Ed's Cloud

Ed sits on the bathroom floor and wraps his arms around his stomach. The battle's in late rounds, and the monsters are getting tired, but the fight continues.

“Nice of Ryan to take Andrea to get her stuff,” Sandy says. She rubs Ed's head, and Ed nods. It was nice of him, a point in his favor.

“Are you okay?” she asks. Ed thinks of another wrinkle: his adopted mother found out he's looking for his birth parents. She slims his chance of finding someone to cosign his loans.

“Yeah,” he says, “not really, but yeah.”

He takes her hand, kisses the back of it. He sucks on her index finger and Sandy groans.

“That was the first thing you said when you saw this shower,” she says “that you'd like to have sex in it.” She sucks on his ear. He kisses her neck, and then his stomach clenches again. He wrenches forward.

“Not yet,” he says.

***

Ed touches water streaming out of the shower head. Hot. Hot and good. Steam billows through the stall, and for a moment Ed feels like a porn star. He presses Sandy to the wall, her legs wrap around him, and he thrusts.

He feels the sexual high coming. Sandy moans and undulates against him, but then a knock comes from the door. Ed pauses. It sounds like thunder from his cloud.

“Ed?” Andrea calls from outside.

“What?” Ed says.

“Dana needs to use the shower so...”

“What?” Sandy says.

“Fuck!” Ed yells.

***

“At least you succeeded at one goal today,” Ryan says. His hair tangles to one side, and frizzy knots bunch Andrea's head. Ed's face twitches. Point against Ryan.

“No we didn't,” Sandy says.

“What?” Andrea says. Ed rubs his face.

“We didn't finish...”

Andrea's jaw drops.

“You were in there for an hour and a half!” she says.

“I thought you were working on three or four,” Ryan says. Another point against him. Ed shakes his head. Sandy kisses his neck.

“What were you doing in there?” Andrea asks.

“We were talking.” Sandy says. She wraps herself around Ed and nibbles his ear. Ryan watches Sandy crawl all over Ed. Her hands slip inside his shirt.

“Ugh, we still have to go shopping, don't we?” She asks.

Andrea shoots up a finger, then lets it sink.

“Yeah,” she says, “I need to finish my Christmas shopping today. I can't get it done at home.”

Ed leans forward and grabs a shoe. Frustration plays across his face.

“Did you two need to do any shopping?” Ryan asks. Ed shakes his head.

“We were going to tag along,” Sandy says. “We didn't need anything.”

“What are you thinking?” Andrea asks.

“Why don't you and me go into town, and they can stay here?” He says.

Ed and Sandy look at each other. Both nod. Point in Ryan's favor.

“Would that be okay with you?” Ed asks Andrea. She nods.

“That would be great then.” He says.

Ryan and Andrea shuffle their coats on.

“Finish this time,” Ryan says, and then closes the door behind him.

***

When his phone rings, Ed grunts. The ring tone seems so far away, but it drifts closer. Something under him moves and familiar lips kiss his neck.

The phone rings again and he remembers where he is.

“I should probably get that,” he says.

“Our time's up,” she says.

Ed snuggles in and kisses Sandy's neck. The rain blew over, and the clouds parted for a little while.

***

The car door thunks closed and Andrea shuffles oat with the last bag. Ryan loads it into the trunk and closes it. Ed stares though the windshield, only dimly aware and Ryan's hugging Andrea goodbye.

Somewhere out in the night, the black cloud's shit storm waits for him, but for the moment he smiles. He approved of his friend's new boy, and got sexed to his fill, even if it wasn't in that shower.

“You okay?” Sandy asks. She kisses his cheek from the driver's seat. He breaks his daze and looks at her, the one thing the black cloud hasn't fouled.

“Yeah I'm okay,” he says, “I won today, didn't I?” Sandy kisses him again. He smiles, and she smiles as well.

“I guess you did,”

Then she steps on the gas and the house pulls away into the night. Before long they're cruising down a sea of red lights while a black cloud thunders beyond the horizon. Tomorrow will bring more gut pain and maybe another wrecked car, but at least Ed had today.