Carmen & Alyssa: An Afternoon Snack

As the sunlight hit her face, Carmen began to wake up. She opened her eyes to see nothing in front of her, even though it seemed like Alyssa's beauty was just next to her. Carmen looked around then sat up to scan the room.

"Alyssa?" No answer.

She couldn't have left. It was only— she glanced over at the clock on the wall. Nine. She had to work.

Carmen knew Alyssa worked early on Saturday mornings. She figured Alyssa spent the night and snuck out early that morning without waking her. She got up off the bed, wrapping the blanket like a towel around her naked body. She went into the living room to get her phone off the coffee table. When she glanced at the sofa, she grinned, remembering how last night began. Grabbing her phone and its charger, Carmen went back into her bedroom and immediately called Alyssa. It rang a few times before Alyssa's voice came on.

"Hi, you've reached Alyssa Smith. I'm not available right now—"

Carmen listened to the greeting, half-smiling at the sound of Alyssa's formal voice. When the greeting ended, Carmen began talking. She stumbled and stammered through her message, not really knowing what to say. She actually expected Alyssa to answer the phone. Why would she answer the phone at work? Even if she did, what the hell were you going to say? Carmen remembered she was leaving a voicemail and her thoughts only sounded like a long, awkward silence over the phone. "Anyway, call me when you get this, please," she ended the message, "See you later."

Carmen touched the 'end call' button on her phone's screen and threw it across the bed. She lied back down. "Well, you couldn't have sounded any dumber," she said to herself, shaking her head. Carmen closed her eyes, hoping that she could instantly forget about the mishap. Instead she thought of Alyssa frowning as the message played back. She sighed, "So, so stupid."

Carmen opened her eyes, looked around at the room again, and then at her bed. Her comforter was slightly crumpled, and twisted. Not in the smoothed out, neat condition she left it in yesterday morning. She turned her head and her nose got a whiff of a familiar scent. She rolled on her side a little so she could press her nose on the spot at a closer angle.

It was Alyssa's perfume.

Carmen took a sharp breath in, trying to take in as much of the sweet smell as she possibly could. She shifted to lie flat on her back again. The scent triggered more memories from last night and Carmen closed her eyes as if she was watching a movie. First, Alyssa's smile and laugh came into focus. Then her soft and supple lips. Carmen imagined kissing her. She imagined Alyssa's tongue slowly moving down Carmen's belly while staring up into her eyes...

Carmen jumped when she heard her phone ring. She was so engrossed in her fantasy/memory of Alyssa that everything around her went silent until the ringtone snapped her out of the trance. She reached across the bed, hoping it would be Alyssa calling. It wasn't.

"Hey, Shannon. What's up?"

"I want to know every single detail. Don't leave out a thing."

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me, missy! You know what I'm talking about. I want to know what happened between you and Alyssa. Tell me everything," Shannon pressed.

"Shannon," Carmen sighed. Shannon was Carmen's best friend but she was also very meddlesome. "There is nothing to tell."

"You're lying."

"I'm no—"

"Carmen," Shannon cut her off before she could finish, "I've known you long enough to know when you even sound like you're lying," she laughed. "Now, spill it!"

Carmen thought for a moment that maybe she shouldn't tell Shannon about last night, but she knew Shannon would keep prodding. Besides, they had been friends since they were ten and shared everything with each other. Shannon was the only person who knew how Carmen felt about Alyssa. She was going to know what happened eventually.

"Okay, okay," Carmen sighed, sitting up on her bed. "There is something to tell."

"I knew it!" Shannon squealed. "Let's go. Spill the beans!"

Carmen chuckled at her excitement. "Well, we went to Tavern, as usual, for happy hour. We had a couple of drinks—"

Shannon interrupted once more. "Sweetie, spare me the boring details and get to the good stuff. What happened when you told her that you had feelings for her?" She was always the one to get straight to the point.

"Well, it was here at my place. We were supposed to be watching a movie but we just talked the whole time. And when I finally got up enough courage, I told her that I think I liked her as more than just a friend," Carmen paused. "One thing led to another. We started kissing—"

"Wait, whoa! Back up! One thing led to another?" Shannon repeated incredulously. "What the hell was the one thing that led to kissing?!"

