Summary

Blair is a 26-year-old enigmatic grad school student, artist, writer and creator who is in a complicated “friendship” with a married man. She is an attractive and down-to-earth girl with a personality that people gravitate towards. Hunter is a successful 33-year-old with a cushy finance job who just got out of an 8-year relationship after walking in on his girlfriend cheating on him. Hunter is handsome, witty and charming, but his judgemental temperament can make him seem like an asshole at times. Conservative Hunter and wild-child Blair are the polar opposites of each other in too many ways to count, but end up striking up an odd friendship. But is that all there is between them—just friendship?

ONE – BLAIR

I let out a cry as Noah pushes into me faster and harder from behind, his entire shaft filling me inside out, over and over again. I can’t help but cry out—mostly out of pleasure but partly because I feel like I physically can’t take anymore of him inside me. I scream and moan in a voice that can be mistaken for an animal and I forget where I am and who I am for those brief moments.

He grabs one arm and pins it behind my back, pushing my face into the pillow and pulling my ass closer into him. His other hand rests on my hips, pulling me against his hot skin, pulling me closer and closer to ecstasy. He knows exactly what I like and exactly how to give it to me.

“Uhh, I’m gonna come, baby…” he groans as he moves the one hand from my wrist to the other side of my hips.

“Oh yes, daddy, pleeeease” I scream, reaching back and grabbing his ass with one hand, feebly pulling him into me even deeper.

He gives one last pump, pulls out, and rips off the condom, spilling his juices all over the rim of my ass and down the lips of my opening.

With my ass still in the air, I can sense his cream dripping, down my lips, and onto my sheets, but physically I’m too exhausted to even move my hand down to save my sheets. I collapse onto the bed and sprawl out like a starfish. I feel my eyelids getting heavy and I’m ready to take a nap.

Noah collapses beside me on his back, with one leg hanging over mine and an arm on his stomach. He runs his hands through his hair and lets out a sigh of satisfaction.

“How was that, babe?” He asks coyly, turning on his side to face me and playing with a few sweaty strands of my hair.

I sigh, knowing that he’s fishing for a compliment even when we both know one isn’t necessary. “How do you think?” He knows I’m not one to stroke egos.

He moves his face closer to mine and touches the tip of his nose to mine. My eyes are still closed but I have a feeling he wants to kiss me, which is something we’ve never done after sex ever since he got married. We use to cuddle and kiss after sex, but that was a time long ago. When I was younger and more naive. But things got messy. Things are cleaner the way they are now. Well, as clean as an affair with a married man can be, anyway.

I blush, suddenly feeling vulnerable despite the past couple of hours we spent exploring the deepest intimacies of each other’s bodies.

Something inside tells me it is time to go. The fantasy is up. Time to return to reality. I get up, and let him know I’m going to have a cold shower.

I step inside the tub, hoping to clear my head with cool water, but I’m still hot and throbbing below. As I’m washing my hair, I hear the shower door open and a warm body presses against mine but not for long. Noah quickly soaps himself and jumps out, giving me a quick peck on the cheek before getting dressed.

“Sorry B,” he always calls me B after sex, like we’re just buddies or something “I’ve gotta head home now” he says, speaking more to his phone than to me really, “hmm, and apparently pick up some milk on the way too…” he voice trails off as his fingers start typing away on his phone. The same fingers that were just inside of me not long ago.

I know it’s a message from Jessica, his wife. But I don’t say anything. What can I say, really? I just give him a nonchalant “mhmm” and continue my cold shower.

I hear him grab his keys from the coffee table and then moments later, the door closes behind him.

I jump out of the shower and pull on a lose tank top and shorts, gather my soiled sheets and head to the first floor of my small apartment building where the laundry machines are. As I open my front door, I notice that the unit across from my apartment’s door is wide open, I peer inside and see moving boxes and unassembled furniture lying on the floor of the living room. Yves, the guy who used to occupy the unit just moved out a few days ago.

As I’m standing there, wondering who my new neighbour is, a tall, and decidedly handsome man with broad shoulders, dark brown hair and deep brown eyes appears in front of me bare chested and sweaty, holding a few miscellaneous items in his hands. He looks like he is in his late twenties or early thirties, likely not more than a few years older than myself.

“Excuse me.” He says, in a tone that’s not exactly friendly.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” I secretly think to myself ‘boy I’m sorry you didn’t move in earlier’ as I take in his deliciously and visibly muscular frame.

He stands there, waiting for me to move. I stand there, still holding on to my stained sheets, not realizing for a hot second what he was waiting for. I finally move out of the way, apologizing again, and let him pass.

Our landing space is small, with each floor only having two units. I suddenly feel naughty and wonder whether he heard Noah and I earlier as he was moving in, or whether he could smell sex in the air from my sheets as he brushed past me to go into his new apartment. As he walked past me, our forearms touched. I smiled in what I thought was a friendly and non-creepy manner, but he didn’t even bother looking back before heading into his unit.

I go downstairs, throw my sheets in the wash and head back upstairs, hoping I’d get a chance to introduce myself now that I’ve taken a few moments to collect myself and also to get rid of the evidence of debauchery.

But I don’t spot him again on my way up the stairs. When I get to the top of the third floor, the door to his unit is already closed. I hesitate for a second and wonder whether I should knock, but decide against it. He doesn’t seem like the neighbourly type anyway.

I shrug and go into unit 301, plop down on my sofa and think about the amazing sex I just had. A cold breeze from my open balcony window hits me I become very aware of my hard nipples against my lose tank top. Gosh, if my balcony door was open, whoever was outside definitely heard me. My balcony faces the road, where my mystery neighbour’s car must have been parked while he was moving.

The thought of him having heard me sends a rush of blood to my head and to my thighs… I gasp. Anyway… what am I to do while I wait for my laundry? My hands move down instinctively to my thighs as my head is immediately filled with the very recent memories of Noah fucking the shit out of me. We finished before I could cum and my inner thighs are still throbbing for something warm and hard to fill me up and bring me to climax. I imagine Noah pleasuring me with his hands and mouth as he often does. I imagine the roof of his tongue massaging my nub as he works one, then two finger inside of me.

My breathing quickens as I feel myself closer to release. I arch my back, pressing my ass into the couch to apply pressure to my opening. My fingers pick up in pace, and in my head, the man eating me out lifts up his head to watch me come as my inner walls contract against his imaginary fingers. But it isn’t Noah. It’s the man with dark brown hair and deep brown eyes. I stare into his eyes as I come and he watches me from between my thighs, without any indication of emotion on his face. But somehow his impartial expression makes my orgasm ever more intense. I let out a yelp without thinking, then quickly cover my mouth with my hands as I return to reality and realize I’m in the living room and the flimsy wooden front door is not the greatest sound barrier.

