Chapter 12
Danielle
After Roger and I bid farewell to Maggie as she went off to school, I decided it would be best if I headed back to my apartment for a little while. I wanted to change and relax, but also have some time to adjust to this amazing new turn in my life – and to gush about it.
Yes, I definitely wanted to gush. After waiting so long to finally experience sex – and not just sex, but wonderful, amazing, mind-blowing sex at that – I felt like sharing it with the world.
Obviously, I remembered that Veronica and I had been fighting. But, after all the time she spent badgering me to lose my virginity, surely she’d be happy for me. Right? And Roger had certainly showed himself to be a true gentleman. By spending so much time with me – and by revealing our relationship with Maggie – I felt certain that he had proven that he was in this for the long haul. Assuredly, Veronica would feel the same as well.
I arrived home just as Veronica was waking up. She stumbled out of her bedroom door, right to the coffee pot, before turning around and noticing me.
She took it all in in one long glance. The yesterday’s clothes. My still-wet hair. And the blooming grin on my face. She set the pot to brew, then said, “Oh, god, Danielle. What did you do?”
At this point, my excitement exploded. “I did it!” I erupted jubilantly. “I had sex!”
Veronica’s eyes narrowed. “With whom?” She demanded.
“What do you mean, with whom? With Roger, of course! We’re a couple!”
She shook her head, clucking her tongue as she did so. “Oh, Danielle. Danielle, Danielle, Danielle. Surely you don’t believe that?”
Her reaction, though not strictly unexpected, still stung. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“Of course he’s saying you’re a couple. That’s what all men say. They just want to trick you into fucking them. At which he succeeded.”
She must have noticed the look on my face, for a second later, she said, “Wait. He did actually say you were a couple? Like, in those words?”
I bit my lip. “Well, no. Not exactly – ”
“Ha!” Veronica burst, slapping her hand on the table. “Christ, Danielle, you’re in even deeper than I thought!”
Was she right? Was Roger just leading me on? We hadn’t actually discussed our relationship. Everything had just happened so naturally that a lot kind of went unsaid. Was he manipulating me?
Then, I pictured the look in his eyes as he spoke to me, as we made love. There was plenty of lust there, of course, but also a strong protectiveness. A desire to share. To educate.
No. My Roger was not toying with me.
Which lead me back to Veronica.
“I don’t understand, Vee,” I said, crossing my arms and scowling at her. “You’ve been pestering me for years to lose my virginity, and now that I finally have, you tell me I’m going about it all wrong!”
She pursed her lips. “Yeah, with a man like Roger,” she said.
At this point, my temper erupted. “Yes, a man like Roger!” I roared. “A loving father, smart, sweet, and candid. Imagine the horror! Oh, and let’s throw in that he’s amazingly handsome and a multi-fucking billionaire to boot!”
I felt weird even bringing up his money at all. I didn’t want anyone to think that I was only interested in him because of that. But of all the people to disparage…
Veronica frowned. “But he’s, like, forty.”
“So what?” I demanded. “He’s in better shape than half the guys you’ve gone out with. So what if he’s older? That just makes him more mature. He’s classy!”
At this, Veronica rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, looking away from me as if I was unfit to talk to. I noticed the way her nails dug into her skin, and that she was chewing on her lips, and suddenly something occurred to me.
“You’re…jealous,” I said, and as soon as the words were out of my mouth I knew they were true. The emerged like the sun at daybreak, casting light on everything that’d been going on so far.
“What?” Veronica snapped, her silence forgotten.
“That’s it, isn’t it? You have nothing against me and Roger. You’re just jealous of us!”
“Shut up,” she hissed, and slammed her palm on the table.
“I see it now, Vee. That’s why you’ve been so mean lately. You want what I have. A man like Roger for yourself!
“Shut up!” She howled. Suddenly, she was on her feet. “You’re so stupid, Danielle. So stupid. You’ll see. Give it a couple weeks, until Roger fucks you over, and then you’ll find out I was right all along!”
I cocked a smile at her. “Jealous!” I mocked.
She flushed. A dark look that went past anger gathered on her features. “Bitch,” she growled, and then, without another word, grabbed her keys and stormed out.
* * *
That night, I returned to the Clifton. Partly for my job, obviously, but also just to see Roger. Even though it’d only been hours, I already missed him.
Veronica didn’t return to the apartment at all. It wasn’t long enough for me to get particularly worried. She had always had a temper, and I assumed she just needed to cool off. I did feel slightly guilty for jeering at her right at the end, but at the same time, what could someone expect? I was really tired of hearing how dumb I was all day.
I just wanted to be with Roger, and to feel good.
Maggie and I blew through her homework (that kid was brilliant. I swear, she was the most precocious ten-year-old I had ever met) and then had a pleasant dinner with Roger as well. We mostly made small talk, with Maggie telling us about a new play she and her friends were scripting for her history class, and Roger complaining about some rich foreign client who’d through such a massive party in one of the luxury suites that the whole rug needed cleaning. I listened and commented, but decided to bring up Veronica once Maggie had gone to her room.
The night drew to a close. Maggie entertained us all by reading aloud one of her favorite books to us. She was talented, and even did special voices for the different characters. Tuckered out, she went to her room to read and sleep. Did I catch a knowing smirk on Maggie’s lips on her way out? I couldn’t be sure. Either way, at last Roger and I were alone.
“So, what’s bothering you?” He asked, sipping from a glass of wine. “Is it this Veronica girl again?”
“Yes,” I confessed, and then told him what I could remember of all the cruel things she had said. At the end, he whistled, and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Well, she’s right about one thing,” he said, and for a fleeting instant I was nervous. “And that’s that we haven’t talked about our relationship yet. So…Danielle, will you be my girlfriend? Go steady? Be exclusive? Whatever the hell people are calling it these days?”
This made me laugh, for it was the first time since I’d met him that he’d said something that even sounded remotely old. People who have an issue with our age difference can suck it, I thought. I’m having too much fun.
I smiled at him, and looked into those deep chestnut eyes. “Yes,” I said. “I will.”
His gaze glinted. “Good,” he said. “Now let me show you what girlfriends and boyfriends can do.”