I got the call late one Sunday evening, and the last thing I ever expected was her bouncing voice to come flying over the line at my ears. "Remember me?" She didn't wait for my answer. "It's Cora. I used to live three houses down the street from you."
Remember her? It wasn't like I could forget. How could I ever forget one of those pivotal people in my childhood? And, as far as sexual awakening goes, Cora was the overriding figure of my teenage years.
The years washed away faster than my mind could keep up with as images of her invaded my consciousness and matched with her voice. She was the first girl I ever had a crush on. We hung out a lot back in those days, on the same block of our suburban home town. Cora had shoulder-length jet black hair, the clearest, dusky, skin known to mankind, and a body well-enough developed to have me tongue-tied every time we found ourselves alone. For almost fifteen years now, every time I came across a childhood photograph with both of us in it, I am thrown again by her beauty and the vivacious smile she seemed to display constantly.
We never actually dated, probably more because I never summoned up the courage to ask her, but there was always the feeling that we had a little "special" bond. Well, at least that was how I felt about her.
"O... of course I remember," I almost stammered back down the phone. Some people just have that effect on you. "I can barely believe... after all this time."
"Yeah, I know." Cora giggled; a familiar and comforting sound. "I get dragged off to Montana by my parents, and then I turn up again out of the blue. Who'd ever have figured that?"
I remembered the day that she left. Her father had been transferred and the darkness of my losing Cora far outweighed the brightness of the smile she gave me from the rear window of their departing car. Despite the previous closeness of our families before that, it was the last time I ever saw Cora or heard from her until that night.
She had tracked down my sister, who'd given her my number. Cora was catching up with some friends from her childhood, something that kind of jabbed at me when she told me, as I guess I'd secretly hoped she had specifically tracked me down.
As usual, whenever I was reminded of Cora, my mind went back to the night of "our dance." It was at her family's New Year's Eve party, and we were dancing happily together. When a slow song started playing, I was about to sit down when Cora grabbed my arms and pulled me close to her. Snuggling into her shoulder, smelling her hair and feeling her body, the curve of her breasts, against mine was unforgettable. Of course, the inevitable happened and I became very aroused. At first I tried to hide the bulge and keep it from touching her, but as I brushed against her a couple of times my confidence grew and I nestled back against her, my erection pressing against the side of her body as we danced to a long forgotten ballad. It was not a moment that was about the song!
When the music stopped, we slowly broke from our embrace and I sheepishly looked up at her. "That was nice," she smiled and held my hand until we flopped down next to each other on a sofa.
Nothing else happened that night, or for the remainder of the time Cora lived close to us. Never a word was exchanged between us about the slow dance, or the erection, or whether she noticed anything (although it was hard to imagine she hadn't). That never stopped me thinking about what might have been, or wondering where she was now, or if she remembered anything about that night.
"I moved back to town," she told me excitedly. "A couple of months ago actually, but I've not had chance to catch up with anyone yet."
While we chatted I learned that she was divorced, consumed by work mostly and living in an apartment not far from where we grew up. I laughed at the similarity of our situations after all this time, we talked about my sister and other kids we hung out with, exchanged numbers and emails, and then she was gone again.
We swapped infrequent emails over the next few months, mainly because Cora always seemed to be busy, but at least we managed to stay in touch. There was nothing in those emails that ever gave me cause to think that she might have any romantic leanings towards me or that she even remembered our dance together. On the flip side of that, she never mentioned any man in her life, so I continued to see a glimmer of hope that she just might want to pick up where we never started.
She'd mentioned in one message that she was looking for a bigger apartment but the invitation to her housewarming party was the first I knew she'd moved. It wasn't a personal invitation, the list was huge, but there was no way I was going to pass on meeting up with Cora after all this time.
***
Cora hadn't changed much, at least not in my eyes. Sure, her hair was shorter and there were maybe a couple of lines around her eyes that she didn't want, but it was the same smiling face and body full of promise that opened the door. She greeted me with a warm hug and ushered me in to join the crowd that was already there.
