Chapter 18: Breakfast

   Stunned, the girls turned in unison from their kiss to see Brian standing in the door of the hotel room, holding a plastic bag distorted by the shapes of takeout boxes within. A simple white tee hung down to a pair of navy blue gym shorts, besides which he wore only a battered pair of running shoes and a slight sheen of sweat. His tousled hair was even damp, and the mere sight of him was accompanied by a sudden spike in temperature deep within Stephanie. Oh… Oh! Oh my God, we were…!

   “Th-th-this isn’t what it looks like—!” Stephanie exclaimed guiltily, staggering back from Kelly. “I—she—we were, th-this was, it was—”

   “Oh c’mon, it’s a little what it looked like,” Kelly muttered in a sly tone, and flashed Brian her trademark devious smile. “We were just getting a little experimental—oops, I mean, trying out this little experiment.”

   “A m-mis-misunderstanding!” Stephanie giggled, “It’s, in anime, uh, l-like in an anime where—”

   “No, uhhh… yeah, it’s cool,” Briah coughed, looking away because he couldn’t hide his grin. “I, uh, I shoulda knocked or something, I just didn’t want to wake either of you up, in case you were sleeping in… do you girls need another minute?”

   “No, no—come in, please,” Kelly invited. “Looks like Steph’s all done taking advantage of me for now, anyways. What’d you bring us?”

   Taking advantage of YOU?!

   “Ah, breakfast?” Brian offered, hefting up the bag containing several takeout boxes, and he entered the small enclosure of their hotel room, pulling the door shut behind him. “Wasn’t sure what you girls might like, so I picked up breakfast platters on my way back.”

   “That’s… honestly really cool of you, I didn’t really mean… well, thank you.” Kelly said, sounding caught off guard. She cleared some space on the dresser beside the TV for him to set down the cartons. “We were gettin’ all kinds of hungry… weren’t we, Steph?”

   “Y-yeah,” Stephanie hastily agreed, trying not to stare at Brian but unable to stop from savoring the sight. Hungry… Seeing him again, there was something deliciously sexy about Brian’s every mundane little detail, a sort of rugged, bishounen aesthetic. He somehow seemed so masculine, yet he wasn’t really burly or beefy in the slightest. A glance at his legs, bare up to the hem of his gym shorts, showed her they were runner’s legs, but they weren’t particularly thick. Rather, that tight curve of muscle shaping his calves was beautifully trim—pared down to the essentials and without an ounce of extraneous flesh. He looked ready to effortlessly explode into motion at any moment. That smoldering sensation from before rose up immediately into blazing pink flames, flames dancing with desperate, voracious energy.

   What do I even say to him, after all of THAT last night? How do I act now? And him opening the door on us right then…! Stephanie blushed intensely. Compared to last night, the sheer intensity of that pulsing pink fire within her certainly hadn’t abated in the slightest. If anything, it seemed hotter, more dangerous, a chemical fire that was burning raw lust, as well as a little bit of something even more potent.

   Brian wore a troubled smile, and as he looked over towards Stephanie, parts of her went weak. How could she forget that handsome face buried between her legs last night? That he’d parted her lower lips with his mouth and plunged inside with visceral abandon, tasted her, tongue sliding fluidly across the sensual slickness of her sex in what seemed like an endless spiral of pleasure…

   “Steph? You alright?”

   “Y-yeah,” she stammered, realizing herself once again. “I, uh, yeah. Yes. I’ve, uh, it’s…”

   “You were givin’ him a look,” Kelly chuckled, popping open one of the cartons to peek inside and gesturing her over.

   “I, ah, I was? A look? What does that mean?” She tilted her head quizzically from Kelly to Brian, immediately feeling a little stupid.

   “Hah, you’d have to tell us. I know better than to ever make assumptions anymore,” Brian said.

   “…H-how was your run?” Stephanie asked, abruptly changing the subject and stepping over to join Kelly. The two takeout cartons contained standard diner fare: scrambled eggs, a few strips of bacon, and a small pile of pancakes. Even one of those boxes was more than she could eat, but the empty feeling in her stomach spurred her on, and she dutifully accepted a fork from Kelly.

   “It, uh… well, a little rough, but I’m back now, at least,” he paused uneasily.

   “Did something happen?” Stephanie asked right away, suddenly feeling alert. Something’s wrong.

