Bittersweet

They spent the rest of Ville’s visit mainly in bed. It was nice, Lenny thought, to be able to share like this. She found Ville’s ability to be serious refreshing. And, it was rather nice to lay in bed with two people. Now she was never cold.

However, the Finn had to leave sooner than any of them liked. Tears stung the writer girl’s eyes as she hugged him goodbye.

“Can’t you stay?” she whispered.

“I wish I could, darling.” He kissed her mouth sweetly. She withdrew from him, stepped away and watched as Bam and Ville embraced. They clung to each other tightly, and she was not jealous when their kiss went deeper than hers had.

When he was gone, his scent lingered in the sheets, in the house. Lenny kept walking into the kitchen, swearing he heard his laugh, smelled his cigarettes. It was a strange sort of confusion that frustrated her to no end.

“This is so hard.” She finally said to Bam as she walked into the kitchen for the third time. He nodded, wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“I know, baby girl.”

“Why can’t he stay?”

“Because he has a life outside of us. We have one outside of him. We continue on without him. Maybe it’s not as good, but we still do it. Besides, he needs to play his music. He wouldn’t be happy, all cooped up here.” He nuzzled her ear.

“You’re making him sound like a bird or something.” She giggled.

“I know.”

“I’m still going to miss him.” She sighed.

“I know,” her boyfriend repeated.

**

“Lenny!” he had been gone most of the day, leaving her to enjoy having the remote to herself. She glanced up from the screen.

“Did you have fun?” she didn’t ask what he’d done. He was covered in mud and so was everyone else. She sighed when she saw the mud that was getting tracked through the house.

“Lots,” she noticed the gleam in his eye and started shrinking away from him.

“Good,”

“Come and give me a kiss.”

“You’re filthy,” she wrinkled her nose.

“So what? Come and give me a kiss before I have to walk over there and give you one.”

“You’re dirty!” she exclaimed again, jumping off the couch and making a run for freedom. But Bam was much quicker than she was. He locked his arms around her waist. She cringed as she felt the mud seeping into her clothes. She squirmed, only succeeding in smearing herself with the stuff worse.

“I just love you, Lenny!” Bam yelled, kissing her hard. The mud on his face was transferred to hers. He released her then, and she glared.

“Now I’m dirty too. Are you happy?” she snarled.

“Oh, very!” her boyfriend said flippantly. He bent to speak in her ear. “But I’d be even happier if you would come and take a shower with me. You need to clean me up, Lenny.”

“I do,” she replied in a soft voice. “But I think first you might need a little punishment.”