This is my first story. I hope it's alright. Entirety written August 31 2021 in the span of one or two enjoyable hours. A work entirely of fiction.
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it was a beautiful summer day in the city where Ivy lived. She was a fresh-faced twenty two, blonde with bright eyes and an easy orthodontist-perfected smile, and had just moved to be with her boyfriend, Charlie. They were deeply in love, with the inside jokes and the raucous laughter of an early-phase couple, having dated for two years and just recently started to hint to one another that maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, to be together through youth and old age, to never go on a first date again.
It was a beautiful summer day, and she was having a ridiculous time at the market. She didn't speak the local language well yet, and stammered her way through transactions, eventually managing to get out with carrots, mushrooms, and her life. There was a visitor coming soon, an old friend of hers she hadn't seen, well, ever. They'd met playing video games a decade ago, and she thought of him as a friend. She wasn't worried about anything then, not really... but she had to admit a sneaking worry about Charlie's feelings. She loved Charlie - she was offering to host the guest because they'd had a good time slaughtering giant in-game weasels and trolls together, not because of anything else. They didn't really know much more of one another than that, and Ivy was admittedly more worried that the guest would wind up uncouth, intolerable, or just an ass. How well did she really know him? Not well. Yet it seemed wrong to leave this friend in the lurch while he was in their neighborhood, and they had room for him. His name was Gabriel and, as it turned out, she needn't have worried. Well, not about any of that.
Charlie was busy, and simply glad Ivy had a friend visiting. She'd been lonely since their move. He trusted her completely. She had an innocent look about her, slightly wide-eyed, a bit dollish, petite. She wasn't beautiful, but she was vibrant and young, carefree. She decided they would all go to the farmer's market and a series of cafΓ©s and hikes when they had their guest - hopefully first of many. She put her worries aside, from the unfounded (what if he's a maniac) to the plausible (what if he's incredibly hideous and I stare and shame myself for doing so). She'd seen a picture of him, she thought, but she wasn't sure and it felt weird to... ask? On the other hand, what if this was a case of friendship-catfishing? Was that a thing?
She needn't have worried. When the day came and Gabriel arrived, she discovered that he was devestatingly handsome, more than his photo suggested. Ivy, ruffled and awkward and slightly pink-faced, stood at the door to let him in.
"Oh! Gabriel! You must be - hi, come in. Sit down, or stand, or we can - do you want to put your things away, or-"
He was tall, lithe, with dark hair and a sculpted chin. His face was all angles, slightly hawkish, focused and intent. She found it difficult to meet his eyes, so reached an awkward hand out for a handshake and noticed the way his sleeves stretched around his broad shoulders, his clean long-fingered hands.
"Ivy! Oh, it's wonderful to meet you, you've a wonderful home."
He interrupted her stammers and laughed, a tension-breaking huff, and took her into a hug that she returned - startled and panicking internally. It would be fine, she thought. He's nice. His hand smoothed her lower back as they stopped hugging and her heart jumped in her chest. She introduced Charlie, and while they made smalltalk she forced herself to calm down. It's just meeting a novel person, it's just hormones, it's nothing real. I love Charlie, she told herself, and on feeling the truth of that sentence she knew it would be alright. She didn't think about why the former sentence hadn't brought her relief.
"Right, then! Let's eat, are you hungry? Your coat and bags can go there and there, if you want to settle in the guest room is up there."
There was only one bathroom, and calling the loft space a guest room was a bit of a misnomer, but overall it was a pleasant home. Gabriel found his eyes returning to Ivy, noted the way she averted her gaze, the flush at her throat, the way her breath hitched slightly over his name at times. He felt himself getting hard; she wasn't his type, but the fact that she evidently wanted him, while in the same room as her boyfriend... well. Charlie had noticed something, but he couldn't have possibly imagined the truth - instead, he kept assidiously asking Ivy if she was alright, or if she was feeling sick or wanted some water. She eventually excused herself claiming a slight head cold, indeed, and that was the last of it. For that day.
That night she lay in bed next to Charlie, holding his hand and tried not to think about the man upstairs. She told herself there were just two more days. Two more days and the madness that had overwhelmed her would pass.