Chapter Seventeen
Robby
“We need some fresh sheets,” I finally say into Appa’s damp, frizzy hair. “And I’m starving.”
She lifts her head off my chest, unsticking her untamed hair from my skin, and props her chin on her hand.
“Me too.” The sheets rustle as she rolls over and grabs her phone from her nightstand.
“Oh, my God, it’s almost noon! My notifications are insane.
Um, I have a sponsored story opportunity for a delivery service if you want to get something delivered? ”
Spending the morning between Appa’s legs wasn’t how I imagined it would go. I was supposed to be home, in my bed, restless and wallowing in regret. Instead, fate made me crash at her place and let her find me.
“Yeah, that’d be great. What do you mean, sponsored? They’re really paying you to have something posted for twenty-four hours?” I ask.
Given what Rook posts, not many companies reach out for sponsorships. Though a condom company sent me a variety pack as PR once. The box lives full in the top drawer of my nightstand.
Appa nods. “Pretty much.” She looks at her phone, opening an app. “I’m kind of feeling like pizza, but I need some coffee.” And that’s what we do. I would normally argue both the place she ordered the pizza from and also iced coffee, but I need both, too.
While we wait for that to be delivered, we remake her bed with a fresh set of clean sheets, filling the air with the scent of detergent. Seeing her queen-sized bed in the light makes it seem so small. She’ll need a king-size bed if I’m going to spend more time here.
I pull on my briefs again. “I should probably go home for new clothes at some point,” I say.
Appa frowns as she stuffs her pillow into the new pillowcase.
“Not forever, right? Like you’ll come back?
” My hands, busy stuffing a pillow into a pillowcase, still.
That fucking Polaroid was a mistake. It cracked her trust in me before we ever got started.
And how the hell could I ever say no to her with her big blue puppy-dog eyes?
“I mean, it’s Saturday.” Her voice is shy, but her clinginess only makes her that much cuter.
Most guys might retreat, but I welcome it.
“Of course.” I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her shoulders and hug her to my chest. She feels so soft against me. “Apps, it wasn’t right of me to pull that with the picture. I’m sorry,” I whisper. I plant a kiss on the top of her head and pray she believes me.
“It wasn’t, but you’re still here.” She looks up at me. “I don’t want you to go,” she says with what sounds like a nervous laugh.
“I just need to go for clothes and to work on Monday,” I answer.
Her eyes sparkle. “Do you work from home?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I have a home office.”
She can’t possibly want to live together.
“One step at a time, baby.”
When the pizza and coffee are delivered, we walk down the steps hand in hand in our underwear.
Seeing her house in the light, not through my phone screen, gives me a weird sense of whiplash.
I’ve seen a lot of her place over time from her posts, enough to know that her style is overly curated and feminine, and I’m not sure how she’d like my more rustic, industrial taste.
How would that mesh if we ended up under the same roof?
Appa squats down in the kitchen and retrieves her robe, puddled on the floor from last night. “This didn’t last long,” she adds casually. A flash of a smile grazes my lips, but it fades fast. She slips it on over her shoulders.
Opening the front door, she takes a quick picture of the box and drinks at her doorstep with her phone for the sponsorship, and once she has her picture, I set the pizza box on the counter.
The same counter where she grabbed the edge last night to stabilize herself when I had my dick practically down her esophagus.
Oof.
“This looks so good,” she buzzes, holding two paper plates. The comforting scent of tomato and cheese fills the kitchen, and my mouth practically waters.
“Was that too rough…last night? You know, right here?” I ask.
She looks away, a shy smile tugging at her lips. “I loved it.” She brushes past me to get to the pizza box.
She might somehow be even more twisted than I am. But I love it.
We picnic in her bedroom, lying out on her bed while we eat and drink our iced coffees. It’s not the best combination of flavors, but the coffee is rejuvenating after a draining night…and morning.
This girl’s going to be the death of me.
I pick up my half-eaten slice of pizza. “Good call,” I say to her.
“Aren’t you supposed to carb load after exercising?” Appa says.
“No, you have that backwards,” I lightly tease her.
She shrugs. “I guess we’ll be ready for tonight then…”
I swallow hard. “I can’t do Rook shit all the time.”
