Meg

Meg was tired, but she tried to shake it off as she pulled up to the bar. She was in the middle of a big project at work, but some of the fatigue likely came from her nervousness for this evening. She stepped out of her car and walked in the door.

Alex had been waiting for her at a table in the corner, but when he saw her, he stood and met her near the door. They looked at each other, then hesitantly hugged.

"You look nice," Alex said.

She wore a purple button-up shirt, black pants, and black flats. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun.

"Thanks," Meg said, blushing. "You look good, too. You've changed a lot." He wore jeans and a plain gray t-shirt. He seemed a little taller, and Meg wondered if it was normal for men to grow after leaving high school.

Alex led her back to the table. "What can I get you?"

"Just a root beer," she said. "I can't stay too late tonight."

On a Friday night, she would have ordered a drink and then eaten food to work off the alcohol. But she didn't want to sit around long enough for the drink to wear off, and she figured she'd need all her faculties if she was going to have a conversation with Alex.

He came back with her root beer and a plate of mozzarella sticks.

"These okay?" he asked.

"Yes, I love mozzarella sticks," Meg said. She snatched one, dipped it in sauce, and bit into it.

"So, you're a wedding DJ now?" Meg asked him.

"Yeah. It lets me do something with music now that high school is over. Do you still play flute?"

Meg shook her head. "I still have it in my closet, but I can't practice in an apartment. I haven't played in a few years."

"That's a shame," Alex said. "You were really good."

"Yeah, well, I have other things to keep me busy. I'm sure, even if I had a house to play in, I wouldn't have much time for it."

"What do you do for fun, then?" Alex asked. "Do you still bake?"

When they were dating in high school, Meg had gone through a baking phase. She had even considered going to culinary school. Every weekend, Alex would come over to her house and she'd have a new treat for him to try - éclairs, cake, crème brûlée, banana cream pie.

"A little," Meg said. "I like to have something to bring with me when I meet up with friends."

Alex smiled. "So where are my cookies?"

Meg laughed. "I don't have time on weekdays. If this was a Saturday, that might have been another story."

She took a sip of her root beer. "Have you seen the new high school?"

"Yeah," Alex said, "that renovation looks fantastic."

Their high school was torn down the year after Meg graduated, and new students had a brand new, shiny high school. She vividly remembered the floor tiles cracking when she walked over them. She had been to a few plays at the new high school, and the auditorium was stunning.

"I wish we had gotten to go to school in a new building," Meg said.

"Well, the old school had character. And good memories."

Meg blushed.

"Anyway," Alex said, "I'm sure you went to some fancy college that was nicer looking. Where did you end up going, anyway?"

"MIT," Meg said.

Alex grinned. "You were always a genius. Are you coding for Apple or something?"

Meg laughed. "No, I'm working for a web design company. We mostly design websites for start-ups. It's a lot of fun."

Alex chuckled. "Yeah, I remember your idea of fun. Doing extra math problems in your down time. Reading novels published over a hundred years ago."

"Well, what are you up to when you're not at weddings?"

"I compose songs," Alex said. "Turns out I'm not too shabby. It gets me a little money on the side. And I keep some of the songs I write for the band I'm in."

"You're in a band?" Meg asked, interested.

"Yeah, we play at a few different restaurants."

"I'd love to see you guys some time."

"That'd be nice," Alex said. He took a swig of his beer.

"So why'd you decide to unblock me?" Meg asked. "I kind of expected you to die still hating me."

"I never really hated you," Alex said. "I was just hurt when you ended things. It's not your fault you weren't in love with me, though. Maybe I held on a little too hard."

Meg shook her head. "It was just bad timing. There were other things going on in my life, and I'm sure that made whatever we had impossible to keep up."

"Like what?" Alex asked.

Suddenly Meg wished she was drinking something with alcohol. "Well, you knew I was dealing with depression. I ended up going to the hospital - a few, actually. I got a new therapist and some antidepressants in my system. I was a pretty different person by senior year."

She was about to say more, but then her phone started ringing.

"Damn it, this is work."

She took the call and stepped out of the bar. When she came back inside, she was frowning. "I'm sorry, I have to go," she told him. "There's a problem at work, and I have to go back in. We'll meet up again, okay?"

"Okay," Alex said. She could tell he was disappointed, but also that he was trying not to show it. He gave a forced smile as he stood.

She pulled out her wallet to help pay for the food, but he waved her away.

"I got it," he said. "Go do your thing. I'll talk to you later."

"Thank you," she said and rushed out the door.

