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.