Honing The Talent
B Pascal
Chapter 23
I alternated between happiness at having seen her again, and sadness knowing that she’d have to leave soon. I guess I’d better get used to it, as this would be our life for at least the next four years.
My mother wanted to know everything that had happened when I got in, so I had to humor her for twenty minutes. By the time I finished I had jet lag myself and went off to bed. Just before I dropped off I thought, I should find the camera and take a few shots of her to keep at school. I didn’t really have any candid pictures of her, just that formal school portrait that I kept on my desk.
The next day was Christmas Eve. My mother had agreed to bring some items for the dinner tomorrow at my Aunt Betsy’s, so there was some serious cooking to do, lest she lose points in the running culinary battle. As I said, they were seriously competitive.
So I tried to make myself scarce. Mindy had been out at a party or a sleepover with girlfriends every night since I’d gotten home, but there’d be none tonight. Instead I went over to Jeff’s and we played video games, as we had through most of high school. Truthfully, it had been a while since I’d had a controller in my hands and I’d lost some of my touch. I got trounced as a result.
When we took a break we went up to his room, and behind closed doors he filled me in on him and Kate. They’d managed to spend a few hours together, most of it talking, but when her mother took a quick run to the store he’d gotten to finger-fuck her and she gave him a blowjob.
He didn’t say so but I got the sense from how he told it that she might be pulling away, perhaps because she’d met someone else at school, or maybe just because she was trying to put high school romances behind her. I thought he’d take it pretty hard if that turned out to be the case, because he really liked her, but for the moment they were still nominally committed to each other.
When dinner time rolled around, I headed home where we had a light meal, and Mindy chattered on about all the after-Christmas sales she was looking forward to. My mother, I could see, was preoccupied, probably trying to think if she’d overlooked anything for tomorrow. My father was half-listening to Mindy ramble.
We cleaned up the supper dishes, washed and put away. I have to give Mindy credit. When she was talking about something that interested her, there was no stopping her, even while we were doing the dishes.
Afterwards, as we went off in our separate directions, I asked her in passing, “Did you get a chance to look at those books Maloney assigned you to read?”
She stopped on the stairs. “Yeah, I decided you were right, even if it’s stupid, I should probably do it. I’m partway through the first one. It’s not so bad, there were even a few parts I liked. Oh, there’s the phone!” She ran off.
So I don’t know if that was due to my planting a suggestion that she’d get some satisfaction from learning something, or just because I gave her a pep talk to do something she was probably going to do anyway. I ought to be more methodical about this, to make my experimental approach less trial-and-error.
I read a book for awhile before bed, and with the lights out, waiting for sleep, I thought back to when I was a kid trying to go to sleep on Christmas Eve. The anticipation had been palpable then, and so pervasive that sleep seemed an impossibility. Somehow we always dropped off, and when we woke it was like an electric shock, the realization that it was Christmas, that there were presents downstairs, from family, from Santa, and we couldn’t wait to see what they were!
Well, the enthusiasm had moderated somewhat over the years, but was still there in some part, so after a quick breakfast we exchanged gifts. Lots of clothes. My parents gave me a blue blazer, perhaps in the hope that I would start dressing more ’grown up’. I got a gift certificate to a chain department store that I could use back at —————————.
Karen had given me a long scarf in her university’s colors, and a book on defense moves in martial arts, a general approach rather than one specifically aimed at Hapkido. The scarf would definitely be useful now that the cold weather had settled in here.
And soon it was time to get in the car and drive to Aunt Betsy’s for dinner. My mother’s contributions, which had been warming in the oven, were wrapped in towels to insulate them and then placed in an ice chest to help keep them warm in the car’s cold trunk.
When we arrived, there was much hugging and exchanging of holiday greetings. Except for Andrea, who was wondering, I’m sure, what these people were doing in her house. Barney, the dog, was ecstatic at having all these people to pay attention to him.
Dinner was wonderful, as it always was, the spirit of competition between my mother and Aunt Betsy raising the dinner standard several points over previous years. Everyone was in a good mood, and my mother even got Andrea to say a few sentences about how she was enjoying college.
When Aunt Betsy asked me how my first year was going, Andrea pointedly stood up and walked away. Everyone was so used to it that almost no one noticed.
No need to spend much time on this, as it doesn’t advance the story, but it was nice to spend some time with family (even Andrea) and by the time we packed up to leave I was so full I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to stay awake the few blocks drive home. I helped put things away, then headed off to bed. I don’t even recall my head hitting the pillow.
The next day I felt considerably brighter, and after coffee I made a few phone calls (Mindy had headed off to the mall for the sales, so the phone was available for a change) to touch base with some of my buddies from high school.
I finally got through to Frankie Binkowski, and asked him about his first year at State. He was enthusiastic, but more about the social aspects than the classes. To hear him tell it, he was doing okay in his courses, but he was worrying about upcoming exams. I wished him luck.
Later that afternoon the doorbell rang. I opened it and found Karen.
“Oh, boy! A late Christmas present!”
“In your dreams, Carter. I was actually coming back from the store and thought I’d take a chance and see if your Mom was at home. I told her I’d try to stop by.”
“Yeah, she’s doing laundry. It’s a tough call, I know, but she could probably pull herself away from that for a while.”
“Why don’t you find something to amuse yourself with while she and I talk? I’ll find you before I leave.”
“Discarded like a used hankie. That’s all we’re good for. Use us and dispose of us. It’s just not fair.”
She smirked and wiggled her fingers. “Here’s the world’s tiniest violin playing you a sad song.
I’ll talk to you in a bit.”
She went off to find my mother and I went up and read a book. I was secretly pleased that the two of them got along. I know a lot of people whose parents don’t like their son’s girlfriends, and it made for an awkward relationship, especially if things got serious.
I got wrapped up in my book, and after an hour or so I heard a tap on the door jamb. I looked up and Karen was standing there.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your room. It kinda looks like you, has your personality. I like it.”
“I’ve never been compared to a room before, but thanks. And before I forget, your presents were wonderful. Thanks for those.”
“I hoped they were a good choice. And I see that you thought that I didn’t have enough reading, so you bought me another book. A hidden message there, maybe? Well, I may not get to it right away with exams coming up, but it looks really interesting. And the calculator? Good guess. I can do those conversions on paper, but I hate it, they’re so tedious. This’ll be a time-saver.”
“I have the receipt if you want to exchange it for something else, Karen.”
“No, it’s just right. I should have bought one for myself. Thanks for both of those.”
She went on, “Listen, you remember Carlie Fletcher?”
“Um, yeah, the New Year’s party last year, right?”
“That’s it. We finally got to talk on the phone today, catch up. She’s throwing another party this year. You want to go?”
“I don’t have anything on for New Year’s. You know I’m not a big party person. But hers was nice, kinda low-key, so sure. I’ll have to see what I’ve got to wear. I got a new blazer for Christmas, so this may be my only opportunity to wear it.”
