Nothing Left to Hide Pt 9

Part Nine

No Place to Go

By the time I got home, I had one goal.

Quiet.

After spending the afternoon dealing with a customer who couldn't understand the word no, watching Kelly introduce his testicles to her knee, making yet another pilgrimage to Human Resources and then enduring Kelly's relentless fascination with the physical effect she'd had on me, I was ready for an evening in which absolutely nothing happened.

I unlocked the apartment and called Megan's name.

"Kitchen."

I found her standing at the counter cutting vegetables, completely naked except for the little apron she'd started wearing whenever she cooked anything capable of splattering. Her blonde hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, a few strands hanging around her face, and she glanced over her shoulder when I came in.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Her eyes moved down my body, stopped, then came back up.

"Oh."

I closed my eyes. "No."

"What?"

"Whatever you're thinking."

"I'm not thinking anything."

"Bullshit."

Megan put the knife down and leaned back against the counter. Her eyes moved over me again, slower this time. The stupid little pouch was still attached, cinched around the base of my dick and balls and covering exactly what Human Resources required it to cover while leaving literally everything else exposed. It had seemed absurd when they'd first proposed it. After wearing it all day, it seemed even more absurd.

Megan's mouth started curling upward. "Interesting day?"

"You could say that."

"What happened?"

I dropped my keys onto the counter. "A customer hit on Kelly."

The amusement disappeared from Megan's face almost immediately. "Okay."

"Wouldn't take no for an answer."

Her expression hardened. "Seriously?"

"Very seriously."

I told her what happened. The questions. The flirting. Kelly repeatedly telling him no. Him coming around the counter into the employee area. Kelly telling me she had it when I started to intervene. The guy continuing toward her anyway.

Megan folded her arms beneath her breasts. "And what did you do?"

"Nothing."

She stared at me. "Nothing?"

"Kelly told me she had it."

"And did she?"

I couldn't help smiling. "She kneed him in the balls."

Megan's mouth dropped open. "No."

"Yep."

"Like actually?"

"Very actually."

"Did he go down?"

"Immediately."

She tried not to laugh and failed. I did too.

"I'm sorry," she said, covering her mouth. "I know that's terrible."

"Apparently laughing after adrenaline is normal. Human Resources told us."

Her hand dropped. "You went to HR again?"

"Of course we went to HR again."

That made her laugh harder. "They're going to put your picture on the door."

"They probably already have."

She was still smiling when her eyes drifted downward again. This time they stayed there.

I knew exactly what she was looking at.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Megan."

Her blue eyes came back to mine. "Bodies are stupid?"

I stared at her.

Her smile grew. "No?"

"No."

"Interesting."

"Don't."

She pushed away from the counter and started toward me slowly. I'd learned that walk. There was nothing accidental about it. She wasn't crossing the kitchen because she needed something behind me. She was walking toward me because she'd seen exactly what was happening beneath the pouch and had decided to investigate.

"Megan."

"What?"

"You're doing that on purpose."

"Doing what?"

She stopped directly in front of me. Her eyes dropped once more, then came back up. "Apparently Kelly had a very exciting afternoon."

"This has nothing to do with--"

She raised one eyebrow.

I stopped.

"Okay. It has something to do with Kelly."

"Thought so."

"But not the asshole."

"I didn't think you were attracted to the asshole, Blake."

"Good."

She stepped closer.

"You don't have to compete with her."

Something changed in her expression. Not anger. Not exactly hurt either. More like I'd touched the insecurity beneath the joke.

"I'm not."

"Are you sure?"

She looked directly at me. "Blake, I'm jealous of her. I'm probably going to keep being jealous of her. I don't know how to turn that off just because I know it's irrational sometimes."

"Okay."

"But right now?" She moved close enough that her body touched mine. "I'm not thinking about Kelly."

Her hands slid around my neck.

"I'm thinking about you coming home to me."

Then she kissed me.

Whatever answer I'd been preparing disappeared.

Megan kissed me again, more deliberately this time, and one of her hands slipped down between us. For half a second I thought she was reaching for my hand.

She wasn't.

