The Red Planet

"Then I'll die young and pretty," I answered. "And hyper obese."

Rose almost choked laughing, aborting her own mouthful at the last second. On the TV an alien burst out of John Hurt's chest. Neither I nor Rose paid it any attention. She had chocolate streaked on her lips and fingertips. I could feel it on my own, and maybe a lash of it on a cheek.

When we were done it took a few more minutes to scrape the mess from our faces. And to suck the chocolate from our fingers. I thought I'd got it all when Rose leaned across and dragged a finger nail in a line against my chin. There was chocolate stuck under it when she pulled it back, but it quickly disappeared into her mouth. It was sort of sweet, and a lot sexy - not that I thought Rose meant it that way. But it started to renew the erection I'd been sporting on and off.

"So, you really like my s'mores, huh?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. I followed the line of her vision down to my crotch.

"I, uh, it's ... um," I stammered before giving up on words entirely and succumbing to the warmth burning into my cheeks. For some reason I'd never thought to cover the tent in my pants.

"It's cool," she said. Her hand reached out to my thigh as an understanding smile spread across her lips. Her touch just made me even harder. As did every flick of her eyes back down to inspect me. "I don't mind. It's just something cock's do. No biggie."

Her eyes went back to my crotch.

"Although, I guess it is kind of a biggie," she added. Now Rose was blushing. "Do you want to go, uh, take care of that?"

I shook my head. With my whole body blushing the blood was finally ebbing from my cock, flushing to warm every bit of my skin instead. I was down to a semi in under a minute.

"Wow. That's actually impressive. Not many guys have that kind of control once they get going. Kudos, Mars."

We went back to watching Alien and barely said another word until Ripley was blasting an alien through an airlock. That was when Rose caught sight of the stars around the space ship and suddenly sat upright.

"Hey Mars, do you think you could show me those constellations now?" She asked.

"Sure!" I said, too enthusiastically.

"Uh, clarification, Mars. We're keeping our clothes on. I just want to learn a bit about what's out there beyond our little part of the universe."

"I wasn't ... I didn't ... I just like talking about space." I stammered, holding the front door open for her.

With a small smile that seemed somehow more intimate than when Rose had her fingertips brushing against my erection, she stepped outside.

The heavens were full tonight. A glorious mass of clouds. We couldn't even see the moon.

"Christ, seriously?" Rose asked, glaring at the sky.

She sounded as disappointed as I felt. I started trying to think of how to apologise for the lack of stars for the second time that day. Rose never gave me a chance.

"I might stay out here for some fresh air, but do you mind if I have some alone time?" she asked.

I nodded. While the clouds weren't ideal for stargazing, they had trapped the heat of the day. It was a surprisingly balmy evening.

"Thanks. I've got some harsh thoughts about the universe right now, but I don't want you picking up on those vibes. You've been fantastic today."

I left her to it, wandered into my room and poked around at a few things. I considered laying down and trying for an early night, but never even took my shoes off. I spent the next four hours dusting every surface and wall in the apartment outside of Rose's room, cleaning the dishes in the kitchen and even scrubbed the soap scum from the shower walls. I was sweaty enough at the end of it all that I wound up stripping down and turning on the water. Rose must have come back inside while I was in the shower. Her door was shut again when I walked back across to my bedroom from the bathroom, back in my same sweaty clothes. That was enough to finally wear me out and I crashed into bed.

When I got up the next morning Rose had gone out for the day. She'd left a note on the TV saying she'd be back around 10pm. It wasn't until my stomach began rumbling that I noticed the empty ice cream tub in the middle of the kitchen bench. There was another note here, stuck over the top of the one I had left on the ice-cream yesterday morning. I reread my own note before reading Rose's note, surprised at how eloquent I had been while almost falling asleep on my feet.

'Rose, your eyes looked amazing when you wore the blue cardigan after work on Wednesday. I had to pinch myself when I saw you in the apartment with your hair up wearing the green dress on Tuesday.'

Flowing penmanship sloped through compact lettering in the second note. A concise message at odds with her usual barrage of words.

'Thank you'.

