A loving afternoon

Emily

I had just finished closing the hole for the door and finishing the room, when Donna came back. She seemed happy she barely even noticed me in the hallway, admiring my own work.

"Oh, hi Emily. What are you doing, staring at the wall like that?"

"This isn't just any wall, I filled in the spot where the door was!"

"Oh wow, right. I didn't even notice, it looks seamless!"

"Thanks! Hey... you got any plans today? James will be out for a while, I think we could do something together. What do you do in your free time usually?"

"Hm, I listen to some podcasts, I make my nails and make up. Nothing too unusual. And of course I meet up with my friends and go to the gym, but that's nothing we can do together I guess."

"Hm, I wonder what else I can do..."

"Are there any movies you like? Or TV series? I like comedies a lot. I like to laugh in my limited time off work, you know?"

"Hm, not really..." Thinking about it, James did offer me Laura's book collection as a thing to do in my free time. I could read them not just for the sake of reading, but also for some self-discovery. What genres do I like? Good idea, let's get started.

I entered Laura's room. The deep purple really fit with the rest of this room and made the books on the bookshelf stand out quite well. I read the summaries on the back of the books, but none of them appealed to me. Sci-Fi is too complicated, dystopias are depressing, **** mysteries are solvable halfway through anyway, and the romance books always delved into sex. I know that's how it is for most people but I can't relate to the feelings of those in these novels. Hm... I skimmed through Laura's bookshelf, occasionally picking one out and putting it back after finding it uninteresting quite quickly.

Defeated, I went back and sat down on the couch. In my boredom, I turned on the TV and started going through the channels. It really has been a while since I last saw TV. Eventually, I landed on a nature documentary on snow leopards. Compared to the books, it actually gripped me! I wanted to know more about the snow leopard, its adorable stature, and its way less adorable hunting methods. Sadly the documentary was nearly over, but there was one about moose next! Perfect, I want to know more about their antlers!

Eventually, the documentary was over, when I was interrupted by Donna who had made a salad for us two. A quite bland one, it seems like she forgot the dressing. Nevertheless, she was smiling and happy like a carefree baby.

"You're very happy, Donna. What gives?"

"Ah, nothing much. I was just getting kind of worried that James might have forgotten all about me but he didn't! We fucked and he still finds me hot and approachable."

"Approachable? Why would he not find you approachable?"

"I'm a bit of a stand-in for our boss right now. I thought maybe that made him afraid... And we did fuck outside of work today too, so..."

"Relax Donna, he clearly still likes you, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Did you two get in trouble at work?"

"W-Well, the first time, yeah..."

"That probably explains it, right? Or maybe you just have to be more explicit. I'm sure he won't be able to say to you no then."

"That might be true, yeah. I hope I can spend more time with him. It feels weird to say this but I don't think I've ever been in love, or at least never that much. Sex matters a lot to me in a relationship, way more than love. But with James, it's different, somehow. They feel... in balance, if that makes any sense."

"I guess I'm in the opposite situation, huh? I never felt anything sexual for people before while romantic feelings are the norm for me. Not that they were ever reciprocated." I sighed. "Have you really never been in love before? Never once imagined it, wished for it?"

"I mean, I always wanted it and I probably started developing some of these feelings in the past, though my desire for sex always dominated the conversation. What about you?"

"I never had sexual feelings for anyone or anything, no. That's why I asked, I wanted to know if he sparked these feelings in you or whether you never had them to begin with."

"I'm gonna go back to my room soon. Have you found anything?"

"Not in the books but I watched some animal documentaries on TV."

"Hm, what did you dislike about the books?"

"A lot of things, but in a way I feel like books never did it for me. Just like most movies and series."

"You saw an animal documentary, right? Maybe you just want something more realistic? You seem like a very grounded person, I could see you liking more realistic stuff. Maybe try to find some other documentaries next. History, geography, or space documentaries might be cool for you."

"Alright, thanks Donna. See you." Hm, maybe I'll do that tomorrow. For today, I want to plan the bathroom.

James

Thank god Quinn didn't notice us. The random SP drop and her being next to us freaked me out.

"So where do you want to go?"

There it was, the question I dreaded. The more I thought about it, the more I realize what Ngrimah had meant with my apathy. I didn't care where we went, and frankly, I barely cared for the date. Christine just asked and I said 'sure'. Or at least that's how I felt, even if I may have sounded more enthusiastic. I like to help and I like to have sex but if I don't look forward to spending time with them, how much of a friend am I to them? The next question is how I can get that motivation. I mean, I like talking with Christine, Donna, Amber, and all the others. But I don't think I ever initiate it. My life is busy on its own, yet I can understand how frustrated I would be if I had to always be the one initiating contact. The issue isn't just about contact though, I need to want to spend time with them. I want to become proactive, and not just when I want sex. Sadly, even going down a path of self-discovery won't fix my immediate issue. "Any place you'd wanna go?"

