Page 122 of Sex Positive

“Ready?”

He slings her bag over his shoulder and retrieves the box of treats from her desk. Tipping up her chin, he kisses her briefly. He feels irritation ripple across her body when he pulls away before she can have more.

She’ll have more tonight.

“Waiting on you, Rogers.”

Waving goodbye to John, they exit the building and step onto the sunny Chicago sidewalk.

“Wanna walk today?” she suggests. Their Lincoln Park apartment isn’t far, and he agrees.

He hands her a macaron from the box. “What was the meeting with Theo about?”

She takes a bite. “Oh, you know. My favorite thorn in my side, Moms for Liberty, is protesting the sex education program we’re starting at Wilson Middle School next month. They said our curriculum is porn in disguise.” She rolls her eyes. “Not sure what porn they’re watching, but it must be informative.”

He laughs, and they pause at a crosswalk.

“They want a highly edited version to present to the school, but the school principal and the superintendent of the district are on our side because they know we’re completely regulated and that our lessons are appropriate for seventh and eighth graders.”

“What would a highly edited version look like?” he asks.

The crosswalk signal changes, and she casts him a knowing smile. “Abstinence only, of course.”

Since its inception almost three years ago, Sex Positive Productions has exploded across multiple forms of media, thanks in large part to the beautiful woman next to him. Starting with three podcasts focused on different topics in the sexual health sector, it’s expanded to ten podcasts whose episodes frequently top the weekly charts and a YouTube channel where popular hosts and noteworthy guests—actors, comedians, sex educators—explore a wide range of topics about sexual health, reproductive justice, gender equality, and dating and relationships. The company’s social media presence boasts followers in the millions across all major platforms.

While the main office is in New York City, it became clear after less than a year of producing content that they needed to find a second office. Charlie’s pilot program had successfully expanded to more than fifty middle and high schools across Maryland and West Virginia, and she suggested that they turn their focus to the Midwest.

“They love preaching about abstinence and shutting down necessary HIV and STI testing clinics,” Charlie pointed out dryly.

Six months later, they found a location for an office in Chicago, and Charlie volunteered to lead it while also continuing her Executive Program Director duties.

Wes was all too willing to follow, so deliriously proud of her.

After completing his Master’s of Education and the requisite student teaching, he found a position teaching history to high school freshmen. When Charlie asked why history, he explained that he’s always loved it. He wanted the opportunity to challenge young minds, change preconceived beliefs, and maybe encourage a few people to change history.

While they’ve grown and learned and moved across the country together, it’s not always easy. Of course it’s not. There are days when Charlie still retreats inside herself, when her confidence dips. Moments of uncertainty when she questions everything she’s doing even though she ultimately knows that it’s right.

He reminds her to take breaks, reminds her that he’s her partner and she can talk to him about anything, even when she thinks she is the only one who can solve her problems.

She has to remind him of the same things.

While his mother was thrilled about his career plans, his father, unsurprisingly, was not. Wes’s relationship with him, already strained and distant, became even more so, and his father makes unsubtle digs about Wes’s career choice every chance he gets, often making Wes question himself until Charlie pulls him out of his hole of self-doubt.

She’s always been able to see him.

But shedding more than two decades worth of family expectations is hard some days.

Even when his mother finally filed for divorce, it turned out that dropping Quinn from her name did not affect her popularity. In fact, polls reported that it made her more relatable, especially after she appeared on a popular late-night talk show and spoke candidly about the problems in her marriage that she’d ignored for a long time. How it’s easy to give people all the advice in the world but difficult to practice what you preach.

Charlie’s parents are a different matter.

Wes met the stiff, austere couple for the first time at graduation, sitting through a very formal and uncomfortable dinner while making attempts to lighten the mood by bringing up neutral topics. Who did they think had the best chance at winning the NBA finals? (They don’t watch basketball.) Did they root for the Cubs or the White Sox? (They don’t watch baseball.) So sad to hear about that actor passing away. (His last few movies were not good.) This steak is fantastic. (It’s a little dry.)

On the drive home, Charlie was quieter than he ever remembered her being, and he spent a frantic twenty minutes believing he’d fucked up so badly that she was going to break up with him.

And then they stepped into his apartment, and she shoved him onto the couch without warning, dropped to her knees, and proceeded to show him exactly how grateful she was for his attempts to connect with her parents.

“To show my appreciation,” she murmured, making her way up his body, sucking on his neck, and straddling him.