Chapter 54: Tension

Thursday morning I won the race to the bathroom. Every morning after waking up we’d lie there for a bit, cuddling, until our bladder pressure got so strong we had to get up—unfortunately usually at the same time. So it always came down to who reached the bathroom door first and got to sit on the bowl first. Most of the time Isabell won because she was closer. Not this time.

“Hurry up!” she whined from outside.

“Don’t be like that—otherwise I always have to wait!”

“And then you’re the one who starts whining!”

“Well. Karma.”

“Not funny!”

I wiped, hit the flush, and before I’d even washed my hands Isabell was already on the toilet, letting it go.

“Just in time,” she commented.

Grinning, I left the bathroom and started making coffee.

“Who’s getting the rolls today?” I called.

“Let me do it. If you keep running to the bakery in your pony boots, you’re going to end up in the local news.”

I heard the flush and a moment later the sink running.

“Yeah ... the city’s a bit ... let’s say conservative, I get the impression.”

“Compared to what—Berlin? This is the deepest province,” Isabell laughed as she came out of the bathroom. “I’ll throw on my tracksuit and run out real quick. You set the table.”

A little later Isabell was gone, and I could shower in peace. Another win today.

I had just finished setting the table and put the coffee down when Isabell came back.

“You won’t believe who I ran into at the bakery!”

“Who?”

“Jelena!”

I pulled a face.

“And—did you have to drop to your knees and kiss her boots?”

“No. She was wearing sneakers and a tracksuit and just nodded hello!”

I stared at Isabell, stunned. “You’re messing with me.”

She laughed.

“Yep. But I actually ran into Renè. Which is pretty unusual, because he doesn’t live in the building!”

“Oh—what was he doing here so early?”

“Good question. Ask him yourself: he asked me to say hi and said he’s your trainer tonight!”

For a moment I studied her expression to see if she was pranking me again, but she didn’t look like it.

“Three different trainers in three days. This is going to get interesting.”

“Be glad—it’s not Jelena again, and your butt would be covered in bruises!”

“I am glad,” I replied. And I truly was.

Isabell emptied the bag of rolls into a bowl and carried it to the table.

“So. Do I get a kiss for that?”

“One? A whole series of kisses, love.”

I pulled her into my arms and we kissed, hard.

Right after breakfast Isabell showered too. We got ready quickly because we wanted to do some shopping together first. We’d already signed off with Diana. So we got on our bikes soon after and threw ourselves into rush-hour traffic—an absolutely terrible decision. As cyclists you were basically fair game here, apparently right in the middle of a hunting party. We arrived at the supermarket thoroughly annoyed.

“Whew. I haven’t experienced traffic this bad here yet,” I groaned, locking up my bike.

“How often have you actually ridden through the city at peak hour?” Isabell asked.

“A few times ... but I guess it was still school holidays,” I admitted.

“Now you know why I ride so rarely.”

Shopping itself wasn’t a problem—just groceries and hygiene stuff, what a woman needs. The only thing was, we’d massively underestimated the volume. No way it would all fit into our small panniers and bike baskets. So we hung bags off the handlebars and pushed the bikes back. Luckily it was only about two kilometers. Big-city shopping adventure.

Back at the apartment building I had to do my morning training and Isabell had to go supervise in the basement. My run was uneventful. Right after that I freshened up and put on makeup for the cam show. Today I had a few more viewers again, and they were reasonably generous. Two or three familiar regulars were in there too. I’d completely pushed my recent experience out of my mind—so I was all the more shocked when, shortly before the end of my time slot, Moskau93 logged in again. I didn’t let it show.

He stayed silent, just lurking in the background. But that was enough to make me nervous. I ended my show right on time, glad it had lined up so well with the last paying customer and I could finally shut down.

Afterwards I sat on my bed for minutes and brooded. What did he want? Was he hoping I’d slip up in the show? I had never called myself Laura or Johanna in any of my shows. I was always Jenny Pain. From my very first show I knew I had to keep private life and stage life strictly separate. Even so, plenty of customers had tried to get private dates out of me. That had never been an option—long before I had to go underground.