“Okay, why don’t you pick me around nine? She’ll have food there, so leave room.”
I walked her to the door, and got a quick kiss before she left. I watched her walk to her car.
Well, that’s something to look forward to. The after-party party last year with just the two of us was memorable, but I wasn’t sure we’d have the chance to repeat it if her parents were going to be home.
I walked in to the kitchen to find something to nibble on and found my mother washing a few dishes at the sink.
“I’m really glad she found time to come over,” she said. “I like her. She was telling me about her school and how tough it is.”
“Yeah, we had much the same conversation. It’s always rough for the smartest person in a school to go off to a college where there are lots of even smarter people. It makes you feel like you were fooling everyone for four years of high school and you’ve finally been found out.”
“Is that how you feel at —————————?”
“No, because I knew that I was never one of the smartest people. There were always brighter people than I, so I never felt like I had to compete with them, beat them to be at the top of the rank-ing, like Karen. Karen’s very competitive, and used to being at the top of her class. Anything else feels almost like failure to her, and others like her. We talked about her resetting her expectations and focusing more on the experience and less on the grades.”
“That kind of came through in our conversation. She’s rethinking that. I hope she figures it out.”
“I think she’ll be all right. Listen, while I think of it, she invited me to a party at her friend’s house on New Year’s Eve. If you and Dad aren’t using the car then, may I borrow it?”
“I think so. We’re going over to the Casey’s as usual for New Year’s and we’ll probably walk there in case we have too much to drink. I’ll check and let you know.”
And so the days passed. I did get the okay to use the car. I spent some more time hanging out with Jeff. Later, the two of us met up with Frankie Binkowski and played video games like the old days, and I also touched base with a few other people I hadn’t seen in months or longer.
As New Year’s approached I checked my closet and found a pair of chino pants that would work with the new blazer. Against my better judgment I took the bus to the mall where I found that a lot of the high-priced items that were being pandered by the stores in the lead-up to Christmas were now on sale, seriously discounted. So, a new white dress shirt, something with a discrete pattern of thin blue stripes. Not really my thing, but there were times for dressy clothes. Karen liked when I made an effort.
She’d checked in with me to make sure we were still on—as if I’d bail on a chance to be with her—so she was expecting me when I pulled up in front of her house. The weather had turned cold, and there were some flurries about, so I had dressed in my winter parka. Not exactly GQ-approved outer wear, but I’d rather be warm than stylish.
She must have seen me pull up, because she opened the door as I climbed the steps. I stepped in past the storm door and my jaw dropped. Women seem to know how to make a statement with the clothes they chose to wear, much better than men do. It must be genetics. She was wearing a tight blue satin sheath that ended just above her knees, showing off her legs.
It was tight enough that I could see it straining across her chest and her butt. She looked breathtaking, and was sure to make heads turn when she walked into the room. Around her neck she was wearing the gold π pendant I had given her for Christmas last year.
“Is it okay?” she asked.
“You look... amazing. I mean, words fail me, Karen.”
“The dress might be just a bit too small, but it was on sale cheap and I took a chance.”
“Good choice,” I said, a little breathlessly.
“Okay, let me get my coat and I’ll be ready.” She pulled her coat out of the closet, and I helped her into it. She pulled on thin gloves and took her house keys out of her clutch bag. She locked the door behind us and as we walked down the steps I thought, “Man, I wish people could see me now, with this gorgeous woman on my arm.”
I helped her into the passenger seat and closed the door. “You’ll have to direct me again, ’cause I’ve forgotten where she lives.”
“Head over to Crane Boulevard and I’ll tell you where to turn. I’m hungry, I didn’t have much for lunch, but she usually has plenty to eat. Did I tell you my parents are doing the hotel New Year’s thing with their friends?”
“No, you didn’t. Is this a regular thing with them?”
“More often than not. I think it’s a way to blow off steam in a safe environment with friends.
They don’t get out enough together because of my Dad’s work schedule, so I’m glad they were able to do it.”
“My parents did much the same thing, except no hotel. They usually go to a friend’s house for a New Year’s party with their friends. They always seem to have a good time.”
“Make a right here, then second left. That’ll be her street.”
I recognized the house when I saw it again, and found a parking spot. We walked to the door and she rang the bell. The door flew open and she and Carlie did their hug thing, and Carlie said hi to me.
We found a place to put our coats. When I took mine off, she said, “Let me see. Oh, good.
Nice shirt. You look really good, Tom.”
“I feel a little too ’prep school’ dressed like this. It doesn’t feel like me.”
“It’s actually a good look for you. Think of it as normal clothes for this kind of event and you’ll feel more natural about it.”
I had my doubts, but she led us into the living room where all her friends shouted their greetings.
I was introduced to a few people, and a couple of others I remembered from last year. When she was able to pull away, she headed for the table and found a few appetizers to take the edge off her appetite.
I brought her a glass of white wine and we found a place to sit. The two of us got pulled into conversations with others around us, and it actually felt kind of pleasant. Everyone was having a good time, and so were we. Every few minutes I’d turn and look at her, talking animatedly with her old friends, and thought how lucky I was. She was truly beautiful.
The first time that we had made love we were just sixteen, and I remember holding her, before we’d done anything, and telling her that, as beautiful as she was, by the time she reached twenty she’d bring traffic to a screeching halt wherever she went. She wasn’t quite there yet, but I’m pretty sure it would be true even now.
And again my insecurity popped to the surface and I started worrying about all the other better-looking, smarter, richer, more charming guys out there who’d get one look at her and set their sights on her. I wouldn’t stand a chance.
I shook it off. It was a self-defeating mantra that did me no good, and I forced myself to enjoy the evening. For tonight, she was mine.
Someone started a bad joke challenge. Everyone had to tell the worst joke they could remember.
I had never, in all the time I had known her, heard Karen tell a joke. But quick as a wink she came up with “There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don’t.” Sure enough, it got a few groans.
When it was my turn, I pulled one out of sixth grade. “Guy’s walking down the street and hears a crowd in a fenced in yard yelling, ’Nineteen! Nineteen! Nineteen!’ He’s curious, so he walks over to the fence and peeks through a knothole and someone pokes him in the eye, and the crowd chants, ’Twenty! Twenty! Twenty!’”
It was silly and kind of stupid but everyone was a bit giddy with booze or other substances, so they were laughing. Before long, Carlie shouted that food was on, and the mob moved toward the table. This year’s selection included roast turkey and baked ziti, with lots of sides. In short order we had food on plates and were seated.
I told Karen that I was surprised to hear her tell a joke, that I couldn’t remember her doing it before. She grimaced.
