Dressed in Clover

Chapter 2 (Starting May 2018)

After graduation, we rented a moving truck. We packed up the contents of our Boston apartment. Then we drove to Becky’s parents’ house in Rhode Island. We packed up a few of Becky’s things from there. We had dinner and then hit the road. We took turns driving through the night and morning. With frequent stops for coffee, a few stops for gas, and a couple stops for meals, it took about 17 hours. We got to our new apartment complex around noon. We got our keys. We grabbed lunch at the local Panera. We ate lunch on the apartment floor. We brought just one mattress up to our apartment, to what would become my bedroom. We crashed on the mattress, slept until the next day. My parents and Uncle Joshua (Aunt Trish’s husband) helped us unload the moving truck into the apartment.

Our apartment is about an hour away from my parents (and other family). Our jobs are each about 20 minutes away (but they’re not in the same direction so we normally don’t carpool). Our jobs are mostly 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday.

Since Becky’s family lives so far away, she tags along with me to many family functions, especially summer barbecues. Everyone in my extended family knows her. Since she moved here with me after college, she has visited her family in Rhode Island for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and once in the summer (but hasn’t been there since Christmas 2019 due to Covid). The rest of the year, Becky counts as part of my family.

In the summer, if Becky and I are visiting my parents, sometimes we swim in their pool (day swimming, with bathing suits). My parents, if they are watching, would observe us splashing each other, but small splashes, not to be mean, not in the face. They might see some touching. We touch the other’s leg or arm or stomach or back or face, but we are unapologetic if we “accidentally” touch in “certain places”. After swimming, we go up to my old bedroom. We change into dry clothes in front of each other (but thought nothing of it), and then we go back downstairs to be with everyone else.

Outside the pool, my parents (or others) might notice Becky and I having conversations with each other, quick back and forth, no one else is understanding, but we understand all of it. The best anyone else could do is watch in amazement. During these inside conversations, we are speaking English, at least English words, not quite slang or palare. There are inside jokes (and inside non-jokes), references to events and people, layers upon layers.

Leaning on the other’s shoulder is normal. Brushing the other’s hair, running fingers through the other’s hair is normal. Hugs are normal. If there are a lot of people over, sharing a cushion on the sofa is not a big deal. We are ok with sharing personal space with each other. We are good with sharing a plate of food, sharing a lot of different things. People who see us like that in public must wonder what we are like in private. I’m not sure if Kim believes we are just friends. She usually makes a sarcastic comment about us.

In the years I’ve known Becky, her hair is always perfect. It doesn’t matter if she has it long or short or in between, straight or curly or wavy, always perfect. Usually (naturally) her hair is dark brown, but sometimes she will try a different color or tint, always perfect. There’s something about her hair, it catches my eye.

My hair, I keep simple. My hair is straight and its natural light brown color (ok, probably medium brown, but lighter than Becky’s hair). Occasionally, I toy with coloring my hair or highlights, but I haven’t pulled that trigger yet. If I have my hair over the front of my shoulders, it’s long enough to just cover my boobs. I think my hair is bland compared to Becky’s, but she frequently compliments my hair.

Now that we’re in Wisconsin, whenever the Bruins play the Blackhawks in Chicago, we try to make it to the game. I almost made a Brewers convert out of her for the brief period of time we had Brock Holt.

One day a few weeks after we started our new jobs in our new town, it seemed like a long day at work. My bra was bothering me the whole day. When I got home, I couldn’t wait to take it off. I just wanted my bra off as soon as possible. The second I got in the door, I pulled my shirt off, threw it on the floor. It had been in the way of me getting my bra off quickly. I ripped my bra off (breaking a hook) and threw that on the floor. I sat down and enjoyed the air on my boobs. I stayed like that all evening. It felt so nice, the next day I did the same thing. The next day I convinced Becky to try. Soon it became a habit. Being topless at home just seems normal and natural to us. It’s so much more comfortable this way.

One Saturday this past September (2020), Becky convinced me that we should sneak into a park that was closed. It was daylight hours, but no one was there. She had me bring my very good camera with me. On the walk into the park, she would take pictures of a flower or tree or bird. Once we were far enough away from the street, she got topless and asked me to take pictures of her. Then she told me to get topless so she could get some shots of me. Then we took off more clothes and took more pictures. It was sort of a mutual decision to get completely naked. The pictures were “tasteful” nudes. I normally don’t like pictures of me, I’m not one for taking selfies, but for some reason, these pictures I like. I’m not saying I would show them to my parents, but if my dad somehow saw them, I would be mortified, but he would probably just shake his head at me and not say a word.

We don’t bring boyfriends home much anymore. We usually go to their place, if anything. If they do come over, we give each other fair warning so the other person can put a shirt on or go into her room. We still discuss our boyfriends and everything else though. We don’t screen each other’s boyfriends anymore. Based on results, maybe we should.

I also stopped comparing guys to Scott. Instead of holding boyfriends to an impossible standard (being Scott), my standards went the other way. If anything, my standards after college have been too low. Becky’s standards have been low since college too.

Since graduating college in 2018, I’ve had two boyfriends. The first was Greg, he only lasted three months. I guess Greg wasn’t terrible, he just wasn’t that interesting.

My current boyfriend (as of October 2020) is Eric. We’ve been together about a year. He’s ok, the s*x is good. Like with my previous boyfriends, we’ve found a few s*x positions we both like and stick to those. We’re not very adventurous s*x-wise.

Eric and I usually only see each other once a week. When I see him twice in a week it feels really special. The thought has crossed my mind that Eric might be seeing someone else on the side. The thought has crossed my mind that it’s the other way and I might be the side piece. I try not to think about it.

Becky has had one boyfriend since college, Jack. Becky broke up with him in June 2020. He was a complete asshole and treated her like dirt. He was mentally abusive, but at least not physically abusive (but I wouldn’t be surprised if that would have been next). I was so happy when she dumped him, but it’s been a while since Becky has been out with anyone and she has started to be desperate. As I was actively trying to convince her to dump him, I feel slightly responsible for her aloneness.