3
A pair of arms wrap themselves around me and squeezes me close as the familiar noises of early-morning Trish fill my apartment once again. She opens her eyes and I feel her entire body spasm and tense, as if someone had just snuck up on her.
“Oh fucking hell…” Trish partially relaxes then rolls onto her back. “I actually slept with a fucking skinnie.”
“Pretty sure this isn’t our first time.”
“That was napping, didn’t count.”
“Suuuuure it didn’t.”
“Shut the fuck up.” She reaches over to grab her phone, flicks it on and fiddles with it for a few moments, a scowl growing onto her face. She growls and I can see her about to prepare an angry response to what is almost certainly texts from her mom.
“Hey,” I put my hand on my shoulder and she looks at me, her expression softening ever so slightly. “Probably for the best if you save it for later.” She sighs and then tosses the phone to the side and moves to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Cranky morning for Trish, I guess. The shower creaks on and I wrestle myself out of bed to fix something to eat.
Some minutes later Trish emerges from the bathroom and oh my sweet Raptor Jesus.
Her signature yellow hoodie is hanging loosely from her hand, and what’s beneath it is a baggy black tank top that just barely leaves enough to the imagination. And then she stretches, raising her arms out high and puffing her chest out.
“Eyes off, skinnie,” she says without even looking at me. Come on, I’m not exactly being subtle here, but neither are you.
I manage to peel my eyes away from that spectacle and back to my breakfast, grumbling some half-finished protest about ‘my apartment’ as she slips back into her hoodie. She sits down and picks up her phone again, and starts to text out some response.
“Feel better?” I ask.
“Still kinda pissed, but at least now I probably won’t say something I’ll regret.” Her phone elicits a flurry of ticking and tocking as she writes, and I leave her to it, sinking into my chair. The hell were we gonna do about her mom anyway? ‘Never be in the same room as her’ was technically a solution, but not one I wanted to deal with, especially if this was gonna last longer than a few months. Wait. Shit.
I look over at the calendar, on the verge of flipping to September. Four months till January, and then I’m on my own. “...either college or the service. I don’t care which,” my dad had said. College is out of the question; I have no money, mediocre-at-best grades and most of the scholarship deadlines are almost certainly either gone or too close to matter. The military...there’s no way they’d let me in, right? Psychiatric evaluation would definitely filter me out, and if it somehow didn’t, I don’t think I’d operate too well around firearms. That leaves…
“You good over there? You’re mumbling pretty hard.”
“Huh, what? Oh, uh, yeah.” Trish steps up to my chair and follows my eyes to the calendar.
“What’s up?” She asks. I explain the general situation and lack of options to her.
“So yeah, I’m pretty much fucked in four months unless I can figure something out. The thought of working minimum wage makes me want to tear my own spine out, and becoming homeless is...less than ideal.”
“Damn, sounds like you got a lot to work through. And you gotta deal with me too.”
“You’re the only thing about all this that I can actually stand.”
“Aww, how sweet,” Trish says sarcastically, although only somewhat.
“Barely.” Without skipping a beat, Trish delivers a swift kick into my shin. I barely suppress a shout.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“You..are wonderful,” I manage to say without screaming, and Trish snickers, pleased with that outcome. “Anyways, I think I’ll figure this shit out later, four months is plenty of time. Probably.”
“You sure your parents can’t help you out? I mean, you went through a lot of shit.”
“Trish, they didn’t even visit me when I was in the hospital,” I say as I rise to put my dishes away. Trish gasps, something I don’t think I’ve ever heard her do before.
“Holy shit,” is all she can manage before pulling me into an embrace. “Anon you gotta warn me before you drop shit like that.” I apologize and return the hug.
“It’s not like I expected them to, I’m used to it,” I explain.
“Holy shit Anon! You gotta warn me before you drop shit like that. I thought I had it pretty rough.”
“Sorry, sorry. And hey, don’t discount your own struggles just cause I got it bad, we both have shit to deal with. Speaking of, you cool things down with your mom?”
“Oh, yeah. She’ll get over it, even if it takes her a while to fully appreciate the situation.”
“...”
“...”
“So, you gonna let go of me?”
“No, you made me sad. Fix it.” Don’t mind if I do.
I place my hands on her cheeks and practically pull her lips into mine, giving her a long, hard smooch. Her hands latch onto my shoulders and somehow pull me in even closer. I break away for just a moment to catch a breath, but she pulls me back in hungirly. I tilt my head ever so slightly and flick my tongue across her lips, and she responds by craning her head and pulling me all the way in. Our tongues do not dance, they battle for dominance. One species against another, a duel as old as time, if a bit creative. Winner keeps their pride and gets bragging rights. It is not easy - her tongue handily dwarfs mine in size, and at times entirely wraps itself around mine in an analogous chokehold. The sensation is incredible and gives me some particularly interesting ideas for the future, but I’ll worry about that later.
