“I think I strained every muscle in my body,” Kinsey groaned as she shoved the door open, not caring that the door slammed against the wall.
“And the fact that I had absolutely nothing to do with that is unacceptable,” Taylor responded, sounding equally tired as he passed over the threshold.
“Oh my god, just stop talking,” Zac laughed lightly, closing the door behind himself and locking it before following the other two into the kitchen. Kinsey had already pulled out beers for the three of them and was in the process of putting leftover pizza in the microwave. “I had no idea Tif would have so much stuff.”
“So much heavy stuff,” Taylor grumbled. Kinsey looked at them and laughed.
“You didn’t? You two met Tif before today, right?” she chuckled. They had spent the entire morning moving Isaac and Tif into their new apartment in the East Village. Two full U-Hauls, countless trips up the stairs, and endless furniture shuffling later, and the remaining three occupants of the condo were exhausted. “I did almost tell her to shove that one lamp up her ass, though. If she had made me move it one more time…”
“You’re such a badass, Kins,” Taylor smiled at her. She glared at him and dropped the plate full of reheated pizza in the middle of the table before plopping down in the chair next to him.
“Don’t mess with me. I’ve got mad skills,” she told him, shoving up her shirt sleeve to show off the muscles she was claiming to have. Zac snorted and picked up a slice of pizza. Kinsey just shook her head and took a mushroom free slice for herself. It was almost February and they’d had almost a month and a half together with Isaac and Tif before they’d been able to move into their new place. They had found a beautiful two bedroom apartment that was now full to the brim with furniture Tif had apparently been accumulating and keeping in storage for a few years. So now there were only three of them, and they had an empty bedroom they’d yet to agree on a purpose for.
“So, what are you two up to tonight?” Zac asked, by now used to the fact that they sometimes disappeared completely for a night here and there. Taylor shrugged and leaned back in his chair.
“I don’t think we had anything specific planned,” he said. Kinsey agreed, unable to think further than taking a long hot shower to blast the soreness out of her muscles. After that, she might be able to think of any further plans. Once they’d finished their meager and incredibly late supper, Kinsey excused herself and went upstairs.
After undressing while the shower heated up, she stepped beneath the spray and moaned at the feeling of the scalding water. She just stood there for several minutes before she started in on her typical shower routine. As she finally lathered up her hair, she felt the sadness of the day finally settle in. Tif and Isaac had moved out. It was an exhilarating day for the two of them, but really bittersweet for her. Living with Tif again, even for a short period of time, had been so wonderful. She had a grocery shopping partner, someone to watch sappy movies with, and a constant supply of estrogen around all the time. Her best friends were under one roof and Reggie had been coming over regularly for dinner or out for drinks. Things had been really good. Different, but good. And now that they had finally adjusted to the welcome changes in their lives, it was all changing again. She sighed as she toweled off and mechanically started blow-drying her hair and putting on just a touch of makeup. When she had dressed, she went into Taylor’s room to find him watching TV lazily on his bed.
“How’d you get all clean?” she asked, letting her body sink into his comfortable mattress as she lay down next to him.
“Used Zac’s shower. How come he gets a bathroom all to himself now and I still have to share with you?” he teased.
“If you want to move into Ike’s old room, be my guest. But then you won’t be next door anymore,” Kinsey started, sliding a leg over his hips to pull herself into a straddling position.
“No. I’m happy here,” he smiled, rubbing his hands over her thighs. Kinsey leaned down and pressed her lips to his chastely before resting her head on his chest. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s just been kind of a weird day, that’s all,” she replied.
“They’re not that far away. From what Isaac’s told me, Tif’s not that great of a cook, so I’m sure they’ll be over for dinner at least a few times a week,” he told her, trying to be reassuring and smoothing his hand over her hair. Kinsey just lay there, soaking up his warmth and listening to his heartbeat. They had been together in some capacity for four months, and while most of the time it felt amazing and normal, when she took the time to really think about it, she still felt amazed that she was in a relationship with him. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had been happier and more comfortable. All those years of being frustrated and annoyed with him all the time, it felt so liberating now that they had finally found their place. It felt even better now that everyone knew about them, and that everyone was at least mostly used to them being a couple.
