Love Among the Pizza Boxes

We’re in the shallow end of the pool now.
And we’re sitting on the steps.
And I’m staring at the water.
And being at the pool reminds me of the dream I had the other day.
Joe called me Steven.
He called me Steven and I had asked him for advice about love.
Love.
I asked Beth how she knew she loved her girlfriend.
She said she just knows.
But that doesn’t help my situation here.
Because I don’t know if I do.
Yeah, I do know.
I know that I do.
I know that I do and I want her to know it, too.
What?
No I don’t.
Because I don’t know if she does.
And what if I do, and she doesn’t?
How embarrassing is that going to be?
Really embarrassing.
I take a deep breath in.
“Hey, Shayla?”
Oh God.
No.
I didn’t want to say anything.
But I just said something and now she’s going to want an explanation for why I said it and I’m going to have to tell her.
“Yes, dahling?” She smiles a toothy grin and looks over at me.
I take another deep breath.
“I love you.”
My heart stops beating for a second.
“Uh – I mean…” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I mean I really really really really like you.”
Shayla’s quiet for a long time.
“…I… I love you too.”
She breathes in sharply. “I mean. I really really really really like you too.”
I blink. “Oh.”
Well.
That went a lot better than I thought it would.
But now I don’t really know what to say.
So I turn my head and I smile down at the pool water.
“Alright, lover boy. That’s enough. Let’s swim.”
She loves me?
How the hell did that happen?
Oh well.
Who cares how it happened?
She loves me.
And I know this because she said so.
I’m still sitting on the steps.
I haven’t moved.
Shayla’s standing in front of me.
I look up slowly until I finally reach her face.
I’m still smiling.
She rolls her eyes.
“C’mon.” She holds out her hand.
I take her hand and stand up.
She turns around and lets go of my hand. Then she dives in.
I dive in after her.
So after a little while I swim back up to the top because I need to breathe again.
Shayla’s up at the top too. She looks really wigged out. “…Riku…”
“Yeah?”
“…The pool ate my swimsuit…”
My gaze flicks from her face to her chest and back.
Aw, shit.
I really shouldn’t’ve done that.
“Uh…”
“…It’s gone. The pool filter ate it. It ate my suit.”
“Um…. Well… Uh…” I scratch my head and look away.
“…Riku…?”
“Uh-huh?” I say a little too quickly.
“Can we go now?”
I nod really fast. “Yeah we can.”
“Thanks. You get out first.”
So I do.
“Don’t look,” Shayla calls to me.
“Got it.” I give her a thumbs up while looking the other way.
So I hear a splash and wet footsteps. “Snap, crackle, pop, it’s cold.”
I nod. “Yup.”
“Well. The good news is, I still have my bottoms.”
I nod again, really fast. “Yes, that is good news. Very, very good news.”
“Okay. Let’s shake a leg. I’m freezing.”
“Alrighty.”
So I go over to the table, still not looking at her, and I pick up the key card. And then I go to the gate.
But the gate doesn’t let me open it.
“Uh…”
I look at the pool rules posted next to the gate.
‘Pool hours: 9 AM to 11 PM’.
Then I glance at the clock.
11:09 PM.
…
“Well. We’re in deep shit.”
Oops.
I didn’t mean to say that.
“…I don’t like shit.”
I shake my head and grab onto the top of the fence surrounding the pool. “I don’t like shit, either.”
Then I hoist myself up on top of the fence. The good news is, it’s not that far of a drop.
But there’s pointy stuff at the top.
So because I don’t want one of the pointy things up my ass, I launch myself off the fence and land on the grass next to the sidewalk leading up to the gate.
I hear Shayla muttering over and over that she doesn’t like shit.
And then I hear a few clanging sounds.
“…Aw, frick…. Riku?”
“Yeah…?”
I’m a little afraid of what she’s gonna say next…
“…It seems that…” She sighs. “Houston. We have a problem.”
And at that I turn around.
Aw, darn.
No. No looking.
I look at the ground.
She’s stuck.
She’s stuck up there on top of the fence, topless.
“Uh… Yeah. This is a problem.”
Think fast.
Uh…
So I turn back around. “Here – can you get onto my shoulders?”
“Uh… Yeah? Come closer to the gate.”
I take a step back towards the gate.
“…I’m really sorry if I break your back.”
And with that, she climbs onto my shoulders.
The back of my head is sitting right in between her boobs.
I sigh.
…
I sigh again.
“Uh. Um. …Um.”
“I am so sorry. This is really awkward. I’m sorry… Uh. Maybe I should get down now?”
“Yeah…” And so to help her do so more quickly, I try to kneel down to the ground.
But I can’t balance our weight quite right, so I just sort of squat.
And I offer her my hand so she can get down.
She clutches my hand and shakily gets off. “Thanks…”
I nod, not facing her. “… Uh-huh.”
“…Uh… You can look now.”
Uh.
So I turn around kinda slowly.
“Um.”
She’s holding her arms over her boobs now.
“Um….” I rub the back of my neck.
Think fast.
Do something.
Help her.
“Um…. Do you want to get on my back?”
