Midnight Lunch: An Erotic Story about Microwave Omelets (6 page)

I put the cash back in my pocket. I walk up
to her and put my arms around her. She tips her head toward me as I
tuck my face against her neck. I say, “Hey. Do you want to move
in?”

She’s still.

Maria turns to face me. She blinks and I hold
her eyes. She says, “Yes.”

I grin at her and after a pause where it
feels like someone turned off gravity, she laughs. She shakes her
head and looks away to laugh again. I pull her close and hold her.
I hold her and it feels like it matters. Like I’m holding her still
in a small room when she would otherwise be floating through the
city alone. It sounds like she’s crying and trying not let me hear.
She says, “Where will we put my huge water fountain?”

I snort. “Like, a drinking fountain? Or like
a fountain fountain?”

She sniffles, “A fountain fountain.”

I say, “Wherever you want. Right in the
middle of the room. Hell, put in the living room. My roommates
would love that.”

She nuzzles her head into my chest.

“I hope that’s real,” I say with my lips
against her hair, “We should put it in the shower and not tell
anyone.”

Maria laughs, “No,” her voice is muffled, “By
the front door. Right when you walk in.”

I press my hand to her head to hold her
closer. “Yeah,” I whisper, “Perfect.”

I hold her and the sun comes beaming in
through the glass. I feel it warm on my cheek as it creeps down our
bodies. We spent so long without time that it feels right like
this. I just hold her like, of course we have time. There’s always
more time.

I break the silence, “I’ll introduce you to
my roommates after I apologize for the noise we made last
night.”

Maria snorts. She laughs, then the sound
stops and her body keeps shaking. Now she’s really crying. She
breathes in ragged and I kiss her forehead.

I say, “I think I’m in love with you,” and
she laughs through the tears. Her knees go soft and I hold her up.
She cries into the shoulder of my shirt and I cradle her.

There’s the rest of it. The missing
three-quarters. The part I’ve been looking for. I see it now,
complete in front of me, and understand. Like only now that I have
it, can I allow myself to want it.

I kiss her goodbye at the door. Fuck the
cash. Now I know why the old butch was giving it away.

###

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