Chapter 41

Have you ever met someone and wondered if their mother took steroids while pregnant? That was Owen.

“Mr. Carlo, do you need anything before we leave?” I had tried telling him my name was Robert to no avail.

“No.” I was standing at the door making sure I had everything I needed for the therapist’s office. “Would you really carry me there if you had to?”

“Yes, sir.”

“That scared of Lavi?”

“Oh, no sir. I figure I know what Lavi would do. It’s Melissa I’m scared of.”

Where was my insurance card? I paused looking for it to look up at him. We were both standing but I had to look up. “What does that mean?”

He looked down as if he was used to it, which I’m sure he was. “Melissa is real nice, but nice people, you don’t know how they’ll come at you. I figure that is way more dangerous.”

That made sense. “Speaking of people coming at you, did you ever hear anything about Chris Barrington and that stunt of his at Grace’s house?”

I was walking to Owen’s car and Owen talked as we walked. “Not much. Everyone who still hangs with him isn’t opening their mouth around me. I want to talk to him in a nice quiet place, just the two of us but probably best if we don’t, if you know what I mean. All I’ve heard is that he’s shooting his mouth off about some kind of ace in the hole, something that’ll make everything right for him again in time for him to play in the homecoming game.”

I didn’t like the sound of that but I had an appointment to keep.

Three hours later I was sitting back in my living room wondering if cybernetic arms were an option yet. I hurt. Somehow it seemed as if my arm now had more nerves for pain than the rest of my body combined.

“I thought physical therapy was supposed to make you feel better,” I whined.

“In the long term,” yelled Ji from the hallway bathroom. I was in the living room. Owen had left and done the hand-off with Ji. Ji had become my animé buddy so I was in position with a fruit juice while she had taken a sports bag into the bathroom saying she had to get ready. I was enjoying the guava juice when she came back in. Ji was not a tall girl but every inch of her legs were shown in sheer stockings while she had a bunny suit on including a bustline that showed her B-cup chest to best effect. I suspected there might be something helping underneath. She even had a fluffy cottontail and bunny ears.

“Uh, hello,” I managed.

“You likey?” She spun around. She was barefoot except for some clear sheer material that completely enclosed her legs in a way that had to be pantyhose of some kind.

“I think I might have just developed a new kink.”

“Good.” She seemed pleased.

“Now, I’m not complaining, at all. But, why?”

“It seemed like it would be fun. I saw you kind of lingering on Mai in the bunny suit in the show so I thought you’d like this.”

“Did you go out and buy it?”

“Uh ... no.” She turned a little red. “I ordered a bunny outfit for Halloween last year and it was supposed to be like a, well, you know, rabbit, all white and fluffy all over but they sent this instead. I couldn’t use it so this is the first time I’ve gotten to use it.”

I pursed my lips. “You definitely could have.”

“Oh no,” she held up her hand, “I do a Halloween party at the hospital for the kids each year, give out candy and that sort of thing. This was not going to be worn there.”

“It’s lifting my healing spirits.”

“Down boy!” She still sounded pleased. “You have to help me set some stuff up.”

“Like what?”

“Did you see the boxes in the kitchen?”

“No, I haven’t been in there since I got back.”

“Mom sent me with dim sum as snacks for dance practice. I need you to show me how to steam them though.”

“I can talk you through it. We can let them steam slowly and they’ll be good by the time everyone gets here. What did she send?”

“Let’s see.” She opened the box and pulled out some paper with some kind of Chinese glyphs on them. I asked later and found it was called hanzi. My gaze went down to her thighs. Damn did they look nice and every centimeter was there to enjoy. Ji didn’t have big muscular legs but they were long compared to her whole body.

“Robert?”

“Huh?”

“You didn’t hear anything I said, did you?”

“Sure, I was listening.”

She gave the stink eye. “What is in these, then?”

“Some dim?” I gave my most innocent smile.

Ji closed her eyes, put her fingertips at the bridge of her nose, and started laughing. “You are hopeless. There are three trays here. The first is peanut, pork, and garlic. The second is beef and cabbage. The third are mushrooms, duck, and chives. She must have made a trip somewhere, she doesn’t buy duck unless it’s fresh.”

I stood up and looked in at the tiny parcels of happiness. “You said your mom doesn’t cook much.”

“She doesn’t but she is good at what she makes. I’ve had all these lots of times.”

“The peanut and pork sound interesting, I’ve never had that combination. Mushroom and duck sounds good too. Well, so do beef and cabbage. Lavi will probably really like that one.”

“Now I’m getting hungry,” she said.

“Me too, but it’ll take a while to get these ready and they’re for later.”

“Let’s go over it then.” So, we did. I talked her through setting up the multi-level steamer and getting it going. I watched her ass as she moved around. She caught onto everything quickly even if her instructor was distracted, which seemed to amuse her.

“Now let’s take care of us,” I said.

She looked at me lustfully. “What did you have in mind?”

“Lunch.”

