Chapter 9
Hannah rolled around the couch, shuffling her body a bit as she tried to get comfortable. As someone who normally falls asleep on the couch, Hannah relied on her best friend to drag her to the bed as soon as the television show and news were finished. Her back stiffened up as she shuffled her body, opening her eyes slowly to see the rays of the sun shining through the small openings of the curtains. “Why am I still here?” she asked aloud, wondering if Alexis was somewhere in the apartment. Walking through, half asleep and somewhat frustrated over the slight discomfort in her body, Hannah walked down the small hallway of their apartment. Though only consisting of two bedrooms, the apartment was still large and very ornately furnished. Silk drapes outlined the frames of the windows in every room, matching the warm pastel colors of the wall and the dark hardwood floors. The windows were large and facing the east, allowing in plenty of natural sunlight during the mornings but dimming the home in the evening.
She opened the door to Alexis’s room to find her best friend not in her bed, with the room still very neatly organized and kept up. Her bed was still made with the covers perfectly tucked around the edges of the mattress and the pillow still neatly placed underneath the purple comforter. Hannah walked in and looked behind the door, checking the clothesbasket for the tan dress Alexis wore the night before, seeing if she came home and changed at some point, opting to leave her drooling on the couch, which was not the case. “I guess she didn’t come home last night,” she said to herself as she stepped out of Alexis’s room and closed the door behind her, turning and going through the door adjacent to it.
In her room, she opted to prepare for her Saturday, which was filled with plans of doing absolutely nothing. She stepped around the piles of clothes in the floor, walking over to her suitcase that she was still living out of, choosing not to unpack her clothes into the drawers as Alexis did. She pulled off her shirt and tossed it into a pile as she reached into her suitcase and pulled out a blue t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. She pulled the t-shirt over her head and slipped into the shorts quickly before walking over to the vanity in her room to grab a hair brush. Her blonde hair was disheveled and a mess, causing Hannah to look in the mirror and shutter. She picked up the brush with her right hand and immediately ran it through her hair, straightening it out before reaching for an elastic hair band and restraining her hair in a ponytail.
As she placed the brush back on the table and looked at her appearance in the mirror, the door to their shared apartment opened. “Is it time for the walk of shame?” shouted Hannah as she pushed herself away from the vanity and walked out of her room, turning immediately to look down the hallway to see her best friend looking incredibly well. Though still wearing her tan dress from the night before, Alexis didn’t look as if she had a rough night, actually seeming very awake and put together. “This was not what I was expecting,” announced Hannah as she walked toward Alexis. “You look just like you did when you left last night.”
“Some of us don’t like to just roll out of bed and face the world,” she replied as she walked through the doorway and into the living room, looking at the couch where Hannah left her blanket from the night before. “I take it you didn’t move to the bedroom.”
“I did not,” said Hannah as she walked into the kitchen with Alexis following her, opening the refrigerator door and removing a bottle of water and a protein shake. “Under normal circumstances, my roommate drags me to bed once the morning news back home is over.” She explained, opening her cold shake and turning it up, drinking the entire contents of it before grimacing and tossing the carton into the garbage can. “Without the proper turn down service, or at least the ability to be tucked in, I was not able to complete my normal routine.”
Alexis chuckled as she reached into the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of water and closing it, twisting the top of the bottle and sipping from it while looking at Hannah grimace from her breakfast. “Why do you drink those if you constantly look like your miserable afterwards?”
“Because this body takes work,” groaned Hannah as she washed the taste down with the bottle of water. “It’s either wake up and cook to get the protein I need for breakfast, or opt to suffer through one of these and sleep an extra thirty minutes, and as you’re well aware, I always choose sleep.”
“But it’s Saturday and you have nowhere to be, well at least not yet,” said Alexis.
“Yet?” asked Hannah as she placed the bottle of water on the counter while placing her hands on her sides. “What do you mean by that?”
Alexis smiled softly as she turned her head, trying to look a bit innocent but afraid to talk to her best friend. “Hannah, there’s something that I need to talk to you about,” she said softly, almost with a hint of reluctance.
Hannah tilted her head a bit as she squinted her eyes and glared at Alexis. “Why don’t you tell me about your night first, and then you can talk to me about whatever is on your mind,” Hannah suggested, noticing that Alexis was struggling with words and knowing how she needed to relax before having a serious conversation.