****

Another week blasted by in a flurry. Rose was working overtime, leaving before me and getting home late - usually after I'd ordered us something to eat. By Wednesday I figured I'd try my luck in the kitchen again, after watching a video on YouTube, and left a bowl of pasta on the bench for her when she got in. I'd gone to bed before she got in, but when I checked the next morning her bowl had been replaced by a note.

'OK, you're allowed back in the kitchen'

Something about knowing how hard Rose was pushing made my own week seem more straightforward than usual. It felt like I was doing more work than I normally would, completing another stage of my research and adding more than two thousand words to my thesis by Thursday morning. When Rose still wasn't home by 9am I packed her a lunch for Friday and left it next to the second helping of crumbed cutlets and vegetables covered in blue cheese dressing I'd made for my own dinner.

When I woke up on Saturday afternoon Rose hadn't touched the mac and cheese or the quarter of a rotisserie chicken I'd left on a plate for her. I'd been about to call and see if she was alright when I noticed one of her boots sticking over the edge of the couch. I spotted the other on the floor as I walked around the couch and confirmed she was sleeping. Even unconscious she looked exhausted. Her more casual Friday attire was rumpled, a pair of pants creased as they pulled tight between her legs, a t-shirt scrunched and riding up enough to reveal her belly button while the bra strap had slipped off one of her shoulders and was hanging out of a sleeve. A bottle of vodka on the table in front of her had been drained by a quarter. I put the booze in the kitchen, then draped a blanket over her and pulled her second boot off before I left the apartment.

****

Rose stirred and blinked at me as I returned home at about 6pm. For a moment she looked confused then realised where she was and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. But she looked like she'd slept through the worst of her exhaustion.

"Long week?" I asked.

"Mmm." She agreed. "But even longer if you were in China, I'd say. Every analyst in my firm was working overtime trying to keep up with ... things."

"Let me guess, you could tell me but you'd have to kill me?" I said.

"That or marry you. We're allowed to talk about work with spouses."

It took her a moment to realise what she'd said.

"Oh Christ. Mars, I swear I'm not proposing to you. Again. I just ... shouldn't talk when I'm around you and I'm tired. Or drunk."

I tried not to enjoy her discomfort too much, eventually walking through to the kitchen and getting her a glass of water. She curled into a ball to make room for me to join her on the couch, pulling the blanket up to her chin. She had a sip then an uncertain look crossed her eyes, she sniffed at the glass for a moment, then raised the blanket to her nose.

"This isn't my blanket. It smells ... nice."

Now it was my turn to be embarrassed.

"Oh, uh, I didn't want to go into your room, private space and all, so I put my blanket on you. It seemed like you needed the sleep more than you needed me to wake you up and make you go to your room. I hope you don't mind."

"Jeez. What are you, campaigning for roommate of the year? Half the guys I know would have seen a girl passed out drunk on their couch and taken that as an invitation. Hell, my own brother used to cop a feel when I got home liquored up. He was just being curious. And I probably wouldn't have minded too much if you had been curious and squeezed one of my breasts. But you just took off my shoes and wrapped me up in your own blanket instead. Which, I appreciate, by the way. I just don't really know what it means? Are you gay and you don't know it yet? Too timid to have a go when an opportunity presents itself? More of an arse man? I can't work it out."

Rose nestled into the quilt and inhaled gently, closing her eyes as a small smile I'd never seen from her crossed her face. Something about that smile latched onto me in a way I couldn't really explain. Part of me was thinking this is the kind of woman right now me could fall in love with. Another part of me was fairly certain I already had. Confronted with all this, I did the only thing a man in my position could do. I cracked a joke to change the subject.

"You know what it means?" I asked.

"What?"

"It turns out you're the weirdo sniffing your roommate's stuff."

The small smile swelled up into a grin and a moment later Rose was laughing.

"Nooo! I swear I'm not a weirdo," she said.

A moment later she began snorting and snuffling at the blanket in an exaggerated way and we both collapsed into a fit of giggles that only ended when Rose flicked the blanket up and over my head. Or at least my giggles ended. Rose continued on for a few moments, but I was silent almost immediately. In the dark beneath the quilt I could feel the residual heat of the woman sitting on the couch next to me. Within its confines I could smell a hint of my deodorant and the more subtle aroma of my skin and my sweat underneath it. I couldn't understand why Rose would think it was 'nice', but there was another smell in the blanket that was. A floral perfume and the faintest hint of the body odor I had caught from her the day she moved in. The smells combined and I realised I was smelling 'us'. And it was like the scent equivalent of seeing that small smile on Rose's face a few moments ago.

