Unexpected Affections Ch 76-79

Hey folks. Reminder: I am currently away at a cabin in the woods working from a tablet and phone, so these posts are 'messy' and will get reposted with cleaned up spelling/grammar and files to download when I return to my computer. This is another 7k into UA, bringing us to 22k/30k for this string. If things go well, I think I should get the last 8k out tomorrow, and then move on to DM and the Dirty 20s!

-----

Chapter 76

“Hey, you ready?” Margot asked, leaning in the door to your appartment.

“Almost,” you said. “Just texting April. She landed in LA.”

“Ooh, so fancy,” Margot said with a grin, coming in fully, ready for your walk.

It was a new initiative among the girls, apparently. Hannah had put the word around that you had gotten a new gym buddy - and considering you didn’t even know the guy’s name, you wouldn’t have called him a buddy, friend or pal - and that they should step up to help the cause or they’d lose you to Gym Bro culture.

That, of course, meant that your non-gym workout days with Hannah were now being scheduled among Margot, Hikaru and April depending on their availability.

“Did she get flown first class, or do they stick her in economy?” Margot asked as you finished typing your message telling April that you were about to go on your walk, and wishing her a relaxing stay in the hotel that night.

“I think it depends on the project,” you said, setting your phone down and slipping your feet into your ‘outdoor fitness’ shoes. Because apparently it was proper gym etiquette to have different shoes for outdoor stuff than indoor stuff, according to Hannah. And you needed even different shoes if you ever started to play basketball or something in the gym rec space.

Considering you weren’t sure if you’d ever actually sunk a ball into a basket in your life, you weren’t holding out any dreams of being one of those guys.

“She didn’t mention it this time,” you continued. “I can ask if you want?”

“No, no, I’m just curious,” Margot said, coming deeper into the apartment as you were tying your shoes. She stopped before reaching the carpet and bent over, stretching with a soft grunt, and your mind shot momentarily to that night with Hannah, but you shook it off. For one thing, Margot was fully clothed, and for another, she wasn’t facing away from you.

Not that Margot didn’t look…

She was dressed different than usual since this was supposed to be a workout, even if it was just a long walk. No tight jeans, no boots, no rodeo top or heavy sweater. Honestly, she was dressed more like Hannah than you’d ever seen before - an athletic bra with thick shoulder straps underneath small tank top that showed off a thick slice of her stomach and a pair of cotton shorts that sat high on her muscled thighs and would probably have sat higher on her waist except she had the waistband rolled down once or twice. Her thick blone hair was back in a ponytail and she was wearing one of those backpack bags that were just a sack that cinched shut and had cords for shoulder straps.

She looked really good, and in a way that was different to her usual really good. It wasn’t like you were seeing all that much different from her - her shorts clung to her hips and ass just as much as her tight jeans did, and she wasn’t showing much cleavage even if her boobs were a bit more prominent than in her buttoned blouses - but maybe it was the difference that was affecting you.

You cleared your throat, standing up from the chair, and went and grabbed the spray sunscreen you kept near all your shoes and coats, starting to spray it on your uncovered arms and legs.

“Oh, good idea,” Margot said, seeing what you were doing and standing up. “Mind if I get some of that? I remembered water and snacks, totally didn’t think about sunscreen, which is fucking wild considering how often I put it on.”

“Sure,” you said, finishing with your leg and holding it out to her.

“Get my back first,” she said, turning around and pulling her ponytail out of the way to bare neck, shoulders and upper back.

You wordlessly shook the can for a moment and then began spraying, and she snickered a little as it first hit her. “That’s a little cool, feels good.”

Once you were done with her shoulders and back she stuck her arms out to either side, so your sprayed those.

“Legs too, please,” Margot said, sounding entirely innocent and oblivious to the fact that her legs were easily on par with Hannah’s in terms of being sexy as hell.

You gulped slightly, trying not to look too hard at her ass, as you bent forward and gave the back of both her legs a spray.

“Thanks, Ollie,” she said when you finished, and bent at the waist, rubbing her hands along the back of her legs to work the sunscreen in. Which pushed her ass back at you slightly. And you were pretty sure you saw the soft bump of her mound pressing between her cheeks and thighs.

