Reality Bites - Wattys 2018 Shortlist

Chapter 63 - I'm Sorry I Wasn't There

In the end, we slept right through breakfast. In fact, it was only a few minutes before lunch when we surfaced and headed downstairs – which worked out well as we were both ravenous! Suzanne had cooked up a feast, and we were all sitting down to enjoy it when the first uncomfortable moment happened. Dimitri had taken a seat towards one end of the table beside Pavel. Tasha walked over, taking the vacant seat beside Dimitri. As soon as she sat down, he stood up, walked to the other end of the table, and chose a different seat beside Christian, holding out his hand for me to join him on his other side. Dimitri and Christian immediately struck up a conversation – neither of them acknowledging Tasha.

"Well that wasn't awkward" Adrian commented, giving Tasha a 'do you mind if I sit here?' look before plonking down in the seat beside her. We'd all sat down to eat when Eddie rocked up to join us. But there was no chair for him. Turning to Pavel, Suzanne said, "I told you – there's a chair missing! Can you ask the men to check again? Someone must have taken it outside last night?"

Eddie dragged over a side chair from the living room, saying, "No biggie, I'll use this."

"Oh I'm so sorry, Suzanne – it's in our room. Dimitri? Can you go get it?" I asked.

"Get it after lunch," Eddie suggested. "I'm hungry now!"

We all laughed. If my appetite was prodigious, Eddie's was at least its equal. Dimitri nodded. He was famished too.

Tasha started to say something, but Christian immediately interjected.

"Why do you have a dining chair in your bedroom Rose?" he asked – clearly just not wanting to hear Tasha talk.

"We had it up there last night – I was giving Dimitri a lap dance," I said.

Pavel spat the water he was drinking across the table. It landed on Lissa and her empty plate. She was obviously repulsed but had the good grace to wait a moment or two before using her napkin to wipe his spittle from her person.

"Oh GOD you're a lucky bastard" Adrian moaned, looking at Dimitri.

Christian gave Lissa a speculative look, which it's probably fortuitous she was too occupied to notice.

"One of the best hours of my life" Dimitri smirked, looking back at Adrian.

"Rosemarie!" Mom spluttered in horror. "Not everyone needs to know this!"

"What?!" I replied. "He asked?! Besides – 'sexual intercourse is a normal and healthy part of an adult relationship and nothing to be embarrassed about'" I parroted. "And 'foreplay is an important aspect of intercourse to ensure both participants are physically prepared for the act of making love.' That's what Alberta told us in sex education classes!" I said wickedly, knowing this would further embarrass Mom.

"You had Alberta for sex ed?" Dimitri asked, looking at me with amusement, starting to laugh.

"Yep Comrade. A week of my life I've spent a long time trying to block from my memory" I joked. "The girls got Alberta, and the guys got Stan."

"It was horrific," Eddie agreed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Truly psychologically damaging. I still can't look at a banana the same way after those condom demonstrations," he said with a shudder.

Leaning towards Dimitri, I whispered just for him "Of course then I also got a bit of practical guidance from my mentor..." causing Dimitri to shoot me a smoldering look.

"She gave you a lap dance for an hour?" Adrian asked Dimitri. "That must have been full on! So what was she wearing?"

"I don't think we need to discuss that!" Mom interrupted, giving Adrian a murderous look.