Aiden has company

It was late on a Thursday, and Natalie was curled on the couch with a glass of wine in one hand and her phone in the other. The TV was on some familiar crime drama she’d seen before, but her attention was split. Her robe hung loosely over her soft, oversized sleep shirt, and one bare leg was stretched out toward the coffee table.

Her phone buzzed again. She smiled faintly at the screen.

Matt, the guy she’d been texting for the past couple weeks, was being a bit more daring tonight. Flirty and charming. He’d just asked if she was free that weekend, and there’d been a not-so-subtle compliment about how she looked in that last photo she’d posted on her social.

She hadn’t sent him anything risqué yet, but she’d been thinking about it. She took another sip of wine, thumb hovering above the keyboard to fire back a teasing reply, when the front door opened.

She looked up to see Aiden walk in followed closely by a girl. Slim, blonde-haired, college-pretty in that polished, to much makeup, kind of way. They seemed a little loud considering the hour, giggling and talking.

“Hey,” Aiden said, casual as ever. “Didn’t think you’d still be up.”

Natalie offered a neutral smile. “Just finishing something.”

The girl beamed, looking around. “Hi! Your place is super cute.”

“Thanks.” Natalie’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. She glanced down at her phone, read the next message, then locked the screen without replying.

Aiden didn’t bother with the introductions. The girl didn’t seem to mind. A few seconds later, the two of them disappeared down the hall, his bedroom door swinging mostly closed, but not quite all the way.

Natalie sat still for a moment, her wine glass nearly empty, and the phone buzzing softly beside her with another text.

The TV murmured in the background, but it wasn’t the volume that bothered her now, it was the sound from Aiden’s room. Laughter, muffled but clear, followed by the bounce of bedsprings and the distant thump of music playing from his little portable speaker. It carried into the living room with more clarity than she cared for.

She didn’t want to turn up the volume on the TV and possibly disturb the neighbors. After all, it was a work night. That part irritated her more than she wanted to admit. She hadn’t known he was bringing anyone home tonight. And that was fine, it was bound to happen eventually. She told herself she was okay with that.

Just... on a Thursday?

She picked up her phone, read the newest message from Matt, and laughed softly through her nose, but the sound didn’t match the tension rising in her shoulders.

She rolled her eyes as another burst of laughter echoed faintly from the hall. Not exactly what she wanted to hear on a Thursday night. Not when she had work in the morning. She headed into the kitchen, muttering under her breath, and topped off her wine glass.

She wasn’t a jealous girl, this wasn’t jealousy. It was irritation. Maybe mild disbelief. He hadn’t even warned her. Who brought someone home mid-week, knowing people have work in the morning?

She started toward her room, her bare feet quiet against the floor, and slowed as she passed his door. Without thinking, she reached out and pulled it gently closed. The click of the latch was soft, but definite.

Almost immediately, the girl’s laugh rang out again, light and careless. Aiden laughed too. “Shhh,” he murmured through a grin she could hear even from the hall.

And then it came.

“Your roommate’s older than I thought she’d be.”

Natalie paused mid-step.

Aiden’s voice followed after a quick pause, “She’s not old. She’s thirty-two.”

She smirked faintly at that. Good answer.

“I said older, not old. Still hot though,” she replied, not skipping a beat.

Another pause.

And then, softer, “Yeah.”

Natalie shook her head and walked into her room, shutting the door behind her. She wasn’t offended, not even by the “still hot” part. She was thirty-two, not sixty.

Still, there was something about hearing it from the other side of the wall, about being spoken of that way, while someone else got to have the fun. If anything twisted beneath the surface, it wasn’t jealousy, it was the curiosity of what it might feel like to be on the other side of that door.

A nameless girl she’d seen for all of ten seconds. Barely a blink. Younger, clearly Aiden’s age, give or take a year, and yet there she was, casually assessing her. Talking about her body like it was a topic for light conversation.

Older or not, she was still hot, she knew that. And it’s what the girl had said. Aiden hadn’t denied it either. He hadn’t fumbled for a polite correction. He hadn’t made a joke to deflect.

He’d just agreed.

Something about that made her pulse pick up, sitting on the edge of her bed and sipping her wine. The words played in her head again. Still hot.

Her body was good, she knew it. She worked hard for it. She felt confident most days, even if she didn’t parade around looking for compliments. However, hearing it like that from a stranger who was about to get some, unprompted, and echoed back in Aiden’s quiet Yeah… it felt different. Even if it wasn’t meant for her ears, she couldn’t un-hear it.

Her phone buzzed again on the nightstand. She glanced at the screen. Matt.

She didn’t open it right away, just sipped her wine and let the last few seconds echo again in her mind. The laughter. The voices. Still hot.

When she finally tapped the screen, Matt’s message popped up. A smile crossed her face as she considered her response.

She exhaled a breath through her nose, more amused than flattered, though the curve of her mouth would’ve given her away if he were here to see. He’d been pushing the flirtation harder this week, testing the waters, but keeping it playful. No shirtless pics. No dirty talk. But she’d noticed the tone had. She let it happen.

And based on that message? Yeah. He’d definitely agree with the blonde. Still hot.

Probably didn’t care that she was thirty-two either. Probably liked that she knew what she was doing. Hell, probably imagined things she hadn’t even offered.

She stared at the text for a moment, rolling the stem of her wine glass between her fingers, the smooth glass warming slightly under her touch, and vaguely reminding her of other objects with smooth textures not far away, tucked in the back of a drawer.

Then she heard the muffled laughter again, coming quick and breathy. A thump. The creak of the bed frame shifting under sudden weight. Another giggle. Aiden’s low voice. Then softer sounds.

Other than Natalie’s fingers tightening around her glass, she didn’t move. She didn’t reach for the remote or crank the TV volume or even put on music. It was late after all and she still didn’t want the neighbors to share in the noise.

However, she did sit there perfectly still, and let the sounds play out. The not-so-subtle reality of what was happening just a room away carrying the girl’s breathy gasp.

She took a sip of her wine.

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