You're both tired, but Pearl wants a DTR

You drop Pearl off that evening at her house. You kiss her on the doorstep and grope her butt, which she appreciates.

“Can’t keep your hands off me, huh?” she says. But then, unceremoniously, Pearl sends you away, moving your hands off her body. “I’ll never live this down if Macy or Mom catches me dressed like this out here with you.”

Not that you have much energy left for fooling around. Railing Pearl in the bookstore before the movie left you almost totally spent.

Seriousness shows on Pearl’s face and squeezes your arm, “I want to see you tomorrow. Got that?”

“Loud and clear,” you say.

Going out with Pearl was fun, and sexy, and really, just nice. You want nothing more than to replicate the experience as soon as possible. If Pearl wasn’t as burned out as you, inviting yourself up to spend the rest of the day in her bed would sound real nice. But maybe you could use a break. Today’s been intense, and far as you can tell, your claiming powers aren’t going away anytime soon.

However, after the promise of a second date, Pearl lingers on the doorstep instead of simply disappearing into her house. She looks conflicted. “Chase?”

You look over your shoulder, a second only before leaving. “Yeah?”

Pearl taps her fingers together anxiously, and carefully chooses her words. “What are we?”

Exasperation, annoyance, boredom, these are emotions you’re well-acquainted with from Pearl. Her current uncertainty, however, is unfamiliar to you. She’s normally self-assured in everything she does. It’s one of the things you like about Pearl. She contrasts with your own tendency to not know what you’re doing even when you’re doing it.

You tense more at her tone of voice than the question itself. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just…” Pearl shrugs. “We’ve had sex a couple times now. Not that I’m complaining, no complaints here. My boobs still hurt a little from earlier, yeah, so you could be less grabby-grabby, but…” she shuffles her feet. “I don’t know, I'm kinda low key into it. Just means I must be so hot you can’t keep your hands to yourself.”

She shakes her head. “But, then we ran into Zoey. And I dressed her up so you could check her out, so you could get it out of your system, but then you used her consent like you’re using mine? Like, tomorrow, you’re planning on having sex with her too?”

Now would hardly be the time to confess to Pearl that Jane gave you a handjob this morning before you even saw her texts asking you to come over. You employ tactical silence.

Pearl’s expression is dark. Disappointed. “I know we agreed to give us time to figure this out. And I thought I could do that, at least for the summer. But today’s been so much more… more than I thought it’d be,” she says, fiddling with the front of her shirt. “So I need to know before I get too caught up. Before I get too invested in this. In us.”

She takes a deep breath and meets your eye. “So, what are we doing?” Pearl motions between the two of you. “What is this? Is this like a fling? Are we just messing around? Are we starting something?”