Wicked Part 1

Talks 💬

"You shouldn't marry him even if he does eventually propose," Hazel said, flicking her chestnut coloured hair from her shoulders. "You know you'll regret it." Grace, sitting across from her friend in the dimly-lit coffee shop, simply laughed. "Hazel, you're just worried that a happy ever after might actually exist after all and that would mean your theory that all relationships end in messy heartbreak would be proved wrong." Hazel tried to look indignant at the comment, but there was a smile in her blue eyes. "I'm just saying-you've never been with anyone else, you've kissed two men your whole life and slept with just one-the man you've been with since high school. You need to get out there and check that you're not missing out on something better. You need to see more than one penis before you die." "Because 'getting out there' has worked out so well for you, you mean? You're such a life inspiration to me Haze." The sarcasm was delivered with a soft affection. Grace was more than used to Hazel's disapproval of her one and only relationship with Steve. It wasn't that Hazel didn't like Steve, in fact, the two got along brilliantly-it was just that Hazel didn't like love. Or at least she protested that she didn't. The two best friends often spent the first half of their mid-week catch up trying to convince the other that their lifestyle choice was the best one. Grace nibbled on the shortbread she'd ordered with her tea. "Anyway, I've told you a thousand times, he's not going to propose. Why would he? We've been together for years, we live together and we share our lives together. We're practically a married couple just without the documents." "And with the sex life to match." "Hey. Our sex life is just fine, thank you very much." Hazel snorted. "Honey, the very fact you're describing your sex life as 'just fine' means that it's boring as hell and you should try someone new. I'm just worried that you'll get to eighty years old and regret not having any other experiences." "Not everyone wants to be a slut, deal with it," Grace retorted and then stuck out her tongue. She had won, this time. "So enough about me, how's your sex life little Miss 'I don't need to be emotionally connected to anyone'." "Well, since you were so kind to ask...it's actually pretty good at the moment. I met this guy a couple of nights ago-he was kind of cute, in a dorky sort of way. Looked a bit boring, so I was thinking that I'd have to put all the work in once I got him back to mine but surprisingly...he knew his way around, put it that way. It normally takes me a while to come, you know that already, but with this guy, happy days. I had the place to myself again within the hour," Hazel said, grinning. Her graphic talk didn't make Grace flinch one bit, she'd known her far too long to be affected by it. But something in Hazel's face, in her tone of voice, made Grace narrow her eyes. "Oh my God," Grace exclaimed. "You like him. You like this guy." A 'pffft' sound left Hazel's lips. "Er, no. I can't even remember the guy's name. I realise this is completely alien to you with your nun-like lifestyle, but I really am able to get my rocks off with a guy and not feel anything remotely romantic towards him whatsoever. It is possible for a woman to go out and just have sex when she wants it without chasing around after the man to put a ring on it after." Looking around the coffee shop quickly, Grace made sure that there were no elderly folk within hearing distance of Hazel's frank outlook. "I know you can. I've seen you do it a thousand times," Grace said, giggling as Hazel protested slightly at the gross exaggeration of numbers. "This time though, there's something ...you look excited. You look happy," Grace accused her friend. "I look no such thing. He's just a guy, doing what guys do. He didn't offer up his number and I didn't ask for it. We had sex, albeit good sex, he fucked off, and I got a decent night's sleep. And that was the end of it. Stop trying to see romance in my happily non-romantic life. Just because you're stuck going home to the same boring person every day, doesn't mean I have to suffer the misery too." There was a smile on Hazel's face. The words were cutting but the intent was just playfulness. "Besides, imagine how much greyer your life would be if you didn't have my horny exploits to come and hear about all the time. I need to stay single to remind you what you're missing out on." She winked as Grace rolled her eyes. Try as she might, Grace knew that Hazel's hard, unfeeling exterior had a very soft centre. She had seen Hazel fall in, and out, of love before and that speck of light she saw in Hazel's dark eyes was not something that existed by simply having good sex. On the walk home, Grace thought about Hazel's comments and smiled to herself as she recalled intimate moments between her and Steve, particularly during their college years. Hormones raging, they would sneak any opportunity they could in any snatched place they were able to find. As they settled in and became familiar with each other, Grace liked how they knew exactly how the other liked it. After all this time, it was always satisfaction guaranteed-even though the frequency may have diminished somewhat. And perhaps she had to be a little honest about how their lovemaking had perhaps become a bit predictable. But the frequency was the only thing she sometime wished to change, because, unfortunately for her, her appetite for sex was larger than Steve's. Whilst he had snuggled back into contented closeness without the sex, Grace found herself occasionally wishing for the rampant teenager she had first got together with.