Despite the reassurances the others had given him, and they had reassured him basically the whole time he'd spent getting ready, Trent was still nervous as he pulled into the parking lot of Claire's place. He'd been running through a whole list of potential places to take her, because she hadn't actually specified what she wanted for a date, and Ann had warned him that she'd probably be like her in that Claire would want him to make decisions.

She walked out through the front exit of the building, looked around, spotted his Jeep, and headed for it. She looked pretty good, wearing a tight hoodie and jeans that showed off her figure. It was a far cry from what she seemed to normally wear, which were baggy clothes and big coats.

"Wow, you clean up nice," she said as she got in, then winced and sighed. "Not that you were ugly or anything before."

"It's fine," he said. "I'll take the compliment. You do, too. You look really beautiful."

She giggled awkwardly and looked away, out the window. "Thanks," she murmured. "Uh...what were we gonna do? I'm pretty much down for whatever. I just want to spend some time, get to know you before I get naked and spread my legs."

"That's more than fair. I've got a list of places we can go, both for food and for fun. Also some nice places in nature, though I'll understand if you feel less comfortable with those," he said.

She looked back over at him. "Man, you've got this shit, like, down."

"I wanted to come prepared."

"You date a lot of girls? Well, I mean, duh, of course you do."

"I didn't have much experience at all before moving to Possum Springs, but yeah, Mae and Ann and Bea have taught me a lot."

"Makes sense...well, you choose. I don't want to make decisions right now."

"All right." He fired up the Jeep.

The conversation started and died several times as he took her to get a pizza and breadsticks from a pizza place near the highway, then drove them up to the cemetery. He'd been uncertain about both moves, but Ann had told him the pizza place was one of her favorite places, and he'd gotten Mae's permission to take Claire up to the spot with the amazing view. He'd thought of it a bit as 'their spot', but it also was a really fantastic place to have a picnic. And Mae had given her enthusiastic permission, even telling him 'if you fuck her there, tell me everything'.

Though he imagined that was not on the table.

He could tell Claire was not in a great mood and also really awkward. She seemed uncomfortable and he was doing everything he could to try and dispel the discomfort.

They ended up sitting on a blanket, eating pizza, looking out over the vast fields and forests that were coming back to life slowly as Spring came to the area.

"Why are you so nice?" she asked suddenly.

He looked over at her. She was sitting with her legs out, leaned back on her hands, hoodie unzipped. It was a bit sunnier now.

"I don't know, I just am," he replied.

"You really could've just talked me into going back up into my apartment and fucking when you showed up, and I think you know that," she said, looking over at him now. "Why didn't you?"

He was suddenly reminded of his early interactions with Bea, how she was always suspicious of him, paranoid that he was trying to fuck her over somehow. Claire seemed kind of like that, though she seemed much more...resigned to it.

Like she expected it, and didn't want it, but was too tired to fight it.

"I'm not after sex and sex alone," Trent replied after considering her question legitimately for a moment, because it was a good question. He knew a lot of guys who would just have pressured her into sex instead of bothering to take her out on a date and spend time and money when they knew they didn't have to. "But, I guess, more fundamentally than that, I respect people. I don't see you as 'a thing to fuck'. You're a person. You have feelings. You have wants."

She pursed her lips, looking at him now. "That sounds really white knight," she said.

"I don't care," Trent replied.

She laughed. "Well...respect for that. Are you mad? You keep doing nice things and I keep giving you shit for it."

"Not really...are you trying to make me mad?" he replied.

"No...sorta? I guess, I'm curious to see if you'll get mad."

"I'm irritated, I'll admit," he said. "And I'm trying to do a nice thing for you. If you don't want that, and you don't want this to happen, just say so, and I'll take you home and we can just not talk to each other anymore." His voice became a little sharper as he spoke and he realized he was kind of mad.

"No. I don't want that...I'm sorry," Claire murmured. "I'm sorry if I seem like a bitch and really weird. I haven't been on a date in a long time and my last relationship ended in cheating. And, like, I get that that doesn't give me a free pass to treat you like shit. This is really nice, and I do appreciate it. I just have a hard time showing it. I've had to just shut up around so many people in my life. No one fucking wants to hear what I have to say. Not my family, not my friends, not my coworkers. At best they'll listen a little and then butt in with what they think is trying to help…" She shook her head. "I'm ranting and bitching. This is a date and we're supposed to talk about nice things and I'm fucking ruining the mood with all this crap."

