She stays

"You can totally stay if you'd like," Reese said, brushing a stray strand from their sweaty brow. "It's up to you." They offered a smile. "Are we still being transparent?"

"Please. I would, umm... prefer that we always be upfront with one another."

"'Always?'"

Sunny looked nonplussed. "What do you mean? We're... friends now, aren't we?"

Reese blushed. "Yes," they said softly.

Sunny giggled. "I would hope so." She sighed happily. "But please, be transparent with me."

"Okay." Reese's blush deepened. "If you don't want to stay, that's absolutely fine. But I really enjoy spending time with you and I'd like it if you stayed."

Sunny's smile widened, if such a thing were even possible. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"Yeah?"

"I'm having fun," she said. "Besides, I don't have anything to do today."

"Nothing?"

"No. So, as long as we're being transparent -- if I asked in advance if I could, y'know, spend the night..."

"I'd say yes," Reese said without hesitation.

"Even though it's only, like, two in the afternoon?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, that's a long time to spend together, right? And we only just met, so..."

"Wait, do you want to stay or not?" Reese wasn't accusatory, just confused.

"Sorry," Sunny said, sighing. "I just don't want to impose."

"You haven't so far."

Sunny mulled it over. She looked at them with her ocean eyes, wearing an expression that suggested she was searching their face for what to say next. "I..." She paused. "Sorry, I'm actually really bad at this."

"At --"

"Being normal?"

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"I mean, me too."

"Really?"

"Have you really not noticed?"

"Well..." She pressed her index fingers together and wiggled them. She studied them. "Okay. Transparency." She turned back to Reese. "I would like to spend as much time with you as possible today. I know we just met but so far you haven't been weirded out by my, umm, quirks, and even though you literally live one street over from me I don't want to go home."

Reese smiled. "Can I say something awkward?"

"Please." Sunny looked like she desperately needed rescue from the verbal hole she'd dug.

"You have a very... interesting way of speaking." They blushed. "Not in a bad or weird way or anything, just --"

"Different?"

"Yes."

"Yeah. I've kind of trained myself to speak a certain way."

"Can I ask why?"

"Umm..." She scratched the back of her neck. "It's usually really hard for me to express myself, so I've started making it a constant effort to be as direct as possible. Trying to **** myself to not be shy, basically."

"I honestly would not have guessed that about you."

"That I'm shy?"

"Yeah. So I guess you're doing a good job."

Sunny blushed. "Thank you. Sure it's not weird?"

"Nope. I'm just getting used to it."

"Thank you." She was still blushing when she asked: "Can I hold your hand?"

Reese offered their hand, let Sunny take it in her own. She squeezed. They sat in silence for a minute or two.

"Would you like some water? I'm pretty sure I'm completely dehydrated."

Sunny giggled. "Yes, please."

Reese climbed off of the bed, slipped on a fresh pair of underwear, and pulled their jeans back on. As they buckled their belt they were struck by a sort of sense memory of Sunny taking control. They smiled to themself.

Reese was pouring a glass of water for Sunny when she entered the kitchen, clad in one of their hoodies. She'd asked if she could wear it, informing them that she didn't feel like putting her dress back on. Reese had happily obliged, and now here Sunny was, wearing a plain black hoodie that was too big for her. She'd zipped it most of the way up.

For a moment there was only the sound of Sunny's bare feet padding across the kitchen floor. She offered a "thank you" as Reese handed her the glass. They drank from their own, leaning against the kitchen counter, looking at their backyard through the window. Sunny sidled up next to them.

She took a sip, made that involuntary "ahhh" noise all thirsty people make, and set the glass aside. "Can I kiss you?" she asked nonchalantly, looking straight out the window.

"I would like that," Reese replied, doing the same.

They looked at each other at the same time. Reese took hold of Sunny's hips as she grasped their face.

It wasn't a dramatic, smoldering, feels-like-time-is-standing-still kind of kiss, and that was okay. It was more like a long smooch, a surprisingly chaste kiss that one would not expect between lovers who had only minutes ago finished a bout of passionate lovemaking.

Sunny sighed happily as their lips parted. "Thank you." She leaned back against the counter and stared out the window. "This is nice."

"Yeah." Reese found Sunny's hand and laced their fingers. "Umm... I know this is pretty hypocritical of me to say, but you can be as casual as you want with me."

"What do you mean?"

"If you want to say something, you can say it. Or ask it. You don't have to worry about how I'll respond."

