SIX
KAT
If I didn't know any better, I'd swear things don’t feel any different. That the three of us are still the same people we were before this trip even started. Except that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Hours have passed since our exercise in desire, dinner now nearly over, and the ache between my thighs lingers with the memory of Ollie on her knees for me.
I know what my boyfriend’s best friend tastes like. I don’t have to wonder what her mouth feels like on my body.
After Vince came home, I half expected Ollie to disappear to her room again, leaving me to live a nightmare of thinking she had regrets about what we’d done. But, instead, she came right back down, sketchbook in hand, and sank into the hammock on the deck.
She spent most of the day swaying back and forth, scribbling on page after page. Every so often, I would catch her peeking up at me, her dark eyes lingering absently before dropping back to her paper. Something about the thought of her drawing me—studying me—makes my stomach flutter.
Of course, there was no way to know if she was drawing me. The only hard boundary Ollie ever set was with that sketchbook. It is completely off limits to everyone, even Vince, try as he might. She never lets anyone see it, and she never leaves it out inthe open for anyone to sneak a peek. Countless times at parties and get-togethers, friends would beg her to take a look at her recent work, and she would refuse to the point of getting pissed and storming off to a quiet corner by herself. I always snapped a picture, a rare moment when Ollie closed herself off from the world.
Vince spent his afternoon at the patio table, plucking away at his laptop, no doubt answering all the emails he’s been ignoring for the past few days. Potential clients reaching out to commission him to create eye-catching branding and marketing material. Ever since he quit his boring corporate marketing position and started working for his friend at her new design company, Haley Rose Designs, his creativity has soared to new heights, thanks to the freedom to create vibrant logos and unique website designs.
As structured and straight-laced as he is, his imagination is a playground.
I passed the day snapping pictures of the cabin, the forest, and the wildlife, studying the way shadows can be naturally manipulated into abstract shapes. The way the trees splinter the light into both sharp angles and soft shifting patterns against the cabin walls, or how the porch railing throws long bars of shadow across the floorboards.
The shadows lengthened as the day wore on, casting new shapes the longer I stood still.
No matter how hard I tried to focus, I couldn’t help but find my lens pointed at Ollie and Vince quite a few times.
There is no going back from this for any of us, and yet, the sun is setting, and the dinner table is a mess of half-empty plates when it hits me just how fucking normal things feel.
A few short hours ago, Ollie had her face buried in my pussy at this very table. And now, she’s sitting across from me, her handscovering her mouth as she laughs. The kind of laugh that makes you want to join in just to feel like part of the moment.
“Shut up! That is so not what happened,” Ollie wheezes, swatting at Vince’s arm.
“Ollie, you nearly burnt down the entire dorm!” Vince laughs.
“It was a controlled fire!” she protests.
“You called the smoke alarm a snitch and ripped it off the wall!”
“Snitches get stitches.”
I lose it. Full belly laugh, no dignity, all snorts. Ollie turns on me instantly, looking at me as if I personally betrayed her.
Vince’s eyes flicker to me, and he throws me a wink when I meet his gaze. I can see the amusement in his eyes, the way his gaze lingers a little too long, like he’s checking to make sure I’m still here, still part of this. Still okay with whatever the hell is happening between us.
I am more than okay.
“Don’t googly eye him!” Ollie points her fork at me. “Do not buy into this smear campaign! He’s a fucking liar!”
“I am not lying!”
“It was your idea to make s'mores in the microwave!”
Vince grins, completely shameless. “And whose idea was it to leave it unattended while we went to the vending machines?”
“Yours!” Ollie shoots back, but she’s laughing again. "Gah! You're infuriating!"
Vince is watching her with that same look he always gets when Ollie is at her most unguarded. It’s the same one that blossoms on my face every time I see her smile.
There’s a moment where the three of us just sit here, existing in peace, the clink of forks and the low hum of the world outside filling the space. The normalcy of it presses in on me, warm and terrifying.