…

When I come to, the sky is already dark outside. Which probably means that it is likely past 9PM already, considering the late sunset during Toronto summers. There is a knock on the door followed by a husky, familiar voice.

“Hello, anyone home?”

TWO – HUNTER

Sarah is sitting on the couch, crying into her palms as I’m moving my boxes out of the midtown Toronto townhouse that we’ve shared for the past three years. She hasn’t stopped crying since last Wednesday, when I came home early from work and caught her in bed with another man. She hasn’t stopped begging me to forgive her and explaining herself to me, even though we both know that me finding her with another man isn’t the real reason I am leaving.

It’s not that I can’t forgive her, but it’s more that I can’t forgive myself for letting our relationship get to this point. I feel ashamed that we’ve taken things this far. But I guess there’s a certain degree of permanence to purchasing a home together, having a mortgage together, a joint bank account, a joint credit card. There is nothing physically tying us down, but somehow it felt inescapable. Even though it feels like my heart was long gone. I haven’t been present for a long time now.

“I’m so sorry, Hunter…” Sarah says between sobs. She is still on the couch, with her face buried in her hands, sitting in an almost fetal position. I reassure her that it’s okay as I pick up the last box. I’m standing by the door, awkwardly, unsure of how we should conclude things.

We didn’t really have a real conversation about how we would end things. I think it was kind of just assumed that our eight year relationship would come to an end. Just like that. Everything we had been through meant nothing. It was just over.

And to be honest, I feel a little relieved. Incredibly sad, but relieved.

“Sarah, really, it’s not your fault,” I tell her. I’m really not that upset. ‘I haven’t been in love with you for a while now,’ I want to say what we both know in the back of our minds. But I’m unsure if that would make her feel better or worse. “I don’t blame you. I played a part in it as well,” is the best I can come up with.

Sarah gets up from the couch and walks over to the front door, where I’m still standing awkwardly, holding the last box of what remains of my life with her.

“Take care,” she says, shoulders hunched and arms crossed, standing in front of me and unable to look me in the eyes.

“You too,” I tell her, and walk out the door, packing up the last box into the U-Haul I rented. Eight years together, five years living together, three years of owning a house together, and all I have to my name fits in a small U-Haul van.

All of our decor items and furniture had been meticulously picked out by Sarah. All of our interior decoration decisions had been made by Sarah. At times, it felt like I was a Ken doll in Sarah’s castle, living the life that she wanted to live, in the home that she picked out. Being the ‘nice’ boyfriend who always made responsible choices. Which, to be fair, I really didn’t mind at times. But I had always felt like there was something missing. It wasn’t that I felt depressed, but I just… didn’t feel alive.

I hop in the van, and put in my new address in Google Maps. Absentmindedly, I start driving and before I know it, I arrive before my new home. I get out of the car, and take in the charming century-old apartment building in downtown Toronto with only four storeys. All of my adult life, Sarah and I had lived in sterile cookie-cutter condos with white walls and builder-grade kitchens, and then when we saved up a decent down payment, we moved into a cookie-cutter townhouse with white walls and a builder-grade kitchen.

Stepping foot into the charming old apartment, it feels like I am starting a completely new life. I’m no longer just the 33 year-old unmarried Japanese-Irish-Canadian hedge fund douchebag salaryman. I am a young professional, living the life in downtown Toronto. Or at least, that’s what I hope to be.

As I’m unloading the van, I hear faint cries of a woman in pleasure from one of the units upstairs. I chuckle to myself,

how fun it is to be young and free

, something I haven’t experienced for almost a decade. To be honest, I haven’t even had sex in more than a year, and the passionate sounds of fucking is a bit of a turn on. I imagine myself going out after work with my single coworkers and bringing girls back to my fun apartment with brick walls, like the insanely hot guys from the movies. Okay, fine, maybe I’m no Liam Hemsworth.

On one of my last few trips upstairs, I run into a handsome young Asian man around my age who comes out of the apartment across the hall from my unit. From the bottom of the staircase, I can see his unit, 301. My unit, 302, is right across on the other side of the tiny landing, where the stair case has turned around and starts a new flight up.

“What’s up, man,” he nods at me, as he comes down the stairs, and takes what appears to be a ring out of his wallet and puts in on his ring finger.

“How’s it going,” I nod back.

Before my last trip up, I park the van in the parking lot. I’ll drop it off later. I realize that I’m sweating buckets, and I take off my soaked shirt. Moving without an elevator is not an easy feat. I start up the stairs for what I hope to be the last time this night. I walk up the stairs, huffing and puffing and holding onto the railing.

When I finally reach the third floor, I look up, and standing in front of 301 is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. She is a rather petite girl, maybe around 5’3 or 5’4. Her big hazel eyes are framed by long lashes, an adorable freckled nose and a heart shaped face. Her wet hair is tied up in a bun, and she is dressed in a semi see-through tank top with no bra underneath. I wonder if she was the one screaming in ecstasy earlier. I look away from her tank top quickly, afraid of coming across as a pervert.

Immediately, I hope that she didn’t see me huffing and puffing up the stairs. I pause, unsure if I should introduce myself. I remember the man who walked out of the same apartment earlier, and wonder which one of them is actually my neighbour, or if they both are.

“Excuse me,” was all I manage to blurt out.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” She says immediately, and moves out of the way for me to pass by to get to my apartment.

Her arms are out in front of her, holding onto a bundle of sheets, presumably with plans of washing them. As I brush by her in the small hallway area, my arm grazes hers. And a tingly feeling radiates through my body. Maybe because subconsciously, I was connecting her to the passionate moans I had heard not long ago coming from one of the upstairs units, which to be fair could very well have been hers. Or maybe because I hadn’t touched a woman in so long.

My mind was filling with these naughty thoughts as I pass her and go into my apartment. That’s when I realize I forgot to introduce myself. Oh well, maybe next time.

I close the door behind me and I find myself slightly turned on, but too exhausted to do anything about it. All I wanted to do is collapse on my bed, but the mattress that I ordered came in a box and still hadn’t been decompressed yet.

I take it out of the box, and I figure I would do some laundry in the meantime while I wait. It is already pretty late, and I don’t want to be stuck with a bunch of things to do on Sunday, when I am supposed to go uptown to see my dad.

