Chapter 4: The Heartfelt Truth
The previous couple months had been like a dream. Two and a half months ago, I’d moved away from home and gotten a new job straight out of college at a web developing company. I had already gotten my first raise, and I was a candidate for the company's top development team. My health had never been better. In fact, I’d lost even more weight! I had my own apartment that more than suited my needs. I got to see my friends most weekends since all but one of us were in the same area. On top of all that, I had a girlfriend.
Clara was one of the friends who’d helped me move into my new apartment. Well, she had been a friend until she’d agreed to go out with me. Clara was a one-in-a-million catch. Not only was she drop dead gorgeous, but she had a personality that was even more appealing. She had a brilliant sense of humor, and she even tolerated my terrible puns. My sex life with Clara was beyond amazing. Before dating her, I’d been a virgin, but now I was able to pleasure her like I’d never imagined. Long story short, my life had never been better.
Well, I guess there was one problem. If, in fact, you could call it a problem. My feelings towards Clara hadn’t diminished after that first night together. If anything, they’d grown even stronger over the months. I hadn’t told her how strong they were because I was afraid she wouldn't feel the same way. Plus, this was my first real relationship; I didn’t know if it was just an infatuation or something more. So up to this point, I’d kept those thoughts to myself.
It was the second weekend in August and as hot as could be expected in the midwest. Of course the high humidity sure didn’t help one bit. My oldest and best friend David had some time off from grad school and had come to visit for the first time since I’d moved in. David was supposed to have helped me move in, but due to an accident in the lab, he and his entire class had been quarantined after being exposed to viruses that they had deliberately mutated. He hadn't gotten sick from that incident, but it had made moving into my apartment that much harder.
“Nice place,” David said after I finished showing him around. “A little cozy, but definitely nice.”
“For the price it’s great,” I said truthfully. “Plus, this building has central air. With the weather this time of year, air conditioning is a godsend.”
David slapped me on the back, “Hey, at least it wasn’t this hot in June when you moved into this place. That would’ve sucked!”
“Yeah, especially since you would’ve been in an air conditioned hospital ward instead of helping me,” I smirked.
“God damn it, Felix,” David laughed. “You’re never gonna let that go, are you.”
“Would you?” I asked with a slight chuckle. “Don’t worry about it. After all, I’d say things worked out for the best.”
“I suppose you’re right,” he agreed. “How are Clara and the other two anyway?”
“Sophie’s still bouncing between jobs. Clara found a new job at a marketing firm. And Abbie’s almost head of her department already. Can you believe it?” I asked. “Abbie, from high school, climbing the corporate ladder.”
“She better be careful. If she get’s promoted too far the other bigwigs will feel threatened because she’s actually competent.” We both chuckled a little bit before David changed the subject, “Well I think that’s enough talking. We’re guys! We need to play some video games, and I’ve got one that we haven’t played in years.” David reached into his bag and pulled out an old Playstation game. NHL 2000.
“You’ve gotta be frikkin’ kidding me!” I said as a huge grin spread across my face.
“Wanna play the first game like old times?”
“Hell yeah!” I pulled out my old PS One and got it set up.
I should probably explain the significance of this game. David and I played this game endlessly over the summers when we were kids, but we hardly ever played against each other. It wasn’t because we weren’t competitive, rather the opposite actually. Each game we played against each other turned into a tense competition where tempers flared. In the end, his mom forced us to play on the same side because we got too rowdy. As it turned out, we actually enjoyed that more. We would play through entire seasons, usually thrashing the game’s A.I. Our team had the highest penalty rate of any in the league, and most of our players should’ve been suspended, but we had a blast and won the Stanley Cup over and over.
Our old memory cards were lost a long time ago, so we ended up playing an exhibition game: Penguins vs. Flyers. We were Pittsburgh, and we quickly adopted our typical strategy: shoot the puck like crazy, hit the other team every chance we got, and get our players sent to the penalty box every thirty seconds. It was a strategy that worked perfectly because the game’s A.I. was absolute crap.
