When I pulled into the trailer park I was surprised to see Randy's car parked in front. I don't know why I was surprised, but I was.
At the door, I hesitated, thought about knocking, decided that was stupid, and went in. Well, started to go in but the door was locked so I got my keys out, fumbled through them to find the almost-never-used front door key, and then went in.
Randy sat at the small kitchen table, naked, sipping coffee and watching Monica move around, making breakfast. She had on one of my T-shirts which barely covered her ass and when she bent over to check on the Pillsbury biscuits in the oven I saw that she was leaking.
The most surprising thing was that I wasn't overcome with jealousy. I suppose, after my night and morning that makes sense, but this was so far from my middle-class upbringing that I was surprised. Mostly, though, I thought how damn hot she looked like that.
She came to me, kissed me thoroughly, and asked, "Biscuits and gravy before I send you off to class?"
I had trouble replying because I was so damn focused on the thick dollop of semen in the part of her hair.
"David?" she asked.
I chuckled, kissed her on the top of her head, avoiding the semen, and said, "You guys go ahead. I need to shower and get moving. This
Urban Geography
class is kicking my ass and I need to work on that paper."
"Is that the one with Dr. Lell?" Randy asked.
"Yep," I said, fascinated at how easy it was to engage in a conversation with the naked man who had fucked my wife the night before and, given that neither of them had pants on, I assumed intended to do it again this morning.
"Set an appointment, tell her you need tutoring, and be sure to tell her how good she looks," he said, "You'll get that 'A'."
"You took that class?" I asked.
"Nah," he said, "I had her for
World Geography
, but the concept is the same. Look, Dave, you've seen her. She likes the dick. Throw a fuck into her and you'll get that 'A'."
Monica shocked me by saying, "You think that would work for me? She's the only one teaching
Art and Geography
, and I'll have to take that class?'
Randy reached over, patted Monica on the ass, and said, "I'd like to watch that. Whattya think, Dave?"
I laughed and said, "Well, she is good with her mouth," as I patted her other cheek.
She giggled, pushed me away, said, "Get moving," kissed Randy, and went back to her cooking.
So I showered, put on my hippie uniform of worn jeans and T-shirt (this one advertising Winston cigarettes), along with tennis shoes with no socks. No underwear either. Hippies, you know.
I kissed Monica who was eating across the table from Randy, thought about it, and kissed him too before heading to school.
I almost slept through my
World History
class, spent two hours in the library, went to the
Science
building, and checked the directory for Dr. Lell's office. Her office hours were posted as just before the class, so I found it and knocked.
"Yes, Mr. Morgan," she said as I stood in the door.
"Got a minute?" I asked.
Well, you can cut a yard or two of the conversation that followed. It was, I suppose, very stock stuff. I was the poor helpless student. She was the tall, almost statuesque, good-looking, mature professor. I set an appointment for the following Tuesday. During class, I made a point of making eye contact and smiling a lot.
Thursday was Pizza night, so I stopped at
Shakeys
and then at the Kroger store on the way home and loaded a case of their cheapest beer,
Iron City
if it matters, onto the motorcycle I had brought back from Japan, and headed home.
Monica greeted me at the door looking like absolute shit.
It didn't look like her hair had been combed or brushed and she damn sure hadn't put on even a hint of makeup. Hell, she hadn't even washed her face, something made obvious by the dried semen in her hair and on her forehead.
"Please don't hate me," she said, taking my hands in hers.
"What?" I asked, taking it all in.
"Randy said I shouldn't wash my face and I couldn't go to class like this," she said, tears starting to run down her cheeks.
"What?" I said again, trying to decide if I should be angry or laugh at the whole fucking situation.
"Please don't hate me, David," she said again.
"Now why would I hate you?" I asked, trying out a smile.
"Because I liked it, David," she said, her breath catching as she started crying in earnest now, "Oh, shit, because I LOVED it."
I put my palms flat on her cheeks, not allowing her to turn away, and held her eyes.
Monica is a cute girl and she's one of those rare women who is still cute even when she's crying. Oh, her face was red and her eyes swollen, tears wet her cheeks and her nose was running, clear mucus pooling on her upper lip before running down her chin to hang in a thick string to her T-shirt. But she was cute still. I kissed her on the forehead where the dried cum made a crusty little spot, and then on her mouth, slick and sticky from the way her nose was running.
"It's okay," I said, holding her while she cried.
It went on for a while, her crying, me holding her, and dishing those platitudes you do in that situation. "Dave's got you." "It's all right." "I've got you, now." You know, stuff like that.
The storm passed, as it always does, and she leaned back and smiled up at me.
"Promise you don't hate me?" she asked, but she was smiling now.
"Promise," I said. "Now sit," I turned her gently and had her sit at the table, "and we'll eat, have a beer, have a joint, and talk."
At the last phrase her eyes dropped so I did the two-fingers-under-the-chin thing humans with a Y chromosome seem to know at the genetic level and said, "Stop that. Good talk."
She smiled and relaxed.
I got out a couple of paper plates, put a couple of slices of pizza on each one, popped open two cans of the cheap beer, and sat.
I told her about my meeting with Dr. Lell, and my scheduled meeting next week. The conversation was, as they say, desultory. We were both awkward for the first time since that first blind date, and it felt wrong.
Bellies full, the first beer down, and the pot starting to kick in, we moved to the little hand-made couch John and I had whipped up.
This was new territory for me but I figured what the hell, let's get to it.
"You enjoyed it, didn't you?" I asked.
This time she didn't try to avoid eye contact.
"Yes," she said, the flat single syllable containing everything that needed to be said.
"Can I ask why?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, giggling. This was an old game with us, answering questions literally.
"Why did you enjoy it?" I asked the follow-up question.
"It was different," she said and when I started to speak she stopped me with a fingertip to my lips.
"It wasn't
better
," she went on, "but it was different. You know you weren't my first, but besides you, there have only been two others," she stopped and giggled, "well, until last night."
"Why did you enjoy it?" I asked again.
"I enjoyed all of it," she said. "The kisses were different, you know?"
And I could see that she was getting into the discussion. She had those little frown lines between her eyebrows that showed she was thinking.
"He's a good kisser," she said at last, "good pressure, good contact, just the right amount of tongue," she giggled at that last, "Not like my husband trying to tonguewash my tonsils."
I smiled and licked my lips.
"And his hands, well, his touch was different too," she said. "He pinched and," and she giggled again, "I kind of liked it."