“That’s probably a good idea,” confirmed Alexis, still sipping on her water as she turned and walked into the living room with Hannah following her. She sat on one end of the couch, leaning against the arm as Hannah took the other side, both facing each other with the rays of sunlight shining into the living room. “So, what all do you want to know?”
Hannah smiled. “Why don’t you start with dinner and I’ll let you know when I want more details.”
“Right, well, first off, Nathanial was everything that you and I thought he would be,” Alexis began, talking about her overall feelings before going into the details of the evening. “He was charming, smart, sophisticated, but the thing that we didn’t see coming, is that he was incredibly humble and aware of his shortcomings, even though he did sometimes come off as boastful. However, as the two of us know, anyone who is remotely successful and happens to have a lot of money tends to come as boastful to those of us who earn it for them, but that is honestly irrelevant. Before getting into the details of the night, I want to personally thank you for assisting him in his execution.”
“Hey, what are friends for,” replied Hannah. “When he called me, I honestly thought it was someone from the office back home because he had a Chicago area code, but then when he introduced himself, and then explained how he got my number, I knew immediately what was up,” continued Hannah as she relaxed against the side of the couch. “I’m not going to lie, when he called and I didn’t recognize him, I was a bit freaked out, but I honestly think that both of you operate on a similar level of weird.”
Alexis laughed as she sipped on her bottle of water. “Dinner started off kind of awkward, but only because he was running late and I was given illicit instructions on how to behave in the restaurant by the maître d′.”
“I guess after the last incident involving one of his dates, they decided it best to inform you how the decorum of the restaurant was before you made a fool of yourself and ended up in a tabloid,” stated Hannah. “I suppose his instructions were meant more for your protection than anything.”
“Well, after a few minutes of me talking to the young hostess at the table, who mind you, was wearing a dress that I think you would look incredible in, Nathanial walked up and received a warm embrace from the young girl,” continued Alexis. “He was loved by everyone in the restaurant, though our waiter and his assistant didn’t seem too pleasant. Anyways, we talked a lot about the things most people talk about on a date before he brought up the deal the two of us brokered, and at first, he seemed a bit upset and made it appear as if we overstepped, but once I explained to him what my motivation was, he was incredibly appreciative.”
“He should’ve been; we saved him millions and gave him the opportunity to make everything he lost back,” quipped Hannah, almost seeming as if she took offense to his perceived objection. “With that, by the way, Richard was somewhat reluctant, but after spending a few minutes outlining the profit that we’d make, though not as great as they normally prefer, he gave in and accepted that having a strong ally in the Australians could prove to be incredibly beneficial in the long run.”
“Yeah, we’re going to have to talk about that after this story,” stated Alexis as she looked away. “Just, let me get through all of this like you requested and then we can talk about the conversation Richard and I had when I woke up.”
Hannah looked at Alexis with a frightened sense wonder, pondering what her boss, who she believed was pleased with the brokered deal, could have possibly wanted to know further. “Alexis, is the deal still on?” she asked, wondering if Richard changed his mind before the paperwork and contracts could be signed.
Alexis nodded. “Yes, the deal is on, but upon requesting the guarantee from the consortium, an additional amendment was made,” she answered plainly. “In terms of our careers, we are in the best spot of our lives.”
“Oh, good,” said Hannah as she breathed a sigh of relief. “Continue your story and then you can talk to me more about it.”
It was around eleven when Nathanial and I left the restaurant, to take a walk on the beach underneath the stars instead of parting our separate ways for the evening. We walked over to the valet and they delivered his Rolls Royce Wraith almost immediately. He opened the door for me like a gentleman and I stepped in, noticing how incredibly fancy and custom built his car was. He got in on the driver’s side and we took off through the streets of Dubai, noticing how, on a Friday night, incredibly busy the city was, especially around all the clubs and bars. “Do you want to go to a nightclub tonight?” he asked me as we drove through the city, still thinking about taking a walk on the beach and honestly preferring that over going back to a club, since we did that the night before.
“No, I’d rather spend some more time getting to know you without the sounds of bass thumping in the background,” I replied, looking out the window to see the ocean with the moon and stars reflecting off the deep blue water. The radiance of it was amazing as we pulled into the public parking lot next to the coast. I took off my heels and stepped out of the car with my bare feet, thinking that walking with heels in the sand was not the best decision I could have ever made. Nathanial was a bit slow getting out of the car, as he was doing the same, untying and removing his shoes and socks to walk barefoot through the sand.
