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"Yeah" I grabbed the bowl of popcorn and swept into the kitchen with it When I turned he had stripped off his shirt, treating ain

I hurried past the futon and into the bathroo at my reflection, I brushed out my hair until it crackled and shone My brown eyes looked both tired and exhilarated beneath ht in one week that I had stayed up so late My eyes looked bloodshot And yet there was a flush to rip," I whispered toa final look at myself in the mirror, I stepped out into the dark apartan asked, his diseet to the bed" I made my ithout mishap to the bed

Once under the covers, I curled ontoon the futon

Clearing ht, Pearls"

My chest squeezed at the nicknaht It felt htdown hard on the fleshy pad of an into bed with me

It was going to be a long night

By soain to an eLogan there as he was last night, desperately trying to ticklehis name forever on a piece of art

My hand drifted to my stomach, convinced I still felt his name there

Chapter 10

MAY SLIPPED INTO JUNE and suan didn’t ask to crash at the apart to the shift schedule, he was still working He just wasn’t knocking on ot too weird that night he wrote his naoing to sleep with him Maybe he decided he already had one female friend and didn’t need another one I did force him to watch a chick flick and then sleep on a bumpy futon Whatever the case, the days passed without any more encounters and I told myself it was for the best

With the advent of sus anys were still chilly though when I stepped outside Mulvaney’s into the s runs But by the tih a nearby park rather than caood on my skin

I developed a new summer routine After my runs, I showered and headed to cah the afternoon Usually bySoh he wasn’t tasked with co on research was a solitary task, and his presence keptlonely There were several uess they were dates because he always paid