Adisa and I were sitting up on my bed watching Netflix. She was tucked into my shoulder, the ashtray on my legs close to full after an long evening catching Adisa up on some classic sci-fi.
It had been three weeks since I'd woken to find Adisa in my bed. It disturbed me how easily I'd fallen in the relationship, despite still deeply missing my wife and family back in England. Adisa was a fact of my existence here in Senegal. Our early attempts to keep our relationship secret had been vexed by the fact that whilst technologically impressive the huts were far from sound proof. That, and the team were not idiots and for the most part they were also polygamous. What would have been a scandal in England was met with little more than indifference in Senegal.
I kissed the tight braid on the top of Adisa's head and gently stroked her ears, enjoying the now familiar feeling of her twenty earrings rolling between my fingers. Adisa snuggled in a little tighter. She'd taken to wearing traditional Bassari clothes around me, that is to say very little by British standards, a simple, but colourful skirt made and dyed from local materials and that was about it. Whilst Rebecca, my wife, was no prude, she was rarely topless outside of our bedroom. Even on vacation in France, she didn't go topless. Adisa's comfort with her body was refreshing.
Our dress code at work was similar to most western companies: t-shirts and jeans for non-client facing team members, business casual for everyone else. Adisa was client facing, wearing light blouses, cotton skirt, tights and heels. She kept the tight braids and earrings that were traditional in her tribe, but removed the porcupine needle that she usually wore in her septum. A couple of weeks after we'd started working together I'd asked her why she removed the needle
"The earrings are enough to show I'm not ashamed of my heritage. In college we did a couple of exercises with European companies. I noticed that I had to work harder to convince them of my worth when I wore my septum needle. So I take it out."
"I guess that makes sense, you know you don't have to take it out, right." I'd replied.
"Yeah, I know. And as soon as I start to see Europeans wearing septum rings you can bet your ass, the needle is coming back in!" so far that hadn't happened yet, but there was definitely more body jewelry in the office than when I'd started in the industry over a decade ago.
The show finished, I checked my phone, it was getting late.
"Shit, is that the time?" Adisa remarked, "I need to wash my jewelry!"
"You do?" genuinely intrigued.
"Yeah. Plus its good for my ears to get a break. You've seen me without jewelry before, right?"
"Actually, I haven't."
"I guess not." she said clearly trying to think back. "Well, this will be the first time you see me actually naked!" she stood and took the ashtray with her. "I hope you still love me, and I'm more than 20 pairs of earrings to you". She started looking through my kitchen. "Where is your baking soda?"
"Baking soda?"
"Yeah. For bread. It was in the basic supplies in each hut"
"Probably where they-"
"Found it"she interupted and started filling a glass with warm water and dissolving a small amount of baking soda.
"Who says I love you?" I did love her, but I hadn't even admitted it to myself yet.
She looked me straight in the eye, whilst continuing to remove her earrings. "You love me." she told me.
"I do." I agreed. Realizing that lying or denying wouldn't help anything. "How did you know?" Rebecca paused a little as she finished removing the last earring from her left ear and placed the jewelry in the glass.
"Because," beginning on her right ear, "you look at me the same way you look when you think of Rebecca."
"Hey, that's not fair. How am I supposed to know if you love me?"
"Oh, that's easy Cherie." now finished with the earrings, she placed the septum needle the glass. Then sashayed over to me, and placed her hand on my chest. "I've loved you from the moment we met." and stood there leaving her hand and meeting my eyes with hers. I'd never seen her look this vulnerable. I'd been prepared to call bullshit, but it was clear she was serious. In that moment, I fell even deeper in love with this amazing women. I wrapped my arms around her, and kissed her, our lips melding, mouths opening. Her tongue finding mine with a gentleness that we'd reached in our short time together.
I untied her skirt and let it drop to the ground, then picked her up and lay her back on the bed. As I removed my shorts Adisa remarked
"Running really suits you." it was true. I'd really started to love the morning runs. My appetite had reduced and I'd easily lost 5 kilos. I felt the complement go to my penis and Adisa sat up and began to suck my cock. Expertly running her tongue along my length, and massaging the tip with lips. Her hands came up to my balls, but I pulled away, we fell into the mattress. She pulled my face to hers and kissed me fiercely, the taste of tobacco engorging me further, then she looked me in the eye and growled "Fuck me."
I slipped my cock into her, and felt her vagina contract around it. I began to fuck her, slowly increasing my cadence. Adisa grabbed my ass, and looked me in the eye. "Fuck me!" she demanded and I began to pound her. "That's. Better." she squeezed out between thrusts. "Harder!" "Deeper.". Already as hard and as deep as I could get in missionary, I lifted her legs over my shoulders and felt my cock engage with her g-spot. Adisa's eyes rolled back and she groaned deeper, groaning louder and louder with each thrust. Then I realised that I wasn't out of breath. I felt vital, finding strength and stamina I hadn't felt since my twenties. Harder, and harder until I felt her vagina clasp my penis then what I can only describe as milk me as Adisa screamed into a pillow.
I collapsed next to my new love, who lay there stunned, catching her breath. After a couple of minutes she rolled over and lit a cigarette, bringing the ashtray over to my undulating chest, and snuggled into my shoulder.
"I love you." I said. Shocked at saying it about someone other than Rebecca. The words ringing in my head. "I- I love you." I said once more, confident.
"I love you too, Cherie" and she kissed my neck. I pulled her a little closer and she bought her leg over mine. I started to stroke her ear and remembered she'd taken out her jewelry.
"Feels weird."
"I know. They're part of me. I don't like it."
"How long have you had them?"
"First holes when I was very young. I don't really remember, but the majority of them around the time of my first initiation, I guess I was 11."
"Initiation?"
"Ah, its just like group birthday party. Lots of music and dancing. All of the girls in my village who were coming into puberty dress in our best clothes and jewelry and we dance for the village."
"Sounds cute."
"Yeah, its a nice tradition. But that is when we make decisions about what jewelry we wear. Some of it is family tradition, some of it is what jewelry I had available. The jewelry is a mixture of gifts from other women in the family and gifts from friends and relatives. I had 20 beautiful silver rings. My friends thought I was crazy, most of them didn't want to get the earrings at all."
"Really? How come?"
"As the village integrates more, its become clear that our vision of beauty and elegance are unique, or at the very least, they're not en vogue. Even 20 years ago, girls were starting to question why they had to get pierced."