Her hand closed around me through the little pouch, deliberately enough that there was no mistaking what she was doing, and my body reacted immediately. Whatever lingering effect the afternoon with Kelly had left behind suddenly didn't matter. Megan was naked against me, kissing me, touching me and looking straight into my eyes. There was nothing accidental about this, nothing like waking up with her hand in the wrong place and both of us panicking about it afterward.

This was Megan choosing.

She broke the kiss just long enough to smile.

"Still thinking about Kelly?"

"Megan."

"That's what I thought."

There was something triumphant in her expression, and as much as I wanted her, I caught her hand gently.

"You don't have to prove anything."

Her smile softened.

"I'm not proving anything."

"Then what are you doing?"

She kissed me again, slower this time.

"Reminding you where you are."

That answer went through me almost as quickly as her touch had.

Megan kept hold of me for another moment before taking my hand and beginning to back toward the hallway. I followed willingly, already fully aroused and increasingly aware that she knew exactly what effect she was having on me. I nearly walked into the wall because I was watching her instead of where I was going.

She laughed.

"Eyes up, Blake."

"You are literally leading me to your bedroom naked."

"Sounds like a you problem."

"It very much is."

She laughed again and pulled me through her bedroom door.

For a while after it closed, the rest of the world could wait.

⸻

Later, the room had gone dim around us. The sheets were a mess, the evening light had shifted across the wall, and Megan was stretched out beside me with her blonde hair everywhere and her chin resting against my chest. Neither of us had made any serious effort to move.

She looked entirely too pleased with herself.

"Better?" she asked.

I looked down at her. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Yes."

"Much."

"Good."

"You seem proud."

"I am."

"I noticed."

Her fingertip traced an absent little circle against my chest. After a moment she asked, "Still thinking about Kelly?"

"Megan."

She laughed softly. "I'm kidding."

"No, you're not."

"Mostly kidding."

I slid my hand along her back. "You don't have to keep doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Checking."

Her smile faded slightly. She knew what I meant.

"I'm trying, Blake."

"I know."

"I don't want every time you mention her to turn into me needing to prove something."

"Then don't."

"Easy for you to say."

"Why?"

She lifted her head and gave me a look. "Because you're the one with two women interested in you."

"Nobody needs to fight."

"Again. Easy for you to say."

I pulled her closer, and she settled her head against me. For a while neither of us spoke.

Then Megan said, "I think I like her."

I looked down. "You've never met her."

"I know."

"You keep saying you like somebody you've never met."

"You like her."

"That's your standard?"

"No." She thought about it. "I like what you've told me about her."

"Even after today?"

"Especially after today."

I laughed. "Of course you do."

"She told that guy no. He didn't listen. She handled it."

"Very efficiently."

"Good."

My phone rang.

Neither of us moved.

It rang again.

Megan sighed against my chest. "Ignore it."

"I might."

She lifted her head. "Who is it?"

I reached toward the nightstand and turned the phone over.

Kelly.

Megan saw the name at the same moment I did. Her expression changed, and the phone continued ringing between us.

"Answer it," she said.

"You sure?"

"No."

"Megan."

"Answer the damn phone."

I did.

"Hey."

There was nothing on the other end except breathing.

"Kelly?"

Finally, quietly, she said, "Hey."

Something was wrong.

I sat up immediately, and Megan saw the change in my face.

"What's wrong?"

Kelly didn't answer.

"Kelly?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For calling."

"You don't have to apologize for calling me."

Another silence. I could hear something behind her now. Cars. Traffic.

"Where are you?"

"My car."

Megan sat up beside me.

"Why are you in your car?"

Kelly sniffed.

Oh, shit.

"Kelly, what happened?"

"My roommate kicked me out."

I swung my legs over the side of the bed. "What?"

Megan mouthed, What happened?

I held up a finger.

"What do you mean she kicked you out?"

"I mean she told me to get my shit and leave."

"Tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

There was another silence.

Then Kelly gave one short laugh that contained absolutely no humor.

"Guess."

I already knew.

"The nudity?"

"Yep."

I rubbed my forehead. "Kelly..."

"She knew about work. I told her about it."

"Okay."