Halfway through the second period and my third fist fight, I abruptly paused the game. “David,” I began, “how long do you have to wait to tell a girl you love her?” To his credit, David wasn't too startled. He was used to my questions about how to deal with people. I had been socially inept in college and even worse in high school.
David responded in the manner any rational human would. “Well that was out of the blue,” he muttered in surprise. “Not, ‘Hey, can I ask you something?’ Or, ‘Hey David, I was wondering...’”
“David,” I said tersely, “I’m serious.”
David ran his tongue along his gums like he always did when he was thinking. “I know you are,” he said finally. “That’s not something you would ask unless you really wanted to know.” David set his controller down on the floor and sat back in his chair. “Let’s take a break. I think this conversation is gonna take a while.” David waited for me to set down my controller before he asked, “First of all, I’m going to assume you’re talking about Clara, right?” I nodded. “Okay then, I want you explain your feelings, how long they’ve been around, when you first felt them, everything. I know it’s hard for you to put emotions into non abstract words, but I want you to try.”
I took a deep breath and spilled my guts. I explained as best I could the emotions I felt when I was around Clara. How even the smallest things from the sound of her laugh to the sighs of exasperation she made at my jokes made me want to do anything for her. I told him about the feelings I had that first night and how they had grown over the weeks and months together. I talked about how even the slightest touch of her hand or the briefest moment of eye contact could send chills through my entire body.
I went on for minutes. Five minutes became ten. Ten, fifteen. Finally, David held up his hand to stop me. “I imagine you’ve thought a lot about your feelings, am I right?”
“Yeah,” I laughed uneasily. “I’ve tried to look at my feelings objectively, but I can’t seem to do it.”
“Good,” he nodded in approval. “Then tell me, what is the one thing you like most about her?”
“My favorite thing about Clara…” I pursed my lips in thought. What should have been a simple question was near impossible to answer. What was my favorite thing about Clara? Was it her eyes? Her smile? No, was it her laugh? Her sense of humor? Her overall looks? Was it her positive outlook? Her personality? Was it her interests? Her sense of right and wrong? Her attitude? All of these things and more were what made her so perfect. How could I pick just one?
Even Clara’s flaws were a part of her. The way she would dive headlong into a problem without first trying to find the best solution. The way she would never give up on a project even beyond the point of stubbornness. It was what made her who she was.
“My favorite thing about her,” I stated finally, “is that she’s Clara.”
“So, your favorite thing is… everything…”
“No,” I quickly corrected him. “There are things that I’m not necessarily fond about. Some of her habits bug me. The way she sorts things is totally different than mine. She likes different games than me, and there’s a whole lot of other stuff that I’m not totally crazy about but that’s what makes her who she is. Her looks, her personality, even her flaws. All of that is what makes Clara who she is.”
David nodded thoughtfully and put his hands behind his head. “Well first of all, it sounds like you’ve over thought this the way you do with everything,” he said with a wistful smile. “Second, it sounds like it’s more than infatuation. I’m no psychologist, or love doctor for that matter, but you definitely seem to be head over heels for Clara.”
“Understatement of the decade,” I muttered under my breath. “So how long do I have to wait before I tell her?”
“Well, telling someone that you love them is a statement you can never take back. You can never ‘unring a bell once it’s been tolled.’ On the other hand, if they don’t feel the same way it can add stress to relationships in an instant,” David said with a snap of his fingers. “But, if you’re sure you feel that way and you think she might feel the same, it can bring the two of you even closer just to hear it said aloud.” David paused, perhaps waiting for a question of some feedback. The only thing that I said, I said with my eyes. I looked back at him, absolutely determined and more sure of my feelings than I ever had.
