What's in a name?

[tedwords]

"Do you want anything else?" the twenty-something blond asked Corb. She was has blond hair and was wearing a skimpy outfit and was trying her best to act flirtatious in hope of a bigger tip, and all the time I'm thinking, yeah, that's not gonna work.

It was Saturday. We were at Foxwoods, which is a place where one can go to play the slots and gamble one's fortune away, for those of you who do not live in New England. It was a few days after I had received my annual bonus, which meant that I was (only) temporarily flush. And Corb and I had been walking for about three hours and after only one martini apiece were already three sheets to the wind.

"One more round," Corb announced, and the girl smiled and showed all her pearly white biters. Mission accomplished.

"This was a perfect day," I said, reaching over for another crunchy nacho. "Don't you think? I got myself a gift, we did a ton of walking, I didn't lose too much money, and you found yourself a furry new friend."

Corb looked down fondly at the ugly little creature by his side. "If only I could figure out what to call him."

"Hermy?"

Corb wrinkled his nose. Guess not. 

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"Naddy?" I asked him at around 1:30 that night, as we lay in bed together.

This time, in the darkness, I could simply feel him wrinkling his nose. "No. Absolutely not."

"You were so mean," I said. "Making me reach over to give you a kiss."

He chuckled. "Hmmm. Maybe there was a reason I asked you to reach over."

"Oh, wait. Did you want to make love tonight?" I tried to stifle yet another yawn. "I hate to say it Corb, but I think I'm a little tired to--"

"Ted!" I stopped talking, immediately. He sighed, wistfully. I curled my toes and snuggled up nex to him, too tired to go down, but not too tired to snuggle. "Now I know all the romance has gone out of our relationship."

@@@

"How about Yurick?" I asked this morning, after I had gone down on him. And he, on me.

"Yurick!" Corb said, washing himself off. "That's a perfect name for him. Good job, Ted."