Harmless
Agatha returned into her apartment with a knowing smirk on her face. She really enjoyed getting a rise out of the other woman.
Nicky ran to the couch in the living room and plopped himself right in the middle. “Can we watch a movie, Mama? Pretty please?” the boy whined, with his big round blue eyes glistening. It was hard for Agatha to ever say no to him, especially when she only gets so little time with him as it is.
“It’s late, my dear. You have to be up early for school tomorrow.” Agatha replied, sympathetically.
The boy threw his hands across his chest and let out a tiny kick of his feet that were hanging off the side of the couch. “But mama, I wanna stay up with you! I missed you!” the boy said, drawing out every syllable to pack the hardest punch to Agatha’s heart.
Agatha stood in front of him, her arms crossed around her chest sternly, like she meant business. But her exterior didn’t match how she was feeling inside. She just wanted to make Nicky happy. She already felt like a fuck-up as a mother for the ‘child of divorce’ trauma she so graciously bestowed upon him. What was another hour of staying up going to matter in the long run?
“Are you willing to be held accountable for your decision tomorrow morning when it’s time to wake up for school?” Agatha asked, directly. If she was going to bend her rules for him she may as well teach him a lesson at the same time to balance out the bad with the good.
“Yes, yes. I promise!” the boy yelped back at her, clapping his hands enthusiastically.
Agatha dropped her head in defeat, holding out one small ounce of hope that he’d actually consider her question and responsibly make the choice to go to bed. She picked up the remote from the coffee table and turned the TV on, immediately clicking around to find a specific streaming app.
“Let me guess, Frozen 2?” Agatha asked, sarcastically as she scrolled to find the movie in the ‘ My Favorites ’ tab of the app. It was all the boy had been asking to watch as of late. And once a movie became his favorite- it was his favorite . He would spend weeks at a time stuck on requesting one title until moving onto something completely different in a few week’s time. And it was always the fucking musicals. Agatha found it adorable that he was so passionate about his interests- but a woman can only hear “ We Don’t Talk About Bruno ” so many times before she’s driven mad.
She settled on the couch next to him and pulled him into her side. She pressed play on the remote and pulled up the blanket that was bunched up at the other end of the couch, enveloping them with coziness. Around twenty minutes into the movie she reached down for her phone, trying to pull it out of her pocket as carefully as she could without alerting the boy that she wasn’t paying attention to the movie. God forbid . She unlocked her phone screen and immediately lowered the brightness. opening up the Hinge conversation she’d been waiting on a reply in. What was taking the other woman so long to answer? Was she not direct enough in the hallway earlier? Or fuck - had she crossed a line?
Agatha thought there was nothing wrong with a bit of harmless flirting, but now as she thought more about how it may look to the younger woman next door, she sunk further down into the couch in embarrassment. Was she acting inappropriately toward Rio? She knew that she came on strong, but women usually loved that about her. She says exactly what’s on her mind and doesn’t beat around the bush, for lack of better terms. She saw something in Rio that she liked, other than her impressive physique, of course. Agatha felt drawn to learning more about her. But she also felt drawn to making her blush…among other things. But was it too much…too soon? I mean, the other woman did just move in next door yesterday. Agatha hoped she didn’t scare her away and make her feel uncomfortable in her new home. None of that would be worth the ‘harmless’ flirting Agatha enjoyed so much.
She closed out of the app and returned her phone back to her pocket. She considered sending another text to Rio apologizing, making sure she knew she didn’t have to text Agatha back. But would that just call more attention to the fact that Agatha feels like a giant creep right now? She settled for focusing her attention back on the movie and pulling Nicky in closer under the blanket. She cherished these kinds of moments with him. Slow, calm, and cozy. The calm before the storm of getting ready for school drop-off and work tomorrow morning.
Agatha’s eyes fluttered open around an hour later, shocked that she had actually fallen asleep so peacefully. Of course that’s never the case when it’s time for her to actually go to bed. She looked down at Nicky, noticing that he’s done the same. His eyes were closed, sleeping so soundly.
She carefully pulled the blanket off of them and scooped the still sleeping Nicky into her arms, carrying him to his bedroom to sleep for the rest of the night. She tucked him in tight and placed a kiss on his forehead. “Goodnight, my sweet boy.” She whispered as she closed the door behind her, walking back into the kitchen to do as much prep as she could before the chaos that was Monday mornings.
Once she finished packing Nicky’s lunch, getting his backpack ready to go, and laying out his clothes for the next day- she moved onto prepping what she needed done for herself the next day. She pre-set her coffee machine so that it’d be ready for her in the morning, ironed her work clothes for the week, and finished sorting the emails in her inbox to make tomorrow morning less overwhelming.
