Dinner With Maddy

“You’re not eating much, Mr. Craig.” Maddy observes, as you mostly play with the leftovers from the food Viv prepared for everyone earlier. “I mean ‘Jay’.” Maddy corrects herself after your deep sigh of recognition to her earlier observation.

“Do you not like what Viv prepared for dinner? Do you want to reheat it some more?” Maddy continues to ask with concern.

“No. No. The food’s great. I think I just don’t have an appetite now that it’s in front of me.” You reply, unable to hide the tiredness in your voice. You did go eight straight hours parsing through the word vomit of depression you turned your latest book into. Maddy seems to pick up on that fact and places her hand over yours.

“It’s going to be fine, Jay.” Maddy reassures you.

“I know it is.” You reply with a more positive tone, accepting her hand and squeezing hers lightly to assure her that you’re just being overly dramatic with how you’re reacting to the sudden realization that your memory betrayed you.

“Then why do you sound so worried?” Maddy then asks.

“I’m sorry. I guess I just wasn’t prepared for the sudden reminder of how bad the last few months have really been before you girls came into my life.” You admit to Maddy.

“But that’s a good reminder too, isn’t it?” Maddy asks innocently, and you have to raise your eyebrow for elaboration, as you’re not sure what she means. “I mean, if reading what you wrote was a reminder of how bad the past was, then it’s also a reminder of how far you’ve progressed, isn’t it?” Maddy argues, and you have to chuckle at how this girl half your age has better coping skills than you do.

You move your hand from holding hers and pat her head, since you remember she told you she thought it felt nice when you do that. Maddy blushes in embarrassment, but doesn’t look away from you this time. You give her forehead a sweet peck with your lips to thank her for her wisdom.

“You’re wise beyond your years, Maddy.” You tell her, and this is what gets Maddy to look away from you, as her cheeks flush even redder; and it accentuates her freckles even more. “Thank you for the reminder… well, reminders, that this isn’t anything to excessively worry about.” You add, as you try to steer her head so she can look at you. You both awkwardly chuckle after the tips of your noses glance at each other with how close you were to one another.

You rub the back of your neck out of habit when you think things are getting awkward for you and straighten in your seat to create more distance with Maddy; and to your surprise, Maddy closes the distance you created and leans in to you, placing her hands on your knees, before giving you a quick peck on the lips. It’s the kind of kiss middle schoolers would probably give their crushes when they first start to date — sweet and innocent.

Maddy bites her lower lip and chuckles in embarrassment after the kiss, her cheeks still flushed after her daring crossing of the imaginary threshold the two of you once had in physically expressing your romantic feelings for one another. Seeing Maddy embarrassed reminds you that you’re actually the adult in the room, and that you’re acting like a total bitch right now in front of Maddy.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t know what I was—” Maddy starts to apologize, and you stop her from speaking the moment you caress her flushed cheeks with your palm.

Worrying about the amount of revisions you need to do to the current horrible state of your manuscript is dwarfed by the realization that you have nothing to be sad or depressed about anymore. You have seven loving women who are there to support you whenever you’ll need it, and one of them is right in front of you.

Maddy stares back at you curiously, her mouth slightly agape as she waits for you to make the next move. You close the distance with Maddy slowly, leading with your lips and not breaking eye contact with her as you do. You notice her lips pucker slightly, most likely thinking you’ll give somewhat of the same kiss she gave you. You decide to tease her a little bit for it.

You intentionally let the tip of your nose touch hers, still staring into her eyes, and you can see up close that despite what you originally thought, Maddy’s eyes are actually a very dark green that tricked you into thinking they were a dark brown from afar. You can feel Maddy’s hot breath hit your lips. She’s beginning to breathe heavily from anticipation, and her lips are no longer puckered like before, reverting back to being slightly agape.

When Maddy finally blinks, losing the impromptu staring contest between the two of you, you finally tilt your head and touch your lips with hers. You cover her upper lip with yours, smooching it separately from her lower lip. The strawberry flavored lip balm she has on tricks your brain to think that you're actually tasting the flavor on her lips and not just smelling it, but it still eggs you on to kiss her even more.

