Track 35. New Romantics
ARIZONA
Istared out my window, sighing as a heavy rain fell over the city.
It’d been storming all week, and although public transit was running on a delayed schedule, my professors were refusing to be lenient in regards to tardiness.
In broken English, my pastry teacher had said something along the lines of, “The outdoor rain does not affect the indoor ovens.”
Ugh…Please let this weather lighten up by tomorrow…
After watching one of my neighbors chase her son around gigantic puddles, I stood up and walked over to my hanging calendar.
I marked an “X” over today’s date and sketched my usual heart near the edge of the box.
No matter how many times I’d done this, the countdown to Carter coming to see me still seemed too far away.
“Ari?” My roommate—Heather, suddenly stepped into my room. “Can you do me a favor while I’m out tonight?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“Can you roll fifty one-inch balls of dough and freeze them? I need them for prep class tomorrow night.”
“Only if you give me a very good reason as to why you can’t do it yourself.”
“I don’t have a reason.” She crossed her arms. “This will be you paying me back for when I did the very same thing for you last semester. Don’t you remember?”
I gave her a blank stare, but I definitely remembered. There’d been more than one occasion when she’d prepped dough for me, back when my heartache had made it too hard to function outside of the classroom.
“I’ll take that as a yes!” She clasped her hands together. “I’ll tell you all about my date later, and you’ll tell me about your Skype sex with Carter?” She smiled. “Does that really help you two deal with the distance? I mean, do you ever get an orgasm from that?”
“What?” I felt my cheeks reddening. “I do not have Skype sex.”
“You don’t?”
“No, we just talk and catch up. That’s it.”
“Hmmm.” She tapped her lip. “So, all of that random moaning and murmuring ‘Carter...Oh god, Carter’ is simply your version of—”
“Didn’t you say that you were going out?” I cut her off, making a mental note to keep my voice ten times lower from now on. “Shouldn’t you be getting to wherever you have to be?”
“I knew it.” She put her hand over her chest and laughed. “Tell Carter I said hello whenever he calls. I’ll bring you back some dessert. Tiramisu?”
“Perfect.” I waited until she’d left the flat, until I actually saw her walk away through my window before picking up my laptop and taking it into the kitchen.
As soon as I’d flattened the first batch of dough, a call came through my screen. Carter.
I pressed “accept” and waited for the picture to clear.
“Hey,” I said as his eyes met mine, as the screen moved up and down. “Are you walking?”
He nodded. “I’m heading across campus to let my windows up. It just started raining out of nowhere. What are you doing?”
“A make-up assignment.” I held up a rolling pin. “Heather’s out for the night. Speaking of which, how come you’ve never told me how loud I am when we um…” I gave him a knowing look.
“When we what, Ari?” He smirked. “What type of look are you trying to make right now?”
“I thought Josh was just making things up!” I said. “Am I really that loud?”
He laughed.
“Carter! Am I?”
“You are.” He was still laughing. “It doesn’t bother me, though.”
“Of course it doesn’t bother you.” I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for being a true best friend, for not waiting until the very last minute to tell me about it.”
“You’re very welcome. Is it still raining over there?”
“Unfortunately. You can call me back, you know. I can wait until you’re inside.”
“I’m fine.” He ignored my comment. “How long will your roommate be gone?”
“All night probably,” I said, pushing the dough across the counter. “Would you like to help me practice being quieter?”
“Not at all.” His camera finally stopped jerking up and down. “Take off your shirt.”
I smiled and slowly pulled off my cami, revealing a bright, red bra.
He was silent for a moment, looking as if it was killing him not to be here as always. “Pull your hair up for me.”
“Up?”
He nodded, saying nothing further.
I plucked the elastic band from my wrist and pulled my hair into a high ponytail. Then I stared back at him, waiting for his usual words that made this distance somewhat more tolerable.
“Carter?” I raised my eyebrow. “Carter?”
He touched the screen, trailing his finger around the contours of my face. He mumbled something I couldn’t quite hear, but I was pretty sure part of it was, “This is torture.”
I cleared my throat and waved my hand in front of the screen. “Um…Carter? I’m pretty sure this is the part where you ask me to take off my bra.” I smiled, attempting to mock him. “Take off your fucking bra. This is that part, remember?”
