QUICKIE DISCLAIMER - Look up. Don't like it, don't read it.
VERY IMPORTANT! READ THIS FIRST! - When we last left our heroine Carol, she was walking into the bathroom where Kim might have already committed suicide. I only mention it because someone told me the start of this part might confuse some readers. So don’t be confused. (P.S. – notice the chapter title!)
CHAPTER 11: THE WAY WE WERE
I woke up that morning thanks to the sun blasting through the window. That was odd because usually I close the drapes before I go to bed. My eyes opened before my brain could communicate what a horrible idea that truly was. It felt like someone stuck hot pokers into my sockets and they burrowed into the back of my brain. My hand reached out, took a pen from my nightstand and threw it at nature’s invading force. The pen might be mightier than the sword, but unfortunately it can’t do shit against sunlight. When my hand landed back on the bed it touched skin.
Not my skin.
My eyes flew open and my head popped up to see a mess of blonde hair on the pillow next to mine. There was the quickest moment of uncertainty. Oh yeah, the club last night. The girl determined to get the DJ to play KMFDM. Katie. No, Kelly. Kerrie. Kim, that’s it. It surprised me that I’d forgotten, but then I remembered how much I drank. More than I ever had before. I was never a big drinker, and always prevented myself from going overboard by bringing only twenty dollars with me whenever I went to a bar or a club.
But this Kim kept buying us rounds. I had one of those hangovers where part of you is still a little drunk. Yet it didn’t hurt so much looking at that mess of blonde hair, the emotions from last night coming back. That excitement you feel when meeting someone new, the electricity in the air when you realize you’re not the only one feeling the attraction, the anticipation of that first kiss.
That first kiss happened in the parking lot. The club was closing and I told Kim I’d walk her to her car. We exchanged numbers and arrived at that awkward moment when you either both say goodnight and walk off or you take a chance. As usual, the little war in my head between the two sides was fighting a battle. The rational side was telling me to walk away because it was too soon for a kiss, while the naughty side said to go for it for obvious reasons.
“Having a hard time there?” Kim asked.
“Um, what?”
“I can see it on your face,” she said. “You can’t decide what to do right now, can you?”
Oh shit, I thought. Was I that obvious? Have I always been that obvious? Has everyone always been able to see my indecision? Or does this girl have some kind of psychic ability? That would suck, dating a psychic. How could you plan any surprises? Or lie to her when she asks if you were checking out another girl? Hell, she wouldn’t even have to ask, she’d already know. That would really suck. And why the hell was I rambling on in my head like this?
“Uh…” I said. While that may sound like part of some brilliant strategy to stall for time to think, it was really because I was drunk, embarrassed, caught off guard and scared. Not an ideal combination. I managed to save myself somewhat by looking down at the ground and saying, “yeah, I think so.”
Kim burst out in laughter. I stood there feeling self-conscious. When she finished laughing, Kim looked up at me and said, “Tell you what, I’ll decide for you.” And with that she put her hand on my cheek, leaned in and kissed me. It was a light kiss, using just lips at first, but soon our tongues wanted to play and we let them have at it. I put my arms around her and held her tight, pinning her upper arms to her body. Kim managed to put her hands on my waist. She started sucking on my tongue, and I loosened my grip on her upper body. My hands slid down to her ass and squeezed her jean-covered cheeks, making her moan in my mouth. We slowly broke the kiss, and for a moment just stood staring at each other.
“Ahem.”
We were both so preoccupied we didn’t notice we had an audience. A car had pulled up beside us and my roommate was sitting in the passenger seat. “Sorry to interrupt, but I’ve got to work in the morning. We need to get going.”
I was going to say I’d be there in just a minute, but suddenly I heard, “I’ll take her home.” I turned and Kim was smiling. “If that’s okay?”
Before the car took off my roommate smiled and said, “Good luck.”
A little while later I was depending on that good luck. Kim was racing down the road with the top down and the music blasting. At first I was excited because I’d never been in a convertible before. But when Kim started making the engine perform like what it was made for, I suddenly realized how open and vulnerable a convertible made you. My body cowered down in the seat a little and I braced my left hand against the dashboard while my right held tight onto the door. Kim laughed at my reaction. I was positive she was well above the legal limit, both in alcohol and speed. All I kept thinking was seat belts or not, if she crashes we are so dead.
I knew we were at my place when Kim said “You can open your eyes now.” I did and actually breathed a sigh of relief. “So how was your first ride in a convertible?” she asked.
With a cracked voice I said, “I’ll never forget it.”
Kim laughed again. “You are so cute when you’re freaked out.”
We went up to my apartment and sat on the couch. I turned on a local radio station and kept it low even though my roommate’s bedroom was on the other side of the apartment, and then I went to the kitchen to get us something to drink. When I came back Kim had taken off her shoes and was sitting with her back against the arm of the couch, so I took up the same position on the other side. She brought her knees to her chest and her feet were facing me. While we sat there and talked I took in her beautiful face, the cute button nose and those piercing blue eyes. But my attention kept getting drawn down to those beautiful feet. They were perfectly formed, with toes that were thin but still had a good shape to them. At first I thought her toenails didn’t have any polish, but then I noticed they were coated with a clear gloss. I can usually manage to check out a girl’s feet and not get caught, but my eyes couldn’t resist the toe ring on her left index toe. It wasn’t one of those thin toe rings that you have to give a second glance just to see if it’s there, this was a thick one that screamed ‘Look at me!’
While I was never big into body jewelry, foot jewelry always gained a little extra stare from me, and that combined with feet as beautiful as Kim’s had me working hard not to be obvious. But it became hopeless when she pulled up the legs of her jeans to get more comfortable and exposed the gold chain around her right ankle. I kept up the conversation, but a couple of minutes later Kim interrupted me, asking, “What are you looking at?”
“I was just noticing your jewelry there,” I said, hoping to cover.
“Noticing? You were pretty much speaking to them instead of me.”
“Sorry,” I said, “they’re just nicer than other one’s I’ve seen.” It was a lie, but I had to try something.
Kim’s eyes narrowed as she looked at me. “You have a foot thing, don’t you?”
That’s it- she was psychic. The girl could read me like an open book. At that point I was convinced this was going nowhere. She had noticed every weakness and strange behavior I have. Figuring I may as well own up to this one too, I swallowed hard and said “Kinda.”