Chastity's heart thumped like a circumcision ceremony drum. It was here and there, finding rhythm then letting go then pulling at another. She was supposed to be worried about the email she'd received. It was in Times New Roman and she'd appreciated HR for that. But it held concerning statements like, 'conducting an inquiry' and 'you should take a break'. These were things that didn't happen in government jobs but it was no time to worry about that. A job was a job, after all.

What worried her was the silence on Ivy's side. It had been a punishment and she wanted out. Needed out. So, when she drove into Alpine Flats' parking and saw Ivy having a sort of something that looked almost civil, happening between her and Kiptum, she knew exactly what she needed to do. It had been very clear only she'd been stupid to ignore it.

Kiptum pointed her way and Ivy turned to look. She looked refreshed - which was not something she would associate with either Kiptum or a weekend with her family. Yet, she dazzled as she smiled, hopping here and there as she made her way towards her. "How was work?" she asked, gently pulling her bag from her grasp. Chastity was not sure what to make of it but it didn't matter. What mattered was that she had to have a very serious talk before she lost her edge and went on quietly stewing in embarrassment. 

"We need to talk," she said seriously then began for the flats. She heard Ivy say a chipper goodbye to Kiptum and decided she was going to ask what that was about after the talk.

In the manner of all things, the stairs seemed to have multiplied. Ivy's flat was suddenly on the tenth floor instead of the fifth. Chastity, who prided herself in being reasonably fit, was struggling with getting through the steps, which, didn't help because Ivy was still joyously bouncing about. Then they suddenly happened across all manner of people. It was as though they had colluded with the ever-increasing number of steps and slow down of time to make Chastity even more stressed than she needed to be. By the time they had made it to B3, she was done with everything including the stylish bow she'd had a horrid time tying that morning. 

"I need to say something," she said immediately after shutting the door behind them. For safety's sake, she also locked it properly. With the way things were going, she was suspicious that someone or something would try to open the damn thing. 

Ivy nodded her head. "Me too. You go first."

"Well," Chastity could not help how her eyes slid to everything other than Ivy's round pretty ones, "about the other night," an embarrassed laugh escaped her, "look, it's not that I was not into it. I just got way into my head and I was stressed that I was not going to make you feel as good as you made me and then I had performance anxiety and I needed to take a break but I didn't handle it properly." She caught her breath. She had been talking way too fast she was getting light-headed by the second. "I want to be perfect is what I am saying. I don't want to be embarrassed because I guessed you'd have all these expectations and I just don't want to fail"

Ivy was quiet for too long she could not help but look at the eyes she had been avoiding. They were blank. This, obviously, made her heart thump even harder. "Makes sense. I mean, I wasn't stressed like that but when you put it like that, I feel like I should have been."

"Why? You're like really good at sex." Ivy giggled and this in turn made Chastity giggle as well.

"I am? Well, thank you. You should write a review on that." Chastity couldn't help but roll her eyes. Ivy cleared her throat. "Honestly," she took a step closer to Chastity, pulling her hand into hers, "I am glad you said this. I was stressing that I had done something wrong and that you were looking for a way to end all this. And by all this, I am also including our friendship."

"Over sex?" Chastity asked in genuine shock. "I feel like a friendship of over a decade would end because of any other thing other than sex."

"Don't underestimate the power of sex."

Chastity took in a long deep breath then released an even longer sigh. "Never," she said. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Ivy dropped her hand. "This," she pointed at the two of them. "I need to understand what is happening here. I don't like the not knowing and the confusion. I much prefer defined boundaries and expectations. I realise that, as much as I enjoy spending time with you and this new sex dynamic, I really don't know where I stand and I keep on asking everyone else but you. So, tonight, we are establishing exactly what is going on here so that I can start feeling sane again."

"Hmm, you are right." Chastity scratched at her arm. "We need to know what is happening. I was under the impression that we were doing the friends-with-benefits type of thing. No strings attached and all that."

Something brushed over Ivy's expression but it was gone before Chastity could analyse it better. "Well," she said, "if that is what this is, it would make sense for us to have a time limit set for it. We can't just be doing this without a definite ending, no? It will be too confusing. So, what if we do this until your flat is ready for you?"

"Oh?" Chastity was not sure if she was disappointed or relieved. What she was sure of was that she was a jumble of some new kind of emotional mess and that was not working for her because she'd just sorted that one mess that was supposed to make everything right. "I mean, that makes sense."

"So, have you heard about the state of your place?"

She had, in fact, ignored news about any development about the state of her place. Even with the awkwardness that was happening, she had felt so at home at Ivy's that she had been reluctant to go back. The very idea of going back to living alone again was half stressing her out. She was not sure she could go back to how things were now that she knew what it felt like living with her best friend. It was an experience, she realised, she did not want to ever come to an end. 

"It's not clear yet. Apparently, the fuckers are trickier than they had thought."

"Well, that sucks." Ivy smiled that brilliant smile of hers. "Supper?"

Chastity nodded. "We need a heavy one for what is going to happen through the night."

Had she been a cartoon, Chastity was sure she would have seen question marks floating atop Ivy's head.