“I love you,” she whispered, turning her head to take my mouth.
“You think you can come again for me?” I asked when I pulled away. I forced myself to switch to slow glides.
“I, uh . . . don’t know.”
“Come. Please.” I sat up and found her clit with my thumb.
“Shit.” Her whole body arched off the pillows as she dropped her legs open even wider.
“Please come,” I chanted, leaning forward to suck her nipple into my mouth.
I wasn’t wearing a condom, so I had to pull out. But I had to claim this last first before doing it. I wanted to be the last man she ever pulsed around, but I could settle for knowing that I was the first. I poured every resource I had into getting her off. But with every touch, I was forcing myself there as well.
“Damn it,” I cursed as I lost the battle with my own release.
Pulling out, I pumped hot cum onto her stomach. Crashing on top of her, I buried my face in her neck and repeated her name as though it would be the last time I ever said it. And it very well could have been.
“I’m sorry.” She began to rake her nails up my back.
“For what?” I responded, out of breath and with aftershocks still firing through my cock.
“That I didn’t come again.”
“Don’t apologize for that. I just covered you in cum.” I laughed, rolling to retrieve my boxers and using them to clean up her stomach while she giggled and squirmed under me.
With my boxers out of commission, I pull my jeans on and settled on my side, propping myself up on an elbow to face her. While she had put her panties back on, she remained topless. There was no way I could leave while she was naked. I nabbed my hoodie off the ground and handed it to her. With an eager smile, she tugged it on.
Apparently, she didn’t feel nearly as awkward as I did because as soon as she relaxed on the pillows, she curled into my chest. I dropped my arm under her head, and she snuggled in tight. It was absolutely perfect. But I knew it was fleeting.
“You okay?” I asked, slightly concerned that I had been too rough.
“Mmmm, very,” she mumbled against my chest, punctuating it with a kiss.
“Eliza?”
“Yeah.”
“I meant what I said.”
“Me too.” she responded lazily, squeezing me.
I held her for several minutes before I heard her take a deep breath and release it on a sigh as she fell asleep. It was music to my failing ears. It was also gut wrenching because it signaled the end.
Our goodbye was bound to happen. People like us didn’t get handed happiness on a silver platter. We had to work for it. Her working for it meant going away to college, and mine would be hustling and busting my ass just to squeak by.
I didn’t want to let her go, but the end was near. She was leaving. I wasn’t about to be the one sitting around, watching her go. It might have been considered selfish to some, but to me, it was self-preservation. I’d remember that night. The highest of the highs.
I lay there for a while longer, grieving my loss. I didn’t regret having taken the risk for one second though. Even if she forgot me in time, I’d always have one night where, for a brief moment, my fantasy had merged with reality into a world where Eliza was mine in every way possible.
When I was able to slip out of her grasp, I walked to the window and pulled in the easel I had made her as a graduation present. It wasn’t anything fancy. Really, it was just the spare scraps of wood I had collected from my job at the construction site. I had one of the guys do me a favor and lend me a sander and some stain so it at least looked nice. It wasn’t much, but I knew she’d love it. So I left it there for her to find. I couldn’t be there in the morning to see her face when she saw it, but I wanted her to have it anyway.
I considered walking out of the door when I left that night—closing that fantasy world once and for all. Coming in the window might have been a silly superstition I’d started all those years earlier, but it felt real to me. I went so far as to grab the doorknob, but at the last second, I couldn’t follow through. So after one last glance over my shoulder at Eliza as she slept in my hoodie, I crawled back out of that magical window for the very last time.
The first few days in the real world were excruciating. My mom was a bitch, and my dad was an idiot who was always up to some bullshit, most of which was illegal. Social services were there once again about Flint and Quarry. It was the same old song and dance, but this time, I had to deal with all of it without the escape that Eliza and our little apartment provided me.