When I get to the laundry room, I see two washers and two dryers. One washer is already running. I open the one that isn’t and I see white sheets. I guess they must belong to the girl from 301. I throw them in the dryer for her so that I could wash my own clothes. Maybe I’ll go return them to her later and properly introduce myself…

THREE – BLAIR

I wake up to the sound of knocking on the door. It’s dark outside and none of the lights are on in my apartment.

“Hello? Anyone home?” A deep, husky voice calls out.

I groan as I get up from the couch. My hair must be a mess. I stumble to open the door in the dark to find the handsome stranger who just moved in next door standing in front of me. I rub my eyes. His wide frame towers over my small 5’4 body by nearly a foot. He is holding a bundle of white sheets in his arms.

“Hi,” My voice cracks, giving away my state of being fresh out of slumber. “Are these my sheets? Sorry!” I stretch out my arms, offering to take them off his hands.

“Hi,” he says, as he hands over the sheets. “I’m Hunter. I just moved in next door. I needed to use the washer so I took your sheets out and dried them. I hope you don’t mind.” Hunter’s tone is not unfriendly, but definitely not super friendly. The best word I can think of to describe it is lukewarm.

“No, not at all!” I try to keep a cheerful tone, “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble. I was meaning to take them out earlier… but fell asleep on the couch.” I say sheepishly. Our arms brush against each other as we make the exchange. I look up from the sheets to meet his eyes, and his deep brown eyes stare back at me intensely. Just like in my daydream. His touch brings to my stomach a strange feeling—a feeling I haven’t felt in a long time. I chalk it up to the weird sex thing when he popped into my head earlier.

Although he’s not that friendly at least it was quite sweet of him to dry the sheets for me. Some of these assholes in our building have straight up taken out my wet laundry and left it on top of the washer before. Real gems of humanity we’ve got here.

“Sorry to wake you… Hey, at least now I know you don’t normally go about your life in the dark. Here I was, thinking you were some weirdo when you first opened the door.” He teased.

I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. His face opens up into a faint smirk that was just a little bit smug, seeming to be pleased with himself. Faint lines crinklaround his eyes, highlighting his mature features that have certainly aged finely. Hunter seems like a man who knows how to make women laugh and he knows it, all the while pretending to be stand-offish. I bet the ladies in his life do all the chasing.

“Oh, I’m Blair by the way.” I offer an extended hand.

“Nice to meet you Blair,” he takes my hand in his and gives it a firm squeeze. When he lets go, my hand isn’t the only part of me feeling weak. My stomach does another flip flop.

Gosh, what’s wrong with me. My body is acting like some country bumpkin whose never seen a hot guy before.

“Any chance you know of something good and quick to eat around here?”

My stomach growls, as if right on cue. I let out a small laugh to cover up my embarrassment, “Only if you don’t mind me joining you.”

“Yeah. I mean, sure, if you’d like to?” He seems taken aback at how forward I am. Isn’t he used to being chased by the ladies?

“Come in, let me just get appropriately dressed for this occasion.” By which I meant I would put on a bra. I open the door wider as an invitation for him to come inside my apartment, “excuse the mess please, I’m in the middle of a project…”

FOUR – HUNTER

Blair opens the door to her apartment and turns on the lights in the living room. I can tell she’s not wearing any makeup, and despite her messy bed head bun, I still can’t deny that she looks stunning.

“Excuse the mess please, I’m in the middle of a project…” she warns as she retreats to the bedroom to change.

I step inside, and boy is messy an understatement. Her apartment has the exact same layout as mine, except everything is reversed. The front door opens up to an adjoining living and dining area. To the left of the living room is the hallway and there are what looks like one bedroom and one washroom, just like my place.

Blair’s dining room is covered with newspapers, and in lieu of any dining furniture, there is a shelf against the wall overflowing with paint supplies and tools. Beside it, a table which is also covered in art supplies and tools. There are two antique chairs in the middle of the newspapers and art supplies scattered on the ground everywhere.

The rest of the apartment isn’t too messy, but it is clear that this girl lacks a clear division of life and work. Judging from how old she appears to be and the state of her apartment, i guess that maybe she’s a college student at OCAD, the art and design university nearby.

Is it okay for an old geezer like myself to be hanging out with a college kid?

A minute later, Blair emerges from the bedroom, still wearing the same shorts and tank top, but just with a bra underneath. I’m grateful she’s removed a large part of the temptation for me to stare at her chest.

The thoughts that cross my mind suddenly feel juvenile. What’s wrong with you Hunter? Have you never seen boobs before?

“Come on, I know a great Thai place just around the corner,” Blair says and we both step out of her apartment. “Do you like Thai food?” She closes the door behind her and starts heading down the stairs.

“Thai’s good. Um, aren’t you going to lock the door?” I’m still standing in front of her apartment, at the top of the stairs.

“Oh. Right.” Blair lets out an adorable laugh as she walks back up and squeezes in between me and the door to lock it in place. Her high bun atop her head almost touches my nose and I catch a hint of her fruity shampoo.

As we walk down the stairs, I wonder if I should ask about the man I saw earlier who came out of her apartment. But before I think up a way to phrase the question, Blair breaks our silence first.

“So are you new to town?”

“No, I just moved from midtown. I used to live near Eglinton station.”

“Ah, don’t people usually tend to move further away from the city over time?”

“Are you calling me old?” I scowled.

“Oh, no, no, no not at all!” Blair’s expression stiffens and I can tell I’ve made her nervous that she’s offended me, which she hasn’t. “I mean, you’re likely not much older than me. I just meant, oh I don’t know, that people generally move uptown with each successive move…”

“I’m just kidding, Blair,” I nudge her arm playfully as we’re walking side by side. “But I’m 33, which must be at least 10 years older than you, no?”

“Wow, I’m flattered,” she turns and touches my arm lightly but with sincerity, “I turn 27 in a few months, but it’s nice to know I still look like I’m in my early 20’s.” She beams and lets out a hearty laugh. I suddenly realize how refreshing it is to be around someone who laughs all the time. Blair seems like the type of girl who has a personality everyone gravitates towards. And her striking natural beauty certainly doesn’t hurt. I realize that she looks mixed like me, perhaps East Asian and Scandinavian, judging from the combination of her exotic light hazel eyes, ashy light brown hair and her Asian cheekbones.

The restaurant is only a 2 minute walk, literally around the corner from our apartment, as Blair promised.

It is already past 9:30pm and only one other couple is in the restaurant, clearly on a date, judging from the way the girl is giggling and squirming in her seat.

I wonder what they are thinking about us. Do we look like friends? Lovers? Strangers?