You gulped again, hopefully not too audibly, and stood up quickly, spraying all around your neck, your ears and finally your face. Trying not to think about the time Margot had been standing right where she was now in your appartment, butt naked and letting you see everything.

- - - - -

“Fuck, it’s hot,” Margot said.

“Yeah,” you grunted.

Both of you were dripping sweat.

The loop that Hannah had plotted out for these walks was long and ran from your neighbourhood, up to the park and through the big walking route there, then around to another park and through that walking route, then back. It was supposed to take an hour or so, but you and Margot were only about two-thirds done and had crossed that time mark about ten minutes earlier. The afternoon heat was like a weight on your shoulders, requiring slow progress and occasional breaks to drink from the waterbottles Margot had brought in her pack.

Not to mention the stop to refill all the waterbottles at the public station at the head of the second park.

“Hold on,” Margot said, stopping in the shade of a tree as putting a hand on your arm to get you to stop with her. Her tanktop, athletic bra, and ever her shorts had all gone a shade darker from soaking up the sweat, which matched the gigantic rings under your arms and chest, and you were pretty sure your back was entirely drenched.

She swung her backpack off to set down at her feet and yanked it open, and you were light-headed enough that you didn’t immediately realise you were staring down at her ass. Again. Keeping up to be side-by-side with her had become something of a challenge with no prize - the only reward was not having her butt ahead of you and risking getting caught looking.

Margot pulled two of the four water bottles out of the bag, standing back up and handing one to you. “We’re supposed to go back past that filling station, right?”

“Mhmm,” you hummed, nodding and blinking as you wiped sweat from your brow.

“Fuck it,” she said, opening her water bottle and upending it over her head, water cascading down though her haier her face, and spatting across her chest and leaking lower.

You gulped.

You were realising that you were doing that a lot today.

Margot tipped her face up toward the water, letting it spatter more there and run down the front of her neck, sluicing down into her cleavage, soaking her shirts even more.

You quickly upended your bottle over your head, hoping that the cool would help counteract the internal heat you were feeling. Athletic shorts didn’t do a great job of hiding your boner, and you really, really didn’t want to get one in front of Margot.

“Mm, that’s good,” Margot sighed as she finished, screwing the cap back onto her bottle and grinning at you. “Refreshing, right?”

“Very,” you agreed, capping yours as you felt the water still tricking down your back. “I just hope I don’t start steaming over the next couple of minutes.”

Margot grinned and snorted. “That would be because you’re hot stuff, Ollie,” she said, taking the bottle from you and shoving themh back into her bag, then lifting it back onto her shoulders. “Come on, we’re in the home stretch,” she said, and took off walking.

There was a not insignificant part of you that wanted to follow instead of catch up, but that would have caused even more problems.

- - - - -

“You know, in this kind of heat, back home we would finish our chores and head down to a swimming hole,” Margot said as the two of you trudged up the steps into your building. “It’s too bad we don’t have a pool or something.”

“Mm,” you grunted noncomittally. It had been a long time since you’d been comfortable enough to get in a pool. “I think I just want a shower, but my body’ll go inck if I start with cold. I need to anti-boiling frog myself and bring the temp down bit by bit.”

“That’s a good idea,” Margot said with a tired smile as you thumbed the call elevator button. Then she groaned and peeled her tank top off, letting it hang from her hand with her bag, leaving her in her athletic bra. That only revealed a couple inches more of her torso, but it made you focus on not looking at her.

The elevator arrivd quickly and the two of you got on. Margot was closest to the buttons so she poked the one for your floor, then leaned back against the wall of the elevator.

“Ooooh, shit,” she groaned in pleasure.

That got you to look over at her in confusion.

“The metal walls are cold,” she said.

Your eyebrows went up and you backed up against the opposit wall. The cool metal of the air conditioned little room felt like ice against your overheated back.

“Oooooh, yeaaaah,” you exhaled, feeling your eyelids flutter.

“OK, Kool-Aid Man,” Margot smirked a little.

You grunted, smirking and shaking your head at her. Margot grinned back and then stretchd out her arms above her head, keeping ther pressed to the wall. You could hear a couple of audible pops from her joints as she did it, but it was the motion of her tits subtly pressing out towards you with the motion that made you grunt again.

