Finding a Roommate Pt. 05

Hey everyone, thanks for your patience over the last few months. I hope to be a lot more active now and already have a number of stories at varying stages of being planned and written. This is the first and as always, comments/feedback welcome.

Volunteer

***

The flight home felt considerably better than the flight to Australia, now I had Maddy sitting beside me. Being in Business Class helped too, I won't lie. We smiled contently at each other as we took our seats, both of us recognising the difference in how we felt.

After take-off we got stuck in to watching the lineup of movies on offer when we weren't just chatting casually and bantering, or else enjoying the roomier seats and complimentary food. We bought a deck of cards before boarding and I spent a good part of the flight teaching Maddy how to play poker.

Barely a third of the way into our journey home, after cycling through activities to pass the time, we settled on a few hours sleep. I still felt like I was jet lagged and Maddy & I still had too much alcohol in our blood from days of continuous drinking, so it was needed.

I woke during a bumpy part of the flight with a start. Looking across the rows, nobody seemed to be unsettled so I relaxed back into my seat and looked around at Maddy. She was laying back into her seat completely undisturbed. She had a small pillow tucked behind her and was snoozing with her mouth open in an unflattering but extremely cute kind of way. I slowly eased my phone out of my shorts and loaded the camera up, trying not to laugh as I took the picture. I snuck my phone back in my jeans and jumped at the sound beside me.

"If you don't delete that picture, I'm going to withhold sex for a week."

I turned to my girlfriend in over-exaggerated horror. "Maddison, is that blackmail? Sexual blackmail?"

I clasped my hand over my mouth, wide-eyed. Maddy wasn't impressed.

"Can we not do my full name?"

"Why not?" I asked with interest.

"Just because I don't like it," Maddy said defensively.

"Fine," I said slowly. "Is this something I need to know at some point?"

Maddy replied quickly and assertively, surprisingly for her. "It was a shit time in my life involving being bullied at school. So no, I'd rather not re-live that time and depress myself when I'm so ridiculously happy," she finished earnestly.

I was taken aback. "I had no idea Mads, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, it's fine," she said dismissively to my apology and then continued, rushing it out now she'd started. "It was pretty shit for a time but I'm over it," she said with another wave of her hand. I smiled encouragingly, seeing that she did indeed want to explain it despite her dismissive behaviour. "Except when my name reminds me of it, anyway. I was tall and I liked sports and I didn't care that I was hanging out with boys to play football or whatever."

Maddy paused, looking ahead with unfocused eyes, reflecting on the time. I shifted in my seat, starting to feel a little uncomfortable for bringing it up, now I knew. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. She smiled at me.

"But yeah, it was lonely. When we moved to Aus, I ditched my full name and became 'Maddy'. It worked well actually," she said thoughtfully.

"You bet it did," I replied, seeking to pick up her spirits. "Look how popular you are back home."

She smiled. "Yeah, I do alright. Part of the reason for coming back to the UK, if I'm being honest, was to put that time right and live the life I'd planned to live. I thought I'd got that wrong until well, you," she blushed.

I blushed too but felt the need to try and help her look at that time differently. I hated it when Maddy wasn't happy and since I could do nothing about the thing making her most unhappy when we talked about the future, I tried to help her with her past. "You know, they do say that you should try and reframe things associated with a bad experience if you're going to overcome them."

Maddy didn't look like she believed that. "Who said that?"

"Adam someone or other, can't remember his surname," I teased. "Maybe we just need to start throwing in the occasional 'Maddison' so we can associate it with better memories?"

"Hmm maybe," Maddy replied skeptically.

I didn't push it given her reaction and changed the subject slightly. "Well, you took a risk leaving home, but it paid off," I reflected. "I was actually going to suggest we sort out all our activities across the next few weeks while we're sitting here doing nothing. You have people to see, I have people to see, and we both have people to see together. There's a lot on for these next few weeks. I'm not even including Valentine's Day on the list!"

Maddy had a huge grin on her face. "How am I both intimidated and impressed that you're project managing our social life?"

There are times when you realise that someone really loves you for you. That was one of those times for me.

"And as I've said already, it's not 'back home' anymore. Home's where you are," Maddy said casually while getting the calendar up on her phone.

