The upload sat blinking at 100%, waiting for me to confirm the transfer. I bit my lip and replayed the opening for what had to be the hundredth time tonight. ”Hello guys, it’s QuietPixel.” The 2D version of me smiled from the screen. I knew the video had come out perfect. I had scrubbed the background noise and trimmed the dead air. I sounded great, I looked great. And even better, Will’s cock looked awesome with my hands...

My back cracked as I stretched over the coffee table. I’d gone for a late run then tried to make up for the closed gym with a few push-ups and squats in the cramped living room. Anything to stay active through the lockdown really. “You done stinking up the place?” a voice teased behind me. I jerked around. Lucy stood there in a towel, wringing the last beads of water from her hair. Steam curled out from the bathroom, her...

Whatever greeting I expected from Aurelia when she opened the door, it wasn’t the tight hug and giddy kiss she planted on my lips. “Uh... hi,” I said, off-balance. Aurelia rolled her eyes, pulling back with a light chuckle. “Screw you. I’m allowed to be happy to see you. It’s been forever.” “It’s been two weeks,” I muttered, before shooting a feverish glance over her shoulder at the empty living room. “Finn’s not here?” T...

I push lower this time, getting my chest as close to the ground as possible, and my spine creaks. With the amount of running I'm doing lately, I have no choice but to take stretching more seriously. Across the walkway, an old lady, my upstairs neighbor, I think, gives me a sympathetic smile as she lugs a grocery bag into the building. She's probably used to the sight by now: Roman Miller, sweating the anxiety through his...

“Back in a sec,” Maddie chirps, right before bolting from the terminal check-in line and disappearing in the crowd, blonde ponytail wagging behind her. Paige snorts. “She needs to get her prostate checked out.” I look down at my little sister. She smiles at me, happy to let me carry her bags. It’s a lot of stuff, even if she ended up staying two weeks at my place. Maddie and I took turns showing her around the city whenev...

“Hurry up,” Tasha scolds me. She’s the one who told me to ‘slut it up.’ I’d love to see her try to haul ass in four-inch heels without snapping an ankle. She picked flats, of course. The hypocrite. “It’s my birthday, you don’t get to talk to me like that,” I whine. It’s not very effective. She doesn’t slow down. A gust of wind passes right through my coat, and I hunch lower, cursing my little black dress for doing absolut...

I wake up cold, on my side. My hand fumbles forward, seeking Roman’s reliably warm chest. Instead, I smack into a freezing concrete wall. Kill me. I’m alone in my stupid-narrow dorm bed. I groan and shove my face under the pillow. “Tash’, turn off your fucking alarm.” But the blaring doesn’t stop. And right as I think my day can’t start any worse, Tasha, my roommate, yanks the covers clean off my back. “Put some clothes o...

The priest, a withered man from Martinique whose voice still carries better than the old chapel’s speakers, finally tells us to sit down for the last time. All around us, the small parish slumps with relief. Nearly two hours of Christmas mass has worn them down. I look over at the four Millers, sitting in a well-behaved row. Predictably, my eyes land on Roman’s broad shoulders. He’s not doing anything special. Just breath...

The small changing room smells like incense and freshly laundered towels. I take the robe from the hook and slide into it, luxuriating in the soft, cloud-like fabric against my skin. A satisfying tug cinches the belt around my waist. Jules meets me in the hallway with a caring smile, her black hair spilling neatly over her shoulders. She’s tall and elegant despite wearing the same cozy gown as I and a discreet beach bag....

I scan the line of people waiting at the airport’s arrivals gate, expecting to find Maddie. Probably holding a shitty cardboard joke sign. And a big, happy smile. Her texts have turned downright horny in the last few days of our week apart. Instead, I clock a slightly taller blonde in aviators, chewing gum, and dressed like a Florida weather warning. Baggy hoodie, athletic shorts, flip-flops. No sign. I’ve not seen Claudi...

“Just one minute!” Maddie shouts from the bathroom, dragging her last word out in a sing-song lilt. She’s not usually high-maintenance, but this is Halloween. I collapse back onto the couch, hoping our Uber doesn’t show up too fast. I barely get a few doomscrolls in before the bathroom door creaks open in my bedroom. Then, clicks. The sharp sound of heels on hardwood. I’m on my feet in an instant. She’s been buzzing ever...

Maddie dutifully snaps another lamp’s tag with her phone before breezing past me to a new part of the store’s showroom. Her hair’s floral scent floats in the air behind her. “We’re only here for a desk and a chair for my home office,” I mutter, dragging my feet to follow her. She snorts. “Yeah, right.” Maddie spins around to face me, arms crossed over her chest, a teasing smile playing on her lips. “Your place is so bare,...

I sputter, coughing up the blonde strands stuck to my lips. Blinking against the light, I find the culprit. Maddie, of course. She’s draped over me, naked and softly snoring, her warm breath tickling my chest. Her arms cling to me, her legs tangled with mine, our bellies flush together. Like a cute, slutty blanket. Maddie was supposed to give me a quick tour of her dorm following our Saturday picnic lunch near campus. Ins...

“So you’re really moving out today?” Naomi, my ex-fiancée, sits across from me at our kitchen table. She absent-mindedly spears a cherry tomato with her fork while I chew through a dry sandwich. “Yeah,” I say. “Friends are coming to help out in a bit.” She nods, thoughtfully. “That’s it then,” she says. “End of an era.” Most of our conversations have looked like that since she dumped me. Naomi desperately filling the sile...

I pop the TV dinner out of the microwave. What a depressing Saturday evening. This is usually movie night with Emma, my best friend since college. But last week, she decided her research had gotten too intense and disappeared to some tropical island for a break. She stopped by just long enough to hand over her spare key and told me to water the plants while her cab to the airport honked in the street. So here I am alone a...