She’d just gotten out of the shower, exhaling at how refreshed and relaxed it made her feel. Especially knowing that everything for the next day was ready to go and she could finally crawl into bed and decompress with whatever early 2000’s sitcom was playing on TV, as she did mostly every night. She sat with her back against her headboard and rested her head back. As soon as her mind quieted down, her phone alerted her of a new notification.
New message from Rio
Agatha immediately picked her head up and excitedly sat forward in the bed. She unlocked her phone in hopes that the other woman’s response was proof that Agatha hadn’t creeped her out with her forwardness. She took a deep breath and click on their conversation, scrolling down ot the most recent new message:
Rio: Slick move sending your kid over just to have an excuse to talk to me again…
A smile began to spread across Agatha’s face. So she hadn’t been weirded out after all. She let out a small sigh of relief and began typing out her response before hitting send.
Agatha: Who, me? I would never…
Perfect amount of playfulness without being too over-the-top, she thought to herself. Short and sweet. Message bubbles popped up and Rio’s response came less than a minute later.
Rio: Mhm, sure Agatha. You know you could’ve just come over yourself if you really wanted to see me that bad.
Agatha: I will be sure to keep that in mind for the future.
Rio: Good, I wouldn’t want that incredibly cute kid of yours to continue to be used in such a way.
Agatha couldn’t help but wonder what the other woman was doing while texting her, pleasantly surprised at the speed in which she was now responding. Had she just gotten home from being out? Why else would it take her so long to text Agatha back earlier in the night, especially after Agatha’s warning in the hallway. Either way, she was glad that this hadn’t turned into a weird situation with Rio leaving her on read indefinitely.
Agatha: Just don’t leave me on ‘read’ again and we’ll have nothing to worry about.
Agatha: Any particular reason you kept me waiting all this time?
Agatha: I was beginning to think you weren’t interested.
Rio: I got called into the shop a little while ago to let my coworker borrow my set of keys.
Rio: Sorry to keep you waiting.
Agatha: I’ll let it slide this time. But only because you’re new.
Rio: Oh, so speedy replies are required for all of your neighbors you talk to on dating apps?
Agatha: Sure, you could say that.
Rio: Here I was thinking I was special.
Rio: It’s Miss Jenkins across the hall isn’t it?
Agatha let out a small laugh. Rio was not only insanely gorgeous, but her banter was up to Agatha’s standards…which were high. You wouldn’t imagine all of the dull, dry conversations she’d previously taken part in on this app particularly. She’d never been able to find anyone that could keep up with her. Until now.
Agatha: If only she were about 40 years younger, she’d be just my type. Besides, she has no idea how to use a smartphone.
Rio: Lucky me then, I guess.
Agatha: Oh, you have no idea ;)
Agatha smiled, satisfied at her response before a yawn involuntarily took over. As much as Agatha was enjoying this back-and-forth with the other woman, she needed to get some sleep if she was going to get Nicky to school on time the next morning. Besides, she could always continue flirting with her neighbor on a dating app tomorrow, right? A little more anticipation made it all the more exciting.
Agatha: But more to come on that another time…
Agatha: I’m afraid mother duties start bright and early tomorrow morning. Have a good night, neighbor.
Rio: Goodnight, Agatha.
___________________________________________________
Rio rubbed her forehead and fell back on her couch. She’d need several minutes for her heart rate to slow down after whatever the fuck that conversation was. Had she seriously been outwardly flirting with her next-door neighbor on Hinge? Had the older woman really been waiting for Rio to answer this whole time just so they could continue their flirty banter?
Rio never met anyone who made their interest so known. Especially so early on. Especially someone like Agatha. She held this power over her that Rio yearned to succumb to. She wanted nothing more than to offer herself over to the other woman, just to find out exactly what she’d want to do with her. Rio couldn’t imagine that it’d be anything she wouldn’t want for herself, either. All it took was one look at Agatha to know that she’d be the one who would want to take charge. Rio could only imagine the things she’d do to her. The way she would make her feel. The way she would make her– Rio had to snap herself out of it. This was a dangerous path for her mind to go down, especially so late at night. Especially about the woman directly on the other side of her living room wall. She tried to steady her thoughts on something other than the way she’d fall to pieces for the other woman. She reluctantly pulled herself off of the couch and walked across her apartment, stopping quickly to write something down on a post-it pad before pulling it off and sticking it on her refrigerator. “Note to self: reply to MILF neighbor’s texts promptly”