Fresh Roses: Chapter 1 [FF][romance]

Welcome to Fresh Roses! A weekly story I’ll be releasing here and over on my sub. We’re starting today with both chapters 1 and two. I’ll put a reading guide in the comments.

Chapter 1 Kink tags: >!FF – teasing/tension!<

Chapter 2 Kink tags:>! FF – teasing/tension,, MF -blowjob, MF – cum in mouth!<

*quick note: we are looking for an editor, mostly for grammar and clarity. So if you want to help out PM me and we can discuss!*

# Chapter 1: Lonely Souls

Why was it that, even here, with her mouth full, pleasing someone to their peak, Em was still thinking about that girl in the elevator?…

–

Holly first noticed the woman at work. Then on her running path. Then at home. Soon, she couldn’t stop seeing the woman all over the place. Her dark eyes and black hair. Or was it dark brown? Either way, she couldn’t stop thinking about her and, when she did, the woman seemed to come around and the cycle would start again.

It started when Holly moved into her Aunt Carol’s apartment. Carol was a professor and had accepted a temporary tenure in Paris, leaving Holly to live in her high-rise apartment to house sit. Holly, who before had been on the verge of living in her car, jumped at the opportunity. She moved in and got a job just across the street from the building as a barista and spent most of her free time working on her art, trying to make a career out of it (and failing, hence the verge of homelessness she had been on).

As nice as a stable place to live had been, though, Holly soon grew lonely. A new home in a new city with a new job felt like they could have been fresh starts, but Holly had never been one to go out and meet people. She didn’t consider herself awkward, but she also couldn’t quite get herself to go out there and just meet people for no reason. She hoped her job would help, but, at 26, the other workers there were all half a decade younger than her and didn’t really seem to like her all that much. So each day she spoke to over a hundred people, a lot of them regulars, but felt more and more lonely.

That’s probably why she started cultivating this little, innocent obsession. Or at least, that’s what she told herself. *It’s not an obsession*, she would think, correcting herself, *It’s just…*

She didn’t have the right word for it and she knew she was being weird and maybe even a little creepy. It was the loneliness, slowly getting to her. This woman had just become a fixture for it. She needed to veer away from that. How? She didn’t know. But she knew she needed to finally take some kind of action.

On a particularly chilly day in mid-August, she did just that.

–

The day started like any other Thursday. Holly left to work in jeans and a t-shirt wrapping up in a nice coat she found in aunt Carol’s closet. She went to the elevator, hit ground floor and just before the doors closed a hand stuck straight into them, preventing them from shutting. The doors opened again.

*Of course,* Holly thought as the woman she’d been thinking about for the better part of a month walked into the elevator. She hadn’t even realized they lived on the same floor.

The woman gave a slight nod to Holly and settled into the other corner of the elevator. Holly’s eyes moved as far as they could, her head only moving slightly, to get a view of the woman’s face.

That was what she really thought about, she realized now. That face. The woman was very obviously pretty and often dressed nicely. Today she wore a gray, professional dress. Holly imagined her to be a lawyer or working in finance, though she never seemed to have a briefcase or anything like that. The woman was Asian, though from which country in particular Holly couldn’t say. Her skin had a light tan. Her face was round and her hair a dark brown and silky straight. But it was the eyes and lips that really made it unique to Holly. Her eyes were deep and dark and underneath. But they always looked a little tired. And her lips were normal enough, but what peeked Holly’s notice was that they never seemed to smile.

Holly wasn’t one to tell someone, especially another woman, they should smile more, but it was more than just that. The woman didn’t look bored or annoyed. She just seemed to Holly like someone who’s smiles were a dime a dozen. Someone who you had to work on. For whatever reason, she seemed interesting and…

*Shit, how long has she been looking back at me?* Holly thought. The woman was looking straight back at her. Well, down at her, as the woman had at least 5 inches on Holly. At this point, Holly usually would avert her eyes if she made accidental eye contact with someone, but instead she smiled uneasily at the woman.

“Morning,” she said.

