"I'm going to have a shower now. I need to get to work," Amy said after a pause, standing. "Do you need anything from the bathroom?"
"No, I'm good." Luisa looked at Amy with a look that Amy had grown to know over recent weeks. "Do you have to go in the shower right away?"
Amy felt her heart beat a little faster. The beautiful woman she loved, sat up naked in her bed, asking if she really needed that shower quite yet... it was tempting, very tempting.
"I'd love nothing more than to get back into bed with you..." Amy let her dressing gown fall away, nothing underneath. She climbed on to the bed, straddling Luisa's lap, trying to ignore the autumn morning chill that gave her goosebumps. "But I really have to get to work." She took Luisa's tea, set it to one side, then with both hands cupping Luisa’s jaw she kissed her, slowly,deeply, passionately. When she pulled back it was with a glint in her eye. "Will this keep you going until Sunday though?"
Luisa grinned and narrowed her eyes. "Until Sunday..."
Luisa
London
Luisa stirred at the sound of Amy coming back into the room with their cups of tea. It was only the third day of that tradition, but she hoped it became one that lasted. As she dozed, she felt Amy's hand stroke her cheek, pushing back some hair that had fallen loose during the night, and she rolled over, making a noise she didn’t really know she was making. A memory nagged at her, vaguely, that she needed to talk to Amy about something before she left for Italy, but in her sleep addled mind she couldn’t work out what.
"Buenas dias," Amy said quietly, smiling.
Luisa opened her eyes just a crack and smiled back. "We'll work on your pronunciation... good morning."
"I made you tea. You don't have to drink it.”
Luisa forced herself to sit up, reminding herself that she was leaving for Amalfi later that morning, and as she did, she pulled the duvet up to her armpits for warmth. She liked London but the cold was taking some getting used to. Although maybe, she thought, the answer to that was to not sleep naked with Amy, and she didn't want to end that any time soon.
"Genuinely, I'm starting to like it." She laughed. "Not much admittedly, but I think it's good in the mornings. It's gentler than coffee."
"We'll make an Englishwoman of you yet..."
They looked at each other while Luisa took a sip, and as the last remnants of sleep fell away she remembered, the thing that she needed to tell Amy about. Bel. She felt her pulse quicken, a jolt of adrenaline at the fear that this might not go perfectly, but she knew that she needed to say something. It just wouldn't feel right to fly to Italy, knowing that Bel would be there, knowing their history, without being open with Amy about it. She'd been putting it off for days, never finding the right moment, too scared of breaking what they had, and this morning was the last chance.
Luisa opened her mouth to speak, took a breath, but then Amy got there first. "I'm going to have a shower now, I need to get to work. Do you need anything from the bathroom?"
"No, I'm good." Luisa looked at Amy, stood in her short dressing gown, knowing that that fabulous body was beneath the thin layer of fabric. Wanting her so much. But she needed to tell her about Bel, so maybe Amy could delay for a few minutes. "Do you have to go in the shower right now?"
"I'd love nothing more than to get back into bed with you..." Amy misunderstood, let her dressing gown fall away, nothing underneath. She climbed on to the bed, straddling Luisa's lap. "But I really have to get to work." She took Luisa's cup of tea, set it to one side, then with both hands cupping Luisa’s jaw she kissed her, slowly, deeply, passionately. When she pulled back it was with a glint in her eye. "Will this keep you going until Sunday though?"
Luisa grinned and narrowed her eyes, not wanting to spoil the mood. "Until Sunday..."
Amy gave her one more quick kiss, then climbed off and went in the bathroom. Luisa stayed sitting there, thinking she’d talk to Amy about Bel while she got dressed instead, looking out at the sky through the gap in the curtains, sipping her tea as it cooled down. She really, genuinely was starting to like it.
Thinking about what she needed to do to actually make it on to her flight to Italy later, her mind was drifting when she saw her phone screen light up with a message. She reached over instinctively to where it was sat on the bed and saw a message pop up:
I can’t wait until tonight, a month is too long x
The sender said Sarah.
Luisa dropped the phone back onto the bed like it was too hot to touch.Fuck, that was Amy’s phone, she realised.
She sat back. The sound of the shower running, Amy singing something quietly and relatively tunelessly, came from the bathroom door. Apart from that the house was silent.
Luisa didn't know what to think. She wished she could unsee that message, scrub it from her memory, because there was no ambiguity there, none whatsoever... without a doubt Amy had plans with Sarah later, and plans that she suspected didn't end with a glass of wine and a friendly wave goodbye. Plans that Amy had not mentioned to Luisa once, even in passing.
Her heart was racing, and she felt sick, to think of Amy with Sarah. She knew that it had beentheSarah at the sushi place on Monday… Amy had hidden her reaction well but she’d noticed the way she stiffened when Sarah approached the table, not to mention the not infrequent glances across at them as the meal went on. But as Amy had said nothing Luisa had allowed herself to think that maybe that was history, particularly as Sarah was obviously on a date of her own with Rebecca.
A wave of jealousy rolled through her. She wanted Amy for herself, all for herself, she didn't want to share her.
The irony wasn't lost on her. If Amy knew about Bel, about what inevitably happened every time they worked together, would Amy feel this same sick jealousy? Probably. But that was different, Luisa told herself. What she had with Bel was an arrangement without emotional strings, a tradition that belonged to another world. Amy and Sarah seemed to have something much more involved entirely.
The temptation was to pick up Amy's phone and read through the other messages, to see what Amy had said previously, to see how their dialogue was, but Luisa knew that that was a truly terrible idea. Open that door and only bad things came out.