"She thought it was weird, but she didn't really care. Or at least she said she didn't. Then somebody she knows came into the office today."

My stomach dropped. "The guy?"

"No. Somebody else."

"Okay."

"They saw me."

"Shit."

"Yeah. Then they told her."

Megan was watching my face, piecing together the conversation from my side.

"So what?" I asked. "She already knew."

"Apparently knowing and having somebody describe it to her were different things."

"What did she say?"

"That I'm embarrassing her. That I'm doing it for attention. That I'm turning into some kind of freak. That she doesn't want people knowing she lives with me."

My jaw tightened.

Megan had heard enough to understand now. Her expression changed too.

"Then we got into it," Kelly continued. "I told her what I do at work isn't any of her business, and she said if I love being naked so fucking much, maybe I should go live somewhere people want to see it."

"Jesus, Kelly."

"I'm fine."

She wasn't.

"Where are your things?"

"In my car."

"All of them?"

"Everything I could fit."

"Where are you going?"

Kelly didn't answer.

That was the answer.

I looked at Megan.

She already knew what I was thinking. Her face said absolutely not. Then it said maybe. Then absolutely not again.

I covered the phone. "She has nowhere to go."

"I heard."

"Her stuff is in her car."

"I heard that too."

"Megan."

She stared at me for several seconds, then closed her eyes.

"Goddammit."

"Is that a yes?"

"I haven't said anything."

"Megan."

She opened her eyes. "Does she have somewhere safe tonight?"

I uncovered the phone. "Kelly, do you have anywhere safe to stay?"

"I can get a hotel."

"Can you afford that?"

Silence.

Megan heard that silence too.

She sighed. "Fuck."

Then she held out her hand.

"Give me the phone."

I stared at her.

She wiggled her fingers impatiently.

I handed it over.

"Kelly?"

I couldn't hear Kelly's answer.

"Hi. This is Megan."

A pause.

"Yeah. That Megan."

I almost laughed.

Megan pointed at me without looking away.

I shut up.

"Listen, I don't know you and you don't know me. This situation is already weird enough without pretending otherwise. But Blake says you're sitting in your car with nowhere to go."

She listened.

"No. You're not getting a hotel."

Another pause.

"Because hotels are expensive and I'm not an asshole."

I smiled.

She glared at me.

"Yes, I know you and Blake are..." She paused and looked at me. "Whatever the hell you two are."

I shrugged.

Megan continued. "And yes, I'm probably going to be jealous and weird. I'm just telling you that up front. But I'm not leaving you sitting in a parking lot because I'm jealous."

That was Megan.

The real Megan.

Not the naked woman who'd dragged me into her bedroom. Not the roommate who teased me relentlessly or the woman trying to figure out what she and I were becoming.

Just Megan.

Kind when kindness actually cost something.

"You can sleep here tonight," she said. "We'll figure out tomorrow tomorrow."

She listened for a moment, and her expression softened.

"Okay. You're welcome."

She handed me the phone.

"She's coming."

I put it back to my ear. "Kelly?"

"Your roommate is terrifying."

I looked at Megan. "She's standing right here."

"Tell her I said she's lovely."

"Megan, Kelly says you're terrifying."

Megan grabbed a pillow and threw it at me.

I caught it.

Kelly laughed.

There it was.

A real laugh.

"How far away are you?"

"Maybe twenty minutes."

"Drive carefully."

"I will."

"And Kelly?"

"Yeah?"

"You're okay."

There was a pause.

Then, quietly, "Thanks, Blake."

The call ended.

For several seconds Megan and I sat there looking at each other.

"One night," she said.

"One night."

"She gets the spare room."

"Obviously."

"Nobody is sleeping in anybody else's bed."

"Okay."

"Nobody is doing anything weird."

"Define weird."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Wrong answer."

"Sorry."

She pointed at me. "And if I wake up tomorrow morning and there are three naked people eating breakfast in my kitchen, I'm blaming you."

I looked at her.

"Megan."

"What?"

"You're already one of the naked people."

She stared at me, then looked down at herself.

"Fuck."

I started laughing. She tried not to and failed.