"Claire…" He sighed. "This isn't like a normal date. We already kinda know each other and we also both know that we want to fuck the other. Or at least try."

"How's that different from most dates?" she asked.

"Most dates are essentially gauging 'do I want to fuck this person', we're already past that part, and we've both openly spoken about it. That's the difference. Most of dating is just unspoken dancing around subjects. Which is...whatever. Plus, you've been very up front about what's on the table, and what isn't. Sex is on the table, potentially, but a relationship isn't. I know that, I understand it, I accept it. The benefit of this is that we can be a lot more open and honest with each other, without worrying about scaring the other person off."

"...huh. That makes sense, actually," she replied. "I guess, in a way, that's what I was trying to do. Or really, seeing if it would happen. If I would scare you off. Because I don't understand you. But...now that I really think about it, I guess it makes sense. Even if you completely blow it and piss me off and I tell you to fuck off, you still have three chicks to go home to. You can completely crash this date and go home to a foursome with three other women."

"Does that bother you?" he asked. "I mean, you knew that going in."

She sighed. "I did. And it...I don't know. Maybe. I have insecurity issues, obviously. But you have a point, about the date being different. I guess, if I really dig down, I was throwing some shit at you to see how you'd react, because what I really want is someone who will fucking listen to me, and respect me, and not just shove toxic positivity or useless advice down my throat."

"You could've just asked," he replied.

"I don't trust people, and also I expect the worst from everyone."

"Okay, fair enough. I'll listen, and respect."

"You'll seriously just sit here and listen to me fucking rant for probably an hour about my stupid life? When you have so many other better things to do?"

"Yes."

"Why?!"

"I already answered that question."

She sighed explosively. "What makes you so different, then? It's that simple?: you just 'respect me as a person'? Why doesn't anyone else then?"

When he realized she actually expected an answer out of him and hadn't just been shouting angrily, he responded. "I think…" He hesitated.

"No, come on, tell me. Be honest. Tell me to my face."

"Fine," he said. "I think you have severe depression, and probably some kind of anxiety problems, and no one has offered you any kind of help to manage it in any way, and it's bled into just about every aspect of your life, and your perspective is fucking warped. You probably do have people who will listen to you, genuinely–in fact I know of at least one–and you can't see that-"

"Who?" she asked.

"Ann."

Claire had been building up a lot of anger, or really more frustration, but it seemed to collapse as he said that. She looked away, suddenly, looking guilty. "You're right," she muttered, then hugged her knees to her chest. "Fuck. I'm a shitty person."

"You probably aren't."

She laughed suddenly. "Normally when people respond to that they say 'no you aren't', but you had to qualify it."

"I don't know you well enough. I mean shit, maybe you are a shitty person? I doubt it, but I don't know how you treat people or what you do ninety nine percent of the time, Claire. I can't say that for certain."

She looked at him again sharply, like something had just occurred to her. "You write your own social contract, don't you?"

"I mean, yeah, I guess I do. I try to be respectful but I also try to be honest where it makes the most sense. Probably sometimes to a fault." He was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to navigate this. "Why don't you just rant at me? A date should be something both parties want, but also I think it's fair to consider where each person is at. Sometimes a date is for one person, and making them feel better. So this date is for you. If ranting to someone who will listen and not judge you and not try to feed you toxic positivity will make you feel better, in any way, then do it."

"Okay fine," Claire replied. "I'll do it. I fucking hate my life. I hate it. I hate everything. I hate my shitty boomer parents who don't understand fucking anything. I hate my asshole younger brother who's just so great and can do no fucking wrong in their eyes. I hate my fucking stupid jobs. I hate working at fucking Telezoft because I have to deal with people all the fucking time, and they monitor fucking everything you do, down to the second, and micromanage the shit out of us all, and there's all these fucking pointless incentives that trick most people into working harder for no extra money, but I'm the bitch just because I don't fall for that shit?!

"I hate that I quit my job at Telezoft because I have to smoke cigarettes to destress and take fucking Melatonin to fucking sleep, and I hate that I went to work for the Ham Panther. I hate that they lied to me, and only gave me part time. I hate that I had to go back to work for Telezoft, part time, so now instead of working one job that I hate, I work two of them!" By now, she had gotten to her feet and was marching back and forth.

