〈 外人 〉
〈 @eromai 〉
It was the fifth time she’d come over in the last two weeks. All she did was come over and play video games on his couch, chewing gum, perched in a position that decency forced him to block his eye line with a hand to avoid. Like a gentleman.
He wondered if she’d intended on making a habit of it. But he was the one stocking her favorite cherry popsicles in the freezer. Ice lollies, she called them. Funny word. Not so funny when she’d sit around sucking on them while she leafed through his magazines or putzed around on her phone. Or when she’d look up at him with her big doe eyes, her lips stained and slick with crimson.
He’d only asked to see her because— well, he was lonely. Bad enough he was in a foreign country on assignment, where he knew no one at all, and had only a cursory facility in the language. Even worse that he was separated from his kid. So maybe it was weird, calling up one of those joshi-kosei osanpo numbers. Okay, really weird. Not that he had any bad intentions. It was nice, asking her about her day, hearing about those bucolic high school travails, worrying after her, buying her dinner just to make sure she ate okay. Her father was away on business a lot. She practically lived alone. It was almost a charity, what he was doing.
And then she started coming over. Which he also allowed, under the same premise of making sure she was taken care of. Better his place than out on the street, right? They were innocuous enough visits. And he’d make sure to keep them that way.
“You eat dinner?” he asked, taking a seat next to her Not too close. Not too far away, either. “You’ve been here since you got out of class, so I’m going to assume no. And you’re not eating three ice lollies for dinner.”
He tossed a wide cotton towel over her knees. “And if you’re not going to sit right, at least cover up a little. I can see your ... um. Yeah. I can see your panties that way. Anyways.” He handed her his phone. “You order whatever you want. Deal is you talk to them for me. I don’t wanna stand there like some gaping-mouthed gaijin. Not in the mood to look stupid tonight.”