Then she looked at me again. "This is going to be weird."

"Probably."

"You slept with me."

"Yes."

"You've kissed her."

"Yes."

"She's about to be sleeping twenty feet away."

"For one night."

Megan looked at me.

We both knew.

One night had a way of becoming something else.

⸻

The buzzer sounded again before either of us had quite decided whether we were ready.

Megan looked toward the front door and then back at me, suddenly much less confident than she'd been when she'd told Kelly to come over. She was still completely naked, one hand resting on her hip and the other hanging at her side, and I could almost see the argument starting up in her head again. She'd considered getting dressed once already. Now that Kelly was actually downstairs, she was reconsidering it.

"You can still put something on," I said.

Megan looked down at herself, then at me. "Why?"

"I didn't say you should. I'm saying you can."

"No." She took a breath and pushed a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "This is how I live at home now. I'm not going to suddenly put clothes on because Kelly's here."

"Okay."

"Besides, she's seen you naked."

"She's seen significantly more of me than Human Resources would prefer."

That got a small laugh out of her, which I suspected was exactly what she needed. She reached for my hand.

"Come on."

We went downstairs together.

Kelly was standing beside her car, and the moment I saw her, the humor disappeared. She looked exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with sleep. Her brown hair had been pulled into a loose ponytail that was already coming apart, she had on jeans and an oversized sweatshirt, and the back seat of her car was packed almost to the roof with boxes, bags, clothes on hangers and random pieces of a life that had clearly been thrown together in a hurry. There was something awful about seeing somebody's existence reduced to whatever she could fit into a car on short notice.

Kelly saw me first. Then her eyes moved to Megan.

For a few seconds nobody said anything.

Megan finally broke the silence. "So. You're Kelly."

Kelly gave her a tired little smile. "And you're Megan."

"Apparently."

Kelly's eyes dropped before she could stop them. They traveled from Megan's face down over her bare breasts, soft stomach and hips, then quickly came back up. It wasn't a sexual look. I recognized it because I'd seen Megan do essentially the same thing every time we'd talked about Kelly. Kelly was finally putting a body to a person she'd heard about, just as Megan was about to do with her.

Megan noticed the look and glanced down at herself as though she'd genuinely forgotten she was standing naked in the parking area. "Oh. Yeah. I thought about putting clothes on."

Kelly laughed, and some of the tension broke immediately. "What stopped you?"

"I didn't want to."

"Honestly?" Kelly said. "I respect that."

That was their introduction.

We unloaded the car in three trips. Kelly apologized during every one of them, first for the boxes, then for the bags, then because one of the boxes was apparently heavier than she remembered. Megan finally told her that if she apologized one more time, we were putting everything back in the car and making her start over without saying sorry.

Kelly laughed.

She also stopped apologizing.

By the time we finished, the spare room looked like somebody had shaken Kelly's life out of a bag. Clothes were draped across the bed, toiletries sat in a grocery sack on the floor, shoes had been dumped beside the dresser, and three boxes were stacked beneath the window. Kelly stood in the middle of it all with her hands hanging at her sides and looked around.

"I'll organize everything tomorrow. I promise."

Megan leaned against the doorframe. "You don't have to promise us anything. You're exhausted. Go to sleep if you want."

"I don't think I can sleep yet."

"Then don't. Sit down. Have a drink. Take a shower. Whatever."

Kelly nodded, but instead of moving she tugged absently at the bottom of her sweatshirt. I watched her look at Megan, then at me, then back at Megan. It was the first time I'd seen Kelly hesitate over nudity since the day she'd walked into work without clothes.

"This is going to sound stupid," she said.

"Considering how this night started, you've got plenty of room," Megan told her.

Kelly smiled. "I don't want these clothes on."

Megan shrugged. "Then take them off."

"Just like that?"

"That's generally the process."

Kelly laughed, but she didn't move. "Blake's already seen me naked. You haven't."

Megan's expression changed so slightly I might have missed it if I hadn't spent years learning her face. Her eyes flicked toward Kelly's body beneath the clothes and then back to her face. This was the moment she'd been anticipating since I'd first told her another woman had shown up naked at work.