Her nipples were hard, no more apparent without that shirt on.

You licked your lips, then quickly looked away,

The elevator stopped at your floor, and the two of you trudged towards your apartments.

“Good work today, Oliver,” she said as you reached her door. Her smile was warm and tired, and she rubbed your upper arm. “I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks,” you said, blushing a little. “And thanks for coming with me.”

“I’ll come with you whenever you want,” she promised, then unlocked her door and stepped in before looking back. “I’ll just need to get used to having a shower in the evening, if I get this messy every time I come with you.” She blew you a tired kiss and shut the door.

You trudged the last few feet up to your door and went in. All the lights were off. Hikaru must have been out still. You kicked off your shoes, stripped off your soaked socks, and hobbled into your room, your feet feeling swollen.

That wasn’t the only thing that was feeling swollen, though.

You didn’t start really questioning it until you were under the water in your shower.

Margot had to have known what she was saying, right?

She had to have been teasing you. Just joking around. Like her doing that dare.

Your cock didn’t know that though, and it was trying it’s best to let you know it was interested in that promise she’d made. Joke or not.

Chapter 77

“Hey, Ollie,” Hikaru called from the kitchen as you exited your room. You’d ended up spending almost half an hour in the shower, and when you’d gotten back to your room you had collapsed onto your bed and ended up sleep for almost an hour.

“Hey, Hikki,” you said as you wandered out into the living area, dressed in a new pair of loose shorts and a baggy T-shirt. “How was your shift at work today? And- Why is it so warm?”

“Work was good,” she called, her voice accompanied by the rattle of dishes as she cooked dinner. “Nothing major happened, but I think Joanne has a thing going with Drew, they’re just trying to keep it a secret.”

“Wait, I thought Joanne was seeing some guy who worked at Target?” you asked, not entirely caught up on the barista drama from the coffee shop.

“I thought so too, but her and Drew were totally flirting today,” Hikaru said from around the corner. Then she poked her head out, smirking a little. “Maybe Joanne is into those reverse-harem manga and light novels I was talking about the other day.”

“Maybe,” you chuckled, remembering that conversation and finding it a little too close to home all of a sudden. Theory was different from practice, and practice was now that you and April were something with Zara. And that was a conversation you were not looking to have with Hikaru. You went over and sat down on the couch, immediately groaning because it felt too warm. “OK, seriously, did you turn off the AC or something?”

“Oh, right,” Hikaru called, having ducked back behind the corner. “There was a notice posted in the lobby that the central air is on the fritz. They’re expecting it to be fixed sometime tomorrow.”

“In the middle of a heat wave?” you asked her in exasperation.

“I know,” she said, coming back around the corner carrying a couple of plates. You missed the next couple of sentences she said because apparently Hikaru was trying to keep cool with the way she was dressed.

The willowy half-Japanese girl was wearing a tight T-shirt that clung close to her body. It had an angry female Anime face printed on it, though you didn’t recognise which manga it came from, and when she’d worn it before it was always under an overshirt of some kind. And with a Bra. The shirt hugged her skinny, slight curved torso, but more importantly it was also hugging the much more bountious curves of her breasts. It wasn’t a second skin, but you felt like you were seeing a lot more of her boobs than not. You could even see the gentle outline of her wide, puffy areolas along surrounding the bumps of her nipples.

And that was just her top.

She wasn’t wearing pants. Or shorts. Instead, she had on a pair of pink panties that looked like they were styled after a classic men’s Fruit of the Loom underwear, just sitting lower on her hips and with light blue banding to contrast with the pink, and a little Hello Kitty face in the middle of the front. Those were clinging tightly to her as well. Tight enough that on your first shocked glance you were pretty sure it was clinging to her pussy as well.

“Ollie?” she asked, pulling you out of your panicked gaze off into the corner of the room. You looked up and she was offering you one of the plates, balancing a knife and fork along with the grilled salmon dish she’d pulled from Hannah’s list of recommended meals. And right beyond the plate were her tits, staring at you through the tight, thin material of her shirt.

