Two years ago...
In the dim glow of the red-shaded bedside lamps, Adam and the woman he had only ever known as "Janine" dutifully gathered their clothes which had been laid out on a chaise chair. Silently, they got dressed.
Adam walked from the bedside to the window. The fragrance from an oil lamp wafted in the air and he inhaled deeply, drawing an assured breath. Apart from the first time he had entered it, there was something about this room that had always calmed him.
Janine slipped on her black bra and then smoothly slid her sheer stockings up her long, smooth legs, clipping them to her garter belt as she stood up from the bed.
"You know," the raven-haired woman spoke thoughtfully as she picked up her grey evening dress, "You've really become quite good."
Adam, standing by the window with his back to her, stayed silent as he buttoned up his shirt. He enjoyed listening to Janine talk after each of their sessions. Her assessments were always much more rewarding than any of his teachers'.
"You have a style now, not just going through a handbook or fumbling your way," Janine mused, "You know what you enjoy and you do those things well."
What she said was true, Adam thought. He always seemed more focus, more attentive when he was with her.
She pulled the straps of her dress over her shoulders, then paused and laughed, "Certainly, practice does make perfect. It must be the swimmer in you. Find your passion for something then hone that skill."
Adam smiled to himself. She was a good teacher.
He leaned forward and pushed aside the curtains to peer out onto the city streets 10-stories below Janine's condo. It had been raining for most of the weekend, a reflective glow of street-lamps on the numerous puddles made for a melancholy setting below. It mimicked how Adam was feeling right now.
Feeling a gentle tap on his shoulder, he turned around and faced Janine. Her full, red lips cast an elegant smile towards him. Then she turned her back towards him and lifted up her flowing hair over her neck.
"Zip me up, s'il vous plaît?" she asked.
Adam diligently pulled up the zipper of her dress. He finished with a kiss on the back of her exposed neck, drawing a subtle sigh from the woman.
The same elegant smile was still on her face as she turned around again. "Merci," she said. Pausing again for a brief moment as she looked at him, she raised her hand, hesitated, then touched his face with her palm and fingers as if she were touching a cool marble surface. Her green eyes searched across his face before settling onto his. "Remember Adam, it goes both ways. A woman has things she enjoys as well."
Her fingers moved upwards and played and teased with his soft, light brown hair. She continued, "There's a time when a woman needs to take control of the moment, just as much as when a man needs to do so. Lust and desire are a sensational feeling, but so is patience. Sometimes, just let things build naturally. Let her take over. Enjoy it. Then when the man and woman are both at their pinnacle, it can feel just...rapturous."
Janine was beginning to spin off into her flowery notions, again. It was also something Adam enjoyed listening to. The words and ideas suited the woman. He reached for her, resting his hands gently against her hips. The woman he held was the first he would describe as demure and beautiful. It came from deep within, an inner sense of who she was and a refined maturity that served to ease the very subtle lines that were just beginning to threaten to crease her well-kept, glowing skin. He had never looked at a woman other than Janine so closely, so deeply. The younger women he encountered never seemed to sit still long enough for him to do so.
There was something to be said about being with a more mature woman, something he was really beginning to appreciate.
"And so?" he asked as he continued to hold her, flashing a tight smile and arching his brow, "How did it feel tonight?"
Janine's lips stretched open as she softly chuckled. "Oh Adam," she sighed, as she wrapped her hands around his neck, "Still a boy in so many ways, seeking approval like that. That's alright. I love seeing the man in you start to emerge."
Adam looked down at the floor between them, grinning.
A curled finger on his chin raised his face back up to gaze into her calming eyes. "You were wonderful. You don't need me to tell you that, but I suppose you like to hear it, oui?"
He couldn't help but feel a strange swell of pride in his young chest. He nodded once, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.
"Are you sure you have enough left for your tuition after all these visits?" Janine asked, half-jokingly, "University can be expensive, you know."
"I have my means," Adam replied with a grin as he reached into his wallet, "There are worse things I could spend my money on."
"C'est vrai. Like cigarettes," Janine scolded with a cluck of her tongue.
"I don't mind spending on quality," he added.
She watched wistfully as he pulled out several bills. Her hand suddenly reached out and touched him on the wrist.
Adam looked up quizzically.
With a cool shift of her hand, she pushed three of the bills back into his wallet and simply took the remainder into her palm.
When his mouth opened to question her, a steady finger interrupted it. Janine pursed her lips and shook her head. "I believe after a night such as this, the compensation is fair," she said.
She then took a long deliberate look into his eyes. A faint twinge at the sides of mouth dampened her otherwise long-lipped smile and the light in her eyes dimmed ever so slightly. It caught Adam off guard, but before anything could come of it, she pulled him in for a warm embrace.
Adam paused for a moment then reached his arms around her back as held her as well. The two of them sighed together.
"Au revoir," she whispered into his ear.
This room, this woman...he would never see either of them again.