***

Meg was running on three hours of sleep. She hadn't bothered doing anything nice with her hair, and she knew she had rings under her eyes. She got an iced coffee at the coffee shop by her building and nearly stumbled into a man coming in the door as she was leaving.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she looked up. "Oh."

"Hi," Luke said. "I didn't know you lived around here."

Meg stepped back inside with him so as not to block the door. "I work right down the street," Meg said. "You?"

"Yeah, over in that strip mall down the road."

She blushed as she cradled her coffee. "Look, I need to go to work and I'm running on very little sleep, but you want to meet me for coffee tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Luke said. "Seven okay?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, see you."

Bye," Meg said. She slipped out the door, this time managing not to bump into anyone else. Outside, she stirred her coffee and took a sip before walking down the street to her office.

She worked for a few hours that day, making sure the website was running smoothly, and then her boss sent her home early to get some sleep. She collapsed on her bed and didn't remember falling asleep.

When she woke, it was dark. She was still sleepy, but she was also hungry, so she heated up some leftovers. She checked her phone while the microwave ran, and she saw she had a text from Alex.

Alex: "Hey, sorry we got cut short last night. Hope everything's going well at your work. If you're free on Saturday night, my band is playing at the Atomic. Meet me there?"

Meg smiled and texted back: "Sure, I'm free that night. I'll see you there."

As she ate, she looked up the Atomic, which was a restaurant out in Somerville. She got a notification on her phone and saw Alex had sent her a smiley face.

After she ate, she crawled back into bed and slept until her morning alarm.

***

The next morning, Meg got ready for work early so she could meet Luke. She put on her standard black dress pants, black flats, and a white blouse with gray polka dots. She pulled half of her hair back in a barrette and put on a pair of silver hoops.

She beat Luke there and got herself a latte and a blueberry muffin. She sat down at one of the black metal tables outdoors. Luke came a few minutes later and joined her after he got an iced coffee.

"Good morning," he said. "You look nice."

"Compared to yesterday?" she laughed. "Yeah, I had to work until 2am, so I was running on fumes. I got more than twelve hours of sleep last night, so you could say I got my beauty sleep."

Luke smiled. "I didn't think I'd see you again, after the wedding. I figured Sophie's family mostly came from out of town."

"Some did," Meg said. "But a lot of us live in the area. I didn't expect to see you after, either."

She took a sip of latte. Luke stirred his straw around his coffee.

"It was a fun wedding," Luke said.

"It was," Meg said, grinning but also blushing.

"I hope this doesn't come across too forward," Luke said, "but I wouldn't mind seeing you more often. Since, you know, we work a stone's throw away from each other. And since we both had fun together."

Meg thought for a moment. "As long as we're just friends, nothing exclusive. I don't want a commitment."

"That's fine by me," Luke said. "We'll just go with the flow."

Meg thought back to the way he gripped her ass the morning after the wedding. "I have nothing on the calendar tonight," she said.

"I don't, either," he said.

"Let me get a pen," she said, reaching into her purse. "Ah, there it is. This is my address. And bring a pizza."

"Toppings?"

"Extra cheese."

"You got it. I get off at 5."

"Me too," Meg said. "Here, let me write my number down, too. Text me when you're there."

She took a bite of muffin, and Luke took a moment to look her body up and down. She suddenly wished it was evening.

***

Meg tidied her apartment when she got home. She stacked all her half-read books on her desk, washed the few dishes in her sink, and made her bed. She redid her hair, which had gotten frizzy through the day.

Her phone buzzed from an unknown number. She answered it to be sure it was Luke, and then she let him into the apartment. He held a box from Pizza Regina's.

"You have good taste," Meg said. "That's my favorite spot."

Meg only had a white folding table for eating, since her apartment was too small for much hosting. She had set it with plates, napkins, and two glasses of water.

"Do you want anything else to drink?" Meg asked. "I have soda and beer."

"A beer sounds perfect," Luke said.

"IPA all right?"

"Works for me."

He sat at her little table. Meg got two bottles from the fridge, opened them both with a bottle opener she kept hanging in the kitchen, and brought them to the table.

"God, this looks good," she said. "It was a long day."

"What do you do?" Luke asked her.

"I work in web design," Meg said.

"Wow, nice," Luke said. "I tried taking a computer science course in college, but it didn't go very well. I scraped by with a B- and stayed away from computer science the rest of my education."

"What did you study?" Meg asked.

"Math. I'm an accountant now."

"Nice," Meg said. "That probably gave you a lot of options getting out of college."

"Not as many as I'd have liked, but I found a decent job, so I can't complain." Luke took a swig of beer. "I like this place you've got."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, much nicer than mine. It's decorated."

