Henry Wong really thinks he's all that.
That's what Lisa was thinking on the way back from dinner. She'd listened to him blabber on about something called 'Linux' through the entire meal. If it weren't for the lettuce wraps, the evening would have been a total loss. Megabytes, hard drives, and a million other doo-dads spilled out of his mouth in an annoying cacophony of heavily accented pontifications.
"This guy, this Bok-gwai asshole, he say 'Yooo need to use Windows Server'. I say, no. I always using Linux server with Apache. White guys always waste money."
This was all meaningless to Lisa. In three hours he'd not asked her how she was, about her studies, her life, even her opinion. She had smiled politely, nodded and ate her wraps. She had only agreed to go out with him after constant urging by her mother. He was successful, a business owner, a 'good catch', by Mom's standards. Forget that he had bad breath, picked his nose constantly and was completely self-absorbed. Thank god she had Carolyn to divert her thoughts. Every time Henry slurped his soup, she tried to instead imagine the way Carolyn's face looked as she sucked Lisa's nipples, or the incredibly soft skin of her lover's inner thigh.
When Henry pulled up to her parent's house, he began kissing and pawing at her.
"No Henry! Goodnight!" He had sneaked his hand underneath her sweater and bra and was fondling her bare breast. This had happened to her on so many dates; pushy Asian bachelors that figured this shy girl was an easy fuck. Did he think he was going to do her right here in the driveway of her parent's house? She wasn't in high school, not that she even did it back then. When he reached under her skirt and poked his fingers at her panty-covered pussy, that was it.
"NO HENRY!" With that she threw her entire 103 pounds into a punch to Henry's groin.
"AAAAHHHHH" Henry wailed. She threw the door of his BMW open, and ran up the driveway.
"Fucking crazy bitch! Fuck you! I kick your ass, you slut!" Henry hollered more obscenities as he drove off.
Inside, Lisa's Mother immediately quizzed her.
"How was Henry? He make good husband. You smiled? Make him like you?"
"No Mom, he's a jerk. He just tried to rape me in the driveway!"
Lisa's Mom twisted a scowl on to her face. "Nooooo, you probably
misunderstand him
. He successful man, make good husband!"
"Goodnight mother", Lisa turned and went to her bedroom and locked the door. It amazed Lisa that everyone around her completely dismissed her opinion. Well, everyone, except her Carolyn. It had been a month since she had kissed those soft lips, and she was going mad with anticipation. Carolyn had changed so many things about Lisa in such a short time. People were noticing her confidence and attitude. She was asserting herself, expressing her opinions and increasing her confidence. Today, she had visited a professor during office hours to clarify a point he had made in class about Shakespeare's influence on modern theater.
"Lisa, Lisa Lum". He said after explaining his lecture. "You really thought this out, and presented your point well. I expect to hear and see more from you".
It was so satisfying to hear. The point was minor, but she had been terrified of approaching a professor in the past, and this was a major step for her.
She opened her laptop, anticipating an email. Carolyn was in New York hammering out some deal. She had been gone for three weeks, Chicago, New Orleans, and now New York. Lisa wanted so desperately to make love to her. There had been the one encounter in Carolyn's apartment, and a dinner before she went on the road. They had made out in Carolyn's car that night like two high school kids in heat.
"I want to do what we did in you apartment again." Lisa had whispered.
"Patience, baby. We will, and after you've waited for a few weeks it will be even hotter".
There was no email. Lisa was dejected.
The next day she did her stint in the video store. She was actually starting to enjoy the job. In all those years of shelving porn, she had never given it much thought. Now, she found herself looking at dust jackets, reading blurbs and secretly viewing videos in the back room. Often she would return to her post up front with a slippery feeling between her legs.
Jeff, the UPS driver jingled the door. "Hi Lisa" he said, as rustled the hand truck through the door.
"Hi there". She signed the clipboard and checked the boxes. All were addresses to 'Sunny Video', except one. It was addresses to Lisa Lum, from a company called "Eros Garden".
When Jeff left, she opened the box and found and was horrified to find several 'adult' items. There was a large box with a picture of a rubber phallus, and another thing called a 'magic bullet'.
"Oh my God!" she said under her breath, quickly closing up the box and hiding in under the counter. The rest of the shift she couldn't stop thinking about what was in that box. They were sex toys. She was horrified and excited by the idea. Before meeting Carolyn, she'd rarely masturbated – now she had sex toys! No doubt her lover had arranged for them to be sent. She had sensed that Carolyn loved to shock her. It was exciting for both of them.
When it was time to close, she locked up and left with the box under her arm and her backpack over her shoulder. She felt like she was smuggling drugs; having something so nasty in her possession. As she rounded the corner into the parking lot, she ran squarely into someone coming the other way. As they collided, she dropped everything. Her books slid out of the un-zipped backpack, and to her horror, the box sprang open, spilling some if it's contents. As she scrambled to retrieve the small box that contained the 'Magic Bullet", she heard a cheerful voice say "Oh! Lisa! I'm so sorry!".
It was Jenny Chang. Perfect Jenny Chang. Jenny Chang with the rich boyfriend, the Mercedes CLK coupe and the expensive wardrobe. Jenny, with the curvy body and incurably cute face that everyone loved. It had to be Jenny!
"Here, let me help" Jenny said.
"No! It's ok! I've got it." Lisa scrambled to get the 'bullet' back into the box. She was terrified that Jenny had seen it. She closed up the box quickly and stuffed her books into her backpack, then stood up and tried to regain her composure.
"Sorry 'bout that" Lisa stammered.
"Oh, no problem! Wow, so I haven't see you in