The Second Date

"Rose! Are you alright?!" I called out when I eventually reached her. She was still sprawled out on the ground as raindrops continued to fall on her.

"Am I dead?" Rose asked weakly, and I breathed a sigh of relief. She let out a groan just before she sat up and surveyed herself. "Whelp, guess not." She clambered onto her hands and knees and grimaced as soon as her right knee touched the pavement. "Ow. Fuck, that hurts!" She grimaced and turned pale as she looked down at it - her right stocking was torn, and her knee was skinned up pretty badly. Bright red blood trickled from the wound, and Rose let out a hiss as she shakily stood up. She looked over at me and frowned. "L-let's go. I need to get this c-cleaned up before I can... fix it." She started to hobble toward her apartment building, and her steps were shaky. I rushed over to her and put my unoccupied arm around her shoulder.

"I've got you, Rose. Try not to put too much weight on your leg; just lean on me, okay?" Rose didn't answer; she just nodded and sank into me a bit as she kept her eyes trained on the path ahead of us. The rain was relentless as we slowly made our way toward her apartment - luckily, we weren't too far off from it at that point - not that that did us any good in the end.

By the time we got to the door to her building, we were absolutely drenched. As we stepped inside the building, dripping water all the while, I glanced over to where the plant was sitting last week to find that it was gone; I wondered if it had died.

"So, do you still love the rain, then?" I asked with a smirk as we trudged along, tracking water through the lobby.

"Shut up, Matt," Rose deadpanned with a frown as water dripped from her drenched locks.

When we reached her door, Rose quit leaning against me and grimaced as she shifted her weight back over onto her bad knee. She held her hand out to me expectantly.

"Could you hand me my keys, please? They're in the front pocket of my purse." I nodded and opened the flap on front of the bag and retrieved her keys for her. She quickly opened the door and shuffled inside before turning on the light and making a wobbly beeline for her couch. I shut the door behind me and locked it, then kicked off my soaked shoes. I set her purse and the rest of my things down on her table, then put my wet jacket on the back of one of her chairs before making my way over to the couch. The rain continued to fall outside, and thunder rumbled somewhere far off in the distance. Rose frowned and looked toward the window above the sink, where droplets of water were sliding down the glass. She looked back at me and frowned.

"What can I do to help, Rose?" I asked.

"Um, first of all, could you shut the curtains, please?" I nodded and went around the room, closing the curtains on the little window in the kitchenette before I moved to the glass door in the living room and slid that curtain shut, too; without the extra light pouring in, the room had darkened considerably, but I could still see pretty well. Rose stretched her legs a bit and raised her feet up. "Um, do you mind helping me out with these, too? S-sorry."

"You're fine, Rose; I don't mind at all," I said, as I sat down on the ground and carefully untied the laces on her boots before gently tugging them off of her legs and setting them onto the floor next to us. Pulling off her boots revealed a fluffy pair of dark gray socks she was wearing over her stockings - they were just short enough to not be seen over with the boots on.

"Thanks, Matt. God, it feels so good to be out of those. Could you help me with the rest of it too, please?" I nodded and gingerly pulled the socks down and off her feet before setting them on the ground next to me. Rose playfully wiggled her toes in her stockings, and I looked up at her and smiled; she was so damn cute. That just left the stockings... and the skirt. I got up and leaned over her a bit, careful not to touch her bad knee. Heat blazed in my cheeks as I hesitantly moved my hands upward to the skirt. I looked up at Rose for the okay to move forward.

"Er, did you want me to get the skirt, too?" She rolled her eyes and let out a small sigh, but she grinned at me, nonetheless.

"Always the gentleman, aren't you? Yes, Matt; the skirt, too - you've seen me in panties before. It's not a big deal," she answered with a smirk. My cheeks turned crimson as memories of our last date flooded my mind, and I felt my cock start to twitch in my jeans.

"I-I know, I just... ugh, never mind," I said with a huff as I moved my hands down to hem of her skirt and gently tugged it down a couple of inches. I moved more carefully at that point, slowly pulling it down past her knees, taking things especially slow as the fabric neared her injury. It wasn't long before I managed to take her skirt off, and Rose frowned at the rip in her right stocking.

