Chapter 8

Lotte is there when you return to the house with Linde. It’s getting late, and you both stink of sweat and beer. It’s pretty quiet. Lotte’s in the living room, sitting on the sofa with the TV on, and she looks back over the sofa at you as you come in.

You can hear another TV on upstairs, but it’s impossible to know who’s around and who’s doing what.

Linde smacks you on the shoulder with a laugh and stumbles off drunkenly to the bathroom. You’re a bit less drunk than she is, and you go to the sofa and sit beside Lotte, who says nothing. After a second you glance down the hall, then you look at your girlfriend.

“She’s insane,” you say.

Lotte doesn’t argue. She just pats your thigh and goes back to looking at the screen, which goes to commercials. Within seconds, it’s a FUTA advertisement. You both look away at once, looking back at each other. You hate these ads. Everyone loves them except the actual FUTA players being objectified in them.

“Did she do that to you?” you ask. “Get drunk at the bar?” Lotte nods, not looking particularly bothered. “A lot?”

She shrugs, moving a little closer to you.

“How’d it go at the school?” you ask.

“Fine,” she replies. “America is strange.”

You can’t argue with that.

“Are you tired, baby?” you ask her, finding her hand and squeezing it. She nods. She’s keeping that normal look on her face, but this place drains her. You are starting to get it. “Want to go to bed?”

She nods again.

It’s strangely intimate to get ready for bed with her in this setting, sharing the tiny bathroom and even just getting undressed. Teeth brushed and freshly showered and wrapped in towels, you retreat to her room, which she’s already checked for traps.

You sit on her bed and blow dry her hair whiles she brushes yours. It’s nice.

But you can hear the TV from upstairs clearly, and can literally hear the tiny little sound effects of Suze in the next room, texting someone. Everyone can hear everything. You’re tired enough that it’s not like you were planning on wild, acrobatic sex, but it’s kind of a buzzkill to no that lewdness is basically forbidden. Or is it?

You look up when you hear a familiar grunt from above. With the blow dryer going, you can’t be sure, but that sounded suspiciously like the noise that Elenora made when she finished this afternoon. Did Famke just give her a BJ up there or something?

You finish with your hair and write an email to your family while Lotte plugs her phone in. A minute later you’re snuggled with her in bed with the lights off. Lotte turns on her phone with a white noise app, and it helps, but… it’s not enough.

You lie there with her. This is a beautiful Dutch village, not a city. There’s so little noise outside, and that makes it feel like there’s tons of noise in here. There’s not much room. Her bed creaks when you move, but only a little. This house has a big creaking problem at night.

Lotte’s just wearing panties, and you have on your usual boy shorts. You gave into temptation and didn’t wear a t-shirt, just because you couldn’t resist getting a little skin to skin in this narrow bed. Maybe that was a mistake, but at least you were smart and got in on your side, making yourself the little spoon. That only makes it slightly less erotic. You can feel the warmth of her body behind you, and her breath tickling your ear.

Elsewhere in the house, Linde laughs loudly. She’s watching TV and still drinking.

You hear Suze’s phone ding with some kind of notification. You hope she isn’t going to text all night. Where is Senna’s room? You aren’t sure. Well, you don’t hear anything from her at least. Maybe she’s already asleep.

Lotte puts her arm over you, under the covers, snuggling up.

It’s really nice. A little too nice. Her hand comes to rest on your boob. A few moments later, she slides it down.

“Are you serious?” you whisper as she draws it lightly over your stomach. You’re already rock hard. She wants to do some stealth hand work? Well, Lotte has never been short on nerve… she probably wants you to return the favor.

She doesn’t free you from your boyshorts. You’re poking out of them, pushed up hard against your tummy. Lotte just squeezes the foreskin on the underside between her thumb and forefinger and rubs it. You shudder. It takes a second for that you really rev you up, but it works. No stroking or jerking required. If she keeps that up, you’ll…

You let out a panting breath and reach out blindly, grabbing the headboard. You sigh and try to breathe like a normal person, but it feels amazing. Her face is in your shoulder and you still feel her breath. You just want to roll over and get on top of her so bad. You like your lips and stiffen your body, closing your eyes and concentrating on the sensation. You think about Lotte and get ready…

A sudden tap from the wall startles you. Lotte stops. You both turn and look.

You don’t have to wonder where Senna’s room is anymore. You twist to look at Lotte, whose face is stony. After a moment, she lets go of you and flips onto her back, staring at the ceiling with a glassy look that you know hides total rage. Heart racing and still tingling all over, you roll onto your back beside her, still squeezed together on the narrow mattress. Your huge erection is a funny tent in the sheets, but going down fast. You sigh, touching your forehead. You had started to work up a sweat there.

There’s another tap. Then another. Then silence.

“Jesus,” you mutter, joining Lotte in staring at the ceiling. Is she going to do that all night? Periodically wake you up or something? Isn’t this how they **** people in prison?

You find Lotte’s hand and take it in yours, but she squeezes hard. You’re about to turn and just give her a kiss goodnight, but a giggle from upstairs makes you both look up again. You hear a scrape and bump, then a creak. Then another creak.

Famke laughs, and you know that laugh. Your eyes widen.

“No fucking way,” you mutter.

Lotte just groans and rolls onto her side, her back to you. Disbelieving, you stare at the ceiling as the bedsprings squeak up there in earnest. You can even hear husky, panted words in Dutch being spoken , and little squeals from Famke.

You put your pillow over your face.

It ends eventually. Relieved, you hope that Lotte hasn’t noticed your new boner, which was unavoidable. You heard a lot of detail.

But now you can sleep. You close your eyes and start to drift off.

There’s another tap on the wall.