✔️ The Arrangement (A Kinky Romance) [1st Draft]

The Pursuit

Selene tried to resist Nick continued to show up at night and take her home. It became a routine that she slowly began to look forward to. Not that she expected it, in fact she was always ready to walk back home. Nick had a life of his own and something could come up. She'd learned to always be ready for something to come up and never fully allowed herself to depend on anyone. It hadn't taken many hard lessons for her to take it to heart.

Some nights, Nick had taken to hanging around to chat after taking her home, and he often came in to talk to Paul while she was doing the paperwork under Paul's watchful eyes. Every week he taught her something new, and Selene worked to absorb and perfect each new thing. Within a couple months, she was doing the entire end of day paperwork, then more. She began handling the orders for non-food items, keeping track of use and expenses.

All this work came with a modest raise that was speeding up her timetable for getting a proper apartment. With all the deposits and need to purchase all the materials needed for a place, she wanted to make sure she had enough padding to give her some leeway in case something came up or she overlooked something in her meticulous planning. While she was very detail-oriented, she also hadn't ever had a proper place to live and knew she might not know she would need something that would be essential. She was also hoping to find something furnished, but knew that wasn't always possible and the purchase of a few basic pieces of furniture might be necessary. There were enough second-hand and salvage stores she knew she could get all she would need for under a grand, but that wasn't some small chunk of change. Not that she really needed a whole lot.

Today, she was doing the end of month paperwork. She'd come in in the afternoon and had spent the day with Paul guiding her as to what needed done, but leaving her alone to do what needed to be done. End of month always was a more complicated process with many steps involved to ensure everything was recorded correctly.

Nick had shown up a bit early tonight to talk to Paul. Since Selene was in the back, it was the perfect time to ask Paul a question. He'd found what he thought was the perfect show to take Selene to. A dwarf comedian, he'd watched some clips and found the guy hilarious and knew Selene would appreciate the man's antics on stage. But, he needed to make sure that Selene would e available that night if she accepted. It had been so long since he'd dealt with the prospect of personal rejection, he was also seeking some assurance from his friend.

Paul took him to the bar to get Nick a drink, seeing the man was oddly nervous when he'd asked to speak with him. Once Nick swallowed the drink, he took a deep breath before speaking.

"So, I want to ask Selene to join me for a night at a comedy club. I found this great comedian and I think it'll be a step forward so I can ask her to be my fake girlfriend," he said hurriedly. "It's on a Saturday night, next weekend. Do you think she can get it off if she says yes and do you think she'll say yes?"

Paul would have laughed at his friend if he didn't know how much this budding friendship had come to mean to Nick. He had noticed how his face lit up when he was talking to Selene and how relaxed he seemed to be around her. Paul suspected his friend's feelings were growing deeper than even he realized.

"I would say she will likely be thrilled to go and I'll give her the whole weekend if she decides she wants to go. She seems to like you well enough. She often comments on how nice you are and how much fun the rides back are," he informed Nick, hoping to ease the man's anxiety a bit. "From what I've seen, she even looks forward to seeing you when you show up."

"Yeah," Nick asked, looking hopeful. "She talks about me?"

Paul chuckled and eyed Nick with amusement. "My friend, you are acting like you're asking out your first girlfriend, and you aren't even trying to date her yet."