ILLICIT AFFAIRS | NATASHA ROMANOFF

THREE | god, i hope so.

With a goofy smile on my face, I step into my apartment. It's routine for me to place my keys down, slip off my shoes and head straight to the bathroom because I always have to pee, but before I I can do that I'm startled by Ally coming out of the kitchen with a small cutting knife and an apple in hand.

"What's up with you?" she asks, slicing a small piece and taking a bit of the fruit.
"I could ask you the same thing. Those new cutting boards you asked me to buy aren't just gonna be used for decoration are they?"

"Shut up. Why the stupid smile when you walked in?"

"I wasn't smiling that hard," I defend myself in a high-pitched tone.

"Yes, you were." She pauses. "Did you sleep with your interviewer?"

My cheeks heat. "Ally!" I grab a pillow from our couch and throw it in her direction. She flinches hard but doesn't even think twice about it before moving on.

"What? You've been whining to me about your six month long dry spell so you can't blame me for suspecting," she shrugs.

I roll my eyes and head for the kitchen to grab my own apple.

"Speaking of sex, Tyler's back from London and I've invited him over so are you going to be here, or...?" Ally continues.
Tyler is Ally's very complicated situation. They were high-school sweethearts, but split up when they decided on different colleges. They briefly dated again when they made contact after several years and discovered they were both living in New York, but that went bottoms up when he cheated on her. Now, two years later, she is evidently still in love with him but he just sees her as a 'booty call' and Ally is apparently totally okay with that.

"Are you kicking me out of my own apartment so you can get fucked without having to keep it down?"

"No. It was just a question," she speaks, innocently.
We both share a laugh.
"I was planning on being here, but I'm sure I can find something else to do for a couple of hours," I explain.

Ally steps closer to me and places a hand on my shoulder. "You're a good friend, Riley."

__

Hours later, I'm bored out of my mind watching Ally model several different 'I just threw this on' outfits.
I had nothing better to do with my afternoon, except the dishes in the sink and that wasn't particularly enticing so I chose this instead.

"I have a question," I speak, throwing my head back against the headboard of Ally's bed, my legs stretched out in front of me.
She turns around and gives me a look. "Are you going to be judgemental again?"

I take a sharp breath. "No, I was just wondering why it is you keep doing this to yourself? You can't get over him and still be under him at the same time."

"First of all," she points a finger, "I am not the one who's under whom. Second of all, who said I wanted to get over him?"

"Ally, he cheated on you. He was a shitty boyfriend and he's never going to be more than that."

"Hey," she tilts her head and gives me her infamous death stare. "You've cheated on several people and I still think you're a good person. In some aspects."

"I've cheated on two people. Not several," I correct her.

"That's not any better, honey."

I give her a look and keep my mouth shut. I have no comeback. I made the same shitty decision twice, and regardless of my loathing for the two woman I cheated on, there isn't an excuse for what I did and I think I've finally learnt my lesson.
God, I hope so.