“Yeah, about that. I stopped doing it when I was in middle school, ’cause people weren’t taking me seriously. I thought that if people were going to respect my intelligence, then I’d have to stop doing things which distracted people from focusing on it. I didn’t start again till this year, when some really smart folks in my dorm started telling jokes and it made me rethink my position. So I’m trying to learn to tell jokes again.”
I had to give her credit. It’s hard to change habits that are ingrained, but she was making the effort.
Carlie had music on in the background and some people started singing along to some popular tune—I didn’t know it because I didn’t care for most current bands enough to learn the words to their songs, but apparently I was in the minority. The evening continued like that, jokes and conversation, singing, more food, more wine, until someone shouted, “Hey, it’s almost time!”
Sure enough, when I looked at my watch there appeared to be only a minute to the witching hour. Someone appointed themselves timekeeper and started the countdown at ten seconds. When they reached zero, there were the usual shouts of ’Happy New Year!’ and lots of kissing. Not to be outdone, I got my arms around her and kissed her for a long time. Just to make sure I got the new year off to the right start.
When we pulled apart, she was smiling and her eyes were shining. “That was nice,” she said.
“No, that was great. If you think it was only nice, then we’ll have to do it again until I get it right.”
“Okay, let’s practice some more later. I think maybe I’ll have a little coffee. You?”
I realized that Carlie had put out coffee and desserts and I had missed them. I was either losing my touch or Karen had distracted me. Probably the latter.
So I brought us both coffees and I had pie, and as I watched her laugh with one of her girl friends I thought, I am one lucky bastard. I wished I had brought a camera. I would have loved to grab a couple of candid shots of her laughing like that while looking so absolutely gorgeous.
When she turned to me, I told her that, and asked if she could sent me some snapshots of her smiling, maybe with her roommates, because this was the way I wanted to remember her. She promised to do that, if I’d do the same.
She spent a few minutes more catching up with her friends, and I watched her. There was a whole part of her background that was invisible to me, the part of her life that she shared with friends I’d never met or knew only slightly. Just as she knew almost nothing about the time I had spent with Jeff and Frankie Binkowski and Jackie Whelan, who were as close as brothers to me. I wondered if she’d ever tell me about it, or if we’d break up before that happened.
Oops, there I go again, starting to feel sorry for myself, certain that she would fall for some guy she hadn’t met yet. I need to work on my self-confidence.
She was talking to Carlie now, laughing as she said something quietly to her. Carlie laughed, too, then I heard her say, “Wait, I want to take a picture of you to remember you by. Don’t go yet.”
She ran off.
Karen came and sat by me. “That was almost like being in high school again, gossiping with my friends and laughing at stupid jokes. That was fun. You hardly know anyone here. You didn’t feel out of place, did you?”
“No, not when I’m with you. And they seem like nice people, so I had a good time.”
Carlie came back holding a camera. “C’mon, Bunny, stand up so I can get a picture of the dress, too. You, too, Tom, stand next to her.”
We found a place to stand, and Carlie started giving us photographer’s instructions—stand a little closer, look up a bit, turn your head to your right—until Karen just shook her head and smiled, put both arms around my waist, leaning against my shoulder looking up at me, and I put an arm around her. She looked so beautiful and happy to be here with me that I couldn’t help but look down at her and grin.
Carlie shrugged, focused, and took a couple of pictures..
“That was nice,” Carlie said, “you looked happy. Both of you. I’ll send you a copy, Bunny.”
“Send two,” said Karen.
We said our goodbyes and found our coats. I thanked Carlie again for the party, and we waved behind us as we left the house. The car was cold and I shivered as we got in. It would take a while before the heater kicked in, and we’d be at her place by then.
She chatted about some of the news she’d caught up on as we drove, and in a few minutes I pulled up in front of her house. The heater was still blowing cold air.
She took my arm as we walked up the steps, and I held the storm door while she fumbled with the lock. Once inside I helped her off with her coat and again admired the beautiful woman she’d become.
She turned to me and put her arms around me, leaning her head against my winter coat. “I’m really happy you decided to come tonight. I was—I don’t know how to explain this—I was feeling like I’d forgotten who you were, that perhaps we’d lost our connection, that closeness we had. Did you?”
“Good God, no! Karen, I spent the whole semester trying to figure out a way to hear your voice that wouldn’t break the bank with long distance calls. I told you how much I looked forward to your letters and emails, what they meant to me. And the first time I saw you, after you came back, it was like two pieces of a puzzle clicking into place. I never felt we’d lost our connection.”
She hugged me tighter. “I think I knew that, but I had to hear it. The toughest times for me are when I’m trying to get to sleep and I wish I could just call you and talk about the frustrations I’d had that day, the stuff that was worrying me. Can you stay for awhile, Tom? Would you make love to me?”
“Karen, there is nothing in the world I’d like more. It’s taken all my self-control to keep my hands off you, but I had to know that you wanted it, too. So, where? On the stairs? Kitchen table?
Right here on the floor?”
“Down, boy. I don’t think I’m ready for acrobatics yet. How about upstairs? In a bed. Nice, comfortable mattress.”
“No spirit of adventure, that’s your problem. Very well, on the bed. Wait a sec...” I unzipped my jacket, stuffed the gloves in one sleeve, and hung it up. She took my hand and led me up the stairs.
Her room was pretty much as I’d remembered it, though this time there were some clothes draped over chairs or on the outside of the closet door, things she’d tried on and ruled out perhaps.
She kicked her shoes into a corner and put her arms around me. I lifted her chin with one finger and kissed her until I felt her relax into me.
I was so used to laying the groundwork with channeling and linkcasting that I found myself sending her the Foundation image almost before I realized I was doing it. I imagined a feather brushing her nipples and I could feel her respond to the feeling as I kissed her. Her hands had dropped down and were squeezing my butt. I couldn’t recall her doing that before but I wasn’t complaining.
It was late and we didn’t have that much time, so I reached up to find the zipper on her dress and worked it downward. The dress was tight—she’d said it was a bit small for her, though it looked fabulous and sexy—and I had some trouble in a couple of places, but eventually it was as far down as it could go.
I pushed her back a step. I was surprised at how much her new haircut had transformed her appearance, especially now with that look of anticipation on her face. Taking one sleeve in my hand I pulled and she was able to withdraw her arm from the dress. I did the same for the other sleeve, and when I released it the top fell forward and revealed her bra and her boobs straining under it.
The bra was new, one I hadn’t seen before, black and lacy, looking exactly like the ones in all the Playboy/Penthouse centerfolds, designed to show off the tits they were ostensibly hiding.
I immediately felt my breath getting shallow. It wasn’t possible that she had changed so much physically in just a few months, but right now she looked so impossibly sexy that I could feel my hands start trembling, as they had the first time we’d made love a few years ago.
I forced myself to focus and knelt down before her. I took the hem of her dress in both hands and tugged, while she wriggled her hips to free the dress. The movement was so erotic that I felt myself stop breathing for a moment. And then the dress pulled free of the grasp of her hips and fell to the floor.
