Chapter Text
This isn’t really my scene anyway, she thought. She still didn’t see the Will who’d invited her, but that was just as well. She’d enjoyed the shots and conversation with him. She would slip out and think over tonight about initiating…something with him. Why did she find that so damned difficult?
Making her way through the crowd to the door, she was in the middle of texting him to let him know she was leaving when she bumped right into him.
“Sorry!” she said.
“It’s all right,” he said with a smile. “Was just making my way back to you. How’s your night going?”
“It’s going pretty good, but I’m actually going to head out now.” She hoped he wouldn’t be angry with her.
Instead he smiled and asked, “Would you like some company?”
“U-um-sure! Thanks!” she said, taken aback and delighted. Maybe she’d get to try initiating something tonight after all.
“I have to get a couple things out of my car if you don’t mind waiting here. Not in a state to drive.”
“Yeah, um…” she said as they walked out the door. “I mean, I don’t want to take you away from the event, though. I really don’t live too far away.”
He waved that off with a scoff. “Main reason I wanted to come out tonight was to hang out with you.”
She blushed at that and hoped it didn’t show in the orange glow of the streetlights.
He sighed. “And I’m not going to invite you out to somewhere you’ve never been and then expect you to walk home alone, at night, with alcohol involved.”
She chuckled. “I didn’t drink that much.”
“You had a couple of shots, though. Be back in a sec.”
The night air was warm with a cool breeze as she stood waiting. She did hope the other Will wouldn’t come out, but she supposed it was fine to say the first Will was would be walking her home, given that he had been the one to invite her out. As she took in the night air, she considered Nana’s words: “Alcohol is one of life’s great pleasures” spoken in warning to her brother Jack. In warning because she’d continued, “If you become an alcoholic you’d have to give it up for good and that would be a shame.”
Will returned and asked, “Shall we?”
“Yeah,” she said and began leading him to her apartment, feeling the heat radiating from his body as he walked beside her. Or maybe it was her own.
“So not much of a party girl?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t mind them now and then. They just kind of…drain me, I guess. Not really my thing if I don’t know the place or the people.”
“That’s all right. Still glad you came.”
“I am too.”
“Sorry I left you up at the bar, by the way,” he said.
“Oh, it’s okay, I knew there were other people you knew there.”
“But you didn’t know anyone. Except for, uh…well. I wasn’t expecting to get pulled away for that long, twice, but I probably should have. You seemed to be having a good conversation with Cheryl, or I would have…I don’t know. I was hoping to introduce you to some people but that’s maybe not the best event for that. And I definitely would have been pulled away again if we’d stayed. So I don’t mind calling it an early night. Hope you had some fun, though.”
“I did,” she said with a smile, and that was true. In spite of the disappointment she had been having fun with the light play before the other had shown up and it had been nice talking to someone who could be as obsessive about something nature-related as she could. “It was fun drinking with you, and talking with you and your friend. She was nice. I am glad I came. Don’t know if I’ll ever like alcohol that strong, but the effect is nice.”
He laughed softly. “You hold your alcohol pretty well for someone who doesn’t drink a lot.”
She shrugged with a playful grin. “I’m Irish.”
He chuckled. “I hope I didn’t get you too drunk.”
She shook her head. “You know I’m clumsy even sober. I’m fine.”
“Not clumsy, remember? Just…a little lacking in body-object coordination.”
She laughed, remembering something he’d said during class. “Yes, I remember. Kind of you to reframe it like that. But what about you? You drank more than I did.”
“I’m used to it. But we should probably pick up something to rehydrate.”
“There’s a convenience store a little out of the way. My grandmother says tomato juice is good for that, but I don’t like tomato juice.”
He smiled fondly. “Other kinds of juice should be fine.”
In the store they picked up Jamaican patties while he selected a sports drink and she selected a bottle of watermelon juice. For a moment she was tempted to ask for condoms at the front desk but realized that subject hadn’t actually come up between them, and anyway she had them at home, if it came to that.
“I can pay for those if you want,” Will said behind her.
She jumped.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, sorry, um, it’s okay. Thanks, though.”
Once paid up, they continued on to her apartment building. They were on the topic of shows and movies when she realized they’d made it.
“Um, here we are.”
“Nice building,” he remarked, looking carefully at the brick work that had so impressed her the first time her grandmother had pointed it out.
“That’s why I picked it,” she said with a smile.
“You have good taste. Of course, I already knew that. Looks like your rock wall.”
Anne smiled.
He stretched and said, “Well, we’ll have to watch some movies together some time.”
“Um, if you want, we can watch one now.” She was thankful for the night. He couldn’t see how red her cheeks felt. “Unless you want to get back to…the event. I only have a laptop, but…”
“Sounds good to me. Gives me a chance to sober up and maybe I’ll be able to drive home after all.”
It was all she could do to not walk with a spring in her step and she was certain she failed at even that. They stepped into the anteroom and she used the keyfab to open the heavy wooden door. He held it for her and they stepped through. He gazed around the lobby and then noticed the elevator with a sign that said “Out of Order”.
“It’s okay,” she said. My apartment’s only on the second floor.”
His eyes lingered on the elevator for a second, but he smiled and followed her up.