She looks straight at me and sucks red sauce off her finger. “I was hoping for just you tonight.” My shoulders drop in relief.
“Oh, anything in particular?”
She sips her drink. “Um, I don’t know. Maybe dinner? Watch a movie?” She seems just as awkward as I am about this sort of dating stuff. Could we be dating? Or starting to?
Let’s cut through the bullshit to save ourselves time later.
“Like a date?”
She lightly blushes. “Maybe. I was hoping to stay in, though.”
“That works for me. If I’d known we’d be doing pizza, I would have set up a build-your-own pizza bar with all the toppings.”
Her face lights up. “Really? That sounds fun, but isn’t pizza hard to make?”
“It’s not bad. I guess making sauce would take time. Anyway, it’s something to do another time,” I think aloud.
“Make a sauce? Jarred is probably fine, right?” Every ounce of my Italian heritage grimaces. “How do you know how to make stuff like that?”
“Because I’m Italian, Appa.”
“Is that why your dick is so big?”
I inhale my iced coffee and immediately cough. I feel the cold liquid go up my nose, and I try to clear my airways. She just giggles, but the sound is perfect enough to bottle. “What?” I laugh and cough again.
Appa laughs again, covering her full mouth with her hand. “Um, I swear I’ve heard my friends talk about that before.”
“I mean, I’m glad you think my dick’s big.” I laugh with her. “Anyway, my grandparents came here from Italy, and I grew up with them close by. My mom’s Polish, so I know a few Polish recipes, too.”
Appa smiles. “I love that, Robby. All I know how to make are biscuits and cookies, and I guess I can throw a salad together.”
“Your Southern mom probably feels like she failed you,” I tease again.
“How’d you know I was from the South?” she asks with wide eyes.
“Because when I met you at that party a hundred years ago, you had an accent, but you hide it now. Or you grew out of it. But I bet it still comes out when you get hyper,” I say.
Her jaw nearly drops to the floor. “You remembered that?”
I sit up, setting my empty plate on the nightstand and grabbing the coffee. I groan at the stomachache I know I’ll have later, but the caffeine is finally starting to work. “Of course. You’re unforgettable.”
“Then why didn’t you make a move that night? You told me to leave.” She looks away toward the windows. I’ve always regretted how that night went, but it wasn’t our time. We needed to grow individually before we could come back together. If this morning is any sign, that time is finally here.
“I guess I thought I was doing you a favor. You seemed too young to be at that party, and before you argue it, you were,” I say.
She rolls her eyes. “I was there because, I don’t know, I…
I wanted someone to take me home. I was tired of being a virgin, and I thought you were going to be the one until you started talking.
But in a way, I guess I owe you a thank you because I changed my mind and saved it. ” I drag my hand down my face.
And I took it in the most excruciating way for her.
“I’m really sorry that I didn’t do more that night.”
“Which one?” she asks.
Please don’t make me spell it out.
“Fuck, both, but especially the more recent of the two.”
“It’s okay. It’s what I wanted, and there’s something poetic about it being you.
I know it wasn’t right keeping that secret from you, but how was I supposed to tell you?
” And she has a point there. My eyes dart to the corner of the room where I first grabbed her.
She catches my fixation on the corner and clears her throat.
“I’m glad I liked that video on my verified account.
I didn’t mean to, but it worked out.” She brings me back to the moment before I can dwell too hard on how she deserved softness, and I only gave her terror and violence at first. I can’t help but grin like an idiot at her now.
“We wouldn’t have come back together if it weren’t for that. If it makes you feel better, I’ve followed you for a long time, too…since I met you.”
“And that’s how you knew about Appleygirl.”
“Student directory…” I mumble.
“And that’s how you found me now?”
Oh, please don’t retreat now.
“Yes, but before you freak out, it’s smart of you keeping your full name off socials and having your dad’s name on your house.”
She picks at a loose thread on the duvet cover, keeping her eyes low. “But you still found a way in. It scares me that anyone could do what you did.”
“Appa, I’ll help you secure everything, and you really should have a security system with radio-backup.
I wouldn’t say just anyone could do that.
I have a tech background, so unless you have a bunch of techies following you, you’re fine,” I say.
I gently pull her into my lap, weaving my fingers through her hair, frizzy from the shower.
She exhales onto my chest. “That’d be amazing.”
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