"Do you want to fuck?"
The question was unexpected. I was sitting with a glass of wine on an outdoor restaurant, it was nice and warm. Just the right amount of people, several empty tables around me. Suddenly a woman stands next to me. Of course I had seen her when she came into the restaurant. A rather pretty woman, around 40 years old. Maybe 170 cm tall, nicely, almost neatly, dressed. A nice pink top that a white bra shines through just right. Then a pleated skirt. In blue. A small handbag with Chanel's monogram in the clasp. After that quick glance, I hadn't noticed her approaching my table. Now she stands there, leaning over me, a smile on her lips, a hand on my shoulder, and asks the question that all men probably long for. The hand on my shoulder squeezes lightly while she stands still, waiting for my answer.
I look up at her. Smile back. What should I say? I have never been asked such a question before. I'm 45 years old, divorced since a few years and haven't had any more steady women since then. To be perfectly honest, I haven't had a sexual relationship at all. I don't exactly look ugly, but I don't feel that I am someone who immediately attracts the opposite sex. But how do you answer such a question? The easiest way is to say yes, please. But that feels crazy as hell. If it had been me going up to a woman and asking the same question, I would probably have been slapped and scolded. It is not in my nature, neither to give a scolding nor to ask such a question. My mind is racing with thoughts.
"What question? What is the best way to answer it? Should I say 'yes please'?"
"I think that's for you to decide, I ask, you answer. Should be simple, right?"
Simple? Well, no. But how to respond, answer?
"Hey, that's a fantastic suggestion. It seems awfully strange that as a man I have to say no thanks. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't think it's fair, either to you or to me. Fair? No, that's probably the wrong word. It wouldn't be right, none of us would really appreciate it, not afterwards anyway."
"So, you say no? Is that your answer?"
"Yes, that must be my immediate answer. But now I want to ask: why are you asking me, without us ever having met before? Is it some kind of joke?"
"No, not a joke. For one thing, I really want sex and you seem like a nice man, a man I could ask," she says.
"Okay, you want sex. I'm sorry to disappoint you. Don't you want to sit down and talk? This whole thing makes me really interested. I want to know more. Not every day I get that question, even from someone I know very well. My wife, now ex, never asked me that question."
"It's probably not that common. We women, however, often get that question. Now it's me asking a man. Should be just as natural, don't you think?" She says and sits down.
"Natural? I don't know if it's even natural for a man to ask a strange woman that question. It's quite different to ask someone about sex compared to asking if someone wants, say, a glass of wine. Would you like a glass of wine?" I ask, interested in the woman and her views on both sex and life in general.
"Oh, yes, please. I'd love to. You see how easy it is to say yes," she says.
"Mmm, exactly. And if you had asked me if I wanted a glass of wine, I would have said yes too. My name is John."
"Magdalena. Nice to meet you. What are you doing here, apart from drinking wine?"
"Really? I was sitting here waiting for a woman to finally come up and ask me to sleep with her. Been sitting here for a long time, but it's only now that it happened."
"And I've always wanted to walk up and ask. Just to see the reaction. You did well, I think. But I lost the bet."
"What bet? Was it just a joke anyway?"
"Yes... and no! I bet that I could get the first best man to answer yes to my simple question. And no, I actually think you seem nice. I don't know if I would have gone through with it. I'm not one to jump into bed with the first best man. But it was fun. My friends are standing over there, seeing how it goes."
"Do you want it to look like I said yes, so that you're the winner? If so, I'll kiss you, so it really looks like I fell for it."
"No, I don't want to lie."
"Too bad, I'd love to kiss you. That would have been really nice." What am I hearing myself say? Is it my turn to ask for a dance now?
"Mmm, a kiss? Yes, why not. Take a kiss instead of sex, sounds like a bad trade, but a girl has to take what's offered."
She leans forward, holding her head at an angle. I meet her. Our lips meet. Just the lips. Both linger a little longer than a friendly kiss. I look into her eyes. They smile at me. She does not remove her face, keeps it there. I reach out once more. Our lips meet. Magdalena opens hers slightly. Our kiss becomes both deeper and longer.
"Wow, you kiss well. Tastes good," I murmur.
"Likewise. Again?"