Lying side by side on the beach at noon, our skins shining with sun cream, Barbara's finger slowly circling the palm of my hand.
Our hotel room about half a mile away, I'd better not think of what I would be doing if I could take her there at once.
Lying on my back I am sure that my arousal is getting evident to everyone. In the dazzling Mediterranean summer, I just wonder what would shock a local tourist more, an evident erection or the sight of a 23-year-old boy holding hands with a 48-year old-woman.
And I should chase the latter thought away, just not to get even harder.
*****
I met Barbara last September. The friends, I had shared the flat with, decided not to stay overnight for the last year of courses, so I had to search for a new accommodation. The previous flat was really too distant from the university (basically, we had "inherited" it from friends who went to a different faculty), so I was looking for a single-room apartment nearer the building. I was quite lucky to find a studio less than two miles away from university: it is actually a two room flat, that I share with a guy I first met in the first year. The studio has been freshly refurbished, like the entire building, a post-WWI four-story mansion with another plus: the owner lives in. So you are certain that everything will always be in order. And the owner is Barbara.
From the very start it all went too well. Me and Frank met her at her home in a sunny morning, and she was wearing tight blue jeans and a white blouse, her long blonde hair running free; she had just come back from the holidays, her glamorous tan shining from every inch of bare skin. A gold necklace outlined generous breasts; but the first thing I noticed was her smile, so open and white, that coupled with the light blue of her eyes made the tan shine even more. A rather junonesque figure, a little overweight, she must have been about 5'9" with some heels on, since I was a tad taller than her. I had just come back from holidays too, and my olive skin was tanned even more than her; at 22 and playing footie twice a week, I was rather in good shape as well (and Frank, well, is so chubby he could never been a competitor). She was impressed by our curricula - so we would have given her no trouble at night - and by the fact that we were rushing to finish our studies - so she would have no problem in finding new clients.
Price was a tad over our budget, but she agreed to lower it, since no other flat was occupied yet. Oh, and she must have been impressed by myself too, since she kept smiling when I talked and kept staring at me all along. It ought to be pretty evident, since Frank told me so immediately after we got out; and that was the reason it was always me who knocked on her door, when it was rent day (sometimes we were a few days late) and we had to ask for a little repair. Frank referred to her as "Circe the witch"; she warned me that she could phagocytise me, but I shrugged it off. Barbara must have surely been a flattering woman in her prime, but in her late fourties was surely overweight, nonetheless she kept dressing like she were 20 years younger, with too tight trousers, too short skirts and undersized blouses or tops. And I must admit that, since I planned to get my degree before getting seriously involved in a relationship, sometimes I wanked off thinking of Barbara. Every time I went to her apartment, that occupies the whole top floor of the building, we had just small talk - she asked me about my exams, she served me a soft drink a couple of times, and so on - but the duration of our meeting kept steadily growing. I found out she was divorced and her two sons lived away. Once I noticed the presence of a maid and that was it.
Until last July. While Frank was studying at home, my last exam was only a few days away, so I stayed in the flat. Later in the day the football world cup semi-final was due up, so when I stopped studying I showered, and before having dinner I went up to Barbara's apartment to bring up the monthly rent (a few days later, alas) and rang. It took a while before she opened the door. She was panting, and she was wearing a really tight spandex outfit with sneakers at her feet. "Sorry, I was exercising in the gym room," she apologised, and let me into the living room. She came back after a while with two little bottles of water, and just a glass. The spandex outfit outlined her body perfectly, I could spot some ripples on the side; most of all, her nipples pressed the fabric almost violently, and my eyes couldn't help but staring at them a few times. She opened her bottle and drank straight from it. She sat on my right, as usual, on the big couch, while I was sitting on a single-seat sofa. Her breath had become normal by then. "I thought you were not here in town, Guy," she said, her eyes lighting up a little.
"Oh, I have my very last exam next Friday," I countered.
"Wow, that is great! Mmm, does it mean you will be leaving the flat?" she asked, a different note in her voice.
"Not very soon," I replied, "then I will have to write the thesis, so it will take some time." I spoke the truth; the last exam was an easy one, then I would have to tackle a huge amount of paper to produce my thesis.
She smiled, "That's good. You are a really nice neighbour, and you have never give me any bothering down there."
"Sure," I nodded.
She crossed her legs, her eyes straight into mine. "Is your friend here as well?"
I heard my heart skip a beat; it was so easy to speak the truth once again. "No, he's back home."
Her eyes flashed and she smiled again, "Don't tell me you are not going to watch the semi-final tonight!"
A woman who follows football? I politely answered, "Of course I will be watching it. Not that I am really interested, but watching sport relaxes me."
She was all smiles. "Me too. And then, watching those handsome quadriceps," she giggled, "you know, I am old, but I can still appreciate such things."
I have never been good at lying, but this time I had to. "Oh you are not old," I don't know how these words went out so fast, if I had readied them, I wouldn't be that fast!
"Oh so kind from you, but I am," she shook her head, her upper lip turning up.
I insisted, "Please, stop, you are not old at all".
She smiled and lit her eyes up. Looking straight into my eyes. And my heart stopped.
She almost whispered, "Again, thank you. Why won't you come over here for the game? I may arrange a light dinner and then we can enjoy it."
A bell rung in my head. My eyes were fallen to Barbara's ankles, whose tanned colour stroke so beautifully with the spandex black, and they climbed up to her eyes. It had been a while, more than a year, since I had my last date with a girl, and this one was going to be pretty interesting. I heard something in my stomach that witnessed how interested I was really was.
"Wow, that would be great," I was so honest! "What could I bring up for dinner?"
She stood up and said, "Nothing, I have already everything. Don't expect a three-course meal though!" and she smiled one more time.
So we arranged to meet in little more than two hours.
