Page 37 of Only One Bed: Anthology Vol. 1
“Is that what happened?” Shazza added cutlets to the frying pan and they sizzled, filling the air with a satisfying scent which made Anvita’s mouth water. Her parents were non-veg, and They’d always tried to fit in with Australian customs and food culture, so she’d grown up eating a wide variety of foods from everywhere. Pretty typical Aussie. Lots of Indian cuisine too, comfort foods cooked by her grandparents who’d grown up in northern India.
“No.” It had been worse. She hauled in a deep breath. “I met one of his colleagues at a party. Oh my gosh, Nadia was so beautiful, and we had an instant chemical attraction. Like, the total air crackling thing that I thought was just something they wrote in books. It was both amazing and totally awkward at the same time. I realised I’d always been attracted to women as well, and anyway…” Anvita closed her eyes and eased out a long breath. When she flicked her eyes open again, Shazza’s face was pink.
“Same, but I married Shane and that was that.” Shazza looked back at her cooking and fussed around with the food.
Anvita’s lips dried out and she licked them. How could one look make heat pool in her belly like that? “Nadia and I flirted off and on at various functions. I was married, so nothing could come of it, but damn, Nadia was irresistible. It was so hard to stay away from her, like I was just drawn to her, and anyway, it didn’t help because I was already regretting my marriage. Brian wanted to start a family; He’d read somewhere that men with children were more likely to become a CEO than men without. But my career was taking off, and I didn’t want to sacrifice that yet. It was really the perfect storm; with things so bad at home, it would’ve been so easy to cheat on Brian.” Nadia had the same plump curves as Shazza, her perfect type.
“Did you?”
“Almost. We were at a function, and we brushed past each other in a hallway. I was leaving the toilets and she was going there. She stumbled, and I grabbed her forearm to stop her falling. Brian saw, and assumed we were kissing.”
“Shit. Did he get angry?” Shazza’s eyes were wide open.
Anvita shook her head. “No. Worse.”
“What is worse?” Shazza’s puzzled expression brought back all the irritating feelings of that day and Anvita shuddered. She shook her head once to try and get rid of the dreaded prickly sensation.
“Brian proposed a threesome.”
Shazza blinked once. “What the fuck? Fucking men.”
“And—”
“There’s an and?”
Anvita held up her hands and did air quotes again. “It’s not cheating because we all want it.”
“He said that. What a—”
Anvita sighed. “Yeah, that’s what Nadia said. She stood tall, spine rigid, and said she’d never be someone’s unicorn.” Anvita remembered rushing away to the toilet and searching it up. The concept of a unicorn hunter still brought bile to the back of her throat. Straight men married to bisexual women wanting to find another woman to fuck without technically cheating.
So gross.
“It was the last straw. I realised that Brian said a lot of things that just slid under my radar, things I could excuse as a one-off, except they were regular occurrences.” She’d left them both that day; immediately asked Brian for a divorce and had never seen Nadia again. Their flirtation had been the catalyst for the end of her marriage. She was too ashamed to continue.
“Come here.” Shazza stood up and held out her arms. Anvita scrambled off the back of the ute, landing with a jar through her ankles. Before she could react to the awkward dismount, Shazza had bundled her into a comforting hug. Her body fitted perfectly against hers, soft and welcoming, and Shazza’s hands stroked gently up and down her spine. They stood there, locked together, with Anvita resting her head on Shazza’s strong shoulder, just soaking up the care Shazza gifted her.
“Fuck.” Shazza’s curse broke the connection between them, and Anvita lifted her head. The smell of burnt lamb wafted past. “Sorry, I’ll just rescue the dinner.”
“And then more hugs?” Anvita wished she didn’t sound so desperate, but damn a hug from someone who cared, and who felt like Shazza was exactly what she needed. Until now, she hadn’t known that she missed physical comfort. After her divorce she’d kept to herself, needing to be strong for herself, unable to let herself rely on someone else’s comfort. But Shazza undid all of that in one hug. She could spend hours nestled up against her soft, yet strong, body.
“Sure. Once we’ve eaten.” Shazza busied herself with the food, and if it wasn’t for the way the back of her neck had more colour than usual, Anvita would’ve assumed Shazza didn’t feel anything like she did.
Hugging Anvita filled Shazza’s body with so many feelings. Immediately, she felt useful. It was lovely to provide comfort to another human. Slowly as time had eased passed them both, with seconds drawing out into minutes, the hug had turned from basic comfort and helpfulness into the tingles of a growing attraction. She’d been very careful to keep her hug gentle and not push for anything more, but her mouth had watered and she really—really—wanted to kiss Anvita. Her hands stroked up and down Anvita’s slim spine in soothing movements and she made sure that was the only motion she did. Just waited until the muscles along Anvita’s spine started to soften and relax.
The whole story about her deadbeat shitty ex-husband layered everything with a rage that made her want to punch a pillow. Thump it hard to release some of the pent-up frustration that simmered alongside desire in her veins until her blood felt like it bubbled inside her. She might have crossed that invisible line from friendly and helpful into lust, when the smell of the dinner burning had caused her to leap away. Saved from embarrassment by burnt food. The crisp caramelisation on the lamb wouldn’t ruin the dish, but she’d turned off the heat immediately and flipped the lamb over so the burnt side wouldn’t keep burning in the heat of the pan. Caramelisation—pah, more like carbonation! But it could be fixed, and she wasn’t going to let it become a disaster.
“You okay?”
“I’m great. Can you pass me a couple of plates?” Shazza took them from Anvita’s hands, careful not to touch her. “And you? I’m so sorry about your ex.”
Anvita shrugged. “That’s why he’s an ex. Sorry to be such a misery.”
“Ah, don’t stress about it.” She plated up the lamb and added some pre-made salad to each plate. Yah for supermarkets and their easy meals. “There is bread too.” She handed Anvita a plate and walked with hers over to the back of the ute. She placed her plate on the tailgate of the ute, grateful that she’d thought to unhook it earlier, so the ute was easier to get into and the tail gate created a little table.
“This is terribly impressive.”
Shazza’s cheeks heated and she hummed an awkward agreement, unable to figure out how exactly to deal with the way she’d gone way overboard in preparing for tonight. She took the few steps to the cab of the ute to grab the bread.
