Page 26 of Not My Friend
“Yeah, the thing that’s bothering me is…” I paused, my courage failing me.
Why was this so hard?
“Yeah?” she prompted.
“I hate going home at night,” I blurted out. “After we have sex, I kind of want to stay and… snuggle for a while.”
Gina blinked in surprise. “Oh that’s it? No problem, I wouldn’t mind the occasional sleepover.”
“There’s more.”
I took a deep breath. “I don’t want to just be friends with benefits anymore.”
She seemed surprised. “You don’t?”
“No, I want us to date for real. I want you to be my girlfriend again.”
***
Three and a half years ago…
“Where have you been?”
Gina pounced on me the second I walked through the door. I glanced at the clock on the wall and suppressed a sigh. I was half an hour later than usual. It wasn’t even six o’clock.
“I got stuck at work.”
“Why?”
I looked at her incredulously. Was she really asking for the details? “I needed to finish a project for my boss, and I lost track of time. I came home as soon as I finished.”
“You could have called or texted. I was worried sick.”
“I didn’t think I needed to report every minor delay to you,” I snapped, her melodramatic tone getting on my nerves. “It’s not like I’m hours late.”
Gina’s eyes filled with tears, her wounded expression immediately making me feel like an asshole.
“I’m sorry. It just gets dark so early at this time of the year and anything could happen.”
I was falling in love with Gina, but she was also driving me crazy with her insecurity. Maybe it had been a mistake to move in together so quickly. She’d been so adamant about it, and we’d been spending every night together anyway that somehow it sounded like a good idea. Now I wasn’t so sure.
I tripped over a shoe that she’d inexplicably left in the middle of the living room floor.
This time I didn’t hide my sigh. It had definitely been a mistake to move in together so quickly. But I was here now. I needed to make it work somehow. Maybe we could start by hiring a cleaning service.
Gina
Aflood of emotions chased themselves through my brain as I processed Kimberly’s words.
I’d been enjoying spending time with her and getting to know her for real this time. I’d also very much been enjoying the sex we were having. It had only been a few times, but it was definitely memorable.
I’d assumed that after everything that happened between us, there would be no official dating between us, ever. As much as I wanted something more with her, I wouldn’t have dreamed of asking if we could start up a relationship again.
If the situation was reversed, I’d never agree to trying again. I’d only proposed the friends with benefits arrangement to deal with the overwhelming attraction we felt towards each other. Ifigured that would be good enough. Or at least I kept telling myself that…
Except it wasn’t good enough, not at all. The more time I spent with Kimberly, the more I fell in love with her. It was a different love than what I felt in the past. It was a calmer, more mature love that was based on the emotional connection we were making as friends, not just physical obsession and childish fantasies about how love should be.
Things had been going well between us. We’d gotten to know each other better in a month of being friends than we had in six months living together. Without the pressure of dating getting in the way, I was seeing a new side of Kimberly.