"Dammit, this sucks; I really liked this pair. Maybe I can have my mom patch them up at some point." Rose let out a sigh and frowned. "Whelp, there's nothing I can do about it now, though; go ahead and take 'em off and put them on the back of the couch, please. I'll deal with them later." I did as she said and gingerly pulled the stockings down her legs, revealing the smooth, tan skin of her bare legs. I put the stockings on the floor next to the socks in a little black heap, then turned my gaze back toward Rose.

My gaze drifted upward past the wound on her right knee and stopped at the dark red panties she was wearing - it turns out she had fully committed to the red and black motif. I forced myself to look away and met her gaze again to find her eyebrows raised and a playful look in her eyes.

"Matt... I thought you were a gentleman," Rose teased. My cheeks started to burn, which only caused her to smirk; clearly, she was enjoying herself.

"I, er... try to be," I said with a chuckle, failing to suppress a grin.

"Uh-huh. Sure, you do." Rose winked at me as she wriggled out of her jacket and tossed it onto the ground by the couch. "Alright, now it's time for the shitty part. We need to clean this thing out before I take care of it; the last time I healed a cut I didn't clean first, it got infected, and that was not a fun time. There's some peroxide and cotton balls in the cabinet in the bathroom - I know I've already asked a lot of you, but do you mind grabbing them and cleaning this up for me?"

"It's no problem at all, Rose," I said, with a slight shake of my head. I quickly headed off to the bathroom and quickly procured the items, while also grabbing a couple of tissues for good measure. I left the bathroom and headed back to the living room, then got to work. I picked up her boots and put them next to my shoes by the door before heading to the sink in the kitchenette. I turned on the water and dampened the tissues, then turned off the sink and made my way back to Rose. Next, I bent down and gingerly wiped the blood off her knee, being careful not to touch her wound quite yet. Rose let out a lengthy exhale and frowned at me as I prepped the cotton ball by pouring some of the hydrogen peroxide onto it.

"Ugh, this is going to suck so much - it always stings like a motherfucker. I guess I can't really complain too much, though; I really should have been more careful. Just... get it over with quickly, okay, Matt?"

"Will do," I said as I nodded and flashed her a reassuring grin. I brought the cotton ball toward her knee, stopping just before I got to the cut. I hesitated for a moment before dabbing at the cut with the cotton ball, and Rose's body tensed up with a gasp as she gritted her teeth. She whimpered a bit as I continued to dab at the wound - and then came the obscenities.

"Ow. Goddammit! Shit! Fuck! Tits! Ass-" Rose's parade of crass words was interrupted as she hissed and then started to hyperventilate a bit. I pulled back and looked up at her face; there were tears in the corners of her eyes and unsurprisingly, she did not look happy.

"Will you be okay?" Rose's frown deepened, but she nodded at the question, so I kept on dabbing at her knee for a bit. A few seconds later I stopped, and when her breathing finally normalized, she let out a heavy sigh. "Th-that should be good." I nodded as I stood up and headed over to the trash can, tossed the cotton ball and wet tissues away, then came back and plopped down on the couch next to Rose. "Th-thanks for the help, Matt. Now that the worst part's over with, I'll take it from here."

I nodded, then watched in awe as Rose's skinned knee started to heal itself right before my eyes. What would normally take a week or two was taken care of in a matter of seconds as new layers of skin formed and slowly pulled themselves inward from the edges of the scrape, and soon enough, the wound was completely closed - it was like she had never even hurt herself in the first place.

"Holy shit," I said, completely awestruck by the sight.

"There... good as new!" she chirped. "Pretty cool, right?"

"Uh-huh," was all I could muster; I was still feeling pretty amazed by the whole thing. "Erm, is it... really all healed? Just like that? It doesn't hurt or anything?"

"Yup, that's all there is to it. It doesn't hurt at all, but it is a bit sensitive, being brand new skin and such. Smaller wounds like that aren't hard to heal up, thankfully," Rose said, with a shrug. "Anyway, did you still want to watch that movie with me?" I nodded, and she pointed over to a bookshelf next to her TV that was filled with movies - there were some games in there, too. I scanned the movie titles for a moment looking for something to watch, and I grinned when I saw one of my favorite films sitting on the shelf.

