Two years ago, I was a twenty-six-year-old virgin living on the west side of Manhattan. Being a virgin at that age is a real rarity anywhere these days. In New York where it seems like sex is in the air everywhere you go, it's even more rare. But I had always been shy with women. I was overweight--not obese, but enough to make me very self-conscious. I was not at all well endowed either, and that added to my shyness. I was feeling many things. I felt alone, frustrated, different. But most of all what I felt was shame. Shame at reaching this age and never having had a single sexual encounter. Shame at never having the courage to make that first move with a girl. Then I met someone very special. Someone who lifted my shame and changed me forever.
Anna was a gorgeous, twenty-one-year-old college student from Germany. She was slim, rather tall, with large eyes, beautiful wavy brown hair which just came down to her shoulders. Actually, the first thing I ever noticed about her was her big wide smile. She was simply one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen.
Anna had moved into the apartment above mine. I first saw her in the elevator. The first couple of times, she just smiled at me we didn't speak except to say hello. But just the fact that she smiled at me more than made my day. Finally, on our third elevator encounter, I got the nerve to chat her up a little. I found out that she was here studying philosophy. Her spoken English was very fluent, really only a trace of an accent. But she told me she was having trouble with her written assignments. She said her written grammar wasn't always correct. So, seeing an opportunity, I offered to help her go over her papers. She seemed grateful for the offer and accepted.
So for the next couple of weeks, I would go up to her place for a couple of hours a night to help her. We'd work for awhile and then she'd make tea and we would just sit and talk. It might seem that I was being generous with my time, but just being in her presence was a big thrill for me. Her lovely smile, her sexy, high-pitched voice--I was falling deeply in love.
I knew that she wasn't a virgin herself because of a couple of off-handed remarks she had made about having a couple of lovers. At first, I didn't think I'd have any kind of a chance with her. But as I got to know her, I began to see her as the one who would finally take my virginity. In my fantasies, she would be so gentle and patient with me. She was so sweet, I just knew she would take pleasure in teaching me. I would be so comfortable with her. I wouldn't be embarrassed to be learning from a younger woman. With each day, I became more and more certain that she would be the one to bring me into my manhood.
After a couple of weeks, I asked her if she wanted to go out with me. A nearby park was having a music festival and craft fair on the following Sunday. She said that she'd love to go. You can imagine my excitement the night before the festival. I could hardly sleep. The proximity of her bedroom, just above my own, added to my anxiety. I'd look up at the ceiling and imagine.
When I went up to her place to meet her the next day, she looked more beautiful than I had ever seen her. She wore a white, sleeveless, cotton pullover blouse with no bra. Her nipples were very much in evidence. Her flowery skirt had a slit in the side which showed off her gorgeous legs. She was so excited to be going, she was almost like a little girl. But make no mistake, she looked like a woman.
We walked to the park, and once we were there she started turning heads left and right. There was no doubt, she was the most beautiful girl in the park that day. She would take my arm with her hand as we walked and I would just about die. We stopped at one craft booth where she was admiring an Indian jade bracelet. I bought it for her and she gave me a big hug. I just couldn't believe it. At this point just knew I was going to be her lover. I had even decided that I would try to kiss her before the day was out.
However, what I didn't know was that her future lover was indeed in the park that day--and that he wasn't me.
____________________
Anna had told me that she was tired and wanted to sit on a bench for a few minutes. I asked if she'd like for me to get her something to drink and she asked me to get to her a lemonade. I should have known better than to leave her alone with all the heads she was turning. It took about ten minutes for me to go for the lemonade, and when I got back, there he was. Mr. Jock, (I later learned his name was Matt) sitting atop a ten-speed bike, talking and laughing with Anna. I had to admit, he was really good-looking--tall, short brown hair, hard all over, about my age, maybe a year or two older. It didn't hurt that his shirt was off.
I gave Anna her lemonade. She thanked me for it, but other than that, it was almost as if I wasn't there. I could tell that the two of them were speaking a completely different language, the language of two sexy people who are attracted to one another. It was a language that I wasn't privy to.
He finally rode off, but the last thing he said to her was that he'd call her. So he had obviously gotten her number before I showed up. Even though she was walking away with me, I could tell that her mind was on him. I noticed that her nipples were practically protruding through her thin cotton blouse. I knew then. I knew that I had been a fool to even think that she would consider me a potential lover. The guy on the bike, or someone like him, would be the one to hold her, to taste her neck and her nipples, to come inside of her, to feel her soft hair against his chest, her bare skin against his. I was her chubby friend is what I was. My heart sank. We finished out the day together. She was still nice, still held my arm. But I knew something had changed.
Over the next week, I went up to her place a few times to help with her assignments. Everything was pretty much the same as before, we'd work, talk, have tea. I'd leave, and she'd smile and give me a kiss on the cheek. She didn't say anything about the guy in the park. I started to feel a little better. Maybe what went on in the park was nothing. Maybe she had gone out with the guy and he had turned out to be a jerk. Maybe she had fucked him and got it out of her system and she was ready to turn her attention back to the sweet guy who lived downstairs. I started to get my hopes up again.
Then, one night early the following week, I was with her at her place. As soon as we finished work, instead of making tea, she asked me to leave. She wasn't rude, she just said she was tired. A smile and a kiss on the cheek. I was a little disappointed, but I didn't think that much of it. I got down to my place and about five minutes later I just happened to look out my window. There he was, coming into the building--Matt, the guy from the park. It didn't take much to figure out what was happening. He was even toting a backpack, probably with some overnight things. My heart sank again.
The walls in this building have always been rather thin. The same goes for the floors. I could sometimes hear Anna walking around her apartment. About two minutes after I saw Matt enter the building, I heard an unmistakable sound coming from her bedroom--the sound of two pairs of feet. I listened carefully and could hear talking, laughing. A couple of minutes later, another unmistakable sound, although it was one I had only heard in movies. It was the sound of two lovers pleasuring each other. It was painful to listen to it, but I couldn't help it. The sound of their lovemaking was faint, but when she came, I doubt I was the only one in the building to hear it.