Angel pushed the front door to her house open, sighing in relief once she walked inside and the air was warm instead of freezing cold like usually. It was already damn near iced air outside, so she was glad she'd turned her heater on before she left.

Locking the door behind her, she removed her shoes and carried them with her her bedroom so that she could put them away in her closet. She also tossed her purse on her bed while she was at it, and then found some clothes to go to sleep in.

It was currently seven in the morning and she'd just gotten home from a long night at work. The shift she normally worked was from twelve to six in the morning, but sometimes she would stay over and work during the day if she felt like it.

The reason she said such a crazy shift was because she did all of the stocking, pre-cooking, and preparing for the actual morning or day shift. Her Nana only trusted her to get everything right, and Angel didn't mind doing it because it literally took no time at all, really.

Her Nana had owned the HuggaMug cafe since before Angel was even born, and business had never stopped booming since opening day. Everyone loved the fresh hot coffee and recipes that were made from scratch originally from her own great-great-great grandmother's kitchen.

Angel had been working there since she was sixteen, and she was now 25 so it'd been almost ten years. It was the only job she had ever had because her attention-span was too short to deal with people she didn't know and she didn't do well in unfamiliar environments.

She got paid $25/hr plus kept all tips that were given during her shift. All of the money she made was basically extra money since she didn't have any bills besides her phone service, and her older sister paid that one-so technically none.

The house she lived in was a duplex that she shared with her Nana and mom-the two of them in one side of the duplex and the other side was Angel's alone. Her Nana had paid for the house in full back in 2010 and they remodeled it two years ago once Angel decided she wanted to live on her own, but not completely.

She was very dependent on her mom and Nana-not financially or anything, she just needed to be around them often. For a while they didn't trust her to be able to take care of herself on her own, which was why it took a while for her to get her own spot. They eventually came up with the idea of turning their large house into a duplex to give her a sense of independence.

When she was twelve years old, Angel had been diagnosed with a mild form of Autism that prohibited her from getting the experience she needed to keep up with the rest of the people in her age group. Even 'til this day it was things she couldn't do or understand well enough due to the way her brain functioned.

That wasn't something she told everyone, and only her family and coworkers knew. She hadn't even told Roman yet because she didn't want that to be something that was a deal breaker in their relationship. She enjoyed his company a lot and wasn't ready to lose it yet.

Speaking of Roman, when Angel was all settled in bed she decided to give him a call to see what he was doing. She knew that he was usually taking his daughter and little sister to school around this time, and she hoped he was still out driving because she wanted him to bring her some food.

"Wassup pretty girl. You good?" He answered within two rings, taking glances between her and the road.

"Yes. Do you miss me yet?" She asked, though they'd went out for breakfast yesterday morning. She knew he did anyway. He was always missing her.

"You know I do. I wasn't gon' call you 'til later though 'cause I seen that you had just got home." He referred to the location that they shared on Life 360, sitting his phone up on the stand on his dashboard.

"Hm. What are you about to do?"

"Nothin', probably go back to sleep until later. I might hit the gym today, but besides that I don't have nothing to do. Why, wassup? Ask what you wanna ask. Why you beating around the bush?" He chuckled, hoping she was about to ask what he thought she was.

"I'm not, I just wanted to make sure your schedule was clear before I did. Do you want to come over and take a nap with me? But you have to bring me food if you do." She reached up to pull her silk bonnet down further on her forehead because it looked big as hell in the camera for some reason.

"What you wanna eat?" He tried not to show how happy that made him. It felt like the time in high school when he was finally allowed to let girls spend the night-of course with the door opened.

"My usual from Chic-Fil-A. But if the line is too long and you don't feel like waiting, a McGriddle from McDonald's would be fine too."

"Aight baby. I'll be through there in a few minutes. Leave your door unlocked for me."

"Okay. Thank you Roman." She blew a kiss at the camera, and when he returned it, they ended the call.

She got up from her bed to go unlock her front door, but before she went back to her room, she decided to go have a quick conversation with her mom about what to do since Roman was coming over.

The only people who knew that she now had a romantic friend in her life was her mom, sister, and Nana. She hadn't told them much about him besides the fact that she liked him because there wasn't much else to tell that would benefit them or something. She wouldn't have even told them about her dealings with Roman had she not needed advice about everything.

Without intention, sometimes her immediate family acted like she wasn't capable of making certain decisions for herself, especially regarding the people she hung around. Unlike most, Angel wasn't able to pick up on social cues in a timely manner and often couldn't tell what people's intentions were with her, so her family was always worried about who she was with and if she'd be safe or not.

She knew they were only looking out for her but sometimes it could get annoying.

"Mommy I just told Roman to come over and I need to know if we have to do the-you know-now? Like is that what couples do when they stay at each other's house?" Angel asked without hesitating on her words, a confused frown resting on her face.