“Thanks you,” you said, gulping a little as you took the plate, and then you grabbed the TV remote. “Want to watch something?”

“Sure,” she said, her smile evident as she sat down beside you and lifted her legs to sit criss-cross, her bare thigh, knee and shin in your peripheral vision. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure,” you said, the two of you not having anything on the go at the moment. “You pick.”

- - - - -

You had to wipe the paint off of the cheek of the mini for the third time.

Focusing at the current moment was a little hard.

“Mmph,” Hikaru grunted, swinging the remote. Bouncing a little with the swing. Bouncing in so many ways that were so right, and so wrong.

You quickly swirled your paintbrush in the cup of water, then dried it and brought it to a fine point again. Trying your fucking hardest not to look up at Hikaru as she played Wii Tennis.

Dipping your paintbrush in the white paint again, you tried to settle your focus on the tiny little eyeball you were trying to paint.

You swallowed, almost glancing up again.

Part of you wanted to go full Big Brother mode and ask her what the hell she was thinking, dressing like that? It was so innapropriate. But then, the heat had only continued to get worse in the apartment, and you weren’t sure how the hell you were going to get to sleep that night since the bedroom windows didn’t open. As it was, you had the sliding door to the balcony standing wide, and the breeze occasionally coming through was the only relief the two of you were getting.

The problem was that Hikaru seemed completely oblivious to what she was doing to you. She was innocent, and he didn’t want to ruin that. Talking to her about it, telling her that you were feeling uncomfortable with the way she was dressing, would change things between the two of you.

You weren’t cousins anymore. You were two people whose Aunt and Father had been married for a few years, and then split up again. By all rights, you were just friends. Close friends who had grown up together, a few years apart. Not as close as you and Hannah, but close enough.

Telling her the way she was dressed gave you sexual thoughts would change your entire relationship. Admitting you thought about her sexually at all might mean she didn’t feel comfortable staying with you anymore.

You managed to get the paint on the eye this time, instead of the cheek or the forehead.

If this was a one-time thing, you could handle it. The real problem would be if, after tonight, she started hanging around like this more often. Then you would need to talk to her about it.

You glanced up as the game rang out on the TV. She’d won, and did a little bouncing dance in a circle as she grinned at you. You smiled back, trying desperately not to glance down from her face. Then you looked back down at your mini.

How else could you make it a ‘thing’ that maybe she shouldn’t dress like that? If she was comfortable doing it in front of you, there would need to be the chance of someone else walking in and her being spotted.

Margot and Hannah both already had keys. Hikaru was close friends with both of them now, though, so maybe she didn’t mind that off-chance.

She wasn’t so close with April yet, though. And April was your girlfriend - and your girlfriend walking in to see her boyfriend’s roommate, no matter how close, prancing around like that would be a thing. Some sort of thing.

You could give April a key. You trusted her, and were absolutely smitten with her. And it was your One Month Anniversary coming up…

Two birds, one stone?

- - - - -

You gulped, squeezing your thighs together tightly as Evangelion X was wrapping up. It was late, maybe too late, but you were scared to stand up.

Hikaru was cuddled up next to you. Still dressed in what felt like practically nothing. Hugging your arm and literally drooling a little as she was snoozing. Hugging your arm to her tits, and the awkward position meant your hand was on her bare thigh. High on her thigh.

It wasn’t standing up that you were scared of. It wasn’t waking her up, either.

It was both happening at the same time.

If she woke up whle you stood up, she would see it.

She would see that you were rock hard. There would be no hiding your erection tenting your loose athletic shorts. She would blink her eyes open, see it, and know that you’d been sitting there with it while she was asleep.

Your only chance was to get up and headed into your room before she opened her eyes and might see it. But you weren’t sure at all how fast you could get to safety.

So you sat, feeling Hikaru’s breasts pressed around your arm, the smooth skin of her thigh under hour hand, willing you cock to please, Dear God, just go soft.

Chapter 78

April grunted. Then she grunted again, and again. Over and over.

“Nice,” came the voice of the director over her headphones. “Try a couple higher ones.”

She grunted. A couple of short ones, and longer one, and one that trailed off painfully.

