Sitting next to Leslie on the couch, I threw a piece of chocolate into my mouth. They tapped a pencil against the paperwork on the table as they stared at me.
“What?” I asked as I chewed.
“Are you gonna share?” Leslie asked.
“Hmm. No.”
Leslie scoffed. “Oh, really?”
I reached for the final chocolate and held it up. “This is the last piece and it’s all mine. You should’ve asked earlier.”
Leslie narrowed their eyes, a playful smirk tugging at their lips. “Give it!” they said, reaching for the chocolate.
“No!” I replied, laughing, as I held it just out of their reach.
They reached for it again. “Give it!”
“I said no!” This time I pulled back too far and fell back onto the couch. Leslie toppled on top of me, both of us laughing.
The chocolate slipped from my fingers and fell onto the floor. “Oops!” I exclaimed.
Leslie looked at where it had fallen with a sigh. “Goodbye, dear chocolate,” they said. “You will be missed.”
I snorted into a laugh.
“What?” Leslie asked, looking down at me with a wide grin. “What’s so funny?”
“You’re so weird.”
“It’s why you like me though, right?”
“One of the reasons,” I replied.
I giggled when Leslie rubbed their nose against mine. Then they brought their hand to my face, grazing their thumb across my cheek. I could have looked into their eyes all day.
Suddenly a door slammed followed by an, “Oh.” We glanced over at the sound to see Ramona standing in the doorway.
“I can come back,” she said, pointing back at the door.
“Yeoiruefijolskfaou don’t need to leave,” Leslie said as they sat up straight.
“I mean, the mayor can wait if you two need some privacy.”
I froze. Still resting on my elbows, Ramona’s comment had taken me by surprise.
Leslie’s only response was to shake their head and say, “If the mayor’s calling a meeting, thewuthioejwfkdiep her waiting.” They gave me a quick kiss, then walked out the door.
Ramona stood there for a moment, looking guilty. “Sorry,” she said to me before following Leslie out.
I sat up on the couch, still shaken by what Ramona had been implying. I knew what she meant, but… Was that really where Leslie had wanted to go? Had they wanted that kind of intimacy?
It hadn’t felt that way to me, but missing those kinds of signals had led to the end of plenty relationships back in the System. Things with Leslie wouldn’t end the same way, would it?
To be continued…