"I hate my fucking apartment and that I can barely afford it and all the goddamned bills. I hate that I keep fucking working and trying to save and just keep getting fucked for no reason, out of nowhere! I hate my fucking car, and that it keeps breaking, and I have no fucking idea if the mechanics are fucking lying to me! I hate that I can't afford to move out of this shit hole town! I hate that everyone is so fucking stupid and religious and conservative! I hate how they fucking worship dumb assholes who are openly racist and sexist! I hate that corporations are corrupting everything and paying the government off to let them ruin the fucking planet and no one SEEMS TO GIVE A FUCKING SHIT! I hate that I'm so fucking depressed all the time, and I can't work up the energy to give a fuck about anything! I hate that I can't take a fucking break! This is my only fucking day off out of the week! I hate that I've never had a satisfying relationship! I've never been in love! I hate that I've only ever been fucking tolerated because I have boobs and a vagina! I hate how hard it is to get fucking birth control! I hate how basically everything is fucking bullshit and either no one fucking cares or people are actually cool with it!"

She stopped suddenly, panting. She stared at him hard, like she was waiting for him to say something, then she sighed heavily and sat back down. "I hate that I can't voice basically any of this without people labeling me a fucking entitled Millennial, or a fucking 'libtard', or a snowflake, or a feminazi bitch. I hate that it feels like no one gives a fuck about me except in relation to what they can get out of me. I hate that we're all just expected to work ourselves to death and be grateful for the opportunity."

For a long moment, she didn't say anything else. Just looked out over the fields again. Finally, she sighed. "That's me. Besides Ann, I don't really have any friends I feel like I can talk to about this stuff. And it's hard to talk online, because we haven't had online for so long, so I don't even have that as an outlet. I can't rely on my family for shit, not unless I want to catch so much shit because I 'drive all the men in my life away' and 'need to work harder' or how I 'should've gone to college'. Yeah, it's my fucking fault I don't want to go a quarter of a million dollars in debt that'll just keep growing to work a job I'll fucking hate anyway...I have a lot I hate. And no outlet. I'm sorry. That was probably a lot. But you offered."

"I did, and I don't regret it, and I'm really sorry about all that shit," he replied.

She let out a small laugh. "Yeah...you and me both." She took a deep breath and then let it out. "Man...I actually kinda feel better. Not amazing or anything, but like...better. I guess venting to the right person does help."

"It does," he said.

Her eyes widened. "Hey, uh...do you wanna make out?"

"Right here?" he asked, looking back into the woods. It wasn't impossible that her loud ranting would've drawn some attention, but they did seem to be alone still.

"Yeah, right here." She scooted closer. "It just occurred to me we could totally make out and I want to all of a sudden."

"Okay."

She scooted even closer and then kissed him.

The moment seemed to stretch out and everything else temporarily fell away. She leaned into the kiss after a bit, then tentatively pushed her tongue into his mouth. He moved his forward, touching hers. They danced briefly, then wrapped, then she moaned and pushed herself fully on top of him and really kicked in with the passion.

He wasn't sure how long they made out for, laying on that blanket on a hillside next to the graveyard, but it felt like awhile.

At some point the sun began to disappear again, and then it started to rain.

She didn't seem to care. They kept kissing, and her hands went under his shirt, and his went under hers, and then under her bra. He found her breasts to be warm and soft and amazing to grasp and massage.

Abruptly, she pulled back, panting heavily. Her shirt and bra were up and her tits were out and she didn't seem to notice at first. The rain was light but they had been there long enough that her hair was wet. She stared at him with wide eyes and a sort of manic grin on her face.

"Holy shit," she whispered, "I'm horny. I'm horny, Trent. I haven't been horny like this in...I don't know. Six months? Longer. Oh my God, we have to fuck. We have to fuck now."

"Okay, get up, I'll take you back to your apartment," he replied.

She chewed on her lip for a moment, then seemed to come back to herself a little. She looked around. "...yeah, okay. Okay."

They got up and she fixed her bra and shirt. As he gathered up their stuff, she glanced down and smiled. "I did that," she murmured, noticing his erection straining against his jeans.

"You most certainly did," he replied. Finishing getting the blanket and the remains of their meal up, he stood. "Come on, let's go."

Trent barely remembered the drive back to her building, or the rush up the stairs to her third floor apartment.

He didn't even remember what her living room looked like as he got to experience that scene he'd seen a thousand times in movies and TV shows where the couple were kissing and unable to keep their hands off each other as they burst in through the front door, desperately trying to make it for the bedroom, distracted to the point where they were almost falling over things. Only in this particular case, he really did fall over something, tripping as they entered her bedroom.

"Fuck!"

"Sorry! My clothes-sorry!" she said, helping him back up.

"Don't care," he replied, "still horny."