I waited for the witty caveat that always followed when Maddy said anything remotely cheesy like that, but none was forthcoming. I grinned sheepishly but she didn't notice.

"Right," she said, taping away at her phone, "I'm taking you out for dinner on Valentine's Day and we're making that an annual thing. That way you don't forget-"

"-how lucky I am, yes," I finished with a wide grin. "These last few minutes have made me feel that all over again, if that was even possible. I'm crazy about you Mads," I said to the face buried in her phone.

As I finished, she looked up at me with an expression of surprise at my candour.

I leaned over and kissed her. Maddy's lips were soft and full, it was hard pulling away, but I felt I should stop before we got carried away.

Maddy saw my glazed eyes. "What are you thinking about?" She asked quietly as if she didn't already know.

I leaned back over, lowering my voice to just above a whisper, my breath on her neck as I spoke. "Being inside you and showing you how much I love you."

Maddy's reaction was instant. She closed her eyes and her breathing slowed. "Don't do that to me here," she warned in lust.

Her reaction hardened my cock. "Okay, let's stop," I accepted, even as I wanted nothing more than for her hand to reach over and feel how hard I was for her. Instead, I leaned forward and took a sip of cola from the complimentary can.

Maddy took a sip of her water too. "Back to you project managing our social life... which I'm now looking at in a very different way," she blushed.

"You are?" I asked intrigued.

She nodded, biting her lip. She's definitely reinvented this for her own arousal, I thought.

She leaned over this time, her breath on my neck. "You're now deciding what we do, what I do."

"You're liking the idea of that?" I clarified.

"Way more than I'd have previously let on," Maddy bit her lip mischievously before reaching out and grabbing my hard cock through my shorts boldly. "The trust I have in you still surprises me sometimes. I really love the idea of you putting that structure in place for me. That level of control."

"Stop," I warned firmly, leaving no room for further teasing in my tone. I was worried I wouldn't be able to control myself.

"You started it," Maddy pouted. That was true.

I chuckled, "Very true. Let's talk about something else, something we can't make sexual." I scanned my brain of the list of things I wanted to talk to Maddy about. "I'm going to start looking for a new job when we're back and settled."

Maddy's look changed from one of lust to disappointment. Success.

"So, you mean to say that I won't be able to dress up for work and tease you all day by coming to your floor for ridiculous reasons?" She asked in her best innocent voice. Damnit.

I chuckled at Maddy's game. "Just imagine how much work I'll get done!" I enthused. Maddy didn't look pleased by that.

"Okay, serious conversation Mads, serious face.. in 3, 2, 1," she said to herself and then switched her face to a look of forced seriousness.

I struggled to contain my laugh but managed it after clearing my throat a couple of times.

"You really do make me laugh," I beamed at her. "I'll miss that during my 9-5 but it's the right thing to do. It's frustrating the life out of me that we can't be open about things," I said honestly. Maddy concurred.

"Plus," I added, "we can have a lot of fun being open with everyone once I've handed in my notice," I winked. "And it saves you from looking for a new job as I know you love it there."

Maddy smiled and rested her cheek on my shoulder. "Thank you, Baby."

I played with her hair as we sat contently together and after a long time, it was Maddy that broke the silence. "Adam?"

"Hmm?" I replied, looking down at the top of Maddy's head as she stared out of the window.

She cleared her throat and then spoke in a timid voice that instantly made my heart ache further when I heard what she asked. "I have appointments to go to when I'm back. They're going to tell me what I already know but it has to be done. I... please come with me."

"I'll be there," I said immediately. "Every step of the way."

Maddy took the hand I had around her and kissed it. We barely noticed the next bit of turbulence, lost in the research we'd both separately done on Maddy's suspected condition and what the odds meant for her fertility if it was confirmed, which we both knew it would be.

***

"It's different for me too, you know?" Maddy said pointedly. "Do you really think I ever expected to want to be this submissive," she paused, gesturing to me, "to a man? But I do, so get used to it or you'll be missing out.

There was a grin that Maddy tried to contain as she finished her sharp response. I had put my foot in it a little when I admitted that I was finding the depth of the dynamic to be an adjustment.

