Day 1 NC State vs. Louisville
It had been two days since the carpet was wrecked. She looked down at the stains and frowned. The cleaners would do their best, but it was probably a lost cause. She sank to her knees and ran her fingers over the burgundy stains. In her mind's eyes, she could still see the red wine slipping down every curve of that goddess's body. She could see her boyfriend kneeling in subjugation under Ren's labia. She could see the trails that Brandon didn't catch sinking into the snow white fibers and ruining them.
She kind of liked the carpet better now.
On the phone, she was baffled at the latest request from the man she loved.
"You just want me to text you the score?" she asked.
"Yeah, just every five or ten minutes. Just keep me in the loop," he said.
"And it's the ACC tournament?"
"Yeah, should be on ESPN. Just leave it on in the background. You don't have to watch the whole thing."
"I like basketball," she said, flatly.
"I know State isn't your team," he said.
She looked down at the threadbare t-shirt she was wearing. It had once belonged to Brandon, but she had laid claim to it early. The red NC STATE lettering had faded a bit, but still stood out starkly against the white.
"I dunno," she said, playfully, "I
do
have a State t-shirt I'm fond of," she giggled.
"My meeting starts at two. Just shoot me whatever the score is at two-fifteen," he said.
"Isn't that a little early for basketball?" she asked, padding into the kitchen on bare feet.
"It's the tournament. And we're one of the worst teams in the conference, so we start early," Brandon said.
"And it's against Louisville?" she asked.
"Right," he said.
She paused, "You know you don't have to live like this, right? Like, you're dating a girl who's got some money. I could have bought you tickets to actually go to the game."
"It's in DC," Brandon said.
"They have jet airplanes, baby," she said.
"I don't think we're gonna do that well. I wouldn't want to drag you across the country just to watch us lose one game," he said.
"We could have fucked afterwards," she said.
"I think we're probably gonna fuck tonight no matter where we are," he said.
"I think that too," she said, smiling into the phone.
"Just text me the score. And don't send me any photos of you being cute and sexy. It's a review meeting. I can't get distracted," he said.
She laughed, "You know you just guaranteed I'm gonna send you photos of me being cute and sexy," she said.
He replied in a flat deadpan, "Oh no. What a terrible, terrible mistake I made."
She laughed, "Shut up, you big dummy. Go do a job or something. Come to my place when you get off work. If State loses, I'll find some way to make you feel better."
"A blowjob?" he asked.
"Maaaaybe," she said.
"How about if we win?"
"I'll give you two guesses, but you'll probably get it in one," she said.
He laughed, "Okay, I gotta go. People want me to go do engineering things," he said.
"Go be smart," she said.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you, too," she said.
They hung up.
She leaned against the doorjamb for a moment and beamed with hearing him say "I love you" another time. They'd only been saying it since yesterday morning, but it was now her favorite thing to hear him say.
Last night, when he was inside her, they'd chanted it to each other like a mantra. It was the first thing she'd heard when he woke her up this morning. It was the last thing he'd said to her before he went to work.
She turned the TV on and found where the game was playing. There wasn't a lot going on this afternoon. Tonya was supposed to be sending some scripts over, but they hadn't gotten here yet. She put on some music and broke out the yoga mat.
Her phone beeped at 2:15. She texted Brandon the score and went back to her routine. At 3 o'clock she left warrior pose and checked the TV. It was halftime. State was down by 1. She felt like messing with Brandon, so she wrote the score, with a magic marker, just above her breasts. The selfie she sent him wasn't explicit, but it was fairly obvious she wasn't wearing a top.
Ten minutes later he sent a reply. "Couldn't make that out. Could definitely use another update."
She smirked and looked back at the TV. State was up by 3 now. She wrote that on a little piece of paper, put on some lip gloss and took a selfie holding the note by her face. She sent the photo then added to it, "Clear enough for you, big boy?"
In her younger days, she had enjoyed being the sleek, blonde, sex kitten. It had paid for this house. The difference with Brandon was that he didn't make it a request. His eyes held her the same way no matter how much makeup she had on, or how her hair looked. She'd bared so much of her inner self to him and he'd returned it with honesty and empathy. She liked serving up her sexuality to him because she felt like he deserved it. What could be sexier than a guy you didn't have to make yourself sexy for? What could be more attractive than being desired in your own skin?
She went back to yoga and kept an eye on the game as it drew to its conclusion. State was handling the other team just fine. After a back and forth start, they had it in the bag. She smiled. Not that tonight's plans would have been altered by the final score, but it was always fun to have a reason to go all out.
She watched the final seconds ticking off the clock and thought about how to give him the good news.
He liked her ass, might as well use it.
She got a bright red lipstick from her collection. One of the ones that she didn't use much anymore. She giggled as she used it to write 94-85 on her right ass cheek. When it was there, she put down the lipstick and picked up her phone. She gave a coquettish glance over her shoulder and snapped a selfie that featured her ass as a scoreboard. She sent him the shot and a quick text of congratulations.
"State wins. Come and get me."
For any other guy, she might have started a timer. An invitation like that was usually enough to set a man on fire. Brandon wasn't just any man though. She'd seen his patience over the last six weeks. If there was something in his life he loved more than her, it was his job.
Part of her really liked that. It did mean that she had to wait sometimes. She'd had a few nights where her bed and her toes were cold. It made the other nights that much better. She liked a bit of friendly competition, and competing with his love of engineering was better than worrying about another woman.
An image flashed in her brain of Brandon mounting Florence Pugh and she suddenly needed him to be here.
She breathed and checked the clock. Brandon would be here in a couple of hours. She knew he'd finish his work day, but she felt confident that the sight of her ass and all that it promised would get him here pretty fast.
She wasn't wrong.
When he came in, she was wearing nothing but the State shirt she had stolen from him on their first date. His scent was still in the collar and she liked wearing it on nights when he was gone. For now, though, she thought it would do to spark his school spirit.