We walked down a small, wooden walkway and reached the beach, placing our toes in the sand and standing there for a bit to look out at the splendor of the ocean. We both turned and started walking down the shoreline, looking out into the distance as the waves washed over our feet with our toes digging into the wet sand. “I’ve never liked the beach,” stated Nathanial as he cringed, feeling the soft, wet sand squirm in between his toes. “I’m not someone who is really in to awkward feelings between my toes.”
I laughed at him, especially since his face resembled how yours looked after the protein shake. “So, you never told me about your life in Chicago,” I said, changing the subject to something more relevant to getting to know him, instead of focusing on his toes.
“I was fortunate to have parents and grandparents who were well equipped with the finances to make my dreams happen,” he explained. “I went to college and majored in international business, though my focus there was more gender studies. I graduated and immediately took my trust fund and invested it in the smaller companies of the consortium, as well as a couple of the larger ones to protect and diversify my investments. My parents were distributors for gasoline and oil in the United States, owning several refineries that were eventually sold to your company, so it only made sense for me to get into the oil business. With their expertise in distribution and some of their contacts, I was able to get my foot in the door and here I am now, living in Dubai.”
“So, you were blessed by your family’s money and connections?” I asked bluntly, though trying not to come off as rude.
“Absolutely,” he replied. “I’m not naïve enough to think that I could be where I’m at if it weren’t for them,” he paused as we continued to walk through the sand. “Dubai has been very good to me, but like I told you during dinner, I’m not married to the concept of living here forever. I’m in a position where I can be mobile enough to run my business and control my investments without having to actually be present to do it. Unfortunately, one of the issues that I’m facing is that I don’t have a lot of people that I can trust. While I’m a minority owner in several companies, I am the majority owner of the Australian company that tanked, trusting its finances to a man who was not only inept, but incredibly corrupt. He skimmed so much money out of the company by entering into acquisition deals with shadow companies. Unfortunately, because of his incredible connections outside of Australia, he took the money and moved to an island in the Caribbean that doesn’t extradite. He took about one hundred million from the company over four years, funneling it into a Cayman Islands bank where it couldn’t be followed, and then ran as soon as the authorities got wind of it.”
I was amazed at his candor and shocked how someone could do such a thing, opting to ruin the professional life of someone who enabled him to further his career. “Greed is a powerful motivator,” I said, trying to comfort Nathanial as he confided in me. “Have you found someone else to run the company yet?”
“I honestly do not know, but without the assistance of you and your friend, we’d be filing for bankruptcy in the coming months and essentially allowing the other companies in Australia to pick up the pieces from our fallen empire,” he continued. “I think the thing that frustrates me the most is that I trusted him and he blatantly defiled it. I have had an incredibly difficult time finding someone to help me since then.”
We turned around as we reached a few rocks, opting to stay in the soft sand instead of trekking through the jagged rocks. “Well I really hope that your company is able to thrive again,” I said, reaching over and grabbing him by the hand, stroking the top of it with my thumb to comfort him. “It’s got an incredible infrastructure and means, so perhaps with the right people helping you, the company will flourish again.”
“I really hope so,” he replied, clasping his hand with mine and interlocking our fingers. “So how do you like Dubai?”
“It’s been different, though I’m starting to get comfortable here,” I answered, immediately shifting into my professional mind without much of a transition. “While operating near the fields is a bit different, handling the logistics is still the same. The ports all have rules and the countries all have laws, so no matter what happens or where I’m working, it’s still the same job. Working in Dubai for the past few days has allowed me to work a bit closer with representatives from the other countries in the consortium, exchanging stories and contacts with each other as we strengthen our logistical and administrative skills.”
He smirked a bit as we continued to walk down the coast, talking about our hopes and dreams, plans for the future, and what we wanted to get out of life. While he was already successful, Nathanial was going through the first set of professional hardships he had ever dealt with. The strife of having to repair a company from near ashes was weighing on him and frustrating him. Success is addictive, and to suddenly lose it can be devastating. As we continued to talk, I started noticing how Nathanial was struggling to cope with the near death of his largest company, though he was incredibly thankful and relieved that we were able to put it on life support.
