“No rules, so nothing to get broken. I had a great time with you the other night, and you're kinda funny, when you put your mind to it. I thought tacos would be a nice segue into getting you to sleep with me again,” he said. She threw her used napkin at his face.
“Whatever. I just … I think you should know something, then,” she started again.
“What? Oh god, if you say you're pregnant, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave,” he said. She threw the whole bag of food at him that time.
“I'm not pregnant, you asshat. I'm dating someone else,” she snapped. She hadn't meant to just blurt it out, but Liam had a way of making her forget herself.
She wasn't sure what she'd expected. Maybe for him to get jealous, or a little upset. Or to tell her he didn't want her to see other people. She didn't know how it worked. Were they dating? Were they friends? The whole situation was driving her crazy – she needed to find her footing if she wanted to continue with either of them.
“Poor guy,” Liam sighed, digging one of her tacos out of the bag.
“Why?” she asked, totally confused.
“You're dating this dude, yet gave your anal virginity to me. Must not like him too much,” he said. She almost choked on air.
“You have seriously got to stop bringing that up.”
“Why? It was amazing. I'm thinking of writing a song about it.”
“Stop it.”
“Seriously. I could have an open mic night at the club.”
“I'm going to leave.”
“Maybe I could do some abstract paintings, as well. Hang them about, set the mood.”
Katya abruptly stood up and went to stride past him, towards the door. She'd barely made it two steps when she felt his hand on her hip. He grabbed her and yanked her off her feet. She fell into his lap and before she could get her bearings, she felt his fingers digging into her waist. She burst out laughing and immediately started squirming, trying to get away. But he was so much bigger than her, he was able to hold her in place with ease and tickle her to his heart's content.
“Stop!” she was shrieking with laughter. “Stop! Oh my god, I'm gonna pee. I'm gonna pee on you, stooooppp.”
He finally complied, but he didn't let her go. She went lax, still laughing as she tried to catch her breath. When she looked up at him, it was to find him smiling down at her. As her breathing returned to normal, he reached out to brush some hair away from her forehead.
“See, there it is,” he said softly.
“What?”
“You're beautiful when you're glaring at me or pretending to be perfect, but goddamn, Katya, you are breathtaking when you let go and just be yourself,” he told her.
She wasn't sure what to do with that information. Bizarrely, she felt a little like crying. No one had ever particularly made her feel bad about herself, but no one had ever spoken to her like that before; he made her feel beautiful.
Before she could do something ridiculous, like actually cry, he suddenly yanked her upright. She was on her feet before she knew what was happening and he smacked her on the ass so hard it stung. She yelped and skipped away from him.
“So is this Casanova your boyfriend?” Liam asked, and when she turned around, he was back to his old goofy self, trying to eat two tacos at once.
“No,” she said, moving back to her seat. “I don't even know if we're actually dating.”
“What do you mean?”
“We went on one date on Wednesday, and we're going out again on Saturday.”
“Ah, so you just started seeing him,” Liam said, licking grease off his fingertips.
“Yeah.”
“Must be a nice guy if you're giving him the time of day.”
“Actually, he's kind of an asshole. I can't figure out why I keep agreeing to meet him,” she said, earning a chuckle.
“It's always the assholes who get the girl, angel cake. Sleep with him yet?”
“What? No! I just slept with you, I'm not going to go off and sleep with some other guy!” she snapped.
“Why not?” he sounded confused as he demolished the last taco.
“Because! That would be … I mean … I can't just start having sex with every guy I meet,” she said, exasperation heavy in her voice.
“Why not?”
She looked around for something else to throw at him.
“Stop being a brat.”
“Okay, okay,” he chuckled, rubbing a napkin between his hands. “Yeah, sleeping with every guy you bump into might be a bad idea – but where is it a law that you can't have sex with this dude, just because we just had sex? Honestly, who cares? I mean, I'm not telling you not to. I doubt he's gonna tell you no. So really, you're the only one with the issue. What if you want to have sex with him? Are you gonna say no, just because you had devastatingly amazing sex with me the other day?”
She chuckled at him and looked away, letting her gaze wander over the skyline. He was completely right. The only one saying she couldn't sleep with both of them was herself. Well, and society. And her parents. But ultimately – did she really care about those things? She thought she had, but since the other night ...
“Lately, I don't have such a good track record of saying no,” she sighed, resting her chin in her hands.
“Hey, sometimes saying yes is a good thing. Yes gets you all sorts of stuff. Tacos, movie tickets, blow jobs, cookies, all kinds of treats. You just have to open yourself up to new experiences,” he told her.
“That's one way of putting it.”
“And don't worry about me,” he said, shoving their trash into the now empty paper bag. “We're just having fun. I mean, our friendship isn't contingent upon us having sex, but I was totally serious about fucking you. Anytime you feel like having sex, call me. I mean it, literally, anytime.”
“I'll keep that in mind,” she laughed.
“But this dude – you should tell him about me,” Liam said, his serious face making another appearance. Katya nodded.
“I will. I had already planned on it,” she said.
“Good girl. And what if Mr. New Guy has a problem with you banging a hot, successful, rich, night club owner?” he asked. She snorted.
“Okay, first of all – you're just as new as him. Second of all – hot, successful, and rich are seriously pushing it. I don't know, I guess it depends on how the date goes, but if he kicked up a fit … I think I'd tell him goodbye,” she said.
“Really? For me?” Liam sounded surprised. She shook her head.
“No, for me. I'm confused and I'm learning new things about myself and I have no clue what's going on in my head anymore, but … I think I like it. I don't think I'm ready to go back to being boring old-Katya again. I like this new-Katya. I think I want to see what she wants to do.”
Liam caught her off guard by jerking forward, almost lurching across the table so he could place a sloppy kiss against her mouth. He tasted like cilantro and Corona, and she squealed and clung to him when the table rocked unsteadily under his hand, threatening to send them both to the floor.
“See?” he said when he finally pulled away.
“What?” she asked, a little bewildered.
“You're letting go again. It's gorgeous. You better get out of here, or I'm gonna fuck you on this roof top, in broad daylight,” he warned her before he sucked down the rest of his beer.