Over dinner, she tells me about the neighbourhood, the best bakery nearby, the best takeout place, the best date spots, the parks nearby. I try to take it all in, but I’m not exactly in the right headspace.

I feel guilty about the instant attraction I felt towards Blair. My nearly decade-long relationship with Sarah literally just ended. Well, actually, I’m not even sure if it has ended or not since we didn’t even really talk about it. I assumed that it was over when I moved out, and I think she assumed the same?

There was still the issue of selling the house and splitting up our finances. I told her that I would keep paying for my portion of the mortgage until we could find a suitable buyer for the house. Which I anticipate won’t take long in the Toronto housing market.

Even though Sarah and I haven’t been physically or emotionally intimate in a long time, I still feel strangely attached to her in a way. We did spend 8 years together, after all. She was my family, the person I came home to every night, and it won’t be easy to replace that place in my life. I don’t think I will ever stop loving or caring about her as a person.

Anyway, Blair doesn’t even seem like a girl who is my usual type. I mean, I obviously wouldn’t mind taking her to bed but lust must be all it is. Even before Sarah, I always dated girls who were soft spoken, level-headed, well put together, and lived quiet and responsible lives. They usually came from upper-middle class families. The ones who had jobs in accounting, banking, consulting, law or medicine.

We finish dinner before the other couple despite arriving later, and I offer to pay as a thank you for the neighbourly tips, but Blair refuses.

“No honestly, it was no trouble, and I don’t want to feel like I owe you one.” She insists, putting down $20 for her portion of the meal. I sigh and give in, adding another $20 on top of her bills.

As we walk out of the restaurant, the thought of the man who left her apartment earlier enters my head again. Not that I am even thinking of making a move on her but I am simply curious.

“So you live together with your boyfriend?”

She turns to look at me, a little surprised by my question.

“No, I… no I don’t,” she tilts her head slightly and gives me a weird smile, “what makes you think that?”

“It was just, I saw a guy leaving your apartment earlier, I just assumed…”

“Oh! Him…” her voice trails off and suddenly she looks slightly uncomfortable.

FIVE – BLAIR

Out of nowhere, Hunter asks if I live with my boyfriend.

“It was just, I saw a guy leaving your apartment earlier, I just assumed…”

“Oh! Him…” I’m not sure how to respond. I don’t know him well enough to divulge that kind of information just yet. Well, actually, I don’t quite know him at all.

During dinner, it felt like I was the one doing all the talking. Hunter sat back and mostly listened, asking a few questions here and there. He didn’t share many personal details about himself, except that he was moving closer to work. He didn’t seem to mind it, but he definitely didn’t seem excited about spending time with me. Maybe he just wanted some time alone after a long day of moving and I intruded by inviting myself to dinner with him.

Why do I always do this… always act thoughtlessly before considering the other person’s feelings.

“He’s just a friend,” is the reply I give to his question, probably unconvincingly. Well, it’s not completely a lie. We are friends; it’s not like he’s my boyfriend or anything.

Before I know it, we’re already at the top of the third flight of stairs. The night we had felt like a mediocre date, ending in the guy walking me to my door with hopes of coming inside. The sexual attraction is certainly there, although mentally it feels like we’re not on the same page. Suddenly I feel nervous.

It’s not like he would try to pull something on me on the first day we met, right? And certainly not while I am dressed like this?

But why did he inadvertently try to ask if I had a boyfriend? Maybe I should invite him in and see where it goes? No, that’s probably a bad idea… we are neighbours after all. How awkward would it be to have a one night stand with your neighbour and have to see him all the time. Naughty, Blair! It’s ok to just have guy friends without benefits too! I’d best just go home and do some work…

I pat my stomach in contentment. “Perfect! Now I’m ready to tackle the day!”

Hunter laughs for the first time that night and gives me an inquisitive look, “Does dinner usually mark the start of your day?”

I laugh, too. “I do my best work at night.”

“And what is it exactly… that you do?”

Another question I don’t know how to answer.

“I guess I do a lot of things. I create art, I write poetry, I restore furniture, I teach, I study, I’m an entrepreneur. I don’t know what exactly that makes me.”

“That’s ok, I guess you’re still finding your way.” Hunter shrugs, sticking his hands into his pockets.

Immediately, that rubs me the wrong way. Any attraction or warm fuzzy feeling I had felt towards him dissipates in the matter of seconds. His words are so patronizing. “I never said I was still finding my way. This is just how I live. And what exactly is it that you do?” I can hear it in my own voice that the easy friendliness in tone has turned into annoyance.

“I work at a hedge fund downtown.” He says with an unmasked sense of pride. I roll my eyes internally. So he’s one of those types of guys.

“Hmm, well that makes sense.” I say flatly, definitely ready to end the night here. “Well good luck with your new apartment and everything.”

“Thanks,” Hunter says, just as flatly, as he must have sensed the change in my demeanour. “Good night.”

I stand there, a little bit shocked to be honest. He didn’t even apologize for what he’s said!

I turn right around without even responding and start fumbling with my keys. Why did I bother to lock this damn door?

After I enter my apartment, I slam my keys down on my coffee table.

What a miserable guy. Who does he think he is?! He thinks he’s all that, just because he has some cushy job in finance. He couldn’t even be bothered to make conversation during dinner, what the hell was I even trying so hard to be friends for?

Sure, I wouldn’t mind fucking him but that’s probably all that he’s good for anyway. I wouldn’t even want to be friends with someone like that, who looks down on people who don’t live according to the conventional 9-5 life.

Anyway, who the hell is he to tell me I’m still finding my way? I’m living fabulously doing what I love, pursuing my PhD, and earning great money from my multiple income streams. What’s it to him that I don’t have a “real job”?

The more I thought about it, the more angry I became. I decide to blast some music and get to work on my latest restoration project currently overtaking my dining room to take my mind off my stupid, arrogant new neighbour. Well, that’s the last time I’ll ever try to be neighbourly with him again.

SIX – HUNTER

What a weird night and what a weird woman. Everything is going great until I ask Blair what she does for a living and then she becomes all defensive. I don’t even know what I said wrong. In fact, I believe I was being very courteous. Whatever, the hotter they are the crazier they are. It’s probably good that I keep my distance anyway.

I close the door behind me and sigh. It’s been such a long day. It’ll be the first time I’ll be sleeping alone in years and the thought suddenly makes me feel incredibly lonely.

I inspect my bed, or rather, my new mattress on the floor. It looks like it has fully decompressed. I make my bed and soon enough, the exhaustion overtakes me—both mental and physical.

. . .