We made it back to the car and sat against the hood, looking out at the water as it was closing in on one in the morning. “So, do you want me to drive you back to your apartment or do you want to crash in one of my guest rooms?” he asked politely. “I live two blocks from here, so if you’re pretty sleepy, you can stay with me tonight and I can get you home tomorrow morning.”
I thought about his offer for a few seconds, and to be honest, I was tired, but also curious about his house. “Sure, I could use some sleep,” I answered, accepting his offer for me to stay with him that night.
“Wait, he offered you the guest room?” asked Hannah. “Surely he had something else in mind.”
Alexis smiled. “Possibly, but we’ll never know.”
Anyways, we made it to his incredibly large house, finding that it was something out of a dream. We pulled up to a massive black gate that had his initials on it in gold, N on the left gate and J on the right. A long path lined with trees finally lead to a house that sat at the edge of the ocean. It was two stories with large marble columns on the front porch and incredibly large windows facing the ocean. He opened the tall, wooden door for me and I entered the atrium, looking up to see a skylight in the roof that the moon was fortunate enough to creep through, lighting up the room. The floor was a marbled tile with several Persian rugs and a beautiful grand piano in the corner. Directly in front of the door, a gorgeous staircase was positioned at the end of the atrium, leading up to the bedrooms. I followed him up the stairs and then down a hallway, where he opened the door to one of the guest bedrooms. A king size bed sat in the center of the room with matching end tables on each side and a dresser against the wall. The sheets were made of silk and the comforter was filled with Egyptian cotton.
“If you require anything tonight, please don’t hesitate to let me know,” he said politely. “I want you to make yourself at home. The kitchen is downstairs if you feel like you need to get something to eat and there is a bathroom right across the hall. If you need anything else, my bedroom is at the end of this hall with the double doors. Just come in, wake me up, and I will take care of everything. I don’t have any butlers or servants, but if I can get you anything to make your stay here more enjoyable, please do not hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you for your hospitality,” I replied after listening to his speech. “I appreciate it.”
He smiled as he stepped away, nodding as he placed his hand on the doorknob and closed the door, leaving me in the guest room by myself. I walked over and sat on the end of the bed, thinking back on the night and how I ended up in the guest room of his house. I reached behind my back and pulled down the zipper of my dress, loosening it up before slipping it off. I laid it across the bed, to make sure that it would not wrinkle. Then I walked over to the dresser and removed my jewelry, setting it on the dresser. As I took off my necklace, several thoughts started to go through my mind. I felt a real bond with Nathanial, something that I never experienced with another man. For the first time in my life, I was not thinking about my career but about what I wanted for me.
“Screw it,” I thought to myself, looking in the mirror above the dresser before turning and walking toward the door. I walked down the hallway with a purpose, looking at the double doors and focusing in on them. Placing my hands on both of the knobs and turned them simultaneously, I swung them both open and walking in to see Nathanial wearing a t-shirt and boxer shorts standing near the bed. I charged toward him and placed both of my hands on his face, bringing his lips toward mine to lock them together in a passionate kiss. I kissed him like I had never kissed a man before. Releasing every inhibition I had against letting myself getting hurt, I decided to take what I wanted, knowing that after spending time with Nathanial Jenkins, he was it.
Our tongues touched as our lips remained locked. His hands came up and grabbed me by the waist, pulling me toward him as I left my hands on the side of his head, running them through his hair. The hunger between the two of us was palpable as we kissed each other. I lowered my hands to his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around my waist, picking me up and lowering me onto the bed. Parting my legs he positioned himself in between, leaning forward and placing his weight on my hips. We continued to kiss intensely as I started rubbing my hands down his back, holding onto him tightly as his hands started to travel below my waist. We stopped kissing briefly as he reached back and grabbed my ankles, rolling me forward a bit so he could remove my panties and toss them to the floor before bringing me back to resume our passionate exchange.
I felt him move his hands around between our hips, pulling his cock out from the hole in his boxers and sliding it into me, still kissing me as he pushed it in gently. I moaned, feeling the head of his cock slowly moving between my petals and the delicious fullness as he completely entered me. We continued to kiss, our arms wrapping around each other as he slowly thrust his cock into me. He was sliding inside me with slow, deliberate strokes, moaning along with me with every motion.
I pushed him back, placing my hands on his shoulders and wrapping my legs around his waist so I could roll, putting myself on top. With his hands on my hips and mine in my hair, I rode him unhurriedly, savoring the feel of his cock.