"Angel, what?" Her mom had barely opened her eyes so she was trying to process what her daughter had just asked her at seven in the morning.

"Am I supposed to have sex with him since he's coming over?" She clarified her question further, though she thought she was clear enough before.

"Baby why would you have to have sex with him?"

"Shayla said she does it whenever Tracy goes to her house and since Roman is coming to mine I think I'm supposed to. I'm not sure though." She scratched the back of her head, referring to her older sister.

"People who've been together as long as they have probably do have sex often but that doesn't mean you have to do the same. That's not how it works honey." She chuckled, sitting up in her bed because it was obvious Angel wasn't leaving until she got a direct answer.

"Well, how does it work then? And go slow so that I can put it in my notes okay?" She had her notes app already opened up on her phone, ready to type whatever her mother was about to tell her.

"Mommy I need to write it down." Angel then frowned once Serenity took the phone from her, resting her back against her headboard.

"It's nothing complicated Angel. Sex is more than just-you know. It's nothing that you have to plan for, especially if you actually like him. It'll happen when both of you are ready. If you're worried, why don't you talk to him about it?" Serenity asked.

"I don't want him to think I'm stupid or something. I should know when it's time to have sex." She folded her arms across her chest in defeat, blowing out a slow breath.

"Sex is awkward, Angel. Nobody just "knows" when it's time. I told you it'll happen naturally." Serenity smiled, then reached over to grab her daughter's hands after realizing that answer didn't satisfy her.

"You aren't stupid, okay? And I want you to know that sex is never a requirement with anyone. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. I really think this is a conversation you should have with him because he needs to know your-concerns. Are you comfortable enough to talk to him about it?"

"Yes I'm just embarrassed, I think. Maybe it's too early. It's only been, like, a month. I'm just worried I guess." She mumbled, picking her head up at the sound of a vehicle pulling in front of their house.

"Talk to him baby. Promise? You'll talk to him?" Serenity gazed at her, and Angel nodded with a soft smile. She gave her mother a kiss on her cheek before standing up, going to meet Roman outside.

She knew herself so well and was sure she'd embarrass herself if she asked if there was a time limit or something similar that he had when it came to having sex. She'd never done it before-hell, she hadn't even had her first kiss yet, so all of this was new to her.

Just thinking about how nervous she was made her want to throw up. She wished she could call her sister because she knew Shayla would tell her exactly what she needed to know, but Shayla rarely ever got up before noon and Angel couldn't call her because she could also sleep through an avalanche.

The sound of Roman's door shutting made her look up from her hands, and a smile graced her face at the sight of Chic-Fil-A. Food was truly the key to her heart, and especially food from Chic-Fil-A.

"Wassup pretty girl?" He leaned down to kiss her cheek once they were close enough, letting her grab the bag of food from him.

"Hey Roman. You look tired." She opened up the front door to her house, gesturing him to come inside with her.

"A lil' bit. I ain't get to have to coffee when I got off work, so." He flicked her bottom lip as he blamed her for his tiredness, and she chuckled, waving him off.

Angel closed the door and locked both locks behind them, then she led the way to her bedroom since he of course didn't know the way with this being his first time over and all.

When they made it back there, Roman watched her sit the bag of food on her dresser with her back facing him-and he realized she hadn't really looked at him since he'd gotten out of his truck, which was saying something because Angel was always staring.

She also hadn't given him any directions yet-like when he'd first first rode in her car with her, she made him use hand sanitizer and he had to put his feet on the placement mat so that he didn't get the carpet dirty.

Her room had carpet too, and she hadn't told him to take his shoes off or even the common phrase 'make yourself at home', or something similar. The fact that she hadn't said much at all was enough to let him know that something was off.

"Where you want me to put my shoes, Angel?" He asked, watching as she sat down on the left side of her bed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Let me see." She held her hands out for his blue crocs, then put them away in her closet where the rest of her shoes were.

"What's the matter mama?" He had his eyebrows furrowed at her when she walked out of the closet, and her gaze found his, followed by a sigh from her.

Angel didn't even know how to phrase what she wanted to say in a format where it wouldn't be taken weirdly. He told her every time they saw each other that he was nobody to be nervous around, but still, her stomach was churning at the topic of sex.

He had never even mentioned it before and that confused her because most men initiated at least a conversation about it within a few days-which is why most of her past 'flings' ended so quickly.

She didn't like being pressured into doing stuff she wasn't ready for, and she didn't want Roman to feel pressured by her question since it was just genuine curiosity.

"Sometimes I'm not able to, like, read the room, you know? And so, I don't know if we're supposed to like..have sex or something, since you came over? Because my sister says she does it with her boyfriend whenever he comes over and I want to know if that's something that we're supposed to do now."

