I blink at her directness. I have never talked so openly about periods with … anybody. It makes me wonder then just how much shame I’ve lived with over my life.
“So, how do we do this again…?” I ask, thinking back to that first perfect night together. The way our legs slotted into place. The way we leaned back and thrust into each other’s bodies. The noises we made. The pain and friction and pleasure we created.
I’m throwing the sheets off us and manoeuvring so our legs are interwoven when I hear a knock at the door.
I turn my head towards the noise.
“What’s wrong?” Pia asks, her hands on my hips, massaging my flesh through my nightgown.
“There’s someone at the door,” I explain.
“Oh,” she says.
“You didn’t hear that? Pia, did you get your ears checked?”
“Not yet,” she says, quickly and dismissively, but I’m not going to forget.
The knocking comes again, and this time she hears it.
“Ignore it,” I say, my eyes on Pia’s nipples, which are tight and dark. I want to kiss them, suck them, play with them with my tongue.
“Now who’s the rebel?” Pia teases me, and I understand the meaning of the word swoon as I react to her praise. And the way she continues to grip my waist, possessively, a little roughly. Like she can’t get enough of my body.
The knocking sounds out again, and this time, it’s louder.
“Whoever that is,” Pia says, “they’re not going away.”
“They will,” I sigh as I start to roll my body against hers. I want to fuck her so badly. But then I stop. “Wait, unless…”
“Unless what?” Pia stops moving. “Wait, do you think it’s Stephan fucking Greene out there?”
“No,” I say, perhaps too quickly. “I don’t think so … I mean, he’s never awake this early…”
Pia doesn’t wait for me to finish my sentence. She’s off me and off the bed in a flash. In just her underwear, she marches through the suite and to the door. I am a little slower following her, grabbing my robe and throwing it on as I do. The door is already open by the time I catch up.
It is not Stephan. It is Clarence. Poor Clarence, who looks like he’s seen a ghost as he looks at Pia, and then swiftly averts his eyes.
“Cassie, shit, I’m sorry, I…” he mumbles to the door frame. “I didn’t know you had company.”
“Hi, Clarence,” Pia says like they’re old friends while standing there, topless, with one hand on the door and the other on her cocked hip. I wish I didn’t notice how sexy she looked.
“Clarence, are you okay?” I say, stepping in front of Pia so his modesty is saved, even if hers doesn’t need it.
“Yes, fine, I just thought we agreed to rehearse this morning. At ten, but you didn’t show up. I couldn’t reach you on your room phone, and Kevin hadn’t heard from you, so I got a bit worried.”
“Shit,” I hiss, and that has Pia flashing me a wide-eyed look. “I totally forgot.”
“Well,” Clarence offers us both a shy smile. “I see you got distracted.”
“Yes, I did…but still, I’m sorry, if you just give me an hour?—”
“It can wait,” Clarence says quickly as his eyes ping-pong between Pia and me. “I’m actually going to meet an old friend for lunch, so…”
“Right, okay, well, I am really sorry, Clarence. That wasn’t cool of me.”
His eyes are kind when they settle on me. “Don’t apologise. Sometimes, unexpected things happen.”
It’s very clear he’s not talking about me missing our rehearsal.
