✦✦✦
♫ all through the night by sleeping at last ♫
She took her time getting used to everything around here.
From the bedroom to the shower she was in, Greta memorized all the places of Malik's apartment with sheer, joyful anticipation.
Her skin soothed itself under the caress of steam and rushing dabs of hot water pressing upon her body. As much as she wished Malik was in here with her, she could only imagine what all Kelly and Lulu were saying to him upon their abrupt arrival.
She had no doubt there'll be some arguments, a few teasing jabs here and there. Greta had to wonder if they were even aware of their date tonight. And with thinking about that, she was also curious about how much of this was Cora's idea.
Now that was a tough pill she had to swallow.
At the end of all this Greta knew she'd have to make things right with her sister again. There'd be awkward apologies, words of gratitude even. And worst of all, she'd have to acknowledge that Cora was, in fact, right.
Greta was never over what she had with Malik. Nor was he over her. Reflecting on her love for him sent her into a state of pure euphoria under the satisfying spray of hot water. She wanted this; out of all the choices and desires she's had in the last few months, Greta was sure that none of them overshadowed being with him. And tonight marked the first of many.
Just as she finished her shower, she got out to the bedroom door being knocked on.
"It's me," The bass-ey voice called back.
"You're good."
Then, the door opened, and Malik walked in as Greta wrapped a towel around her wet body. His expression made her giggle, though. She could see the blushing as he shifted his face to the side, almost as if he wasn't so sure he should be in his own room where his naked lover resided.
But sauntering over to him, she put those worries to rest by reaching to lock the closed door and kiss him upon impact.
Then he kissed her back, harder even. The moment his arms wrapped around her frame, she smiled before being lifted into the air, then placed on the edge of his dresser.
"Georgia Boy!" She yelped. "Kelly's out there, you know."
But her warnings were only thwarted as soon as his lips moved to the crook of her neck. And as he layered open-mouth kisses along her wet flesh, any attempt to speak was interrupted by small, sudden moans.
And nothing was made better once he undid her towel and kissed down the middle of her breasts. "N- never mind. They'll be alright," She murmured, opening her legs up for him. "I take it Christmas Eve makes you super horny or something?"
"Yeah, ho ho ho." Teased Malik, only to make Greta cackle humorously before she laid a playful smack to the back of his head. And when he pulled himself back up from his knees, she tugged on his shirt.
"This is real, isn't it? You and me?"
"I think it's as real as we can make it."
Greta bit her lip before shoving her body off the dresser. Taking her other towel, she ran it through her hair as her eyes searched the floor for her clothes. But that search only ended as soon as she noticed Malik tossing a large and grey Superman shirt onto the bed.
She took it with ease, smiling as she draped it over her body. "I want this," She tells him. "As complicated and messy it's been, I want a super peaceful, sex-filled relationship with you. I want sweatpants on the couch, lunch dates, I wanna lay in this bed with you and wonder about every little thing you could think of."
Walking up to her, Malik soon found himself sitting at the edge of the bed, looking on as she got dressed. "That sweatpants shit sounds nice, though," He said. "Look, you know what I want. Ain't shit changed. I missed you. I miss what we had."
And slowly, she brought herself down to straddle his lap. Greta found a coddling comfort in how he tenderly held her waist in his hands. She felt delicate but secure, and her features rested as she looked at him.
When she ran her hand across his cheek, a familiar sensation surged through him. And in the familiarity, she reached her thumb up to feel the center of his forehead. She stroked it to the right and then placed her hand upon his cheek.
This time, it was Malik's turn to shiver and kiss her palm in response. The very gesture led her to smile until they connected their heads together. With a soft tone, she whispered back to him. "Are you mad at me? Y'know, for taking so damn long to figure it all out?"
And he smirked. "I was patient enough. I knew what I was getting into with you."
"Well, now I'll have to find a different way to try your patience," She teased. "I'll break it off with him. And I guess in doing so, that means that I'll be moving in with Kelly if she'll have me."
"How come?"
Greta sighed some. "The loft isn't mine. We shared it, but it's mostly in his name. He only let me live there, for the summer, as an apology gift or something. Me leaving him this time means leaving all of it. Down to the foundation."
"So Kelly's your best bet?" Asked Malik.
"Hope you don't mind," She answered. "You'll have to be slummin' it with a couch girl for the next couple of months. But hey! Guess that gives me cause to spend the night here every few days."
"Nah, I ain't fucking you on nobody else's couch." Malik laughed, with Greta quickly following. Suddenly, he moved her off of him and stood to the nightstand at their side.