“…Like, piggyback?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Well, alright.” She walks behind me.
So I squat some more so she can get on my back.
She hops on, wraps her arms around my neck.
I grab the back of her legs and stand up.
“Alrighty.”
And then we go back in the direction of my apartment building.
“…You have a very nice back.”
…
I cough.
Then I clear my throat.
And you, my dear, have a very nice rack.
What?
Oh dear lord.
Just no.
Don’t say that.
“Thanks.”
Then Shayla starts tugging at my hair.
She giggles. “Your hair’s longer than mine.”
I laugh.
We’re at the building now.
I wonder what Gary the doorman will think when he sees us.
I walk into the building.
Gary the doorman spits coffee all over his desk.
“Hey, Gary,” I say.
“Uh.” Gary the doorman coughs. “Hi, Riku. Hello, Shayla.”
Oh yeah.
I forgot I told him her name.
Shayla wiggles her fingers at him. And then she snuggles closer to me. “Y’know. It was bound to come off sometime tonight anyways.”
Uh.
Well, maybe she’s messing with the doorman.
I just nod.
We’re in the elevator now.
Because no way in hell am I going up the stairs while carrying Shayla.
My back kinda hurts now.
“…I can get off now if you want,” Shayla says.
“No, it’s cool.”
The elevator doors open up.
An old lady hobbles into the elevator.
Aw, God.
She purses her lips at us and shakes her head.
“Hi.” Shayla waves at the old woman.
“Uh-huh,” the old lady mumbles, and looks away.
We’re at my floor now.
So I walk out of the elevator as fast as possible.
And we get in my apartment.
Virginity’s head pops up over the back of the couch.
She sees us and barks once.
Then her head disappears.
“Hi, puppy… Uh. I should get down now.”
I nod and crouch down.
Shayla gets off and then walks over to the couch and picks up her clothes.
Shayla slips her shirt on. She turns to me and smiles.
I smile back.
Virginity barks again.
Then she goes into her room.
“…I’ll just go change now.” Shayla holds up her shorts and goes into the bathroom.
“Alrighty.”
I go into Ginny’s room and change into the first pair of boxers I find. And I really should actually get dressed. So I put some pants on.
Then I leave her room and sit on the couch.
Until I hear Shayla from the bathroom. “Hey Riku…?”
I grunt as I stand up. “Yeah?”
“Can I borrow some boxers?”
Did I hear her right?
I walk over to the bathroom door.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Um. Can I borrow a pair of boxers?”
She wants to borrow a pair of my boxers.
“Uh. Sure?”
Sharing underwear.
Interesting.
Why should I care?
It’s the closest I’m going to get to getting into –
No.
Stop that.
But why should I care about sharing underwear?
It’s Shayla.
Not some hobo I found in a dumpster.
I pick up a clean pair from Ginny’s room and go back over to the bathroom door.
I knock once on the door.
“Here you go…”
She opens the door and sticks her hand out.
I hand her my boxers.
That sounds different.
“Thank you.”
“Yup.”
Then I go sit down on the couch again.
And I look out the window.
And I see the pool.
And that makes me think of my dream again.
That same train of thought leads me to thinking about Shayla and the word ‘love’.
She said she loves me.
…
She loves me.
I smile at the pool.
Then Shayla comes out, wearing my boxers.
She sits down on the couch.
“… How do they fit?”
“…Uh… I had to tie them back with a pony tail, but otherwise, we’re good. Thanks.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
Then Shayla lays down on the couch, putting her feet in my lap.
And we sit there in silence for a little.
Then Shayla starts examining my boxers.
…
The ones she’s wearing.
She knits her eyebrows together. “What is this? An easy access flap?”
“What?”
“This.” She puts her hand down the boxers and pokes her finger through the hole in them.
That is a very interesting image.
“Uh.”
“It’s like- Hello dolly.” She wiggles her finger. “Is anyone out there? Are there any females around?”
Oh my God.
She takes her hand out of the boxers and starts laughing.
I kinda laugh, too.
And then she just lays back and looks at the ceiling.
Then she looks at me. “Come here.”
Okay. Cool.
So I move closer to her.
She chuckles softly. “No no, come here, lay down.”
Lay down where?
She puts her hand on the back of my head and pushes it towards her stomach.
So now my face is buried in her stomach.
I blink once.
She lets go of my head. “This worked out better in my mind.”
I sit up a little. “Story of my life.”
Then I turn around and I lay my head on her stomach.
But my face isn’t buried in her stomach.
“That’s better.” And then she leans over me and kisses my forehead, in the process she kinda squishes her boobs into my forehead too.
Well Riku.
You got what you wanted.
You’re in between her legs.
Not in the same sense, but still.
What?
Okay.
You’re cool.
“…This works better in movies.”
I chuckle a little and nod.
“Should we stop?”
Nah. I kinda like it.
But I don’t say that out loud.
Because that’s not cool.
“No.”
And I don’t say anything after that.
Because as awkward as this might be, I actually do like it.
So Shayla just starts running her fingers through my hair.
It kinda lulls me to sleep.