Face Me I Face you

Flat 44: Naomi

Part 1

As soon as the vigorous creaking begins, I slide my head underneath my pillow and hold it firmly against the side of my face. The man groans once, twice, and by the third time, I hear Jola call my name.

I open my eyes and smile at her. Her face is a few inches away from mine. Her lips tug up slightly into a smirk. I scrunch my nose at her and she laughs. She makes faces at each sound the man in the next room makes and I slap my hand over my mouth to stop the laughter from bouncing off the walls.

"How much longer do you think he's going to last?" She asks.

I twist my lips in thought.

"I'll give him another two minutes," I respond with a giggle and pull the pillow off our faces. She sits ups and opens her palm in my face.

"Always generous, you. I'll go with ten seconds. Let's see, ten, nine, eight..." She counts down and curls each finger inwards as she does so.

I fold my arms to my chest, listening intently to the man's groans and Maami's moans. By the time Jola curls in her right pinkie, the man lets out a long strangled moan. She smirks victoriously at me.

"How come you always get the timing?" I whine.

She puts a finger to her chin in thought and glides across the room to the other side of my bed.

"Because unlike you I never overestimate them." She says, and I shrug.

We hear Maami's bedroom door opening followed by footsteps. I listen to the footsteps and try to determine who the owner may be. It was a game we played. They always had distinct footsteps, some heavy and grounded, others light enough to almost not be detected, like they were trying their hardest to keep their presence unknown. As if the creaks from the bed when they pushed themselves into Maami weren't a loud enough announcement.

"It's that man from Flat 12, the one with six sons." Jola states after a few seconds and I nod in agreement.

I open my door just a crack to confirm our guess. I watch the man thrust his hand into his back pocket and retrieve a few crumpled notes. He doesn't even bother to straighten them out before shoving them into Maami's opened palm. Without a goodbye, he opens the door and looks from left to right as though he's about to cross a street before vanishing into the night. I don't blame him. If I were sneaking out in the dead of night to fuck the neighbourhood prostitute upstairs while my family slept innocently, I too, would look left and right before crossing.

Maami shuts the door and is stunned when she turns around to see me watching her.

"It was loud, and I couldn't sleep," I say, and her eyes soften under our dim yellow lights. She walks over to me and pulls me into a warm hug. I exhale slowly as I find comfort in the warmth radiating off her chest. She smells of sweat, the kind you get when you walk several miles under the scorching sun and the armpits of your shirt grow damp patches.

I make a face at the smell and she giggles. I retract my arms from around her and smell them. I gag playfully and she pokes my forehead with a smile.

"I'll go shower now, so you can stop squeezing your face as if I made you lick shit." She clicks her tongue at me just as playfully as my gagging.

"You can get some sleep now. That was the last one for the night." She adds and I smile at her.

I nod before kissing her cheek goodnight and head back to my room. The bedroom is empty when I return. I look at the side of the bed where Jola and I had sat and frown at the straightness of her side. I sit on it and wiggle till it creases. A small smile etches itself on my face before I crawl under the covers.