Page 28 of Rapunzel Is Losing It

It didn’t click until then that Tabitha might have chosen the donuts based on their color, too. My insides seized, and I suppressed a strange hiccup.

“Thank you,” I said through a suddenly clogged throat.

“Let’s do this.”

We closed the door to the TV room and they told me to text Victor that he wasn’t allowed to come in because Defne needed girl time. I left out that last part in my actual text. I didn’t need to lie to him. He reacted with a thumbs up within seconds.

“So what are we talking about here?” Defne asked. She was simultaneously slurping her chocolate frap and pouring pomegranate, lemon juice and raki into a crystal tumbler.

I glanced over at Delilah for help but she just nodded encouragingly.

Guess I was really doing this. Somehow. Maybe.

I took a deep breath, and then relayed everything that had happened the night I’d gotten drunk - and everything since. “...and now Del thinks he’s working out so much because he’s frustrated.”

“Sexually frustrated,” she corrected.

“Sounds about right,” Tabitha said while Defne nodded her agreement.

“But there’s no precedent… he’s never…” I tried to find the right words, the thought barely even solid in my mind, because I’d figured he was working out to keep up with whatever his uncle had him doing.

“He’s never dated anyone?” Tabitha asked.

“I’m sure he’s dated someone at some point,” I replied.

“Since he started working for you,” Defne added.

“Oh, no, I don’t think so.” I swapped my hazelnut double espresso frap for one of the pink premade drinks Defne had brought. Discussing a single kiss was one thing. Theorizing about Victor’s whole love life… that required alcohol. “Definitely not the first three years, when he had Del’s room. He technically lives next door now. I don’t really know what he does over there.”

I’d bought him that house because it had seemed like a good idea at the time. Give him some personal space while keeping him nearby. I’d only ever been there a few times, but it never looked like he had changed anything about the place since the day I’d viewed it with the realtor. There definitely hadn’t been any couple pictures on the walls or side tables.

“So what you’re saying is that this man has possibly been celibate for at least six years? And then you tackled him with those tits pressed up against him?” Tabitha whistled. “Yeah, he’s about to explode.”

“What do my t- What does my chest have to do with anything?”

“Can you not saytits?” Tabitha grinned.

My neck started to burn with the onset of a blush, but before I had to defend my word choices, Defne cleared her throat. “Take our tiny Delilah here as an example,” she framed Del’s face withher hands as if pointing at a graph for a presentation, “Del was never much bothered with sex. She dated for companionship, not to get laid.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Del grumbled.

“That meant Del could go a very long time without having sex and never miss it,” Defne continued unfazed, “but now that she’s figured out how to get off, if Beck is out of town for more than two days, she’s suddenly whining in the group chat about how much she misses his dick.”

“Hey! I do not!” Del slapped Defne’s hands away.

“You do. You just use different words,” Tabitha agreed, “and you get worse when you’re ovulating.”

“Excuse me?”

“The point is,” Defne heaved a sigh and trained her warm brown eyes on me, “you got physical with him and it’s not that easy to forget how good that feels. And you have great tits. That’s also the point. Are they real?”

“Real?” I blinked.

“Implants?”

“Oh, no, they’re real.”

Del waved her hands through the air. “Guys, stop distracting her.” She plucked the cocktail from Defne’s hands, before focussing back on me. “What they’re trying to say is that Victor might have an equally hard time moving on from the kiss as you do.”