A Partner to Share

 Thank god she had the day off today.

 Having to go in to work after such a steamy dream….

 Elise's face turned bright red just thinking about it.

 She placed her hands on her cheeks and shook her head, lightly tapping her face to try and snap herself out of it.

 'Come on….it was just a dream, dreams are normal, there's no reason to get so flustered about it.'

 Yet, no matter how much she tried to calm herself down about it, she still managed to find herself feeling like she'd done something wrong.

 All through the day, the thought of that handsome man kept creeping back into her mind.

 After all, it WAS nice to finally be face to face with a man….to be in his arms…..to be kissed and loved by him…..

 "ALRIGHT! ENOUGH!" Elise yelled at herself as she slammed her pink sponge down on the kitchen counter.

 Her eyes widened at her outburst, surprising even herself as soap bubbles flew into the air from the sponge.

 She quickly shook her head and yanked off her yellow rubber gloves, tossing them in the sink before she grabbed her phone.

 'It's just a robot. It probably doesn't even look like that in real life. Let's just order it. Maybe….maybe it'll be good for me.'

 She went back to the Love Core website and added the robot to her cart.

 It was extremely pricey. Finances would be a little tight for a bit but it wasn't going to bankrupt her.

 With a quick tap of the "CONFIRM ORDER" button, she let out a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding.

 She slumped against the counter, part of her regretting the decision already.

 'What kind of freak orders a sex robot…..'

 Maybe it wasn't too late to cancel….

 She reopened the app, her heart pounding, and clicked on her orders.

 "Due to demand, order cancellations are not available at this time. Thank you for your love!" The message read.

 A pit formed in her stomach.

 'All that money...for something I'm not even going to use! I'm definitely not going to give my first time to a robot! What…what kind of weirdo am I turning into?!'

 She cursed herself, then her therapist, then that influencer for advertising this specific company and showing up on her feed.

 'I should just cancel therapy. This has already led me to making a terrible, hasty decision!'

 Elise opened up her therapist's contact, her thumb hesitating over the call button.

 She gritted her teeth and stood up. With a sigh, she placed her phone on the counter.

 'No. No. I need to stop making hasty decisions.'

 However, as she continued to clean her house and go about her daily chores, she couldn't help but imagine what having her first time would be like.

 Everyone she knew had already had theirs already. She was already 26 years old and it was beginning to feel embarrassing.

 Tears pricked her eyes as she vacuumed. She wiped the drops away with the back of her wrist as she cursed herself again.

 Confidence was never something she lacked and she would say she loved herself a lot, more than the average person could say about themselves.

 Yet, in this one aspect of life, she completely despised herself. Why could she not be normal?

 'Stupid, it's nothing to cry over. There are plenty of people who haven't done that yet.'

 Despite trying to assure herself, the terrible feeling washing over her wasn't dissipating.

 After a long day of cleaning, she slid into her freshly made bed and clean sheets.

 Her hair was up in a towel, still damp from her shower, and a white sheet mask covered her face.

 She clicked the remote and turned on the tv, putting on her favorite tv show – a murder mystery romance called 'In the Dead of Night.'

 "Phillipe, do you see how her wrist is bent?" The female lead, Becca, pointed to the corpse with her gloved pinky.

 Phillipe squatted down and checked it out. "Interesting. It looks like her body was moved after rigor mortis set in."

 As he stood up to examine the body in full, Becca leaned in closer. "So, how was it spending the night at your brother's last night? It must've been great after not having seen him for so long."

 "Yeah, it was pretty great. I've missed him a lot."

Becca stood up. "So crazy that…." She held up a small piece of metal, "….he'd wear your watch and murder someone?"

 Phillipe glanced down at his watch, a piece of it was missing, a piece that matched the shape and color of what was in Becca's hand.

 Elise gasped as she watched the scene unfold, her eyes wide.

 "Where did you get that?" Phillipe asked, his voice dropping to a low, serious, whisper.

 Becca took a step back and glared at him. "It was snagged in the collar of her shirt, which explains the cut along her neck."

 Phillipe laughed, "Oh come on Becks! Do you think that I would KILL a woman?!"

 Becca glared at him as she pulled out her gun, pointing it at him, "I believe I said it was your brother wearing your watch. Did I not?"

 "Becks…..you're being ridiculous. Anyone would think you were using a round about way to accuse them like that! But, yeah, I guess he must've then."

 Becca continued to stare him down. "After everything I've done for you. After everything we've been through…..you what? Took another woman home, tied her up with….." Her eyes traveled down to his wrinkled tie, "….your tie….and killed her? Then you brought her here to set up a crime scene!"

 "Aren't you being ridiculous Becks?! You think I'd cheat on you?!"

 "Hand over your tie, Phillipe. It needs to go into evidence."

 Phillipe surged forward, easily disarming Becca as he pinned her to the ground.

 Elise let out a shriek as she watched on in horror.

 "I would NEVER cheat on you! Not YOU Becks, NEVER! You should've turned a blind eye, you should've not said anything!"

 Becca freed herself from his grasp and reached for the gun. The two of them struggled, both fighting over it. The scene ended with an aerial view of the crime scene and a loud gunshot.

 Elise stared at the screen in shock. "Oh my god!"

 She wanted more than anything to talk to someone about what she had just seen, but no one she knew watched the show.

 'I guess that's another great thing about having a boyfriend.' She sighed as she took off her face mask and leaned back in bed.

 DING!

 Elise looked at her phone to see a text message from an unknown number. 

 "ORDER #92814B4UA26 HAS BEEN SHIPPED!"