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Lucy Orbell

Sex Dream

We met in a room, and had been drinking. So we got a little closer. And then we got closer. And then we got so close we didn't talk. Next thing we were on a plane and the city we arrived in was dark: don't get lost! In the hotel room we were just like us. Under the covers we were soft against each other. We spoke just like each other. Your eyes were the same too.

A black cat leapt from the bathroom and landed on the bed. You laughed. But it was clawing at my legs—how could we make love? Then another—a kitten: ginger and fluffy. You wanted it to stay; let it roam across our sheets; be our entertainment. Then it was climbing up the wall, hooking its claws into the plaster. 'Amazing,' I said. But for a second, because it was so small, it frightened me—looking like a spider. I showed you the scratches on my legs, and you traced them with your finger. You said we'd put the cats out, but it didn't happen; we were too distracted loving one another, and not saying it.