“I hope instant is okay. It’s all I have.” Julie had reappeared with a steaming mug for me, and another in her hand.
She gestured to the sofa, encouraging me to sit. I sat on the sofa, and set my mug on the coaster on the coffee table in front of me.
“Before you sit down… and I appreciate that this is going to sound, I don’t know… intrusive again, or I don’t know…”
“Just say it.” She said quietly.
I pointed to her smart shirt, and the long skirt she wore.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m hitting on you, in the most obvious way, but if you need to slip into something more comfortable, please don’t let me stop you.” She looked at her clothes, and smiled suddenly.
“You don’t know how much I want out of these damn clothes. I’ve been stuck in them for such a long day. But I don’t know you well enough, to go and get changed, with you in the house, or to be in my fluffy pyjamas around you.”
She primly tucked that damn skirt around her legs, as she sat down. We fell silent for a few long ass painful moments.
“If I’m making you uncomfortable, I can go. I don’t want to outstay my welcome.”
She sighed, trying to move on the sofa to look at me.
“Bloody skirt.”
I shot her a smug look.
“Fine. But if you try to attack me, just be aware. I might be small, but I’m not powerless.”
I raised my hands. “I promise. I’m not moving from the sofa. I need to check my emails anyway. See if Jeff has sent anything over yet.”
She fell silent for a moment.
“Julie, seriously. I know you don’t know me well enough to know this, but I’m not a threat to you. I promise.”
Finally she sighed, standing up, and smoothing that damn skirt again.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
I glanced up from my phone, which I’d studiously started checking, just as I promised.
“I really hope they’re cute and fluffy, with kittens or something on them.”
She stared at me for a long moment, and then turned and walked away, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I watched that pert little ass of hers as she did.
**********
JULIE
As I went up to my room, I was literally screaming at myself in my head. What the hell was I thinking? If I’d known him a while, and we’d sat up late together a lot, then it would have been a perfectly reasonable thing to do. But I met him today. An hour ago even.
When I closed my bedroom door, to get changed, I suddenly stopped moving, held my breath. Could I hear him? Was he sneaking up the stairs, so he could burst in and catch me naked? And, with a squirm, I realised that I almost hoped that he would.
Honestly, it was insane. He was an actual stranger. In my house. Alone with me. And I was about to get changed. Become vulnerable as I shed my clothing. I turned the lock on the bedroom door, feeling a little less freaked out. As I changed into my fleecy pyjamas, which didn’t have kittens on them, but koala bears instead, I kept waiting to hear him try to barge in. And no. That wasn’t disappointment I felt, when he didn’t. It really wasn’t.
Bundled up in my snuggly bedclothes, and with thick socks on my feet, I headed back to the door, waiting to listen for a moment, before I opened the door again, making my way back downstairs. Did I feel like an idiot, dressed like this, about to walk back into the room with that man? Yes. But also, it felt like a protective layer, in a sense, because there was no way he’d want to jump me in these. I looked like a teenager for god’s sake. Ugh… unless that’s what he’s into.
“You ever coming back down?” His voice called out, and I forced my feet to take me down the last few steps, and into the living room.
“I, um… yeah.” He looked up from his phone as I stepped into the room, and his eyes travelled over me. I felt a ripple of warmth, almost as if his hands, rather than his eyes, had just slid over me.
“Okay, now you just look adorable.” He finally said, an easy smile on his face. I stared down at my clothes; ones that normally wouldn’t be seen by a boyfriend for at least a few months, rather than whatever the hell this was.