Jesus! It was a good thing I was already on the floor, because I likely would have fallen there anyway, to my embarrassment. She was wearing matching black lace panties, very skimpy, over a black garter belt holding up the blue stockings she wore.
“Someday I’m going to do this, Karen, and the sight will be so dramatic and erotic that I’ll have a heart attack.”
“Poor baby. I thought that you were a sophisticated college man now and could handle the surprise.”
“Apparently not. My heart’s beating like a bongo drum, and it’s your fault.”
She was looking for that reinforcement, I knew, and she smiled. I leaned in and kissed her belly as I grabbed her butt cheeks. Yep, still a fabulous ass, so I kneaded it in my hands as I kissed and licked my way slowly south. I could feel her tensing as I got closer to her pubis.
I stopped just short of the goal and got to my feet again. I pulled her in and kissed her again while I fumbled with her bra. When the clasp opened I pulled it off her arms and it fell to the floor between us.
“Oh, Christ, Sunderland, as much of this detail as I keep stored in my head so I can revisit it, it never comes close to the real thing. You just take my breath away.”
I reached out and took her breasts in both my hands and fondled them. They were truly spectacular, round and firm and surprisingly, given their size, no sag. The nipples were erect, standing at attention, and I rolled them between my thumbs and forefingers. She gave a quiet moan as she closed her eyes.
“Baby, I’ve got to get my clothes off so I can feel your body next to mine. Just a minute.”
I sat on the edge of a chair and unlaced my shoes, pulling off my socks, and began unbuttoning my shirt.
“There’s a surprise waiting for you,” she said. I looked up in confusion.
“I don’t want to spoil it, and I’m not sure you’ll like it, ’cause we’ve never talked about it.”
“What is it?” I asked, a little puzzled.
“Better you see for yourself. Then you can give me your opinion.”
Now I was really confused. I got the rest of my clothes off and stood up. I was suddenly struck by a trick of the lighting from the two lamps that lit the room. The light fell on her almost as if it had been designed by a photographer to minimize shadows and accentuate her shape. For a moment, she looked so like one of the centerfolds we had lusted over in high school that I was tempted to run and find a camera to remember it.
She looked completely natural, a woman in her sexual prime, proud of her body, waiting to share it with her lover. I felt my heart swell almost to overflowing as I reached out to her. We wrapped our arms around each other and I felt like our souls were again beginning to merge.
My dick, being somewhat less spiritual, had something else in mind and was sticking straight out. It got pushed to one side when our bodies moved together, but the touch of her skin was so arousing that I knew that one wrong movement would have me shooting my load in seconds.
Maybe now is the time... I placed an ejaculation filter in place before it was too late.
I felt some of the urgency subside. I was still so erect I could hammer nails with my dick, but it wouldn’t make me cum in the process.
While I kissed her with lots of tongue, I ran my hands down her sides and got my fingers in the waistband of her panties and slid them over the garter belt, over the curve of her ass and let them fall to the floor. I moved her slowly back until her legs were pressing against the mattress, and laid her back so her legs were hanging over the edge, my eyes never leaving hers.
I dropped slowly to my knees in front of her, and found the surprise.
Karen’s pubic hair was delicate and very soft. While other women I’d been with had shaved their pussies, partially or completely, Karen had always left herself natural, and I loved how it felt.
That was gone. She had shaved her pussy, leaving a little triangle above her slit. I stared at it.
I looked up at her, and I knew she could see the surprise on my face.
I could almost see her preparing an excuse or an apology, but before she could speak, I said,
“It’s beautiful.”
“Really? You like it? I wasn’t sure, it’s been the other way forever.”
“It’s incredibly erotic. What made you decide to change it?”
She couldn’t quite meet my eyes. “I’m so embarrassed. This is such a stereotype I’m a little ashamed. It was a bunch of us girls in the dorm getting into a game of Truth Or Dare. There was some wine involved. A lot of wine, actually. I chose Truth, and someone asked me if I shaved down there, so I told the truth.
“Then after a couple of more times around, it was my turn again and I stupidly chose Dare.
Someone dared me to shave myself bare. I was hesitant, but then they all started ragging me, then somebody said, ’If she won’t do it when she was dared, then we gotta do it for her!’ Before I knew it they were all trooping me into the showers, somebody produced a razor and shaving gel, and somehow they got my pants off, and...
“Anyway, a couple of them are holding me to keep my hands out of the way, another is shaving me, and everyone else is cheering her on, shouting, ’Hair today, gone tomorrow’. I’m really embarrassed because none of them had really seen me naked and I’ve got nowhere to hide. They weren’t being mean, it was just a prank caused by a lot of wine.”
“I thought that only happens in porn movies. I’m so naive.”
“Tom, don’t make fun of me. Is it okay, really?”
“I didn’t think you could get any hotter, Karen. I was wrong.”
She looked like she wasn’t really sure, but honestly? This had my dick practically straining at the leash. I leaned in and kissed my way downward, following the implicit arrow of hair above her slit. When my mouth got just below her clit, I stuck out my tongue and ran it up and down her slit.
I could hear her catching her breath.
I took my thumbs and pulled her labia apart slightly, enough to expose the interior. When my tongue hit it, she gasped. “Oh, Christ, Tom, that feels so good.”
I was pretty sure it was going to get better. I worked my way slowly upward, but when I reached her clit I didn’t use my tongue, I grabbed it with my lips and pulled, letting it snap back. “Jesus, Tom, yes, like that.” She reached down and put her hands on the back of my head. I worked her clit with my lips until she was lightly slapping the back of my head.
I linkcast her Mineral Spring, something that would give her a flush of pleasure that was not quite an orgasm, and would leave her contented and relaxed. Her hands pressed me in while I nibbled. She was still on edge, but I wanted to build her up slowly.
I took the thumb and index finger of my left hand rolled the skin around her clit back and forth, without touching the clit itself. That got her engine running and her hands were urging my head higher, looking for my tongue, but not yet.
Her pussy was damp now, and I let the tips of the fingers on my right hand slide slowly up and down the wet slit. The last time, when it reached bottom, I slid two fingers slowly into her pussy, in and out. Above me, she said, “Yes, yes, like that, don’t tease me, baby.”
But really? I loved teasing her, loved bringing her right to the edge, then backing off, until she was desperate for release. That’s what I was doing now. I stepped into her head, looking for that special place where the pleasure meter lived. It was different with everyone, but I eventually remembered where hers was.
It was—and again, it’s not a real meter, just something that’s functionally equivalent, so I describe it as an object you might recognize because of its function—it was hovering in the 70%
range, twitching higher. I moved my fingers in her pussy a little faster and deeper and watched it creep upward.
I linkcast an image, the old standby, of a far-off wave approaching the shore, getting larger as it approached, curling upward as it prepared to break.