Trish practically forces me away and I suddenly realize how out of breath I am.
“What’s wrong skinnie? Can’t stay focused?” She teases in between pants as I take a huge gulp of air. She doesn’t wait for a response and pulls me into another unescapable makeout. I’m caught off guard and she takes the opportunity to force her tongue into my mouth. The invasive muscle assumes direct control, and I can only weakly press against its underside with my own. My mind goes hazy, my knees weak and palms sweaty. I fall backwards into my chair and Trish leaps onto my lap, looking down at me. I can barely take another breath before locks me in again, and I’m no longer in a state to resist. I give in completely, moaning in ecstasy as she displays her dominance, able to concentrate on nothing but the bliss I’m experiencing. Nothing else matters.
I don’t know how long I sat there letting Trish have her way with my face, but she eventually peels away for long enough to let me catch my breath and snap back to reality. We stare into each other’s eyes as we pant, until she finally breaks the quiet.
“Mmmm. Now that. That was fun.” I can only moan affirmatively in response, and Trish giggles. ”Good to know I have my own submissive little skinnie.”
“Hang on...I am not ‘submissive’.”
Trish leans towards me and opens her mouth, and I reflexively open mine, ready for another makeout session. Ready. Any second now.
Trish pulls away with the biggest shit-eating grin I’ve ever seen.
“Really now?” Trish asks, the smugness in her tone so strong it poisons my very soul.
“Hey...fuck you.” Trish’s response is to burst into laughter, almost falling off of me while banging on my table and crying. I make a mental note to absolutely get back at her for this one day.
“Alright, alright, very funny. Now scooch off, I need to put this plate away and shower and all that.” Trish collects herself and hops off of me, allowing me to get on with my daily hygiene routine.
I emerge from the steamy cloak of the bathroom some time later, feeling confident and my pride refreshed. Trish was on my bed, eating...something, no doubt from my fridge, and browsing her phone.
“Hey, come take a look at this.” Trish waves me over and I take a seat next to her. “Not that I’m trying to damage your pride any further, but this may be a solution to your money issue.” She hands me her phone, and it’s displaying a page about unemployment and disability welfare benefits.
“Oh come on Trish, that’s just mean.”
“I’m serious! You think a shrink’s gonna say ‘no’ to you? No offense of course, but still.” I scanned through the page, taking note of the various requirements and caveats. “Besides, you know how these government things tend to be. They’ve got a lot of things to keep track of. Some of the finer details may end up getting blurry, you know?”
“Are you familiar with this stuff?”
“Reed had gotten it into his head that it was a good idea a while back, we did a whole bunch of research into it together. Had to ditch it because it meant rehab for him once they found out about the carfe. And hey, you don’t have to. Just saying it’s probably better than tearing your own spine out working minimum wage.” She’s right about that.
“I’ll look into it, I guess. Worst they can do is tell me to fuck off.” I wrap my arm around Trish and pull her into me, and I take some time to appreciate the moment. Funny how quickly everything seems to have turned around, for both of us. I realize that I hadn’t ever really had the opportunity to explore the unique features of a triceratop until now. I trace my fingers around the edges of the hood that jutted outwards from her head. The little horns that sprout from the top are a perfect white and quite sharp, same as her longer horns. The rough, rigid plate doesn’t react to my prodding at all. Hmm.
“Yes, I can feel that. And no, it’s not a particularly interesting sensation. It’s just bone.”
“Well, maybe I’ll have to try something else.”
“If you yank my tail, an accident is going to happen.” I decide against suffering a fatal goring, saving the idea for later. Instead, I wrap my arms around Trish and nuzzle her cheek affectionately.
“Hehe, what are you doing?” Trish giggles.
“Nothin’. Just appreciating the company,” I respond, pecking her on the cheek.
“God you are such a sap. Come here.” She shifts over to face me, and pulls our lips into an embrace once again. We trade a wide variety of kisses, pecks, nuzzles, giggles and sighs over the next few minutes, eventually settling into an incredibly relaxing cuddle.
“I might be a sap, but you’re a total softy when you want to be.”
“And if you bring that up, I’ll stop wanting to be.”
“I dunno, I think you enjoy it.”
“Yeah, you know what else I enjoy?” Uh oh. In a flash, Trish is on top of me. She grabs my face and forces her tongue into my mouth, and only a muffled protest escapes from me. I desperately try to resist, wanting to avoid a second humiliation, but I can’t match her skill and strength. Her tongue forces mine down as it makes itself at home, and I melt in her hands. I reflexively pull her body closer and push my face against hers, craving more and more of her.
Sensing my needs, Trish breaks off from me, the remnant of air remaining in my lungs used to ecstatically and unflatteringly moan.
“I enjoy showing my little skinnie his place.” Is that weird? Probably. Even if it is hot.