‘Hey. Can’t sleep?’
Nikki switches on the bedside lamp and looks at Tomas, who’s been tossing and turning for at least an hour. It’s a Saturday night. The middle of winter. Below their window, they can hear a group of tipsy girls chatting, going out.
‘I don’t get it, I was so tired all day, and now it feels like I just woke up.’
She reaches out and caresses the thin little hairs above his temple.
‘Maybe it’s the moon.’
‘The moon? What does the moon have to do with it?’
‘They say it does.’
‘Who?’
‘You know. People.’ She pulls back her finger. ‘But all right. Never mind.’
She takes a sip from the plastic bottle on her nightstand and asks if he wants to play the game where they have to create a nice dish with one ingredient. He nods.
‘Have we done carrots before?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘All right, carrots.’
He sits up and props his pillow against the wall to create some support for his back.
‘Phew. That’s a tough one. I think I would make a soup with it. First add some ginger, garlic and onion to the pot, then the carrots, coconut milk, and some orange and chilli peppers to finish.’
‘Wow,’ she says, ‘some nerve.’
She curls up next to him and lays her head on the soft space between his chest and his collarbone.
‘I would just make carrot cake,’ she says. ‘With a lot of butter.’
She can tell from the way his chest moves that he’s laughing.
‘What’s so funny about that?’
‘No, not that. Your roommate. I believe she’s come home.’
She lifts her head a little to free both ears. The sounds start out faint, but once she’s localised them, it’s impossible to ignore. She can hear everything. The moaning, the squeaky bed and a second, lower voice telling her roommate what to do, like a boxing instructor. Yes, just like that. There. Come for me. Come for me.
She sits up straight, arms crossed. Only now does she remember the socks she tied into her hair before going to bed, so it’ll be more voluminous tomorrow.
‘That must be Andy,’ she says. ‘Her new date.’
Using her hands, she indicates the size her roommate disclosed in the kitchen yesterday.
‘Is that the kind of stuff you two talk about? How long people’s dicks are?’
‘She started it. It’s not my fault.’
‘So do you tell her about me?’
‘Of course not.’
‘You can, you know. If you want to.’
She rolls her eyes.
‘I’m not worried about anything.’
‘You don’t have to be, sweetheart.’
She gives him a kiss, lays her head back on his chest, and listens to the little phrases her roommate emits, faster and faster, higher and higher. What can she do? Knock on the door like an angry neighbour and ask if they can keep it down? No. It’s better to just surrender to it.
It works. After a while, her muscles relax and her mind starts to wander. She listens to the bed going up and down at an impressively regular pace and, after a while, is startled by her own rapid breathing. She calmly disentangles herself from Tomas. Probably he’s already noticed. He must have. She makes every effort to regain control over her body, but each thump against the wall sends a wave of warmth through her.
She looks at Tomas.
And Tomas looks at her.
He is already hard when she climbs on top of him and starts kissing him. All of it’s clumsy, in a good way, like they’ve never done this before. Their teeth collide and at times she doesn’t just kiss his lips, but his chin or the tip of his nose too. She can feel his cold hands sliding under her shirt. ‘I’ll do it,’ she says, and she takes off her shirt with a single movement. She lets him watch her for a few seconds as she unties the socks from her hair. Away with them. She tosses them into a corner of the room and feels her body going soft as he grabs her by the wrist and reverses their roles. The way he’s smiling now, hovering above her. He says he wants her fully naked, but she makes him wait a bit longer. ‘Oh yeah?’ she says. ‘Do you now?’ Tomas nods and quickly drops onto his back to take off his underwear. Immediately she climbs on top of him again, he reaches behind her and grabs hold of his dick.
‘Don’t you want to …?’ he asks.
She shakes her head. Not necessary.
She pushes him inside, tells him to be quiet, and feels the hand she’s covering his mouth with getting damper and damper as he moans.
‘Quiet,’ she says again, focusing on the rhythmic noises beyond the wall. ‘Be quiet, completely, for just a while longer.’