Her words caused Roman's expression to scrunch up further, low-key caught off guard. He hadn't ever spoken about wanting that from her so he wasn't sure on where this had come from.

"I'm sorry. I just like for stuff to be clear so that I know how to handle it, and at first I wasn't even going to ask you because I didn't want to make it awkward or make you uncomfortable but I'm just curious. Don't be mad at me please." Her brown eyes roamed over his expression, and she blew out a breath of relief once he wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

"I don't even be knowing how to respond to yo' ass sometimes." He chuckled, and she did too, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck to let him know she wanted to be picked up.

"You make me so happy and I don't want to-not do it-if that's something that you want. So I had to ask." She told him after he'd sat down in her bed, letting her stay in his lap.

"Angel you don't owe me anything just 'cause I make you happy. You for damn sure don't owe me something that I have no right to even ask for if that was something that I wanted."

"So, you don't want to have sex with me?" She asked in her naturally soft voice; so soft that it sounded it like that kind of disappointed her, which confused him.

"No I d-I mean, I do, like I wouldn't tell you no if you asked, but I don't need to have sex with you. And people don't just have sex just because they got invited over." He tucked a stray piece of hair into her bonnet while chuckling, mocking her words from earlier.

"And I also won't ever get mad at you just because you curious about something. I'm always down to talk to you about anything. You ain't gotta be scared to ask." He pulled her head forward, and her eyes briefly closed as he kissed her forehead.

"You are the sweetest. Thank you for not making that weird." She mumbled, using her thumb to rub over his thick eyebrow.

"You welcome. So, has anybody ever made you have sex with them? Is that why you thinking like that?" He asked her, technically asking about rape but he purposely didn't use the term because he didn't want to possibly trigger her if that had happened.

"No. I've never done anything before. You're my first, you know, male friend.. and I just wanted to see what page you were on."

"We won't ever have to move on my time. I won't do anything unless I know for sure that you understand what's going on and you agree that you're ready too. You understand me?" He tilted her head up so that she looked at him again, watching as she nodded.

"You been stressing 'bout this for a lil' minute, huh?" He chuckled, and she nodded her head once again.

"Only because it's hard for me to catch hints and I wouldn't want to leave you hanging if you'd been hinting towards that. I wouldn't mind it, you know, like if you want to." She put some fries in her mouth, holding the carton out for him to get some too.

"Nah. I ain't rushing nothing. Sex is more than just an action. That shit come with a lot and it's not something that we just do, just because other people do it. You feel me? Like everybody move at they own pace and most of the people in this generation be having sex just to have it."

"What do you mean?" She asked, wanting him to explain further.

"Like, sex would be more than just me sticking my dick in you, and that's what a lot of people see it as. I think that plays a part in why it's so many single parents, 'cause people just be fucking to get a nut off, and after that, they don't care no more."

"They just be enjoying the physical intimacy in that moment. 'Cause sex can create soul ties and build mental bonds that people won't even know exist-that's why you see girls, and men too, doing all type of shit when they partner cheat or try to leave them."

"A nut off, is that like, slang for ejaculation?" She wondered aloud, and he smiled, nodded his head yes.

"Some people say cum. Like for girls it'll be cum and for boys it's nut. You can use either or though."

"Hm. And that only happens when people have sex or could other things make it happen? Because I-wait, you won't laugh if I tell you this, right?" She playfully frowned at him, rolling her eyes once he laughed anyway.

"You are so annoying I'm not even gonna tell you anymore." She chewed on two chicken nuggets at the same time, reaching over on her dresser to grab her lemonade.

"Nah, nah, that just caught me off guard. Tell me." He smiled, already having sort of a clue on what she was about to tell him.

"Sometimes when you say or do certain stuff to me, my nani drips more than usual. Like it doesn't look or feel like regular discharge, it's like a clear sticky substance." She explained to him, surprisingly not nervous to reveal that.

That's what he figured she'd say. The times she was referring to, Roman could usually see her try to discreetly clench her legs together to soothe the sensation but he never spoke up on it because it was obvious she wasn't used to it.

"You be wet. That's what happens when you get sexually excited, it's just a natural reaction. It's good you told me that. I was starting to think I made you bored or somethin'." There was a sly smirk on his face, and she looked away from him after feeling herself blush.

"Thank you for talking to me about this stuff without making it weird." She finished the rest of her chicken nuggets and gave him her fries, then wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You welcome. You ain't gotta be afraid to ask me nothin' that you ain't sure about. Make sure you know that, yeah?" He rubbed the small of her back, and she nodded her head in response.

She was so thankful to have a man as understanding as him.

STILL NO KISS LETS GOOOOOOO