Christine was not of much help either: "No, not really. You?"

"Nah, me neither."

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask, how was Christmas? Besides what we did, hehe."

"It was alright... We didn't do much. Beyond the goose we ate, it didn't really feel like Christmas, but whatever. There's always next year."

"Don't say that, maybe we should do something to get that Christmas cheer back! Have you ever been ice skating?"

"Hm no, I'll probably suck at it. But if you promise to pick me up every time I land on my butt, maybe I can give it a shot."

"Haha, I'll teach you a bit, don't worry. The city set up a skate ring just a few minutes from here. Let's walk there."

Christine was excitedly dragging me to the skate ring, hand in hand, or rather glove in glove. It was still cold, but the afternoon sun made the cold much more modest than the freezing temperatures of the night. Unfortunately for us, the ice skate ring was full of people. It was a Sunday afternoon, so there were a lot of families there too. Now I felt a little bit embarrassed about getting taught, But Christine wanted me here and it seemed kinda fun. As cliche as it may sound, it was also nice walking here with her, while holding hands. And if she's actually teaching me, we may get to hold more hands.

Once I finally had my boots on, I wobbled my way onto the ice. She explained to me how to gain speed while I hung onto the side fence as if holding on for my dear life just to avoid falling down. Trying my best, I moved my legs and feet to match the rhythm. After a couple attempts, I was able to start a sprint and glide over a straight part of the ice ring. Next up was the tricky part. How much speed was optimal and how to move my feet just to slide in a different direction rather than losing speed. Christine was very kind throughout the process, despite the fact that my lessons took away the time time she had to skate.

After a couple attempts with the new techniques, I was able to complete a lap around the ring. The rest of the session we had on the ice together, Christine and I spent sliding around together, hand in hand, or with intertwined elbows, if we felt like it. It was fun, seeing Christine enjoy the moment and honestly, enjoying the moment myself. I didn't worry about appearing with her in public or getting recognized, all I cared about was spending time with her that we both enjoy. On a straight section of the loop, I leaned over to give her a hug while we were standing side by side, which we continued to hold until we slowed down too much, As we picked up speed again and got around the corner, I leaned over, got a bit lower and started to kiss her.

And then I fell down. Turns out the sudden downshift of my body weight caused my balance to tip too much. Christine laughed heartily and helped me get back up. "I'm glad I didn't drag you down with me, I don't think I could have gotten up without you." She chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'll always help you when you need some help." She smiled, although her scarf obscured part of that. After we had enough action on the ice, we discussed what to do next.

"Hm, wanna do something else first? It feels a little bit early to head home..."

Christine thought, until she finally had an idea: "Hm, you said that this season didn't feel a lot like Christmas, right? I don't know how you usually celebrate it, but now that Christmas has passed, all the stores are selling Christmas stuff at a huge discount. If we go to a big grocery store like Megamart, we can probably find all sorts of different Christmas foods and sweets from all around the globe."

"Oh, that idea sounds awesome! Also it might mean I don't have to cook tonight, two positives in my book."

"Haha, I do enjoy your food though, if you do want to cook something. Unless you're all tired out after we carry home our endless bags of discounted sweets."

"We'll see about that. You'll definitely get a taste of my cooking though, I have to cook until New Years at least. Then my mom returns."

"Yay, I'm excited! Also we're nearly at the store, too, look!" She pointed at the large glowing M from the store chain.

Inside the store, we went from aisle to aisle, checking out every item on sale. From pre-made goose (not that I need more) to all sorts of sweets enjoyed around the world for Christmas, we really found a lot. We bought a chocolate Santa of course, but we cared way more about all the weird foods we've never seen before. There were some chocolate covered cubes with some jam in them, some star shaped cookies that tasted like cinnamon, chocolate filled with orange cream in the shape of an orange, and so much more. I was excited to try them all at home. And because we bought them on sale, the price was really modest. I paid less than 30 bucks for the two full bags of sweets! Absolute deal.

"Hm, where do we want to go now? The place I invited you last time hasn't been cleaned, and well, Emily is still at home. And Donna too, but I doubt she'd mind."

"Yeah but at home I prepared everything for the move tomorrow..."

