When I woke up, Ashton was sitting at the foot of my bed. Several weeks had passed since the party at which she and Lana got together, and, though their relationship had been thriving, she looked like she was on the verge of tears. 

“Ashton?” I croaked, forcing my eyes mostly open. “What’s up?”

She paused to take a few deep breaths, seemingly holding back tears. “Lana is moving back to New York at Christmas. I just thought you’d like to know.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, Ash.” I didn’t know what to say, so I just sat up to give her a hug. Lana and I hadn’t really been the best of friends, so I wasn’t too torn up about it. 

She burst into tears and leaned her head into my bare chest. “I didn’t think our relationship was going to go anywhere, but then we got so close, and now she’s moving away…”

It was true. She and Lana had been inseparable for the past few weeks, spending most of their free time together. Though, to outward appearances, they were just really good friends. I could understand that she was upset, but I didn’t really know how she felt: like Nicole had said the night of the beach party, I used to get involved in brief flings with a lot of girls, not really staying with any one in particular for very long. 

“Is there anything I can do?” I gently asked her once her tears had subsided a bit. 

“No, not really.” She sighed, shivering a little in her under-dressed state: she was only wearing a thin long-sleeved shirt and yoga pants. Although the house was pretty warm, my bed was right next to a window, so it could get pretty cold in that part of my room. 

“Here, share the blanket at least, you’re freezing.” I offered, lifting up a corner so she could slide underneath. 

“Thanks.” She obliged, cuddling up to me. She wasn’t really that cold, but she was clearly glad for someone to hold her. 

I did just that, wrapping my arms around her tightly. Her slender frame fit snugly into mine, just as it always had. As we lay there, I thought about our friendship; we had ended the sexual part due to her relationship with Lana, but now that Lana was leaving, I wondered if Ash was going to try to start that up again. My relationship with Emily was also a little unclear. We hadn’t had an opportunity to discuss whether or not our relationship was “exclusive” yet, but I had avoided having sex with other girls anyway. Better safe than sorry, I suppose. 

After a few minutes of cuddling like this, with her ass right up against my hips, my morning wood hadn’t gone down at all. In fact, my erection had actually gotten quite a bit harder. I did my best to mentally scold it, telling my penis that now was not the time. Nothing worked. Ashton could obviously feel it, but it seemed like she wasn’t going to bring it up. 

Just a moment later, though, she had had enough. “Is this position a little uncomfortable for you?” The way she asked made it clear that she wasn’t happy with my inappropriately-timed arousal.  

“More like too comfortable.” I muttered without thinking.  

She turned to face me. “Nice to know I still have that effect on you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I was bewildered. I knew it was an inappropriate time for an erection, but this seemed uncalled for. 

“From what I hear, you’re more into college girls now.” She mumbled, seemingly regretting each word as it came out of her mouth. 

“Oh.” I sighed. “You’ve heard about that, have you?” Ashton was rapidly turning from calm to pissed. 

“Yes, I have, and I don’t know why you wouldn’t share that with me, of all people.” She said angrily, sitting up now and pulling away from me. “Are we only allowed to talk while we’re having sex, or something? Because I thought I mattered more to you than that.”

“You do!” I growled. “You know that; don’t pretend like you don’t. There’s a good reason why I haven’t told anyone anything about her.”

“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?” She shot back. 

“I… She-” I stopped, unsure of how to proceed. 

Ashton took this as me not wanting to tell her and tears welled in her reddened eyes again. “Fine, don’t tell me. We can talk again when you decide if you want to continue being friends with me.” She stormed off. 

“Ash!” I called, springing out of the bed to go after her. “Wait!” I grabbed her shoulder to try to stop her. 

“Leave me alone, Aaron!” She shouted, tears now streaming freely down her face as she twisted to throw my hand off of her. 

“Damn it!” I slammed my fist down on the dresser, watching her storm off and drive away. 