*** * *****
Lynn found herself sitting back on the sofa once again. The summer's afternoon light had faded into night, yet she still looked through the back door window, her eyes not really seeing anything in the darkness. Her mind though, was still alight with thoughts and sensations from earlier on.
From behind the closed door of her bathroom, she heard the steady hiss of the shower with intermittent splashes of water. Adam, the young man she had just spent a good portion of the afternoon in bed with, was washing off the heat and perspiration on his body just as she had done a few minutes before. The shower possibly removed the layer of sweat they had both generated on their skin, but the heat was still prevalent in the air and from within.
After a rather vigorous and torrid session in bed culminating in an orgasmic climax that was just as much a stress relief as a it was a release of pure passion, Adam and Lynn had each chosen a side of the bed, both lying on their backs, gazing intently up at the ceiling. For several stilted minutes, even after they had both caught their breaths and moistened their parched lips and throats, they remained silent. Lynn couldn't think of what to say, what she should say. She went through the list of options in her head:
"That was great!" No. It HAD been...but she wasn't an adoring groupie and she didn't quite feel like inflating Adam's head like he was a warrior claiming a glorious victory.
"Again!" That was close –the giddy ache in her stomach seemed to be begging for it-- but it was probably best that she took a step back first.
"Oh my God, what have I done?" That wouldn't have been uncalled for but it just didn't manage to come out of her mouth. Maybe eventually it would, but at that point, she honestly, surprisingly, hadn't felt the urge or need to say it. No overwhelming sense of guilt had swept over her. Her life didn't feel ruined. Everything just felt...normal. And she somehow found that troubling.
Lying there, pulling the sheet over her nude body even though it was stifling hot in her apartment, she also felt the anxiety of waiting for Adam to say something. What she knew of Adam, his response could have ranged anywhere from "Woohoo!" to "That was special, Lynn". Both seemed rather unsettling to think about at the time.
So instead of attempting to do the "pillow-talk" with Adam, she had simply said, "I'm just going to take a shower" then rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom.
After her shower –which had done very little to quash the heat – she came back to the bedroom wrapped in a towel. Standing at the doorway she asked, "Do you want to take a shower?"
Adam smiled and nodded. He got up, gathered his clothes and went to the bathroom, pausing only for a micro-second at the door to look at Lynn. Then she got dressed --putting on a pair of cut-off jeans and black halter-top-- and headed to the kitchen.
Now sitting on her couch, leaning forward, elbow resting on crossed legs, chin firmly nestled in a palm, she continued to stare blankly out the window into the evening darkness. Still searching her feelings about everything that had happened that day, she realized that there were a few things she knew she didn't feel: distressed, regretful, embarrassed. No, none of that. The only concern she felt was how difficult it was to admit to herself how good she felt. Some weight had been lifted off her chest and it felt like a light breeze had cleared her mind somewhat.
A tingle swept through her then as she actually retraced the time in her bedroom with Adam. The intensity that built from moment-to-moment had been electrifying. As each of her inhibitions fell, she could feel his touch more and more and she was swept away in the cycle. He was so focused and driven, more than anything she had ever expected of Adam. Her body couldn't help show its appreciation for his determination as he surged into her and her urgent groans for more were as honest as they were raw.
Damn he was good. Better than she had expected. Better than he had any right to...
The whine of the pipes as the shower was turned off interrupted her and brought her back to the moment. She felt the rapid beat of her heart and a slight swell in her throat. Blinking slowly to settle herself a bit, her eyes came to focus on the reflection in the sliding door window. Looking back at her was an attractive, glowing woman who appeared much more relaxed than she had been over the last couple of months. She could see herself smiling.
Lynn sighed languidly and rolled back against the sofa. Her arms dropped to her sides and she felt something against her hand. She picked up Adam's cell phone which he had tossed aside.
With barely a thought, she called up the menu and scrolled through his media files. There were several video files.
Clicking on one file, "Spider-Trevor", brought up a short, shaky video of their obnoxious colleague standing outside of the recreation center. Trevor, shirtless, was hollering like a viking and flexing his muscles like a body-builder. Then he proceeded to scale a utility pipeline on the side of the wall. Laughter from spectators gave way to hoots and cat calls when, after climbing about 12-feet, he lost his grip and plunged back down into some bushes. A rather humbled Trevor crawled out of the brush, leaves and dirt all over his back and his shorts pulled down to his knees.
Lynn covered her mouth as she watched and laughed to herself. She shook her head. "Such an idiot," she remarked.
Another file named, "Cassie $$$", caught her eye. She had expected to see more files with Cassie's name on them –Adam seemed to hang out a lot with her-- but that was the only one.
She almost clicked on the file, but there was another video file just below simply entitled, "Lynn". She immediately opened that one. The video of the day of the staff challenge played again. She watched as she was pulled into the puddle and then was picked up from behind by Adam, kicking and screaming.
A melancholy grin formed on Lynn's lips as she watched.
"Hey."