The woman looked away. Again, somehow, she managed to do this not in a rude way but also not in a way that showed anything on her face. *Elegant,* Holly thought. That was a good word for her. “Morning,” the woman said. *And British?* Holly hadn’t seen that coming but it did add to the elegance factor a bit.

It had only been two floors as their building had 4 elevators but they were all slow as turtles. Holly swallowed hard and finally said, “I’m Holly.” The woman glanced over to her for just a moment and Holly felt the need to fill the silence. “I think we live on the same floor. Well, obviously we do, we got on the elevator at the same time but, um…” *Get to a point Holly!* “Where…what…how long have you lived here?” *Nailed it,* she thought, mentally slapping herself in the face.

The woman looked at her again. Her posture was impeccable and it made Holly roll her shoulders. “Em,” the woman said, touching her chest, “Nice to meet you Holly.” Her tone was warm, her accent was lovely, but her face was still stone. “I’ve been here a while. Almost four years.”

“C-cool,” Holly said, “Do you live alone?”

“No,” Em said. Holly didn’t know why but that disappointed her. “I have two roommates.” And just like that the disappointment was gone.

Em looked up at the numbers lighting up indicating the floor they were on and took an obvious breath. She wasn’t enjoying this small talk. Holly felt bad and decided to stop. “How about you?” Em asked, “How long?”

Holly winced, knowing Em was doing this out of obligation. “Just a month and a half now,” Holly said, “I’m just housesitting for my aunt for a little while.” I work at the cafe across the street for now. I think I’ve seen you there before.” That was a lie. She *knew* she’d seen her there and it was almost every morning and many afternoons.

“Good place. Good coffee.”

“Mhm,” Holly nodded, “So what do you do?” Only one floor left so Holly figured she’d learn more about Em while she could.

Em sighed. “I, um, own a flower shop.”

“That’s unexpected,” Holly said, then smacked her hand to her mouth. She wasn’t supposed to say that out loud, just think it. She watched Em as the doors opened. The woman looked back at Holly, studied her for a moment and then, just for a moment, a flicker of a smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

“What apartment are you?” Em asked.

Holly mumbled into her hand at first then dropped it and said. “Um, 800.”

“813,” Em said. “I’ll see you around 800.”

–

Em sat in the back office of her shop doing her research. The clerks up front were more than able to handle the store at this point. Some days she didn’t even go up front and kept at her research. Sinking into it and letting it take over her mind.

Today it was a little harder, though. There was that girl with the red hair and the freckles and the big blue eyes. Em had seen her around and forced herself not to think about her and today that girl decides to talk to her. And what’s worse, she actually seemed interesting. She hadn’t, at first, which had relieved Em. But then, at the very ending, she let loose that little tease. One she hadn’t meant to say. And that had been something actually interesting. She didn’t have time for that, though.

Luckily, her roommate and business partner, Cedar, walked in at that moment, sighing the way he did when he was done sweeping up trimmings.

“Hey Em,” he smiled awkwardly. He had never been fully comfortable around her and she knew it. She didn’t do much to help that., “Ready?”

“Not yet,” Em told him.

“Um, well, we’re gonna be a little late.”

“That’s part of it,” Em said.

“Oh, okay,” Cedar nodded. “Hey, uh, Sage and I were gonna see a movie tonight. Wanted to see if you wanted to come?”

“No,” Em said, not looking up.

“She asked me to really push you on this.”

“I have other plans.”

“You do?” Cedar let out. He shook his head. “I mean, that’s great! That’s really good. Cool. Yeah. What’re you doing?”

“I’ll see you in the car, Cedar.” She had no other plans.

“Sure. Yeah. Cool.” He stepped out and Em could see him excitedly taking out his phone to text Sage as he did. Em rolled her eyes. Her roommates meant well, but they didn’t understand that she was fine being left alone. It was good. Better this way.

*to be continued…*

–

Thanks for reading Chapter One of *Fresh Roses*. Chapter two is already out but, before you go, if you have any comments we love discussing constructive feedback and suggestions! And we’re not too proud to say we also love some good ol’ fashioned praise too :) Hope you enjoyed!

Source: reddit.com/r/sexystories/comments/tdgwaa/fresh_roses_chapter_1_ffromance