Amelia returned to the bedroom with two glasses of chardonnay and carefully passed one over to the bed to Noah, who she found lounging on his back in his pajama pants. The large TV on the wall across from the bed washed the dark bedroom in a vibrant orange light, the beach sunset photo from their recent vacation filling the whole screen. Amelia climbed carefully onto the bed and sat against the headboard with her own glass, angling herself to make sure her scarlet lingerie under her bathrobe was hidden - a secret she'd save for later.
With a click from Noah, the screen switched to a new photo: a plate of Cordon Bleu, sliced into disks arranged neatly in a row, paired with a side of broccoli, and set near two small pools of white sauce.
"Ooh! This one's from that French restaurant by the shore," Amelia paused mid-sip to commentate. She had to admit, his idea of celebrating their anniversary reviewing all of their recent vacation photos was a cozy way to spend their evening. "Which means the next one..."
Noah took the cue and clicked the remote again. A video clip started playing. On an outdoor restaurant patio, dressed in a black evening gown, Amelia sat opposite from the camera, across a candlelit table with polished-off dishes scattered across. She briefly smiled at the camera then turned away, gazing off into the distance somewhere to the left. In response, the camera panned in that direction. Over the railing, a calm and cozy bay, barely visible in the dark, could be made out in the video clip. Hundreds of lights from stores and homes across the way dotted the edges of the black void.
"It didn't show as well on video as I would have liked," Noah lamented, "but at least we remember how great the view was."
"I think we must've stayed there for at least a half hour after eating."
"Right, and we only left when I managed to pry you from the table."
After another click, the screen flipped to a photo of a line of modest-looking stores, their signs and storefronts tinted yellow in the glow of two or three street lamps along the main road.
"This was after dinner." Noah set his glass of wine down on the bedside table closest to him, and shifted closer to his wife. "We stopped by that one ceramic shop afterwards, but it's not in this photo."
Amelia pointed towards the screen. "Then... I think we tried the hat shop, which was closed... Then the gift shop, which is that one on the right. I had to talk you out of getting that t-shirt with the chicken on it."
Noah clicked the remote, and another video clip started playing. This time, the camera portrayed a hotel room, but from an awkward countertop angle. A slender young woman sat meekly at the foot of the hotel bed, wearing only her modest underwear, and covering her chest with her forearm. The camera shook and tilted about until the bed was centered in frame, and a charming young man in his boxers joined her at the bed.
With the man's entry into frame, the actors suddenly turned blurry as the camera attempted to correct its focus. Behind the blurry characters, the fine details of a navy blue wall came into view, dazzling with occasional white and yellow star patterns that sparkled against the hotel lamp lights. As soon as Amelia could recognize the environment, the camera corrected itself and returned its focus back on the barely-clothed actors on the bed.
"Huh?" Amelia tilted her head. "This looks like the hotel we stayed at, but what's this?"
"Sooooo... I snuck this into our slideshow, as a special surprise." Noah cozied up alongside her, placed his hand on her waist, and warmly pressed the side of his body against hers. "I happened to find an adult video online - a naughty video - of a young couple who videotaped themselves in that exact same hotel we were at."
Amelia raised an eyebrow, but laughed anyway, and leaned into his embrace. For a porno, Noah sure found a weird one. The man in the video had placed a commanding hand on her shoulder, and started gently swaying his partner around. Amelia heard him console her in a deep and soothing tone, but the camera was too far away to make out the words.
In only a matter of seconds, the woman's head started tilting and swaying along with his pushes. With each turn, her face relaxed more, and her muscles lost their tenseness. Despite how little he effort he used to push her around, her head swayed more dramatically in circles, leaving Amelia wondering how much swaying was her own effort.
"Are they doing some kink shit?", Amelia joked.
The shrugging of Noah's shoulders jostled her. "I guess so. I didn't exactly, uh... screen the whole thing before I added it, I just skimmed. We can skip it in a minute, but real quick: do you happen to remember the name of this hotel?"
Amelia drew a blank. She squinted her eyes trying to recall, but could still see the man in the video, who now swung his other hand around and placed a finger on his partner's forehead. At his touch, she instantly went completely limp in his arms - head drooped, eyes shut, arms flopped - as he held her upright. The swirls and stars on the wall behind the perverts caught Amelia's eye again, as sparkling white dots on a navy blue background.
"Was it... something spacey? Celestial?" Amelia guessed, drawing a blank.
Noah shook her a bit. "Come onnnn, I can remember. Try to remember."
Amelia thought it odd how insistently he asked. Normally, his pestering and teasing would have hit their limit by now, and she'd tell him so. Yet Amelia felt remarkably lax in her husband's arms, head buzzing from the wine. There wasn't much she wanted to do than just watch the weird sex video. Not that the man on screen was even doing anything interesting or sexy at the moment, just talking in a deep and relaxing voice to the nearly naked woman, who looked barely conscious.
"I don't really remember. Honest." Noah's grip on her made the questioning even weirder. She considered how another man having such a hold of her would otherwise feel possessive and controlling. Yet With Noah, she was right at home in his arms. "Do, uh... you know?"
Without adjusting his stance at all, Noah replied, "Do I remember? Maybe... Do yooooou remember?"