"No," Megan said. "I haven't."

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"You won't."

"You're sure?"

Megan glanced down at herself and smiled. "Kelly, I'm standing here with my tits out. It would be a little hypocritical for me to suddenly become precious about yours."

Kelly laughed, and this time she seemed to relax. "Fair."

She pulled the sweatshirt over her head. There was a plain bra underneath, nothing remotely dramatic, but I saw Megan's eyes move anyway. Kelly kicked off her shoes and socks, unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them down, stepping out of them before tossing them onto the pile with the sweatshirt. She stood there in her underwear for a moment, suddenly looking far more self-conscious in our spare bedroom than she'd ever looked nearly naked behind the counter at work.

It made sense when I thought about it. At work, Kelly had been proving something to herself. Here she wasn't walking into a room full of strangers. She was undressing in front of the woman who had slept with me, who knew I'd kissed Kelly, and whom Kelly knew I cared about.

Kelly reached behind herself and unclasped her bra.

I didn't watch Kelly first.

I watched Megan.

Her eyes moved naturally over Kelly as the bra came away. She took in the differences she'd been asking me about for days: Kelly's smaller breasts, the small areolas and tiny nipples that tightened almost immediately in the cooler air, the leaner waist and flatter stomach. Megan wasn't staring rudely, but she wasn't pretending not to look either. She was comparing. I could practically see the mental list being checked against everything I'd told her.

Kelly noticed.

Instead of covering herself, she smiled. "You're looking."

Megan's face colored. "So are you."

Kelly's smile widened. "Yeah."

That seemed to help.

Kelly slipped her underwear off next, leaving herself completely naked. Her shaved pubic area made the contrast between her and Megan even more obvious. Megan's body was softer and fuller, with her natural blonde pubic hair, thick thighs, rounded lower stomach and larger breasts. Kelly was smaller and more compact, leaner through the waist, with less softness and different proportions altogether.

Neither was a variation of the other.

They were simply two very different women.

And Megan was studying every difference.

Kelly finally put her hands on her hips. "Okay. Now I feel like I'm being inspected."

Megan laughed and looked up at her face. "Sorry."

"No, you're not."

"Not entirely."

Kelly tilted her head. "For what it's worth, I did exactly the same thing when I saw you downstairs."

That caught Megan off guard. "You did?"

"Of course I did."

"Why?"

Kelly looked at me for half a second before answering. "Because you're Megan."

Apparently that explanation was supposed to be sufficient.

Megan frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kelly laughed. "You're the woman Blake talks about."

Megan's eyes immediately went to me. "He talks about me?"

"Oh, God."

Kelly's smile became considerably more dangerous. "Yes."

"What does he say?"

"I'm going to go put something away."

I turned toward the hallway.

"Blake."

"No."

Kelly laughed. "He says you're beautiful."

I stopped.

Megan looked at me.

Kelly continued before I could defend myself. "He talks about your hair. Your eyes. Your thighs."

Megan's mouth started curling upward.

"Kelly."

"What? You do."

"And apparently you don't understand confidentiality."

"We never established confidentiality."

Megan folded her arms beneath her breasts. "What about my thighs?"

"I'm leaving."

Kelly laughed. "He really likes them."

"I know that part."

"Apparently everybody knows that part," I muttered.

Megan was enjoying this far too much now, but the insecurity hadn't completely left her face. Her eyes went back to Kelly once more, and Kelly caught it.

"You know I was worried about you too, right?" Kelly said.

Megan's expression changed. "Why?"

Kelly gave her a look as though the answer should have been obvious. "Because you're the woman he went home to after our date. Then I find out you two had already slept together. You think I didn't wonder what you looked like?"

Megan glanced at me again, but this time there was something different in her expression. She'd spent days imagining Kelly as the confident, smaller, leaner woman she was competing against. It had apparently never occurred to her that Kelly might have been doing exactly the same thing from the opposite direction.

"So you compared us too," Megan said.

"Immediately."

Megan smiled. "That's actually kind of comforting."

"Good, because you're intimidating as hell."

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

Megan laughed. "You walked naked into work."

