Apophis (31 page)

Whatever I was watching, one of those cop-detective dramas, was interrupted by a blue screen.  It looked like we’d received a text message or email over the television.  I grabbed the TV remote and followed the instructions on the screen.

“The TV’s doing something weird,” I called out when I heard the water shut off in the bathroom. “I think it’s our job assignments.”

Nora came out of the bathroom, toweling off her hair. “What’s it say?”

“Nothing. I mean, nothing that makes sense at least. It’s just our names and then some numbers and letters.”

I glanced over at Nora.  She was completely naked.  “Nora!” I sputtered.

She wrapped her short hair up in the towel. “What?”

“You’re
naked
!”

“And the award for most observant goes to...” She inspected the message on the screen. “Do you suppose it’s an address or coordinates of some kind?”

I still couldn’t get over the fact that she was stark naked.  Sure, I’d seen her naked before at the cabin, but there had been blankets and the lighting had been dim.  Here, under the bright lights of our apartment, there was nothing to hide every dip and curve and gentle swell.  She hadn’t dried off fully and water droplets clung to her skin. It was ridiculous, but I was jealous of that water.

“Earth to Sam.”

I shook my head violently hoping the motion would shake away the image of me on my knees and licking those errant drops from her inner thighs like someone who’d been lost in the desert suddenly drinking water for the first time.

“Huh?”

“Do you think those are addresses?” Nora asked again.

I shrugged, not trusting myself to not say something incriminating.

“Well, I guess we’ll find out in the morning.  What do you want to do in the meantime?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

“You could always put clothes on.”

The playful look on her face faded away. “You don’t like the view?”

I was too chicken to have a serious conversation with her about sex and romance and us.  For now it seemed like we were destined to keep tip-toeing around the topic with her shamelessly flirting and me blushing furiously in response.

“Speaking of clothes,” Nora said, still not bothering to cover herself up, “Cynthia said we had money on our keycards for things besides food, right?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “What did you have in mind?”

Her aqua eyes glimmered. “I think it’s time for a shopping spree.”

+++++

It wasn’t really a shopping spree – not one of those no limitations, buy anything you want, kind of excursion that I’m sure Nora would have preferred. We decided we’d each buy just one or two new outfits since our thermal underclothes were out of place and unnecessary. Convincing me that we needed new clothes had taken very little persuasion from Nora. If there was something I had desperately wanted all my life, it was to feel like I belonged – to feel like I fit in.

I was sure the lone women’s clothing store in West Genesis was a disappointment to Nora, but unlike the girl I had met weeks ago, this one didn’t seem to complain about trivial things anymore.  There was a uniformity, function not fashion, to the clothes available. I imagined most people here had had the advantage of bringing their entire household underground, including their wardrobes, so there wasn’t much demand for high fashion or designer labels.

We shuffled through the racks of clothes in relative silence.  There were a few other shoppers, but none of them made eye contact or looked interested in acknowledging our presence.  I’d noticed that about most people we saw. With the exception of the men who flirted with Nora at the diner, people tended to keep to themselves. The sole woman who worked at the store sat behind the front register station, not looking up from her book. I guessed she wasn’t paid on commission.

Nora grabbed a few items from the clothing racks – a sweater, some jeans, and what looked like a dress. “Can I try these on?” she announced in the direction of the store’s only employee.

The woman looked startled to have been addressed, but she nodded and pointed toward the rear of the shop. “Fitting rooms are in the back.”

Nora turned to me. “Find anything?”

I had never been too interested in fashion, so clothes shopping was one of my least favorite activities.  Without really looking at fit or size, I pulled a few things off their shelves and racks. “Sure.”

I followed the slight sway of Nora’s backside to the fitting rooms.   She’d taken off the sweater and dress from earlier and had returned the black, skintight thermal outfit that was normally hidden beneath layers of snow gear.  My lower lip found its way between my top and bottom teeth as I let my gaze fall to her spandex-encased backside.  No wonder that man at dinner had been drawn to her.  It was a good thing she’d been sitting down or we might never have shaken loose of him.

She stopped and I nearly ran into her, fully distracted by the view.  “Wanna share a dressing room?” she asked. The fitting rooms were individual stalls partitioned by half walls with curtains as doors.

I cleared my throat.  “Uh, I’ll just go in this one.”  I darted into a vacant stall and quickly pulled the curtain door shut.  I thought I heard Nora chuckle, but I couldn’t tell. 

“Sammy?" Nora’s voice called to me.

I finished pulling on a sweater that didn’t look terrible on me. “Yeah?”

“Can you zip me up?”

I abandoned my own search for clothes to go next door and help.  I knocked as best as I could on the curtained door.  The sheet of fabric was thrown back to reveal Nora in a state of half dress. The dress she’d chosen to try on was light yellow and it hit mid-thigh.  She hadn’t been able to zip up the back and stood with her hands pressing the top of the dress against her chest.

I licked my lips and indicated for her to turn around so I could get to her zipper.  She did so and I nearly choked on my tongue.  Gone was the practical sports bra, replaced by a delicate lace undergarment whose light pink color nearly matched the tone of her peach skin.

Without thinking, my fingers traced along the bottom of the bra’s back where the double-hook fasten was located. Her skin seemed to tremble beneath my touch.

“When did you get this?” My voice sounded foreign to my ears.  It was far too deep and raspy to be my own.

“I’ve always had it,” she murmured. “I’ve just never had an opportunity to wear it.  Do you...do you like it?”

My knees nearly gave out.

She seemed to have forgotten the reason she’d called me over to help her.  Or maybe she hadn’t needed my help at all.  She spun to face me.  “Sam.”  She said my name, breathy and full of reverence.  I swallowed back a telling whimper. “When are you going to kiss me again?”