I brought my mouth up above her clit, then stuck out my tongue and circled her clit, avoiding the center. I felt her whole body tense, all the muscles tight as she held her breath.
Then the wave broke and she arched her hips and cried out, “Oh, God, baby, yes! Oh, yes!”
She was pushing my head into her pussy so as to maximize the contact, while her hips rose and fell. She finally collapsed and guided me away from her now-sensitive clit.
“Oh, fuck, baby, why does it never feel as good when I do it myself? It’s not the same as when you do it. So good.”
Hearing her say that gave me a rush, because the underlying message was that I gave her something no one else had, and she might be inclined to keep me around as a result. Okay, I’m grasping at straws here, but humor me.
“Turn over, Karen. Lay on the bed so I can look at you.”
She pulled herself up onto the bed and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. Good God, look at that ass, it’s perfect! The garter belt and stockings were like a picture frame, surrounding that gorgeous, round butt.
The first time I had kissed her butt cheeks, she was so scared that I thought she was going to push me away, but once I’d gotten my tongue in there it sent her soaring and she found that she loved it.
I kissed the inside of her thighs, sometimes letting my tongue dart out for a quick lick, and worked my way up to her ass, stroking and squeezing it until I could hear her start to purr. With my thumbs I pulled the cheeks apart and inserted my tongue, letting it flick from side to side.
“Oh, damn, Carter, that feels so good. Are you...”
She didn’t finish, because I had dropped my tongue onto her asshole and tried to push it in, and what came out of her mouth now was just moans, whimpers and a few strangled sounds. While I did that I took one of my hands and inserted two fingers into her cunt again, and I could feel her trying to pull them in deeper.
“That’s it, baby, like that, don’t stop. A little faster.” She was squirming now, trying to find the optimum position to give her what she needed. But I had something different in mind.
I put one hand under her hip and flipped her over onto her back. I had to smile to myself, she looked so desperate, like she was right on the edge and just couldn’t take that last step to get to where she wanted to go.
I got on my knees beside her, leaned down and got a lip lock on her, doing my best to suck her tongue out of her mouth while she mewled, trying to get me to help her find her release.
My right hand worked its way down her belly past the newly trimmed landmark and found her pussy, now more wet than damp. I rubbed my fingers over her slit and could feel her respond, pushing into me.
She was in a rhythm now, trying to use my hand to get to her next orgasm, but I didn’t want it to be predictable so I lifted my hand and slapped her pussy with a wet sound. She gasped, sucking in her breath, which pulled the air out of my lungs.
Before she could say anything, I rubbed her slit again, finding the regular rhythm she liked. I alternated between those, until she didn’t know what was going to happen next. I peeked into her epicenter and found the pleasure meter approaching the red line, and a sense that she needed this to end.
I knew what she liked. Well, she liked a lot of things, but me working her G-spot was one of her favorites, so that’s what I did. I had to sit up to do this properly, so I did and took two fingers and hooked them into her cunt, feeling up just under the back of her clit until I thought I had found it, then vibrated them hard, in and out, just an inch either way.
She pushed her head back and arched her back. I could hear a faraway, high-pitched keening start in her chest until it exploded in a desperate wail. “Yesyesyesyesyes, YES! Don’t stop, don’t stop, oh, YES!”
Her whole body trembled until she collapsed back onto the bed, and I heard a faint whisper,
“No, no more, stop.”
I took my fingers out and stroked her pussy gently, then lay down beside her and put my arm around her. She’d be out for a while, so I just lay there with her, thankful to be with her again, if only for a short time.
My mind may have wandered a bit, because I was startled when she said, “What was it I used to say about you? Magic... something. Oh! Magic hands, I said you had magic hands. I think it was even before we’d made love the first time. Your hands on me just made me crazy.”
She worked her way around till she was lying on her side, facing me. “You still have magic hands, Carter. You get me so wound up.” She leaned in and kissed me.
“I love doing those things to you, Karen. It gives me such a thrill to watch you respond. You just let your feelings take over and it’s a joy to see. I wish we weren’t always pressed for time, trying to find an hour here, thirty minutes there, I always feel like I’m a bit rushed, afraid to draw things out.
“I love making love to you, but it never feels like it’s enough, like one of us has to be off to do something else. I feel like I could spend days thinking up new things to try with you.”
“I know, Tom. It’s like stolen moments together, then we have to run back to our lives. But I don’t see it changing any time soon, so let’s just try to be happy with what we have. Like that last one. That made me pretty happy. Magic hands.
“Anyway, I may still need a few minutes to recover. Why don’t you lie there and maybe I could come up with something interesting to do while we wait.”
I knew exactly what she had in mind and she’d get no complaints from me, so I rolled onto my back and watched her. Christ, look at her. She was getting up onto her knees, and raised her arms to stretch and work out the kinks in her back. Her tits swayed back and forth slowly, doing a sexy little dance, and I could feel my cock twitching as it followed the rhythm.
She smiled at me, then leaned down and took my dick on one hand and licked it from bottom to top. Then she did it again, this time flicking her tongue back and forth as it descended. Each lick was like an electric shock, and I knew it was only going to get better.
She repositioned herself between my legs, pushed my dick out of the way and sucked one of my balls into her mouth. She ran her tongue around it while she watched me, and I cried out,
“Ohmigod, baby, yes, yes!”
She continued to do that, her eyes never leaving my face, and started slowly stroking my cock.
If I hadn’t set that filter, I’d be shooting a load all over me or the bed right about now.
Karen moved over and sucked the other one into her mouth, massaging it with her tongue. I was almost choking now, unable to control my breathing. I wondered how long a person could have that done to them. Would it become unpleasant after a while, too sensitive?
I was spared further contemplation because she let the ball drop and moved up to my cock and positioned her lips over it, opening her mouth just wide enough to let her lips brush past the rim of my dick. I wanted to scream, to let her know how good it felt, but I was so focused on the exquisite feeling I couldn’t spare time to speak. It was like she was reading my mind, knowing just what I wanted next.
She continued to bob up and down in a slow, even rhythm, letting her lips tease the rim of my dick, then added her tongue to the mix, giving a little flick to the frenulum which made me gasp.
I could tell that she was toying with me now, just to see how crazy she could make me. I realized that my hands were grabbing at the bedclothes. I hadn’t been aware of it, but she had noticed, of course.
She pulled off and smiled at me, while she continued to stroke my dick with her hand. She leaned down again and wrapped her lips tight around my dick and slid it into her mouth, about halfway. She sucked in and made her tongue do a dance on my cock as she slid it out. I heard myself say, “Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck”
Over and over she did it. At some point my hands found their way to the back of her head urging her deeper. I knew she was teasing me, wanting to make me beg for it, but I was beyond speech, so my hands told her to go deeper.
