The Necklace

23: You'd Be Such a Hot Mom

After last night I think I might be in over my head. He closed the distance so quickly that I didn't even remember to ask him why the necklace got hot.

I can't just have sex with Calvin before knowing more about him. He's explained the necklace and his curse, but that doesn't make up for the other red flags I've noticed in him.

I'm not a virgin and I'm not ashamed of having sex. I will admit that I went through a phase while I was in college where I was having sex a lot more casually and putting myself in situations where I was not placing worth in myself. I've taken steps toward improving my self esteem over time and now I find that I like to know and trust a guy a bit more before having sex.

I pull out a pen and paper and start to make a list. A list of questions I would need answered from Calvin before I let things get physical again. I know it seems dramatic, but it feels like every time I'm with him I forget everything I'm supposed to be asking him about.

I leave my room and run into Sienne eating before going to work.

"Damn Ellie that's quite the hickey you have there. You been holding out on me?" Sienne asks without skipping a beat.

"We might have almost had sex." I say sheepishly.

"Ellie!"

"I know, I know. It's reckless and I need to slow down."

"I was going to say it's pretty hot, but how well do you actually know the guy? Also, how does it work? Do you use protection? Can you get pregnant? Can you cum?"

"Oh you can cum." I say way too quickly.

"Oh my god I'm kind of jealous but also wouldn't switch places if you paid me. But I am kind of curious. If you can rock a hickey in the real world, what'll stop you from rocking a bump?"

Sienne makes a decent point, and I make a mental note to add that question to the list.

"I've already decided that I'm not going to do anything else with him until I get more answers from him."

"Good luck with that. It seems like he's been doing a great job at distracting you."

Sienne heads off to work, and I spend the remainder of the day drowning myself in job applications to distract me from thinking of Calvin. Before going to bed, I reread the list of questions I have, hoping to at least get a few of them asked tonight.

I wake up in the room and this time I feel ready to see Calvin. But this time he's not in his chair. I turn and see he's already in bed next to me.

"There you are. I missed you." He says leaning in to kiss me.

"Not so fast!" I say, slightly moving myself away from him. "I want this dream to be different. I want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"You, us, the necklace, this whole thing that's happening."

"I like when you say "us". What's on your mind Ellie?"

"The necklace... sometimes I feel it getting hot at random times. Like yesterday. Is that you?"

"Oh that? It might be me. Sometimes I like to check in on you and I got really jealous hearing your mom talk about how she pictures you with that guy."

"That guy has a name, and I don't like that you're spying on me. If I'm going to be engaged to someone I would want them to trust me. And I would want to trust them. Jesse and I have been friends for a long time. There have been times where I've had feelings, but it's been platonic."

"I've seen the way he looks at you Ellie. And it sure as hell isn't platonic!"

So the necklace heats up when he's jealous then? I get him being jealous of Jesse, but if he gets so jealous then why meet a girl through another guy?

"If you have a problem with Jesse then why did you even pick him in the first place?"

"I didn't pick Jesse, I called for him. It's different. I sent the book to your realm to draw in a soul desperate enough to call me back and he happened to be that person. It's actually a common practice if you need to get resources from earth but can't go yourself."

"Is that what I am to you? Resources?"

"You're not just a resource to me. I do want to technically use you to break my curse, but I also want more than that. If it bothers you so much I won't watch you anymore, but when I was it felt like I was getting to know you better. You're kind to others and you make me feel hopeful about the future for the first time in a while."

"There are things I want to know too. But I don't have the luxury of spying on you"

"What else do you want to know?" Calvin asks while starting to stroke my arm.

"Yesterday morning after we... you know. You left me with a hickey."

"It's hard to control myself around you, but I'll work on avoiding the areas other people see." Calvin says with a smirk.

"That's not what I'm getting at, but it would be appreciated. You did that to me in a dream, but it translated to the real world. If we have sex in a dream, could I get pregnant in the real world?"

Calvin laughs at my question.

"No, you can't get pregnant from fucking in a dream Ellie."

"Thank god." I say with relief.

"Would it be a bad thing though? We're getting married."

"I've never really thought about having kids. I guess I have, but the idea of having a baby hasn't appealed to me very much. I could definitely see myself adopting a child, but not sure on having a baby." I say.

Calvin's playful expression changes and I can feel him tense up a bit.

"The woman I marry is going to have my kids Elina." He snaps.

"Last time I checked, you tricked me into putting this thing on my neck and now we're supposedly set to marry in 70 something days. Are you telling me that you expect me to have your kids?"

"Yes, of course. C'mon Ellie, you really don't want to have a baby? It's a miracle that a small piece of you and I could transform into a life. A life that would permanently link us."

Calvin's eyes light up when he talks about this. "Plus I already know you would look so sexy pregnant. You'd be such a hot mom."

I laugh at Calvin's arguments for procreation. I'm not 100% against having a baby, but it's not something I'm ready to make a decision on any time soon.

"Would you still marry me if I didn't want kids at all?"

Calvin pauses for a moment, but then tells me that he would.

"I want you no matter what. For more then just your tears and whether you want kids or not."

"Oh yes, can't forget about the tears. Does the potion actually call it a tear of a spouse?"

"It does actually" Calvin says.

He holds out his hand and a piece of crumpled paper appears from thin air. He smooths out the paper that has what looks like a recipe scrawled onto it. Amongst other ingredients I can't recognize, the 6th ingredient of the recipe does call for a tear of a spouse.

"Why a spouse?" I ask.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think the warlock that placed the curse chose this one because I slept with his wife and the cure requires me to settle down and get married. Maybe he wants me to feel the irony."

That is some irony. From playboy warlock to forcing a marriage. I continue to read the recipe and see that the final ingredient has been completely scribbled over and cannot be read.

"What's that last ingredient you crossed out?"

"Oh that? Don't worry about it. It's something that's not from earth so you won't know what it is. That one will be taken care of soon."