CHAPTER 43
Debra
“She’s really going for it, huh?” Sharon said before she put a handful of popcorn into her mouth. “Just, like, really going for it.”
Debra turned to look at her and replied, “Yeah, she is.”
“It’s weirdly better on mute,” Sharon added and set the bag of popcorn they’d brought into Debra’s bedroom aside.
“If we turned on the volume, she would be fake-screaming her pleasure all over the place, but on mute, I can just enjoy watching them have sex and not have to listen to that awful music and her fake moans and yells.”
“You like watching porn on mute now?” she asked.
“Maybe,” Sharon replied. “I watch it, yeah. Not all the time or anything, but I like a good one once in a while. It can be visually stimulating.”
“You are visually stimulating,” Debra said and rolled her eyes at her own comment.
“Oh, babe. That was really cute. Roll your eyes at yourself again.”
Sharon moved to quickly straddle her.
“What? No.” She laughed and put her hands on Sharon’s hips.
“Come on. You said a nice thing about me, realized it sounded silly in your head, and rolled your eyes. It was adorable. Do it again.”
“I would rather do something else,” she suggested and lifted Sharon’s shirt a little.
“Yeah? It’s working for you? I thought we were just going to watch a movie.”
“We were, but someone left that DVD in from last night,” Debra said. “And then, that someone said we should actually watch it this time instead of some nice romantic comedy like we’d planned.”
“Well, that someone was interested. She was between your legs when you came last night and couldn’t see whatever you were watching that got you going.”
“You got me going,” Debra corrected.
“You know what I mean.”
“I do. But it wasn’t the movie; it was you. I had my eyes closed when I came, remember? You got me turned on, and you made me come.”
“Okay. Well, do you want me to put in an actual movie now? We can find that romantic comedy.”
“Do you want to go for a walk?” she asked.
“A walk? We’re in bed. I’m in pajamas. We were going to do dinner and a movie and maybe fool around later. You want to walk?”
Debra nodded and said, “I feel like if we were on a date outside of this week, I’d want to take walks with you.”
“Well, you did mention walks on that dream vacation, and we did really well on the hike today.”
“Oh, God. Now, you’re turning me on. No walk.”
“What?” Sharon laughed wildly.
“You had yoga pants on, Sharon. I was behind you. You have to work out, because your body is just…”
“I do a lot of manual labor at work now. I’m on my feet, running around for at least eight hours a day, but no, I don’t really work out.
My apartment doesn’t have a gym, and I do not have the energy or money to pay for a membership somewhere.
Besides, I don’t really want to run unless someone is chasing me. ”
Debra laughed and said, “My place has a gym.”
“Your apartment?”
“I have a house.”
“You have a gym in your house?” Sharon asked.
“I do. When I changed jobs, I moved, and I got a four-bedroom place for the asking price. I made one my bedroom, one my office, one a guest room, and one a gym. I only use it a few times a month, though. I had this idea that with all my spare time, I’d suddenly start working out because maybe that would give me some positive hormones moving around in here.
” She motioned to her body with one hand before putting it back on Sharon’s hip.
“That didn’t happen, but there’s a treadmill, an elliptical, and a weight thing in there.
I don’t know what that one is called. There’s also space for a yoga mat and other odds and ends.
The guy at the store just sold me a bunch of stuff. ”
“You sound like a great negotiator,” Sharon teased her before she leaned down and kissed her. “Do you really want to go for that walk? We can. I’m sure everyone’s settled into their rooms by now.”
“I do. I just want romance with you, too. Don’t get me wrong; I want sex.”
Sharon smiled down at her and said, “On our way back in, can we stop by the den?”
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Sure. I’d like that,” she replied. “Grab a sweater or a jacket. It’s going to be cold.”
Sharon climbed off her, making Debra regret the walk request immediately, but she also felt at ease.
That night she had had with Kristina had been nice to start to heal sexually, but she’d known it would be one time.
With Sharon, though, she knew they would come back to this room tonight and fall asleep next to each other, and that had her feeling better than pretty much anything else these days.
Sharon returned from her room a minute later, wearing a thin jacket that would work well enough, and Debra tossed on a hooded sweatshirt that she thought she could trade with Sharon if that jacket was too thin and she needed something warmer.
She took Sharon’s hand, and they walked down the quiet hallway and back out toward the front door.
“So, where are we walking to?” Sharon asked.
“Just around. I thought we could go down to where the turn is and walk back,” she replied as she opened the door for them and ushered Sharon out, closing the door behind them both.
“Okay.”
Sharon moved into her and rested her head on Debra’s shoulder as they walked.
“The den, huh?” Debra asked.
“You want to talk about that now? We’re moving away from it and can’t do anything.”
“What do you want to grab tonight?”
Sharon chuckled against her and said, “A strap-on.”
“Really?”
Sharon nodded and said, “Yes. And I’d like you to wear it. I’m interested in having that sexy bartender from last night take me however she wants.”
“Jesus,” Debra replied. “Yeah, I think I can do that.”
“Want to make this a short walk?”
Debra stopped walking when she heard something. It sounded familiar and yet not exactly familiar. She recognized the sounds well enough, but not the owners of them.