She’d proved her point, so she pulled off, took a breath, and dropped down onto my dick again, this time going all the way down until it was poking at her throat. With only a moment’s hesitation, she pushed and my dick popped into her throat and I felt her lips and tongue at the base of my cock.
All of a sudden I got my voice back. “Oh, Jesus, yes, baby, like that, oh, yes!”
She bobbed up and down, my dick sliding into her throat, and I was imagining not having the filter in place. I’d be pumping a second load of cum into her throat right about now.
This felt so perfect that I was tempted to see how long she could keep this going, but we didn’t have a lot of time. I no longer had a curfew, but I had to get the car back sometime tonight.
“Baby, that feels so wonderful, but you’ve got to stop. Please, I can’t hold out much longer.”
She looked at me, my dick still deep in her mouth, as if considering the request. I knew she was toying with me, having fun. She pulled off slowly, feigning reluctance.
“No stamina, huh?”
“Karen, I am helpless when you set to work on me. I need to be inside you, right now.”
“Oh, I suppose.” She was trying to portray indifference and not doing a very good job of it. I guess that rules out an acting career for her.
“What would you like, Tom?”
“I can’t think of a single sex position with you that’s less wonderful than any of the others.
How about if we start with me on top? Like our first time?”
She smiled. “I remember that,” she said. “In fact, I think about it a lot. You opened my eyes that day.”
“Yeah, I got my eyes opened, too. I had no idea that sex with someone could be so amazing.
So let’s do that again and see if we can improve on it.”
I laid her on her back and kissed her for a long time with some tongue, while I squeezed her tits and rolled her nipples under my finger. At some point I reached over her and just managed to grab my pants on the floor with my extended fingers and I pulled a condom from my wallet.
She watched while I opened it and rolled it onto my dick. Sometimes she liked to do it for me, but today she just watched. She had one hand resting idly between her legs, stroking her damp pussy. She’d never let me see her do that before.
I got on my knees, urging her legs apart with my fingers. As I got closer to her I saw her pull in her breath, waiting. My dick was pointing straight at her pussy, knowing exactly where it wanted to be, but instead I took it in one hand and rubbed it on her slit, up and down.
“Please, baby, don’t tease me. I need this.”
But I wanted to drag it out just a little longer because I so loved that look of desperation on her face. I pushed my cock a little higher and let it rub over her clit. I heard her let out a long moan. I slapped my dick against her clit several times and her breath caught in her throat and she coughed.
Okay, it’s time. I leaned back on my heels and positioned my dick at the entrance to her pussy and slid it in.
I felt dizzy, it felt so good I almost collapsed. Sex with other women, even great sex, was never as good as it was with Karen. It’s like our bodies were made just for each other. Her pussy grabbed my dick and wrapped itself around it, no other way to describe it.
“Oh, Christ, Karen, it’s perfect, that feels so good, it’s like a drug.”
She had her eyes closed, her mouth half open, as I moved slowly in and out of her. Her face was so expressive it was as if I could watch her feelings like it was a movie being displayed on a screen.
But I couldn’t leave well enough alone, I wanted to add some special effects. I’d gotten so used to enhancing my partners’ experiences that I almost couldn’t help myself trying to tweak their responses.
I linkcast her the Mineral Springs image, and watched the pleasure roll over her and leave her looking like she was in a perfect state of contentment. It wasn’t an orgasm, just a sense of delight, of being with the right person in the right place. After a few moments she opened her eyes and gave me a glorious smile.
It was such a delight seeing her do that, that I couldn’t help pushing into her a little harder and faster. The feeling of being inside her was making my head spin, a little lightheaded.
I could see her lips moving, nothing I could hear, just Karen talking to herself, urging herself on. I channeled a finger rubbing against her G-spot and saw it happen on her face. She was working her hips now, pushing into me, trying to get her orgasm to show itself, wherever it was hiding.
Now she started talking to me, her eyes still closed. “Ooo, like that, baby, a little harder, fuck me harder, I’m really close now.”
The first couple of times we’d had sex she was so shy that she couldn’t even use words like fuck or pussy, as if she’d thought I’d think her cheap. But eventually she got so wrapped up in the sensations that the words came out of her naturally. It was really sexy.
But she knew what she wanted now, so I got my arms underneath her legs and pushed forward to lean on my extended arms, forcing her legs back toward her shoulders and rolling her hips upward. I could now fuck straight down, putting my hips into it.
And so I did. I was pounding my cock into her and was pretty sure I was getting some of it sliding against her clitoris. Under me, she was saying something in guttural English. All I was able to pick out was, “Yes, uh-huh, do it.”
I should really let her find her own orgasms, because hers, when they did happen, were memorable. But it had been a long time since we’d made love and I really needed to see her get off.
Because that’s what I remembered when we were done, not so much my orgasm but hers. All of hers.
So in the interim I linkcast a Summer Breeze to her. It’s a quick, happy little thing, not earth-shaking but really pleasant. And seeing it on her face was a joy. She was almost laughing at the happiness of it.
“Oh, Tom, that was good! More like that.”
The way she said it, it was almost like she knew I was sending them to her, but of course she didn’t know. She just wanted me to keep doing what I was doing so she could find another one like it. So I did.
Her pussy seemed to be grabbing my dick, massaging it, squeezing it, and I marveled at the set of muscles that would allow her pussy to do that. I wondered if she was controlling it consciously or if it just happened when she got aroused.
I linkcast her another Summer Breeze, and she cried out, “Oh, YES! Yes, baby, like that!”
And right then my back started hurting. I’m going to have to do some research on exercises to strengthen the muscles in my lower back, because this was happening way too often, and at critical moments, too.
But nothing to be done about it now. I needed to find a new position before I had to get a phone book and find a chiropractor who made house calls on New Year’s Eve.
I leaned back and pulled out of her slowly. She looked like she was pouting. She’d been working towards her next one and I had stopped. I didn’t give her time to feel sorry for herself. I rolled her onto her right side and hooked her left leg over my shoulder. We’d done this before and it had worked out pretty well.
I slid up her left leg toward her now-exposed cunt and found my way back into her pussy. I got comfortable and was able to get a good, solid rhythm going without having to put too much of my back into it. In a few moments my dick was slapping wetly into her pussy and she was grunting.
I looked down and realized what an erotic picture she presented right now. Her garter belt contrasted against her skin, and the straps led right up to the sexy stockings now resting against my cheek. I turned my head and kissed her thigh above her knee through the stocking.
Damn! Look at that ass. That may be the most perfect ass in the world. With my right hand I slapped it as my dick hit bottom. She cried, “Oh!” Every other thrust I slapped it again.
I grabbed the cheek of her ass and squeezed while I fucked her. Under me, she was grunting, trying to find the next orgasm. Her pussy was dripping. I rubbed my fingers in the moisture collecting on her thigh.