“April, you’re an absolute pro. Those will do nicely,” the Director said.

“Alright, my voice is shot for the day now,” she replied, speaking into the mic and glancing out of the voice recording booth. “Please tell me you didn’t schedule foley before I’m supposed to do anything else?”

“You’re wrapped for the day,” the director chuckled. “We’ve got you in at 10AM tomorrow. you good with that?”

“See you at Ten,” she agreed, taking off the headphones and letting out a relieved sigh before exiting the booth. It opened out into a corridor and the cool of the fresh air conditioning hit her pleasantly as she left the enclosed booth behind. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and powered it on, leaning back against the wall as she waited for it to boot up and connect to service again.

“Oh, hey April.”

April looked up and broke into a grin when she saw Shelley, leaving her spot on the wall to meet the other voice actress and wrap her up in a hug. “I didn’t know you were on this project,” April said. “Who are you voicing? It’s so good to see you!”

“I’m going in for Diggoree right now, but they’ve got me doing a couple of backgrounds, too,” Shelley said. “I heard you were in the studio today, but I wasn’t sure we were on the same crew.”

“Wait, you’re playing Diggoree?” April laughed. “I’m Fantana.”

“No,” Shelley cackled, slapping April’s shoulders. “You bitch! You kill me!”

The producers were talking a big game about their expectations for the english-dub version of ‘Skyway to Kill.’ April wasn’t so sure that it was going to be the mega-hit they wanted it to be, but people would definitely like it. It had the right balance of over-the-top violence, bouncing anime tits and melorama for a Western audience to build a following, she just didn’t see it haven’t that thing that would push it into more mainstream nerd consciousness.

“The Weebs are gonna freak,” April grinned.

“So hard,” Shelley agreed.

It was their fourth time playing opposite each other in english-dubs, and the last three time’s they’d played romantic partners. Shelley could do a really good Energetic Teen Boy voice, so twice it had been secondary younger characters in background romance plots, but the last time they’d played lesbians and the internet had gone a little crazy. There had even been rumours floating around that they’d gotten together in real life.

And now April was going to murder Shelley in a brutal, mellodramatic betrayal in the second-to-last episode of the series. What would the internet say to that?

“This isn’t your last day or anything, is it?” Shelley asked.

“No, no,” April shook her head. “I’ve got another long session tomorrow, then back again Wednesday to Friday next week.”

“Oh! Nice, OK. They have you at the Four Seasons?”

“Yep, as usual,” April nodded.

“Girl, I’ve got a four-hour session now, then I’ll meet you and we should grab dinner?” Shelley suggested. “We need to catch up.”

“Definitely,” April agreed, then broke into a grin. “Actually, we really need to catch up.”

“Something happen?” Shelley asked.

“I might have a boyfriend,” April smiled, doing a little dance.

“What?! Who? No, wait, save it for later,” Shelley said, giddy for her work friend. “I’ll text you later.”

April nodded and pulled the booth door open for her a little wider. “Sorry if it’s a little dank in there,” she said. “I tried not to fart too much.”

“Harrharrharr,” Shelley snorted, rolling her eyes. She stepped in and pulled the door closed behind her, and the Recording light flipped on a moment later to signal that no one had better knock on that door unless it was an emergency.

April huffed out a happy breath and turned to head towards the studio cafeteria. She was going to need a snack if she was waiting to eat dinner until Shelley was finished, and she’d rather get it for free on the Production’s dime than shell out for takeout herself.

- - - - -

April sighed heavily, then bit her lip as she let her hand drift under the water. The hotel room might not have had a jacuzzi in it, but it was still a nice big tub.

“Mmmm,” she hummed to herself, fingers trailing down over her stomach towards her pussy. It had only been two days, less than two days, since she’d had goodbye sex with Oliver, but she was already missing him physically as well as emotionally.

Her humm echoed in the cavernous, tiled hotel bathroom, a weird reminder that she was alone. Not at home, not somewhere familiar.

She sighed, then sniffed in as her fingers found her pussy and traced over her outer labia softly. The bath balm was doing it’s job, making the water slightly oily along with adding a rose scent to it. Making her skin a little slick, and little shimmery. She looked down at herself, at her boobs pushing up out of the water like little hills in the middle of a lake.

