Alice’s bad memories.

Surprisingly, by the end of the day I felt… satisfied. We went at it from about 11:00 am to 8:00 pm with only short breaks in between. The usual, small, lingering sensation of wanting more wasn’t there this time. That said, I wasn’t spent, either. It was strange. I had my fill but I could’ve kept going if it wasn’t for the fact it was the girls who couldn’t go on any longer.

Grace, Alice and I saw the others off. It really sucked that they had to leave. Spending the night together would’ve been amazing, too, but it made sense they couldn’t considering the season. Still, I could spend more time with Grace and Alice, so I could feel excited about that.

“So? What do you want to do now?” Grace asked us back in her bedroom. She was wearing only a white T-shirt and some dolphin shorts after coming out of the shower.

“I want to relax,” Alice said lazily and contently, leaning to the side resting her head on my shoulder as we both sat on Grace’s bed. She was also wearing a T-shirt, a bright pink one and without a bra underneath, but instead of shorts she had her white panties on. “What do you say we pick a movie to watch together?”

“That sounds nice,” I said. I got changed into a long-sleeve, tight fitting T-shirt after my shower. I considered putting on my pajama pants, but when I saw that Grace and Alice were keeping it light, I decided to go along with them and stayed in my boxer shorts.

As soon as the heat of the shower began to wear off, though, I started to regret my decision. It was getting dark and it was the middle of winter. It was starting to get really cold, but then I realized that Grace and Alice had taken that into account.

We went to the living room, sat on the couch in front of the TV and Grace threw a soft blanket over us. With me in the middle, Alice and Grace cuddled close to me as we picked something to watch on the streaming sites Grace was subscribed to.

I couldn’t help but smile as warmth and comfort filled my chest. It was one thing to have hot, passionate sex, but spending time doing simple things with the people you love is a different, yet still very special sort of pleasure. Of course, it didn’t hurt that they were pressing their boobs against my sides and my arms. Not in an attempt to seduce me, but rather… Well, they knew I liked it, and they wanted to feel close to me. It made my heart race not in arousal, but in simple contentment.

Alice chuckled, found my hand and interlocked her fingers with mine. “I like this, too,” she told me. She kissed my cheek with grinning lips. “Thank you for today. It was amazing.”

That was one of the few instances where I was 100% sure they had read my mind. And if not my mind, then my feelings, at least. It was kind of convenient to be able to share stuff like that without words.

“The day still doesn’t end,” I told her, kissing her forehead in return. “And we should be thanking Grace for letting us be here.”

“True,” Alice said. “You’re the best, Grace.”

Grace shook her head. “Nah. You’re doing me a favor by coming here and staying over.” She sighed and held my other hand, cuddling closer to me. “I hate being alone.”

“You can come to my house whenever you want,” I told her, squeezing her hand.

“Might take you up on that.”

Alice pouted. “And what about me?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “You’ve been going over to my house all the time for like two years already. Of course you can go whenever you want.”

Alice chuckled. “This is different. I’ll be going to see you specifically.”

We ended up picking a random movie none of us had watched. We picked it because it was tagged as comedy, but it turns out it was leaning far more into the drama tag. It was… a bad choice. The longer we watched it, the more uncomfortable I felt.

It was a story about a woman trying to get away from a toxic relationship with her boyfriend. I guess parts of it were supposed to be played for laughs, but none of us even chuckled. And then there was a scene where the boyfriend hit the woman and almost…

…

I didn’t need mind reading to notice, but I felt it through our connection anyway. Alice was far more uncomfortable than I was. At one point she even pulled away from me.

“Okay, this isn’t funny at all,” Grace said, scowling at the TV. “Want to change it?”

Alice swallowed hard. “N-No. I want to see how it ends, at least.”

It ended predictably, with the girl finally breaking up with the guy and with a supposedly hopeful note for her future, but it didn’t feel like anything was really solved. It was a bad movie plain and simple, but the topics it touched… I guess it wasn’t such a big coincidence. I’d heard Isabelle say that there were plenty of movies and shows like these now. The problem was that it triggered bad memories in Alice. She was looking down, biting her lip and scowling. Her hand gripped hard on the blanket.

My mind reading acted up, but… How do I describe it? It felt fuzzy, blurry. I don’t think it was because of it not working properly, but rather… Alice’s thoughts and feelings were all over the place. Anger, shame, relief, guilt… I couldn’t make sense of it.

“Alice?” I reached out for her hand. I didn’t expect her to flinch and jerk it away from me. My heart sank painfully, not at the rejection of contact, but at the thought that I’d done something wrong.

Alice’s eyes went wide. She stared at me for a long moment, as if her own actions were dawning on her. She then moved closer to me and hugged me tightly. I felt her shaking.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

I swallowed and held her in my arms, trying to shield her from whatever it was that had her troubled. I didn’t say anything, and neither did Grace. The brunette simply watched over her friend with a calm concern.

“It’s… It’s nothing,” Alice said, now trying to play it cool. It wasn’t working. “I guess the movie got me more than I thought it would.”

I shook my head. “It is something, and it has little to do with the movie,” I said. “I want to hear it, but only when you feel you can share and when you have your thoughts sorted out. I… I want to be here for you, Alice.”

Her eyes began to water, yet she managed to show me a genuine smile. She rubbed her eyes and hugged me closer, hiding her face in my chest. “I’ll tell you. I promise. You… probably have a good idea of what this is about, anyway.” I did. She chuckled weakly. “But… Thank you, Oliver. Truly. And I have to thank the spirit in your head, too. You know, for the connection.” Alice kissed me on the lips. “This would be much harder if not for that.”

What did she feel, I wondered. Her expression suddenly changed, her shaking had mostly stopped and she was holding me with love and care, not with fear and apprehension. What sort of wordless conversion did we have in this short moment? It didn’t matter. Alice felt better now, and that was what mattered.

Grace sighed in relief. “I’ve recently learned there are matters that a boyfriend can help with more than any friend. Don’t overthink things, Alice. What matters is that you feel good about yourself.”

“...” Alice breathed in deeply, then let it out with a smile. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.”

I admit, I was growing more curious. Alice’s mood went down so suddenly, yet she got back up just as quickly. It was a little confusing, even with the mind reading. Maybe there are things that really have to be said to be truly understood? Well, I’d wait for Alice to sort out her thoughts. She barely ever spoke of what she thought, and I could understand why. It doesn’t mean it didn’t leave its scars, though.

That night, Alice slept clinging to me. Then that morning she woke up in a better mood, saying she’d had a very nice dream.

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