She was due for another, maybe something larger. Most of the named images I’d devised were oriented toward the ’big orgasm’, but that wasn’t the right thing now. Something a bit smaller, but larger than Summer Breeze. I was going to have to come up with some medium-sized named images, but later.
For now I used the tired old favorite, the breaking wave. The nice thing about that one is you can adjust the intensity of the orgasm by modulating the height of the wave. Big wave, big orgasm.
Small wave... well, you get the idea. Not very nuanced, but useful sometimes.
So I started with an image of a small wave approaching the shore and linkcast it to her. I could see it start to happen on her face as she felt it coming. I rubbed my fingers on her wet thigh and heard her strangled breath as it started to wash over her. My lubricated fingers moved up till they found her asshole and I pushed them slowly in. Her eyes flew open.
I knew she was about to reproach me for not letting her know what I was going to do, but now it was too late because the orgasm was on her.
“Ohmigod, oh, God, baby, I’m cumming, YESYESyesyes!”
Huh? Small wave, small orgasm. That was not a small orgasm. What... Oh. My bad. I’d forgotten. She sometimes got off on her own, and some of her orgasms were epic. So I think that was one of hers on top of the one I’d sent her, probably because of my fingers sliding into her ass. I should have remembered.
I was still pumping my dick into her until she finally reached up and grabbed my arm hard, her signal to slow down and stop.
I pulled out of her slowly and lowered her leg onto the bed. I took the opportunity to rest my back and lay down beside her. Her face looked completely relaxed with just the hint of a smile.
After a few minutes she reached out and fumbled to find my hand.
“It’s been a while since I got off like that,” she told me quietly, her eyes still shut.
“Maybe I’ll take flying lessons. Then I could rent a plane and fly out to the west coast every week or so and we could spend a couple of instructive hours together.”
“You do that, Carter. I’ll order pizza.” She squeezed my hand.
“How come,” she continued, “I cum so hard when you stick things in my butt? I always thought, I mean, before I met you, that things in your butt were gross. When my girlfriends talked about it, I was just creeped out and kept quiet, I couldn’t ask them if they’d done that and what was so good about it.
“That’s why it felt so weird the first time we tried that. I had to really force myself not to run from it. I was so convinced it was going to hurt and I’d hate it. So I was stunned to find that it... felt good. Actually, better than good. I didn’t want to admit that I’d been wrong, that I liked it. Even to you.”
“If there was a question lurking there, I lost it in the underbrush. What was the question?”
“I guess it was more of a comment than a question. I was just surprised at how hard I get off with things in my butt. I wouldn’t have expected that.”
“I dunno, everybody likes different things and we don’t always know what we like until we try them once or twice, even if we think we know what our limits are.”
“I think we talked about this once, about things we’d thought about and might like to try, and of things that scared us to try. Butt play was on the last list for me. There’s other things on it that I’ve gotta think about.”
“Like what?”
She paused. “I don’t think I’m quite ready to talk about it yet. Some of them just sound... weird to me, and a little scary. I’ve got to think about them some more.”
“Y’know, I really admire that about you, Karen, the idea that you consider trying things that frighten you. I don’t mean just sex stuff, but anything that might feel strange or uncomfortable. A lot of people wouldn’t even consider it. They know what they know and they don’t care to know anything else.”
“It’s not easy, but if you’re going to grow you have to question everything. But it’s still scary to consider them. Look, I’m not really ready to talk about this now. It’s just something that’s been in the back of my mind. Another time, Tom.”
“Fair enough. There’s plenty of time.”
“Speaking of time, I don’t mean to rush you, but didn’t you say that you had to get home with the car sometime before morning?”
“Uh, yeah. I was trying not to remember, because it means that when I leave here I probably won’t see you or talk to you for months.”
“That’s true, but it’s not that far away, and we’ll have a few months over the summer to be together. And just a passing thought, I notice that you haven’t gotten off even once.”
“That hadn’t escaped me. I was delaying it because once I cum it means I’m done for awhile, and we don’t have time for me to recover for a second effort.”
“So let’s make this one memorable. Lie back there, sonny, and I’ll get you functional again.”
She pushed me onto my back and got to her knees between my legs. I was a little limp from having spent so much time talking with her. I still had the condom on, but my poor dick looked a bit anemic. She took the base of it in her fingers and rolled it between her fingers, then leaned in and licked the tip. Even through the condom it felt like sparks from a live wire. She licked it up and down while she stroked it slowly, and I could feel it start to respond.
She dropped lower and sucked one ball into her mouth, massaging it with her tongue. I wasn’t even aware I was doing it, but I heard myself saying, “Oh, fuck, yes, baby.”
She kept doing that and in less than a minute my dick was stretching the condom tight again.
“There we go,” she said. “What should we do with that, you think?”
“Why don’t you get on top, so I can look at you. That would make me really happy.”
“If it makes you happy, then I’m happy. Here we go.”
She knee-walked up the bed and got herself positioned over me, and with one hand slowly guided my cock into her pussy. It felt so perfect that I felt all the tension in my body fall away.
Karen started a small, circular movement accompanied by an up-and-down motion that soon had me moaning quietly. She was watching me with a tiny smile, knowing exactly what she was doing.
I loved this woman, and how she was trying to make things special for me. I wanted to make it good for her, so I linkcast her Rowboat, which would leave her floating in a sea of contentment.
I watched her face change as it took her over. Her eyes closed, and she put her head back slightly. Her lips opened with a beatific smile. She was lost in her own feelings.
She was moving above me slowly, sinuously. She brought one hand up to her breast and squeezed it. I couldn’t let that pass, so I linkcast a Summer Breeze and watched it pass over her.
She opened her eyes briefly to share it with me, then closed them.
We continued like that for several minutes, with a couple more Summer Breezes that caught her by surprise.
As I watched her move above me, her mind focused only on where she was and what she was feeling, I felt myself suddenly moving in sync with her. Not her physical movements but the state of her mind, as if I were sharing the experience with her. I knew it was a trick of empathy, of being completely in tune with the person you’re with, but it felt like more than that.
Almost every other time we’d made love there was a point, usually when we were both beginning an orgasm, when it felt like our spirits had joined, become a single entity, sharing what the other was feeling as well as our own sensations. Our souls had momentarily combined and were soaring above the earth, up to the stars. I know this sounds terribly dramatic and a bit soppy, but that’s what it was. It was a profoundly powerful, overwhelming experience that left us both stunned, in awe.
I’d never felt anything like it with any other person, though I sometimes did get that sense of sharing my partner’s orgasm through their sensations. With Karen, it was something deeper, more fundamental. And now I was feeling this connection before we had reached orgasm. It was slightly unnerving. I didn’t want to let it go.
I could see her working at it, trying to find the next orgasm. She had a look of determination on her face as she tried to tease the next one out from where it was hiding. I loved watching her face when she found it.
