, then settled back down.
“Maybe.”
“That is not useful feedback.”
“You seemed very confident.”
“I was experimenting.”
“You were bossy.”
“You liked it.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t.”
I turned toward her.
“So it worked?”
Lin’s mouth curved slightly.
“I liked knowing what you wanted.”
There it was.
Not the orders. Not really.
The certainty.
“You looked more relaxed,” I said. “Once I stopped asking.”
“That sounds bad when you phrase it like that.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.”
Her fingers traced a slow line across my stomach.
“I liked not having to figure out whether I was doing the right thing.”
I nodded.
“Clear instructions.”
“Clear enthusiasm.”
“That too.”
Lin looked up at me.
“And you liked giving them.”
“I liked getting exactly what I asked for.”
She smiled.
“Of course you did.”
Both our phones started buzzing in the living room.
Once.
Then again.
Then almost together.
Lin closed her eyes.
“Dan.”
“Probably.”
The phones buzzed a third time.
Neither of us moved.
“He can wait,” I said.
Lin tightened her arm around me.
“He can.”
After another minute, Lin pushed herself up.
“I need to pee.”
She slipped out of bed and hurried toward the bathroom.
I stayed there for a moment longer, then got up and went to check my phone.
Dan sent an image.
Dan:
Success!
Dan:
Thanks for the assist, Mia.
The picture showed a woman asleep on her stomach across a hotel bed.
Her face was turned away. Most of her body was covered by the sheet, but not enough. Her bare ass was exposed, and the angle left very little else to the imagination.
Oh.
Dan.
That was not cool.
Lin came back from the bathroom while I was still staring at it.
“Dan did a Dan thing.”
She took the phone from me.
Her expression hardened immediately.
Me:
Delete that picture right now.
Me:
She did not agree to you taking it, and she definitely did not agree to you sending it.
Dan:
Why?
Dan:
I’m not posting it anywhere. I just sent it to you two.
Me:
That is nowhere near the point.
Me:
Delete it from this chat and from your phone. Now.
Me:
We can discuss image consent when you get back.
Dan:
Okay.
The image disappeared from the chat.
I looked at Lin.
“Dan is really bad at this.”
She handed the phone back.
“He forgets that other people are people too.”
I nodded and said I was heading to bed.
In the bathroom, I started brushing my teeth and opened my private chat with Dan.
Me:
That was Lin typing the last few messages, not me. She took my phone.
Dan:
Kinda suspected. You’re usually not that strict.
Me:
Just wanted you to know.
I stood naked in front of the mirror, brushing my teeth and looking at myself.
Then I opened the camera.
I turned around, angled the phone toward the mirror and lifted my ass. I put the toothbrush down, pulled one cheek aside and adjusted the angle until everything was visible.
Click.
I sent the picture directly to Dan, outside the apartment chat.
Mia sent an image.
Me:
Also, I owe you this one, I guess.
Me:
Good work getting the girl.
Dan:
You look amazing, Mia. Wish you were here.
Me:
No, you don’t. You have a hot Japanese girl there.
Dan:
😊
I spat out the toothpaste and went to bed.
Lin was already lying there. I slipped in behind her and pulled her against me.
“You sure I can’t help you out after everything you did for me?”
She snuggled back into my chest.
“Nah. I handled that while you were brushing your teeth. I’m good.”
I held her tighter.
God, I loved this woman.