I didn’t need to be asked twice.  I grabbed her firmly by the hips and heard the breath hitch in her throat. I felt momentarily smug, enjoying the fleeting surprise in her eyes.  I let go of her right hip just long enough to reach behind me so I could jerk the dressing room curtain closed.

Without boots on she was a few inches shorter than me.  I dipped my head just slightly to accommodate the height difference.  My nose slid along hers on my way to her mouth.  At first, the kiss was slow and hesitant, just her pliant lips molding to mine, feeling warm and tender.  Her tongue brushed against my bottom lip, not demanding entry, but testing.  When my lips parted and her tongue slipped between them, there was a sense of exploratory wonder that ripened into something hungry.  It became more than a kiss that said “I want you.”  Instead, it was a kiss that said “I need you.”

She was soft and perfumed and I was doing everything I could to play it cool when all I wanted to do was pant and beg for her to touch me in return.  I licked up the fine column of her neck.  She arched into me, groaning like she didn't care that we had an audience just beyond the closed curtain.

“Sam,” she panted. She grabbed me by the neck of the sweater that didn’t look too ridiculous on me and pulled me up to eye-level. “I…You surprised me.”

I audibly swallowed.  I could feel my heart working too hard, pumping hot blood throughout my body.  Maybe I’d been too eager.

“Sam,” she panted again. “Take me home.”

The monorail ride back to our apartment was less than a four-minute trip, but it felt like four-minutes too long.  I didn’t trust myself to sit next to her, the urge to feel her skin too palpable, so I purposely plopped down on the bench across the aisle from where Nora sat.  I didn’t want to be obvious on the train, not knowing the community’s level of tolerance or even Nora’s level of comfort with PDAs. 

I stole furtive glances at her during the commute.  She smiled back at me, fully aware of what had to have been a hungry gaze on my part.

+++++

“So.  Do I have to wait until the third date?”

We stood outside the apartment door and I didn’t know where to put my hands, so I settled for cramming them into the back pockets of the jeans I had just bought.

“I think we can overlook that one little rule this time,” she smiled. She grabbed onto my elbow and pulled me inside. 

The door closed and our mouths met, tentatively, as if we hadn’t done this before.  It was like I was rediscovering her body even though I knew it well.  Our clothes were quickly abandoned, scattered across the floor on the way to the bedroom like an odd patchwork quilt of cotton-blends and denim.

I gently eased her body down on the soft duvet and allowed my eyes to drink in her nakedness before taking a seat on the bed next to her reclined form.  I ran my right hand along the length of her naked body and she arched her back to meet my touch.

But my body was trembling and she noticed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting up.  Her gorgeous aquamarine eyes were filled with concern.

“I-I don’t want to mess this up,” I admitted to her softly.

Her hand moved up to touch the side of my face, and I closed my eyes, unable to hold back the sigh that left my lips.  Her fingers tangled in my hair and she pulled me in for a searing kiss.  Her mouth moved magically against mine.  But as good as it felt, I needed more.  I needed more of her touch.  I needed more of her body.  I regained my confidence and pushed her back down on the bed.  Her short, strawberry-blonde hair fanned out on the comforter, framing her angelic face like a golden-red halo.

I hovered above her body, holding myself up with my arms and toes like a frozen push-up.  I leaned down to capture her lips again in a gentle kiss, and she moaned into my mouth when my naked breasts brushed against her own chest.  I could feel her hard nipples pressing into my skin and I shivered.  I lowered myself just a little more, still not resting all of my weight on top of her, even though I knew she could take it.

I ground my naked sex into hers and groaned when I felt her arousal spread against me.  I wanted to taste the source of that arousal, but I wanted to take my time.  I continued to slowly grind into her, moving my hips in small circles.

“Fuck, Sammy. That feels so good,” she softly sighed.  She rubbed the bottoms of her feet against my bare calves, opening herself up even more to me. 

I wedged my right knee between her slender thighs and rested my own thigh tight against her sex.  She closed her eyes and bit the bottom of her lip, groaning in the most delicious way.  I loved the noises she made; she never held herself back.  I pushed up into her wet sex, pulling out more of those sighs and murmurs from her enticing mouth.

“Please,” she whispered, her breath hot against my ear.  “Touch me, Sam.  I need you so much,” she begged.

I reached between our bodies and slid my fingers through her shaved wetness.  I couldn’t help the moan that escaped my lips when I felt just how wet she was for me.  I wanted her to saturate my skin.  I wanted to drown in her arousal.  I slipped through her silken folds and she pushed up against me, her pelvic bone roughly bumping against my own enflamed core.  I dropped my head down and bit where her neck met her collarbone to keep from crying aloud.  I wanted to leave my mark all over her body to show the world that she belonged to me.

She whimpered and her hips thrust slightly to receive more friction against the movements of my hand.  I could feel her wetness pooling on her inner thighs.  I knew she wanted me to touch her clit, but I needed to feel more of her before giving in to her immediate needs.

“Inside,” she panted, telling me exactly what she wanted.  Her hands clawed desperately against my naked back.  “Inside me.”

I bit my bottom lip and slowly slid my middle finger inside her wet core.  Feeling her like this was making me painfully aroused like I’d never experienced before.  She was swallowing me whole and I didn’t mind at all.

I buried my finger deep inside her and cupped her sex with the rest of my hand.  From this position I could slowly thrust inside her and simultaneously rub her clit with my palm.  Her wetness clicked all around me, filling my ears with its rhythmic harmony.

She gasped sharply and grabbed my ears unexpectedly to pull my face back down and capture my mouth in another desperate kiss.  She thrust her tongue inside my mouth.  I knew she was close.  I could feel her tightening and pulsing hot around my single digit.