“Carey?”
Her head popped out from our room. Her face was flushed red. “Yeah?”
“I’m done.”
“Ok. I got my outfit picked out. I’m going to shower, change and then we can go.”
I nodded.
I felt her eyes on me. She smiled, “I like what you’re wearing.”
I looked down at myself. “Khakis and a button-down shirt?”
“It looks good.”
“Thanks.”
Her head disappeared back into the room for a quick moment and she came back out in a robe with a towel and a pair on panties in her hands. She smiled at me when she walked by me and darted into the bathroom. She shut the door with a loud and audible ‘click’. I took a deep breath and froze as I smelled the unmistakable smell of her. It wasn’t her usual scent, but the scent I smelled when I watched her pleasuring herself on the futon. It was her. It was her pussy.
Was I going mad? I walked into our room and gathered the things I needed for our excursion out to the city. I walked out of the room and straight into the kitchen. I grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and popped the top. I took a long swig from the frosty beverage and took a deep breath. I needed to control myself. I needed to keep my head clear. All of this was curiosity and misplaced feelings. I stared out from the kitchen into the living room and then out the bay windows. The autumn leaves were falling and everything looked stunning outside. I watched the traffic on the Verrazano Bridge quietly and perked up when I saw a neighborhood friend walk by. It was my friend Evan and a delightfully pretty girl at his arm. She had colorful dyed hair and speaking to him with the brightest smiles on her face. I couldn’t remember the last time he was this happy. I wanted to be that happy. He must have felt my gaze; he looked towards my house and made eye contact with me. He waved as he and the lovely young woman that was with him walked by.
“Matt?”
I shook out of my gaze. I must have lost track of time from staring out the window. Carey stood on the other side of the breakfast counter. She smiled when my eyes met hers. “Hey, sorry.”
“You looked miles away.”
“Was thinking.”
“Lost in your thoughts?”
I nodded, “Really lost.”
“How do I look?” Carey asked as she did a twirl for me.
I looked her over. She was wearing a floral dress that ended high above the knees to show off the high leather boots that she wore with socks that came out from under the boots that covered her knees. She looked amazing. My mouth must have dropped open. She was nothing like the awkward teen that I was accustomed to. She reached over the breakfast counter and pressed my mouth closed.
“That was compliment enough.” Carey said as she smiled. She adjusted her glasses and waited patiently as she stood. “Shall we go?”
I nodded as I put the beer into the kitchen sink. “Where do you want to go?”
She looked over to me and smiled again, “Let’s just go explore. No pre-planned excursions. No pre-planned bathroom breaks. No pre-planned stops to charge our phones. Let’s just go and explore Manhattan.”
*
The trip into Manhattan was brief. We were lucky to have taken one of the express trains in. Carey walked about giddily as we ventured down one of the more popular avenues of Manhattan. I watched her as we walked. As much as she had grown into a lovely young woman, she was still the carefree girl that I knew. A smile grew on her face as we ventured from one shop to another and then to another. Her curiosity was nearly endless. Her joy was limitless. She stopped by one street vendor after another and tried on the goofy things that only tourists would buy. She made me smile with her. I usually forced my smiles when I was with people, but with her, I genuinely smiled. I enjoyed her company.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“Are you?”
She turned to me and shook a little finger at me. “Uh-uh, I asked you first.”
“I could eat.”
She stopped where she was and tapped the finger that she shook at me on her lips. “I know a place that isn’t too far away.”
“Oh?”
“They have the yummiest cold noodles besides your mom’s.”
I nodded, “I could go for some cold noodles.”
Carey smiled and reached out for my hand. I hesitantly reached out to meet hers. She made a cute little face before she snatched my hand to drag me through traffic and onto back streets of Manhattan. She was a woman on a mission. The girl really liked her cold noodles. She brought me to the place that she had talked about. It was a hole in the wall. I peered into the windows and made a face when I saw the place was packed with people.
“There is barely any room in this place!” I exclaimed.
She looked into. “I see a spot in the back corner.”
Before I could protest, she dragged me inside. The owners and chefs at the open kitchen recognized her and offered her a greeting. Carey pushed her way through the crowd that was waiting for noodles and pulled me along until we got the small table that shared a long bench with other patrons of the shop.
“We are not going to fit in this spot.” I said grimly.
“Yes, we can.” She said as she squeezed into the spot and motioned for me to follow. I did my best to sit next to her, but she realized with my size it was going to be nearly impossible for us to eat comfortably. “Matt…”
“Yeah?”
“… can you put your arm around me?”
“What?”
“If you put your left arm around me, you can scoot closer to me for room. Then, we can both eat without being uncomfortable.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, “Sure, I proposed the idea.”
“You won’t get any thoughts to analyze?”
