Roger's Story
I'm a student, and a good student since I did my trick for my country so my rich Uncle (Sam) would pay, well, at least give me subsistence means, for me to go to school without needing to work at another job. I see my job as being a student from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. That way, at 5:01 I could turn off my desk light and become a party boy.
I drank beer, my drink of choice, by the gallon. Smoked pot by the pound. And maintained my 4.0 GPA (yes, on a scale of 4).
I was surprised, then, at how distracted I was Monday.
The thing is, for the first time since my cousin had claimed my virginity at, well, never mind the details, and her sister had been my second about 20 minutes later, I had been very successful at getting laid. I don't think I'm particularly handsome, although little girls don't run screaming when they see me. And I'm not that imaginary man with so much cock I make women swoon. My time in barracks living had made it clear that I am absolutely average.
But what I had that the other boys and then men my age lacked were two things. First, it was confidence. I wasn't the shy boy the others were. When I went to a dance at school, I was on the floor with girls. When I thought I'd like a date with a girl, I asked and I wasn't crushed if she said "no," which happened sometimes although rarely. Second, and more important I think, was that my cousins in their not-yet-women-no-longer-girls way had been good teachers. While other boys were giggling and trying to figure out what went where I knew exactly how it worked. While other boys were talking together about how to do this or that, I knew how wrong they were and did not correct them. Hell, if they knew I might face more competition. I knew how to take my time, how to find a clitoris, how to touch it. I knew how to kiss, how to find sensitive spots.
Most of all, and the lesson that I thank them in my mind for often and fervently, I knew the most important lesson of all - Good sex is often very messy but never dirty.
So why was I distracted by a woman three times my age? I had no answer to that.
I made it through Monday but on Tuesday I couldn't resist. I was sitting in my apartment, poring over my notes (for Government Economics class if it matters) and I realized I had read the same line three times.
So I got out my cellphone and called her.
"Torrie?" I asked although I did recognize her voice when she answered.
"Hello, Roger," she said, surprising me.
"I'm flattered that you remember me," I said.
She laughed softly at that and said, "Well, your name IS on the screen of my phone, dear." She paused a couple of seconds and added, "but I do remember you."
I smiled at the phone even though she couldn't see me.
"Soooo," I said, dragging out the vowel in a dramatic fashion, "could I interest you in dinner? Maybe dinner and a movie?"
"Oh Roger," she said, "it's your turn to flatter me, but I don't think that would be wise, do you?"
Which made me laugh and broke the tension I had been feeling.
"What's funny, dear?" she asked.
"Torrie," I started, but had to wait while another wave of laughter passed.
"Torrie," I said, under control, "I had imagined many responses to my invitation, but questioning my wisdom was not among them."
"I see," she said.
"But you think about it. I'll call you again," I said and hit "end."
In my imagination I pictured her looking at her phone, with a wistful look on her face, wishing she had said "yes."
Regardless, the spell was broken and I could concentrate again.
I called her again Thursday and she said "no."
I called her the following Monday and she said "no."
I called her Tuesday.
She said "yes."
Friday night was date night and once again I was surprised. I was nervous in ways I hadn't EVER been before. I showered and shaved and spent 20 minutes with a blow dryer on my fucking HAIR for Christ's sake, something I never did. Then I went through my limited wardrobe and looked at every damn thing in it. I finally settled on my best pair of slacks, hell, my only pair that could be called even moderately "in style," a blue shirt with big puffy sleeves that I thought gave me sort of a bad boy pirate look, a pair of brightly colored socks, and my one pair of leather shoes.
And THEN, for the first time since I had bagged a cheerleader in high school, I looked in the mirror, didn't like what I saw, and changed into one of my more conservative blue pinstriped button-down Oxford cloth shirts. Finally satisfied, I headed out.
I stopped at a convenience store on the way and bought one of those $4 bouquets they always seem to have.
I killed a little time to arrive precisely at the agreed 7:00 p.m. and when she opened the door I pulled the flowers out from behind my back and offered them with a little bow.
And again, her reaction surprised me. Her eyes got big and shiny and a small tear overflowed making an interesting wet line down her cheek.
"What?" I asked, genuinely wondering what I had done wrong.
