The Love Pill

by Arizona Tape

  She shrugged her shoulders, smiling like it didn’t matter but I saw that the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

  ‘Errr…Okay. Anyway, nice talking to you.’ I said, finishing the awkward conversation, turning my back and walking to the exit.

  Awkward.

  A bit later I stood in line, waiting to buy coffee when someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned around, looking straight in two gorgeous, chocolate brown eyes.

  ‘Excuse me, but you are standing on my foot.’ the woman said, pointing at our feet, my foot clearly standing on hers. I quickly stepped away, swallowing a lump of embarrassment.

  ‘Oh my, I’m so very sorry. My bad.’ I excused myself, turning beet red.

  The Asian woman gave me a cocky grin, still looking in my eyes. ‘No problem. You can make it up to me.’ the woman said, winking at me.

  ‘Buy me a coffee and sit with me.’ she continued, placing her one hand on my arm and pointing with the other one to a free table.

  I nodded, still feeling a bit guilty from stepping on her foot. Who knows how long I had been standing on it.

  After we got our coffees we walked towards a table and sat down. She extended her hand.

  ‘I’m Lisa, by the way.’ she introduced herself, smiling warmly. I took her hand, shaking it and noticing how soft it was. I introduced myself, while pulling my hand back and shoving it deep in my pocket. Damn, that was one very beautiful lady.

  We chatted for a while, having some light conversation. She was also gay, had been single for a couple of years and was working as an assistant in a drugstore. Come to think of it, I had actually no clue what Cara did for a living. I mean, I had asked her about it and she had given me a vague answer.

  Something like a secretary of a worker in a big company. She had made it sound like a boring, unimportant job, but she never told me what she really did.

  Actually, there were a lot of big, general things I didn’t know about her. I did know some very personal things. Like that her favourite colour was red, that she liked cats over dogs, that she had a soft spot right underneath her left ear and that she would softly moan when I placed a hickey in her neck. But what exactly she did for work, where she lived, her past relationships, …I knew the big lines, but she never told me any details.

  Maybe I should invite her over and subtly bring up those topics and get me some real answers. I pulled out my cell and started texting Cara, casually inviting her over for dinner.

  ‘Ahem.’ Lisa coughed awkwardly, trying to gain my attention back. I felt my cheeks go red again, this time coloured by shame. I completely forgot about her. Oops.

  ‘Sorry, I kind of have an appointment. I have to go, actually.’ I lied. Although I had been enjoying Lisa’s company, my head was filled with Cara.

  ‘Oh. Okay. Yeah, sure. Can I get your number?’ Lisa asked, looking at me expectantly.

  ‘I’m kind of dating someone…’ I cautiously told her, feeling a bit guilty that I hadn’t told her that immediately.

  ‘I didn’t ask you to date me, I asked for your number.’ she smiled, shaking her head in amusement, making me smile too. It wouldn’t hurt, I guess. I nodded and wrote my number down on a napkin.

  I know, cliché, but who cares anyway.

  I stood up, waved goodbye and walked out of the coffee shop. What a weird day. First, the woman in the clothes shop who started complimenting me and trying to make a conversation.

  I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure she was hitting on me. Then later that day Lisa, who also showed interest. How bizarre. Not unpleasant, but not pleasant either. Just weird. Whatever, I shook my head, already bored and not interested anymore.

  Halfway to my car, my phone beeped. It was, as I hoped, an incoming text from Cara confirming that she wanted to come over.

  For the first time that day, I smiled a genuine smile.

  18. Surprise?

  Lexi Zellichman

  I stared at the tiny pill in my hand palm. It was so small, but it would make such a ginormous difference.

  Was I ready for it? No, not really. Giving her the love pill would cross the line from flirting with a purpose to cold hard manipulation. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I had been doing that a lot lately, well, to be honest, since I met Lexi. I let out a deep sigh. I had no choice.

  Bzzz. My phone went off.

  — I’m making a lasagna tonight. Wanna come over and help me eat it? —

  I smiled at her text. Did I wanna come over? Hell yeah. Maybe if I sped things up tonight I wouldn’t need the love pill and Lisa wouldn’t have a chance. Not even a tiny one.

  — Oh, yes, definitely. I love lasagna. Want me to bring something? —

  I sent back, already grabbing my keys and wallet to go to the store to pick up a bottle of wine and maybe grab some flowers. I liked it when guys brought something so it seemed appropriate.

  — No, just you. —

  I smiled and continued walking out off my house to buy the wine and flowers. If they say nothing, you aren’t supposed to really bring nothing.

  Well, that’s how I rolled anyway. Someone invites you to their home for dinner, you bring some sort of gift.

  I stood in front of her house, flowers and a bottle of wine in one hand behind my back, the other pushed deep into my pocket, fingering the little box with the love pill in it.

  I really hoped I’d never have to use it, but I had a feeling I was gonna need it. I took in a deep breath, gathered my courage and calmed my nerves. I didn’t wanna screw this mission up.