You switch up and cover her lower lip next, but not forgetting to let your lips linger on hers. Maddy instinctively smooches your upper lip as you do this, and daringly glances the tip of her tongue on your upper lip as she does. You quickly adjust and catch the tip of her tongue between your lips, before introducing your own tongue and fully embracing this much more mature kiss.

Maddy’s kissing skills, or lack thereof, is something you expertly adjust to. You let her explore your tongue and mouth with hers as she eagerly swirls it around, but also guiding it with your own tongue when her eagerness gets the better of her; slowing down her pace when necessary, and showing her not to rely to heavily on her tongue to kiss you, and that using her lips are just as important, or maybe even moreso, in these kinds of kisses.

Maddy finally reciprocates the hand you have on her cheek, by caressing your cheek with the opposite hand. You can feel her nails with your cheek, as she must have her hand slightly closed, and not fully palming your cheek like what you’re doing with hers. Her other hand then touches your chest, and you finally break away your lips from hers, thinking that she placed her hands on your chest to signal she needs a breather. It’s only after you’ve separated that you realize that she was just trying to explore your upper body with the hand on your chest, as it slid down to your abdomen before going back to your chest.

Maddy’s heavy breathing and dazed look in her eyes confirm that your first real kiss with her had a lasting positive impact. You uncontrollably curl your lips into a smile, knowing that you evoked this almost lust-drunk reaction from Maddy just from making out with her. When she sees you smile, mostly because her dazed stare was directed at your lips, she snaps out of it and chuckles.

“That’s how boyfriends and girlfriends kiss, don’t they?” Maddy asks innocently, still giddily smiling after sharing that mature kiss with you.

“Sometimes.” You answer. “Boyfriends and girlfriends kiss like this too.” You add right after, before giving her the same sweet and innocent peck on the lips that she first gave you. Maddy was obviously surprised by the quickness of the peck you gave her lips, but the shock subsides just as quickly and is replaced by cute giggles.

“We’re really boyfriend and girlfriend now?” Maddy asks, her smile just as giddy as it was on the first day you met her and had her over your apartment.

“I sure hope so.” You answer, chuckling at Maddy’s genuine excitement at the thought of being officially her boyfriend. “I just want to make sure though, so let’s make it official.” You then add, taking both of her hands and holding them over your lap.

“Madeleine O’Brien,” You say her full name to make your next question sound even more official, “Would you like to go steady with me?” You ask like you’re back to being a teenager. “Does your generation still use that term? Steady?” You then ask out of curiosity, making Maddy laugh.

“Joseph Richard Craig, I would love to go steady with you.” Maddy answers before giving you another peck on the lips right after. Maddy doesn’t move too far back though, and her lips curl into a smirk, before she initiates the kind of kiss you showed her; even ending this kiss with the tip of her tongue caressing your upper lip before she pulls back and sits back down to her seat. “Oh, and um, since I didn’t get to be around people my age much; I have no clue if they still use that term. I’m super happy I know what it means though.” Maddy answers your other question too, and you both share a laugh at her admission of her feelings.

“I can’t believe I’m Jay Craig’s girlfriend!” Maddy shrieks in delight, and you can’t help but be amused at her excitement.

“Not to be a downer, but it’s not that big of a deal, Maddy. I mean, there are seven of you.” You jokingly respond. You’re about to add something sweet so that it doesn’t sound like you’re downplaying her excitement, but Maddy interjects before you could.

“That makes it even better!” Maddy shouts. “All six of your girlfriends are amazing people! Now I’m one of them! That kinda makes me ‘amazing’ by association too.” Maddy adds, her positivity infectious.

“You’re amazing in your own right, Maddy.” You tell her your honest opinion, squeezing her hands to reassure her that you genuinely believe it. “Also, I was about to say that I’m the one who feels a lot more special because I get to be your boyfriend. I’m one-of-one. Special edition even.” You joke, but the sentiment behind it is genuine. The joke gets Maddy to blush and turn away from you again, reverting back to her shy and embarrassed demeanor. It’s after she doesn’t look back at you for an extra moment that you realize she’s not looking away from you, but deliberately looking towards something… or somewhere.

…

“Jay?” Maddy then asks, finally looking back at you, and her eyes stare directly into yours.

“Yes, Maddy?” You ask her.

“Can you do me a favor?” She asks innocently.

“Of course.” You quickly answer.

“Can we go to your bedroom?”