He opened the drawer; and, after enough scrambling, found a spare key. "Besides, I'd rather you sleep here every night."
The key was reached out, and Greta's eyes beamed at the object with shock and awe. Instantly, she took it to her fingers, but was unable to pry it from Malik's grasp until she stood to meet him. "Let go, Georgia Boy..." She threatened playfully.
But he sneered. "Say yes first."
"I got conditions."
"Name 'em."
"I want drawer space."
"You get one drawer."
"I want Alex out."
"Nah."
"Dammit," she hissed but couldn't help the smile growing the longer they looked into each other's eyes.
"I want sex like, every three days."
"Oh, I'ma fuck the earrings off of you."
At first, Greta erupted into an obnoxious laugh. Then instantly after, she leapt off her feet to press her lips against his again. "Merry Christmas, Daddy."
"Merry Christmas, Twizzie."
And the door was knocked on soon after.
"I gotta pee! Let a bitch in!"
With reluctance, Malik let Greta back down to her feet before he opened the door to see Lulu walk past them and towards his bathroom. "Jesus, I thought you guys were having sex in here again."
"Close the door, and we just might." Said Malik, leaving a blushing Greta to slap his arm while Lulu laughed.
"Oh so he makes jokes now? Greta's pussy must be the perfect medicine for you."
He ignored her, then kissed his lover on the nose before backing out of the room altogether.
And once in the view of Kelly, he asked her. "I know y'all hungry. Ain't you."
The frizzy-haired girl leapt from the couch and shuffled her feet across the carpet to meet him in the kitchen. "We brought fries and a pack of chicken wings from the house. Assuming the two of you cis-sluts had managed to put everything back together again."
He smirked once he saw what she left him in the fridge. Taking out the pack of cut wings, he prepped the dinner for the four of them as Kelly climbed up to the counter and sat on top of it. "How are you?" She asked him.
But she felt that question was almost irrelevant given the smile bracing his face. "I'm alright," He answered with nonchalance. "How 'bout you and her. Y'all good?"
"I'm ready for this baby to be born. Pregnant Lulu is pretty annoying."
When Malik laughed, she sucked her teeth. "I'm serious! You should've met her before we decided on having the baby. Or actually - scratch that. Knowing how we were then, she probably would've swayed you into a threesome with us."
"See, now old me woulda jumped at that shit."
"Oh, old you?" She cackled. "One little make-up fuck with crazy back there, and suddenly, you're fully committed to putting a ring on that girl's finger?"
"Nah, not wife'n. But we're gonna work it out. I told her to move in with me. Y'know, since I figured that house finna be crowded enough."
And with that, the smile that danced comfortably on Kelly's face waned with concern. For what could've sounded like happy news only made her frown.
The silence grew in between their conversation. And it wasn't long before she felt it herself. She didn't know where to start when it came to searching for the right thing to say. Kelly didn't hesitate to feel anything but bad vibes at the news that Greta and Malik were suddenly going to go from one night back together, to her moving in with him.
It was like they were deciding that the separation never happened. And that wasn't something Kelly can just look past. She easily recalled the sadness he wore in the days after their breakup. And when news of Greta's engagement took place, there was nothing but devastation felt when around him.
Such memories were enough to make her speak her thoughts out softly. "Don't do it."
And in his cluelessness, Malik quirked a brow. "What you mean?"
"I mean that this is a bad idea, that's all. Remember Vanessa?"
"This isn't Vanessa."
"Isn't she still engaged to Julien?"
"She's gonna break it off with him."
The face Kelly made was an annoyed one when that statement arose. She looked at him with disbelief, like there was no way her best friend was this drunk on someone, even if it was with someone like Greta.
And so, she told her truth with a mutter. "I don't trust her."
"I don't need you to trust her," Argued Malik. "I just need you to trust me."
"Trust you with what?" They heard Greta say as she and Lulu stumbled from the bedroom to look at the others.
And with a monotone response, Kelly wondered. "So you're moving in with him?"
"Oh, my Goddess! Are you really?" Exclaimed Lulu. "This is great! Kelly, I told you they'd work it out."
However, amid their friend's joy, Greta's face remained deadpanned as she stared back at her friend. "Yeah, I'm breaking up with Julien tomorrow, packing my things up, and moving here with Malik."
Kelly scoffed with a mocking exaggeration on her face. "Even if you managed to break it off with Julien, the two of you just can't move forward so fast."
"What do you mean if I manage?" Wondered Greta. "I'm moving on. I don't love him anymore, I love Malik."
"No, you're in that greener-grass phase. And Julien's has always been emerald in your eyes."