"Really?" Carmen laughed and shook her head. "I don't know. After I said that I liked her, it just felt like a huge relief."

"Right. And what did she say?"

"Not much. She just said she was surprised and that she really cared about me," Carmen paused again, trying to remember the details. "To be honest, she didn't say too much because, well, I kind of kissed her," Carmen clinched her eyes closed and waited for a response.

"You kissed her?" Shannon asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Carmen confirmed. "It just happened! I don't—I don't know what came over me. I just really wanted to kiss her. And...she kissed me back."

"Oh shit! You little vixen!" Shannon yelled and teased.

Carmen chuckled. "Shut up."

"Hey, I'm not the one who had a make-out session with my friend, okay? I mean you're cute and all, but—" She laughed mid-sentence.

"Very funny," Carmen laid the sarcasm on thick. "You're a real comedian."

"Whatever," Shannon ignored her, "so, what happened after you made out? Are you guys together now or what?"

"Not exactly."

"What happened? Did she just leave without talking to you about everything?"

"No."

"What?" Shannon sounded genuinely confused. "Well, what the hell happened?"

"Well, umm," Carmen stammered trying to answer. "Well, we kissed and umm, we kept kissing. And uhhh—"

Shannon's loud gasp cut Carmen off again. "You didn't! YOU DID NOT!"

Carmen's silence spoke volumes.

"Oh my god! WHAT?! You had sex with her?!" She was screaming now. "Just last week you weren't even sure if you were into girls, now you're fucking them?!"

Carmen rolled her eyes. "I hate you."

"Man, you have some big balls!" Shannon's voice was still loud. "And you must have a lot of game if you pulled Alyssa that quickly."

"I didn't 'pull' her," Carmen defended, "it just happened. I didn't plan on it going that far."

"Uh huh, sure," Shannon paused for a second then chuckled. "So, vixen, how was it?"

"Okay, that's enough," Carmen decided that's where the conversation needed to end. She was getting more and more embarrassed. "I have to go."

"Don't think you're getting out of this, Carmen. We will finish this later." Shannon sounded confident.

"Yeah, okay." Carmen definitely wasn't ready to tell Shannon about that part of last night, no matter how close they were. What she shared with Alyssa seemed sacred, just between the two of them. "I love you, but I need to shower."

"I'm sure you do," Shannon chuckled.

"Ugh. Goodbye!"

"Ha! Bye!"

Carmen ended the call and immediately got up off the bed, letting the blanket fall to the floor. She walked into her bathroom, which was bright from the sun shining through the skylight window. She turned on the faucet in her tub, quickly turning the knob for the showerhead. As the water got hotter, she thought about how she got slightly aroused earlier just thinking about Alyssa. Then she thought about her earlier voicemail.

Carmen went back to her bed and grabbed her phone. She called Alyssa again, this time sure of what she would say.

******************************************************************************

Alyssa yawned at her desk and looked at the time on the bottom of her computer screen.

9:03. Arrrggh, three more hours to go.

She had only been at work for two hours but had been wide awake since five o'clock this morning and practically up since three. Once she left Carmen's apartment, she went home, took a shower, and got in bed. Though, she had a difficult time sleeping. She couldn't stop thinking about Carmen and their passionate night together. Every detail replayed in her mind. Every touch. Every kiss. This morning, Alyssa had decided that whatever they shared, last night was the end of it. But as one part of her brain swore to forget Carmen, another part kept thinking about her. A warm tingle ran through her every time she thought of Carmen's lips. Her heart skipped a beat every time Carmen's voice echoed in her head, "I want you." Yet, she kept repeating to herself, "Alyssa, you can't do this. Don't fall for her."

As if she had thought Carmen into existence, Alyssa's phone buzzed on the desk and she saw that it was Carmen calling. Her internal conflict flared up once more. She turned her head away, trying to ignore the buzzing but then decided to pick up the phone, her heart beginning to race as she reached to accept Carmen's call. Just then she heard a knock at her door.

"Come in."

Her co-worker, Brent, stepped in. "Hey, we got that meeting in 2 minutes. You ready?"

"Yeah." Alyssa glanced back down at her phone. It had already gone to voicemail. "I'm coming right now." She had dodged that bullet for now. She grabbed her planner and a pen, along with her phone, then got up from her desk to head for the door.