I knew we didn’t have much time left, because it was getting late and I had to go soon. She deserved a couple more before the last, big one. Most of the named images I’d collected were of the huge explosion variety, but those were too much for right now. I fell back on the breaking wave, because I could adjust its intensity, so I linkcast a medium-sized wave coming toward the beach from far away.
She could sense it approaching, she knew something was about to happen, and she worked to help it along. I helped, too, and started pounding my dick into her, picking up the speed and the depth. She opened her eyes and looked at me, wanting to make sure I was still with her.
All awareness of everything apart from the two of us faded away, and I felt myself connected to her. It was as if I was inside her mind, watching this thing approach and wondering when it would get here and what it was going to be like. And before she knew it, it was here, washing over her, surging through every nerve in her body. She cried out, almost laughing at the joy of it.
The delight was painted on her face and as it slowly faded she lowered herself down, wrapped her arms around me and sighed. She rested for a minute, then pushed herself erect again. “That’s what I like about you, Carter, you don’t do things halfway.”
“Not when you’re involved.”
“I think it’s your turn now. What can I do to help?”
“Just keep doing what you were doing, and I’ll be done in no time.”
I was tempted to throw caution aside and keep fucking her until we both passed out from dehydration, but I needed to get the car back or face awkward questions from my parents. And we thought, but weren’t completely sure, that her parents were staying at their hotel overnight after their party ended. So prudence was the watchword.
I was pretty sure I’d be done in two minutes or less once I released the ejaculation filter, so I set to work setting up a quick rhythm, hammering into her as deep as I could. I could see that she’d picked up the sense of urgency and was grinding into me, leaning forward onto her extended arms while she looked into my eyes.
I channeled a couple of fingers rubbing her G-spot and heard her gasp. She’d just had an orgasm and wasn’t expecting another so soon, but this felt like something was on the horizon for her. Her tits were swaying above my chest and looked so perfect that I had to reach out and squeeze them.
I found her nipples and rolled them under my fingers, telling her how beautiful she looked.
After a little thought, I settled on Avalanche for her and Aftershock for me. I thought that I was getting a little bored with the same images and would have to find some substitutes soon, but for now these were better than adequate. I linked hers to the onset of mine and linkcast the images.
Then I released my filter.
I was wrong. It wasn’t going to be two minutes. As soon as the filter was gone, I could feel it starting down low in my balls. “Oh, damn, Karen, I think I’m about done, any second, oh Jesus!”
I realized I was pumping into her with a vengeance, muttering something to myself. Her eyes were almost completely shut, her mouth open, as she felt it rise up. At the point of no return, when I knew I was about to explode, I heard her wail start deep inside her, getting louder until it suddenly broke and she called out, “Yesyesyes, oh, fuck, I’m CUMMING, baby, ohmigod, don’t stop!”
And that moment when both our orgasms hit, I felt our spirits join and take off. I knew she could feel it, too, because I was inside her head and could feel what she was feeling, and it grabbed the both of us and took us on a trip somewhere. It was so joyous that it felt like religious rapture.
It lasted only an instant, but it felt like it lasted for hours.
My mind was not processing sight, smell, hearing for that interval, and when I came partially back to earth I looked above me and found Karen looking as ecstatic and joyful as I’d ever seen her. I tried to memorize it.
The fall back to earth was slow and peaceful. I looked at her and thought how lucky I’d been to have met her, how easy it might have been to overlook her because she hadn’t really been ’social’
because of her focus on school. What if I’d missed making that connection and some other lucky bastard had wormed his way into her heart?
That was one of those ’what-if’s’ that led nowhere except to frustration. I let it go and watched her as she regained her presence.
She lowered herself to my chest and rubbed her hand on my ribs. I knew she was thinking about something, because I’d learned to read some of her unconscious signals. That was one of them.
“I can’t get over how wonderful this makes me feel, Tom. I know you don’t want to hear this, but the scientist in me is asking, is this how I respond to any competent lover, that it’s the act itself that makes me feel so good? Or is it just how I respond to you making love to me? Right now I feel like I’m floating, that the world is perfect, that I’m perfectly happy.”
“I’d vote for number two. Definitely number two.”
“That’s because you have a big head. But maybe you’re right, and you’d be perfectly justified in having a big head. I feel so good.”
“And that makes me happy, Karen. If I can make you feel good, then I feel great. I really do love you, you know.”
“I know, and I love you. I miss you, too. But you haven’t forgotten about that promise we made, have you?”
“About living the full college experience, you mean? Not being afraid to try things the other might not approve of? No, I haven’t forgotten.”
“Okay, just checking. Though I sometimes wish we weren’t so far apart. Never mind, let’s not start down that road. You ready for Round Two?”
She must have seen the look on my face because she laughed out loud.
“Just wanted to see how you’d react.”
“I’m enthusiastically in favor of Round Two. Just not right at this moment. Anyway, I have this car problem I have to deal with.”
“I know. I’m just pulling your chain, because you’re so cute when I poke you a certain way.”
“I’m just a sex object, that’s all I am to you.”
“You’re my sex object, Carter. Just remember that.“
“Well, that’s different, then. Karen, if I don’t get rid of this soon, there’s going to be a difficult-to-explain wet spot.”
“Okay, go. You remember where the bathroom is?”
“I’ll find it.”
Holding the condom on with my fingers, I found the bathroom and dumped the condom. I wiped my dick with some tissue and flushed the lot. I washed my hands and face and dried them on a hand towel. I looked at myself in the mirror while I was doing that and thought, “That guy looks happy, relaxed, like he’s on top of the world.” Which was just how I felt.
But I knew as I headed back to her that I was in the process of leaving, which made me sad again. She was on her side facing me when I came in, her eyes closed, with the trace of a smile on her face. I sat on the bed next to her and laid my hand on her face.
I said, “You looked so perfect lying there I hated to wake you.”
“I wasn’t really asleep, not yet, but I’m not far away from it. I was just lying here thinking.”
“You’ll have to put it in an email. I think I need to get out of here before the sun comes up.”
I found my clothes and soon got them on, and before I knew it I was ready to leave. I had no more excuses and needed to get going. I pulled the sheet and blanket up over her, then sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m having a hard time walking out of here, Karen. You’ll be gone in a day or two. It was such a joy to see you again, and now we have to do the distance thing again. Don’t forget about me, please.”
“Carter, you may not believe this, but I think of you every day. My roommates may be getting a little tired of hearing me talk about you. So hang in there. Another four or five months, and we’ll have all summer together.”
“Uh-huh,” I said, not yet convinced.
“Now I’m going to sleep like the dead, and I have you to thank for that. Give me a kiss and close the door on your way out. Oh, and get the light.” She was starting to slur her words and I knew sleep wasn’t far off. I leaned down and gave her a long kiss and tried to memorize her smell and the texture of her skin.
Just before I flicked the light switch, I looked back at her, her eyes closed and a small smile on her face. I pulled the door closed.