Superstitions

"I HATE TESTS!"

I slammed my pencil down in anger and shoved the chair away from the desk. My brain was throbbing in my skull and my eyes felt like they were foreign objects stuck in my face. It had seemed like a good idea back when I needed an extra history credit. Medieval Studies. I envisioned reading tales of knights and kings, castles and moats but instead got a lecture and essay course on warriors of Christendom: el Cid, Charlemagne, etc. I had more than half of my studying done when the lead in my pencil fractured and the cheap wood broke open.

My sister, Angela knocked on the door, sticking her fluff of blonde hair into my room. "You okay, Hal?"

"Yeah." I gratefully took the beer she offered. "My pencil just broke."

"You've been working awfully hard."

"Can't help it." I took my glasses off and rubbed my sore eyes. My blurry gaze fell on the drawing Angie had done of my ex-girlfriend, Rona. For my birthday last year, she had commissioned my sister to do a nude sketch of her and now, I regretted it. Every time I entered my room, my eyes were invariably drawn to the subtle shades of grey, delineating her soft curves and I missed her. "I've need those credits."

She nodded, noticing that I was gazing at the picture. "Still thinking of her?"

I took a swig of beer and tried to look away. "Can't seem to help that, either."

Angie left and returned a few minutes later with one of her drawing pencils. "I'm out of lead for my mechanical pencil so all I can offer you is this."

"Thanks, Ange."

I didn't notice the smile on her face as she bent to give me a kiss. "Don't study too hard, bro."

I finished the beer and pulled myself back to the desk. Three hours later, there was another knock on my door and I welcomed the intrusion, hoping that I could con my sister into heading to the store for some Advil. I called for the person to come in, rubbing my temples. "Angie, would you do me a favor?"

"Sure, I will." A familiar voice answered me. "But I'm not Angie."

I shoved my glasses back onto my face, not believing that I was staring into the lovely green eyes of my ex. Rona smiled, entering my private space and setting two bags of Chinese food on my desk. "Rona?"

"Hi, Hal." She sat down on the chair opposite me, tossing her purse on the floor. "Long time no see."

"Y-Yeah." I stammered, staring at her. In the fifteen months since we'd broken up, she hadn't changed; in fact, she looked even more beautiful. Her eyes seemed to sparkle even brighter and her auburn hair fell in soft rings around the creamy skin of her face. "How are you?"

"Fine." Her smile was strong, then crumbled. "Lonely."

"I thought you were going out with … "

"He cheated on me and got another girl pregnant."

Happiness and anger warred inside me. Rona didn't deserve an asshole like that but fifteen months of pain still pulsed in my chest. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Are you?" Her sigh was soft. She stood and started to unload the food, setting certain cartons in front of me, along with packages of soy sauce, hot mustard, duck sauce and chopsticks. "I hope you still like General Tsao's chicken."

"Yeah, I do."

"I got you extra eggrolls and some shrimp fried rice." She continued, trying to ignore the tears that were falling but I couldn't. I jumped up, wrenched a box of fortune cookies out of her hands and pulled her to me, stroking her hair and letting her cry. "I'm sorry, Hal. I promised myself that I wouldn't cry."

"Why promise yourself a thing like that?" I laughed, half-heartedly, still holding her close. "That was a shitty thing that he did." She sobbed for a few more minutes, her nose firmly buried in my neck. "I hope it comes out cross-eyed."

She didn't say a word. Then, "I hope she gains a thousand pounds."

"I hope her uterus falls out!"

"I hope her boobs deflate!" We started laughing so hard that neither one of us could breathe for a long time but my arms stayed wrapped around her. "I was wrong, Hal. I thought he was what I wanted but I was wrong. I was so wrong."

I shushed her and without thinking, I bent and pressed a kiss to her lips. She responded as if the time hadn't passed between us, opening her mouth to me as well as her heart. The food was forgotten and I backed her into the bed, laying us down and pressing my hard-on into her crotch. She moaned, pushing back against me and we spent the next few minutes undressing each other. Finally, we were skin-to-skin, our mouths touching and my cock riding her wet slit, teasing her into shivers.

"Hal … " I raised my hips and slowly slid into her. She whispered my name again as I reached bottom, grinding against her clit. "Oh, God! Yes!" Her arms encircled me, her nails scratching my back lightly. I sunk into her again and again, gritting my teeth each time she rose up to meet me but loving every minute of it. Our eyes connected and something unspoken passed between us. An acknowledgement of her error, the understanding of forgiveness and the renewal of the love we had shared. I leaned down, taking her mouth again and shuddering at the touch of her tongue against mine.

It didn't take long for me to cum and I was glad that she was with me. She shouted, coating my cock with her warm honey and accepting the wads of cum that I pumped into her. I shifted to the side to allow her to breathe but her arms didn't release me. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"I'd hoped to last a little longer than that."

She laughed, giving me a kiss. "You can make it up to me later."

I raised my head and looked into her eyes. "Will you stay tonight?"

"Of course." Rona hugged me tightly. "Now, let's eat, then you get back to studying."

"Yes, ma'am."

Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep between eating, studying and fucking, I was half-awake when I ran out to my car in the morning, heading for class and the dreaded test.

"Hal! Hal, wait!" Angie came running down the path, holding her drawing pencil aloft. "You forgot this."

"That's okay, Ange. I'll borrow one from someone in class."

"No. You have to use this one." She placed it in my hand and folded my fingers over it.

I opened my fingers and looked down at it, giving her a curious glance. "Why?"

"A superstition that I read about. It said that if you use the pencil you used to study with, the pencil will remember the answers." Angie smiled. "I thought that if you used it … "

"Rona would come back. You used this on Rona's sketch, didn't you?" When she nodded yes, I grabbed her and swung her around. "Thank you, sis. More than you know." I left her on the steps, waving goodbye to me.

"Good luck!" She shouted. "And don't forget my pencil!"