Her seductive face dropped into confusion. “Lunch?”

“Lunch. I haven’t eaten yet.”

“I haven’t eaten either. You know, I’m supposed to be teasing you but I’m not sure who is teasing who now. So, what is for lunch?”

She leaned back against the counter. I was tempted to say her but instead, I said. “There are two types of people in this world. Those who eat leftovers and those who don’t.”

“Who doesn’t eat leftovers?” She had her hands on her skinny hips.

“Exactly, they’re monsters. We have eggs in the fridge. How much?”

Ji opened the fridge and found the plastic container. “Lots.”

“Great, now we need gravy.”

“You,” she pointed at me, “are not supposed to exert yourself.”

“Exactly, which is why I’m going to sit here and watch you do it.”

“You just want to perv on me.”

“No, I want to perv on you and have gravy.”

“I’m wearing a bunny girl outfit.”

“Which is why we’re not going to fry anything. Trust me; fried potatoes with eggs and gravy sound awesome.”

She sighed. “So, what are we going to have with it?”

“Just bread, I figure open-faced sandwiches. Lavi grabbed some from a bakery that will be decent.”

Ji smiled. “All right.” I showed her how to make gravy and we ate the sandwiches with forks. “I didn’t know milk gravy was that easy to make. Do you always make it with this much pepper?”

“Yeah, I think pepper goes better with milk gravy than brown gravy.”

“Well, I like it. And I really appreciate you taking the time to help me learn how to do this stuff.” She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before standing up and taking the plates to the sink to rinse them off. Walking back I noticed a little sway to her hips and she pulled my chair back from the table and straddled me. “Now you’ve filled my belly, I’m still hungry.”

Kissing her seemed the right thing to do so I did. It was frustrating not being able to reach around her but she took care of that for me putting her arms around my neck. She tasted of black pepper and, somehow, as insane as it might sound, sweet melon. My good hand ran over her back and she started kissing my neck. Standing up Ji backed up a few steps and wiggling managed to wiggle out of the bunny costume. I was proven right that she had on one of those half bras that had connected in the back and pushed her breasts up.

I grinned. “Leave the ears on.” She laughed and tossed the costume and bra onto the table. That’s when I discovered the pantyhose was crotchless. “Thinking ahead?”

She didn’t respond except by action and pulled my pants down. I started to reach down and help but she pushed my hand back. “I’ll take care of everything.”

“I feel useless.”

“You feel like a patient.”

“A charity patient.”

She froze. “What do you mean?”

I took a deep breath. “I just don’t want you doing this to make an impression on Lavi or anything.”

“If you think I don’t want to fuck you, you are wrong. I like you, Robert.”

“Like me?”

She laughed, “Yes, I like you. You’re my friend, I like you, sexually. I missed you.” She sat on my lap.

“I...”

She looked at me sideways. “What?”

“I guess I’m just surprised. I’ve thought of everyone as Melissa’s and Lavi’s friends.”

“And you’re what, just a plus one or something?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

She kissed my nose. “You do know that Zahra and Grace like you too. I mean, not like this,” she reached down and stroked me, “but they like you.”

I didn’t know what to say so I changed the topic to something even more embarrassing. I felt myself semi-hard in her hand. “Sorry I’m a bit ... uh, it’s not you, it’s me.”

“It’s fine. Melissa told me the meds were doing a job on you. You just relax.”

I tried to grin. “I don’t want to relax too much, I’m enjoying it.”

“Let’s just take our time then,” she said and began grinding on me and put her arms back around my neck pulling me to her chest. I suckled on her small pert breasts and felt myself slowly harden. It wasn’t an impressive show of my virility but Ji managed to work it into her and slowly worked me until I came gently inside her. A few minutes later she paused and shuddered in my lap.

She hugged me tightly to her and I thought about apologizing for poor performance but as she held me I felt her melt into me and realized this hadn’t been about sex, it had been about just having a personal moment between us. I smiled and felt myself tear up a little as I nuzzled her hair.

That night Melissa and Lavi were in the kitchen while I reclined on the patio. Melissa was making dinner. She had put a whole chicken in the oven to roast with lemons and herbs. I could smell it through the open patio door and it was making me hungry. Lavi had taken some small potatoes and was boiling them. Finally, they tossed a simple salad with some crisp lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and carrots. I moved to the patio table and sat obediently as Lavi began setting the table. I thought it all looked wonderful until Lavi brought out the plastic bottles.

“What are those?”

Lavi looked amused. “Salad dressings. Melissa got a few options.”

“You know dressings are really, very, easy to make. A creamy cucumber dressing, or a ginger soy, like five minutes max.”

Lavi leaned over and kissed my forehead. “I’ll get you the bacon vinaigrette.”

I started to yell after her. This didn’t count as my care so I could argue but she was already back in the house. This being injured was going to kill me but realized I should get used to it. As it was they were trying to get better at cooking, I shouldn’t throw tantrums over a few shortcuts. At least I had a new Godzilla movie to watch tonight.