I needed to let off some steam; I grabbed my MMA gloves and went down to the basement, where we have our workout equipment. I wrapped my hands and ankles with athletic tape and went to work on my punching bag. Despite it having a 300-pound base, I knocked it over several times, which was a testament to my anger. 

After I finished my workout, ate, and showered, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go to Emily; there was no way to explain the situation to her without her finding out about my more-than-a-friendship with Ashton. Before I left the house to go for a walk, I sent Ashton a text. I realized that the reason I didn’t know what to do was that I usually came to her when I was having problems; she didn’t always solve them, but she always made me feel better about myself. 

Me: hey, you’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll tell you everything, whenever you’re ready. 

Eventually, I wound up at the park near our house. I ambled over to our favorite picnic table, the relatively secluded one near the large pond, hidden by some oak trees. My family used to go here all the time. My dad would bring his guitar and play songs for my mom, but Nicole and I would listen in. Afterward, he and I would play catch or soccer or whatever until mom made us stop for dinner. Those are some of my favorite memories, made even more special by the fact that I was having trouble remembering most of my other memories involving my father. 

Whenever I felt that I needed guidance, I would come here. Although my dad obviously couldn’t speak to me and give me advice, this was the only place at which I still had vivid memories of spending time with him, so it was as good a place as any to think. As crazy as it may seem, it usually made me feel better to talk to my dad, as if he were there. 

“Hey, dad. I’m not doing so hot right now.” I put my face in my hands. “Ashton found out about Emily and she’s all pissed at me. I guess I’ve been a dick, leading on two girls at once. Ashton just needed comfort, and I drove her away. I haven’t been a very good friend to her recently… The problem is, I don’t know what she wants from me: I can’t tell if she still just wants to be friends-with-benefits or if she wants something more… God, I wish you were still around, Dad. I miss you.”

I laid my head on my arms, which were folded on the table. After what seemed like a few hours, I felt a hand on my shoulder. “I thought I would find you here.” My mom’s voice came from behind me, soft and gentle. I simultaneously was happy that she had come and wished that she would go. 

She sat down next to me, looping her arm through mine. “What’s the problem, Aaron?”

“Girl problems.” I muttered. 

“Well, I’m a girl. I think I should understand.”

My mom and I have always been able to speak candidly to each other; my dad disappeared before I was old enough for “the talk”, so she had to handle all of that stuff. Being a lawyer, she was strictly no-nonsense when it came to Nicole and I being honest with her. 

“Not this time, mom.” I laughed bitterly and turned my head away. 

“Hey.” She gently grabbed my chin and turned me to face her. “I promise I won’t be mad at you, no matter what.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about.” I told her. 

“Well, I promise I won’t be mad at anyone, unless they’ve hurt you.” She assured me, giving me a smile. 

I hesitated before speaking, then decided to bite the bullet. “I’ve been in a relationship with someone who works for you.”

“Emily? Yeah, I know. I was wondering when you were gonna tell me, though.”

“You knew?” I asked incredulously. “For how long?”

“Since you two were in your room for about 45 minutes at the party.” She teased. 

I was more embarrassed then than I ever had been in my life. My face felt like it had been in contact with the surface of the sun. 

Side note: I suppose I should explain my mom’s “usual policy” in more detail now. She has a sort of realistic mindset about teen vices; she believes that, by trusting me to behave responsibly, I won’t become addicted to alcohol or sex later in life. It’s a sort of European approach: let the kids drink some wine when they’re growing up and they won’t become alcoholics later. I guess she realizes that it’s better to try to guide me through, rather than stop me from, experimenting with sex and alcohol. She has a zero-tolerance policy on most other things, though, which is fine with me, because I find drugs disgusting. I digress; apologies for the fourth-wall break… back to the story!

“I thought she would lose her job or something if you found out!” I exclaimed, my embarassment dissipating to make room for relief. 

“No, honey. It would be very different if I were having a relationship with someone from the office, but I can’t and won’t fire Emily just because you two are together. And I trust you to be responsible with the physical stuff.”