She was teasing me of course, that aspect of our relationship would never change. The underlying friendship we had built would sustain our relationship for life, I was sure of it. I loved that even when Maddy would say something as vulnerable as that, there was a challenge to it, a confidence behind it. This was an assured, capable woman who wanted our dynamic to evolve in the way she dictated. She wanted to willingly give me authority over the relationship and take on a more submissive role herself.

I could never have imagined being with someone who so frequently had me wondering how I had gotten so lucky or indeed, how I could continue to be so lucky. It wasn't necessarily the submission or the evolution of our dynamic, but everything. Maddy was bright and beautiful, tough and fierce. It was hard not to have an overwhelming desire to commit to her for life, as soon as possible.

Despite how I felt, I wasn't yet in preparation mode for a proposal after getting permission from Maddy's parents. I was in no rush and whilst I had little doubt that Maddy, as sharp as she was, had an inkling of what I'd asked of John & Denise, she hadn't mentioned it. I was focusing on more pressing matters first. Namely: buying a house, finding a new job and perhaps more pressingly still, learning how to operate in our new dynamic, which was still evolving. I suspected it would evolve further still as Maddy had found an unquenching lust in wanting to please me and a desire to give up control that hadn't yet met its finish.

I was planning to kick-start my proposal plans the Sunday after Valentine's Day. That wasn't because I had planned anything proposal-related for Valentine's Day itself but because we were seeing my Mum that Sunday (it was the soonest she could fit us in, with her newly busy schedule!) and I felt I owed it to her to tell her of my plan to propose first. Maddy would just have to settle for the theatre tickets I'd got to a brand-new musical she'd been hinting at wanting to see, and earrings that matched the bracelet I had gotten her early in our relationship.

I had to remind myself that it had only been two weeks since we landed, dropped an explosion of laundry on our living room floor and then burst out laughing. At what, I couldn't say. We were just ridiculously happy. It was in sharp contrast to how our suitcases had been packed, when it looked likely that the relationship was running its course, too beaten from the blow of Maddy's infertility and too starved of joy after the loss of my dad. So, we had plenty of time. Things could change very quickly if I didn't spend enough time in the here and now...

I shook the thoughts from my mind and came back into the room. "And I don't wanna miss a thing," I cheesily sang back in response to Maddy's threat of me missing out, referencing our karaoke in Australia too.

Maddy feigned vomiting. "How the heck am I in love with you, idiot?!"

"Big dick?" I quipped.

Maddy's face changed. "Don't you go getting an ego Mister, that is a huge turn-off. Seriously."

I raised my hands in apology, "I'm sorry Mads, shit joke."

She took my apology at face-value and then let it slide, a smile coming back to the face it had just vacated. "Good, don't go thinking I can't keep you honest, no matter how things evolve between us," Maddy warned.

To emphasise her point and who really had the power, she reached her hand across the sofa and took hold of my cock, which rapidly started to grow under her slow, deliberate rubbing. My breath caught and I felt myself wanting Maddy's hand to find its way into my joggers. I was completely at her mercy. Just as quickly, she was pulling her hand away.

"Time for me to get started on dinner," she announced with a grin. She stood up and walked towards the kitchen, leaving me alone with my thoughts and trying to recover from her touch.

Ah yes, dinner. The thing that had started the conversation to begin with. Maddy was liking the idea of being domesticated. Cooking the meals, doing the laundry. It was an adjustment. I was self sufficient; I actually liked some of that stuff. But Maddy wanted to take care of me in that way, as she put it. Part of me was really excited by that, as traditional as it sounded.

"You can iron your own shirts though," she had clarified when we discussed it. "You can do the washing up too because fuck that shit," she'd added.

I again shook my thoughts clear and stood up too, following her into the kitchen. "By the way, what happens when we get a dishwasher, do I get another chore to replace washing up?" I asked innocently.

She flicked at me with the kitchen towel and shared my grin. "You get one less thing to do until I decide otherwise," she teased, in a way that told me it wouldn't quite be her decision in the way she claimed.

There was something comforting about her setting her boundaries so firmly even as I took charge. Maddy turned back to the marked page of the recipe book and worked through the steps. I watched her silently, casting my eyes along her long blonde hair that fell straight down her back. The sun had bleached it lighter - it was almost white in places. Maddy wasn't happy about it, she'd already booked in for a cut and dye before Valentines Day in a few days time. My eyes travelled down beyond her tank top and over the yoga pants that were barely containing her firm behind.

