Maraschino

Maraschino
Chapter 6

Dominick’s couch was heavenly. It was a dark red leather confection that was decadently cushy and buttery soft. Autumn sank into it, sighing happily as she ran a hand over the fabric, her fingers dragging on the leather. Dominick was outside, helping Sarah and his son into her car and he had seen them inside while he carted a pram and two bags out the door. Autumn ignored the stab of jealousy that made her chest ache at the thought of Sarah and Dom together. She felt oddly betrayed by the fact that they had a kid together but she had never once asked him about his relationship with Sarah and he had no reason to tell her, he had never had trouble getting what he wanted from her anyway. Autumn looked over at Mel who was seated next to her, her lips parted as she too ran her hands over the luxurious fabric. The couch was probably the nicest thing in Dominick’s apartment and it obviously cost much more than the combined amount of Autumn’s furniture.

“I covet this couch.” Mel announced as she turned to Autumn. Autumn nodded in return, leaning forward to set her lunchbox filled with cookies on the coffee table. There was various baby paraphernalia scattered about the apartment, building blocks and soft toys and there was a sky blue baby blanket draped over the arm of the couch, clouds stitched in white all over the surface.

“It’s so soft.” Autumn smoothed her fingers over the couch, reaching behind her with her other hand to pull the cushion out from between her back and the couch. She groaned as she settled back into the couch, the warm, delicious leather coming in around her. The pedestal fan in the corner was cranked up high, rotating noisily and keeping the room cool enough to prevent any uncomfortable stickiness.

“So, were you guys friends in school?” Autumn blinked, turning towards Mel with a frown, her brow crinkled.

“Huh?” Autumn asked, confused, reaching up to smooth her hair down.

“You and Dominick. Were you friends?” Mel asked as she tugged the crotch of her shorts down, muttering something about camels as she did so.

“We weren’t friends precisely.”Autumn said carefully, “But we did get along and we used to sit near each other in Human Biology.”

“I’ve already figured you weren’t friends with the missus. Not that I blame you, girls a bitch.” Mel said with an affected shake of her head.

“She was worse in school. She had some sort of rivalry with my sister. Nearly got out of hand at one point.”

“Is your sister the pretty little thing who nearly hit my car that one time?”

“Yes, that’s April.” Autumn said with a snort, looking up as the door to the apartment shut with a click. Dominick padded into his living room, looking impossibly handsome in dark blue jeans and a white wife beater. He propped himself up against the wall, bending briefly to retrieve a blue and white teddy bear. He looked over at them, his blue eyes strangely hollow and his hair mussed up.

“Sorry about that guys.” Dominick reached up, trying to smooth down his hair.

“Not at all, we came by unannounced.” Mel said, her voice a little shrill, nervous now that Dominick was back. Autumn was unsure about her emotions not that he was back. She was angry at him and she was strangely jealous yet at the same time she was still enormously attracted to him.

“We made cookies.” Autumn tapped the top of the cookie box, smiling thinly and bringing a hand up to her chest, covering the top of her breasts as she bent over.

“She made cookies, I can’t bake to save my life.” Mel said as Dominick came forward, grabbing a soccer ball shaped bean bag and dragging it across to the coffee table. He sat himself down in it, legs splayed wide as Autumn slid the container across to him. The bean bag seated him low, close to the floor and he set his elbows on the table as he unclipped the container and took a sniff of the cookies inside.

“Thanks.” Dominick said, looking up at her through his dark lashes as he fished out a cookie, a strange spark lighting his eyes, “Do you guys want any?”

“I’m fine.” Autumn said and Mel must have shook her head because Dominick set the lid back on the container and began to break his cookie down into small parts.

“I came here to apologise and dragged Autumn along for the ride.” Mel said as Dominick started to hum softly.

“Apologise for what?” Autumn looked away, her cheeks heating as Dom popped a piece of cookie into his mouth, his thumb following it in and his lips closing around it.

“For getting so drunk you had to cart me upstairs.” Mel sounded embarrassed and Autumn ran her fingers over the baby blanket on her arm of the couch, refusing to look up.

“Oh. No biggie. These cookies are good.” Autumn turned to Dominick as he spoke, his finger once again in his mouth. He winked at her and she narrowed her eyes at him, turning to look at Mel instead.

“Well, thank you for doing it. It was a terrible first impression and I just wanted to let you know that I’m not normally like that.” Mel said, toying with her bracelet as she looked away.

“Everyone gets carried away sometimes.” Dominick said with a nod, licking melted chocolate off of his fingertips. Autumn felt her stomach lurch as she watched his tongue dart out from between his full lips to skip across his skin.

“I get carried away more often than not.” Mel shrugged and Autumn smiled, Mel looked up at her and the girls broke into giggles as they made eye contact.

“Remember when for Tara’s birthday we went into town and the next morning I woke up three hundred dollars poorer and with strange people in my apartment.” Autumn laughed louder, she too had gotten very drunk at Tara’s birthday but had woken up alone in bed with a note from Grant stuck to her fridge.

“I spent the next day glued to my toilet.” Autumn said, shaking her head as Mel snorted, turning away to cover her mouth.

“Now that I’d pay to see.” Dominick contributed and Autumn turned to look at him just as he polished of the last of his cookie, running his thumb over his lower lip.

Autumn had no idea what he was playing at but she could feel the answering tug in her belly, her blood heating in that old familiar way. Autumn looked away, nervously smoothing her skirt down as she demurely recrossed her legs. So much for the chivalry he had shown the night of his welcoming party.