"Ooooh, I love Silver Linings Playbook! I've watched it a ton of times, and I'm not really one to rewatch movies much. You cool if we watch that?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. It's one of my favorites!" Rose grinned at me before she spoke up again. "Just go ahead and put it in the Xbox, if you would, please." I nodded and grabbed the movie, then headed over to her TV and put the movie in her system, which turned on the console and the TV at the same time. Rose looked over at me and pointed a finger toward the hallway. "Actually, would you mind if I grabbed a blanket? I'm a bit chilly, but I don't really feel like getting dressed again."

"I can get it if you'd like, since I'm already up." Rose shook her head and patted the couch next to her. I tentatively made my way over to the spot and sat down next to her.

"Don't worry about it - you've done enough, Matt. You just relax, and I'll go get it." With that she stood up and made her way through the kitchenette and down the hall. I watched her as she went, and she did a cute little sashay, swinging her ass from side to side as she went - she was clearly feeling better.

She came back to the living room with a huge quilt; it was big enough to cover the whole couch. I scooted over to the very end of the couch, but Rose frowned at me.

"You can lay down if you'd like, you know," she said, a bit hesitantly. "Maybe we could... cuddle a bit?" Heat bloomed in my cheeks as I laid down on the couch, and they reddened even more when she finally pulled her sweater off, leaving her dressed in just her bra and panties. Her bra was the same dark red shade as her panties, and I couldn't help but smile at her - she looked absolutely stunning. Her own cheeks turned pink, and she shrugged as she smiled back at me. "My sweater was wet, so it had to come off."

"Hey, no complaints over here," I said with a bit of a sly grin as I decided to tease her a bit. "What about your bra and panties - are those wet too?" She raised her eyebrows and shot me a reproachful glance.

"Well, these actually survived the rain, Matt," she said, with a slight smirk. "Sorry to disappoint you, but... maybe if you play your cards right, I could be persuaded to take them off, too?" She winked at me and laid down on the couch beside me, and immediately shot up and stared down at me with a frown on her face. "Your clothes are all wet, too, Matt - why don't you get nice and comfy with me?"

"Yeah, you're right; I probably should," I said, as I sat up and quickly stripped down to my boxers before I laid back down.

Rose reclaimed her spot on the couch, and I smiled as she snuggled up against me and started the movie. Her body was dangerously close to mine. I could feel the sheer cloth of her panties as her insulated ass pressed into me, and I blushed; this was going to be a long movie. I swallowed down the lump in my throat and tried to focus on the movie, but it proved to be difficult with Rose pressed against me. I kept my eyes glued to the TV and tried not to get a boner through sheer force of will. I made it about 20 minutes, which, to be fair, is longer than I thought I would last. Rose rolled over and raised her eyebrows as she flashed me a cute grin.

"You seem to be enjoying this," she said, with a smirk.

"I, uh... yeah," I replied, as my cheeks blazed with heat.

"Well, lucky for you, I am, too," Rose said, and her eyes became a kaleidoscope of shifting colors again as she leaned in and kissed me. Soon we were making out, which I definitely enjoyed. My hands danced along her curves before I pulled her in close, but she broke away from me and looked at the TV, where the movie was still playing. "Should we... turn this off, then?" I just nodded and she grinned at me as she grabbed the controller, shut off her console, and got up off the couch. She smirked at me under those beautiful, ever-changing eyes of hers - the fall leaves had nothing on them. "So... bedroom?" I didn't say anything in response, just threw the quilt off of me and practically flew off the couch. Rose smiled at me, and off we went.

Just like last week, she flipped on the light and we both entered her room. Rose made her way over to the bed as I slipped out of my boxers. Rose sat on the bed and smiled as her eyes flicked down to my cock. She reached around and undid the clasps on her bra before tossing it aside, and then undressed the rest of the way, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination.

"Come here," she said, patting the bed next to her. "I've got a question for you." I shot her a weird look as I sat down next to her.

"A... question? What is it?" I had no idea where she was going with this.

"Well, last week was amazing, and I know you said you had a nice time too, but I sort of felt like I was making all the decisions, so, um... I was wondering if there was something I could do for you this time around?" I shook my head without a second thought.

"No, it's fine. You don't have to do that." Rose frowned a bit.

"I want to, though," she replied. "I want you to have a say in this stuff, too, Matt."

