"Why did you make me rip my clothes off?" she asked after another minute or two of silence.
I shrugged a little and said, "Just for fun, I suppose."
"Well don't you have quite the imagination," she said. "I like that." Her hand stopped caressing my breasts. She looked at me. "You can probably make any imagination into a reality, huh?"
"So far, I would say so," I told her. "Everything I've wished has happened."
"Did you wish for this to happen?" she asked, a concerned look on her face.
"No, of course not," I said, worried by her question. "Why would you think so?"
"My worrisome nature, I guess," she said. "It kind of seemed...too convenient." I was somewhat hurt by that statement. I think she knew as she winced right after she said it. "I didn't--"
I cut her off again, "Let me ask you this. When I asked you to kiss me right before I left you earlier today, what did you feel?"
"What did I feel?" she echoed. I nodded. "Well...I'm not sure. I mean, at first, I felt appalled, I guess, but then something told me I had to do it. And I didn't seem to object anymore."
"Appalled?" I asked.
"Because I'm gay," she said in a tone that said "Duh!"
"Oh, right," I said. Then I gave her my thought. "You probably felt that way, disgusted, then OK, because that was a wish."
"How do you mean?" she asked.
"I mean, your natural instinct came first. But the wish must have cancelled it out," I said. "And I guess the power of the ring is greater than your will power. Probably greater than anyone's." I added that last bit so she wouldn't feel like she was a weak person.
"That makes sense," she said. "But what does that have to do with you possibly wishing for us to fuck each other?"
"Did you get that feeling then?" I asked.
She looked up, searching her brain for the answer. "No," she said. "Never." I smiled at her. "So of course you didn't!" she said happily. "You know what that means, right?"
"What?" I asked.
"That I love you," she said.
"And I love you, Kristy." We kissed each other again. This one was more passionate than any kiss we had yet shared. I think that was because this felt like an official declaration of our shared love. We did love each other.
She stopped kissing me and said, "Oh, I love you, Joe." I frowned immediately upon hearing my name. "What?" she asked.
"I don't want to be 'Joe' anymore," I confessed. "Do I look like 'Joe' now?"
"So what do you want to be?" she asked.
"Why don't you pick a name," I said. This was the idea I had back at my house. I wanted to first know that she loved me. Then I wanted her to name me. It was because I loved her. I was already thinking about a life together. It couldn't be 'Joe & Kristy.' It had to be something else.
She thought for a moment, resting her head on my shoulder as she did. I resumed running my fingers through her hair, as if I thought that would help her think of something. She lifted her head off me and said, "I've got one. How about 'Alexis?'"
Right away, something inside told me this was perfect. I loved the way she said it. It sounded exotic and sexy. And it was Kristy's first choice, too. I didn't want to say 'No' to her. That was fine, though, as this was the name for me.
"'Alexis' it is," I said.
She smiled wide and corrected her earlier statement. "I love you, Alexis." We kissed again. I felt Kristy pulling at the covers underneath us. She was dragging them underneath our bodies as our kiss continued. Without saying anything else, we both crawled under the covers. We were both totally worn out. Kristy rested her head against my shoulder once more, her arms wrapped around my torso. I held her in my arms as well. Slowly I felt myself drift to sleep. Now we were really sleeping with each other.