"Do anything fun last night?" Brent asked.

"No, not really. Just hung out with a friend." Alyssa gave a fake smile to go with the lie.

Alyssa worked at Canton X Productions, an event productions and planning firm. Every Saturday morning, she and her co-workers came in to make sure the weekend and upcoming events that her firm hosted were running on schedule. They only had a meeting when something about an event had to be changed. Alyssa hoped it wouldn't last long. She and Brent entered the conference room and hurried to two seats that were at the far end of the long, glass table, near the back corner of the room. Her supervisor began talking just as Alyssa sat down. She quickly realized that the event being discussed was one of the few she hadn't been involved with. She groaned a little, getting ready to pretend like she was paying attention for however long. It didn't take her long to start daydreaming.

After what seemed like an eternity, Alyssa jumped a little when her phone buzzed in her lap. She glanced down. It was Carmen again. And it was only nine thirty-five. "Have we really only been in this meeting for thirty minutes?" she whispered to Brent.

He rolled his eyes, "Let's pray it ends before we die."

Alyssa chuckled quietly. She reached down and touched the ignore button on her phone's screen. At least the meeting forced her to make a decision. Alyssa looked back up, feigned attention. Only five minutes later, her phone buzzed again. It was a text from Carmen.

A confused look came over Alyssa's face. She wondered if it was an emergency but she didn't want to be too distracted from the meeting just in case her supervisor asked her something. So she ignored the text and decided to look at it later. Her phone buzzed a second time, a third almost immediately followed. Alyssa looked down. It was two more texts from Carmen.

Okay, she knows I'm at work? Why does she keep texting me?

Alyssa picked up her phone, still keeping it slightly under the table, and unlocked it. She went to her messages, saw three new texts from Carmen, and opened them. The first one read:

Alyssa smiled and started reading the second message:

Alyssa's smile went away and she got nervous. She reluctantly started the third text:

Alyssa released a deep sigh as she finished the text. Carmen's words flooded her with a wave of emotions and memories of their rendezvous. Her heart had sped up and all of sudden her body shivered as a rush of adrenaline went through it.

"You okay?" Brent leaned over with a concerned look on his face.

"Huh, what?" Alyssa couldn't quite hear him at first. Carmen's words had transported her into another world.

He glanced down at Alyssa's phone. "Is everything okay?"

She quickly pressed the side button to lock the phone and darken the screen. "Yeah, everything's fine." Alyssa sat back and lifted her head up but she could no longer fake as if she was paying attention. Carmen controlled her thoughts.

The meeting ended about twenty minutes later and Alyssa quickly got up, making a bee-line towards the door. She thought she had heard someone call her name but didn't stop to check. She avoided eye contact with everyone she passed so she wouldn't be stopped on her way. Once she got to her office, she went in, closed the door and sat down at her desk. She lifted up the phone and unlocked it, the screen still on Carmen's messages. "I keep thinking about how your tongue felt and how you taste."

Alyssa became aroused and she was a little shocked by it. She closed her eyes and thought about how Carmen pleaded with her last night, whispering "I want you" in her ear. The words had some type of spell over Alyssa. Replaying them now, she could feel herself getting wet.

How am I going to forget this girl if a fucking text makes me horny? Alyssa thought to herself.

Just then, there was a knock on her door. Alyssa jumped, startled by the sound. "Yeah? Come in."

Brent again. "Dude, you left the meeting so fast, you forgot your daily planner."

"Oh," Alyssa said, "thanks, I appreciate it." She reached out her hand to grab the book as Brent brought it over.

"No problem." He nodded and left her office. As soon as he left, Alyssa picked up her phone and called Carmen. She answered after the first ring.

"Hey!"

"Hi." Alyssa smiled. Hearing Carmen's voice made her heart skip.

"How's your morning been?" Carmen sounded so upbeat; Alyssa could tell she was smiling over the phone too.

"Good. Nothing spectacular happening at work. How about you?"

"It's been okay," Carmen started, "but it did kind of suck at first."

"Why?"

"Because you weren't there this morning."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I had to work." Alyssa hoped Carmen didn't notice that she left much earlier that morning.

"I know. I just—I just missed you."

Alyssa couldn't stop herself from grinning. The voice in her head, cautioning and warning her not to fall for Carmen, couldn't stop Alyssa from saying, "I missed you too."