Oliver made her feel fucking gorgeous. Sure, she’d alway been sort-of pretty, and she worked at it. But Zara had always been the hot friend in the group, and April would have considered herself in the bottom half of all the girls outside of having a big rack. Boys had always been drawn to that.

She’d been told she was beuatiful before, but Oliver made her feel it. Made her feel like the softness of her stomach, or how she had little rolls in it when she wasn’t laying completely stretched out, was sexy and not just evidence she wasn’t dieting and exercising herself to death for the sake of image. He made her feel like she didn’t need to glam herself up for a date with makeup, or dress up, or put herself on display. She would do that when and because she wanted to, not because he expected it.

And God, when his cock was in her.

“Ungh,” she grunted, pushig two fingers into herself, feeling her nipples getting taut at the edge of the water.

When his cock was in her, she felt like the Queen of the Universe.

If only he could come on these damn trips with her so they could have freaky hotel sex!

- - - - -

“OK,” Shelley said, grinning broadly once the waiter had gone off with their drink orders and left them with their menus. “Tell me everything. Who is he? What does he do? How did you meet?”

April smiled, laughing a little at the eagerness of her work friend to hear her news. “His name is Oliver,” she said. “He’s an IT specialist and programmer who works back home, and you will not guess in a million years how we met.”

“At a Con?”

“Nope.”

“He hit you with his car?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“You hit him with your car?”

“Runaway dog incident?”

“Got served each other’s ice-cream at the ice-cream parlour?”

“Blind date?”

“You were both at a sex dungeon and locked eyes across the room?”

That one made April break. “Shelley!” she scoffed. “You know I’m not like that.”

“Do I?” Shelley teased. “I don’t know what you get up to back home.”

“Fair,” April smirked. “But for your information, no. I don’t go to sex dungeons, orgies, swinger parties or glory holes.”

“Damn, glory hole was my next guess,” Shelley smirked. “Fine, just tell me.”

“He won a date with me through a contest,” April grinned.

Shelley blinked several times, her smile frozen. Finally, she said, “What?”

April told her the whole story from the ‘insider view.’ How her agent had been contacted by the Dating App company based in their city, how they wanted to run the paid promotion. About deciding to do it, and how she’d been feeling leading up to the night, and then meeting Oliver and how he’d been everything she hadn’t expected. How he’d swept her off her feet, brought her to one of his favourite places instead of going to see the movie, and how he’d been a complete gentleman.

“Oh. My. God,” Shelley said when she was finished. “You banged him on the first night you met!”

“Shush,” April giggled. They’d been interrupted by the arrival of their drinks and she took a sip to fortify herself. “Not so loud, bitch.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “You banged him on the first night you met!”

“OK, I did,” April admitted, grinning and blushing. “And, Shelley - I mean, when I say it was good… I mean, holy shit, it was good.”

“OK, now I need to see a picture of this Casa Nova,” Shelley said, making grabby hands for April’s phone.

April had her phone out of her purse before she even thought about it, and was opening her gallery before her thumbs hesitated. And she felt awful for hesitating. Oliver didn’t deserve for her to hesitate to show her friend what he looked like.

But Shelley was a work friend, not one of her close circle. They got along really well, but they didn’t keep up with each other’s lives when they weren’t working on something together. Shelley was funny, and sweet, and didn’t put up with shit, but April didn’t know what her reaction would be to Oliver. To his weight.

And she wanted Oliver to make good impressions. He was going to be around a long time, if she had anything to say about it. Preferably the rest of their lives, and she’d go first. 

“He’s not, um…” she started to say, her mouth working before her mind could come up with a way to caveat without being awful to Oliver.

“What, is he an alien?” Shelley asked with a playful smirk.

“No, he’s just- um. Well. I can show you a picture of us, or I can show you the picture of us,” April said.

“I don’t know what that means,” Shelley said, her smirk turning curious now. She had a pretty versatile smirk.

“No HR complaints?” April asked.

Now Shelley’s eyes went wide and the smirk went away completely, replaced with mild concern, confusion, and deep curiosity. “OK,” she said. “No HR complaints. I swear.”

