Ellie and Mia lay tangled in each other, breathing softly, almost still. Mia’s face was against Ellie’s shoulder, kissing gently, kissing as if she was too lazy to move any more than that. Her fingers were still stroking Ellie, as bit by bit Ellie relaxed.

Slowly, Mia’s hand became still.

There was a particular kind of stillness after sex, Ellie thought. Once their breathing was gentler, once Mia’s hand stopped moving and making wet sounds against Ellie, they were both quiet and very still. It was nice, that stillness. Ellie could hear her own body more than she usually could, hear the air inside her chest, and the echoy sound of her pulse in her ears. Ellie lifted her hand, and put it on Mia’s head, stroking gently. Mia reached up and pressed her hand over Ellie’s, and somehow twisted Ellie’s fingers through her hair, as if using Ellie’s hand as a kind of clip. Because Ellie liked hair, Ellie supposed, and because Mia knew that, and wanted Ellie to touch. Ellie moved her other arm, and hugged Mia as best she could. She hugged, and felt Mia’s breath down her arm, and felt happy and exhausted and still.

“I should do you,” Ellie said after a while, but she didn’t actually move. She was too contented move right away.

“There’s no hurry,” Mia said.

“I should,” Ellie said.

“Sometime. Later on. If you want to.”

“I want to. I really do. You have no idea.”

Mia smiled, Ellie thought. Ellie felt Mia’s mouth change shape against her shoulder. Mia smiled, then kissed Ellie, and then said, “Good.”

“But maybe we should wait,” Ellie said. She reached up and touched her jaw. “My mouth hurts. I think I haven’t done that enough before.”

“You can practice.”

“On you?”

Mia laughed. “Yep.”

“I will. I want to.”

“Then do.”

“I will,” Ellie said. “Later.”

Mia smiled, and seemed not to mind, but Ellie still felt a little bad. She felt like she ought to again, since she’d been making such a fuss about licking Mia out. She’d been promising big things, saying she wanted to all night, but then she’d got sleepy and happy and didn’t seem to need Mia in her mouth as desperately as she had earlier. She lay there, contented, instead.

She stroked Mia’s back, and felt the shape of Mia’s shoulder-blades. Mia sighed, as if enjoying her touch, so Ellie stroked more deliberately, sliding her hands around, exploring Mia’s back. A backrub instead of oral, Ellie thought, and wondered if that was fair. Ellie had never concentrated so much on Mia’s back before, and she suddenly wondered if she ought to pay more attention to parts of Mia that weren’t her pussy and mouth and legs. Ellie stroked, and thought, and decided it didn’t matter. She liked what she liked, and Mia didn’t seem to care, so it probably didn’t especially matter whether Ellie liked Mia’s legs, or some other part of her.

“What’s up?” Mia said suddenly. “You’re thinking.”

Ellie was surprised Mia could tell.

“What do you mean?” Ellie said.

“You’re quiet,” Mia said. “You seem in a funny mood.”

“I’m quiet?”

“I’m always quiet,” Mia said. “It’s weird if you are too.”

“Not really.”

“But maybe in a mood?”

“Maybe,” Ellie said. “Not really. Just thinking.”

“That can’t be good,” Mia said.

Ellie lay there for a moment, wondering why. She wondered, then realized Mia was teasing. She stopped stroking, and glared, until Mia grinned.

“Sorry,” Mia said.

“Don’t tease.”

“I wasn’t really. Want to tell me?”

Ellie shrugged, then said, “Not really. Not now.”

“Sometime?” Mia said.

“Maybe.”

Mia smiled. “Or never, that’s fine too.”

“Never’s good,” Ellie said. “Never’s really good.”

Mia looked at her for a moment, and said, “Are you okay?”

Ellie shrugged.

“Do we need to talk?” Mia said.

“No,” Ellie said, then wondered if that was true. “Not now.”

Mia nodded, and went quiet again, and Ellie went back to stroking.

