Business And Pleasure

25

I was in my bed, watching Gumball again. Yes. Gumball. I watched Gumball whenever I was depressed. All weekend long, I had been thinking about what Trenton had said, unsure if he wanted us to be in a relationship or what. I didn't do relationships anymore, not after Senowu who had Now gone MIA. I was not allowed his case and Trenton made it clear that that was the final decision. I could just watch from the sidelines.

Back to Trenton, we were cut from the same cloth, like I had told him. We loved sex and were used to having it with different people who had various preferences just like us. How would this whole 'not a relationship' work? Could we stay faithful...I wasn't so sure. Especially on my side. Some of my previous relationships before Senowu, they ended because I was the problem. I cheated. And never with the same guy. Call me hoe but that was just me. I've accepted myself. I was like the men that were dumped for being cheaters-the only difference being that I was a female.

But on the other hand, this proposition could become a challenge that excited me. It would be like a test-can I be faithful to one person? I mean I succeeded with Senowu so why not try with Trenton? Oh yeah! Some top deck things were about to take place. I grinned and fell back on my bed in ecstasy. This had better work.

I called Trenton and he picked up on the second ring. "Come over?"

"Give me a couple of minutes. I'm finishing up something at my house. Be right there."

Later, he was comfortably seated on my couch as I sat opposite him, on the floor.

"I need you to explain something first if we're doing this. We're gonna become friends with benefits but only between us? The goods can't be shared with anyone else?"

He nodded. "If we're doing this, we have to be faithful to each other. No outside snacks."

I paused. Then nodded. "No strings, right? Like we're doing each other only but we can still see other people outside, right?"

He sat up straight and stared at me for a while. "I will not be seeing other people because I...i have cut off all my sexual partners. I don't know about you-"

"Trenton...what you're asking for is a relationship. You just don't wanna mention the feelings part."

"Well, I don't have feelings for you and you don't have feelings for me. We're just fucking and that's it. I just want us to have this thing just the two of us." He brushed his hair back, looking a little stressed.

"Hmm...OK. Ground rules: no cuddling afterwards, no sex at work-we keep it strictly professional, no sharing of personal information and the most important of all, no sides, like you want."

He grinned. "I'm in."

"And if I do find someone, you will not meddle in my relationship."

He reluctantly agreed. That was it. It was signed and sealed. I grinned to myself.

A couple of weeks down the line, we made our first meeting with Trenton because none of us had had the courage to call the other but with growing frustrations, I sent him a text saying :

Your place or mine?

He replied almost immediately.

I'm off work in an hour. I'll drive us to yours.

OK, I replied, jubilant and satisfied.

A couple of hours later, I was in bed alone, grinning from ear to ear, snacking on some Doritos. All I'm gonna say is that I had a whole 'workout' session with Trenton without really working out and I needed to refuel. He had left immediately afterwards, obeying the rules of this thing of ours and I was more than pleased, to be honest. Imagine having to kick him out.

We continued like this for a few months. At work, we were just colleagues, obeying all the rules, having fun and also...i thought I was getting good at this whole being faithful but there was a point where I went clubbing with Bassey and her girlfriend-I left with another guy from the club. We were in the dim parking lot and he was just kissing me and grabbing my ass when I just thought...not today. I know, I know. I stopped and told the guy that I had a boyfriend. I'm sure you're thinking, what the hell?! But I thought of Trenton in that moment. He was trying so hard for me and here I was, kissing a random stranger who might even be sick. I couldn't do that to him.  I walked away to my car and went home but I never told Trenton what happened. I would never.

One day, we decided to switch it up, going to his place instead of mine. We always used my place because it was more comfortable for me but this time around, we just randomly decided to go to his for a change.

I walked in and sat down on his couch because he decided to make us a light meal first, I was feeling a little nervous. The only and last time I was here, I was not here because I wanted to be but now...my nerves kept building up.

"You OK?" Trenton asked.

I nodded stiffly as he brought me some microwaved left overs,  apologising profusely for not cooking and that he wasn't expecting us to end up at his place blah blah blah.

I ate as little as I could and then put the food down before going to the bathroom to prepare myself. I rinsed my mouth, grabbed his towel and made it wet then wiped myself down before going back to him. He wasn't in the lounge where I had left him.

I walked to his bedroom and he was seated at the edge of the bed, still in his clothes, his head in his hands. He wasn't alright and I was not going to enter into this.

"If you're not feeling good," I whispered. "I can always leave-"

"Please don't leave," he said as he looked up at me. His eyes were bloodshot and I knew that he had been crying. I was so not doing this with him. I wanted to leave right away but my feet were firmly planted into his lush bedroom carpet.

"Trenton...I want to ask but you know the rules of-"

He stood up and walked over, placing his hands on my waist and looking down at me. "Please don't leave," he said in a voice that cracked. I kept quiet. "Joera...you're the second woman that has ever been in this bedroom-"

I shook my head, not wanting him to go on. I knew where this was going. "I'm just gonna g-"

He kissed me.

And I felt it. It wasn't the usual hungry lustful kisses that we always had but this one...it had an urgency, a meaning behind it. It was slow, passionate and...it felt...Ugh! I'm just gonna say it-It felt right. I felt that Trenton meant this kiss with every fiber in his body and I kissed him the same, pouring out what was inside of me into this kiss. Then it dawned on me. We...we were-No! Nope! Nah-uh!

I stepped back in a panic and the looks on our faces betrayed us both. I had to get out of here but before I even got the chance to escape, he pulled me close and dipped in for another kiss. My body betrayed me because I flung my arms around his neck as we did that weird shuffle to his bed.

I pushed him down and helped him out of his clothes. When I was done, I discarded my own including my wig and straddled him, placing small kisses all over his body. I stopped for a second, with my eyes closed, thinking, am I really doing this?

His pointy nose grazed the side of my cheek as he kissed my jaw, his hands holding onto my waist. I opened my eyes and we stared silently at each other for a while. I saw it in his eyes. It wasn't lust anymore. I gave him a small smile and combed my fingers through his hair as he lay his head on my bosom like a small child.

"What are we doing?" he whispered.

I kept raking through his hair. "I don't know. I don't know."

He suddenly overturned me and I was laying under him on his bed. He gazed at me for a while before tenderly capturing my mouth in his. I relented and let our bodies do the talking for us, melting and molding into each other.

The last thing I remember before drifting to sleep in his arms was when we came down, he pulled me to snuggle closer and as I drifted in and out of sleep, he whispered, "I love you, Joera." before pecking me on the lips gently.

But I might have misheard him because I was on the brink of the darkness of sleep.