"Eh whatever, I'll just tell Em to sleep in Laura's room and I'll have to wash Laura's sheets before she comes back, I guess. Assuming you want to stay the night."

"I'd love to! Don't you... want me to?"

"Of course I do, Christine, I just wanted to make sure you're ready for tomorrow. You know, if we stay up for too long today we'll be tired tomorrow."

"Aw, thanks. But no, we can fuck throughout the night, I'll be fine."

"Hehe, sly girl. But I'll probably take you up on the offer." Christine was smiling brightly. "Today was fun and it was even better because I got to enjoy it with you. Thank you for the ideas, Christine, we'll have fun later tonight, I don't want our time on this date to end too soon."

She gave me a hearty and tight hug. "I enjoyed today too, I'm glad I didn't have to drag you here. If you ever come up with an idea that you want to do, feel free to ask."

Hm, that is a good question. Is there anything I want to do? In terms of hobbies, only video games ever really excited me, but even those I only really played modestly. It's not like today was a bad day, or even just okay. It was a great day and I loved being able to spend time with Christine. "I don't have anything on my mind right now, but I think today was great because we did something together, Christine. If you want, feel free to drag me to some place you want to go next time, okay? It might not be my new favorite thing, but as long as I spend time with you it'll never be a bad time, you know?"

I gave her a kiss. The kiss I had wanted to give earlier on the ice. Nothing fancy, no tongue, just two pairs of lips touching. We were on the train back to my home and I didn't want to test Jane's abilities to get me and others off the hook. When we arrived home, we surprised Donna and Em with the contents of our shopping spree. The four of us were excitedly digging through our new sweets stash, even for me it was the first time seeing some of the purchases Christine had made. I noticed some cookies I remember Amber eating constantly at college, so I put them away to save them for her. The Christmas special edition was just shaped like Santa's head, but it looked like the same cookie. Em suddenly grabbed a package that I could barely recognize, ripped it open and ate a piece from it.

"Ahhh, I ha-n't these in sho long... You want some?", she said, while chewing. She held three more pieces in her hand and offered them to us. I grabbed one. It was chewy like a chewing gum, except way sweeter and it dissolved more like a coughing drop. It also tasted like cinnamon. Perhaps to a fault. "This taste is not that great, sorry for making you taste these ones first. The normal flavors are better though!"

Christine answered: "No problem. The point of this was to taste-test all of these sweets so we can find new favorites. And if we don't like them, well at least they were cheap."

After I made the - luckily not goose-based - Christmas prepped meals that we got, I had to deliver the news to Em: "Hey Em, would you mind if you stayed in Laura's room for tonight? I'll wash the sheets once she's back, but Christine is staying this night, so..."

"Alright sure. Oh, and just a heads up, after she moves in, I'll start with the second bathroom, 'kay?"

"Go right ahead. You know when you'll get the payment."

"I do, don't worry. Have fun you two."

"Oh, right, I'll take care of cleaning everything up, but I'll be right back. Shouldn't be longer than 15 minutes."

The women were understanding, though not questioning, and simply waved a quick goodbye. I trotted down the snowed in road to Amber and Klara's house and rang the doorbell. Amber opened.

"Oh hi master, didn't expect to see you today. Did something go wrong with Christine?"

"No, not at all. We bought old Christmas food because they're on sale now and Christine bought some cookies. I remember you eating them a lot in college a lot, so I thought I'd give it to you instead."

"Aww, master, thank you so much. I'm happy that you remembered." She hugged me.

"Amber, I know this is a weird question, but we never really went on a date, right? Like, a normal date. Want to change that?"

"S-Sure. What's with all that romance all of a sudden?"

"I've been thinking about the time I spend with all the women I meet and I think I'm a bit apathetic, because I barely initiate anything besides sex. But today with Christine, I realized that I do care whether I spend time with you all, spending time with you in itself is fun. It doesn't matter where. But sometimes I need to kick myself in the butt and actually do what I want to do with you all. And when I thought about it, there were two people I never really seem to spend time with outside of when it's useful to me. You and my mom. Of course, dating my mom is awkward and tough to set up, but we two could just go on a normal date. No discussions about my little harem or the app, no strategy session, just us two, like we were in college. Well, maybe with a few more conversation topics. What do you say?"

"Of course, master. But well... I have little experience with dates as well, so if things go wrong, please don't be too mad, okay? When do you have time?"

"Hm, the safest thing would be Tuesday evening? Assuming that's not too soon for you, I mean."

"No no, that works out fine. I'll think of something we can do together, master. Love you."

"Love you too, good night, Amber. Until Tuesday."