Maddy shifted her weight to her right leg as she busied herself checking she had the ingredients. She stretched her long legs and reached up to the back of the overhead cupboard, her hand emerging with a bottle of dried herbs.

It was then that she realised I was watching her as she turned around with a shy smile. "Are you okay, perv?" Her smile grew as she referenced her most common nickname for me.

I smiled even wider, and her cheeks flushed under my gaze. "I'm great, stunner. I'm going to go and have a shave unless you need anything?"

She shook her head and I departed, though not before wrapping my arms around her from behind and kissing her neck. I'd never tire of the smell of coconuts when I was around her.

By the time I'd freshly groomed and returned to the kitchen, Maddy was over a pan, frying off some salmon and cooking vegetables in another pan.

"It feels great to not be seeing burnt facial hair on my razor, that Aussie sun sure did a number on me," I sighed.

"Yeah, you reallyyy lobster," Maddy teased, drawing out her diminishing Australia accent to good effect.

We shared plenty of laughs as she was preparing the food - mostly about the fact that we were in sunny Australia two weeks earlier and now we were back to reality and all that came with it. However, after Skyping my Mum when we got back (a friend had shown her how to do it) to tell her all about our holiday, and then meeting up with various friends to recount our trip, it didn't really feel like a couple of weeks ago. Certainly, we hadn't had that much time to ourselves. I was quite glad we'd sorted our social schedule on the plane home because when else we'd have done it, was anyone's guess.

I set the table as Maddy dished up. In no time at all I was making appreciative groans and Maddy was smiling happily. "I'm starting to realise that I really enjoy cooking," she said over the sound of my latest approving noise. "There's something really satisfying about having all the ingredients exact and bringing a dish together. It helps that I have such a keen subject," she beamed at me.

"I've always said you were a Goddess, now we're finding out you're a domestic one too," I quipped.

Maddy blushed and went back to her food. I slowed down on the salmon and attacked the vegetables.

"So, are things going the way you hoped they would with us?" I asked casually.

Maddy coughed and looked towards me with some confusion. "What, in general or...?" She let it hang there and rolled her eyes at my laughter.

"Sorry, that was an accidentally loaded question," I paused to bring my laughter under control so we could have a serious conversation. "I meant in terms of our changes. The things you asked us to try when we got back from Aus?"

"You mean me asking if you would take charge all across our relationship?" Maddy said bluntly with a grin. She had no problem being frank about it, I was still getting used to how unusual it was.

"Yes that," I laughed. "How's it going for you?" I asked airily.

"Isn't the more appropriate question: how's it going for you? Am I doing a good job of serving you?" Maddy asked innocently, batting her eyelids.

"You could be doing better," I teased and then quickly added an "I'm kidding!" when her face fell.

Maddy slapped my arm playfully. "Don't do that, you know I have a serious praise kink."

I had to stop myself from thinking about some of Maddy's reactions when I said good girl across different situations.

"It's going well for me," I reassured. "Really well. I'm just checking to make sure I'm giving you what you need."

Maddy contemplated and then looked over, meeting my eye. "There is one thing. It's more like something that would give me reassurance more than anything."

"Of course," I said quickly. "What is it?"

Maddy shifted, I sensed she was afraid of being told no. "Could you perhaps be a bit more directive?"

"More directive?" I asked for clarity.

Maddy nodded. "I know you're probably thinking 'what the fuck' but it would help me a lot if you were a bit more directive. Tell me when you want something knowing that I'm going to do it. I'm starting to intuit it but having you be firmer with your needs and wants would be good for me."

"Okay..." I said slowly.

"- Look baby," she cut in softly but firmly herself, "doing things for you really satisfies me on like, a deep level. I know I need this, not just want it; I already feel great about it."

I felt good too. It was unusual and I was still getting used to it, but things were working well. Maddy had always been quite submissive to me sexually and it was fair to say that we'd become even more adventurous over the last couple of weeks, in that regard. The change was more outside of the bedroom with Maddy wanting to do more than her fair share. If she was happy with that, then I was happy.