"And you answered the door naked when a woman you've never met was coming to stay at your apartment."

Megan considered that. "Okay. Fair."

I watched something loosen between them. It wasn't that the comparison disappeared. I doubted either woman could turn that off instantly. But suddenly it wasn't Megan looking at Kelly from below or Kelly imagining Megan as some impossible rival. They were just two women standing naked in the same room, each discovering that the other had been just as uncertain.

Kelly looked around at the disaster of boxes again. "I should probably unpack something."

Megan pushed away from the doorway. "Tomorrow. Tonight you need food and probably a shower."

"I could definitely use a shower."

"Towels are in the hall closet."

Kelly nodded, then looked down at herself. "I suppose I don't need pajamas."

Megan smiled. "See? You're already saving money."

Kelly laughed.

I started toward the hallway, but Kelly called my name. When I turned, the teasing had disappeared from her face.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For letting me come here."

I looked at Megan. "This was mostly her."

Kelly looked at Megan too.

Megan shrugged, suddenly looking uncomfortable with being given credit for simply being decent. "You needed somewhere to go."

"Still."

Megan smiled. "You're welcome."

There was a pause.

Then Megan pointed at one of the boxes. "But if that's full of almond milk, you're leaving."

Kelly stared at her. "What the hell is wrong with almond milk?"

I pointed at Megan. "See? Thank you."

And somehow, within half an hour of meeting, the two of them were already arguing with me on the same side.

That should have warned me.

⸻

Later that night, Kelly was showering across the hall while Megan and I lay in bed.

Megan was quiet. Not sleepy quiet. Thinking quiet.

She lay on her back beside me with one knee bent, blonde hair spread across the pillow, staring at the ceiling while the faint sound of the shower ran through the wall. She'd pulled the sheet halfway over herself even though she'd spent most of the last two weeks happily sleeping without one.

I noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Megan."

She kept staring upward for another few seconds before sighing. "I compared us."

"I know."

Her head turned immediately. "You know?"

"I watched you do it."

She looked mildly horrified. "Was I that obvious?"

"To me? Yeah."

"Shit."

She looked back at the ceiling. Her fingers found the edge of the sheet and pulled it slightly higher over her stomach.

I reached over and tugged it back down.

She frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't start hiding from me because Kelly's across the hall."

"I'm not hiding."

"You literally covered your stomach while talking about her."

Megan looked down at herself, realized I was right, and let out a breath. "I didn't even notice I did that."

"I did."

She was quiet for a moment. "She's really pretty."

"Yes."

Her eyes moved to me immediately. "You didn't even hesitate."

"Would you rather I lie?"

"No." She thought about it. "Actually, no. I wouldn't."

"Then yes. Kelly's pretty."

Megan nodded slowly. "She's smaller than me. Her stomach's flatter. Her waist is smaller. Her tits are smaller."

I smiled. "You already interrogated me about most of that."

"It's different seeing her."

"Apparently."

"And she's shaved."

"Also previously covered in the interrogation."

Megan gave me a look. "You're enjoying this."

"Not particularly."

"Liar."

I rolled onto my side to face her. "Megan, what are you actually asking me?"

That stopped her.

She looked away, then back. "I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

Her mouth tightened for a moment. "I guess I'm asking whether seeing her makes you look at me differently."

There it was.

Not breasts.

Not stomachs.

Not pubic hair.

That was the question underneath all of it.

"No."

"Not even a little?"

"No."

"Blake."

"Megan."

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

She watched my face.

I put my hand on her stomach, right over the part she'd covered a minute earlier. It was soft beneath my palm, naturally rounded in the way I'd told her repeatedly I liked. She looked down at my hand.

"You really like my stomach."

It wasn't quite a question.

"Yes."

"Even after seeing hers?"

"Her having a flatter stomach doesn't make me suddenly stop liking yours."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Why not?"

"Because aren't you supposed to have a type?"

"Maybe my type is women who make my life unnecessarily complicated."

That got the smile I wanted.

"I'm serious," she said.

"So am I, unfortunately."