He felt amazing inside me, the fact that the moment felt special made it the greatest I’d ever experienced. Leaning forward I started kissing his neck as he thrust his hips upwards into me. I spread my legs a little bit more, trying to brace myself for his thrusts, seeking to offer a little bit of resistance. He snaked a hand between us to find my clit. I whimpered as he worked it. It wasn’t much longer till I felt his cock began to pulse and that pushed me over the edge. I cried out as my hot little cunny convulsed around his cock. “I’m about to…” he said, and I kissed him as hungrily as I ever had, allowing him to climax while inside of me.
After he came, I pulled his cock out of me, kissing him again before wrapping my arm around him and falling asleep in his arms. It was, without a doubt, the greatest night of my life. For the first time ever, I did not care about work or anything professional. I only thought about being with him and how we could make it work.
“Is that it?” asked Hannah as she leaned against the side of the couch with a look of disappointment. “No foreplay or dirty, sexual shenanigans; just a really intense encounter between two people.”
Alexis grinned. “Yeah, sometimes those are the best kind of encounters,” she replied. “I felt a real bond with him, something that I’ve only felt with you.”
“Aww, well I love you too, prude,” joked Hannah, still disappointed at the lack of details in her friend’s evening. “Alright, so you told me earlier that you had a conversation with Richard. What was it about?”
Alexis’s face became pale as her cheerful expression slowly faded, giving way to a more stoic expression. “Hannah, with what we did yesterday, we showed something, that while our employers knew we possessed, the rest of the consortium was only made privy to through stories,” she began, trying to explain it in a very wordy, formal manner. “After seeing how impressive we were with the short notice deal, as well as how prepared and knowledgeable we were, they want the two of us to take over the Australian Oil Trade and Refiners, with both of us taking positions as Directors, and only answering to the consortium during the rebuilding and recovery phase.”
Hannah sat up in her seat, looking on with great intent as Alexis continued to explain. “Our employers and the consortium, through negotiations yesterday, have agreed to buyout our current contracts with the American Oil Traders and Refiners and offer us two incredibly lucrative positions within the consortium. We will be paid four times our current salary and both will personally oversee the reclamation of the Australian company, and once we’re done with that, we will begin to work in another company.”
“What does this mean?” asked Hannah. “Are they asking us to move? Are we getting a promotion? What’s going on?”
Alexis smiled earnestly. “Hannah, we are being given autonomy within the consortium. Our positions were essentially created to help the struggling companies recover and the smaller companies grow. We can go where we want to go, opting to stay in our New York office or moving wherever want, however, with the Australian project, we will need to be in Melbourne for a few weeks to get it functioning properly. You are now the top negotiator for the consortium and I am the top logistics administrator. If any companies struggle, they are allowed to turn to us for assistance. Hannah, we have just been given an incredible promotion.”
Hannah smiled before screaming in jubilation at the news. “You’ve got to be kidding me!?” she screamed in excitement. “So what do we do from here?”
“Well, unfortunately, our trip to Dubai has been cut short, and we will have to pack up and leave this evening for Melbourne where we will sign our new contracts and begin working on the recovery,” explained Alexis as Hannah looked on with glee.
“We have to leave tonight?” asked Hannah as she slowly began panicking.
“We’re leaving in the next two hours,” answered Alexis. “However, if you’re running a few minutes behind, I don’t think the plane will leave you.”
Hannah tried to suppress her emotions as she questioned Alexis. “Why not?” she asked, thinking back to all the times that she had to sprint through airport terminals to make sure she didn’t miss a flight.
With a hint of deception, Alexis smiled genuinely. “Because the majority owner of the company is flying us out there on his private jet and letting us stay in his home while we’re there.” Hannah looked at Alexis with wide eyes and subtle headshake as she stood up to start packing, surprised that her best friend finally went and got what she wanted. “Hurry up,” announced Alexis, motioning for Hannah to start packing so they could get to the airport, hoping to start the flight sooner rather than later. Alexis ran into the bathroom and showered while Hannah tossed all of her clothes into the suitcase, not opting to fold anything or separate out what was clean and what was dirty, instead, just placing it in the bag and zipping it shut. Alexis got out of the shower quickly, dried off and walked out of the bathroom to find Hannah waiting patiently in the living room with her suitcase in front of her.