Finally, David continued, “Felix, I can’t tell you the best time to tell Clara how far your feelings for her go, but I can advise you when not to tell her.” He held up three fingers, “Don’t tell her during or after sex. Second, don’t tell her you love her out of the blue. Make sure there’s some context. The last and worst time to tell her you love her is when the two of you are accompanied by friends. She might feel pressured to respond, or things might get really awkward if she doesn’t return the sentiment.” David put his hands down and shrugged, “Well, that’s all I’ve got. After all, love isn’t a science. Now can we get back to the game? I think it’s time we gave those Philly fans some more stuff to boo at.”
“Since when do people from the city of brotherly love need a reason to boo?” I scoffed. “They’d boo Santa Claus on Christmas morning if he happened to be wearing red!”
“No way, Felix,” he shook his head in disbelief, “Nobody’s enough of an asshole to boo Santa.”
“Apparently the developers at EA thought they were, just listen to to all those Flyers fans,” I said as I unpaused the game to continue my fight.
“Dude, EA sucks. Don’t you remember how badly they screwed up Dragon Age 2?” he asked. Even though that game totally sucked, I ignored his question, because my fight wasn’t going so well. “Woah, you are getting your ass handed to you!”
“Shut up, you’re worse than me at the fights anyhow.” I grumbled halfheartedly as my player got knocked out and sent to the penalty box. “What the hell? Why did the other guy only get two minutes? He punched my lights out and gets less of a penalty than me?”
“Just roll with it.” David shrugged, “We’re already ahead by almost twenty, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“My apartment could burn down while the internet was out so that I couldn’t tell people on Facebook,” I joked with a deadpan tone.
David got a good laugh out of that. “Shut up and play.”
And so the game continued. By the end of the third period, we had accrued over thirty points and far more penalties. If it had been a regulation NHL game, we probably would’ve ended up having to forfeit, but for the video game it was a fool proof strategy. I honestly don’t know who tested that game, but whoever it was, either deserved to be fired or given a raise. Before we could start a game against each other, there was a knock at the door.
“Hey, they’re here!” I said in excitement. After looking at the clock, I continued with slightly less enthusiasm, “Damn, they really need to stop showing up early. I’ll explain it for you later,” I added when David shot me a confused glance. I opened the front door to be greeted by my three favorite women. “Hello everyone, guess who’s here!” I said as I ushered them into my apartment.
Abbie was the first one to greet David, “Hey, Crockett,” she teased. David hated being called Davy, so Abbie called him by a fake last name. “How long has it been?”
“Since the last time I asked you to stop calling me Davy Crockett? Well, Abbie, it’s been about six months since we last talked, so let’s see…” David paused as if he was actually thinking it over. “So I’d say about half a year at the most.”
Sophie sighed in exasperation, “Just let it go. You know the only reason she says that is to get on your nerves.” The corners of her lips curled into a vixen-like smile, “So how’ve you been, hotstuff?”
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite minx of a woman,” David’s eyes brightened as he looked at Sophie. That look in his eyes quickly dimmed as he noted the ring on her hand. “Aw, you’re engaged?” Sophie’s smile didn’t falter as she nodded. “Damn! Now you and I can’t have any more fun when I come to the city for a visit!”
“Uh, David?” I hesitated. I was hesitant to tell David that Sophie and her fiance were actually swingers. In the end I decided to be vague and let Sophie tell him when she thought it was right, “That might not… actually be the case…”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Ryan and I are swingers,” Sophie answered casually.
“What! Since when!?” David gasped in shock.
In all honesty, I hadn’t expected her to just come out and say it, but apparently she and David had an ongoing tryst. One that would likely continue. The two of them continued to talk about future plans, but I had other priorities. Clara had so far remained silent throughout the whole exchange, but as I approached her eyes sparkled with excitement. I don’t know if it was the because of her green football jersey, but her eyes seemed to be even more vibrant than ever. I was so enraptured by those green orbs that I almost missed hearing her first words. “Sure took your sweet time, eh Tiger?” she said finally. “Were you just going to ignore your girlfriend?”
“Sorry,” I said apologetically, “I was trying so hard to be a good host, but I forgot to greet the guest of honor.”
