Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
ADDIE
Throwing the sole item of clothing I had managed to reclaim en route to my own room in a corner, I flopped face-first onto my bed with a groan.
Having sex with Eli was not the smart thing to do.
Did it feel good to do something about the sexual tension? Yes.
But that was the problem.
It felt too good.
The kind of good that had the potential to complicate things.
I rolled onto my back and reached under my pillow for my sleep T-shirt. As I pulled it on, I listened out for signs of Eli having left his room. I didn’t want to deal with him while the look on his face when he came was still fresh in my mind. I needed to get my phone.
And snacks.
I cracked my bedroom door open, confirming there was no one milling around in one of the shared living spaces because it was too still out there.
I zoomed out of my room straight to the kitchen to get enough food to get me through today and swiped my bag off the floor before returning to the safety of my room.
I unlocked my phone and opened my Rachel chat.
I did something stupid
In true Rachel fashion, she replied immediately.
I’m not sure you’ve ever done a truly stupid thing in your life. You make the rest of us look bad
Well, I am here to tell you that I have done.
Something stupid
Really, quite stupid
Is it dry humping the leg of your neighbour’s brother stupid?
Wait—Rachel’s neighbours were Clara and…Jesse.
You did what?
Jesse’s brother?
I obviously was unaware that Blondie from the bar was Jesse’s brother when I rutted against his thigh like a bitch in heat outside my flat building
But yes, Jesse’s brother
This is why I avoid men
Anyway, was your thing as stupid as mine?
I don’t think your thing was that stupid, so it’s more stupid
And will you ever state what your stupid thing is or am I to guess via brainwaves that you send to me across the Heath?
I had sex with Eli
There was a delay in her response that made me nervous.
I can’t say I didn’t see that coming. Pun very much intended
I scoffed and rolled my eyes.
Was it at least decent? Or was it bad and is that why you are panicking about it?
I am not panicking about it
I absolutely was.
Then what is the problem?
In theory, there wasn’t one. We both agreed to getting it out of our systems, and that was what we’d done. But the reality already felt much different to what I imagined when I agreed to it while looking at rugs.
I assumed once it was over, the itch would be suitably scratched.
But it didn’t feel like it had been.
We live together
I could see her returning eye roll.
You’re both adults, I think you can be mature about this and just carry on as normal
Oh yeah? You have a lot of history of living with someone you’ve had mind-blowing sex with and pretending it never happened?
I never said you had to pretend that it didn’t happen. But you can both do that little thing called ‘have a conversation’ with each other which would probably help avoid making things awkward.
A pause.
Or you could move back in with Mama and Papa
You have a spare room don’t you?
Her reply came quicker than I thought possible. Even for Rachel.
Not for you I don’t
But seriously, just talk to him. It’s as weird as you make it and it really doesn’t have to be weird. Sex is perfectly normal and healthy.
Yeah, I know. I will talk to him
So blondie’s got good thighs then?
We are done here, Adrienne
I laughed quietly.
I’m taking that as a yes, you know!
I heard Eli’s door creak open before another door closed, and then the shower started running. I felt weirdly compelled to follow the sound. To climb into the shower behind him and wash his beautiful body clean. But doing that would lead to doing something else, and it wouldn’t be talking.
And that wouldn’t be ‘just once’.
I was going to take Rachel’s advice and talk to Eli. She wasn’t wrong. We were both adults who had a mutual understanding before we had sex. We could move past this.
We just had to talk to each other.
I’d do it tomorrow.