I knew several of the people crowded into the apartment, mostly old friends that I'd managed to stay in touch with, but there were a few I hadn't seen in a while. The evening was fun, but I was really there to see Cora, who was constantly busy mingling with her guests and showing them around her new abode. Just like I had done all those years before, I watched her every move and quietly wanted her.
As the clock moved on and people started to leave I caught her in the kitchen and mentioned that I was also thinking of leaving. "Don't you dare leave yet," she scolded playfully, "I want to catch up with you. We haven't talked all night."
So, I sat and chatted some more, watched her flit around the apartment and was glad to eventually see a steady stream of leavers. There were only four or five guests left when Cora finally walked over and sat beside me. She was wearing a low-cut, tight, black dress that showed every gorgeous curve of her body. She sat close enough that our thighs rubbed against each other and before she spoke, she leaned forward, undid the fasteners on her shoes and kicked them off.
"Well, this has been fun, but I'm tired now." She leaned back in the sofa, her head inclined towards me as our shoulders brushed.
"Yes, it was fun. It's good to see you again." I looked over and saw her smile. "I thought you were nothing but a childhood memory."
"At least I wasn't a childhood nightmare," she laughed. "Sorry we didn't get to chat much tonight. I'm out of practice with all this socializing. I'd forgotten parties were so much hard work."
"No problem," I gallantly dismissed. "I figured I'd hang around now and help you tidy up a little."
Cora protested, citing that she didn't intend tidying anything up until the following day, but I insisted, telling her it wouldn't take long and she wouldn't wake up to a bomb-site in the morning. She reluctantly agreed, and then asked me about the stuff we needed to catch up about: exes, work, memories, families, etc. While we talked it was hard not to let my mind drift back to that night, so long ago, and even to think of what it would be like to hold Cora as a lover. I imagined running my hands over her sensual hips, and across the curve of her gorgeous ass. Then, when she stood up to see out her final guests, I realized that I couldn't stand with her; not without an unwanted display of a prominent bulge anyway.
Cora went into the kitchen before coming back to the sofa, handing me one of two full wine glasses as she sat down.
"I can't," I declined, "I have to drive home."
"Your choice," she giggled, "but the sofa's comfortable if you want to sleep here. Hey, we could even go out for breakfast if you like. I've been meaning to set up dinner with you for months, but it's just been stupid crazy around here. How's that sound?"
It sounded good enough for me to take a mouthful from the glass she'd given me. Just knowing that I could spend more time with Cora the next day was more than good enough!
"Come on then," I reached for her hand and pulled her upright, "we need to get my bedroom a bit tidier before I turn in for the night." I started picking up a few plates and glasses from the table and the floor.
Before Cora joined me she walked over to her CD player and swapped out a party mix for a gentle jazz compilation that eased away the edges from the night. I snuck a look over at her smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress as she stood. "Something's been bugging me for years," she announced as she joined me carrying another load of washing up to the kitchen.
I gave her a friendly shrug, inviting her to unburden herself.
"How come, all those years ago, we never dated?" Cora was loading the dishwasher and not looking at me as she asked the question.
I laughed a little, but definitely felt the tension rise a notch or two. "I figure I was never brave enough to ask you." I continued to feed crockery to her. "It sure wasn't anything to do with me not wanting to ask you, or never wanting to find out of you didn't want to date."
Now she stood up and giggled. "Okay, let me count the double negatives in that sentence and figure out if that's a good thing or not. I'll get back to you."
I thought about it as I watched her cram a final few items into the dishwasher. The dilemma was whether to go there or not. How much did I want to find out... both about then, and now? In the end my instinct took over and the words came out, almost without consciousness, "There's something been bugging me for years, too."
"Yes?" She placed a cleaning tablet in the dispenser and closed the door. "What's that?" She switched the appliance on, reached for the wine bottle, and started to refill our glasses.