“That’s the thing, mom. I don’t know if we really are together. And there’s this other girl, too, and I don’t know what she wants from me.”

“Is it Ashton?” She asked, almost lazily, as if it were obvious. 

“Uhh…” I gulped. Apparently that was all the answer she needed. 

“You may think that you’re very discreet, Aaron, but every guy is an open book to his mother. I’ve got all kinds of dirt on you.” She grinned mischievously, exactly like I do. 

“Well, damn,” I said, “I guess you know about the murder, then. The jig is up!”

She clearly didn’t believe me for an instant. “Ha ha. Very funny.”

“Ok, then, O Great Omniscient Mother, what should I do?”

“That depends.” She declared magnanimously, but then switched to a more serious tone. “Who do you have stronger feelings for?”

I had to think about that for a while. “I obviously haven’t known Emily for as long, but we have a lot in common and she’s very easy to talk to. Ashton, though, she’s always been there for me and I want her to feel the same way about me. We just had a big argument and she’s pissed at me.”

“Do you love her?” Mom prompted. 

Jeez, mom was breaking out all the hard questions. 

“I don’t know, mom. That’s sort of the problem.”

“Well, you and Ashton dated before, right?”

I nodded. 

“And that didn’t work out, so maybe don’t try too hard to make it happen again. Give Emily a chance; she’s a great girl.”

“You’re probably right… I don’t want to make Ashton feel bad, though. How should I tell her?

“Aaron, what do I always tell you is the best thing to do? Just be honest, like you usually are.”

“Ok. Thanks, mom. I’ll tell Ashton how I feel.”

We got up and walked back to the house, with her arm looped through mine again. I checked my phone. Ashton had responded. 

Ashton: Come over now. 

“Hey, mom, I’m gonna go to Ash’s house to explain myself. I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay, honey, dinner should be ready at around six or seven.”

I drove to the Williams’s house and rang the doorbell. Ashton’s dad answered. 

“Aaron! Good to see you! Ashton said you were coming over.”

I gave him my best fake smile. “Good to see you too, sir. How are Jack and the missus?”

He stepped aside to let me in. “The missus is as sassy as ever and Jack is still loving karate. He always talks about how his senseis aren’t as cool as you were, though.”

My fake smile became a genuine one. “I’m glad to hear that. Can you tell him I said hi?”
Jack was one of my favorite students; dedicated and passionate about learning karate, he still managed to have a good time and make everyone laugh. 

“Course I will, kiddo. Ash is upstairs, in her room.” He clapped me on the back and went back to his computer. 

I trudged up the stairs, dreading the conversation I was about to have with her. Upon entering her room, I looked around at all the familiar posters and photographs that adorned her walls. I felt a twinge of guilt when I saw the pictures of the two of us from various years. Ashton was sitting on her bed, facing the wall opposite the door, so I knocked on the door frame. 

“Can I come in?”

She waved her hand in my direction without turning around, so I came to her side of the bed and sat down next to her to begin talking without any real plan for what to say. 

“Y’know, Ashton, after you left my house, I didn’t know what to do or where to go. And… I realized that that’s because whenever I have a problem like this, I come to you. You’ve always been there for me and the one time that you wanted me to be there for you in return, I couldn’t reciprocate. I know this isn’t nearly adequate, but… I’m sorry. I should have told you about my thing with Emily. You deserve to know stuff like that, no matter our relationship status.”

She sighed heavily. “I forgive you. I shouldn’t have stormed off like that; I should have given you a chance to explain yourself. I overreacted.”

I put my arm around her and thankfully, she didn’t shrug it off. Instead, she leaned into my side, like she usually would. 

“Do you want me to explain the whole thing, Ash?”

“I guess so.”

I told her the whole story, starting with how I met Emily and leading all the way up to the present. 

“So, now, Emily and I are together, sort of.”

