Artemis' shoes squelched as he walked up the stairs, revealing the hallway ahead one step at a time. She wouldn’t be there. He knew. He had learned to judge her mood by the tiniest things, and from the way she answered the buzzer, he knew she wouldn’t be there, twisting her foot and smiling like she used to. As he reached the top he looked out the window. It was grey outside, raining lightly over the empty lamp lit streets and that dumb massage parlour, which from the garish logo he had always assumed to be some kind of pretzel emporium. He shook his head, annoyed at the stupidity of some people. The rain was getting heavier.

He walked up the hallway and knocked on her door.

'Come in,' came a voice from inside. He opened the door to a pillow of stale warmth, as if she'd been lying there all day. Elona was on the sofa was watching TV, her tufty red hair poking out from the doona covers.

'Hey,' she said, without taking her eyes from the screen. Her face was pale, lit in the darkness by the television's white glow.

'Hey.' He walked over and kissed her on the cheek. 'How you doing?'.

'So so,' she replied. He estimated the chances of sex tonight at under 20% as he climbed over the cushiony mound and nestled in behind her. She writhed, making a catlike ‘nyerr’ of disapproval. Art smiled, putting his arm around her and pretending to bite her head. She grabbed his arm, hugging it close to her chest, her bottom lip pouted out.

          She was watching Up. The fat Asian boy was running through the bushes, trying to escape a pack of wild dogs, while his whacky dodo sidekick kept falling over. Hilarious. Art looked down at his girlfriend. She was beautiful, her big brown eyes peeking out from under the duck themed doona. Under the cover she was soft and warm. He felt the hunger stir, and leaned into her ear, smiling.

‘You’re so sexy,’ he whispered. She frowned.

'Watch the movie.'

'What if I don’t want to?' he said, rubbing up against her ass. She writhed, making that cat noise again.

'Watch the movie,' she repeated, pointing at the TV. He slumped back into the sofa. They watched the movie.

          Elona liked Up. She liked the old man and the talking dog and the way his tail wagged when he got excited. More than anything she liked the balloons. She liked to imagine herself floating up into the sky beneath hundreds of them, all different colours, and looking down at all the houses and people she'd left behind. Her work, her parents, her loser roommates, and all the dickhead guys that ditched her when they realised she wouldn't put out. And Art. Well maybe not Art. He was different. From the first time they met and he told her that her hair looked like vomit she knew it. He was cute, and kind, and when she'd finally worked up the courage to tell him what happened to her, fully expecting him to run, head over heels, like the others, he'd wrapped his arms around her and told her it was ok, that he loved her.

As the credits rolled down the screen he began to nibble on her ear. She giggled and squirmed. He put his hand under her shoulder and flipped her over to face him. 

          'I love you, you know,' he said.
          'I love you too,' she said, as if telling a secret. He kissed her.
          'You hungry?' he asked.
          'Om nom nom nom nom.' She pretended to eat his hand.
          'I'll take that as a yes. What do you want?'
          'Pizza.'
          'Really?'
          'Om nom nom nom'
          'Let's get something different.'
          'Like what,' she said.
          'Like something with vegetables.' She wrinkled her face and stuck out her tongue.
          'Pizza's a vegetable,' she said.
          'Right,' he said. She grinned cheekily, her teeth an eggshell yellow.
          'Whatever.' He nudged her off the couch and followed her into her room. Empty glasses, coke cans and a small mountain of stuffed animals. The floor was barely visible for piles of clothes and large moving boxes in the corner. She sat down on the edge of a mattress on the floor and moved an empty pizza box, revealing a laptop, which she put on her lap and opened the screen. It filled her face with that same white lifelessness. Art stretched out on the mattress, putting his hands behind his head and watching the ceiling fan whirr round while she pattered away at the keyboard
          'Supreme?' she asked.
          'Yeah, thanks.’ After a couple of minutes she closed the laptop and turned to Art, who was still looking at the ceiling.
          'Wanna watch another movie?' She asked.
          'No, not really,' he replied.
          'Well what do you wanna do?' He didn't answer for a few seconds, his eyes meandering around the roof. He turned to her. Looking her in the eyes he said:
          'I want you.'
          She looked at the floor and began to fidget, her lips rolling around her mouth like awkward red slugs. Everything was clamming up. That oily feeling slipping through her pores while her insides began to strangle. She wanted to hide. No. No no no no no. She looked at him. The dark glare of his eyes boring into her. It scared her. No. Rain smacked against the window. What’s wrong with you? He’ll leave you. Don’t leave me you’re stupid what’s wrong with you? Her spine felt like it was fusing into one piece. Pull it together.
            ‘I’m sorry,’ was all that she could say. She could see the hurt in his eyes. He was trying to hide it, glaring at the ceiling. It made her feel like shrinking and shrinking until she was tiny and nobody could see her.
            ‘It’s ok,’ he said. He was taking deep breaths through his nose, his lips tight below. She felt a rush  as the tension in her body ebbed away. She loved him so much. She crawled over the mattress and put her head on his chest. His heartbeat was heavy, fast, but it made her feel safe. She lay there quietly for a few minutes, listening to it thud against the pounding rain. Gradually it began to slow, along with her mind. She felt the warmth of his muscles beneath her cheek. The way he would leave hot kisses along her neck, slowly trailing down her chest, down her stomach, along the inside of her thighs. A warm gooeyness began to spread through her. She bit her lip. Tentatively she brought her right hand up to his chest and started tracing over his shirt with her fingers. She felt him smile. A little scared, she looked up. His eyes were beaming with happiness, as if he had won something. He leaned down and kissed her, softly at first, his hand slipping along her side and settling on her waist.