“Well,” she said, showing him around. “This is my apartment. Living room. Kitchen over there.” She pointed to the door way on the left. “Bathroom over there.” She pointed to the open door in the tiny corridor on the right. “Bedroom’s over there.” She gestured to indicate the doorway around the corner. She felt her cheeks heat up, wondering if he’d take that as suggestive.
He only said, “Nice place. Looks like you got a decent view.”
“Yeah! Six windows.”
She took off her shoes and he did the same, walking over to the window by the couch and looking at her plants.
“Careful,” she said. “The cactus bites.”
He grunted in humour. “Big cactus.”
“I rescued it from my old job. The secretary had it and was going to throw it out, so I wrapped in like three layers of garbage bags and took it home.”
“And was that enough not to get bitten?”
“No.”
He chuckled.
She smiled and walked up beside him reaching around for a smaller pot with a single leaf growing from it. “And this is my leaf in a pot. It doesn’t do anything. It’s just a leaf. In a pot.”
“And where did you get this leaf in a pot?”
“It was left in the lobby downstairs so I rescued it.”
“And are you sure it’s not literally just a leaf in a pot?”
“Yeah, I tried pulling on it. It definitely has roots, and I’ve had it for a couple months now and have had to water it a few times. It just doesn’t do anything. No new leaves. It’s just…a leaf in a pot.”
He grinned.
“This tree,” she said indicating the one in the big black pot, “is also a rescue from the secretary at my old job. It only had one branch left and she was going to throw it out, so I took it home. No idea what it even is.”
“This secretary…”
“Yeah, black thumb. She was telling us her daughter came up to her once, like, ‘Mommy! Your flowers are crunchy!’”
He laughed and she felt happy. She went into the kitchen and brought out her holiday cactus. “This is my holiday cactus. It blooms in easter. My grandmother gave it to me.”
He nodded with a smile.
She took it back and then brought out her shamrock. “And this is the shamrock.”
“The one you used for your costume.”
“Yeah.”
He was still smiling and she brought the shamrock back into the kitchen, suddenly feeling awkward. She cleared her throat and opened her laptop on the coffee table.
“Um, we can sit here,” she said, sitting on the couch.
He sat next to her and she felt a very strong urge to lean against him but resisted.
“Um, I don’t have a lot of movies, I usually pirate.” She suddenly wondered if he wouldn’t like that but he suggested a site that he often used whose videos were usually good quality. They browsed the list and selected one that they were both curious about.
It wasn’t long into the film that she felt it wasn’t going to be very good. His sigh told her he felt the same.
But he didn’t suggest something else and she didn’t want to either. Because his thigh was touching hers.
They began to make commentary on the movie. Implausible scenarios, unrealistic dialogue, etc.. The little finger on his right hand was just slightly touching her left thigh near the knee. Not intentional, she was sure, but she kept her leg firmly in place against his.
Sooner they were laughing at various unintentionally ridiculous parts. His little finger was on her thigh and the ring finger was touching it. She wanted to encourage him but she wasn’t sure how. She wasn’t even sure he meant it.
It was coming to the point where the movie’s antics almost did seem intentional, and two of Will’s fingers were on her thigh now, and the middle was touching it. Oh, please touch me, she thought. Please just do it.
They agreed now that the movie had completely given up on itself. If it hadn’t initially been meant to be a B-movie, it was fully leaning into it now. Three of his fingers were on her thigh. His index finger was touching it. It had to be intentional, right? He couldn’t be thinking he was touching the couch.
They were laughing along with the movie now, incredulous and delighted. All four fingers were on her thigh, and she realized now much further from the knee than he’d begun with his pinkie.
A false climax and then a twist. His hand was fully on her thigh. She realized that not only had he been slowly creeping upward but toward her inner thigh as well.
The movie ended abruptly, to their laughter. She hoped he’d continue less subtly now.
But he stretched and yawned, “Guess I should get going.”
Her heart sank, the space on her inner thigh burning for him to touch her there again. But she said cheerfully, “Okay. Um, thanks again for walking me back, and it was great to have you over.”
“Not a problem and thanks for having me.” He stretched again and got up. He took her hand briefly and squeezed it before leaving a chaste kiss on her knuckles. It nevertheless made her cheeks warm as she wondered yet again what it would it be like to share a kiss with him.
“It’s always a pleasure,” he said.
“You’re welcome any time.” She got up as well.
“I’ll take you up on that.”
They walked to the door as she repressed an urge to lean into him and she unlocked the bolt.
“Can I have a hug?” he asked, spreading his arms out.
Her cheeks tingled and she happily hugged him, melting into his strong body.
“Mm, that’s nice,” he murmured as he held her. Did she feel an erection through his jeans, or was it simply his belt buckle, or keys in his pocket? His cheek touched hers as they rested each other’s heads upon the other’s shoulder. “You always hug so nice. This might be a little nicer though.”
“Well you’re very huggable,” she said softly. “And you hug nice too.”
He gave her a squeeze with his big arms and began to let go. Impulsively, she tried to kiss his cheek but couldn’t quite reach as he stood at his full height and kissed him just under the jaw instead. Before she even had a chance to be embarrassed his lips found hers very suddenly, parting them just enough that she felt his breath in her mouth.