   “Uh… I dunno, maybe? Probably not. I was just checking the time on my phone when I picked up our order… and saw my ex texted me. She asked which hotel I’m staying at,” Brian admitted. “Kinda just put my head in a spin. She’d texted me yesterday, too, saying that we need to talk… I’d been trying to ignore that whole situation.”

   “Ugh,” Kelly mouthed, making a face at him. “Just what we needed. There’s like, no chance, right? She’s not tryin’ to come to the convention and see you, right?”

   Stephanie frowned, clamping down on a sudden fiery swirl of emotions that coursed through her, and methodically used the edge of the fork to section off bites of pancake. His ex… Chloe?

   “I don’t know… s’probably nothing,” Brian explained. “But if she’s trying to meet up and talk about what’s happened or anything… I’m really not up for it. It’s weird, but I get this sense of, like, dread at the thought of seeing her.”

   “W-well, is there a reason for you to, um, well there isn’t any reason for you to feel that way, is there?” Stephanie sputtered, trying to collect her wildly burning thoughts. Unless… Do you feel guilty about what we did last night? Are your feelings for her still…?

   “I don’t know,” he replied, sounding tired. He stepped over and dropped his phone into the small pile of his things beside the bed. “She left me without ever actually telling me why in person, just… packed her things up out of our apartment and disappeared. She sent Emily over to tell me a bunch of things—you know, the why, the whole break-up severance letter deal. But Emily wouldn’t actually tell me anything, except that Chloe and I were over. Er, Emily did say that the things she was supposed to tell me weren’t things she could ever say to me. Can’t really say I’m looking forward to hearing all of it directly from Chloe now.

   “I’m sure this is just her wanting to deliver her official sentencing on just how low and worthless I really am to her now. I just… really don’t want to hear it anymore. It doesn’t matter to me at this point. I’m so tired of dealing with her, fighting with her over every little thing, it’s… well, exhausting. Just thinking about seeing her again kinda stresses me out, to be honest.”

   “I see,” Stephanie breathed, feeling a palpable sensation of relief.

   “Keep on ignoring her, then,” Kelly insisted, playfully stealing each of the cut-up portions of pancake from Stephanie’s carton, one after the other, and popping them into her mouth while Stephanie looked on in disbelief.

   “Y-you can’t do that,” Stephanie protested, flipping her box’s lid back over protectively. She’d never had someone steal food from her own plate before, and somehow it was almost as shocking as suddenly being kissed. She has no sense of…

   “Whatever her bullshit is now,” Kelly swallowed the mouthful, “it sounds like a whole bunch of not your problem.”

   “You don’t think that’d be… you know, childish of me? Immature?” Brian asked in amusement, glancing from one girl to the other.

   “Ignoring her is immature, now? You must be on very different parting terms with your ex than anyone else I know. Ignoring an ex is literally the only mature thing you can ever do, trust me.”

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   “Kelly’s right, I, ah, I agree with her,” Stephanie added, picking up her breakfast and pulling away from the dresser. “It’s, if you don’t want to, then it doesn’t have anything to do with, um, there’s no reason to, to give her any of your time anymore. R-right?”

   “You guys are sweet. I’d hug you both if I wasn’t all gross from my run.”

   “You’re not gross,” Stephanie said quickly, taking a seat away from Kelly on the edge of the bed and settling the styrofoam box in her lap. “You can hug—you can do anything you want to. You’re, you’re never gross.”

   “No, really, I’m like, drenched. I’m covered in sweat,” Brian laughed. “After all of that, uh, that ordeal with your roommate you went through, I’d never want to…”

   Stephanie realized that she really could faintly smell him, and was stunned by how… stimulating that residual scent from his early morning exertion was. It didn’t repulse her as Megan’s sweat had—he smelled good, something about it seemed natural, felt vibrant and active to her.

   “Oh, hey, there’s something else, too, almost forgot. My friends Emily and Rebecca are both gonna be staying with us here tonight, so the room’ll be getting a little more crowded. She called last night, while you were in the shower.”

   “O-oh. Emily? You mean that Emily?” Stephanie asked, flashing an awkward thumbs-up while jutting her elbow out. Inwardly, however, she was reeling. Their hotel room had become a special, inviolate place in her mind—a sensual place where it would be safe for her to explore a whole host of options out with Brian and Kelly’s help.

   “Ah, fuck,” Kelly remembered sheepishly, glancing towards Stephanie. “There was that, yeah. I forgot about that.”

   Before she knew it, Stephanie’s expectations for tonight were gone in a poof, that same thread of disappointment she’d felt when Megan had stolen away her imagined sanctuary of self-discovery. What can we do now? Is it already over—are our chances for… THINGS to keep happening already all gone?