She rolled her eyes, “It’s far too late for that.”
I nodded and threw my arm around her. Carey wiggled up close to me and settled in. A waitress came by and Carey quickly ordered two bowls of cold noodles, drinks and a bowl of steamed edamame. The waitress nodded with a smile and dashed off. The restaurant had a cozy feel to it, albeit a bit small for my taste. The smells were amazing. The sounds of cooks speaking quickly to one another as they made noodles and dressed them accordingly were comforting. Soon, the apprehension I had sitting so close to Carey faded. I relaxed.
“You come to these kinds of places often?” I asked.
She shrugged, “Only after class when I know I will be late coming home.”
“Yeah?” I asked, “By yourself?”
She giggled, “No… silly.”
“With a lucky guy?”
She looked over to me slyly, “Are you asking if I have a boyfriend?”
I shook my head, “Nope, just an innocent question.”
“Mhmm, I’m sure.” She said not convinced with my answer. “To answer your obviously loaded question, I do not come here with a lucky guy. I come here with some friends.”
“Oh.”
She giggled again and leaned into me with her head resting on my shoulder, “Yeah… oh.”
The waitress hurried back with our order. As she set the bowls down she looked over to Carey and smiled. “I’m glad you’re finally here with a handsome guy. You two look good together!”
Carey smiled, “Thanks,” she said as she patted my chest. “He is ok… I guess I will keep him around.”
The waitress smiled again and walked away quickly to tend to other patrons.
“I guess you do come here a lot.” I grumbled. “Boyfriend?”
Carey pulled her bowl of noodles close to her after she set mine close to me. She pulled her chopsticks out of the paper sleeve they came in and smelled her noodles. “Oh my god, my mouth is watering.”
She ignored me and dug into the bowl of noodles. She giggled giddily as she slurped vigorously. Her lips were slick from the sesame oil. Defeated with the fact that she didn’t want to press the subject, I dove into my own bowl of noodles. Carey wasn’t exaggerating from her expression. The noodles were good, almost on par with my mother’s. I ate quietly with her with the sounds of our slurping being the only form of communication. She reached over to the edamame and pealed the bean out of its pod and dipped it into the spice mixture before she offered it to me. I was hesitant at first, but she smiled and placed it into my open mouth.
“Good?”
I nodded.
“Good.” She said as she pulled another bean out of the pod and ate one herself.
We ate in peace. We exchanged looks while we ate. I wondered the entire time what she was thinking. But, that was always the nature of Carey. As predictable as you would assume that she was, she always found a way to captivate people with her spontaneity. She always threw everyone she knew for a loop. She always kept people on the edges of their feet. I looked over one more time as I finished my bowl of noodles and saw her struggle with her hair and glasses while she ate. I reached over gently and tucked some of her hair that was gathering around her face behind an ear. She looked over to me with a smile in thanks and winked. My heart fluttered.
*
I tossed my keys onto the coffee table and sank down onto the couch. My feet hurt from all the walking we did. I stretched out and took a deep breath. Carey slumped down onto the couch next to me in the same fashion. I looked over to her and smiled. “Did you have fun?”
She nodded. “Yes, thank you for a lovely time.”
“Good.”
Carey pulled a leg up. Her dainty floral dressed shifted when she did and fell past her shapely thighs almost completely revealing the powder blue lace panties she wore underneath. She reached down and rolled away the long sock that she had worn under the boot. I watched quietly as she pulled one sock off and tossed it aside. She adjusted and then rolled the other one off slowly, temptingly, almost seductively. She tossed the other sock along side the first one and stretched her legs out. I felt a terrible warmth encompass my entire body. I couldn’t control myself. I was getting aroused. I shifted how I sat on the couch, but Carey stretched and leaned on me keeping me in place.
“What are we going to do tonight?” she asked, her voice sounding softer and more feminine.
“I got nothing planned for tomorrow.”
Carey reached over and poked me delicately on the chest. “I meant tonight, silly.”
“I… I… uh… I don’t have anything in mind.” I stammered.
“Want to just hang around and watch some Netflix?”
I nodded, “Sure.”
“Can I shower first?” she asked as she looked up to me.
“Go ahead.” I said as I broke away from her hoping that she didn’t see my erection. I walked over to the dining room table and fetched my tablet. I powered it on quickly, “I have to see if they rescheduled that photo shoot I was hired for.”
Carey hopped off the couch and walked towards our room. She spied how I stood and smiled mischievously before disappearing to gather her things. A sense of relief overcame me as I cursed my cock to oblivion for putting me in the situation. She appeared only moments later and disappeared into the bathroom. I sighed heavily when I heard the shower going. I set my tablet down and decided that I should gather my things for the shower right after her.