"What'cha doing in here, roomie?" The blanket rustled as Rose dove in to join me in the dark. "I didn't freak you out or anything, did I?"

"Nah, I figured if you were breaking the rules I might as well too, so I've been ogling you from under the blanket."

"Really?" Rose drew out the word, feigning intrigue. "Well, then I suppose I'd best give you something to look at."

The blanket pulled at my hair as Rose twisted herself beneath it. After about 30 seconds of contortion her hand reached out and found mine. Turning it palm up, she placed something in it and sat back away from me. It was utterly dark under the quilt and I couldn't work out what had been put in my hand.

"What the hell is this?" I asked.

"Oh nothing, that's just my bra. I figured the underwire was kinda digging into me anyway, so I might as well give you a bit of a thrill. Wha'dya think? Are they nice?"

My mouth was instantly dry. I strained every nerve and blood vessel in my eyes trying to make out the shape of her bare chest. But it was useless. Under the blanket Rose's breasts were just as indistinct as the erection that was now straining my pants.

"I can't see them." I didn't mean to sound so whiny about it, but the words came out that way anyway. "It's too dark."

"Oh, well that's a shame. Cause they're freaking amazing. Like cantaloupe's with nipples, but without those huge areola most busty gals get. My nips are dainty. And they're like swollen little pebbles right now. In fact they're probably as hard as your dick is."

"You can see that?" For the first time I wasn't embarrassed about Rose looking at my erection. I was a little frustrated and a lot horny, but I wasn't even slightly embarrassed.

"Nope. Don't need to," Rose said. "I just figured you'd get a boner if you knew I was half naked next to you."

I felt manipulated, and somehow even hornier.

"OK, so we're both crazy horny now. Right?" Rose said. A statement of fact, not a question. "And I know we're roommates and I keep saying this is a bad idea, but you can't beat hormones. So do you want to do something to deal with how horny we are?"

She had to be the single most direct woman in the world. I nodded.

"Mars, I can't see if you're shaking your head or nodding."

"Yes," I whispered.

"Great!"

In a heartbeat the blanket was yanked off my head and in the time it took my eyes to adjust to the light, Rose had tucked it into her armpits, revealing her bare shoulders and a deep line of cleavage that had me twitching in my pants. A few seconds later she was on her feet, dropping her discarded t-shirt into my lap next to the bra in my hands. She strode measuredly through the open door of her bedroom, every centimetre of pale skin on her back exposed to me.

"I'll see you in about halfa? When you cum, don't get any on the t-shirt. I like that one. But you can blow your load on my bra if you want. Call me kinky, but it gets me off imagining you shooting all over it. But you will have to hand wash it when you're done."

I was still sitting on the couch, erection trembling in my pants, when my haphazardly folded blanket flew back out of Rose's room. A few seconds later I heard a buzzing sound, followed by gasps and a long moan.

By the time I'd reached my room, trying not to let loose in my pants as I imagined spraying jizz all over the lacy garment in my left hand, I'd had a realisation. I didn't want Rose's bra, or even her as a sex object. I wanted something more intimate. I wasn't sure if cumming all over Rose's bra might get in the way of that, somehow make our relationship purely about sexual gratification, but didn't trust myself not to lose sight of that if I crossed this line. I knew I'd never forgive myself if I missed out on a chance at something more. And suddenly I was deflating, my arousal gone. I folded the t-shirt and lay the bra on top of it on the couch arm before returning to my room. My roommate panted through what sounded like a protracted orgasm as I walked away from her open door.

****

Rose was positively glowing as we ate dinner together. She'd emerged from her room and cooked us a risotto while I lay in bed trying to work out when my feelings for the woman sharing my apartment had become so complicated. A week ago I'd have been working my way up to my fifth orgasm and her bra would have been ruined by this point in the evening. But somewhere in the past seven days, maybe even in the last seven hours, I'd lost that desire. I still wanted Rose, more than any woman I'd ever met - even Jen. But I wanted her more than just to facilitate orgasms. For a virgin who'd never had a second date, it was a bigger brain teaser than my thesis research. I'd have eaten in silence if Rose hadn't decided to interrupt my thoughts.

