Friendly Advice

I dropped off Chloe in front of her apartment. It was a silent drive home as I could see the introspection twirl in her noise. I think she was beginning to understand that a relationship with me was going to be different. Far more different than what she had expected. She wasn’t afraid of me or my Gift. It was more embarrassment and shame. She knew now that there would be no hiding her feelings from me. Everything she felt, I would see. Maybe it would have been different if there was some give and take there, but the side effect of my Gift meant my emotions remained out of sight, locked away in a place she could never see.

But she saw me off with a kiss and smile with a promise that we would talk more later. That was reason to be optimistic.

Back at my apartment, I opened the door to find Alexis hard at work. It was a sight that had me frozen at the door as I ran my eyes over her. It wasn’t the sight of her working, but something fundamentally different. Her hair was done up like Natalie when she was about to get serious about something. There was an intense concentration on the laptop as she chewed at the left side of her lower lip—something her sister also tended to do when in thought. Beyond the physical resemblance, her noise wasn’t Alexis. It was, but wasn’t. In my brief initial glance, I had seen Natalie there.

“Welcome back,” she said, eyes not moving from her screen. With a burst of inspiration, she typed furiously at the keys. Interested in this odd development, I removed my shoes at the door and walked inside. She was completely immersed in her work as I saw frustration and annoyance flip to inspiration and elation before switching back.

Leaving her to work, I headed back to my room and changed. My uniform put up, I returned to the living room and took a seat next to her. There were still traces of Natalie in her noise and I was at a loss as to why. Then, it vanished as she groaned and pulled away from the laptop. Rubbing her eyes, she took a deep breath.

“Break time,” she said, stretching. Before I could do anything, she tipped herself towards me. Head in my lap, she rotated so she was looking up at me. The playful smile I was used to seeing on Alexis was back. Her noise was back to normal as well.

“Feeling okay?” I asked, looking down at her.

“Better now. How was your day?”

I thought about what happened on the roof. The conversation that I had with Chloe. “It could have been better.”

“Oh?” she asked, interest filling her noise.

“I told Chloe about my Gift.”

Her smile faded. Jealousy flared in her noise as well as sadness and disappointment. She fought against them, trying to suppress them as best she could. “Stop,” she said, embarrassment and shame filling her.

“I can’t. It doesn’t work that way.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“Alexis, I understand. You can’t help how you feel. I will never hold that against you.”

She sighed, closing her eyes. “I’m just jealous that you told her. I mean, I knew you would tell her eventually, but for a moment it was something special between us.” I found myself running my hand through her hair. She seemed to like it, so I continued. “How did she take it?”

“As well as anyone could when you find out your partner can peek into your mind and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Alexis opened her eyes. “Honestly, I forget about it most of the time. Give her time. She’ll come around.”

“Thanks.” I said nothing else, focusing on my thoughts as I continued my steady massage of her head.

“There is something else, isn’t there?”

“Yes.”

“Want to talk about it?”

I looked down at her to find her eyes searching for mine. “You okay with that?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. How about we give it a shot?” I examined her noise and found her focused and ready. Seeing her resolve, I gave her a nod and began to explain the situation. Not all of it, but the general parts. About how I told Chloe that our relationship was going to be different. Truly different. That something happened today and I wasn’t reacting like a normal boyfriend should. Alexis silently listened to every word. Jealousy was there, but she was trying her best to push through it.

Finished, I said nothing more as I scanned her noise.

“You really like her, don’t you?”

“I do.”

She smiled, but her noise betrayed her sadness. She did her best to sound cheerful. “Welp, I can’t help you. I’m not exactly an expert on relationships after all.”

“I appreciate you listening.”

“It help?”

I thought for a moment. “Not at all.” She snorted, rolling her eyes as I smiled at her.

Pulling away from me, she sat up. “Well, if she dumps your ass, I’ll be more than happy to be your rebound.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem!” she said with a light laugh.

I glanced at her open laptop. “What are you working on?”

She gave a frustrated sigh. “Some stupid report for my Business Law course.”

“Sounds… fun.”

There was a playful glint in her eye when she looked over at me. “You know? It actually is. There is this guy—”

“Always is.”

“You wouldn’t understand. He is hot.”

“They usually are.”

She chuckled. “Jealous?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Mmm. Kinda sounds like you are,” she teased, leaning towards me. “What’s wrong? Girlfriend not putting out?” she asked, poking at my chest. I didn’t say anything, realizing that besides kissing, Chloe and I hadn’t done much in the physical realm. “Seriously?”

“It’s not that,” I said, looking down. This was a massive oversight on my part. Sex might not have been important to me, but I had no idea if it was something important to her. With her work, I always figured her physical needs were taken care of, but she might have a desire to be with me. “I just realized I haven’t thought about having sex with her.”

The surprise in her noise was loud. “Poor girl.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. You know how I am. I never considered—”

“That a girl dating you might want to have sex? Jake…”

“You don’t understand. I… I don’t know if I can.”

She gave me a bewildered look. “Have sex? Really not that hard…”

“It is when you can’t maintain an erection.”

Her eyes went from mine down to my crotch before moving back to me. “Oh…” She perked up. “Oh! If it doesn’t work, there is still something you can do. Something she will love.” I tilted my head, focusing on her. She was grinning, practically jumping in her seat. “Jake, let me tell you some things about going down on a gal. And this? This I can help you with…”