Unlikely Story

by Ali Rosen

Great, my insides must be showing on my outside again.

So when she starts anything, it’s easier to just go along with it as much as possible and push back only as far as needed to get where I need to be.”

“I guess you have to be spiky if you’re the only one standing at the front line.”

I’m not going to pretend like I haven’t had a lot of great sex in my life—I’m not the kind of person who goes back twice for mediocrity. But there’s an irrefutable ease with Eli that I’ve never experienced before, and I find myself surprised by the emotion coursing through me because of it; surprised by how I’m able to let go in ways I never really knew I could before; surprised by how much he reflects me back—tender in all the places I want him to be, rough when I need it, playful instead of guarded. Point to counterpoint. Give and take.

Are any of those versions of me untrue? Or are they just different shades of the same thing, some holding more honesty than others?

“It’s okay to bother your friends. That’s kind of the whole point!”

When I asked him if he was serious, he looked at me with shining eyes and said, “Only if you really want me to be.”