She drew a few breaths. “I guess that that means we won’t be having sex or doing anything like that for a while…”

“No,” I confirmed, as gently as possible, “but make no mistake, Ashton, you are the best friend I’ve ever had and I will never let that go.”

She smiled weakly. 
 
I spoke again. “Do you want me to go?”

“Can you stay for a while?” She timidly requested. 

“Of course.” I hugged her tightly. 

We laid down on her bed together, just like we always used to. After an hour or so, I knew I had to leave. I got up, said goodbye to Ashton and her dad, and started driving home. Then, it occurred to me that there was someone I hadn’t told about the recent developments. I checked my car’s clock: 3:45. There was plenty of time before dinner. I did a quick and illegal U-turn and started driving in the direction of the university campus. Emily needed to know, too, after all. 

When she answered the door, I had a broad grin on my face. 

Emily’s face brightened immediately as she realized who was standing on the front porch. “Come on in, Aaron. What’s up?”

I siezed her by the waist and lifted her up, twirling her around. “Guess what?”

“What?” She laughed. 

“My mom knows about us.” My grin never left my face. 

“And you’re still grinning like an idiot because…”

“She’s fine with it.”

Emily also broke into a grin before she leapt onto me and kissed me furiously. “I don’t believe I’ve shown you my room yet, Mr. Moody.” She winked suggestively. 

“I don’t believe you have, Miss Osbourne!” I winked back. Actually, it was sort of strange that I hadn’t seen her room yet: we’d had sex in my room, in other people’s rooms, in public locker rooms (well, one public locker room), but never in her room. 

She grabbed my hand and practically dragged me up the stairs, giggling the whole way. We flew past her friends’ rooms, waving through the open doors and laughing at the bewildered faces that stared back at us. When we got to her room, I took a half-second to look around before Emily flung herself at me, knocking me down onto the bed. Her room was simply decorated, spared from the girly garishness that infects most girls’ rooms. She had sports posters, photos of her and her friends, some prints of paintings; it was nice. 

“Oomph!” I grunted as my back hit the mattress. I quickly plugged my phone into her speakers and set it to play my favorite “sexytime” playlist, which follows a distinct pattern. It starts with about twenty minutes of slow, seductive music, like “Thinkin’ Bout You” by Frank Ocean, then shifts to some faster-paced stuff for the main event (so to speak), and finishes with melodic music like “Paris, Tokyo”, by Lupe Fiasco. 

Emily was wearing her usual sweats and tanks top combination, but it looked sexier today than it ever had. She began gyrating in time with the music, slowly lifting the hem of her tank top to expose her defined abs. Before Emily lifted her shirt all the way off, she started on the sweats. Pulling them down slowly and turning her back to me, she exposed her incredible ass inch-by-inch. The curves of her butt made the tiny thong she was wearing disappear. 

I thought about commenting on her affinity for g-strings, but chose not to; it would ruin the moment. Instead, I started stripping my clothes off, too. Emily kicked her sweats off, into the corner, and resumed removing her shirt, still swinging her hips rythmically, still keeping time with the music. When she had thrown her shirt into the pile by her sweats and unclasped her bra, I admired her body once again. In my opinion, the line down a woman’s naked back is highly underrated and very sexy. 

Emily turned to me, slid her bra down her arms, and climbed onto the bed, smiling as she did so. Having decided that she wasn’t crawling to me quickly enough, I sat up, grabbed her neck, and locked lips with her, pulling her on top of me and reclining back on the bed as I did so. We kissed for a few minutes, with me caressing and squeezing her perfect boobs. Emily’s lips were warm, soft. Her skin was the same way, smooth, silky, almost feverishly warm. 

But, for me, it wasn’t merely about feeling her curves with my hands and lips. I could feel her warmth radiating between us; I could hear her heavy breathing, slow and consistent; I could taste her spicy, citrus-y breath, hot and heavy; I could smell her lemon shampoo. The sensory experience of sex with Emily was entirely different from any I had had with other girls; it was fuller, more exotic, somehow more mature. I guess that’s a testament to the value of the experience that comes with older girls. 

