“Jere, what the hell are you doing here?” April asked. “We were just getting ready to leave.”
“Celebrating Christmas, obviously. It’s only a day late. Mom and Dad are on their way up too. They should be here any minute,” Jeremy said, way too enthusiastically. “You guys can stay one more night, right? We should at least have one day together for the holidays. It’s tradition.”
“Uhm. Yeah, I guess.” I answered, hesitantly.
I looked at April again, but she just shrugged. Great, another night trapped in this tiny cabin with the woman I desperately wanted, but couldn’t have. And now I knew exactly what I would be missing out on. I’d found something even worse than being trapped with a woman I thought that I hated.
April helped Jeremy carry his bags inside, and he was in the middle of recounting his failed trip up the other day when their parents arrived too. There was a solid thirty minutes of hugs, and apologies, and loud and chaotic catching up. Mrs. Dodd threw a turkey in the oven, laid plates of cookies on the table, and turned on the music, just like always. It felt exactly like a standard Dodd Christmas. Yet, so completely different from the quiet, intimate last few days with just me and April.
The afternoon turned into evening, and being around my best friend and my adoptive parents did wonders at keeping my mind off of other things. We ate a delicious dinner, and exchanged gifts. Fortunately, no one even asked what April and I had gotten each other, assuming that it was nothing important. I wasn’t planning on sharing the ball with anyone—her gift was still overwhelming to think about.
The hardest part of the day was going back to our normal, pre-sex behavior. Keeping my distance from April wasn’t easy. I’d quickly grown used to our playful flirting, and heated touches. Smacking her ass when she walked by, openly ogling her cleavage, things like that. I’d had to stop myself from standing too close to her, or touching her back when she walked past me. We just seemed to gravitate towards each other every time we were in the same room, which was the exact opposite of the way we normally were, and a dead giveaway.
After dinner, we hung out in the living room, swapping stories of the last few days. Jeremy finished telling us about his apparently really lovely Christmas with Elle. Things had worked out pretty well for him, it seemed. The Dodd’s had spent a few days in Los Angeles, doing some random sightseeing, and then flew back and had a quiet Christmas together at home.
“The real question is, what did you two get up to this whole time?” April’s dad asked, looking between the two of us. “I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall.”
April let out a noise between a snort and a giggle, while I coughed nervously.
“Nothing much. We played some board games, and watched some movies. Then the power went out and we mostly just hung out in bed. Our individual beds, I mean,” she replied, hiding her blush behind her drink.
“Oh, is that why I found these in the couch cushions?” Jeremy held up three little green monopoly houses. “I was wondering how the hell they got in there.”
This time April couldn’t hold in her giggle. I joined her a minute later, while the entire family watched us, confused.
“Uhm, sorry. You kind of had to be there. It was an intense game. It got a bit out of hand,” April said, eyeing my slyly. “Ryan spanked me, good.”
I shook my head at her, fighting off a grin at her deliberate play on words. I was still hurt, and pissed at her, but having this inside joke, this thing that bonded us, was exhilarating. And whether or not she was mine, this devilish version of straightlaced April was a sight to behold.
“Alright then. Glad to see that some things haven’t changed,” April’s mom piped in. “The tree is nice though. I’m impressed that you guys went out and got one.”
April gave the others a rundown of our escapades with the tree, and the generator. She had to leave a lot out, all things considered, but no one questioned any of it. As she talked my mind drifted to some of the dirtier things we’d done in here. On the couch, the chair, the floor. It was going to be a long, long time before I could be in this cabin without thinking about those moments. Which was definitely problematic. I’d had to keep a throw pillow in my lap most of the night as it was. April had caught my not so little situation at least once, and had smirked. I tried not to read too much into the fact that was checking me out closely enough to notice.
I was still lost in thought when Jeremy said my name, loudly. I had apparently zoned out, and missed something he said.
“Yeah?” I asked, realizing that Mr. and Mrs. Dodd had retreated to the kitchen and it was just the three of us sitting in the living room.
“I was just asking if you were still seeing that chick. Thea, right?” Jeremy asked. “She came over the other week when I was still at your place.”
I shifted guilty in my seat. I hadn’t thought about her in days. She was just a causal hookup, nothing more. We’d been sleeping together for about a month, and she came over once or twice a week for sex, and then left again. Occasionally we would have a few drinks, but that was the extent of our interactions. It would have run its course in another month or two, the way they all did once the novelty wore off.
“I wouldn’t say that I was seeing her,” I answered, automatically.
The Dodd’s knew about my habits, generally speaking, but I still hated talking about this kind of thing in front of them, even if they were still in the kitchen. And now, with April, it was ten times worse. I glanced her way and saw the exact expression I’d be expecting. Her face silently screamed ‘I told you so!’.
“No shit, you know what I mean,” Jeremy responded, laughing. “Will she be expecting your text tonight?”
“No. I most likely won’t be seeing her again.”
I met April’s eyes, willing her to read the subtext. I couldn’t even think about hooking up with Thea or anyone else, not with her around. And probably not for a long time after we went our separate ways.
She’d made quite the mark, both metaphorically and literally. I’d have her nail marks in my back for a solid week if nothing else.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
April
I flopped onto my bed gratefully. Myownbed. In myownapartment. I rolled around, enjoying the feel of my queen-sized bed, and my soft, warm covers. I valued my sleep more than pretty much anything else, so I’d chosen every single piece for maximum comfort.