"Memories", Giselle simply stated as she followed her neighbour onto the sofa and fell down next to the woman. She leaned against her lover's side and rested her head on the shoulder. Unsurprisingly two arms embraced her tightly and she received a soft kiss on her forehead. It made her sigh and drift away, leaving the troubles behind. "How was work?", Annie asked quietly and ran her hand through the dark curls. Giselle almost purred. In a whisper, she explained briefly how her day went, "...and so he gave both of us 5% raise!". She grinned against the soft skin of the neck which was right in front of her and followed up with a kiss. "I'm so happy for you!", the blonde said and stared at her with those beautiful, blue eyes. They kissed. Hesitation turned into confidence and desire. Before Giselle knew what was happening, Annie was on top of her and her mind went blank.

The new freedom that the separation had given Giselle was invested into her lover. Girlfriend. Neighbour. Not that any of this bugged her, she wasn't too keen on labels anyway, but she had a feeling that they were becoming more than lovers. Would Annie even be willing to go into a monogamous relationship? And what did she want? Apart from getting fucked by that cutie every evening. The thoughts made her blush sheepishly. When she returned from her mind into the bus, she threw a few glances around. Being in love and doing naughty things still felt quite taboo. Somehow. To her relief, no one seemed to care about her thoughts and she stepped off the bus to go to work.

Whenever nothing occupied her mind at work, she drifted into fantasising about her neighbour. The temptation to constantly text was ever present, but could be resisted more easily than flashes of the adventures they had had across the past days. Laury had just shaken her head and rolled her eyes repeatedly, but somehow didn't tease or moan about it. Maybe the few people left in her life did actually feel happy for her. Who knew.

By Saturday she had all but forgotten the agreement with Ian, that their apartment should stay neutral. Giselle's bedroom smelled like Annie, the sofa smelled like her, even the bathroom seemed to hold her scent. Before they fell asleep, naked, in each other's arms, they had decided that they were an item now. In a relationship. And Annie had pointed out that they were exclusive and while an open relationship wasn't something she was quite opposed to, she didn't want to start out with one. In the morning, the brunette ended up alone since it was housework day and therefore her sweetheart left. Slightly grumpy to let her go, she got herself presentable, left Rachel a message, asking about coffee and cake in the afternoon and pulled out her tablet.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The phone reminded her at 1pm sharp that she needed to fetch cake if there was to be cake. A swipe across the display silenced the alarm and the tablet dropped down next to her on the sofa. Both hands rubbed across the eyes and cheeks. "Fuck me", she mumbled and went through the past three hours again. First off she had pulled her expenses, recurring payments and details about the loan from various bank accounts and her phone. With the help of an app, this data had gone into a detailed breakdown of her financial situation. Even with the raise, she was probably two or three hundred short, per month. It was too much for her to reshuffle some expenses and somehow make due, but manageable enough that she could probably find a way to deal with it. Somehow. Maybe she could get a roommate? But where would that person be sleeping. The place only had one bedroom.

Distracted and caught in her thoughts, Giselle put a frozen pizza into the oven and glanced out of the window while it was baking slowly into crisp perfection. Outside, down in the small stretch of greenery, a gust pushed two crows off a branch and they creaked their complaints loud enough to be heard through the closed window. A thick cloud cover moved westward, but it didn't look like rain. For a while the two crows entertained her eyes. They seemed to like each other, yet didn't have anything better to do than tease another from one branch to the next, screaming their complaints, or enjoyment, she couldn't tell which one it was.

Eventually the oven beeped at her and the delicious smell of pizza rushed into the kitchen, accompanied by searing air. With a plate balanced in one hand she pulled the window open with her other. Her waiting skills were bad, the pizza almost slid off the plate and she had to catch it with her fingers, burning them in the process when hot cheese clung to the tips. "Ouch ouch that burns!", Giselle complained and put the plate onto the counter. Cold water rinsed the cheese off her fingers and provided a welcome cool relief.

Together with her lunch, she sat back down on the sofa, cut the pizza into slices and took another look at her finances. The food didn't spark a solution, nor did a revelation come to her. This was how it was. Her income wasn't enough to uphold the loan payments on her apartment as it was now. As she pressed her lips together, she threw the tablet to the side and took her phone. One new message.

Rachel: "Sure, 3pm, I'll bring the cake! Kamal is out working. I hope you don't mind if I come alone!"