She giggled. "Me too, holy shit I forgot how good it feels!"

And then they were kissing again, crawling onto her bed, pulling their clothes off. As the last of her clothing came off he sensed a hesitation.

"You okay?" he asked, running a hand down her side.

"I...don't look good naked, I just remembered," she replied.

"You look great naked," he said.

"Are you sure? Oh what the fuck ever, I'm too horny," she replied, and they resumed kissing.

He ran his hands over her body as she did the same to him. They spent a long time kissing and touching. She had a pleasant padding to her body, big soft breasts and very nice hips and thighs. Soon enough his fingers found her pussy and his mouth found one of her nipples. She moaned and writhed on the bed as he pleasured her, fingering her and rubbing her clit vigorously as he sucked on her nipples, trying to switch between them and give them both equal attention.

"Holy fucking-oh my God, Trent…" she moaned loudly. Her hips bucked. "AH! Right there! Right fucking-oh shit!" She let out a strangled squeal of pleasure as she began to orgasm. He kept going through it, making her shake and twist even harder, hard enough that it was something of a struggle to keep her on the bed.

When she was finished climaxing, she fell back, gasping for breath. "Holy shit. Oh my God. That was-oh man. Wow."

"You're probably going to want to find some way to be quiet for this next part," he said as he began shifting.

"What? Why?"

"You're gonna scream." He laid down between her legs.

"Oh wow, are you seriously gonna do that?"

"Yes."

"You are amazing. Wait. Hold on." She grabbed a pillow. "Go." She put it over her face, holding it in place.

He tried not to laugh as he started eating her out.

Even with the pillow, she was loud. He was glad that they weren't sandwiched between apartments and on the top floor, and that it was still early enough in the day that the average person likely wouldn't be home from work yet, because she sounded really loud. She screamed and shrieked in pleasure as he licked her clit and slipped his fingers back into her.

He worked her through another pair of orgasms before she pawed at his head, pushing him away. "Please," she gasped, tossing the pillow away, "please, I'm gonna hyperventilate. Holy shit. Oh God. Please, just wait."

"Okay," he replied, sitting back.

"Wow. That was-fuck. I haven't had someone go down on me like that in years. No wonder you live with three girlfriends and had that one chick all on you." She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, a shudder running through her.

"There's a little more to it," he replied.

She laughed. "Ah, wow. Mmm. Uh...do you want me to suck your dick? I will."

"I want that, but I want to fuck you more," he replied.

"Do whatever you want."

"Okay, awesome." He began to get atop her, his erection throbbing at this point. "Just so we're totally clear: we're cool to go raw and no pull-out?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm good on birth control and, I mean, I guess I trust you not to have any STDs as much as you trust me. I know Ann's pretty responsible nowadays and Bea has to be," she replied.

"Cool."

She gasped as he slipped into her and opened her legs a bit wider.

"Ohh...yeah. Yes. Fuck. Right-ah! Right there," she whispered, panting as he pushed into her.

She was incredibly slick and so hot inside. She moaned and shuddered as she accepted his length. He settled on top of her, staring into her eyes. She cried out, her back arching as he began fucking her, sliding in and out of her.

"Yes, fuck!" she cried, and kissed him.

It quickly escalated from there. He was driving into her, pounding her pussy and making the bed bang up against the wall. At some point he heard something get knocked over, but it was hard to tell what exactly over the sounds of her pleasured cries.

She came twice more, wrapping her legs around him and begging for more.

It wasn't the wildest sex he'd ever had, but it was up there.

Trent lasted for as long as he possibly could. In the end, he was honestly surprised by how long he managed to go pounding her fantastically hot, wet pussy, because sex with Claire was reconfirming for him that sex with a new woman, especially unprotected sex, was a thrill unlike any other. When he came, it was like an explosion.

She gasped as he cried out, pushing as deep into her as he could, and started cumming, releasing everything inside of her. She moaned something, wrapping her arms and legs around him and kissing him deeply as he orgasmed inside of her and filled her up. It was a pleasure that made his whole body pulse with bliss and his head sing with overwhelming ecstasy.

He came for a long time inside of her.

When he was finished, he fell onto her, as he'd been holding himself up, as much as he could with all her limbs wrapped around him, panting.

"That was so good," she whispered in his ear.

"So good," he agreed between pants.

They laid there together.

He realized that it had begun to rain at some point, and the sound of it hitting the window by her bed provided a soothing backdrop as they came down from the dizzying high of their lovemaking.