Free I Know It's Over by C. K. Kelly Martin Page B

never given Keelor a chance and the conversation circled around with no good place to go. It bothered me that she and Keelor hadn’t hit it off, but I can’t say that it surprised me; after all, I was their only common denominator. So we argued about it, yeah, but that didn’t change either of our feelings and we got smart about it quick.
    The solution was limited social crossover between Sasha and most of my friends and a little creativity when it came to scheduling, which was how I came to be over at Keelor’s on Saturday afternoon. I brought my in-line skates and Keelor and I bladed over to Gavin’s and played video games until his mom called the three of us up to the kitchen to stuff us with homemade lasagna. Gavin always seemed a little embarrassed by his mom. She would’ve made a perfect 1950s housewife—forever cooking, cleaning, decorating, and fussing over Gavin and his dad, with no career to distract her. Gavin’s dad was a throwback too. He said things like “pardon me” and “that’s the darnedest thing.” He’d probably have a heart attack if he saw the photos stored on Gavin’s computer. I have to say both his parents were nice, though. The worst thing you could say about them was that they tried too hard. His dad insisted on driving Keelor and me home later that night and even ended up taking me over to the Wilkinsons after he overheard me mentioning my plans to Keelor. I thanked him, saying that my girlfriend got nervous when she had to babysit late.
    “It’s a scary world out there,” he agreed.
    It was almost ten o’clock when we pulled into the driveway. I watched Gavin’s dad reverse and then tapped softly on the door, scared I’d wake the kids. Sasha opened the door and smiled at me. “The coast is clear,” she said, taking my hand. “Come in.” I followed her down the hall and into the TV room. Some British detective show was on and Sasha grabbed the remote and turned the volume down.
    We sat on the couch, the two of us occupying one seat. “So what’d you do today?” Sasha asked, throwing one of her legs over mine and burying her head in the crook of my neck.
    I told her about Gavin and Keelor and she hummed in response. “What’d you do?” I asked, squeezing her thigh. My hands traced slowly over her top and she hummed into my ear, licking at it and making me crazy. I slid her under me, our bodies extended along the length of the couch, and slipped my hands under her top. Her clothes-on rule killed me at times. The fact that my hands could touch what I couldn’t see made the experience frustratingly secretive. Touching her like that turned me on more than sharing a bed with Dani.
    We did what we always did, we moved against each other until I came. Sasha’s hands stroked my back under my T-shirt. She bit her lip and continued pushing up against me. “You can’t get off like that, can you?” I asked, stroking her hair. We’d never talked about it, but I could tell.
    She turned her head so that her expression was half hidden. “It feels good. But no.”
    “So.” I put my hand between her legs. “What about like this?”
    She closed her eyes and let me do it, still pushing against me. I would’ve done anything she asked me to. It was only her rules that stopped me from making further suggestions. I had this little conversation about it in my head, wondering what was okay to say, as I touched her. You’d think doing something like that would use up all your focus, but it doesn’t always. At that point I was thinking about how I wanted her to enjoy what we were doing as much as I did.
    In the end I dropped my mouth close to her ear and said, “Is this how you do it when you’re alone?” We’d never talked about that either. Maybe I was assuming too much, but how else was I supposed to know?
    “Not exactly.” A shy smile skipped across her lips. She reached down and unzipped her pants. I got hard again watching her do it. “Don’t take anything off,