“What the–” Sharon began saying and stopped. “Oh, my God. Someone’s out here.” She covered her mouth.
“And they’re doing something we just talked about doing ourselves.”
“Can you see who it is?” Sharon asked, peering through the trees into the thick darkness.
“No. And we shouldn’t watch.”
Debra stood behind her and covered Sharon’s eyes.
“Babe!” Sharon whispered. “It’s too dark to see anything anyway.” She removed Debra’s hand but placed it on her stomach instead. “But we could listen, right? Nothing’s wrong with that.”
Moans and gasps had her moving her hand under Sharon’s shirt, and Sharon didn’t stop her when Debra added her second hand and slid that one to the waistband of Sharon’s sweats.
“Yeah?” Sharon asked, whispering again.
“We’re on a sidewalk. We can’t. A car drove by just a second ago. But I want to.”
“We could hide in the trees like they did.”
“Fuck!” someone said from the darkness. “Yes! Yes!”
“God, I’m getting…” Sharon faded out as she pressed her hand to the one Debra now had on her breast.
“Me too,” she said and kissed Sharon’s neck before she ran her nose up to her earlobe. “It’s even better that we can’t see them for me. They sound really good.”
“Really well… taken care of.”
“God! Don’t stop,” the same woman said. “I’m close.”
“Shit,” Sharon said and moved Debra’s hand down and over her pants to cup her.
“We can’t,” Debra repeated but pressed her hand into Sharon harder. “God, you feel so good.”
“Touch me,” Sharon begged. “I’ll come fast.”
“I’m coming!” the woman yelled out through the trees. Then, she moaned and added, “God, Gage! Yes!”
Sharon tensed then.
“You okay?”
“It’s Carrie and Gage.” Sharon chuckled.
“Yes! Yes!”
“From what it sounds like, Carrie is really enjoying herself. We should either start now or go back because I’m already about to burst, and I need to be inside you,” she said before she licked Sharon’s neck. “God… Please, baby.”
“Let’s go back,” Sharon suggested. “I want you naked and pressed against me.”
A car drove by them, and the headlights hit them just as Debra yanked her hands away. Sharon laughed but held her hand over her mouth so that Gage and Carrie wouldn’t hear. Then, she took Debra’s hand and pulled her until they were jogging back to the house.
Debra hadn’t ever felt so free in her life. She could picture them on that dream vacation, taking walks like this, stopping to touch one another discreetly if they could get away with it, and maybe making love if no one was around and they could take their time.
As they ran and laughed out loud now that they were far enough away, Debra pictured lazy mornings and nights where they stayed up late to watch one of those romantic comedies before they kissed each other goodnight and fell asleep.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
Debra realized that they’d stopped jogging and were in front of the door and that Sharon was looking at her in concern.
“Nothing. Why?”
“You have a serious face.”
Debra thought about lying at first because it was a lot, but the whole point of this week was to find someone, and to do that, she had to make sure that they wanted her and that she wanted them. That involved both people being open and honest with each other.
“I’m scared,” she admitted, breathing a little hard.
“Of what?”
“This feels really good, Sharon. You’re calling me babe. I’m calling you babe. It’s like we’re together, and I want that, but it’s scary. I’ve had one relationship my entire adult life, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever have another one. Now, you’re here, and it feels so possible. That’s scary to me.”
“I am here.” Sharon moved into her. “I’m here, and I want to be, even though it’s scary to me, too. I don’t really know why you like me. I have a job I hate with no prospects. I barely have a 401(k). I’ve got credit card debt piling up, a basic apartment with no frills, I–”
Debra kissed her and made sure it was nice and slow, like the kiss they’d shared during lunch by the lake when they snuck away for a few minutes, and when they pulled away, she stared into Sharon’s eyes and smiled at her.
“I don’t care about that. Any of it. Money is just that. I’ve had none before. We all started somewhere. I care about you; who you are and how you’ve made me feel.”
Sharon nodded and said, “Come on. Let’s get inside.”
Debra opened the door for them, and once they were through it, she took Sharon’s hand and walked her toward the den. The sliding glass door that led out to the backyard was closed, but beyond it, she could see two women in a chaise lounge very clearly.
“Um…”
Sharon looked at her first but then followed her eyeline.
“Oh. Did everyone decide to have sex outside tonight? That’s Kristina and Jennifer.” Sharon moved to Debra’s side, still holding her hand. “God, she’s riding her, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” Debra said in a much deeper voice than she’d planned.
“You’re getting turned on again, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she repeated.
Sharon moved behind her and said, “This is fair game. Nia warned us that if we have sex anywhere outside of our bedrooms, others could see.” Sharon’s arms snaked around Debra’s waist, and one dipped into her underwear.
“I want you.” She found Debra’s clit and stroked.
“I want you now. I want you to take me however you want and make me come.”
“Fuck,” Debra said and pulled Sharon’s hand out of her pants. “Let’s shop.”
She tugged on Sharon’s hand until they were in the den, and her eyes scanned the shelves.
“I love you like this,” Sharon stated. “Your eyes are so dark right now.”
“Find me some lube,” she ordered.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Sharon replied.