She’s in her 20s and she can afford a brand-new house in a nice neighbourhood like this? Imaani grimaced while cruising at only 20 kilometers per hour.
It’s either old money from her parents or I have to check our accounts now. As she drove slow and scanned the house numbers, she spotted Clayton’s silver convertible parked on a side street she was passing. Her heart fell into her stomach.
The house she finally parked by from was semi-detached and also had fence posts along the backyard property line but no fence. Maybe I got here just in time, Imaani thought, no longer concerned about the legality of trespassing as she made her way around the side of the house. They only wait a week or two to put up the fence after imbedding the posts.
The question of what she was looking for became abundantly clear, as if the universe was pointing neon arrows at it. Imaani entered the backyard and absentmindedly turned her gaze toward the wide garden doors. She all but did a double-take when she spotted a man hunched over inside the house, atop the dining table.
Oh my god, he’s having a seizure or something! Imaani thought in alarm. Then she noticed he was naked, and that there was a woman between him and the table. The man’s dark skin and the woman’s long blonde hair came into focus. Imaani abruptly felt nauseous.
Looking back, she didn’t remember pulling out her phone or opening the camera app, then hitting record. Her eyes were glued to the couple violently gyrating against the dining table, Imaani’s strangely rational thought in the moment being why they were downstairs so early when they could have done the same thing in bed.
The man threw his head back upon climaxing like a wolf howling at the moon, and Imaani had clear confirmation of his identity. When the woman collapsed upon the table and turned her face toward the window, her eyes half-closed, Imaani knew she’d bet on the right aide.
***********
Sunday morning, the scent of baby powder hit Quinn’s brain before he opened his eyes; before he even left that tentative place between being asleep and awake in which he was hovering. His arm came alive next, his fingers starting to gently caress the soft skin they were resting on.
Fiona, it dawned on him. At least he remembered her name, he thought, eyeing the naked blonde beside him to see whether she was starting to stir. As he let his limbs relax a bit while trying to get his bearings, Quinn tried to piece together the fragments of the previous night.
Fiona in the pub… she had a brunette friend with her… did I leave Ethan or did he go home first? he wondered, wrinkling his nose. All Quinn could manage to scrape together was brief snippets of clothes being shed in a frenzy, maybe knocking over something in the living room. Chu magané en osti, he realized in disgust, his head feeling like it was going to explode.
He slowly got out of bed and slipped on his shorts and t-shirt, worried he’d broken glass last night and hadn’t cleaned it up in their haste to get into his bed.
His vase in the living room had luckily landed on the edge of the rug and not on the hardwood. He picked it up and threw a rag over the spilled water, mopping it up with his foot while feeling like he’d aged 30 years. Desperate for a coffee, Quinn dragged himself to the kitchen, his footsteps aligning with the thundering of his head.
Didn’t I ask Ethan to keep me to two beers? he pondered, trying again to remember at exactly what point he and his buddy had parted ways the previous night. Hopefully he could rest for a few more hours before attending to his scheduled lessons at the music academy. He plopped himself down on the couch and picked up his phone.
I need you to open up later, he texted Ethan.
Yeah, I counted on it, Ethan replied in a minute. How’d it go last night? Up late?
Can you fill in the blanks? Quinn asked, cringing to himself. Ethan sent back a string of laughing emojis, at which point Quinn put his phone down and peeked in on Fiona.
She’s still sleeping, he texted Ethan. So please save the making fun of me for later and tell me what led to me taking her home. I don’t wanna wake her so just text.
Really man, I don’t know, Ethan responded. We were drinking, you were at the end of the first beer, the two women came over. You looked like you were hitting it off with the blonde. Then Cliff called asking when I’d be home so I told you goodnight and left.
You left me in a bar for your silly husband? Quinn almost laughed to himself while typing.
Dude, I would leave you for him any night of the week and twice on Sunday, Ethan replied with another laughing emoji. Your turn. Reminded yourself there’s other women out there aside from your married bandmate?
Sort of, Quinn replied, conflicted. He didn’t know Fiona, and he barely remembered having sex with her. He’d been relieved to see the discarded condom in the bathroom garbage can as a sign that he still had at least a few wits about him, even when drunk. Honestly, I feel like shit. This… this isn’t the way I want to do this.
Look, make Fiona breakfast and drink a lot of water, Ethan advised. Be honest with her that you’re getting over someone and you’re not ready to go so fast. I checked the sked already and you don’t have a class until 2:30. You’ll be fine by then. Between students we’ll make you an online dating profile since drunken sex doesn’t seem to be your thing.
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