The first night is not bad, but the next few get progressively worse. I can’t seem to sleep until late into the night, around 2-3 AM, and I can’t seem to get a long and rested sleep either. I wake up around 6 AM, well before the time that I need to wake up by in order to get to work by 9:30.

I imagine things aren’t easy for Sarah either, as I often wake up to missed calls from her. She only calls in the middle of the night. I never call her back. I don’t know what I would say to her, and I can’t possibly imagine what else she has to say to me that hasn’t already been said. I mean, she has my email and number. She can send me a message if there’s something important she needs to tell me.

Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I go out for a run. I can see Blair’s living room light still on, through the slit under the door to 301. From the hallway, I can hear her lo-fi music playing. Sometimes her light is still on and her music is still playing by time I wake up and go for my 6:00 AM run. It’s creepy how much neighbours can learn about each other just through observation. I wonder what she has deduced about me so far.

Other than that first day, I never run into Blair again, or her “friend”, whom I’m pretty sure is more than just a platonic friend judging by the way she reacted when I asked about him. Not that it concerns me, anyway.

About a couple weeks later, on the second Friday after I move in, I decide to invite a couple of my buddies over to watch a hockey game. I figure it would be nice to spend some time with the guys and just drink beer and scream at the TV. Not have to think about anything in particular.

Jake is the first to arrive at around 9 PM.

“Hey man,” he greets me by throwing a six-pack into my arms.

“Sorry, my couch hasn’t arrived yet but feel free to sit on the rug. You want these in the fridge or what?”

“Yeah, just stick ‘em in there for now.”

I turn on the TV for him before I walk to the fridge and it looks like the game hasn’t started yet.

“So how’s the single life?” Jake asks casually, although I can tell he’s a little worried about my well-being.

“It’s fine. I mean, you know how things were before anyway. I don’t think either Sarah and I were still in love with each other for a while before any of this happened.”

“Yeah, I know, but it must still be weird, no?”

“Oh for sure, it’s definitely weird living alone now. Man, I did not realize how much work it is to cook and clean for one.” I joke, hoping to get Jake to focus on something else. We never talk about feelings and it’s kind of weird to start now.

“What about the ladies, hmm?” Jake nudges me in the arm. “Please tell me you’ve downloaded Tinder already.”

I laugh, “No, not yet.”

At that moment, there’s a knock on the door. It must be Cameron.

I get up to open the door. Cameron is standing outside with a mischievous grin on his face and his arm over the shoulders of an attractive young woman. Behind him, I see that Blair’s door is wide open, and there are at least fifteen people inside her apartment.

“Hiiii,” the girl exclaims, giggling “you guys should totally come over to our party next door.” She was clearly already on the way to being intoxicated if not already there. “Blair Bear! Can I bring some hot guys over?!” She shouts across her shoulder into Blair’s apartment.

“Yeah, whatever, Jessa,” Blair shouts back from inside her unit, clearly preoccupied with something or someone else.

After the last interaction I had had with Blair, I highly doubt that she would want me at her party.

“What about the game, Cameron?” I turn around, looking for reinforcements “don’t you want to watch the game, Jake?” Jake is a die hard hockey fan, so I am really counting on him to get me out of this.

“Dude, hockey or girls?” He pretends to weigh the two options on his palms. “I’d say we go party with some hot girls yo.”

I sigh, Jake and Cameron are attractive bachelors that are hard not to welcome in any social setting but I can already tell that this party is not going to be fun for me to crash.

SEVEN – BLAIR

I don’t see Hunter again since that first day, but I feel his presence.

When I work, I often lose track of time and sometimes end up staying up through the night. I often notice Hunter leaving his apartment in the middle of the night around 2 AM and then again around 6 AM if I’m still up by then. At first, I assume he’s leaving for work, but when I look out the window, he’s wearing in sweats and a hoodie.

What a fuckin’ weirdo. But hey, who am I to judge, seeing as how I usually sleep around 3-4 AM.

I wonder what is going on with him, and on multiple occasions, I was tempted to ask–solely out of curiosity. But then I think back to his judge-y reaction to my lifestyle and I decide against it each time. Instead, I just go back to work.

. . .

It’s August 20th, the last day of the summer term. My latest restoration project has just been completed, freeing up a large portion of my dining room again. All of my papers have been graded and as a graduate student, I only have a short break before the new semester begins in September.

I decide to invite a few of my close friends over to celebrate and get shit-faced drunk. I only text a handful of people, but sure enough, everyone wants to bring someone and by 9 PM, there are already more than a dozen people in my apartment.

Larissa is the only one of my colleagues in my PhD cohort to come to the party. We became super close friends when we both TA’ed a class together in our first year and when we found out we had the same dissertation supervisor. In the past three years, we’ve struggled together, gotten drunk together, cried together, and had breakdowns together. And one of our favourite pastimes is comparing the shit our students try to pull on us.

“… so I asked her what the thesis of the paper is and she couldn’t even tell me that! You’d think if you paid someone to do your paper, the least you could do is read it over!” Larissa complains.

I burst out laughing. “You know what though, at least you got to read papers that were too good to be true. My problem was the hot garbage that my students gave me… I couldn’t even tell what they were trying to say half of the time. It’s like they just strung together random words to meet the minimum word count requirement.”

Larissa rolls her eyes, nodding sympathetically.

“Blair Bear!” I hear a voice call out from the hallway. It’s Jessa, one of my closest friends from college. Cool. Whoever came in last didn’t even bother closing my front door. “Can I bring some hot guys over?!” She shouts.

“Yeah, whatever, Jessa!” I shout back at her. This girl, I sigh to myself, shaking my head. I mean, she’s already here with the guys, so why even bother asking?

A moment later, Jessa enters with her little entourage of three extremely and equally handsome men. I sense the room go a little quieter as all the girls (and Opal, my non-binary friend) check them out.

“What’s good guys?” The guy with his arm around Jessa’s shoulders greets us first. He is a big, muscular black guy, wearing a shirt that looked like it had difficulty containing his body. With Jessa, a total babe, on his arm, they walk in looking like a couple of Abercrombie models. This must be Jessa’s new man?!

The second guy walks in beside the couple, and greets us with an “Eyyyy!” He has blonde hair and blue eyes, and a face of what society would consider conventionally attractive. I wouldn’t debate his conventional attractiveness either.

When I see the third guy, I almost choke on my drink. It’s Hunter. What the hell is he doing here with Jessa?!

He waves at me sheepishly from the door, clearly just as excited to see me as I am, him. I pretend like we don’t know each other, and greet them by the door gracefully as the host.

