4. Cuddling With Strangers

CLOVER

The light at the rest stop flickers as I pull Aldrich quickly towards the bathroom. I don’t remember the last time I peed, and I am feeling it!

“Uhm… excuse me.”

I look up at Aldrich expectantly. “Hmmm?”

He eyes the rest stop warily as his fingers rub up and down my shoulders.

“I need you to let go, please,” I say with a smile. Mom always said to use a smile when you ask for something.

He finally looks at me and shakes his head while holding eye contact. “I don’t think I can.”

“I, uh… uhm, well, did you forget? It’s okay, sometimes I forget things, too. Just lift your hands.” I take hold of his wrists and try to push up his hands, to no avail. I push harder and feel a little dribble. I squeak. Gross. “Listen, I have a shy bladder, so I kinda need you to let go. Plus, we just met, and it is way weird to pee in front of someone you just met, you know?” I ramble.

“Oh.” He pouts. It’s the same look my little spirit friends give me when I tell them they can’t hang out with me all the time in this world; only on him, it makes my insides feel the same as when I eat a spicy curry. “You can hold my hand right after, I promise. It’ll be just a moment.”

He steps away briskly. “Right. Yes. Of course,” he says, nodding to himself.

I run into the restroom, quickly pull down my pants, and squat. Air rushes by me as I fall backwards, and a sharp pain radiates up my tailbone. I shriek.

“Ouch!” I groan.

I’ve missed the toilet. I look down at the stained bathroom tiles and sigh. “Well, that’s not good.”

Aldrich rushes into the bathroom with Mip on his shoulder, and I squawk, fumbling with my pants and falling on my back. This is why I wear dresses. Pants are complicated. Too bad I lost most of my dresses that time I was camping on the beach. It had stormed overnight. The wind was very not nice then.

“Are you all right?” he asks, not making eye contact with me, but not really able to look away either, and thankfully not seeming to notice the very non-sexy underwear, as I pull them back up.

Should I care what this random man thinks of my underwear choices? No. But do I? Apparently, I do, which is new for me. I blame his attractive face. No one should be so pretty. It should be against the law or something.

“Yup. I’m fine. Although I need a shower now,” I mutter, getting to my feet and likely looking like a strawberry. I wave at him to turn around. He only looks at me, scratching his chin, so I waddle forward and spin him.

“Don’t look.”

Mip blinks onto my shoulder and says, “Yeah, no looking. Oh! Be right back. I forgot Needlestrike in Suisy,” before disappearing out of the bathroom.

Aldrich fades and frantically gestures at himself. “Clover, I’m almost completely faded!”

I reach up and grasp his shoulders, and as soon as I do, he returns to his almost corporeal state, sighing with relief.

“I was worried for a moment. I thought there might be a scruffledorf attack.”

I check behind him to make sure the little thieves aren’t here for my underwear. They don’t normally steal them directly from my body, but one can’t be too careful.

“What?” He scrunches his brow as I attempt to turn him around, unsuccessfully.

“Um… Do you mind turning around and backing up with me?”

He finally lets me guide him backwards until the back of my legs bump the toilet seat. I hastily sit down, looking at his large broad back and internally cringing at my predicament.

He is totally gonna hear me pee.

“Can you sing or something?”

“What?”

“You know, like, “Waterfalls” The second I start singing, the man goes stiff as a board. I ignore him and continue to belt out the song at the top of my lungs, pretending no one is here but me and finally getting much-needed relief.

I finish my business, and we shuffle to the sink. He’s got his hands on my shoulders now, occasionally giving me a gentle squeeze, and I let out a moan of contentment. He’s got nice hands.

“Look away from me for a bit, please, Aldi. I’ve gotta clean up a bit.”

His eyes roam me up and down slowly, making me wonder if I shoulda just let him watch, before he nods, closing his eyes and turning his head away. I give myself a wipe down with the soap and the brown paper towels, because gross bathroom stall ickiness.

My eye catches on a cute motivational cat poster that hangs on the door. It makes me think of my mom’s old cat, Captain Stinkypaws. He used to bat my yarn around, just like this motivational cat. Maybe batting yarn is motivational. I should try it the next time Mip is feeling down. Goddess knows I have the yarn for it.

When we exit the bathroom, we’re met with a wide-eyed, open-mouthed Mip. He quickly shakes himself out of whatever stupor he was in and eyes Aldrich suspiciously.

“What were you two doing in there, hm? I heard noises!”

“I am not inclined to share with you, runt.” Aldrich slides his hand slowly down my arm and grabs my hand.

“Come on, guys. Let’s try to get some rest.” I walk over to where Suisy is parked and start getting her ready for bed.

“Clover is NOT sleeping with you.” Mip squeaks. “She sleeps with me every night, and there won’t be room for your big stinky body.”

“If I do not touch her, then I’ll be fully back in the old realm, and goddess knows when she will be able to find me again.”

“Tough noodles, my doodles.” Mip crosses his arms and jumps onto my shoulder, turning his back on Aldrich. “We were just fine without you, anyway.”

Aldrich growls. “Methinks it’s up to the lady to determine whether I might be her bed partner. I don’t see where a tiny pipsqueak such as yourself has any say in where I sleep.”

“Let’s calm down,” I say, interrupting before Mip can respond. “I always sleep alone. Mip has his cushion, and he is very particular about it, so don’t let him fill your head with nonsense.” I strip out of those cursed pants and into some soft sleep shorts.

“CLOVER!” Mip shrieks. “Not in front of the stranger!”

Aldrich looks at me with heat in his eyes as I wave Mip off. “You’d leave me to fade then?”

“Of course not, silly. You can sleep next to me. I’ve been itching for a cuddle session.”

I don’t mind him seeing my undies so much… Do I wish they were a little lacier? And not in the granny doily kind of way? Sure I do. And cuddling with a handsome stranger isn’t a bad thing, either. It’s like a one-night stand, except there’s zero percent chance of pregnancy. Besides, I already peed with him in the same room, which is a level of intimate I haven’t experienced in… well, ever.

Aldrich smirks at my little friend.

“Hmph.” Mip teleports to his cushion and faces us. “Don’t even think of trying anything, buddy. I’ll be watching you. Always watching.”

Aldrich snorts as I start arranging the cushions into my favorite snuggly position, before plopping down in my nest and patting the space beside me.

“This is quite a few cushions…” Aldrich says, glancing at my random assortment. “Did you, perhaps, make some of these yourself?” He lowers himself down next to me, our knees touching, and his form gets a little bit brighter.

“I did! Cushion covers were one of the first things I learned to crochet!”

We settle in and talk for a while. After I explained the intricacies of crochet to him, Aldrich asked a bunch of questions about what he missed in the world while he was gone. I gave him the best history lesson I could, which wouldn’t get him any A’s in class or anything, and Mip snorted several times during my recounting of events. But the longer we talked, the closer we got to each other.

“And then, Betty White died, and things just went downhill from there,” I mumble.

“This Betty must have been a powerful being to hold the world together as she did.” He nods, accepting it as an absolute truth, before yawning.

Aldrich is very warm. I don’t remember the last time I felt so relaxed. At some point during our talk, I wound up resting my head on his shoulder with his arm wrapped around me.

“This is nice,” I admit, glancing up into his green eyes. “Normally, I would be crocheting a body for one of my friends, but I can see that snuggling before bed is a nice alternative.”

Aldrich hums deep in his throat before his grip tightens, pulling me closer. Before I know it, I’m drifting off to sleep.