“Autumn isn’t a big drinker.” Mel said and Autumn nodded her agreement, pressing a hand to her suddenly hot cheek.

“I never have more than a few drinks unless I’m going out with the girls.” Autumn said, reaching up to toy with her hair, clenching her thighs together tightly as Dominick nodded at her. He smiled over the table at her, all white teeth and wide cheekbones.

“Which is a good thing because your friends don’t flash you’re underwear at people you’ve just met. Especially after this person just carried your drunk butt up the stairs.” Mel commented and Autumn snorted, looking over at Mel with a hopefully apologetic smile.

“Does that happen often?” Dominick inquired politely as he settled back into his chair, his hands on his knees.

“Not to my knowledge.” Mel answered with a sniff.

“We normally don’t tell you when it happens, save you the embarrassment.” Autumn shrugged as she lowered her eyes and started to toy with the hem of her dress.

“How will it save me the embarrassment if I’ve already done it?”

“Because you can’t be embarrassed if you don’t remember what you did.” Dominick shrugged at them as he spoke, his shoulders rising as he did. Autumn drew her eyes over the length of his shoulders, taking in the noticeable curve of his bicep as it dipped into his shoulder before levelling out and then rising into his neck, the strong tendons visible and his Adam’s apple prominent. Autumn then couldn’t help herself from following her eyes down his neck to his collarbone, visible above the neckline of his shirt, the white fabric making the tan of his skin seem much darker than it probably was. He wore a necklace, something she couldn’t remember him doing, a simple gold chain with a simple cross on the end of it.

Autumn looked away, embarrassed that she had been looking, her brief peek only aggravating the growing arousal that was taking place in her belly, warming her skin and tensing up her whole body. It annoyed her that she was unable to get as affected by Grant and she certainly wouldn’t have gotten so worked up by him licking his fingers either. Dominick was bad news, she decided abruptly, he was wreaking havoc on her senses already and she didn’t want his return to alter her relationship with Grant. Autumn tried to mentally steel herself, trying to force anger that he had not contact her like he said he would, even when he knew he wouldn’t. Thinking of him with Sarah got her temper flaring and she remembered what it was like in high school when he had seemed fixated on her when he apparently had a girlfriend already. He had made her the other woman and that thought was enough to put a firm lid on her burgeoning arousal and had her shooting to her feet.

“Is everything alright?” Dominick asked, looking up at her with bright, blue eyes, and an angelic expression on her face. Thankfully Autumn felt her resolve stiffen and she turned away from him.

“We should go.” She announced. Mel looked up at her, blinking rapidly.

“We should.” Mel stood, stepping closer to Autumn to peer at her face.

“Thanks for having us. We’ll see ourselves out.” Autumn added as Dominick stood.

“Uh, okay.” Dominick looked at her oddly and Autumn turned on her heel, mustering up all the courage she had and stalked from the room. Mel closed the door to Dominick’s apartment behind them and followed Autumn to the stairwell. Autumn was rather pleased with herself. She had never been particularly strong willed when it came to Dom and she was impressed with her bravado.

“The fuck was that?” Mel asked as soon as they reached the first floor landing, hurrying after Autumn who was marching up the stairs, her emotions swirling around in her head, anger fuelling her further. Autumn glanced over at her and made a split-second decision. She and Mel weren’t the best of friends but she was sweet girl with a big heart and Autumn had never told anyone about her clandestine relations with Dominick before.

“Mel, can you keep a secret?” Autumn asked as they came to a stop on the second landing.

“Honestly, no.” Mel shook her head at her, “But if you need to talk to someone I’m here.”

The door to the stairwell closed, thudding shut loudly. Autumn and Mel turned to peer over the railing on the stairs. Abigail and Tara were coming up the stairs, both laden down with shopping bags. Abigail tossed her hair over her shoulder, laughing loudly at something Tara had said. They reached Mel and Autumn, coming to a stop before them. Autumn felt odd, strangely on edge with her emotions sending her body into turmoil.

“Autumn needs our help.” Mel announced without preamble as Autumn tried to force a smile.

“What’s wrong?” Tara reached put to pat Autumn’s arm, a concerned expression on her face.

“Is Lucy home?”Mel asked.

“I’m fine.” Autumn blurted out, uncomfortable with the sudden attention. The group of girls around her ignored her statement.

“Yeah, we just saw her.” Abigail answered.

“Carrie would be at work right? Jenny too? Get Lucy and bring her up to Autumn’s.” Abigail nodded and started back down the stairs as Mel took Autumn’s arm and led her up to the third floor. Autumn felt oddly embarrassed her emotions zigzagging up and down more than normal and she began to mentally count the days to see if she was anywhere near her monthlies.

“It smells nice in here.” Tara commented as Autumn led them into her apartment, the smell of fresh cookies lingering in the air.

“I baked.” Autumn said, shutting the door behind her.

“I’ll put the kettle on.” Mel bustled into the kitchen and Autumn took a deep breath, her nerves oddly frayed.

“I’ll be okay, I’m just a little frazzled.” Autumn said, smoothing her skirt down nervously.

“Autumn, we’re your friends, we want to help.” Tara said as Mel filled her old, blue kettle with water.

“It’s about Dominick, isn’t it?” Mel asked over her shoulder.

“The hot Papa Bear?” Tara asked with a cat-like purr.

“Wait til the others get here and I’ll tell you everything.”