Evie's Job

33: Evie

Evie was swaying slightly, as she listened to Natalie’s music, almost dancing in the most undancey way possible. She realized Natalie was watching, and smiling, and started to sway a little more. Being interesting, while being naked, since Natalie was just standing there doing nothing.

“You’re staring a lot,” Evie said.

“Sorry,” Natalie said. “I am.”

“Staring rather than kissing.”

Quite cleverly, Evie thought, and Natalie seemed to understand. She stepped forward and kissed Evie again.

“Better,” Evie said, into Natalie’s mouth, but she suddenly felt like teasing. She felt flirty, and excited, and wanted to take their time, without being completely sure why. She kissed for a moment, then said, “Aren’t you going to ask if I want a drink?”

“Would you like a drink?”

“Yep,” Evie said.

Natalie kept kissing, and didn’t actually move.

“Or I could go get it,” Evie said, and Natalie laughed.

Natalie went over to the fridge, and opened it, grinning, and took out a bottle of wine. She made a fuss of unpeeling foil and pulling out the cork and popping it in a froth of wine. The froth dripped a little, and splashed on the floor, and Natalie licked what spilled off her fingers. She got two glasses, and brought everything back to Evie, and said, “Wine,” like she was quite pleased with herself.

She held out a glass, but Evie reached past it and took the bottle out of her hand.

“French,” Evie said, looking at the label. “Apparently.”

“It is.”

“So actual champagne.”

Natalie nodded.

Evie turned the bottle around, and found a price sticker on the back. “Shit,” she said. “Seriously?”

Suddenly, Natalie seemed almost embarrassed.

“That’s a lot,” Evie said, thinking about money, and how much Natalie had offered to pay her.

“It’s worth it.”

“I’m sure,” Evie said. “It just costs more than I do.”

Evie said, and then wondered if she should have. Natalie was looking at her, and seemed unsettled, perhaps wondering if Evie was about to be angry.

“I already had it around,” Natalie said, a little defensively.

“Of course you did,” Evie said.

“Are you upset?”

Evie shook her head.

“It’s good,” Natalie said.

“I’m sure.”

Evie was still holding the bottle, so she poured wine into their glasses. She watched it bubble, and settle, and concentrated on pouring, because she suddenly didn’t know what to say. She watch the wine fizz away, and then topped up their glasses, pouring until both were full.

Natalie smiled and sipped, so Evie did too, feeling strangely nervous again. She felt nervous because of the wine, and how much it cost, and because she had nothing particular to say about it except that it wasn’t unpleasantly sharp. She felt nervous because she was naked, and Natalie might be thinking something awful about her body, and because she was still worrying their sex might not be good.

“What’s wrong?” Natalie said, looking at her face. “Don’t you like it?”

“I do.”