“Hi, I’m Blair.”

Blondie takes my hand and kisses it like I’m the Queen. “Jake. A pleasure to meet you.” Jake gives me a seductive smile as he releases my hand, making my heart flutter just a little. Whew, what a flirt.

“Cameron,” Cameron gives me a fist bump without taking his arm off Jessa’s shoulder.

“Hi Blair,” Hunter says.

“Hi Hunter,” I say back.

“Hang on! You guys must know each other, right?” Jessa’s eyes widen. “You just moved in, Hunter?” Hunter nods.

“Yeah, we matched on Tinder on his first night here and went on a date together. But things got real awkward when we were going home and found out we live across the hall from each other and then Hunter ghosted me.” I joke, with a mysterious smirk on my face. I wonder if they will buy that story. Hunter smiles, but doesn’t defend himself. He looks cute when he smiles, and I forgive him a little for his rude comment the other day. I just want to have fun today. Positive vibes only.

“No fucking way, you asshole!” Jessa exclaims playfully at Hunter, but she knows I’m joking from the expression on my face.

“Nawww my man here wouldn’t do that to a beautiful girl like you, Blair,” Jake says, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

“Seriously, that’s what happened.” I shrug, and walk away. “Do you guys want some drinks?” I gesture to the coffee table full of booze. “Babe, would you close the door behind you?” I mean to say to Jessa, but Hunter is closest to the door and he pulls it shut.

Throughout the evening, it’s clear that Hunter is the centre of everyone’s attention. All the single ladies want to chat him up and know his relationship status. I’m not surprised, with his boyish and exotic good looks. I overhear bits and pieces of some of his conversations, gathering that he recently broke up with his long-term girlfriend when he found out she was cheating on him. Hunter doesn’t make an effort to talk to me at all, despite being in my house and drinking my booze.

Jessa and Cameron are just stuck to each other all night, and start making out not even an hour into their arrival.

Jake makes his rounds with the ladies, but ends up focusing on me. Like Hunter, I guess also attract the opposite sex often due to my exotic traits. I don’t think I’m any more attractive than every other girl in the room, but I guess people are generally more fascinated by the unfamiliar.

“So did you and Hunter really go on a Tinder date?” Jake asks. We’re both sitting on the couch, facing each other and mirroring each other’s positions. We both have one leg crossed and the other hanging off the couch.

Jake moves his hand towards the side of my face to play with a strand of my hair with his index finger. I feel my body react to his flirty gesture. My chest opens up a little and I lean in just a little bit closer. Maybe it’s just my imagination but I feel Hunter’s stare on us from the corner of my eyes.

“Yeah, we had dinner and everything. Why, are you jealous?” I’m pretty tipsy, and it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve seen Noah (or anyone else for that matter.) I just want to make out with someone. Anyone will do. And Jake is not a bad option at all.

He tucks the strand of hair he was playing with behind my ear and whispers, “So how come you guys didn’t seal the deal?” Hot damn, is he smooth. My body shivers from the feeling of his hot breath against my ear.

“I don’t know, maybe he just wasn’t what I was looking for.” I whisper back, batting my eyelashes at him innocently.

“And what is it you’re looking for?” he moves closer to me. Our legs are touching now. He walks two fingers up my free hanging leg, starting from my knee and travelling up to the hem of my dress, daring me to stop him at any moment. I giggle from the ticklish feeling on my bare skin.

“I’m just a simple girl, it doesn’t take much to please me,” I shrug slyly.

“Somehow, I doubt you’re anything but simple.” Jake lifts my chin up with a finger. His gaze drops from my eyes to my lips, then comes back up to my eyes again. He leans in, but before our lips have a chance to touch, Larissa grabs me and pulls me to the washroom.

She gestures quickly for me to hold back her hair as she starts throwing up into the toilet.

The rest of the night for Larissa and I are spent in the washroom, with me holding back her hair has she throws up in bursts. I sit beside her, hold her hair and rub her back. Poor baby girl.

EIGHT – HUNTER

The moment I walk in the room, the only girl I notice is Blair. She’s wearing a tight black cropped tank top that and a high-waisted jean skirt that ends mid-thigh. An outfit that certainly shows off her curves. She’s wearing minimal makeup, what looks like a bit of lip stain and mascara. Her cute freckles show through her bare face.

Throughout the night, I get approached by a number of very attractive girls, all seeming to want to know whether I have a girlfriend or not, but I can’t seem to take my eyes off of Blair. It isn’t just the way she looks, or what she’s wearing, but the way that she carries herself. She has a lively and enigmatic personality; she is confident in her own skin but not overly so to the point of flaunting herself in front of men. She doesn’t take herself too seriously. She’s fun and easy-going, but openly welcomes male attention. At least she’s certainly welcoming the attention she’s getting from Jake.

I see Jake and Blair chatting away on the couch. From the corner of my eyes, I see them inching closer to each other with each successive minute. He touches her hair and makes her giggle. My stomach drops a little and instead of feeling happy for my best friend, I feel a hint of jealousy. I can’t help but wish it’s me that she’s flirting with instead. A part of me feels like since I met her first, I should have first claim over her, as wrong as that sounds.

Anna, a cute Indian girl with bouncy and long black curls is chatting me up, tell me about a really cool bar she went to last weekend and hinting that we should go together.

“Yeah, totally,” I say, but it’s hard for me to concentrate on what I’m even agreeing to when I see Jake going in for a kiss with Blair. Suddenly, a girl comes out of nowhere and grabs Blair by the wrist, whisking her away and into the washroom. I realize I’m holding my breath only when I let out a sigh of relief.

“Sorry Anna, excuse me, I’m just gonna see if everything is okay with Blair,” I touch her arm lightly and walk away. I stop by Jake on the way to the washroom, who is still sitting on the couch.

“So, Blair, eh?” I ask, cautiously.

“Dude, she’s soo hot.” Jake has a dumb grin on his face, and I can tell there’s only one thing on his mind at this point.

“Yeah but I think she’s way more than that, man.” I pick up a hint of a defensive tone in my own voice.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m sure she is.” I can tell Jake is slightly taken aback by my reaction. “What, do you like her or something? Did you guys actually go on a date?”

“Yeah, we did,” I lie just to get him to back off.

“Woah, I thought that was all just a joke.” Jake holds both his hands in the air, palms facing me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to step on your toes there.”

“No, I mean, nothing happened,” I feel flustered and embarrassed and want to take back what I said. I also feel guilty for lying to one of my best friends. Anyway, Blair doesn’t even seem to like me as a person, “It’s fine, you should go for it.”