She laughed softly, and I moved my hand down to her hip. "You're doing this like there's a scoreboard. Kelly gets a point for a flatter stomach, you get a point for bigger tits, she gets a point for whatever, you get one for something else, and eventually I'm supposed to total it up and announce a winner."

Megan winced. "When you say it like that, it sounds awful."

"Because it is."

"I kind of was doing that."

"I know."

"Her legs are thinner."

"I noticed."

Megan narrowed her eyes.

"That was a trap, wasn't it?"

"A little."

I smiled. "I still love your thighs."

There it was. That expression. The one she'd gotten the first time I'd accidentally said it.

"You really do."

"I've provided substantial evidence."

She laughed. "You have."

"And before you ask, yes, I like your tits."

"I wasn't going to ask."

"You absolutely were."

She smiled. "Maybe."

"Yes, they're bigger than Kelly's. Yes, your areolas are bigger. Yes, your nipples are--"

"Don't say stout."

I started laughing.

Megan pointed at me. "I swear to God, Blake."

"I wasn't going to."

"You were."

"I was thinking it."

"That's just as bad."

She was laughing now too, and the sheet had fallen completely away without her noticing.

After a moment, though, she grew quiet again. "She looked at me too."

"She did."

"Like really looked."

"Yep."

"And she was comparing."

"Apparently."

Megan thought about that. "I don't know why that makes me feel better."

"Because you realized she isn't walking around thinking she's perfect."

"Maybe."

"She's probably been wondering whether she measures up to you."

Megan looked genuinely surprised by that idea. "Why?"

I stared at her.

"What?"

"You really don't see yourself the way other people see you."

She looked away.

I didn't push it.

After a while she said, "I thought Kelly was going to walk in here and I'd immediately hate her."

"How's that working out?"

Megan smiled. "She's annoying."

"You've known her an hour."

"I can tell."

"Fair."

"And she drinks almond milk."

"Unforgivable."

"Exactly."

The shower stopped across the hall. A few seconds later we heard the bathroom door open, then Kelly moving around in the hallway.

Megan listened.

"I think I like her."

I turned my head. "You've known her an hour."

"You already said that."

"Because it's relevant."

"I didn't say she's my best friend. I said I think I like her."

"Okay."

She was quiet again before adding, "But I need something from you."

"What?"

"Don't compare us."

"I don't."

"I know you'll notice differences. I'm not asking you to pretend we're built the same. That would be ridiculous." She turned onto her side to face me. "I mean don't ever make me feel like I'm being measured against her."

"I won't."

"And don't do it to her either."

That surprised me enough that Megan noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That was a face."

"It was nice."

She frowned. "Don't sound so shocked."

"I'm not shocked."

"You are a little."

"Maybe a little."

She hit my shoulder.

From across the hall came a loud crash.

Both of us froze.

There was a beat of silence before I called, "Kelly?"

"I'm fine!"

Megan looked at me.

Another thump followed.

"What happened?" she shouted.

"Your closet attacked me!"

Megan closed her eyes. "Oh my God."

I started laughing.

"I'm serious!" Kelly yelled. "Why is there a vacuum cleaner in here?"

"Because it's a closet!" Megan yelled back.

"It fell on me!"

Megan threw the sheet aside and climbed out of bed.

"Where are you going?"

"To save her from the vacuum cleaner before she files a second incident report today."

"One night," I reminded her.

Megan stopped at the doorway and looked back.

"Don't."

"That's what you said. One night."

"She's still leaving tomorrow."

From the hallway Kelly shouted, "I can hear you!"

Megan called back, "Good!"

Then she disappeared into the hallway.

A moment later I heard Kelly say something I couldn't make out, followed by Megan laughing. Kelly laughed too.

I lay there listening to them.

An hour earlier, they'd never met. Megan had spent days quietly measuring herself against an imaginary version of Kelly, while Kelly had apparently been doing much the same thing with an imaginary version of Megan. Now the imaginary women were gone. The real ones were across the hall, naked, laughing and wrestling with a vacuum cleaner.

It occurred to me then that Kelly might not be leaving tomorrow.

And, judging from the sound of Megan laughing again, I wasn't entirely sure Megan wanted her to.