Plus, although Sky has racked up double-digit orgasms this week complements of yours truly, we’re not actually fucking. And I’ve been weirdly trying to stick to telling the truth only, about our lies, weird as that may sound.
I’ll blame it on these early season, six a.m. workouts, where my body has to get going before my mind even has a chance to turn on fully.
Brad wiggles his eyebrows. “Oh, so she’s your girlfriend? I never took you for the committed type, Rutledge. Aren’t you worried about all that ass you’re going to get when you turn pro next year? It’s a hellavulot of temptation for a young man like you to withstand.”
“This coming from the guy who can’t resist the temptation to whack it to porn every single day,” I bite back. I would give Brad a lecture about willpower, but he’s not deserving of my wisdom.
“What’s the matter with watching porn anyways? You some sort of religious nut?”
“I don’t think porn is morally wrong, but…” Little does Brad know, I went on a date last year with a girl who dated him for a hot minute. On our date—which was very friendly and established we were better off as friends anyway—she told me how all Brad wanted to do in the sheets seemed to be imitate porn moves. She said he was shocked when she didn’t want him to come on her face on the first date. But I paid for your dinner! he had said. I cringe internally right now even thinking of trying to guilt a woman into sex like that.
I lock my eyes on Brad’s for a minute. He’s a few inches shorter than me as he stands next to me. “Maybe you should be a little more creative, think of your own moves that aren’t straight off the screen. Hate to tell you, it requires actual brain power.”
“Whatever, dude.” He waves a hand and heads to the shower. “It’s too early for this talk.”
After I shower, I shoot Sky a text that she’ll have to turn her Claddagh ring around since I accidentally dropped the girlfriend bomb, and Brad is the type of person who might blab it around campus. I don’t want her to get caught off guard and mix up our story.
I’m still incensed that Brad would bring her up and talk shit about her, even if the main intent is just to rile me up.
I shower and head out, reminding myself I now need to refer to Sky as my ‘girlfriend.’ The word sounds foreign as I mouth it, walking through the cold.
After morning classes, Sky and I meet in the café for lunch.
“Two whole omelets?” she comments, staring at the massive amount of food in front of me. “Are you really going to finish all that?”
“Yeah. And I might still be hungry afterward, too.”
I wiggle my eyebrows, then bite my lower lip suggestively before taking a bite. I’m not sure she gets my insinuation.
“I’m glad to hear that. Now that you’re my boyfriend, does that mean the gravy train of orgasms might stop?” She giggles, then wiggles her eyebrows up and down a few times. “Boyfriend.”
Knowing how much I cringe at commitment, she says the word like it’s a taunt.
“Ugh, don’t remind me. I hate labels.” I’ll admit it, I tense more than slightly at hearing the word said out loud. Brad is right, in that I’m not a big one for commitment. Even knowing that me and Sky’s situation is staged, it still weirds me out a little.
“Say it…” she says.
“Say what?”
“You know what.”
“Girlfriend,” I say slowly, through gritted teeth.
“Awww. So sweet of you. And you say it so naturally.”
I realize I need to get over this—stat—if we’re going to be pretending to be not just boyfriend girlfriend but also husband and wife for a short time.
Sky shakes her head, probably noticing me grimacing internally. “You’re the one who started it. Why would you accidentally tell someone I was your girlfriend anyway?”
“It just slipped out. And I mean, it had to happen some time, right? Operation Romper and all.”
Since I don’t feel like getting into a whole thing about Brad—it annoys me just to talk about him—I put my hand on the table and make a motion for Sky to hold my hand, which she does. I hover close to her and whisper in her ear, “I can’t stop thinking about how good your pretty little pussy tastes.”
She’s just taken a giant gulp of the coconut water she’s drinking and she starts to choke. I wait a few seconds and she’s still coughing, so I get up and pat her on the back until she finally starts to clear her throat.
“Jackass,” she says with a sly grin once she finally gets her voice back. People around us in the café are staring now.
“I swear, the timing was accidental. But I’m also serious. I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true…girlfriend.” I wink, the word rolling off my tongue slightly easier this time. “You have a magic pussy.”
Sky’s face turns at least one shade redder than it already is.
I can’t stop thinking about the way she writhes. How her eyes roll up in the back of her head when she comes. The way she tastes.
As she sits across from me, Skylar’s expression morphs into this neutral, too-cool-for-school pose that is incidentally also quite hot. Or maybe it’s not the pose that is hot, it’s just her.
Skylar sets her fork down. “I can’t even eat anymore.”
“Oh? Are you distracted?” I ask, then let go of her hand.
She nods. “Very.”
“What are you thinking about doing?”
“Very dirty things,” she asks.
“Me too. I want to do all the things…with you.”
She runs a hand through her hair and looks out the window, onto the snow-covered campus quad.
“Can you be a little more specific?” she asks.
“I can,” I say. “Or I can just surprise you with the night of your life.”
“My God,” she says, busting out her faux-southern accent she likes to use from time to time. “You’re giving me the vapors, my good sir.” She fans her face with her palm.
“Sky…I’m serious. I’ve been wanting to talk about that.”
“About what? The vapors?”
“Well, kind of. It’s been a couple of weeks since the first time we crossed the line, physically. And though the orgasms have been plentiful between the two of us, we haven’t had sex.”
“It’s been really fun, though.”
“Very, very fun. And as far as I’m concerned, Sky, anything that happens between us at this point is just a bonus.”
“How do you mean?”
“When we started this plan, I never thought we’d even hook up. I never thought you’d go for this crazy plot. This isn’t about you, me, or the sex. This might sound corny but I’m enjoying doing this elaborate piece of performance art just to spend more time with you.”
She goes silent and takes a bite of her oatmeal.
“That’s incredibly sweet.”
“Friend, acting partner, girlfriend, whatever, Sky. You’re my favorite. I fucking love spending time with you. I feel myself growing while we’ve been together. I’m not sure if it’s the same for you, but I feel myself evolving into someone new. I’m actually enjoying just knowing we can spend time together, and the fact that I’m not going on dates with other women just doesn’t feel like a sacrifice right now. It feels like the right thing. Regardless of the outcome of this…operation…I think we can both learn a lot together this term. I know you’re helping me grow. Does any of this make sense or am I talking crazy?”