Page 24 of Sparks Fly
“I’m okay,” he lied. “Besides, it’s getting late and I don’t think causal hookups do sleepovers, do they?”
“I don’t think so, no,” she said.
Perhaps it was Max being hopeful, but Stella looked slightly disappointed as she said this, yet she’d already turned away from him to grab her bra from the floor. He helped her get it back on and then kissed her again.
“What are you doing tomorrow night?” he asked her.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I don’t think I have any plans.”
“Wanna go out with me?”
“Again?”
“Wow, sick of me already?”
“No, just…” She let her voice trail off.
“It’s just…?”
She waved her hand as if waving away the thought.
“Nothing,” she said finally. Then she smiled up at him. “I’d like that.”
Max wanted to push but thought better of it and said, “Good. Me, too.”
Thirteen
“You’ve had sex.”
Stella’s butt had barely touched the seat at their regular brunch table when Chelsea had thrown this accusation at her. It was Saturday, which meant they were at brunch with Effie and their friend Kira. Kira was one of the few people Stella and Chelsea had actually kept up with after college, mainly because as a proud lesbian Black Nuyorican, she fit right in with Stella and Chelsea, who were both queer and from Harlem and Long Island, respectively.
All three of Stella’s friends had their eyes trained on her as she grabbed the pitcher of water and poured herself a glass.
“Well,” Chelsea said, eyeing her.
“I’m sorry, that didn’t sound like a question,” Stella said before taking a sip of water.
Beside her Kira snorted and Effie’s mouth quirked up in a half smile. Chelsea, who was sitting directly across from Stella, put her elbows on the table and leaned forward.
“Where were you last night?”
Effie and Kira both whipped their heads to look at Stella, and it was then that Stella realized she was not just at brunch. This was an inquisition.
Truthfully, Stella should’ve expected it. She’d gotten home so late it was obvious she hadn’t come straight from work. Moreover, she’d arrived at their apartment (in an Uber that Max had paid for) at the same time Chelsea arrived home from her own Friday night plans.
To say Chelsea was surprised to find Stella not in bed with a good book but out in the streets was an understatement. However, Chelsea was clearly inebriated, so she’d asked no questions as they went into their apartment and promptly fell into their separate beds.
But now, the questions had arrived.
“I had a date,” Stella said.
She was feigning nonchalance, but Chelsea and Kira, who lived for drama, still gasped. Effie, to her credit, simply raised her brows in surprise.
“¿Con quién?” Kira asked.
At this, Stella hesitated. If she told her friends the truth about who she was with last night, especially with Effie here, it would become a whole thing. She’d been doing her best to put who Max was into a little box in the corner of her brain to be dealt with later, and she wasn’t ready for it to be later yet. Not when Max had texted her this morning asking what she’d like to do tonight.
For the first time, in maybe ever, Stella had someone who was totally into her who she was into, too. Moreover, after last night’s second failed attempt to go all the way, but still avery successful orgasm, Stella was excited to do more. Besides the regular ol’ P in the V, Stella wanted to try giving Max a blow job. (He was up two in giving rather than receiving at this point.) And she wanted to try phone sex or maybe video sex. She wanted to know what he liked, and more importantly, whatsheliked.