"Thanks for not destroying my bra. I get a bit, uh, careless, when I'm that horny. Not really good at thinking through consequences when I'm thinking about getting off." Rose blushed a little as she continued with her intimate revelation. "Three times, by the way. I came three times."

I was hard enough for my penis to be poking into the underside of the table by the time she finished talking.

"Did you ... you know?" she asked.

I blushed and shook my head.

"Oh Christ, was half an hour not long enough? Do you want me to let you have some more alone time after dinner?"

Another shake of my head.

"OK, and for the sake of my suddenly very fragile ego, it's not because you've been lying and you don't really think I'm sexy, is it?"

I rolled my eyes before I saw she was serious. It seemed like convincing her with words would have been a waste of time compared to showing her how sexy I thought she was. So I stood up. My erection, straining against my pants, knocked the fork out of my risotto. The clatter elicited a chuckle from Rose, but I could see the relief on her face. And the lust in her eyes.

"Well, I don't know why you're holding back, but I'm impressed by your will power, Mars. So kudos to you, I guess."

I sat back down and we resumed eating. Rose finished first, and shortly afterwards her sock-covered foot found my leg under the table and began tracing up and down my calf and shin. She seemed to be delighting in my reactions. Then it was like another part of her brain took over and she stopped, a guilty and suddenly shy look on her face. She took a deep breath and held my gaze as she spoke again.

"Alright. I'm just going to come out with this, Mars. Ever since I accidentally touched your cock after that dickhead stood me up for coffee, I've been trying to work out why I would go out and try to meet guys at a bar when I can literally have a planet to myself at home."

I was too stunned to say anything. Apparently there was an exception to Mars' Special Law of Gravity.

"So here it is, I'm horny all the time since I moved in here. And I've been having all these weird thoughts about things I want to do with you. I've seen your wadded up tissues in the bin when I get home from work, so I get the feeling you might be feeling the same way. This morning when I took my top off under the blanket I decided I was going to fuck you. Not right away, I'm not there yet, but I know it's going to happen. Soon. In the meantime I kind of want to do everything else.

"Right now I'm really getting off on how much you react when I touch you or make suggestive comments to you. And I'm already kind of wondering how far I'd need to go to convince you to jack off. Because you've almost made it a challenge at this point. I'm currently second-guessing if you'd do it if I were to strip off my panties and pants and let you use them, or if I'd have to go further, like promising to put them back on when you were done cumming all over them."

I was about to agree to Rose's offer, my earlier reluctance overwhelmed by my erection's need for release and her candid desire for something more between us, but she didn't give me a chance to respond. She was on her feet, grabbing at our empty plates and talking again almost instantly.

"So, before I decide to sit down on the couch and let you empty your balls on my pants and panties while I'm still in them, which may or may not have been what I was imagining when I had my second orgasm earlier, why don't you take me outside and finally show me those stars?"

My mouth was hanging open. I couldn't tell if Rose was being serious or not. But if there was anything that could pull me back from the brink of ruining my pants, or hers, it was the chance to tell her about the universe. Something more filling the space between us than my ejaculations and a pink vibrator. In that moment I realised just how much of a nerd I was, and I can only assume Rose did too. As I stood up from the table she started heading towards the door, but turned sharply to press herself up against me and grab my penis through my pants. Squeezing it as she did.

"I'm not asking you to choose, by the way. That's an open invitation. I'm horny again, and ready to make obscene offers that my dry cleaner will regret later on. If you want to you can show me the Milky Way, then cover me in it when we're done."

For the third time Rose threw open our front door, expectantly looking to the sky. And finally, the stars were out. Tiny points of light, shining down on what might have been the most excited astrophysicist and data analyst roommates in the galaxy. I was already scanning for Scorpius when something began to tug at my ears. I couldn't place it at first, then as I focused on the sound I started to pick up on the rhythm of it. A melody, distinct and cruel.