As we went led me into his apartment, I realized it was a lot different from mine. The layout was much bigger, even though I only spotted one door off to the side for the bedroom. The living room was massive, with a full-size lounging set, where Greg motioned for me to sit. He opened my laptop and prepped everything for what I needed to do.
I sat down, pulled the computer to my lap and opened my email. Then I heard Greg leave the apartment once more. I tried not to look around, but I couldn’t help it. This apartment was totally different from how Greg had originally furnished the one I had now. The furniture was more sleek and the kitchen had black granite countertops and black cupboards. The walls were painted a soft grey with black flecks, and there was no TV in the living room. Instead he had a wall of built-in book shelves from floor to ceiling and completely filled. I set my laptop to the side on the couch and made my way to the bedroom door and opened it into a wonderland. The room was painted in a dark olive green with a king-size canopy bed in the middle of the room that made it feel almost like walking into a different world.
I heard the door to the apartment open, but before I could leave the room, Greg was standing in the doorway blocking me.
“Do you like it?” His eyes were big, like he needed the reassurance that the home he had created here without me was perfect.
“I love it.” I said as I looked around the room once more.
“Come with me.” He pulled at my hand for me to follow, and that’s when I noticed the duffle bag he was holding with a few of my dresses peeking out. He had gone over to my apartment to get me clothes. Greg pulled me towards a door off to the right and opened up to a large closet that was only half-full. “The empty side is yours.”
Greg turned around to look at me, but I wasn’t paying attention, just shoving him out of the way and taking the duffle from his hand to hang up my clothes. There was a dresser on my side and a whole row of black velvet hangers. I looked back at Greg, who was leaning against the door frame watching me, as I started to empty out my bag. I thought he had only packed dresses, bras, and heels, but down at the very bottom was my favorite pair of Converse, jeans, and Fall Out Boy shirt.
“What, no underwear?” I laughed as I shoved the bras he had packed into the top drawer.
“I don’t see a need for them.” He shot back at me and I laughed at him and continued to unpack.I filled the rest of the dresser with what I could and hung up my dresses, then moved to the shoe rack. I stepped back to see just how empty my side still was, when I felt Greg’s arms wrap around me.
“Your stuff looks good in here.” His kissed below my ear and that’s how we started our weekend of hibernation.
Greg and I didn’t go to work on Friday. We stayed in bed all day working from our laptops. We had taken the conversation we had at our last session with Tessa seriously, about spending more time together and I was shocked when we didn’t start to get sick of each other. We worked well together in the sense that we didn’t always need each other. We liked a lot of the same things, but we still had our little things that kept us sane, like Greg’s love of mystery books and my passion for romantic movies, which I snuck in watching on my laptop when Greg got engrossed in a chapter.
Our differences allowed for us to be able to spend time apart, but still be together. Greg had managed to sneak out of the apartment once to grab some groceries to make dinner on Saturday night. I had finished one movie and started another when I finally look at the clock to see that he had been gone for over two hours. Just when I was about to call him, Greg finally came back with more than just groceries. He brought an entire new wardrobe for me, stating that he loved what I normally wore, but wanted to try something a little different.
I had gone through the bags he had brought while he cooked dinner that night and found a few sundresses that showed more skin than I was normally comfortable, but then there were some new formal dresses and a royal blue pant suit. I hung everything up and pulled out the shoes from the bottom of the bag and saw a pair to match each dress.
I knew it was a crazy notion but I loved that Greg had taken it upon himself to do this. I looked through the clothes, running my hands across them thinking that he was creating a new life for us. Something that was in the apartment only, not what was left behind in the other apartment. That was the past and this was the future.
It had felt good not to have the pressure of our friends breathing down our necks over the weekend. Alexa and Erica had messaged me a few times to see if we were still alive, but I assured them we could do brunch on Sunday if they let Greg and me have the rest of the weekend to ourselves.
So here I was, making my way to the back of the restaurant where I saw Alexa and Erica sitting at a table waiting for me. Both of them were speechless when I reached the table, both looking me up and down. Today I decided to wear one of the new sundresses that Greg had bought yesterday. It was a light blue that made me look more tan than I was and cupped what little breasts I did have and made them look even larger. Greg had expressed how he didn’t like it when I wore bras or panties because it was just another barrier for him, so since he had taken them off Thursday night, I hadn’t put any back on.
I sat down at the table and reached across the girls to grab some candied bacon and popped it into my mouth.
“You look sexed up.” Alexa commented on my outfit and I choked on the piece that was trying to be swallowed.
“Thanks,” I coughed, trying to make sure that it went down the right side. To make the burning sensation stop, I reached for Alexa’s mimosa and downed about half of it, instantly soothing my throat.
The waiter stopped at our table and dropped off a mimosa for me without us even having to ask and then on his way back placed an opened bottle of champagne and a pitcher of orange juice on our table. Once upon a time we came here every Sunday for a whole month and once drank them out of champagne. We had no shame.
“Did you order my sausage sliders?” I hadn’t directed the question towards anyone in particular, but Erica was the one who answered.
“You’re acting like we don’t know you.” She laughed just as the waiter brought our platters, mine filled with four sliders and a side of scrambled eggs. I reached for the ketchup, smothered my eggs and dove in.
“Has Greg not been feeding you?” Erica snatched the fork out of my hand after I had shoveled three huge bites of eggs into my mouth.
“Please don’t ever say that again.” Alexa covered her ears and started to drown us out.
“What’s her problem?” Erica look at me then to Alexa.
“Max once said that to me about Adam. I know where that question leads.” She just shook her head and continued to eat her food.
“Ok…” Erica held the fork between me and her and I ducked my head to snatch the food that was hanging from it. “Lilly!” Erica pulled the fork further away, but not before I finished the bite.
“What?” I said with a full mouth, as I reached over and grabbed Alexa’s fork instead and continued to eat away.
“Speaking of Max,” Alexa said, as she finished chewing the bite she had gotten in before I stole her fork. “he’s serious about you two telling him about your relationship tomorrow.”
I had avoided this conversation with Erica and Alexa for a reason. I didn’t want to think about how our friends had bombarded us with this ultimatum. Both girls had texted me that they were sorry for not warning me, but they had both agreed with what had been said. They didn’t want to see me hurt, or Greg either, so everyone had decided that Greg and I needed to figure this out not just for ourselves, for the whole office.