“I’ll let it slide,” Clara said with a slight laugh. “Aren’t you at least going to say ‘hello’ the way you normally do?” She stepped closer to me and lifted her chin slightly. It was almost like she was begging for me to kiss her, and what kind of boyfriend would I be if I turned down such an invitation?
I put an arm behind her as I pulled her into a tight embrace. Using my other hand, I brushed some stray red hairs back behind her ear as I leaned down to kiss her sweet lips. In private our kisses were so fierce and passionate that they would be considered, at the very least, impolite in public. Since we were in front of our friends, we restrained ourselves to a kiss that was more tender than it was intense. My tongue gently probed past her lips and into her mouth. Mere moments later, the kiss was over. The kiss may have finished, but neither of us was eager to break the embrace, so we just stood there, wrapped in each other’s arms.
“I’ve missed you,” I told her softly. Clara’s eyes were closed and her head was pressed against my shoulder. We hadn’t seen each other since Sunday afternoon. Normally we were able to meet during the evenings after work, but this week Clara had gone out of town for a business conference. Her whole department went to Chicago for the week to take part in training seminars. So there wasn’t any chance of the two of us getting together during the evening. Even though it hadn’t even been a week since we last saw each other, what I'd said was true; I’d missed her a lot.
"Me too,” Clara murmured into my shoulder. I might not have been able to see her smile, but I could hear it just the same.
I tried to stop myself, really I did. “Why did you miss yourself?” I asked as innocently as I could. “I could understand it if you missed me, but you were around yourself all week.”
“Dick!” Clara laughed as she punched me lightly on the shoulder, separating us slightly
I looked at where she’d punched me and shook my head, “No, Clara, that’s a shoulder. Are you sure you passed that anatomy course your junior year?”
“You-” Clara couldn’t find the right words, so she just wrapped her arms back around me. “God, I’ve missed you so much.”
“Even the bad jokes?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Especially the bad jokes,” she assured me.
This time when Clara and I separated, I kept my arm around her shoulder. I gave her three light squeezes like I normally did to show my affection. Then we walked back to David and the other two. Sophie and David were still flirting, but Abbie looked more than a little bored.
“So, Abbie, how’ve you been?” my girlfriend asked. “Is work going alright for you?”
“Meh,” Abbie’s blonde hair shifted slightly as she shrugged. “It’s going alright.”
“Just alright?” Clara’s eyebrows arched in surprise. “I thought you got promoted again.”
“Yeah, but I have to be on call most evenings, so Daniel and I aren’t getting to spend much time together,” Abbie sighed in frustration. “But lately, he’s working a lot too, so it’s been a bit of a rough patch for us.”
“So…” Clara said slowly, “Have the two of you… you know…”
“You can do it, Clara,” Abbie smiled broadly as if she was encouraging a puppy to roll over. “You’re a big girl. Just use your words.”
I came to Clara’s rescue. Well, sort of, “I think Clara’s asking if you and Daniel have tried doing two person pushups.”
“Two person... What!?”
“You know… Competing in the bedroom rodeo, dipping the corndog, sweeping the pantry with the womb broom, doing the horizontal tango, spraying the cervix, watering the tulips downstairs, exploring the-”
“Stop!” Abbie cried out. “Oh my God, I can’t-” she gasped between laughs. Both Abbie and Clara were doubled up in fits of hysterical laughter. I could see tears falling down their faces as they were gasping for breath. “I can’t take it!”
“The hell?” Clara wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. “Dipping the corndog? You had to have made that one up.”
“Eh, probably,” I agreed. “But Abbie still hasn’t answered your question.”
It took more than a few moments for Abbie to get control of herself. “No, we haven’t had sex yet,” she finally admitted. “Not every couple has sex the night they start dating like you two did.”
“What’s going on over here?” David asked as he and Sophie moved over to join us. “You ladies seem to be pretty worked up about something.”
“Oh it’s just Felix making things up again.” Clara explained with a smile. “David have you ever heard of ‘dipping the corndog?’”