Jake looks at his watch, gets up from the couch and pats me on the shoulder, “Wow, it’s already 1 AM. I’m gonna get going, I’m pretty beat.”

“Alright, man. Thanks for coming. Let’s definitely catch the game next weekend.”

“No, thanks for inviting me, let me know how things go with Blair.”

“No really, there’s nothing between us. I’ll give her your number.”

“No, don’t. You need this more than me.” Jake gives me a wink and a pat on the back before heading out. I don’t like the way he speaks about Blair, like an object to be used and discarded to satisfy a physiological need. It’s nothing new. He talks about his hooks ups with different women this way all the time, and it is always nothing but entertaining. But when it comes to Blair, I can’t help but feel a little protective of her. I don’t want Jake to hurt her or use her. Maybe because of her kind eyes and positive personality. I hardly know her, but somehow I feel it would hurt me to see her hurt.

I knock on the washroom door, “is everything okay?”

Blair opens the door just a crack. Behind her, I see her friend passed out on the ground. “Hey! Hunter! Can you get us some water? Please and thank you!” She whispers loudly. Then the door closes on my face.

I return with a glass of water. Blair takes it from me and thanks me before closing the door again.

Soon after Jake heads out, Cameron also leaves along with Jessa and other people start trickling out as well, with the exception of Opal, who is passed out on the couch. Anna is the last to leave, but not before she grabs my phone and saves her number in there. Soon enough, it’s just Opal and I left in the living room. I look at my phone, it’s already 1:30 AM. It’s not even bedtime for me yet.

I go check on Blair and her friend again. “How’s it going?” I ask in a soft voice, not wanting to wake her friend, who is passed out on the floor again.

“Hunter, you’re still here! It’s so quiet outside I thought everyone had left.” She give me a genuine smile, and I’m pleased to be in her good graces again. “Here, help me get Larissa to the bed.” Blair opens the door all the way and together, we carry her friend to Blair’s bedroom. We put her under the sheets and Blair grabs the trash can in the room, puts it beside the bedside table and shakes her friend.

“Hey, Larissa, there’s a trash can here okay, Hun?”

Her friend gives a groan of acknowledgment.

We leave the bedroom and she closes the door behind us gently. Blair blows raspberries, clearly exhausted from the night she spent taking care of her friend.

“You’re a good friend, Blair,”

“Nah,” she says humbly, “this bitch would do the same for me too.”

“Where are you going to sleep then?”

“I mean, I love this girl, but not when she’s spent the whole night puking and mopping the washroom floor with her body. I’ll just crash on the couch.”

“Sorry to break it to you, but the couch is taken as well.” I scratch my beard.

Blair slaps her forehead and lets out an adorable little laugh. “What should I do, Hunter?” She grabs my forearm and squeezes it a little. “Do you have a couch?”

“I actually don’t, but I have a queen bed big enough for the both of us…?” I offer.

“Sold. Don’t try anything funny!” She narrows her eyes and points her finger at me playfully.

My chest flutters a little. I grab her finger and pull it down, “Oh, don’t worry Miss Blair. You’re not even my type.” I roll my eyes, half jokingly trying to assure her, and half trying hide the fact that I’ve been incredibly attracted to her since the first time I’ve laid eyes on her.

Before we leave her apartment, she grabs the half-finished bottle of champagne on the coffee table, closes the lights and the apartment door behind us.

“Do you never lock the door, woman?” I notice again that she just walked away from her unlocked door.

“Oops.”

NINE – BLAIR

I grab the unfinished bottle of champagne and we head over to Hunter’s. It was sweet of him to stick around for Larissa and I and help usher people out. He kept bringing Larissa water, and asking if I needed anything. He let me know when my guests were leaving, and stayed around to clean up a little while I was still in the washroom. He even helped me tuck Larissa into bed. Maybe he’s actually pretty sweet and not that stuck up after all.

“Let’s not let this go to waste, eh?” I raise the bottle up when we get into his apartment. He doesn’t have any furniture yet, so there is nothing to sit on but the large area rug in the middle of the empty living room. That must be the only thing that’s arrived so far.

Hunter goes into the kitchen to grab a couple glasses and joins me on the floor. “So what are we celebrating tonight? By the way, I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to chat at all.”

“Life? Love? Prosperity?” I pour half of what’s left into a glass for Hunter, and raise my bottle to clink his glass. “Cheers,” I take a gulp straight from the bottle. “Well, you were quite a popular appearance tonight, for someone who wasn’t even invited to the party.”

He chuckles, but doesn’t comment on the swarm of girls. I guess he isn’t as cocky as I thought. “So were you. Jake definitely seems to like you.”

I let out a tiny “Ahh,” and hide my face in my hands, a little embarrassed that Hunter saw us flirting away with each other “Jake is alright…” I take another sip, “So what’s the deal with Cameron and Jessa? How do they even know each other?”

“They literally met in the staircase on the way up. Cameron and Jake were supposed to come watch a hockey game at my place today.”

“I should have known,” I burst out laughing. “That is so classic Jessa.”

“So I’ve been meaning to ask… do you not sleep at night?”

“You’re one to talk! I always hear you going out multiple times in the middle of the night.”

“Oh, that’s not creepy or stalker-ish at all, Blair. Please, do tell what else you’ve noticed about me.”

I laugh, “But seriously, do you not sleep? I mean, when I sleep late I usually still get my 8 hours and wake up at noon, but I have a hard time believing 2 to 6 AM is enough sleep for any regular person.”

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping,” Hunter says, taking another sip of his drink.

Our interaction tonight feels different than the first time we met. With a little alcohol, I can feel Hunter opening himself up more to me and acting more natural. He is witty and charming, and our conversations feel effortless, like we’ve been good friends for years.

Usually, I’m not one to pry, but what’s a few secrets shared among drunken…friends? “Is it because your girlfriend cheated on you?”

Hunter downs the rest of his drink and lies down on the floor with his hand behind his head. I can tell it’s a touchy subject and maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. “I don’t know what it is exactly. Maybe it’s just my body adjusting to change. I’ve been with her for almost a decade. We’ve lived together for over five years. It just feels odd to be completely alone, to sleep alone with no one else beside me.” He pauses, but I don’t say anything. I want to know more.

“We hadn’t been in love for a long time now, but I think we were both scared of leaving the relationship and really putting ourselves out there, and I mean not just have an affair but really put ourselves out there. Be single. Date other people. It was just comfortable. Safe. And it was fine. I mean, there were temptations for me too, but I was just lazy to be completely honest. I shouldn’t have kept wasting her time and mine. She cheated on me, but when I look back, I feel I was the selfish one.