There was a few seconds of silence.

"So, you got my text?" Carmen asked.

"I did."

"And?"

"And," Alyssa paused, "I want to see you." Trying to avoid Carmen was useless.

"I want to see you too."

Alyssa smiled. "I get off work at noon. You still want to get lunch?"

"Yeah but it will have to be a bit later. I have to take care of some things at the studio first. Maybe one o'clock?"

"Fine with me." The sooner Alyssa saw Carmen, the better. She was willing to be patient though. "Let's go to Boathouse. It's beautiful outside; we can sit by the water."

"Okay!" Carmen sounded excited. "I can't wait to see you."

"Me either." Alyssa said to her. "I'll see you soon."

When she hung up the phone, Alyssa glanced down at the clock on her computer again. 10:15. Three hours. She had started her morning sure that she would have to stop seeing Carmen. Maybe even stop being friends with her. Now, she was looking forward to their lunch date. There was still a voice yelling to Alyssa "No! Don't do it!" But the voice grew smaller and smaller as time went on and Alyssa got more and more excited about seeing Carmen again.

******************************************************************************

When Alyssa got to the restaurant, she saw that Carmen had already gotten a table out on the veranda. Alyssa walked over to meet Carmen who was looking down at a menu at first. When she looked up and smiled, Alyssa's breath was instantly taken away. She had known Carmen for a little over a year, but all of sudden, she looked different. Her caramel skin was radiant and Alyssa couldn't figure out if it was the sun that illuminated off her body or if Carmen just always had some natural glow. She had on a red sundress with floral print that flowed above her knees but hugged her chest. Carmen's shoulder length, golden-brown hair flowed and blew with the breeze as she stood up to hug Alyssa.

"Hey, you." Carmen smiled, and then embraced Alyssa. The moment she wrapped her arms around Carmen, Alyssa's body warmed and she felt like she would melt right to the floor. Carmen felt the same, along with an electric chill that went through her spine.

"Hey, yourself." When they parted, their eyes met and Alyssa wanted so badly to kiss her but refrained somehow. She only smiled and shook her head.

"What?" Carmen asked.

"I think I'm a bit underdressed." Alyssa stepped back and looked down at her skinny jeans, t-shirt and black blazer outfit which she thought was inferior to Carmen's dress.

"Oh, please," Carmen dismissed her with a wave. "I just threw this on. No big deal." She shrugged and looked down, clearly blushing.

They both sat down and Alyssa just smiled and stared at Carmen. "Well, you look beautiful." Alyssa continued to look into her hazel eyes, assuring Carmen that it wasn't just a random compliment.

Carmen understood and she smiled back. "Thank you."

If it wasn't for the waiter doing his job and interrupting them periodically, Carmen and Alyssa would have been in that restaurant for eternity. Although they both were nervous at first, they easily found their comfort with one another. A familiarity that had already existed because of their friendship now only seemed to be strengthened. They talked as if nothing had changed. Even when Carmen placed her hand in Alyssa's as it rested on the table, all Alyssa did was smile and interlock their fingers. Then she kept talking. They only referenced the previous night just once.

"Are you...mad at me?" Carmen asked the question casually.

"What do you mean?" Alyssa was confused.

"About last night," Carmen looked away nervously. "Are you mad that I kissed you? That we—"

"I'm not mad at you," Alyssa answered, not letting Carmen finish.

"What I said last night—I meant what I said. I really do have feelings for you. And I know you probably think I'm just confused or...or that I..." Carmen began struggling with words just like she had done this morning. "But I'm not confused, I just—"

Regretting that she hadn't done it earlier, Alyssa leaned over the table and kissed Carmen while she was mid-sentence. It was quick, but powerful, causing the electricity to return to both of their bodies. "I'm not mad. Okay?"

"Okay." Carmen beamed from ear to ear.

That was all that needed to be said. That was all that mattered.

They finally left the restaurant a little more than two hours later. Carmen met up with Shannon earlier and was dropped off at the restaurant. So, of course, Alyssa told her she would take Carmen back home.

"We could walk around the harbor, if you don't want to go home right away." Alyssa said as they got into her car. "It's so beautiful out this afternoon; we should enjoy it before it ends."