April opened her hidden folder, and picked the picture that she’d sent to Zara that first time. The one with April, well-fucked, and Oliver’s hard cock. She passed her phone over, screen down, to Shelley, who accepted it and checked over her shoulders for anyone about to pass by before flipping it over and taking a look.

“Holy-” she half shouted, then flipped the phone back over and cut off, blushing as she tried not to be noticed as the person who’d just gotten loud. They weren’t in a super nice restaurant, just the one attached to the hotel, but still. “Holy hell, April,” she hissed. Then she flipped the phone back over and took another, longer look. Then she pinched on the screen and zoomed in for an even better look. “Jesus, girl,” she muttered. “That’s real?”

“Super real,” April said, standing slightly to reach over and take the phone from Shelley. “Very, very real.”

“How are you alive?” Shelley asked. “You could club someone to death with that thing. And you met him off of a nerd dating app contest? Not, like Fetlife or something?”

“I know,” April said. “Like, what are the chances?”

“Considering you show’d me that first, I’m expecting him to have giant burn scars covering half his face or something,” Shelley said. “Is he, in fact, the Phantom of the Opera?”

“No,” April chuckled, backing out of her hidden folder on her phone and going to the regular one with photos of her and Oliver she’d taken. “Here.” She passed it over.

“Oh,” Shelley said when she saw the first picture. “I mean, he’s kinda cute.”

“His eyes,” April said.

“Definitely his eyes,” Shelley nodded. “And he does have a nice smile.”

“Big hands, too,” April smirked.

“I bet,” Shelley guffawed.

“He’s working on it,” April said. “Pretty consistently.”

“Well, that’s good,” Shelley said, then looked at April, then back down at the phone again. “He’s really packing all that, huh?”

“And no ego about it,” April said. “He’s honestly the sweetest man I’ve ever met.”

“So, what’s the downside?” Shelley asked, passing over the phone. “I mean, his weight is on, obviously, but there’s got to be something else. What’s the thing that you’ve decided you can live with? You’re smart enough to have already figured it out.”

April tutted softly, taking a breath, and the look Shelley gave her was very knowing.

“All of his closest friends are women,” April said. “He has guy friends, but his core group? All women. And pretty women at that. Prettier than me unless I’m going all out.”

“Well, they’re loss,” Shelley smirked. “If they couldn’t figure out what was sitting in front of them this whole time, that’s on them.”

“It is,” April smirked, thinking of her promise to Margot. “They are good girls, though. And care for him a lot. I don’t think it’ll get messy or anything.”

“Hey, I haven’t met them, so I can’t tell you what to do or not,” Shelley said. “But if he’s as sweet as you say he is, and if he’s loyal, as long as you’re putting the same look on his face that you have when thinking of him, I think you’ll be fine. You little freak.”

April laughed with her, and their banter was interrupted a minute later by their food arriving, and the conversation shifted to work rumours and news, and upcoming plans for what Cons they would be attending. But April’s mind kept cycling back to Oliver. To what Shelley said about putting a smile on his face, and her plans to call him that night from the hotel room.

Phone sex wasn’t as good as getting to fuck in person, but she was gonna be damned if she wouldn’t pull her weight to make him happy.

Chapter 79

“Good morning, Paula,” you said.

“Morning, Big Guy,” Paula grinned at you over her shoulder as you came around to the side of the coffee shop counter. She finished making your drink and set it down on the counter, sliding it over to you and holding up a finger as she darted into the back. She came out with what looked like a big chocolate chip cookie on a plate, circling outfrom behind and coming to you. “All ingredients approved by Hannah,” she said. “Homemade, sugarless chocolate chips, almond butter as the base, and sugarless sweetners.”

You groaned, looking at the big, beautiful cookie. “It’s… it’s beautiful,” you said.

She broke into a warm laugh and set it down next to your drink so that the two of you could hug tightly.

“You don’t need to keep trying new recipes, the first- well, all of them have been good,” you said as you picked up your plate and cup.

“I like trying new things, and once I’ve got a good, solid handful that I think are top notch, maybe I’ll do a little side display of healthy baked good alternatives. Make it a new part of our menu,” Paula said. “Plus, I like seeing you smile.”

