--thank you for waiting oh so long and patiently for the 7th chapter. I hope it is worth the wait. If you want to cut to the sex part, go to the last page...but isn't the fun in the "build up?"
We walked to Della's, since it was a nice day. There was only a slight breezeโenough to make my skirt not too warm, not too short that the wind would catch it. Things probably needed a little airing out down there anyway. I couldn't help thinking I smelled of sex. Adam walked on one side of me, and kind of meandered so that he might somehow bump into my area of personal space, but Mason was on the other, and he had his had his hand on the slope of my back, so that I stayed close to him.
As we walked, Mason and Adam exchanged conversation, professor-type things, administrative-type things, things that I could care less about. While they talked and we all walked, I looked around at the sky, the buildings, and felt Mason's body, so definite, shadowing mine. What was it going to be like once I was officially moved into his house? How exactly did he live? And was it wise for me to go there? What would I find out about him while I was there? Would I wake up one day and find out he didn't want me there anymore, and be stuck out on the street? I stayed relatively quiet, and --despite my thoughts-- very content until we arrived at Della's.
Della's is a nice little place not far from campus which is usually too expensive for the average student. It was where grad students would sometimes hang out, or undergrads would take their dates there if they wanted to impress them. An upscale, yuppyish deli, that's what it was.
We found seats, in the corner of the room, a booth that could sit five people, with a chair on the other side of it. The waiter came over, wearing simple black pants and a white shirt. His hair was pulled back and swept up into a tiny ponytail.
"I'll have the "Deep Sea Sushi," Adam said, after Mason and I had given our orders. He gave the menus to the waiter, and then looked back to Mason, "So what's on for the summer, Mason?"
"Work. Lots of work. Ayilah's going to help me catalog," Mason replied, looking my way with a smile. "Then it's out to show and sell. What about you and Kyon?"
"Kyon and I, we are no longer. We're pretty much less than friends," Adam said sadly.
He then talked about his former girlfriend, Kyon, who happened to be an adjunct professor of English at another college in the city. Adam had met her at a conference and took up with her while he was still married to his wife, Roseanne. When Roseanne came home to find Adam tied to the bedposts, naked, and Kyon prancing around him in totally naked except for a pair of black boots, his marriage swiftly ended.
"Nothing like getting caught," Adam said with a smirk.
"Well unlike Roseanne, you have the distinct aberration of wanting to linger and watch," Mason replied.
"I apologize," Adam replied. "You were just having so much fun. I enjoy watching two people in the thick of things, so to speak."
I wanted to say something, but I didn't. With all the words darting so quickly between the two of them, I suddenly felt like the lowly undergrad again.
Caught in the nostalgia, Adam left out the events and reason why Kyon left him. When Mason asked, Adam merely said, "Suffice it to say I'll be working on my book alone."
"That seems to happen to you a lot," Mason smirked, "you need a new plan."
"Well, your plan looks pretty good to me," Adam said, with a smile, then shifted in his seat to face me. "So you're an art major?" Adam asked, trying not to sound presumptuous.
"Was," I replied. "Art History. And English."
"A double major? Well, then, you must be very gifted student," Adam replied, with an unnerving tone in his voice.
"Graduated," Mason piped in. "She isn't a student."
Mason and Adam's eyes met. "Good thing," Adam chuckled. "...Could've been quite a report to the dean. Not sure if I should've left some things in or out..."
"Out would have been fine," Mason replied, laughing softly, then mockingly whispered an aside, "Don't mind him; he's lecherous, but relatively harmless." "And," he added, giving Adam a stern look, "Just because she majored in English, doesn't mean she'll help you with your book."
"Oh, I wasn't thinking any such thing...but now that you mention it..."
Mason gave Adam a look that I couldn't tell was seriously reprimanding or lighthearted. There was definitely a history with these two, but I wasn't feeling particularly up to trying to figure out what it was. It seemed Adam just kind of imposed himself. I didn't want to spend time with him. I wanted to spend time with Mason.
When our food arrived, delivered by the waiter with the wispy, meager ponytail, it had arrived just in time. I really didn't know how to participate in the conversation between these two men, and it made me feel like the "odd one out". I could tell they were both dwelling on the afternoon's previous activities between Mason and I and I didn't like Adam's participation in it, even in conversation. A third party just made it...weird-- weird, and a bit sordid.
Fortunately for me and my insecurities, we ate without much conversation at all, but one thing from that meal stood out in particular. All of our entrรฉe's were laid out beautifully, but mine tasted blander than it looked. Maybe I didn't have as much of an appetite as I thought. Adam's must've been incredibly hungry, because he ate with more vigor than I'd ever seen anyone eat. It wasn't that he was sloppy. Just consistent. Eating must've been the one thing that shut him up.
I must have been watching him eat more than I was eating myself because he caught my eye and asked, with warmth and sincerity, "Would you like to try some?"
"Oh, no... No. This is fine," I replied, looking down at my plate and rubbing my napkin between my fingertips.