Vanessa rewarded her with a small smile.
“It’s good, I’m just tired. Actually, that reminds me.” She took a breath before continuing. “So…I want to see you tonight.”
Megan smiled and reached for Vanessa’s hand.
“I want to see you too,” she said, stroking the top of Vanessa’s hand with her thumb, forcing herself to ignore the question now nagging her in her head of whether such a gesture of intimacy was allowed. Vanessa didn’t seem bothered by it, though…
“But I really need to just go home, veg out and then crash early,” Vanessa declared.
“Oh.” Megan knew her disappointment was evident on her face and she mentally kicked herself for being so obvious. It went against the rules of a fling, after all.
“I know,” Vanessa began, making Megan feel worse. “And I hate to sound like I’m seventy-years-old but I just can’t do these super-late nights anymore when I’ve got to open this shop the next day. And I wouldn’t be much company anyway.”
“Totally understand!” Megan said, hoping she sounded like someone who understood. So Vanessa couldn’t see her tonight, no big deal. They definitely had stayed up late last night doing wonderful things to each other. Of course Vanessa is tired. Probably exhausted. No big deal.
So why did it feel like one?
Don’t go there! Don’t go there! Don’t go there!
“Are you sure?” Vanessa asked. “I’m worried I’m disappointing you.”
Megan opened her mouth, closed it again, opened it once more and then frowned.
“Am I allowed to be disappointed?” she finally asked.
Vanessa blinked.
“What do you mean?”
Megan blushed, feeling foolish. She covered her face with her hands.
“I don’t know!” she whined. She put her hands down and looked at Vanessa. “Does it violate the rules of our casual fling to be disappointed I won’t see you on any given night? Or does my feeling disappointed make you feel like I’m getting too attached? I don’t know!”
Vanessa laughed. This time, she reached for Megan’s hand and Megan’s heart did a little flutter.
“No rules have been broken. You’re not acting like a bitch about it which would break the rules. Besides, I like that you’re disappointed,” Vanessa added. “Actually, all of this is my fault.” A sly smile appeared on her lips, and she leaned forward, closer to Megan’s head. “I should have obeyed you faster last night. Then perhaps I could have gotten more sleep. But I was having so much fun being disobedient.”
Megan’s insides reacted to that and she gasped.
“That’s not fair!” she said, eyes wide.
Vanessa leaned back, a smirk on her face.
“Too bad you won’t be able to do anything about it tonight, though,” she said. She leaned forward again and picked up Megan’s iPad Pro. “So, you can actually draw on this thing?”
It took a while for Megan to be able to respond because her center was now co
ntrolling her mind. Eventually, she became aware of Vanessa waving a hand in front of her face.
“Earth to Megan,” Vanessa was saying.
Megan shook her head.
“Um…what?” she stammered. And why was Vanessa holding her iPad?
Vanessa was laughing.
“I asked if you could show me how you draw on this thing.”