Jen's brain felt as shriveled as a discarded Christmas walnut found behind the sideboard in July. The dehydrated nerves twanged painfully inside her skull as she struggled to open her eyes. The malicious glare of the midday sun made her regret it almost instantly. Attempting to dislodge the crust that had embellished her eyes overnight, she forced herself up in bed. Her stomach gave an ominous gurgle, threatening to give her a more physical demonstration of why it isn't a good idea to share three bottles of wine with your best friend on an empty stomach before enjoying several inexpertly mixed almost-White Russians and a couple of whiskey nightcaps. 'Coffee,' she thought, 'that will sort me out.'
Tumbling out of bed and narrowly avoiding smacking her head on the desk, she was surprised to discover she was still wearing her shoes. Kicking them off, she pulled on her jogging shorts and BSU hoodie and manhandled her thick and tangled curls into a hair-band. She kept her gaze firmly averted from the traitorous mirror. Nobody could be friends with their reflection on a day like this.
Delicately she traversed her way through the piles of recycling and laundry that cluttered the hall. She could hear the cat meowing somewhere and hoped it wasn't trapped beneath another pile of newspapers. Hands sticking out from her sides like a tight-rope walker she was cursing herself for not changing the lightbulb when a streak of white fur dashed out in front of her making her lose her balance and go crashing into the mountain bike propped precariously against the wall. The resulting noise must have been loud enough to wake her flatmate and she winced at her inconsideration (after all, he'd had a heavy night too), as well the pain from the graze on her shin as she limped towards his room to check. Of course it was his stupid bike so it was his own stupid fault if he got rudely awakened by it; she thought bitterly as she felt a trickle of blood run down to her foot.
She could see a crack of light coming from his partly opened door and breathed a mental sigh of relief. At least she hadn't woken him but who the hell pisses around with Linux at this hour on a Sunday morning?
Once in the kitchen, trying to forget the inhospitable wasteland that nine hours of drinking had made of their living room, she stuck the kettle on to boil and got out two mugs. Most people might not have had such a crisis of conscience over waking up their flatmate at 11.45, and Jen had never been that sort of overly-cautious co-habitor that tiptoes around mouse-like afraid to cause any offence. But she owed James a hell of a lot for putting her up here and she had also never been one to be unmindful when a great favour was bestowed upon her. After her ex had kicked her out of their flat, refusing to give her back her share of the deposit of course, James swooped in to catch her as she fell. He offered her shelter and respite from the pain. He listened to her rail against the injustice of losing her flat to the cheating fucker who wasn't content to destroy everything good in his own life but felt the need to turn against everyone close to him. He listened to her sob over her lost DVDs, sound system and the pair of Kurt Geiger wedges she'd accidently left under the bed, as well as a good two years of her life. He poured her glasses of wine, handed her tissues and stroked her hair. With the patience and calm of Phra Kaew he dissipated the fire that smouldered inside her, threatening to consume her and blacken her soul. He stopped her from turning into a pile of resentful ash and for that she would always be grateful.
The hot tea burned the knuckle of her curled index finger through the ceramic that was cheerfully adorned with a cute teddy bear and the words 'Good friends make life bearable.' She picked her way through the hall more carefully this time, not wishing to scald herself or alert James to her presence. A nice cup of tea brought by your flatmate is always nicer when it's a surprise. She nudged the door open and froze on the threshold. He hadn't noticed her yet. Setting down the mugs on the bookshelf she drank in the sight of him. Naked except for a laughable pair of Batman boxers he sat on the bed facing a screen showing a writhing woman, his fist wrapped around an impressive length of hardened flesh. The unexpected nature of that sight notwithstanding, the image did something to her, flicked a switch deep inside and, without meaning to, she made the smallest gasp. Though the noise was slight it somehow penetrated his haze of arousal. He glanced up sharply and there was genuine fear in his eyes. Perversely, that look hit her even harder.
In the next few seconds, he tried to simultaneously cover his member, search for an explanation, dither between apology and outrage at her invading his personal space, and even to reach for the monitor's off button before his panicked hungover brain told him it was a bit late for that. She sat herself on the bed next to him.
'Keep going.'
The words hung weighty in the air between them. Her unexpected demand trapped his prepared speech in his throat; all he could get out was 'Are you...?' before the words failed him. There was a look in her eyes that he couldn't fully fathom, but it spoke to him nonetheless. Uncovering his member and gripping himself once again, he began to move his fist up and down. His progress was slow, teasing. He liked to stroke himself gently, his fingers feeling like little more than someone's hot breath caressing his skin. He watched her watching him. What was going on inside her mind? Why was she here? Why was he letting her watch him like this?
'What do you think about?' she asked.
He had been so absorbed in her face he almost missed her words. It took him a while to process what she'd said. She seemed to take this hesitance as shyness and her voice was gentle when she next spoke. 'Tell me.'
'I think about women,' he said, and then felt like an idiot. A slight smirk creased the corners of her eyes. It was a familiar smile, not mocking but friendly, and it relaxed him.
'I think about fucking women.'
'Like the woman on your computer screen?'