  I didn’t wanna blow up the thing I had with Lexi and …I didn’t wanna pee my pants.

  Damn, I knew I should have gone to the bathroom before I left my house. I started hopping from one leg to another and let the bell ring impatiently. As soon as she opened the door, I almost stormed inside, well, almost.

  ‘Hi sweetie, how are you? I don’t wanna be rude, but I really, really have to pee.’ I blabbered, still jumping up and down.

  She smiled, shook her head and stepped aside to let me in. I rushed inside, gave her a quick kiss when I passed her by and ran inside the bathroom. I turned around a couple of times, looking for the best place to drop the flowers and the bottle of wine.

  Sink. Floor. Sink. Floor. Aaaaargh. Sink it is. I placed the bottle and flowers in the sink and almost simultaneously dropped my pants.

  Good gracious, this was so not the right moment to almost pee myself.

  I stepped outside the bathroom, holding the flowers and walked towards the kitchen. Lexi was running around, holding a spatula and a whisk in one hand and two wine glasses in the other. I grabbed her waist and pulled her close, stopping her in her tracks.

  ‘Sweetie, let me help.’ I offered, even though I was a terrible cook, but I could calm her down. I took the spatula and whisk out of her hand, looking at the whisk. ‘Why would you even need that?’

  She looked at the whisk, a confused look on her face. ‘I have no clue.’

  I smiled and kissed her softly, pushing her against the counter top. I felt her smile against my lips and then she pulled away. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and slipped under my arms.

  ‘Wine? I have a nice bottle of red.’ she said, placing the two wine glasses on the table and taking the bottle that stood on the counter. I nodded and suddenly remembered the flowers I was still holding. I awkwardly extended my arm and pushed the flowers in her face.

  ‘Surprise.’ I tried, although I had been holding them for the last five minutes and she probably had been wondering why I was still holding them. She pressed her lips tightly on each other, trying to hold her laughter but failed and started snickering.

  ‘That’s really sweet. Thank you. Wow. What. A. Surprise.’ she giggled, making fun of me, but I could see that she liked the fact that I bought her flowers. I rolled my eyes, taking it, letting her have her fun. She tried to stop her giggling, took the flowers and put them in a vase.

  ‘They are really beautiful. I love them.’ she thanked me again, wip
ing the tears from her face and pressing a glass of wine in my hand.

  ‘Let’s eat before you give me more surprises.’ she mused, pointing at the set table with a giant casserole filled with a delicious smelling lasagna. I nodded and we sat down.

  I took my first bite of the lasagna and almost died. It was so, so, so good. I always liked lasagna, but this one was extremely good.

  ‘Hmmmmmm… Hmmmm…Hmm. Hmm. Hmmm.’ I moaned, making the standard sound of appreciation. She smiled and shook her head, trying to ignore my weirdness. We ate in a comfortable silence, probably because we were both enjoying the meal so much.

  ‘I’ll clean up.’ I proposed after we were done eating. She nodded gratefully and pointed at the bathroom.

  ‘I’m just gonna go to the bathroom.’

  I collected our cutlery, gathered them on the dirty plates and started bringing them to the sink, when it doomed on me.

  Sink. I had left my bottle of wine in the sink in the bathroom. Where she was right now. I started having a tiny, tiny panic attack. She was gonna laugh so much. I wasn’t gonna live this one down.

  ‘Cara?’ I heard her voice from behind me. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to pretend I wasn’t there.

  ‘Why was there a bottle of wine in the sink in my bathroom?’

  I turned around, forcing a big smile. ‘Surprise?’

  This time she couldn’t hold herself, placed the bottle on the table and she went into a laughing fit. Her hands holding her stomach, her head thrown back and hard laughter. If that wasn’t enough, she went into the next phase.

  The soundless phase where she started slapping her legs, tears streaming down her cheeks and not one sound coming out from her mouth. She took the bottle and held it up in the air.

  ‘Haha. You forgot. Haha. You forgot the bottle? Hahaha. You forgot the bottle. Hahaha. In my bathroom. Hahaha.’

  At this point, I looked down and started a pretend sulk. Pushing out my lower lip, making the saddest face I could.

  ‘Not funny. Everyone forgets stuff sometimes.’ I muttered, still trying my hardest to look hurt. Lexi saw my face and tried to stop her uncontrollable laughing fit. It was something in between hiccuping and crying.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Cara.’ she giggled, trying to look guilty, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She pulled me closer and started giving me kisses on my cheek.

  ‘Come here. Stop sulking.’ she whispered against my cheek, softly nibbling on my earlobe. I immediately forgot what I was pouting about and I swallowed the lump in my throat. Again.

  She took my earlobe in her mouth and started sucking on it, giving me goosebumps. I couldn’t help the soft moan that escaped.

  I felt her smile against my skin, while her tongue kept playing with my lobe. This time she pushed me against the countertop and her soft hands pulled me closer into her. Her lips travelled from my ear to my mouth and started nibbling on my lower lip. Her hands cupped my face and her thumbs started slowly and gently caressing my cheeks. She pushed me harder into the counter, my legs slightly parted and hers pressed in between.