“I thought you wanted to hurry?” asked Hannah, folding her arms while sitting on the couch drinking a glass of wine. She stood up and pointed at Alexis with her wine glass in her hand. “This, Alexis, is not hurrying.”
Alexis looked at the bag, seeing how misshapen it was before looking at Hannah with a hint of confusion. “Did you fold anything?”
“Do they not have irons in Australia?”
“Have you ever ironed anything in your life?”
Hannah paused and looked at Alexis with her eyes halfway closed. “Once, I think, and it was terrible,” she answered in a very serious, yet playful tone.
Alexis turned and walked away, knowing that Hannah was now waiting on her to get ready for them to embark on their new journey. Fortunately for Alexis, her obsessive need for organization made packing incredibly simple. She placed her dirty clothes in a plastic bag and set it on the bottom of her suitcase before unloading the clothes from the drawers in the room, taking out the contents, folding them gently and placing them neatly in the bag. After a few moments, her bag was pristinely backed and she was able to close it and drag it into the living room. “Have you called for a cab yet?” asked Alexis.
“Was I supposed to?” asked Hannah in a reply to Alexis. “Give me a second, I will call us one.”
“Don’t worry about it,” replied Alexis as she reached into her small handbag and pulled out the card from the night before, texting the number on it to see if that driver would come and get them. After a few short seconds, the driver replied back with a confirmation. “He’s on his way. Let’s get downstairs.”
Hannah was confused. “You have a taxi driver’s number in your purse?”
“From last night,” replied Alexis. “I wanted to make sure I had a way out in case the date went terribly wrong.”
“Oh, so you wanted to have an escape hatch in case he proved to be some kind of creep or asshole,” quipped Hannah. “That’s not a terrible idea.”
“I felt like it was something you would have done,” replied Alexis. “I figured I should at least act like you a little bit when it comes to my emotional and romantic life.”
Hannah laughed as the two grabbed their suitcases and started rolling them out of the room. “You don’t want that,” she replied playfully. “You’ll end up with a list of seventy-four numbers for guys that you can’t remember what they look like.”
Alexis chuckled as they reached the elevator, pressing the button and it opened immediately. “I don’t know. That could be a little bit of fun.”
“Stick with your one guy,” stated Hannah. “I’m the only one who can pull off being me, just like you’re the only person capable of being you.”
They walked onto the elevator and rode it to the bottom floor, stepping off to find the taxi driver already waiting on them. “Good morning,” he announced as he reached for their luggage and placed it in the trunk of his car. “I’m glad to see that your encounter went well last night.”
“Thanks,” replied Alexis with a smile. “It went better than fine, though. It went perfectly.”
“Excellent,” he replied in his thick African accent before walking around to the front of his car and stepping in. The girls stepped into the backseat and the taxi took off, heading down the main streets of Dubai.
The taxi reached the airport and was allowed entrance to the back hangars where the private jets and other smaller planes were stored. He drove past a few structures before coming up to the one that Alexis told him to go to. Hannah and Alexis stepped out of the car to see a beautiful plane waiting on them to taxi out to the runway. It was white with a blue stripe down the side of it with the initials “NJ” written on the tail. Alexis paid the taxi driver and thanked him as Hannah grabbed their luggage from the trunk, rolling both suitcases behind her as she gazed at the airplane and the man stepping out of it.
Hannah pulled the luggage as Alexis walked up to Nathanial, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him on the lips as Hannah stood behind them. “Glad to see you made it in good time,” stated Nathanial as he and Alexis stopped kissing. She let go of his neck as he looked past her, seeing the blonde ponytailed Hannah waiting impatiently on the two of them to finish. “And you must be Hannah,” he remarked positively. “I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
“I’m….” Hannah paused, not knowing how awkward to make this moment, though heading for the path of politeness instead of being her normal, sarcastic self. “It’s great to meet you,” she said, completely out of character, which prompted Alexis to look at her with a confused look. Hannah pulled the bags up and handed one to Alexis, which Nathanial grabbed from both of them and carried them onto the plane.
“That was incredibly awkward,” stated Alexis as they watched Nathanial enter the hull of the airplane. “What were you going to say before you stopped yourself?”
Hannah laughed. “I’m aware that you like to have passionate, boring sex on the first date,” she quipped with a smile on her face, bringing out a look of disgust on Alexis’s. “What? You asked and I was polite. Just remember that.”
“You were,” replied Alexis. “As weird as it sounds, you were.”
THE END