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Wednesday
Junewokeupearly, still on her internal clock from teaching. She opened one eye, searching for her cell phone, confused as to the unfamiliar surroundings. After a moment, she realized where she was - on Colin’s couch, wrapped up in a collection of heavy quilted blankets. At some point during the night, she realized he had brought her a pillow and a few more blankets. June snuggled deeper into the couch and pulled the blankets around her chin, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.
It was a perfect evening - a campfire then an orgasm at Colin’s house. Still, something felt off, even though she was burritoed in a pile of blankets and comforters with Muir snoring (cats snored?) at her feet. She realized she wished that Colin was next to her, his long body pressed against hers. She could curl up around him. June wondered if he snuggled, if he slept with socks, which side of the bed he slept on.
“Scoot,” she whispered to Muir, pushing the cat with her toes as she moved to get up. Muir apparently weighed two tons in the morning and refused to move. “Come on, cat,” she said, but Muir only stretched his body out longer and rolled to the side, exposing his belly. What kind of cat snored and asked for belly rubs?
June had just reached her hand out to run her palm along Muir’s soft belly when Colin walked into the room. Without thinking, June asked, “Are you sure your cat isn’t actually a dog?”
“He’s a perfect creature,” Colin responded, his voice cracking and dry in the morning. “Science doesn’t know what makes him so perfect, but I’m sure they’ll find out one day.” He reached down and gave the cat a scratch on his chin, then an aggressive set of scratches on his belly, which only caused the cat to stretch out even more, taking up almost the length of June’s leg. She tentatively reached down and began to pet Muir’s belly, skeptical that any cat would actually enjoy this. Muir’s purring grew even louder, vibrating against the outside of June’s thigh, as the cat stretched and wigged back and forth. June let out an unconscious giggle as a wave of joy washed over her.
“How did you sleep?” Colin asked as his fingers brushed hers through the cat’s fur. June looked up at him, all sleepy eyed and tousle haired, clothed in long pajama pants and a worn t-shirt that said “Seas the Day at Camp Del Mar” with a goofy looking octopus on it.
“I was really cozy,” she said, burrowing further into the blankets when she realized she had fallen asleep without a shirt. “Do you own any normal t-shirts?”
Colin looked down to check what he was wearing, “Nope,” he replied simply. “Most of these are free either from places I worked or from swaps at conferences. I think this shirt is from a camp in San Diego, but I could be wrong.”
“There are camp conferences?” June asked, still wrapping herself in blankets, oddly embarrassed in the morning sun. Colin looked so at home here, red plaid pants and purple shirt, his feet tucked into worn slippers. June felt like an intruder in his comfortable home and wished she would have been able to sneak out earlier in the morning.
“Yeah, it’s a profession,” Colin said, teasingly. “We do professionally develop, and it’s not just about sharing the latest campfire skits while drunk.” He thought for a moment, “Though that is one of my favorite parts of the conference every year.”
“Is it full of people like you?” June said, grinning. “Just talking about trees and kids and nature and songs?” Colin sat on the edge of the couch, near June’s feet and picked up Muir and placed him in his lap, continuing to scratch under the cat’s chin.
“It is and you’d probably love it there,” Colin said, a subtle acknowledgement of her ongoing attraction to him and his general personality.
“I’d probably find something to do,” she slyly returned, and Colin placed his hand on June’s leg.
“Were you warm enough last night? I know the house can get a bit chilly, even in the spring.” Colin gently squeezed her leg, then rubbed his hand up and down.
“I was quite toasty. I run a bit cold, so I needed it. Did you bring every blanket in your house?” June had said the last comment as a joke, but the bashful smile and pink tinge on Colin’s cheeks told her that she had inadvertently stumbled on the truth. June’s own smile grew even wider, warmth flared in her chest, melted down to her belly. It had been so long since she had been taken care of, but Colin grabbed every blanket in his tiny house and had draped them on her in the middle of the night so she didn’t get cold. Helped her make her first s'more in her adult life. Listened to her talk. Touched her perfectly. A million tiny things that were already adding up to something larger. “Thanks,” she said, her voice softer. “That was actually incredibly thoughtful and so sweet.” Colin turned even redder beneath his tan skin.