“Hm…” David thought about it for a few seconds. “It sounds vague and fairly innocent. So I’d have to say it’s a euphemism for sex or something like that.”
“Hard to argue with that logic, since there is none…” Abbie muttered as she rolled her eyes.
“Oh I give up…” Clara sighed before changing the subject, “So what are we doing tonight?”
“Truth or dare!” Sophie suggested immediately.
“Seriously, will you ever suggest anything else?” I asked, only half serious. We had yet to play truth or dare even once since the housewarming party, but that didn’t discourage Sophie from suggesting it at every opportunity. I think she was eager to escalate things even further for all of us, but the rest of the group was hesitant. David whispered something into her ear. Whatever it was, it prompted Sophie to turn and kiss him on the cheek. It looked like they’d figured out how to continue their romp.
“Well,” Clara began hesitantly, “it is the opening preseason game for the Green Bay Packers. I know you’re not all huge football fans, but do you think we can go to a sports bar and watch it?” Clara was just as crazy about the Packers and I was. She’d grown up on the east side of Wisconsin while I grew up farther from Green Bay, but distance was no factor when it came to the NFL team with the most World Championships. (No, I’m not just counting Super Bowl victories it’s the entirety of the NFL’s History that I'm talking about.)
“That’s right!” I snapped my fingers in realization. “Who do they play tonight?”
“It’s an away game against Arizona.”
“Yikes, that’s gonna be warm.” I muttered before turning to the rest of the group to make my case. “I know the three of you aren’t as crazy about football as Clara and me, but do you think we can go to a sports bar?”
Abbie was the first to speak, “That’s okay with me,” she said. “Daniel and I are going to a movie at eight, so I won’t be able to stay the whole time.”
“And David and I aren’t going to stick around for the whole game either,” Sophie said as she slipped her arm around David’s waist. Then with a wink that was almost slutty, she added “He and I are going to be going to bed early tonight.”
“Hold on, Felix,” said David. “I want to be able to talk to you, it’s been close to half a year!”
“Relax,” Clara said softly, “the game doesn’t start until six-thirty. So Felix will be able to fill you in on anything you want to know.” David agreed and we set about deciding where to go.
There were several places that we figured would have the football game, but in the end we decided to go to a local place called ‘The Penalty Box.’ It was predominantly a hockey establishment, but since it was no where near hockey season, they’d have other sports on. Plus it probably wouldn’t be that busy even though it was downtown.
“Well, it looks like we’re in agreement.” I looked around to see four nodding heads. “Sweet! But it looks like we’ll need at least three cars. Clara, do you want to ride with me?”
“To the bar or just in general?” my girlfriend asked, giving me an impish smile.
“I’ll just take that as a yes” I said with a smile that matched hers. “David, if you don’t want to take your car, you can go with Sophie. Alright,” I said as I clapped my hands together, “let’s get rolling!” With that general consensus, we left my apartment and headed downtown.
It was about a ten minute drive to get to that part of downtown. It may have been a short drive, but it was saturday night and there was nowhere to park. It took us another twenty minutes to find a place to park. After a half mile walk, Clara and I were the last to arrive.
“It’s about damn time,” Abbie teased. “What did you do, go see a movie?”
“Yeah, the prequel for Rush Hour. ‘Parking Spots,’” Clara retorted.
“We had to park about a half mile from the bar,” I explained. “Downtown sure gets busy on a saturday night.”
“What did you expect?” David asked rhetorically. “Just because you don’t spend the night out on the town doesn’t mean that others don’t. Now c’mon, let’s get a table.”
We entered the bar and were seated fairly quickly. We had line of sight to several TVs; so I was pretty certain that we’d be able to watch the game later. For now, music played over the speakers, not loud enough to be obnoxious but certainly enough to make quiet conversation difficult. The walls were lined with the state hockey team’s jerseys and other memorabilia, but just as we’d hoped, the the place wasn’t too busy. We ordered drinks and an appetizer before we started to actually talk. It wasn’t the game of truth or dare that Sophie wanted, but David had a lot of questions for Clara and I.
