“First things first,” Kirby said after hitting record. “Mara, have you gone through your welcome bag yet?”
“No.” Mara was sitting up very straight, stiff as a board.
“Great. Guess how many condoms are in here.”
Kirby had refused to tell her the video topic, and Mara had agreed with less fight than Kirby had expected.
“Really? That’s what we’re doing? We’re talking about condoms?” Mara said, plainly unimpressed.
“Yes. We’re doing an unboxing.” Kirby chucked a bunch of stuff out of the bag. Some lotions. A sleep mask. A bracelet. Chocolate.
“Hey, I’d take that.”
Kirby tossed the candy to her, and Mara opened it and popped it into her mouth. Kirby forced her gaze away from Mara’s lips.
“Okay, how many condoms?” Kirby repeated.
“I don’t know. Twelve,” she said offhandedly.
“Twelve! Geez, who is going through that many condoms through the course of the Games?”
“That’s less than one a day, KB.” Mara lifted her nose, all snooty, and Kirby wanted to pin her to the lounge sofa.
Mara had called her KB, like their other teammates. But it sounded so mean when Mara said it. Kirby loved it.
“Well, we can all hope to be as ambitious as Mara May.”
Mara gave her the clearest, dirtiest look, and Kirby knew this video was going to be gold.
She pulled a skinny box out of the bag. It was fancy for a sleeve of condoms.
“Mmm, nice box,” Kirby said.
Mara threw her head back and laughed, a true, loud laugh, and Kirby realized her mistaken euphemism.
Then she did pin Mara to the sofa, kissing the hell out of her. Her hand tangled in Mara’s hair, and Mara went under so easily it made Kirby’s head spin. They kissed for one long minute. Then another.
Kirby forced herself away.
“You can’t show that,” Mara gasped out.
“I know.” Kirby fixed Mara’s hair, taking longer than necessary because she just wanted to touch. “I’ll cut it out.”
Once they’d both stopped breathing hard, Kirby lifted the first condom out of the box. It had a pink wrapper with a cartoon animal on it.
“What is this?” Kirby said. “A rat?”
“It’s the Olympic mascot. She’s a stoat.”
“A stoat? It’s adorable you know that.”
“It’s adorable they put her on a condom,” Mara said. “Nothing says passion like a cartoon weasel. Let me do the next one.” She lifted one out of the box. “Oh, it’s a dental dam.”
“Sweet.” Kirby plucked it out of Mara’s hand, playfully slipped it into her pocket, and winked at the camera.
Mara rolled her eyes.
The next condoms they pulled out were colored to look like gold, silver, and bronze medals.