“I wanted to just bring you to my bed,” he said, mussing his hair awkwardly, “But you looked so comfortable and content that I didn’t want to risk waking you up.” He looked down from her face, at her body, at his hand still rubbing up and down her shin. He looked up at her through heavy lidded eyes, part sleepy, part crafty. “Plus, after a while you started to snore, and I wasn’t ready to deal with that yet.”
“Excuse me!” June said, jolting up right and playfully smacking him on the arm. “My snoring is not that bad! Plus, your damn cat snores, so you’re probably used to it.” June gazed at Colin’s face, noted how his eyes had sharpened, heated and his jaw had gone slack. “What?” June said, before realizing that she had sat up in such a way that all of her blankets had pooled around her waist, leaving her entire upper body exposed.
“Good god, June,” Colin moaned, leaning forward to press a kiss to the top of her left breast. “You’re so damn gorgeous, wrapped up here in my blankets.” His mouth grew more insistent, kissing a trail along her collarbone, and she hooked her hands through his hair and steered him up to her mouth. For once, she didn’t give a shit about morning breath, just enjoyed the slow and easy slide of her tongue against his. “I want to keep you here all day,” he admitted, continuing to kiss her languidly.
“You have things to do today,” she said, gently pressing him away. “I need to shower and get coffee, and I had plans to write a few cover letters today and -” Colin cut her off with another kiss.
“Shower here,” he said against her mouth. “I’ll make you coffee. It’s still early, you can head over to your cabin before breakfast.” It seemed the easiest decision June had had to make in the last two years to shrug the blankets over her shoulders and get up from the couch, playfully pushing Colin off her, causing him to sprawl on the couch. She shooed Muir away from her feet as she walked around the living room and realized she didn’t know where the bathroom was.
“Through the hallway,” Colin could already read her mind. “There are extra towels in the closet next to the bathroom. Give it a few minutes for the hot water to run - if not, you’ll freeze your balls off. Or your boobs. Whatever.” June laughed and leaned down to kiss Colin one more time before trailing her robe of blankets down the tiny hallway, gathering a towel and a washcloth on the way.
Colin was right about the warm water, but June was able to quickly pull together a quick body wash - it wasn’t worth fighting with her hair at this point. After an even quicker dry - the cabin was chilly in the morning - June padded out of the bathroom wrapped only in her towel to grab her clothes. Colin was still on the MurderCouch, lazily scrolling through his phone, and his gaze flicked up when he heard her walk out. His eyes sparked and lit up, desire evident on his face as he scanned her towel-clothed body.
“Not now,” she said, laughing and reveling in his clear attraction to her. “I just came out to get my clothes.” Colin booed while June grabbed the neatly folded pile, returned to the bathroom, and quickly got dressed. Sliding her fleece over her head, she pulled the collar up to her nose and inhaled. The lingering scent of campfire and the burned sugar of marshmallows reminded her of the thoughtful dinner date Colin had planned, the deep conversation that flowed between them as they sat around the fire, the way that Colin’s hands had caressed and pulled pleasure from her body afterwards. Unexpected didn’t come close to capturing how June felt about the week so far.
After folding the towel and sliding it on the towel rack, June came out of the bathroom and walked in the kitchen to find Colin fiddling with a metal device of some kind on the stove, the smell of freshly ground coffee beans floating through the tiny kitchen.
“What’s that?” June said, pointing to the angular pot.
“Moka pot,” he replied, beckoning her over. “One of the first international counselors I worked with was Italian and he got me turned on to this thing. Camp coffee is like Satan's fire in your stomach after a while, and I was pretty sure I was giving myself an ulcer by drinking so much of it."
"How does it work?" June cocked her head and studied, not even sure where it opened or how you poured from it.
"Italian magic," Colin deadpanned and June resisted the desire to throw a napkin in his face. "Nah, you just grind coffee, put it in this part -" Colin pointed to the middle -"and water boils up from the bottom and makes coffee in the top part."
"That'd probably make a cool science project," June said absentmindedly. "I wonder if I could partner with Kevin and we could study how different countries make coffee and how it works and where it's grown. Oh, and we could bring in tea as well, but also the concept of fair trade and cultural exchange..." June whipped out her phone and began to text Kevin her ideas before remembering that she didn't even know if she was going to be a teacher next year. She deleted the text and set the phone on the table, frowning slightly.