"Oh, Roger, it's okay," she said, taking the flowers and smiling, "come in while I put these in water and do something about my face."
I walked in, watching her walk, hurrying I thought, into the kitchen. The house was as I remembered from childhood playing with Ben. Oh, details had changed, of course. I thought it was probably a little more, well, feminine than when Grampa Chet had still been around, but it was still the home a couple had made over decades with the pictures on the walls and souvenirs of long past vacations on shelves.
She was gone for almost ten minutes and I was starting to wonder if she had gotten cold feet when she came back in, the cheap little bouquet in a fancy crystal vase.
I stood, like a gentleman as she put them in the middle of her table and then came to me.
"This," she said, smiling up at me, "is the first time I ever got flowers for no special reason. Thank you."
I flashed my Grin, the one I practice in the mirror, and said, "but there IS a special reason. You said yes."
She laughed, that sort of throaty, age coarsened laugh, and said, "Okay, handsome, I said 'yes,' now take me out and wine and dine me."
So I did. Dinner pretty much blew my entertainment budget for the month. It was a nice restaurant and we had steaks with the fixin's. I had a beer, she actually did have wine.
"What?" she asked, as I watched her chewing.
"I'm just wondering how you stay so thin. Worried a bit actually," I said, because she was NOT eating like someone on a diet.
She laughed a bit at that, covering her mouth daintily.
"Oh dear," she said, "I'm one of those women who lost every fat cell with menopause. I was never very big and, well, I can eat what I want and never seem to put on any weight."
Dinner was fun.
No, that's far too gentle a word. Without sounding silly or girly, dinner was delightful.
I found I liked this woman. She seemed interested and it was interesting to hear her take on things.
I told her of how I was taking a class on the Cold War, and she regaled me with stories of "duck and cover" drills and watching the television during the Cuban Missile Crisis, something that was only a story in a textbook to me.
Besides that, though, I just enjoyed looking at her. Her hair was thick and that silvery grey color you see on maybe one in a thousand women although many try for it. I wanted to run my fingers through it.
I liked watching her face as she ate and talked and laughed. The tiny wrinkles around her eyes and the distinct lines at the corners of her mouth were so much more interesting than the girls I tended to date. Her teeth, when she smiled, were straight and even and hers. No whitening here, they were a nice ivory color that I found attractive.
At one point she stopped, put her hand over her mouth, and said, "what? Do I have something in my teeth?"
I laughed and said, "no, I just like looking at you."
She giggled and actually blushed at that.
The movie, later, was some silly rom-com, all fluff and Sandra Bullock looking ridiculously cute.
I enjoyed it, to my surprise, I suppose because I was enjoying Torrie's company.
I felt like a silly schoolboy as I reached over, ridiculously nervous, and took her hand in mine. She turned and looked at me, I could almost see her thinking, smiled, and didn't pull her hand away.
It was about 11 o'clock when the movie let out.
"Drink, or home?" I asked.
She smiled and said, "I have to get up early in the morning, Roger, I think home."
So I took her home, walked her to her door, kissed her quite chastely on the cheek, watched her inside, and left. I hoped she was watching me leave through the window with a curtain pulled back slightly, but I didn't look back to see.
It didn't even occur to me to hit one of my regular haunts and see if I could get laid. I was content to go home and yes, masturbate. It was her face I was seeing in my mind's eye as I slowly stroked to release.
We dated regularly for a month. After that first date, she insisted on paying and my budget didn't allow me to stand on pride. As she explained, she was "well fixed," that particular turn of phrase making me laugh, and could afford it better than me.
We did the dinner-and-movie dates twice more before I took her to a bar where the group I knew pretty well, I never had a "crew" but these were folks I knew from class, hung out. The music was not so loud you couldn't have a conversation and I introduced her around, proud to have her on my arm.
I think I kind of surprised both of us when I introduced her as my girlfriend. But that's how it felt.
And she fit in with this group. Like me, they were interested in her take on things we had only studied in class.
As an added benefit, she turned out to be a competent dart player and we ruled the board through five games and a pitcher of beer.
Every night I took her home, walked her to the door, gave her a light kiss, on the lips now but still very soft and quick, and went home to my bed and right hand. And every night it was her in my mind's eye.