Page 17 of Dark Time

“No, I mean really move in with me. As in, let your old place go and plan to stay for a while?” I felt a little nervous, because this baby step felt like a giant leap.

“Alright.” She gave me a calm smile, and her eyes looked up at me with happiness.

“That’s all I get, alright? Sheesh, woman!” I hugged her close, happy despite the lack of screeching joy.

“Well, I live with you already. It’s just to a new place, right?” She pulled back to look at me again.

“No. I want … well, I want you to choose the china, the extra little touches, you know, the things that make a place a home?” I watched her until realization dawned. When it did, her eyes went round.

“Oh. Dylan!” She hugged me, and I breathed in relief. At last she got it. I wanted a home, not just a place to live.

This was a new step for both of us. I thought Emily was more prepared for those steps than I was, but she wasn’t the kind to push someone into a decision. Unless that decision concerned her own life. She’d pushed me to go beyond a contract, and for a while, I fought against it. Now, I was glad she had. She fought for what she’d wanted, for what she thought was right, and it was one more thing that assured me she was on my side in all things. I could trust her.

We went back to packing my bags, and when we turned the lights off and went to bed, I thought about how much my life had changed because of her. I would miss her over the next few days, and that made me pull her closer. I had an early flight, but I didn’t care. I needed her again.

She climbed over me eagerly and took me deep inside the best pussy I’ve ever slid into. It was no contest. If I could only ever fuck one person on earth again, it would be Emily. The way her walls clenched around me, pulled me deeper inside, was something incredible that I didn’t want to give up. That wasn’t the only reason I wanted Emily in my life. It was a very distracting reason, though, and when she tilted her head back and really started to grind down on me, I lost all train of thought. There was only Emily, and that was all that mattered.

Emily

I’d wanted to go to San Diego with Dylan, but he’d told me he’d be busy the entire time he was there and didn’t want to leave me sitting in a hotel without him there to take me around. I knew he was right. I wouldn’t really want to go see the sights without him, but it would have been better than being here, bored silly.

I tapped my nails on the kitchen table and decided to go out. I called Roxie, and she wasn’t busy, so we went out to have our nails done, our usual ritual. When I picked her up and she got in the car, my frown turned upside down, as silly as that sounded.

“You just make me smile, do you know that?” I leaned over and bumped my head near hers. We shared an intimacy I’d never experienced with another female, not even Jesse. A sisterly intimacy, and I knew we’d be friends for life. She’d be there for me, no matter what, or who came along.

“Girl, you know I love you. Come on now, let’s get this done and over with. You know I hate those drill things they use.” Roxie shivered but smiled at me and gave me a wink.

We spent the day giggling and talking about how life was for each of us. I ended up buying more of those panties that Dylan liked so much, a few pairs in different colors, as well as some other things he’d get to tear off me when he got home.

“I’m so glad things are working out for you, Emily. I was kind of nervous about it all, but something told me you two needed each other,” she said as we both gobbled down salads smothered in ranch dressing and ham bits. It was one of my favorite indulgences, even if salad was meant to be a nutritional food.

“I guess you were right, Roxie. He’s changed my world, and I think I’ve started to change his. He asked me to pick out the china for his new place!” She looked at me oddly, and I wanted to explain why that was so important, but that was Dylan’s story to tell. So I settled for the ordinary reasons. “It means he wants me to be part of his life in the future, Rox…”

“Ohhhh!” She grinned, and her eyes went wide. “That is a good thing then!”

“It is.” I took a deep breath and stared out at the beach beyond the glass. It was winter now, too rainy and cold to sit outside, but it was still nice to watch the waves coming in. “I think I love him, but I’m afraid to, you know?”

“That’s understandable, under the circumstances. He’s your first, Emily.” She reached out, her hand over mine. “Dylan’s something special, I think. You can’t let that go because of fear.”

She paused and looked away for a moment, as if to decide something. I could see she made her mind up, and she began to speak again.

“We’ve had different lives, Ems, and you might have had a privileged life, but from where I sit, I sometimes think, despite the shit I dealt with, that I had the better life. I wasn’t sold a lie. You were. Then they tried to take a future away from you. You have the chance to take that back with both fists. You need to cling to it, keep it close to yourself, until you know what life is about. You deserve that, girl.”

“I understand.” I wasn’t mad, which was what I guessed she’d been worried about, but Roxie had always been blunt with me. It wasn’t cruelty; it was her way of saying she cared.

“You want to watch movies and eat ice cream with me tonight?” I asked, knowing I’d be alone tonight too. Poor Dylan was in some kind of mess out there in California, so I’d left him to deal with it.

“I would like that.”

“Wow? Really?” I was excited, she usually said she had to work.

“Yeah, I’ve decided to take a night off. Fuck ‘em, they can handle shit without me.”

I got an idea when she said that. The stores had bombarded us for ages now with Christmas music and decorations, even the restaurant had a tree up, while our apartment was bare. I’d already decided to let mine go and would clear it out once Dylan’s new place was ready, our new place, but that would be weeks from now.

“Let’s go to the store first,” I said with a wicked grin, and she looked at me.

“What have you got planned now, my dear?”