  Her tongue swooping over my lower lip, my mouth automatically opening, our kiss deepening. This time I heard her moan in my mouth, turning me on more than I thought was possible. My hands gripped her waist and I pulled her even closer to me. She pulled out of the kiss, our foreheads resting against each other, softly panting, both out of breath. She smiled and rubbed her nose against mine, giving me shivers from the intimacy. I felt the electricity charge through our bodies, making a connection I had never felt before.

  ‘Damn. That was good.’ she whispered in my ear, our bodies still pressed tight together.

  I took her by her waist and pressed my body against hers. I let my hands glide down and lifted her up on the countertop. My hands travelled up again and rested on the outside of her thighs.

  I stepped in between her open legs and pressed my lips on hers. My hands kept rubbing her legs, my tongue playing with hers and our lips engaging in a kissing battle.

  She pulled out of the kiss and let out a contented sigh, her warm breath tickling my lower lip.

  I started planting soft kisses on her cheek, nibbling on her chin and finally sucking on the soft skin in her neck. She let out an uncontrollable moan and I felt her getting goosebumps.

  Her getting goosebumps because of me, simply took my breath away. I felt the hot coals in my stomach heat up, rising to a new level, warming my body with not only desire but something far more complicated. She pressed her lips on mine, giving me another passionate kiss, making everything disappear but Lexi. I answered her with a kiss equally as passionate and only let her go when she had been properly kissed.

  If I hadn’t already fallen hard for her, I would have fallen now.

  19. Comforting

  Cara Hemlock

  After our short, but heated encounter — encounter, counter, you see what I did there? — in the kitchen, we moved to the living room. We nestled in the couch and as always Lexi threw her legs over my lap. She had opened my bottle of wine too and we were really enjoying each others company. All was good. Until she started talking about her day.

  ‘Today was a weird day. I was trying on a dress and a woman just started hitting on me. Completely out of the blue.’

  I almost choked on my sip of wine. Oh god, this is where it starts. I awkwardly swallowed and tried to calm myself down.

  ‘Oh really? And, was she cute?’ I said, pretending to be playful, like I thought it was funny.

  ‘Actually, she was, but also a bit creepy…Anyway, she had brown hair and eyes, so she wasn’t exactly my type. So I just walked away.’ she yawned, with an uninterested look on her face, stopping my heart from pounding so fast.

  Brown hair and eyes. Lisa. I was so happy that she wasn’t interested. Even better, brown hair and eyes weren’t her type.

  Note to self: ask what her type is. Hopefully, I was.

  I felt my mood lighten, until Lexi started talking again.

  ‘Funny thing happened later. This other woman started talking to me when I was getting coffee in my lunch break. Well, I was standing on her foot, so it was kinda my fault, but we decided to have coffee together. She was nice.’ Lexi blurted out.

  I felt my heart stop. Another woman had been hitting on her today? That was two in a row.

  ‘Hmmm? And, was she cute?’ I asked, trying to make it seem like this didn’t matter either, but I felt my stomach harden.

  ‘Yeah, she wasn’t my type either but she was probably the most gorgeous, Asian woman I have ever seen.’

  This time I really choked on my wine. Gorgeous. Asian. That was definitely Lisa.

  ‘Oh yeah?’ I coughed, trying not to show how much that statement had affected me.

  ‘Yes, she was really nice. We might have coffee together sometime.’ Lexi casually mentioned while her fingers were running over my arm.

  I died a little inside. Coffee. Together. With Lisa. I tried to swallow the usual lump in my throat, but this time I didn’t succeed.

  ‘That’s nice.’ I managed to choke out, the lump still preventing me from making longer sentences. Lexi smiled and kissed me on my shoulder, making my heart pound faster again, but this time it wasn’t because of me being nervous. I returned her sweet gesture by planting butterfly kisses on her temple.

  She let out a sigh and pushed herself up to straddle me. Her legs placed firmly around my hips, her warm body pressed against mine. She placed her hands on both sides of my face and slowly brought her head closer. After almost an eternity of anticipation, I finally felt her lips brush gently over mine. This time a sigh escaped from my mouth and for a moment we shared the same breath.

  ‘Stop teasing.’ I whispered against her lips, barely audible, but my message was crystal clear. With one swift motion she planted her lips on mine and a shiver ran through my body. I snaked my arms around her waist and pulled her impossibly close. Her fit body pressed to mine, as expected, turned me on beyond belief, but also a
wakened something else.

  The shiver was followed by a warm, tingling sensation that started from my stomach and quickly spread throughout my whole body. Igniting something that I knew wouldn’t be easy to extinguish.

  I pulled out of the kiss, still panting as our foreheads rested against each other.

  ‘So, what was her name?’ I asked the question that I was dying to ask, but completely forgot when she gave me that kiss.

  ‘Whose name?’ Lexi whispered, gazing into my eyes.

  ‘Never mind.’ I whispered back, smiling lightly and leaning back in for another kiss.