Sunny swallowed. "Then I would want you to do the same."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's not an equal friendship if only of us is saying what we're feeling."

"You're right."

"I like that you're shy. It makes you easy to talk to."

Reese smiled. "I feel the same way." They squeezed Sunny's hand; she squeezed back. "Umm... is this okay?"

"Yes." Sunny smiled back. "You don't have to ask, remember?"

"Yeah, but --"

"If I don't like it I'll say something, okay?"

Reese blushed. "Okay." As if to test the truth of her statement they squeezed her hand again, to which she responded by squeezing back, harder than before. "Don't get mad if it takes me a while to adjust."

"I won't. And same to you."

"I won't."

They both took more sips of water. The kitchen was quiet for a few moments. Then:

"Can I see your office?"

"Oh! You still want to see it?"

"Yeah! I'm curious." It was like Sunny cycled through personae: bubbly, direct Sunny; atavistic Sunny; and now quiet, pensive Sunny. And yet they didn't feel like roles she played, but like pieces of a larger whole.

"Okay! C'mon."

They finished their waters and headed to Reese's office, where they gave her a brief tour of their equipment and software. Sunny was rapt at attention the whole time; she understood what Reese was talking about, asked questions, brought up the parallels between their techniques and hers, and over the course of their conversation Reese realized that they had never discussed these things with another lover. Sure, some had been curious, but never like this.

Huh.

Sunny took some notes on her phone. She also took the opportunity to point out that she and Reese had not yet exchanged numbers; they quickly did so. Then she set her phone down and continued chatting with Reese.

"I hope this is okay for me to say," Sunny said, reclining on Reese's couch, "but I don't think I want to define what we're doing right now."

"I'm okay with that," said Reese. They were sitting on the floor, resting against the couch. Sunny reached down and caressed whatever she could find. "I would actually prefer that, to be honest."

"In what way?"

"Just in the sense that I have no idea what we're doing, just that we're doing it, and I'd like to focus on that."

"Yeah." Sunny chirped as she played with Reese's hair. "But, umm... I would like to keep doing it."

"Yeah?"

"Mmhmm. As friends."

"I'm okay with that."

Sunny laughed to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Transparency!"

Sunny nudged the back of Reese's head with her leg. "I was going to say, 'I'll suck your dick -- as a friend.' I dunno, I thought it was funny."

Reese snorted.

"But really though." Sunny giggled. "I will suck your dick, as a friend."

"As your friend, I will not complain."

Sunny suddenly burst into laughter. Despite her efforts to quash her laughter, holding one hand over her mouth and the other over her stomach, she squeaked out giggle after giggle. Reese turned around and watched her laugh -- it was so cute, seeing her **** like this, seeing her totally lose her composure.

"What?" Reese asked, laughing because she was laughing.

"Nothing!" Sunny squeaked, covering her mouth.

"Tell me!" They nuzzled her stomach.

"I was just -- sorry -- this is absurd. And I love it."

Reese snorted. "Me too."

She cupped their face in her hand. "Yeah?"

Reese nodded into her stomach.

"Good."

"Umm, by the way..."

"Yes?"

"I will eat you out. As a friend."

That sent Sunny into another peal of laughter. She wiped the corners of her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm glad." She snorted. It was cute. "Oh, I just realized I forgot my phone in your office. Be right back." She hopped off the couch and strode down the hallway. Reese watched as Sunny walked away, hypnotized by the rhythmic jiggling of her bubble butt. It was just big enough to peek out of the bottom of Reese's hoodie.

Reese thought about the photo book. They imagined the kind of photo they'd want to take of Sunny, the -- Wait.

It only just now occurred to Reese that they'd left the book out after showing it to Lydia.

They jumped to their feet and hurried to their office --

-- to find Sunny standing at their desk, thumbing through the book. She looked... confused. Her brow was furrowed, her lips tight.

Oh.

Reese's face was hot. Their chest was tight; it was hard to breathe. Anxiety flooded every synapse and molecule. Reese's tongue was dry.

That was it. Sunny had found out, and now she was done.

"Uh --" Their voice was a croak, a crackling squeak, as their throat dried up. "That's --"

"Are these the women you've slept with?" Sunny asked. Reese detected a quiver in her voice.

"I --"

"Be transparent with me."

"...Yes."

"You're a voyeur."

Reese bit the inside of her lip. "Yes."

And then the strangest thing happened.

Sunny grinned.