“Um… yeah…”
He saw what I was looking at. “Focus,” he teased.
“On this?” I asked as I reached out and caressed his limp shaft – after which it wasn’t quite so limp anymore.
“Ah,” he groaned, and leaned down and kissed me. Then he pulled away. “And don’t do that, or you won’t be able to call her for another half an hour.”
“That long, huh?”
“Well… two minutes, at least.”
I grinned and headed out to the bedroom with a towel wrapped around me.
Anh answered on the first ring.
“Lily?!”
“I’m sorry, I should have called, I’m sorry – ”
“Are you alright?!”
“I’m fine.”
“Where are you?!”
“Uh… Vegas?” I said with a wince.
A pause on the other end.
Then my roommate’s inner ‘mom’ kicked in.
“You thought it was a good idea to go to Las Vegas after everything that happened this morning?! And on, like, two hours of sleep?! And you didn’t let me KNOW?!”
“Well… Connor was driving, so…”
Another pause.
Then my roommate’s inner fan girl busted out.
“OH MY GOD, LILY!” she squealed happily. “DID HE – DID YOU – ”
“He showed up in the parking garage and said he was sorry, and asked me to get in the car with him.”
“And you got in?”
“Well… yeah, ” I said, like, Duh .
She paused.
“Did… uh… you change your mind about his offer from last night?”
“What off– oh, no, GOD no – NO. He was just so sweet and amazing, and… and I couldn’t help myself…”
“Okay, good – so he’s not paying you, that’s good.”
I winced again.
Tell her later, or tell her now?
Might as well rip the band-aid off fast.
“Um… actually… he’d already deposited $50,000 in my account,” I admitted.
“WHAT?!”
“He said it was a gift, no strings attached, if I didn’t get in the car I could keep it anyway, and I didn’t want it, but he said to donate it if I didn’t want it,” I said hurriedly.
“…uhhh… okay…”
I could hear the doubt in her voice.
“I got in because I wanted to get in, Anh,” I said forcefully.
“…and the fact that you had just gotten fired had nothing to do with it?”
“No. I mean, no, it didn’t have anything to do with it.”
I was starting to get annoyed. Half because she was harshing my buzz – and half because she was picking at some half-buried doubts of my own.
“…okay,” she relented. “Just as long as you’re happy. You ARE happy, right?”
I thought back to my conversation with Connor in the car.
And the last 45 minutes.
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, then,” Anh said, as though that settled it.
Then she paused again.
“ …50,000 dollars? Are you serious?”
“Yeah…” I said nervously, chewing at my lip.
“Jeez, Lily, you must be something ELSE in bed.”
“Anh!” I laughed, shocked that my roommate would even think such a thing.
“I wish some gorgeous guy would pay ME fifty grand for my poonanny.”
“OH MY GOD, you did NOT just say that!” I howled, caught between shocked laughter and righteous indignation.
“Oh, and way to go on negotiating for a higher – ”
“IT WAS A GIFT!”
“Uh huh… yeah, you’ll notice he’s not giving ME $50,000, though…”
“Anh – ”
“I’m just kidding. You know that.”
“I know,” I said, though I was a little nervous.
As Dr. Sheldon Cooper, my favorite TV nerd of all time, said once on The Big Bang Theory: ‘It’s funny because it’s true.’
But I pushed that out of my mind.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet…”
“Yeah, well, don’t put it all on black.”
“Oh hell no. And I think I can cover rent this month,” I teased.
“You think?”
“Maybe take you out for a deluxe spa day, my treat.”
“Ohhhh – NOW you’re talking.”
There was a pause, and her voice suddenly became serious.
“Lily?”
“Yeah?”
“…be careful, okay?”
“I will,” I promised.
“When are you coming back?”
“I don’t know. It could