Emily sat up on top of me and bit one side of her lip, her eyes blazing with lust and passion. I stared into her eyes for a moment, matching her gaze for intensity. Suddenly, she rolled over onto her hands and knees. “I don’t suppose you could help me with this little thing, could you?” She asked innocently, lifting the waist strap of her thong with a single finger. 

I obliged her and seized both sides of the thong, pulling it down her slim thighs and relishing how it stuck for a second between the two globes of her ass. Once it came off, I ran a finger through her sopping slit. She gave a gasp, so I knew I was doing the right thing. I grabbed her hips and flipped her over. 

“Get comfortable.” I told her with a grin. She settled back with her head on the pillows and arched her back slightly in anticipation. 

I took my time, licking up and down her thighs and stomach, but avoiding actually making contact with her pussy. 

“Aaron… Quit teasing me, damn it…” She groaned. 

My mission had succeeded; I dove in to her pussy with my tongue, making her shriek in pleasure and surprise. I flicked her clit occasionally with the tip of my tongue and added my middle finger into her entrance. Soon, my middle finger was joined in her pussy by my index finger, while I sucked on and flicked her clit. 

I kept at that for a while until Emily lifted herself out from underneath me and crawled on top of me for some good old-fashioned 69. She stripped my boxers off and took my cock halfway into her mouth in one smooth movement. My cock shot up to full mast almost as soon as Emily began to employ her “talents”. I had asked her how she could deepthroat so well, and apparently, she was just really good at controlling her gag reflex. Sexy. 

Anyway, we were sixty-nine-ing and enjoying it. I love eating girls out; the way they squirm and wriggle as if they’re trying to get away is adorable and there’s nothing more sexy than a girl who’s being pleasured. After Emily came once, bucking and moaning, she hopped off of my face to prepare my dick for insertion into her pussy. She released my throbbing dick from the death grip that her throat had on it and climbed into a cowgirl position. I bent my knees so she would have something to hold onto as she began bouncing up and down. 

We fucked for a long time, switching positions at somewhat-regular intervals until I felt my balls finally tightening in that familiar way. 

“Em, I’m cumming.” I grunted. 

She slid my dick out of her pussy and turned around. We had been fucking doggy-style, so I was able to hit her g-spot pretty easily and give her another powerful orgasm. She slid my cock into her throat again and I grabbed her ponytail to force her face all the way up against the base of my dick. I came into her mouth, spraying the back of her throat with jism. 

Only after I came did I realize how worn-out I was; I flopped backward onto the bed and Emily lay down on top of me. I stroked her hair for a while until I got the courage to ask her something that had been on my mind for a while. “Hey, Em…” I waited for her to look into my eyes. “Now that my mom knows about us and is okay with it, does that mean that were officially together?”

She beamed. “I’d say so, wouldn’t you?”

Suddenly, I felt that I had the energy for a “round two”. I beamed back and leaned over to kiss her passionately. “I’m still hungry.” I told her between kisses on her neck, “feel like having seconds?”

She laughed breathlessly. “You bet!”

We went for another amazing round, but at the end of this one, I really was too tired to continue. That didn’t stop me from boasting, though. “We make a good team.” I grinned at her; she was splayed out next to me, trying to recover from the screaming orgasm I had just given her. 

She gave me a thumbs-up, too out-of-breath to respond with words. 

“You’ve got some of me on your face, by the way.” I mentioned. 

She wiped my remaining cum off of her face and sucked her fingers clean before sitting up. “Alright, stud. I’m going to go take a shower and you are not allowed to come in. I do NOT have the energy for another round.”

“Fine by me,” I retorted, “I could pretend like I still have some energy left, but I think I used a week’s worth in the last hour or so.”

She laughed and grabbed some clothes and a towel to head to the shower. 

I had an idea. “After we shower, let’s go to that sushi place that we went to a couple weeks ago. We need to celebrate.”

