"I think I want to fuck Brit," she said, suddenly, almost in a whisper, as if the entire world might hear.
There was no response from the near-darkness save the ticking of the clock and the slow, steady breathing of her fiancΓ©.
"Hey," she poked the body next to her in bed, "are you awake?"
"Mmmm," it said.
"Ben, are you awake?"
She poked him again.
He yawned.
"I am now," he said.
He lifted his head off the pillow and glanced at his alarm clock -- 2:58am.
"What's wrong?" he asked, turning his head to look toward her.
He could see her head and shoulders outlined by the soft, red glow of the digital numbers on her alarm clock.
"Nothing's wrong," she said, quietly.
"Gaby, you've been saying nothing's wrong for three days now," he said.
She set her jaw, took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds.
"I think I want to fuck Brit," she repeated.
The statement hung in the air.
"Is that all?" he asked. "I thought it was something serious."
He let his head drop back onto the pillow.
Gaby reached over and punched him in the shoulder.
He let out a long sigh and lifted his head again.
"I am serious," she said.
"Brit who?" he asked, still clearing the cobwebs of REM sleep from his mind.
"Brit, Brit...from my school."
"The cleaning gel?" he asked, horribly mimicking Brit's Liverpool accent.
"Yes."
He turned his body to face her, as she switched on the small lamp on her nightstand.
"You think you want to have sex with her, or you want to have sex with her?" he asked.
"I want to."
"And, when did you come to this conclusion?"
"Friday," Gaby answered, "while she was here cleaning."
"Did you say anything to her?"
"Oh, God no!" she said. "I couldn't...I..."
"So, you want to have sex with one of your former, and possibly future, students, who comes to clean our apartment?" he asked quietly.
"Yes."
"She's, like, 16," he said.
"She's 21...I teach college, you idiot," she retorted.
"Oh, yeah, I forget sometimes," he said, letting out a short laugh, "especially when I help you grade essays and tests."
"You know, you're a real shit sometimes," she hissed.
"Yeah, it must have something to do with being awakened in the middle of the night," he said.
She simply looked at him.
"Well," he continued, "what brought this on?"
"I've always found her attractive...I mean...don't you think she's attractive?" she asked.
"Ummm, on the advice of legal counsel, I must refuse to answer any questions regarding the 'hotness or notness' of other women while lying in bed with my fiancΓ©," he answered.
"You're an ass!" she said.
"No, I'm a careful man, who deeply, deeply cares for his future wife," he said, with a smirk.
Gaby gave him an exaggerated eye-roll at that.
"I've seen you stare at her," Gaby said.
"I don't 'stare'," he said. "I glance, briefly, and appreciate."
He received another eye-roll in response.
"OK...yes, I do think she's very attractive," he said, after a few moments. "She's young and firm. She has a very pretty face, those big, brown, doe eyes, and..."
"OK," Gaby said.
"...Nice legs, and a terrific as..."
She punched his shoulder again.
"Ouch."
"I get it," she said. "Of course, having a pair of 32 double Ds doesn't hurt either, huh?"
"Well," Ben said, "there's that too...or those two."
They fell silent for a few moments.
"So," Ben began again, "what happened on Friday?"
"I was in the kitchen while she was cleaning," Gaby started.
She paused for a few moments, before continuing.
"I was wearing low-riders and a short t-shirt, and she noticed my cross," she said, referring to the tattoo of a Spanish-style cross on her lower back, just above the crack of her ass. "Brit asked if she could look at it up close, and I let her."
He watched as she licked her lips nervously.
"She put her fingers on my back and slowly traced over the tat," Gaby said. "When she touched me, I felt electricity shoot through my body...like I haven't felt in a very long time."
"Wow," Ben said, "doesn't that make me feel special."
Gaby momentarily ignored his comment and continued.
"She asked if I wanted to see her 'tramp stamp'," Gaby said. "And, at that moment, there was nothing in the world I wanted more."
"And?" Ben asked, quietly.
"When she leaned up against the counter, lifted her shirt and pushed her shorts down enough that I could see it all...I swear, I almost came," she said. "When my fingers touched her skin, I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and pull her into me."
Ben cleared his suddenly dry throat.
"I've only caught glimpses of it," he said. "What is it?"
"Is says, 'Rule, Britannia!' with an outline of Great Britain underneath. And, below that, the words, '...this Earth, this realm, this England'," she said.
"You're kidding," Ben said.
"I swear," she said, with a grin that wrinkled her nose.
"That quote, it's from..." he began.
"Yep, Shakespeare...Richard II," she giggled.
"That's got to be the strangest 'tramp stamp' I've ever heard of," he said with a chuckle.
"Well, Benjamin," Gabrielle began, "her full first name is Britannia."
"Huh, I always figured it was Britney, or Brittany, or something like that," Ben said.
"I guess she figured that it all just fit together," Gaby said.
"And the Shakespeare?" Ben asked.
"She said it reminds her of home," Gaby said.
Ben nodded and thought for a few moments.
"So, what's the plan?" he asked.
"As long as you're OK with it, I'll talk to her the next time I see her, and find out if she's interested in joining us," Gaby answered.
"I don't know how wise it is to get involved with one of your students, but other than that I'm fine with it," Ben said.