I heard a *
clunk*
downstairs in the middle of the night. Andrew falling off the couch, no doubt. A few minutes later, the toilet flushed, then heavy footfalls up the steps. I closed my eyes and hoped they wouldn't come this way. They faded and Andrew's door shut. He would sleep late, I imagined.
*******
I had arranged for Moira to cover my shifts that day. It was Andrew and Penny's anniversary, and though I still didn't know what had happened to his wife (even after last night's drunken revelations), I knew this was a rough day at the end of a rough stretch of days. He had asked me to be as available as possible for sex. It made no sense to me- if he was numb, why wouldn't he want to stay that way? I used sex to forget, to drive away the pain. If his pain wasn't even there, then why dredge it up? I would kill to have my confusion and pain buried like that.
But we had an arrangement, and I owed him at least two romps today- more if I agreed to his "special occasion" clause, which I was inclined to do that day if he wasn't being an ass about it all.
I was up at a reasonable hour and I got my own breakfast ready. I considered taking Andrew breakfast in bed, but if he wasn't going to tell me anything about Thursday (even if it was what I already knew), then I wasn't going to go out of my way either. After breakfast, I got started on a long list of chores- deeper cleaning type stuff that needed to be done.
I was halfway through re-organizing the laundry room when I heard Andrew thumping about in his room. I expected any minute to hear him bellow my name and call me in for his first fuck of the day. But he was also probably
really
hung-over and not quite ready yet.
By the time Andrew came downstairs, squinting and holding his head, it was after 10 and I was done with the laundry room. I washed my hands and put some breakfast on the table for him, starting with a cup of coffee. He didn't notice that we suddenly had coffee after its mysterious disappearance on Saturday.
He ate in silence, then went upstairs. I heard the shower running. I put a movie on, some action flick that had come out the year before. It was a few scenes in when Andrew came down the stairs again, visibly refreshed, but still not at 100%. I really didn't like not knowing at any given point if he planned to just pull my pants down and do his business.
He joined me on the couch, and during a slow scene asked, "What happened last night?"
"Ernst called me to pick you up. You apparently showed up drunk to work. I drove you home." While all of that was true, it only
began
to answer his question.
"You met Ernst?"
"Yeah. He said he didn't want to report you."
"He's a good guy. So you saw my night job?"
"Yeah, though I didn't get farther than the guard shack."
"Did they tell you anything about it?"
"What's to tell? Looney bin?"
"Something like that."
"They didn't say anything else?"
"Just that Ernst
told
you not to schedule yourself for work last night."
"Yeah, I'm sure I'll get an earful tomorrow. I didn't puke in your car or anything, did I?"
"No. You were a perfect gentleman, right up until you tried to force me to spend the night with your drunk ass on the couch," I tried to sound nonchalant, not bitter.
"Oh, God, I didn't."
"Yeah. Yeah you did. I said 'no,' but I'll cash that in for a 'yes' whenever you're ready today."
"You working later?"
"No, I had someone cover my shifts," I mentioned casually.
"You...you took off work? For...today?" He didn't seem to know how to process that.
"Yeah. Maybe this is the point where I should say, 'You owe me.'"
"Wow. So...you'll be here all day? No date or interview or mysterious errands or anything?"
"Nothing on my calendar today except, 'Open legs upon request.'"
"Could you do something for me now?"
"I wondered what was taking you so long," I said, reaching down to pull unbutton my jeans.
"No...not that...yet." He seemed unsure how to ask. "Could you just scoot over here and watch the movie next to me?"
I closed my eyes and tried to think of a delicate way to refuse him. I wasn't his girlfriend or his wife. That was not in our future, it couldn't be. There was one shiny reason on his finger and another dark one over my own heart. Two compelling reasons.
"Think of it as extended foreplay. We'll have sex after the movie's over, if that makes it better."
"Oh, gee, it makes it so much better," I said sarcastically. "Fine. Just remember that this is an act, and neither of us should be fooled by this. Just two warm bodies enjoying being next to each other."