“Sounds great.” She agreed, flashing me a sunny smile. 

I lay on the bed and grabbed my phone to ask my mom if she approved. 

Me: hey mom, can I get dinner with Em? We’re gonna go to that awesome sushi place that I told you about. Might hang out for a while afterward, see a movie or something. 

She texted back after a couple minutes. 

Mom: sure, honey. Just keep me updated so I don’t worry about you. 

Me: will do. Seeya later, alligator

Mom: have fun!

Emily came back into the room. Now, she was wearing a short skirt and a long-sleeved shirt that exposed some of her tanned, toned midriff.
“Shower’s all yours, big guy.”

“About damn time,” I teased, “I thought you’d gone down the drain.”

“Ha. Ha. That was so funny I forgot to laugh.” She waved a hand dismissively, shooing me in the direction of the shower. 

“Hey, is the coast clear? I’d rather not put clean clothes on my dirty body just to walk to the shower.” I wondered. 

“You’re good.” She assured me.

I wrapped the towel around my waist, just in case, and dashed to the nearest bathroom. Just when I thought I had made it scot-free, I saw a group of Emily’s “sisters” walking toward the stairs. 

“Hey, Aaron!” Rachel the redhead (I had yet to learn her last name) greeted me enthusiastically. “Sounded like you guys were having fun in there. Did you decide to rematch after the first round?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I turned up my nose and putting my hands on my hips in an attempt to look sophisticated and classy. 

Unfortunately, my sophisticated moment was ruined by my towel’s decision to flee from my waist, leaving me completely exposed in front of about ten sorority girls. I thought they would burst into laughter, which they did, but they actually also seemed transfixed by my cock, which was miraculously still semi-hard. I decided that scrambling to cover myself up would be more embarrassing than pretending nothing had happened, so I just calmly picked up my towel and looked back at them. 

“Aaron, if things don’t ever work out with Emily, just give me a call.” Rachel tore her eyes away from my cock to meet my eyes as all of the other girls giggled embarassedly. 

Wanting to make them more uncomfortable, I pointed right at my groin. “Sorry, ladies, but THIS is just for Emily.” After that, I threw my towel over my shoulder and pushed past the crowd of girls to enter the bathroom. Just before the door closed, I heard them talking about me. 

“It was soo big!” One girl whispered. They all giggled again and murmured their agreement. 

“I wish my boyfriend had abs like that!” Another exclaimed. 

Feeling self-satisfied, I shut the door all the way, making sure to do it loudly so the girls would know that I had heard them talking. Emily would be plenty for me, but I liked knowing that I could have that kind of effect on other girls, too. I showered quickly and joined Emily in her room. 

“Ready to go, sweet cheeks?” I held out my hand. 

Emily laughed at my imitation of teenage cutesyness. She knows that I hate it when people in relationships call each other “boo” or “honey buns” or anything like that. The only nicknames I ever give to people are either subtly sarcastic comments on mistakes they’ve made or shortened versions of their names because I’m too lazy to say the whole thing. 

“Sure thing, snookums!” She laced her fingers through mine. 

I snorted in laughter. “If you ever call me that again, I will dump you on the spot.”

She snickered. “If I ever call you that again, it’ll be because I want to break up with you, but I don’t want to do it directly because I can’t stand being in your presence anymore.”

I chuckled. My favorite thing about Emily isn’t her perfect body or beautiful face; it’s her ability to both receive my teasing jabs and dish out her own scathing responses. It shows an innate confidence that is so attractive to me. Everyone always says how girls love funny guys, which is true, but no one really talks about how great it is to have a girl with her own unique personality, including a developed sense of humor. I guess that’s just part of the appearance-based system regarding girls’ value that I used to subscribe to. Whatever. Rant over. 

Emily and I drove to the sushi place and sat down to eat. We had talked a lot over the past few weeks, mainly by text and phone, but I still wanted to know more about her. 

“You know a lot about my mom,” I began, “but I don’t know much about your parents. You said they were doctors?”