"I'm sure whatever you have in mind is fine. It really doesn't matter to me," I said, nonchalantly. Rose's frown deepened as she knitted her brows at me.

"It doesn't matter?" Rose asked, incredulously. "Of course, it matters... what if I made myself look like your ex, Matt? Would you be okay with that?"

"What? No!" I exclaimed. "That's just... wrong! I want you, Rose, not... her.

"I know, Matt," Rose said. "I would never do that, by the way. I'm with you; it's a fucked up thing to do."

"People actually do that?" I asked.

"Yup. It's called Masking - having Pollies take on the form of some other person during sex. Maybe it's an ex, or a celebrity, but either way, it's problematic as hell. There's a reason it's considered a taboo kink," she said.

"Right? It sounds so... demeaning, both for the Polly and the person they're, er... impersonating. So, yeah, needless to say, I would never ask you to do anything like that, Rose."

"I'm... glad to hear that. My ex... wasn't so considerate," she said, dropping her gaze to her lap as she let out a sigh.

"He really... made you do things like that?" She nodded and her irises turned brown for a moment.

"It was all a game to him, really. He'd send me pictures of women he wanted me to... impersonate, and just expected me to... perform for him. If I didn't, he'd get angry with me." She grimaced and shook her head at the thought. "I thought him being into Pollies would be a good thing, but it turned out, he was more interested in what I could do with my body than he was in, well... me," she said.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that," I said, with a frown.

"It is what it is. I finally got away from him... and then I met you," she said, as her smile widened. Heat blazed in my cheeks at that. She was silent for a moment before she perked up a bit and looked up at me again. "You're sure there's really nothing I can do for you, Matt?" I looked over at her; she still looked a bit pensive, and I saw her shiver a bit. I was kind of cold, myself.

"Should we get under the blankets for a bit and... talk about this, maybe?" Rose smiled at me and nodded, and we both got under the covers and snuggled up next to each other. I felt like the mood was a bit heavy, but it was still nice to be next to her. I let out a sigh before I continued. "I guess it's... a couple things, Rose. You said your ex made you do things for him in bed, and I don't want to... be like him." Rose smiled at me as she ran her fingers along my chest. A shiver ran up my spine at her touch, and I couldn't help but smile as she softly spoke up.

"Matt, you are nothing like my ex - there's so much to like about you. You're sweet, supportive, and, unlike my ex... you actually care about my feelings," she said, as color crept into her cheeks. "I have no doubt that you would respect my boundaries if there was anything I had an issue with."

"Of course!" I exclaimed, and then it was my turn to blush. "But, speaking of exes, I... I guess I'm also just not really used to... having a say in the matter. I always just did whatever Cait wanted me to in bed, because... well, I wanted to make her happy." Rose nodded and went quiet for a bit before she responded.

"Did she make you happy, though?" I thought about it for the first time since I had broken up with her. We had some nice times together, but as I looked back on it, I wasn't so sure if I was really happy.

"I was happy that she was happy, I guess, but I don't think that she made me happy - not really," I said, frowning. "It was... my first relationship, and it felt nice to feel wanted, but... it was always on her terms. I'd do whatever I could to keep her smiling and walk on eggshells the rest of the time, always anxious that I'd screw it up somehow, and she'd leave. It was... exhausting, to be honest, but I stuck it out because I... I guess I just didn't want to be alone. The pathetic thing is, if I hadn't found out about her cheating on me, I don't know if I'd have ever left."

"But you did, Matt; that's the important thing here," Rose said. "Everyone has a point where they just get... fed up, and decide to end things, but sometimes the hardest part is taking that step, even if you know it's for the best... but you took that step, Matt. You should be proud of yourself for that - I know just how hard it can be to finally end things."

"Thanks, Rose," I said, with a weak smile. "I'm glad that I met you, too... I just... need a bit of time to adjust to this, I guess." Rose nodded at me and smiled. "I'm used to the way things were when I was with Cait, so it's strange to see how things are... supposed to be, if that makes sense?"

"Relationships are supposed to be a partnership, and it sounds to me like you did a lot for your ex, but she didn't do much of anything for you." I shook my head, and Rose smiled at me. "That's why I want you to do something for you. You make me happy, and I want to do the same for you." My cheeks lit on fire at that, but I still felt uneasy.