“Thank you, Paula,” you said.

She grinned and winked at you. “You’re welcome, Ollie.”

You headed to your seat, and Paula went back behind the counter. Hikaru was working the lunch shift that Friday, so she wasn’t in, but you did remember her mentioning that one of the other Baristas, Joanne, was flirting with one of the few male baristas. You side-eyed the counter as you took your seat and you spotted Drew, but no Joanne.

Margot came in a couple minutes later, waving to you and heading to join the line. By the time she joined you at the table you were half done your cookie, which was admittedly good but not great (considering it was low carb, it would be hard pressed to reach that level), and you split the other half with her. You had your usual morning banter with Margot, trying not to think about… things. It didn’t help that you noticed she was touching your arm a lot. Just warm pats, or rubbing it as she was laughing with you at something you said. She even slapped it once, play-scolding you as she smirked teasingly.

You tried really hard not to think about her in the elevator. Or naked in your apartment. Or dumping water over herself.

She had a slightly later start than you that morning, so you had to be the one to break things up and get moving, leaving her to finish her coffee and get in a little reading. On your way out someone called your name, and you saw Paula motioning for you to wait. She finished with the customer at the till and handed it over to one of her baristas, then made a hand motion around the building and mouthed, ‘Meet me around back!’

Frowning, since this was the first time she’d done this, you nodded and went out the front of the coffee shop, circling around to the side and finding a small alley squeezed between it and the building next door. There was a blank metal door into the shop about two-thirds of the way down, and the little walkway opened up into a larger alley on the other side where the buildings running down the block had dumpsters and emergency exits.

Two minutes later, the metal door opened and Paula stepped out, mussing up her hair and combing it back with her fingers. she was out of uniform and when she saw you she gave you another one of those big smiles of hers. “You head north to go to work, right?”

“Um, yeah, I do,” you said, your tounge suddenly feeling dry in your mouth.

“Awesome, do you mind if I walk with you?” Paula asked. “I’m meeting up with a couple of gals and were taking a trip out to the coast for the rest of today and tomorrow. I left my bags at their place a couple nights ago, so I just need to catch the bus over.”

“Sure, Paula,” you said. “No problem.”

There was, in fact, one problem.

Paula had changed out of her uniform. You’d seen her out of her uniform before, and it really wasn’t that much different than her in uniform except for lacking the apron.

Today she was really out of uniform. She was wearing a bikini top, a string bikini top, with colourful orange and red flower print on the cups that were big enough to cover her important bits, but not much else. And Paula had tits. Tits like… well, tits like Hikaru. They actually had very similar bodies, tall and a little willowy, but somehow carrying around these big…

She’d at least put on a loose, unbuttoned flannel over it. It was baggy enough to be for a man, and she’d rolled up the sleeves all the way to her upper arms. She was also wearing long, ragged jean shorts that looked like she’d probably made them out of a full-sized pair of jeans at some point since they went down almost to her knees and the bottom of each leg was heavily frayed.

“Awesome, thank you so much, Ollie,” she grinned at you, raising her hands again and messing with her shaggy hair, pulling it back into an equally shaggy ponytail. The motion of raising her arms happened to push her chest out towards you, and you coughed as you turned to the side, covering your mouth and averting your eyes.

You walked Paula up the street a couple of blocks, trying to ignore what you were seeing whenever you looked over and down at her. At the cleavage. You tried to focus on her pretty smile, her eyes. Hell, you tried to focus on the conversation. It only partially worked - half because her cleavage was very out, and half because her smile and her eyes were equally attractive, just in a different way. And the conversation was light, conversational. And maybe a little flirty?

She reached her bus stop before you reached your office building, and she assured you she was fine to wait alone. Another hug, her bikini-clad tits pressing to your chest, and she kissed you on your cheek and sent you on your way.

Another block later and you cleared your throat. “Phone sex was not enough relief,” you murmured, thinking about last night. It had been fun, and April had been particularly nasty in her dirty talk, and had even woven in dirty pictures to send you. But it had still been phone sex with your girlfriend halfway across the country.

With everything going on, you had a feeling April was going to tap out before you did once she was back.