“No,” he said, still tracing the screen with his fingertips. “This is the part where I tell you to open your fucking door.”
“WHAT?” I gasped, not wasting a single second to think. I rushed over to the door, damn near throwing it off its hinges as I swung it open.
I didn’t get a chance to say hello.
Carter’s lips were on mine in seconds, and my legs were wrapped around his waist.
“I couldn’t wait.” He said against my mouth. “I couldn’t fucking wait.” He kissed me even harder, preventing me from getting a single word out. “Where’s your bedroom?”
I pointed to the left and he squeezed my ass as he carried me across the floor. As soon as we made it past the door frame, he tossed me onto the bed. Keeping his eyes on mine, he pulled out his wallet and set it on the nightstand.
“I missed you so fucking much, Ari.” The words came out hoarse as he took off his wet clothes. “You have no idea…”
“I do.” I swallowed as he climbed on top of me, as he pressed his lips against mine.
“I still take the long way past your house out of habit,” he whispered, unclasping my bra. “And I have a terrible tendency to order for two whenever I’m out alone.”
I moaned as he trailed wet kisses across my chest.
“And I still…” He gently swirled his tongue against my nipples. “Have yet to get a sleep worth having since you’re not there.” He looked up at me. “We’re going to have to re-discuss our current long-distance arrangement after this.”
“After what?”
He didn’t answer. He flipped me over onto my stomach and rubbed his hands against my sides.
Teasingly kissing his way down my spine, he whispered just how much he missed me, how badly he wanted to be inside of me.
Before I could shut my eyes, he lifted my ass up into the air and slowly pressed his cock against my slit.
He was gentle at first—caressing my skin as he gradually slid into me inch by inch, as he pulled back before burying himself completely. Again and again. But as my body molded to his, as we began to find our rhythm, he gripped me roughly and pounded into me until I couldn’t help but scream.
“Carter…” I bit my lip as he grabbed my hair and pulled me back. “Carter…”
“Yes?” He sped up his thrusts. “Yes, Ari?”
“Oh…Oh god…”
“Yes, Ari?” He repeated, biting my shoulder.
My fingers clung to the sheets and every muscle inside of me tensed. My legs began to shake, and he immediately pulled out of me and flipped me over.
Positioning me onto my back, he slid into me once more—looking directly into my eyes.
“Don’t shut your eyes,” he said, pressing his forehead against mine. “Let me see you.”
I nodded, moaning as he kissed me.
“I love you,” he said, holding my hips. “I love you more than anything, Ari.”
“I…I love you, too.” The second those words were out of my mouth, he resumed his pace—fucking me as if this was the last time we’d ever see each other.
I dug my nails into his skin, trying to control the tempo, but I lost it completely. I screamed as tremors suddenly wracked through my body, saying his name louder than I ever had before.
I kept my eyes open long enough to see him reach his own orgasm seconds later, and the two of us remained entwined as we both came down from our high.
When I finally caught my breath, I looked into his eyes. “When did you buy your ticket?”
“Two weeks ago.” He smiled, moving over to my side. “It was torture keeping it a secret from you.”
“So, how long will you be here exactly?”
“Just today and tomorrow. I have to fly back Sunday so I’ll make it to tax class Monday night.”
“But you’re still coming back for a full week and a half, right?”
“Yes.” He kissed my forehead. “This was just a spur of the moment thing since I’m ahead in my most difficult class.”
“Okay well…” I touched his chest. “Do you want to do something tomorrow then?”
“Something like what?”
“Sightseeing, perhaps?” I shrugged. “I could take you into the city and show you all the usual tourist stuff—Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Loire Valley Chateaux.”
He gave me a blank stare. “Arizona, I’ve been on a plane for most of today, and I only have one full day here with you left.”
“So, is that a no to sightseeing tomorrow?”
“It’s a hell no to sightseeing tomorrow.” A smile slowly spread across his lips. “But we can do that when I come back in a few weeks.”
“Okay…We can do that when you come back in a few weeks.”
“In the meantime…” He laughed and pulled me on top of him. “How long will Heather really be gone tonight?”