Chapter Twenty
Allie
This time when he came into the room, I think we both knew what we were there for. It was the second time in only three days we had met to make love. The first time, we had been clumsy and hesitant. This time, we were ready.
Curtis sat down on the edge of his bed and tore off his boots. As I fumbled in the drawer of my nightstand for protection, I kicked off my socks and flung them against the back wall. I was wearing a sprightly yellow blouse and a pair of faded blue jeans ripped at the knees that hung low on my waist, revealing my midriff. More than once, Curtis’ eyes had fallen on it while we were out riding.
“This is so fun,” I said as I flung myself down onto the bed at his feet. “You want me to change into my fox pajamas?”
“That depends,” he said in a coy voice. “How long you plannin’ on wearing ‘em?”
I laid face-down on the bed. He ran his hand up my shirt along the small of my back, stopping just before he reached my bra strap.
“That’s the cool thing about lovemaking, though,” I said, turning around just enough that I could see him. He beamed down at me. “We can dress up, pretend to be anyone or anything we want. We could be kings and queens, or secret agents, or—or pirates! It’s like being kids again, only I don’t think kids ever had this much fun.”
“I think it’s illegal for kids to have this much fun,” said Curtis, eyeing me with confusion and amusement. “Anyway, that’s all up to you. You’re the creative one, not me.”
“But we both have imaginations!” I was so drunk on love and summer and the warmth of his smile that I was beginning to babble like a drunken person. “And imagination is the sexiest organ of the body.”
“Hmmm, I can think of a few that might give it a run for its money,” said Curtis, leaning down over me and kissing me on the tips of my ears, first one and then the other. I shivered with pleasure. “But you got me beat in that department, too.”
“I just feel like when we’re together,” I said, turning over onto my back, “there’s nothing that isn’t possible. If we wanted to fly to the moon, we could. You wanna go to Saturn? We’re there! You want to fly to Venice for dinner? You just say the word, and we’ll be there.”
“Yeah, but only in our minds,” Curtis pointed out. “We couldn’t really afford to go to those places.”
I grabbed his right hand and threaded my fingers through it. “Maybe not before,” I said. “But when I’m with you, I’m beginning to feel like it could really happen.”
I liked talking with him like this before we began lovemaking. It made the ensuing scene, when we were both naked and sweaty and moaning like pigs in a sty, seem less bestial somehow.
“Did you ever watch porn when you were growing up?” I asked him as he ran his hand over my face.
“Yeah, sometimes,” said Curtis. “Darren got way more into it than I did. He used to torrent the filthiest videos and make me watch ‘em.”
“I tried it a few times,” I said. “Maybe it’s a guy thing, but I just could never get into it. All the videos I saw, there was a couple, and the dude was just ramming her. And that was it. There was no conversation, no play, no intimacy. Just five or six minutes of straight pumping. I don’t know. Maybe I’m weird, but I don’t get it.”
Curtis bent over and kissed me on the top of the head. “You’re not weird,” he said. “This is way better’n porn.”
“You don’t think I’m a freak for wanting to talk while we make out?”
He shook his head. A light of sincerity shone in his eyes. “Talk all you want.” He raised my shirt and ran his tongue over my belly button so that chills ran all the way up and down my body. “God, I love the sound of your voice.”
There wasn’t much talking after that. Curtis once again pulled my shirt off so that I lay beneath him wearing only my bra and blue jeans. Then he deftly reached around behind me and unclasped the bra, pulling it away to reveal my bare breasts. These he sat stroking with a look of quiet admiration, like a university student in an art museum rapturously studying the old masters for the first time.
When it began to seem like he might do that for the rest of the night, I took control of our lovemaking, removing his belt with an effort and unzipping his jeans. Something seemed to awaken within him as I did so; he snapped to attention and took over, unbuttoning my jeans with clumsy fingers and tearing them off in a single swift motion.
“You know, I really appreciate what a nerd you are,” he said as he ran his fingers through my hair. “And how you insist on wearing your glasses even when we’re making love.”
I smiled. “I mean, how else would I see you?”
“I’m sure you could do some amazing things if you tried,” he replied as he cupped his hands over my breasts. “Maybe one day we’ll make that trip to Venus you were telling me about.”
“Or we could go there now,” I said. And we did.
***
When it was all over, as I lay in bed beside him with his arms wrapped around me, I asked him, “How was it?”
“Perfect,” he said drowsily, but without hesitation. “Even better’n the first time.”
“Yeah, and you know somethin’? It’s just gonna keep getting better. The more we get to know each other, the more familiar we become with each other’s bodies—the less nervous we get…”
“Were you nervous?” he asked. “I wasn’t nervous.”
“Maybe not this time,” I said. “But you were before. Anyway, maybe you’d better get goin’ before your friend with benefits comes back.”
Curtis laughed. “You know what I’ll do if she shows up at my door?”
I turned around to look him in the face. “What’s that?”
“I’ll send her away,” he said, “and then as soon as she leaves, I’ll call you up, and you’ll come over, and we’ll make love all over again.”
As great as our second time had been, the third was even better.