Chapter 2

There were four of them. They met at a friend’s house.

‘Did you get the ice?’ Delilah asked when Benji and Roseanne arrived. ‘You promised you’d get the ice.’ She was looking at Benji.

‘Fuck,’ he said. ‘I forgot to get some coolers, too.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ James volunteered, and the two of them left again.

‘Hey, Roseanne,’ Delilah greeted her. ‘How was work?’

‘Oh, good. How are you?’

‘I’m doing fine. This is gonna be fun, huh? We invited other people, but no one could come. Benji invited Maisy, but she blew him off and then invited me to come hang out with her! The nerve.’

‘That’s horrible,’ Roseanne said. ‘He deserves better than that.’

‘Yep, he sure does,’ the older woman agreed. ‘I keep trying to find him a good girl. I say, ‘Roseanne,’ but he says, ‘Oh, she has a boyfriend.’ He says he finds you attractive, so at least we know his type ... we’ve just gotta find him someone that’s not you.’

‘Oh,’ Roseanne said. She blushed. ‘Yes, we do.’

‘Here. Help me mix these drinks. By the time we’re done they’ll be back.’

They had just sat down with their cups when the two men arrived back, just as Delilah had predicted.

‘Hey! Did you get everything?’ she called out.

‘Yeah,’ James said, setting down a case of iced tea coolers.

Benji slipped his shoes off and came to sit by Roseanne. She did her best to seem casual and natural, but she was hyper-aware of his body beside her. She tried to think of anything else just so she wouldn’t blush.

‘So, what are we planning to do tonight?’ James asked, cracking open one of the cans of iced tea cooler and sitting on the other sofa next to Delilah. The red-head grinned mischievously.

‘I thought we could play a drinking game,’ she said. ‘That is, if everyone’s up for it.’

There was a general chorus of agreement. Roseanne shyly accepted the iced tea Delilah passed to her, feeling nervous, but excited. Her legs were pretzelled into a cross-legged sitting position, and Benji was sitting close enough that her knee was touching his thigh. It made her feel all warm where they touched. He probably didn’t care, or didn’t notice—most likely, it was unintentional, and didn’t mean anything. She was no Maisy, after all, even if he did find her attractive.

At some point in the night, Delilah had gotten so drunk that when Benji had talked about finding a nice girl, she’d stood up and grabbed Roseanne’s hand, placing it in Benji’s. ‘Hand-delivered,’ she slurred, grinning. Embarrassed, flattered, and somewhat tipsy, Roseanne pretended not to know what the older woman had meant and simply laughed it off—for own her sake as much as Benji’s. She’d been doing a lot of laughing, tonight, and it made her feel good. Before tonight, she could hardly think of the last time she’d had this much fun.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get home safe,’ Benji had promised at the beginning of the night. He called her a cab and she took it, arriving home at about one, when they all split off. A little embarrassed, and hoping she didn’t seem ridiculously drunk to the cabbie, she paid the fare and went off to bed.

In the morning, Benji had a splitting headache. He rolled over, groaning, and reached for the aspirin next to the bed and a water-bottle. He couldn’t remember getting home, really; he’d been tired AND drunk, but what he COULD remember was the previous night. He remembered sitting next to Roseanne, and her laughing, and her knee touching his leg. And—he remembered offering her his spare room if she hadn’t wanted to go home. It was much closer, anyway, and he’d had no malevolent intent. He had been a little bit disappointed when she hadn’t taken up his offer. Last night, he’d made up some crazy fantasy while he was still conscious enough to think at all—one where she HAD accepted the offer, and had crawled into bed next to him late in the night. From there it was all a little blurry—he remembered thinking how they might kiss, then, and he’d touch her, running his hands up and down her body, making her make these little sounds from the back of her throat and press up against him. She really was beautiful. He would like nothing more than to be on top of her, pressing her into the pillows as she moaned, hooking one arm under her leg and sliding his cock into her. He remembered thinking, hazily, that’d they’d look lovely together—pale skin and dark skin. He’d nip her a little with his teeth, gently, on the nipples, so she’d gasp. Then they would move together, until she squeezed around him and he came.

At the moment, however, all he could think about was the horrible aching pain in his head, and he rolled back over and tried to sleep it off. He’d deal with seeing her at work later that night when he got out of bed—later.