“I don’t think she minded the lack of passion in our relationship. She just wanted a stable partner to have kids with, grow old with. You know, have a conventional nuclear family. I think a part of her was holding out for me to propose. We’re both in our early 30′s now. I wasted her youth and her time. She’s a lovely girl, but I think I always knew that she wasn’t the one, so I should have let her go long ago.”

I look over, and I see a pained expression on his face. I can tell Hunter feels a lot of guilt about how his relationship ended. It breaks my heart to see it. It would break anyone’s heart to see it. I finish what’s left of the bottle and lie down next to him. I pull him in towards my chest and hold him in silence, wrapping my arms around his head. He turns from lying on his back to his side, facing towards me, and his face rests against my chest. He puts one arm around my waist and gives me a little squeeze.

I can feel his warm breath on my breasts with each inhale and exhale. His eyelashes brush against my neck with each blink. With the hand that’s on my back, he absentmindedly draws circles with a finger. I don’t know what he’s meant to be doing, but I’m sure he is certainly not trying to elicit the reaction I’m having to his touch on purpose. The sensations he’s creating on my breasts, my neck and my back send a shiver through my body and a heat wave to the core between my legs. Does he know what he’s doing to me? Can he sense my body’s reaction against his?

My body responds with a mind of its own. My back arches into him inadvertently, pushing his soft lips against my collar bone. He pulls back, lifting his head to look up at me, probably trying to gauge my reaction to decide what his next move should be. I bite my bottom lip, nervously, desperately wanting his lips back on my body, everywhere on my body, but at the same time not wanting him to know how much I wanted it.

There are so many reasons to not hook up with Hunter. We were getting along so well, and a one-night stand is bound to fuck things up for our budding friendship. Hooking up with your neighbour is a bad idea. It’s basically the next worst thing you could do after hooking up with a roommate. And what about Jake? I would completely screw over my chances with Jake by hooking up with Hunter.

But then he moans into my neck, “Blair…” and he presses my body into his with his large hand against the small of my back. I close my eyes, exhaling slowly, ready to completely surrender myself to lust against all reason. “I’m exhausted. Do you mind if I head to bed now? We’ll chat more tomorrow.”

Wow. Boy, did I read that situation all wrong.

TEN – HUNTER

When Blair asks about my ex cheating on me, I open up for the first time about how I feel. There is something about her that makes me feel like I can tell her anything without judgment.

I tell her about the doubts I had about the relationship and why it ultimately ended. I admit to her my shortcomings, and give her a glimpse of the incredible guilt I’m carrying with me. Blair lies down beside me and holds me in her arms in silence. She doesn’t say a word, but the warmth of her embrace seems to say a million things at once. That she feels for me. That she understands why things became this way. That I shouldn’t blame myself. That it’s okay to be sad. That it’s okay not to be sad. That I’m ultimately going to be okay.

I feel her small frame shift underneath my arm and my lips accidentally make contact with her warm skin. Her cleavage is pressed up against the stubble of my chin, and her one knee is pressed against my inner thigh, dangerously close to my male member which gave an unintentionally throb as blood rushed in, threatening to expose me.

I can feel the blood pulsing through my veins and travelling quickly to my shaft. Its growth is as quick as it is violent, and it wants desperately to rise to its full length and burst out of my tight jeans.

I want so desperately to pull down her low-cut tank top and expose her breasts to the cool evening air. I want to see her nipples perk up and her sizeable breasts bounce as I pin her arms above her head to the rug beneath us and take them my mouth. I want to circle her nipples with my tongue, slowly, then violently, leaving them swollen and wanting. I want to leave marks all over her body and claim her as mine. I want to taste her inside out. I want to make her squirm and scream and cry from pleasure like she has never before. I want to make her shiver. I want to make her sweat.

I think back to Jake’s words… “You need this more than me.” By which he probably meant I need Blair to fuck my ex out of my head. I’m sure it would very very effective, but I don’t want to use her in that way. From the way I saw her interact with her friends tonight, I can tell she’s a kind girl who has a big heart. She‘s a fun and down to earth person everyone wants to be friends with and be around. She certainly doesn’t exploit her sex appeal, even though she must know how beautiful she looks. I just can’t bring myself to use her for my own selfish purposes. Anyway, even without the fucking, thoughts of Blair are already unwittingly occupying my mind.

I pull her closer briefly, wanting to feel her body pressed up against mine just a little longer. “Blair…” I say weakly into her embrace. A man can only take so much… “I’m exhausted. Do you mind if I head to bed now? We’ll chat more tomorrow.”

I let go of her before she says anything, and roll to the other side before getting up and walking away with my back to her, careful not to expose the growing bulge in my pants.

I walk to the washroom and lock the door behind me, collapsing against the door. I turn on the fan and the tap, a feeble attempt to convince her I’m brushing my teeth. But instead, I unzip my pants hastily and my hand immediately envelops my throbbing shaft. I bite my lip down to stop me from giving myself away, from calling out her name in ecstatic pleasure. It doesn’t take me long, as the recently memories of her warm breasts against my lips and her legs against my inner thighs are still freshly imprinted in my mind. My body shivers in pleasure as I come to an intense release in my own hands. I wish it was Blair holding me instead. I quickly wash up, for real this time, and turn off the tap. I take out a new toothbrush from under the sink for Blair and leave it on the sink for her.

When I open the bathroom door, I can see from across the hall into the bedroom that she is already asleep in the bed. Her clothing and bra are on the ground beside the bed and she’s wearing an oversized shirt she likely pulled out of my closet. I pray that it has nothing to do with me taking suspiciously long in the bathroom…

I slip into bed beside her, careful not to wake her and afraid to touch her for the fear of getting turned on again. In the dark, I can hear her soft breathing beside me, and it lulls me into a deep sleep.

That night, I have the best sleep I’ve ever had since moving in.

When I open my eyes, I reach for my phone beside me. 11 AM! What a miracle!

Blair is nowhere to be seen. Her clothes are gone, and with her, all her clothing. I get out of bed, and check the living room.

“Blair?”

No response.

I check the door. Of course, she didn’t bother locking my door from the inside on her way out. I yawn, and walk over to her apartment and knock before trying her door knob as well. It’s unlocked as well. I go inside and have a look around.

“Blair?”

No response.

Both Opal and Larissa are gone as well. I decide to leave, and go back home to my place. I lock the door behind me. “Who the hell are you?” A deep voice startles me from one flight down.