Mistakes Were Made

by Meryl Wilsner

“We shouldn’t,” Erin said, because it was true. Cassie nodded, but she didn’t blink. “I know. It’s wrong, and we shouldn’t, and—” Erin kissed her. Erin kissed her because it was wrong and they shouldn’t but she wanted to. Lately she’d been trying to do the things she wanted, to make up for lost time.

Cassie was a bad decision Erin wanted to make again and again.

I missed you. Cassie didn’t say it. It hadn’t even been thirty-six hours since they last kissed. But she did miss it, the way Erin kissed and laughed and held on like Cassie was strong, but she was going to be gentle anyway. She got her hands on Cassie’s face and pulled a little with her fingertips. She sighed into the kiss, and Cassie smiled and bit down on her bottom lip.

Erin kissed her. She didn’t think about how Cassie was her daughter’s friend; she didn’t think about how anyone could come upstairs at any moment; she just kissed her. It was soft and sweet and absolutely not a bad way to ring in a new year.

Erin’s hands found their way to Cassie’s belt, and she finally stopped kissing her to ask, “May I?” “Erin, I want—” “I want you to keep saying my name, Cassie. And I want to go down on you. You’ll get your turn, don’t worry.”

Erin glanced between her legs and licked her lips. “May I?” “May you what?” Cassie said. “I want to clean you up.”

“You gotta look at the ring,” she said. She plucked it from its box as Cassie offered her left hand. “Aquamarine?” “And meteorite,” Erin confirmed, sliding it on Cassie’s finger. “For my astronaut.”