[For Stephen]

[elasticity]

The bed was creaking.

Sally had made many a great escape in the mornings after, but none of the men had creaky beds that creaked under the damn weight of her bottom. First it was flaunting its hugeness to the world and then her neck was scaring children like a first-rate horror movie monster and now her massive bottom was making the bed creak as she tried to escape The Night Before. Not that it was bad, of course.

It was just that when a man woke up after sex and you had breakfast, you had to have A Talk and then you had to decide about relationship things and share your souls and other things that Sally had no interest in. She liked her relationships to end just before breakfast.

Escaping Stephen wasn't turning out to be quite so easy. "Damn it," she hissed at the bed. "Shut up or I'll take you down with me."

Comments

[dinnerfor1-girl.livejournal.com]

"That depends," Sally admitted as she tugged on the last sock and sat cross-legged on the bed, staring over at him. "Are we going to make this a thing that could potentially be awkward? Are you going to get strangely possessive and weird after a one-night stand?"

[colbert-bump.livejournal.com]

"Possessive?" Stephen echoed with a hearty laugh. Sally couldn't possibly know about Charlene, could she? He tried to think about if he had ever mentioned her, but again, his brain wasn't exactly awake. Oh look, he was still laughing. "I would never!"

[dinnerfor1-girl.livejournal.com]

Sally looked at him suspiciously as if awaiting one of Jeff's strange little indicators that something was awry. Nothing clear was coming up just yet, but that didn't mean it wouldn't pop up in time. "So when I leave here, we'll be back to normal?" she checked.

[colbert-bump.livejournal.com]

Normal? That was a little more boring than Stephen usually went for, but...

"Of course!" he replied, voice going up only a little. He was kind of proud of that.

[dinnerfor1-girl.livejournal.com]

Sally was still more than suspicious, but she was going to go along with that for the moment until she had better proof that she was going to get ambushed by something horrid. "So you're okay if I just go now, then? No breakfast or talking had?"

[colbert-bump.livejournal.com]

"Sure!" Stephen practically chirped. It was basically true; he had no problems with sex-without-strings, really. After all, he was married.

He just preferred to be the one doing the leaving, that was all.

"So...thanks," he said, suddenly formal, and stuck out his hand.

[dinnerfor1-girl.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Sally echoed dubiously. She'd slept with a lot of men, met more of them, and some of them still surprised her beyond the point that she even thought was absolutely possible. "Well, you're welcome," she replied, voice dripping with mild sarcasm.

[colbert-bump.livejournal.com]

"You, too," Stephen said quite cheerfully. There, things weren't weird at all. "Good times for all, right?" Pause. "Right?"

[dinnerfor1-girl.livejournal.com]

"Oh, it was good," Sally hurried to agree, knowing that men had fragile egos and all and she didn't want to push too hard and make him...well, sad. Besides, she had had fun. It'd been far too long since she had sex and she had to think about Leon at that, wondering where he'd gotten to. "Very good," she provided.

[colbert-bump.livejournal.com]

"Good," Stephen repeated, magically back to calm and relaxed. He smiled at Sally, pleased at how the whole thing worked out. "Why aren't more women like you?" he mused, almost to himself.

[dinnerfor1-girl.livejournal.com]

"Because I may have a fond and easy attitude about sex, but I'm a neurotic basketcase the other ninety-percent of the time?" she suggested with a dry look Stephen's way, one that would be able to set a forest to fire if she simply lit a match.

[colbert-bump.livejournal.com]

"Exactly!" Stephen said instantly and emphatically. It was great that Sally got it.

[dinnerfor1-girl.livejournal.com]

Sally gave Stephen another dubious look, clearing it from her face as she gave a nod. "Okay, then," she noted, clasping her hands behind her. "I will see you around," she added, straddling that perilous line of too-awkward and very-comfortable as best as she could.

[colbert-bump.livejournal.com]

Stephen didn't notice any awkwardness, as he was too busy getting comfortable under the covers again. As far as he knew, she was already gone.

"Absolutely," he said, shutting his eyes. He could probably get some more sleep, too. This had worked out great!