"Well glad to know you think so fucking little of me!" Scowled Greta.
Then, Malik chimed in. "I don't see what your problem is."
"Excuse me?"
"We talked things out. We fixed things."
"Fixed things? Bro, how many times does she have to dump you for another guy to make you realize that maybe the both of you aren't right for each other? What is her pussy that fucking special?"
"Fuck you, Kelly!" Greta shot back.
And coldly, Kelly retorted. "If any of what I said isn't true, then how come you haven't broken up with Julien by now?"
Things went silent again after that. Defeated in finding any further excuses, Greta crossed her arms and look away from the group altogether.
But this time, Kelly didn't wait for anything else to be added to the conversation. Instead, she let out another scoff, then moved to grab her purse and keys. "Babe, you can stay. I know how badly you wanted to come here."
And after her statement to Lulu, Kelly stormed out the door. However, after enough hesitation, her wife followed after.
The door shut, and Greta glanced back up to Malik with apprehension drenching across the warm peach hues of her face. "She's wrong, you know..." She muttered to him. "I'm over it this time, I'm sure."
Nodding, he glanced back up to her. "I believe you."
However, she shook her head, wishing to apply more evidence to her own statement. "I'm serious," She said. "I've been a mess about everything up till now, but tonight meant something to me."
She then wrapped her arms around his neck and anchored his head downward. Their foreheads touched instantly, and in a collective fashion, they both let out a sigh while her fingertips caressed the back of his neck. "You belong to me, right?"
His hands tightened their hold on her waist before he spoke. "I'm all yours."
Then, she nodded. "I belong to you. Just you, alright?" And after that, the door opened back up again, and Lulu stepped inside, sighing with conflict strewn through her breath as she walked back towards the two. "Where's Kelly?" Greta asked.
The blonde-haired woman shrugged. "She's headed home. Thought to sleep there tonight. Don't be mad at her, alright? You know how she feels about us."
Greta and Malik nodded, with the former smiling softly at her friend. "Thanks for believing in us."
At first, Lulu smiled back. But then, she took Malik by the hand. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
He looked back between the girls with a troubled glare. And ultimately, he went with Lulu towards the balcony. And zipping up her hoodie, she slid the door closed to give them space out here in this dark, snow-fallen scenery. "Kelly's just looking out for you, you know that. Right?"
And Malik nodded. "I know. We've always been like that, it's why I love her."
She looked down to the ground below. A sly smirk formed on her lips momentarily until she managed to look back up at him. "I know you're the one that told her to finally give in and be with me. Without you, I feel like my life would be very different right now."
"She never told me that."
"Oh yeah. It happened when she came back from seeing you a while back. Told me how you said that she deserves more than the pain she's been giving herself. Something about she should be with someone who loves her, flaws and all."
Just like that, Malik recalled the very visit she was mentioning. It was 2016. She was bummed out about the presidential election and falling into a downward spiral of anxiety. And so much like her other urges to find escape, Kelly sought Malik out back in Georgia.
Once there, they'd divulge in whoever it was they were dating or falling in love with at the time, all the while he cooked her food and watched the Goofy Movie with her. They were the only times he knew that she was taken care of the most in her life. It was why she had been so eager to bring him to Seattle in the first place.
No one took care of them better than each other. And Malik was all too aware of that.
And so he turned around, only to see Greta through the window as she resided on the couch, watching something. "You know, Kelly didn't believe someone like you existed for her?" He told Lulu. "She loved the idea of love more than she expected ever experiencing it herself. I guess we were both fucked up in that regard."
"And now you think you found someone too?"
"Just like her."
Lulu twitched a smile at the corner of her lip. "Realizing what we had for each other didn't just happen overnight. And finally putting effort into making it come true took just as much effort."
"So you think I shouldn't let Greta move in?"
"Oh Goddess, no. Let that bitch stay here. I love her, but my house is crowded enough as it is. Besides, I'm too grown to put up with having her as a roommate again."
They both laughed before looking at each other. The smiles stayed in their places, and Lulu felt warmth underneath the breeze of winter air wrapping around her. "All I'm saying is that between you and Greta, things aren't ever going to be perfect. The both of you are going to have to work at making Mareta of Gralik last."
"Mareta or what?"
"It's my ship name for you two, I'm still figuring out which to choose."
He scoffed with a chuckle, as did she. "You're a good guy. A good guy's exactly what she needs. But don't make her need it. Make her deserve it, alright?"
"What's that mean?"
However, Lulu shrugged and backed away. "You'll see. Now come on, a bitch is hungry."