“So, what do you want to do now?” she asked, rising back to a sitting position and sliding her hands under the bottom of his shirt to feel the soft skin of his stomach.
“I could probably come up with a few ideas,” he said, giving her a little half smile before gently pushing her from his lap. Before she could protest, she realized he had done it so he could get up and close his door. She was settling in on the bed again when her phone started vibrating in her back pocket. Swearing at the tickling the vibration was inducing, she wrestled it out of its tight denim confines and saw that she had a text message from Brenna.
would u b mad if i trnsfred to nyu?
“What?” Kinsey asked, shooting off a response of “what? no… why?” before silencing the phone completely and setting it on Taylor’s bedside table.
“Who was that from?” he asked, kneeling by her feet to pull her socks off.
“Brenna. She wanted to know if I would be mad if she transferred to NYU. Why the hell would I care?” Kinsey asked as he worked to remove her jeans and panties.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “But are you going to help me out here, or am I going to have to do all the work myself?” Kinsey rolled her eyes and pulled off the rest of her clothes while he did the same.
“Happy now?” she asked as he lowered his body weight onto hers slowly.
“Very,” he breathed before kissing her deeply. She let her hands trail over all of his exposed skin she could reach as they kissed there on his bed for what felt like hours. No matter how many times they did, Kinsey knew that she would never get tired of kissing him. Ever. As his mouth finally left hers and started to work its way down her body, stopping at all of her favorite destinations, she laced her fingers lightly in his hair and tried to lose herself in the delicious sensations and was successful until she heard the doorbell ring distantly.
“Was that the doorbell?” she gasped. He sighed against her left hip bone.
“Seriously?” he asked incredulously, “And if it was, Zac will get it.” And then he got back to his languidly slow exploration.
“Oh yeah. Sorry,” she said, her head dropping back to the mattress. He laughed despite himself and tugged on her hand until she looked at him. “Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said honestly, using the hand she was holding to pull him back up to her.
Downstairs, Zac was watching TV and eating from a bag of Cooler Ranch Doritos, which made him think back to the many bags he and Kinsey had consumed in their youth. He smiled until he realized what she was probably doing upstairs, especially when he heard a door shut. The smile on his face turned to a look of mild disgust and he turned up the volume a bit even though he couldn’t hear anything. Though his attitude about Taylor and Kinsey had changed significantly, he still didn’t want to hear them going at it. It was still really weird for him at times, but he had to admit that when it came right down to it, Kinsey dating Taylor was the best possible option for their best-friendship. Taylor had known them their entire lives. He knew that nothing had ever happened between Zac and Kinsey and nothing ever would. Any other guy might be threatened by Zac’s existence and importance in Kinsey’s life, but Taylor wasn’t because he knew he didn’t have to be. That, and he had been surprisingly cool about letting them still spend time together on a regular basis. Zac shook his head to rid of any serious and extraneous thoughts and was about to change the channel to Saturday Night Live when the doorbell rang.
“What the hell?” he asked aloud, looking at the clock and seeing that it was after eleven. He set the bag of chips on the coffee table before heading towards the front door. There was not point it looking to see if Taylor or Kinsey were coming down to answer it as they were clearly preoccupied, he mused. So, he stepped up and looked through the peephole in the door before stepping back in shock and opening the door. There she stood in the hallway with an overnight bag slung over her shoulder and a winter coat well placed to show off the fact that she was wearing a low cut sweater underneath.
“Well, this is interesting,” he thought as he processed her presence, unable to help it as a little smile took over the corners of his mouth. He stepped aside to let her in and she intentionally brushed against him as she passed.
“I heard you have a spare room,” Brenna said nonchalantly as she shrugged off her coat to reveal the figure-hugging outfit beneath. He nodded and shut the door, smiling despite himself as he did so.