Meg snorted. "Boys," she said. "I dated a guy in college who literally lived out of his suitcase. He thought it took too much effort to put all his clothes in his dresser when he'd just need to pack up for vacations."

"I wasn't that bad," Luke said, "but it drove my last girlfriend crazy that I used bar soap for shampoo."

"Oh, jeez," Meg said. "Do you still?"

"No, she converted me to real shampoo. I hate to admit she was right, but it does make my hair feel nicer."

Meg reached her hand out to touch the top of his head. "Yes, it feels quite soft," she said.

She gripped her fingers around his hair for a moment, then let it go. She went back to her pizza, eager for the meal to be over.

"Have you seen the pictures from Ray and Sophie?" Luke asked. "Italy seems like it'd be an amazing place to honeymoon."

They talked a little about Italy and the places they wanted to travel when they got the opportunity. Meg finished her pizza and stood to clear her dish from the table. Luke hurriedly finished. He handed her the plate and then stood behind her while she rinsed it off. She liked the feel of his breath on the back of her neck.

"You want to see my bedroom?" Meg asked. She turned and he kissed her, pressing her against the counter. As his tongue flicked in her mouth, she tasted pizza again, and the beer.

"Lead the way," he murmured.

She took his hand and led him into her bedroom. His eyes flicked across the room and then he was looking back at her. He ran his hands along her spine, then fumbled with the buttons on her blouse. She didn't help him; she was too busy undoing the buttons on his collared shirt.

Meg finished unbuttoning first, and he rolled his shoulders back to help her slip the garment from his body. It fell to the floor. Luke pulled off her blouse and let it fall. She had changed into a black lace bra for the occasion. One of his hands pulled a breast loose from its cup while the other hand pressed a spot on her back between her shoulder blades.

Meg felt him begin to harden under his pants. She touched the bulge and rubbed it softly. It twitched, asking to be let loose. She teased him for a little while longer before unzipping his pants. His underwear had a wet spot from pre cum.

Meg pulled his pants down around his ankles and got on her knees, taking him in her mouth. She moved slowly, tasting up and down his shaft. He wrapped his fingers gently in her hair. She touched his balls, squeezing them slightly with her fingers while she bobbed her head faster, sucking harder. His legs trembled a little as she moved, and she slowed down, letting him go. She didn't want him to come just yet.

Meg pulled off her pants and laid back on the bed. Luke laid down on top of her, using one arm to hold himself up over her, the other to knead her breast.

He moved back and pulled her underwear off. His tongue lapped between her legs. He wasn't bad at foreplay, but she felt an impatience when he fooled around down there. She knew his penis was better at the job, and she was eager for the final act of their performance.

"Condom," she finally said. "And then get the hell inside of me."

Luke grabbed his pants from the floor, took out a condom, and slid it on. He entered her and Meg moaned a little as he slid his entire length inside. Luke worked at the clasp of her bra and slipped it off. He played with one of her nipples, tugging at it until the nipple stood up tall.

Meg raised herself just enough to reach his lips, then pulled him back down against her, letting her tongue run over his as he found his rhythm.

Suddenly he wrapped his arms around behind her back and rolled over so she was on top and he laid under her. His hands gripped her ass as she grinded her hips against his.

When he couldn't take it anymore, Luke grabbed her hips and started thrusting harder and harder into her. Meg leaned back and put her hands on his thighs to steady herself as he hammered his entire length inside her over and over again.

"Oh, ooh, OH!" Meg cried out and then her eyes glazed over as her whole body succumbed to the sensations.

Luke came in her silently, pumping his hips until he'd finished.

"Fuck," she said as he came to a halt.

"Yeah?"

"Fuck yeah," Meg said. "I needed that."

She climbed off him and laid down in bed next to him. She was close enough to him that she could hear his heart pounding.

She was able to rest for a moment, and then her mind returned to the dishes in her sink, the clothes strewn on her floor, what she would wear the next day. She sat up and started gathering her own clothes.

As she pulled on her underwear, Luke said, "I didn't bring anything with me to stay over. Would you be offended if I headed out?"

"That's fine," Meg said. "Next time, we'll plan ahead better."

She tossed his underwear at him and he started pulling it on. She put her own clothes in the hamper and dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top for bed.

She leaned against her wall and watched him get dressed. He may not have had a six pack, but he was in shape and an appreciated sight in her bedroom.

When Luke had finished dressing, she walked with him to the door.

"Text me when you want to do this again," Meg said.

"You'll hear from me very soon," Luke promised. He gave her a peck on the lips before leaving the apartment.