   “Hah, yeah, that Emily. Our friend Rebecca, too. I don’t know her as well, but she’s nice. Guess me and Rebecca’ll take the floor, and Emily can squeeze onto the bed with you and Kelly, if that’s alright. She shouldn’t take up much space, she’s little.”

   “You’re okay with Rebecca, ah, being on the floor, though?” Stephanie inquired, stalling her own rampant thoughts and giving him a curious look. Is there some sort of… hierarchy among us girls?

   “She just started rooming with our convention group last year, but I think she was more comfy on the floor than anyone on the beds was. She does, like… medieval campout and LARP sorta stuff, she had a linen bedroll and furs to sleep on and everything.”

   “Convention group?” Kelly asked. “First I’ve heard of you having your own group.”

   “Yeah, uh, normally it’s not just me going stag here—there’d usually be quite a few of us. Not even sure how things turned out this way this time, it’s been… this year’s been strange.”

   “That’s really cool,” Stephanie admitted, smiling. “Th-that you do things like this with your friends, I mean. I’m a little jealous.”

   “All of my friends are really cool. That includes you, too,” Brian said proudly, playfully poking her on the nose. “Ah, uh, listen, though, Stephanie. I… thought about it a lot during my run, and I’ve gotta get it off my chest. Last night… things got really crazy, so… I want to apolo—”

   “Whoa, uh,” Kelly interjected bluntly, turning from her breakfast upon the dresser to give him a meaningful stare. “What are you doing?”

   “Uh… about last night, I was just gonna, well, apologize to Stephanie,” Brian continued awkwardly. “For letting things get out of control, for—”

   “Brian,” Kelly cut in again with a chuckle. “Do you think what she expects from you is an apology for what happened?”

   “I was thinking… she was probably kinda coerced into that, um. Situation, last night,” Brian explained. “Pressured into it, kinda going along with things and now, afterward, that is, she might regret it? I could’ve put a stop to things, made sure, I mean, really made sure instead of just…”

   “N-no, no, it was, it—” Stephanie sputtered out.

   “What do you want here, written notice? A notarized consent form? A memo from Tammy down in legal that your advances have passed review and been authorized?” Kelly chided. “She dared you to go down on her, and you did. Pretty sure you got her off, too. What’s she s’posed to think when you start saying sorry now? Apologizing for it now’s gonna make her feel like you regretted it, that it was a mistake. Was it?”

   “No… no,” Brian sighed, combing fingers through his hair and resting his hands on the back of his neck. “I, uh… it’s just…ugh, damn. There’s still this… well, this filter there in my head, sorta, where I automatically run things through what Chloe would think, you know? This is… this is the kind of thing I meant last night when I was talking about baggage, not wanting to push my issues onto anybody.”

   “Steph would’ve misunderstood if you’d apologized, ‘cause she has no self-confidence. So if you’re doing it out of… like, out of some sense of guilt your ex gave you, you’re really just not thinking.”

   “I get it,” Brian interrupted. “Really. I was thinking, just… my thoughts’re all a mess this morning, and I got myself on the wrong track. Thank you.”

   “Okay.” She regarded him seriously for a long moment, as though trying to gauge his sincerity, before nodding. “…You’re welcome. Steph?”

   “Um, last night, it—it—” the pink-haired girl tried.

   “Steph, all of that last night,” Brian asked. “Was it too…?”

   “Yes,” Stephanie blurted out, and gave him a brilliant, beaming smile. “Very. It was too amazing, I loved it. It couldn’t have been a more perfect, uh, f-first time. First thing. For me. D-did it, um, was it, was I, a bother for you—for you to…?”

   “Of course not,” Brian said. “With all that’s been happening to me lately, with what a rough week it’s been… hell, I’m sure I needed all of that even more than you did. That’s not to say I wanted, uh, that, specifically, to happen, that’d be… inappropriate. But it was… uh, well, meeting you… you’re like this anime dream girl that falls outta the sky and into the guy’s lap.”

   Stephanie regarded him with a stunned look, and even felt her mouth fall open. Blushing furiously, she pretended to turn her attention towards the breakfast platter she was picking at. What did he just say? The pink-haired girl was speechless. Dream girl? ME? There’s no way this is just a crush. I love him. Kelly’s right, I really am fucked. I’m totally fucked. So fucked. She wasn’t able to hide the giddy smile spreading across her features. And maybe soon?

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