“Well,” she swallowed the rest of a California roll she had been chewing, “my dad is a plastic surgeon, which is gross, and my mom is a dentist.”

“Why is plastic surgery gross?”

“Because he has to work with boobs and stuff.” She shuddered as if that were a gross topic. 

“I like working with boobs,” I winked, “especially yours.”

“You are so weird.” Her eyes rolled skyward. 

“Ok then, where are you from?” I pressed on. 

“I actually lived in London until about ten years ago. That’s when we moved here.”

“You don’t have any trace of an English accent, though.” I noted. 

“I used to, but I trained myself to speak in an American accent.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I wanted to fit in, I guess.”

“That’s a shame. Though I like you the way you are, I think you’d be even sexier with an English accent.” I grinned. 

“You think so?” She affected a posh British accent. 

“You can still do it! My God, you’re the ultimate sexy being!” I cried. “Wait, I just realized something: you’re from England, but your mom’s a dentist? That makes no sense.”

“Ha ha,” she rolled her eyes, “some of us Brits get braces.” She flashed her pearly whites at me in a crazy grin. 

“You had braces?” I was astonished. 

“Yup. And a ponytail. I wasn’t always this fashionable.” She tossed her hair with a flourish. 

I laughed. “See, we were made for each other! Both of us are insanely attractive and extremely narcissistic!”

We made small talk for the rest of the meal, just enjoying each other’s company. When it came time to pay the bill, I had to resist the urge to tease her about buying the restaurant instead of paying for the meal. From the sound of it, her dad made big bucks working on fixing celebrities’ insecurities. 

“I got this, Em,” I told her, pulling out my wallet, “you can get dessert.”

“Sounds great.” She beamed. 

We paid and left, then walked to Smith’s Creamery, the best ice cream place in town, hand in hand. On the way there, I saw Dre and Brittany walking toward us, about a block away. 

“You wanna meet some of my friends?” I asked Emily, just making sure that she would be fine with that. 

“Sure,” She inspected herself, “do I have anything in my teeth?”

“No,” I assured her, “but you do have wasabi on your upper lip.” Before she could wipe the made-up wasabi off, I swooped down and kissed her, right there on the sidewalk. It felt even better than usual, because we didn’t have to sneak off to a shadowy corner or anything to hide our kiss. Emily melted in my arms, kissing me back with an intense passion. 

By the time we ended the kiss, Dre and Brittany were almost upon us. I waved them over just before they crossed the street to go somewhere else. 

“What’s up, guys?” I bumped fists with Dre and hugged Brittany as we came together. “This is my girlfriend, Emily.” I put my hand on the small of her back and introduced her to the couple. I got a surprisingly large rush from being able to refer to Emily as ‘my girlfriend’.

“We’ve heard a lot about some mysterious college girl that Aaron had a crush on.” Dre mentioned as he shook her hand. “It’s nice to finally meet her.” 

While Emily was talking to Brittany, Dre turned to me. “So what are y’all doin’?”

“We’re going to Smith’s and then we’re probably gonna go see a movie or something. What about you and Britt?”

“We’re goin’ to eat and then to the football game.”

“Awesome, dude.” We chatted for a few minutes until I sensed that Emily and Brittany’s conversation was reaching the point of no escape. I tried to cut it off subtly. “Hey, we don’t want to make you guys late for the game.”

“It was nice meeting you, Brittany. I hope we see each other more often.” Emily beamed at her. 

We said our goodbyes and continued walking to Smith’s. 

“I liked introducing you as my girlfriend.” I took Emily’s hand again. 

“I liked it, too.” She squeezed my hand and laid her head on my shoulder for a second. 

I opened the door and followed her into Smith’s. We were greeted with the smells of ice cream and freshly-baked cookies. I inhaled deeply before ordering a large hot-fudge sundae. Emily ordered the same thing. We sat down at a table near the window and dug in to our ice cream. 