Ellie kept thinking though, about talking now that Mia had asked. Perhaps they should be talking more, Ellie thought. Perhaps this shouldn’t just be sex.

Ellie stroked Mia’s back, and wondered about talking, and what she might one day want to say. It seemed the right time to talk, she thought, if they were going to. On their own, in a hotel, with the whole night ahead of them and no interruptions. She thought about talking, and wondered what they needed to say. What Ellie needed to say, really, since it would be Ellie talking to Mia, if they ever actually did. Ellie would have to start it, to say what needed saying, because Mia didn’t talk, and Mia was happy with this only being sex. Perhaps that was unfair of Mia, Ellie thought. Perhaps Ellie should be asking for more, for something particular. Perhaps she should, but she didn’t especially care.

Probably they should have talked before now, Ellie thought, even though she’d been avoiding it as much as Mia. Probably they ought to sometime or another, but she was fine with how things were, and too happy to worry about much, and didn’t want to spoil that by being demanding.

Ellie was happy, and a little bit tired, and suddenly thirsty too. She hadn’t noticed until then, but she needed a drink. She slid off the bed, and went to the bathroom and filled two glasses, and Mia watched her through the open door. Ellie drank hers standing in the bathroom, and felt almost dehydrated once she started to drink. She went and handed Mia the other glass, as she drank, not wanting to make Mia wait, then went back to the bathroom and filled her glass twice more before she was done.

Sex and warm dry air, Ellie thought. It probably wore them both out.

She went back to the bed, and lay with her head on Mia’s legs, and wondered if Mia was hungry. They’d been doing this for a little while, and both had come straight from work.

“Do you want food or anything?” she said.

“Maybe later,” Mia said.

“Want more sex?”

Mia grinned. “Later.”

Ellie lay for a while, looking at the ceiling. “There’s a lot going to be happening later,” she said.

“Yep,” Mia said, and stroked Ellie’s chest. “Yes there is.”

Ellie smiled, and lay where she was, and after that Mia didn’t talk. Mia didn’t talk because she was Mia and Mia didn’t when she had nothing to say, and now that Ellie was used to that, now she was comfortable with Mia’s quietness, it was actually quite nice. It was nice to just lie there, and be happy, with no need to think up things to say. It was nice to concentrate on what she was feeling, rather than the words she wasn’t needing to say.

It was nice, Ellie thought. It was nice, and comfortable, and it was a little bit sexy too. She lay there for a while, quietly, being stroked.

After a while she needed to pee. The water, she supposed.

She felt a little awkward but got up all the same. She went to the bathroom and did, with only a thin door between her and Mia, and with the silence of a quiet hotel all around. She knew Mia would be able to hear, and it made her uncomfortable, but it seemed important too, since Mia wouldn’t have heard her before. A moment of intimacy, Ellie thought, as if unintentional eavesdropping made them closer. Ellie peed, and made herself not mind, but she was still glad that when she came out of the bathroom Mia just smiled, and didn’t seemed revolted. Then Mia did too, and Ellie listened, and felt close to her. It was strange to feel close to someone because you could hear her in the bathroom, but Ellie did, and she decided to just feel close, and not to care why.

Mia came back out the bathroom, and put her hands on Ellie’s face, still cool from washing in cold water, and it was actually nice, pleasantly refreshing after the warm room.

Mia grinned, and lay back down.

Ellie lay beside Mia, thinking. About sex and if they should, and also whether they should talk. It seemed like it was later, and they still weren’t having sex, but Ellie was happy and content and didn’t especially mind.

She slid off the bed, and went over to the window, and opened the curtain a little to look out. She wanted to see, since they were high up, and could see the city’s lights. She felt happy. She was here, and Mia was watching from the bed, and everything seemed good.

She stood for a while, looking.

Later she rubbed Mia’s back, and went and got more water, and kissed Mia for most of an hour, and then finally, almost by accident, they talked.

They talked, and it started almost by mistake.