“I like that you got a sundae,” I commented, “most girls are like ‘I’ll have a scoop of nonfat, dairy-free sherbet.'”

Emily laughed at my grating imitation of a valley-girl voice. “I think you know me well enough now to know that that’s not my style.”

It was true; while Emily didn’t eat anywhere near as much as me, she ate a lot more than most girls of similar age and physique. I guess it made sense; she burned a lot of calories while working out for basketball. 

“Mm.” I agreed through a mouthful of ice cream. 

Emily took my hand again as we sat at the table. That simple act felt much better than it would with anyone else, mainly because just a few days ago, we thought that we wouldn’t be able to ever do anything like holding hands in public. 

“I believe that you said something about seeing a movie?” Emily prompted. 

“Indeed I did.” I smiled and pulled out my phone to check the showtimes at one of the local theaters. “Wanna see this?” I handed her my phone to show her a movie I was looking at. 

“Absolutely! I love horror movies! But wait, you won’t be able to get in.”

“I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. We won’t have any problems, trust me.” I assured. 

“Hmm… I sense you’ve snuck into R-rated movies before… Am I dating a criminal?” She teased. 

I laughed and then leaned in as if I was telling her an important secret. “You wouldn’t believe the kind of misdemeanors I get up to. Sometimes, at fast-food restaurants, I ask for a water cup and then fill it up with lemonade.”

She gasped in fake horror. “No!”

“But I’ve got you beaten,” she added in a hushed voice, “sometimes, I illegally download music!”

“That’s it!” I cried, perhaps a little too loud. “We’re through! I can’t date a criminal like you, you- you- scoundrel!” I jumped up from the table, knocking over my chair and drawing stares from the other occupants of Smith’s. 

Emily covered her mouth to hide her hysterical laughter at the awkwardness I had created, which had the hilarious effect of making it look like she was hiding tears. 

“Thank you,” I took a huge bow, my face touching my knees because I bowed so low, “you’ve just had the inordinately immense pleasure of witnessing a performance by Aaron Moody.”

I led Emily out of the building, both of us fighting to hold in our laughter. Once we left and the door was shut, we both cracked up. 

“Oh my god…” she panted, “that was so painfully awkward.” 

“You’d better get used to it.” I boasted. “I can create awkwardness from seemingly nothing.”

I texted my mom an update before we went into the movie and found some seats in the middle of a row near the back. Despite Emily’s stated love of horror movies, she gripped my hand tightly and leaned up against me for the whole first half. About halfway in, though, she apparently decided that I was more interesting than the movie, which was fair: the movie was terrible. She moved even closer to me and started kissing my neck until I turned my head to face her. 

“Is this movie not interesting enough for you?” I teased. 

“Sort of, yeah.” She admitted, closing her eyes and waiting for me to kiss her with a small smile on her face. 

I gladly obliged, kissing her as sensually as publicly acceptable. We kissed for a good portion of the rest of the movie, until I spoke up. “Em, what if someone asks us how the movie ends?” I whispered in mock-seriousness. 

She laughed quietly. “I guess we’ll have to actually watch the rest, then.”

“Mm.” I agreed. We watched the rest of the movie pretty quietly, except for brief outbursts for making fun of the movie’s downfalls. Since the movie was so awful, we made a sort of competition out of making each other laugh by pointing out the movie’s fallacies. 

After the movie, I drove Emily to her house and walked her to the door. 

“I had a lot of fun, Aaron.” She beamed at me, her eyes glowing. 

“I did, too.” I smiled back. “We have to do it again sometime.”

“I agree.” She looped her arms around my neck and gave me one last kiss. 

I cupped her chin with one hand and caressed her soft cheek with the other. The cool October air was refreshing, but not chilly; there were crickets chirping in the nearby trees; the crescent moon provided some dim light to the surroundings; the smell of smoke from a nearby fireplace filled the air. I would have gladly stayed there all night, but I had to leave. I bid Emily “au revoir” and got into my car to drive home. 

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