“So, Clara,” David said after taking a sip of beer. “Tell me about yourself.” His question caught me off guard. I figured he’d ask me the questions. It seemed that Clara thought that at least the first question would be for me as well because she didn’t answer right away.
“Not much to tell that you don’t already know,” Clara pointed out. “Felix introduced us after he and I met in college. On top of that, we’ve seen each other fairly regularly when you’ve been able to visit."
"Fine then," David set down his beer and crossed his arms to wait, "Tell me about Felix." Rather than point out that David and I had known each other even longer, Clara started talking without even taking a moment to think it over.
“Well,” she began, “Felix is a great guy. He’s funny, cute. He can cook better than any guy I know. He’s so caring, he can hold a conversation or just listen. He’s way smarter than me. He can be a bit of a nerd, but I…” Clara continued talking in an almost bubbly manner. She had such a look of elation on her face that I couldn’t help but get a warm, tingly feeling all over. I was drinking coke, so I knew that it wasn’t alcohol but rather my feelings for her. I watched Clara’s face as she continued excitedly for a couple more minutes until David cut her off.
“Okay, okay, I get the picture,” David rolled his eyes as if he was bored by her accolades for me. Then, laughing, he turned to look at me, “Felix, you must’ve changed a lot in the past six months if all she said is true. How’d you manage all that?”
“Magic?” I shrugged.
“That makes sense,” David nodded, as if my statement actually did make sense.
“What!?!” Abbie exclaimed in shock. “You make Clara talk about him for, like, five minutes. Then, Felix gives you a BS one word answer, and you just buy it? The hell is that?”
David sighed and shook his head in mock exasperation, “Abbie, Felix said that he’s learned magic! How can I argue with that?”
“Bullshit,” Sophie grumbled. “Felix, if you’ve learned magic, go ahead and use some.”
Without a moment’s pause, I looked Sophie in the eye and said solemnly, “Vër Schnïkel Düheiben.”
Sophie just raised an eyebrow, “That’s a spell?” I nodded. “It just sounded like German.”
“Aha!” I cried triumphantly. “See the spell worked! It makes anything I say sound like I’m speaking in German!”
“I don’t even know why I try…” Sophie threw her arms up in frustration.
“It wasn’t magic,” Clara stated firmly as she put her hand on the table and took my hand and turned away from the others to look at me with those green eyes. “Felix hasn’t changed. He’s just always been that way.”
“Fair enough,” David nodded in agreement.
Now I know it wasn’t magic, but I'm equally certain that I haven’t always been how she’d described me. I don’t know what the true reason for the change in me was. Whether it was our relationship, my new independance, my improved health, or some other unknown factor; the fact of the matter was that I’d changed, but definitely for the better. I gave her hand three quick squeezes as I muttered my thanks for her compliments.
About that time, the waitress returned with our appetizers. We’d ordered a variety platter. There were two plates filled with onion rings, fried cheese curds, wings, and other heart attack inducing foods that proved we were true Americans. Even as we ate, there seemed to be no end to David’s questions. First he asked about our first actual date: a typical dinner and movie date. Then what our typical date was like: usually dinner and some other activity like going through the park. His questions were more exhaustive than those I’d had to answer during that first truth or dare game, although I was relieved that he glossed over pretty much anything that had to do with actual sex.
When the waitress brought our entrees, David still wasn’t done with his questions. However, it was well past six o’clock, so Clara said, “That’s enough questions for tonight.”
“What?” David asked in surprise. “We’re not gonna leave yet, we just got our food.”
“Well, you don’t have to leave, but you are not going to interrupt the football game with your questions.” It was just moments to kick off, and Clara wasn’t one to miss even a moment of our beloved team.
“Sorry, David,” I smiled in apology, “looks like you’ll have to ask us during commercial breaks.” David picked up the ketchup in defeat, mumbling something about the two of us being avid Packer fans. At least I think he said avid. It almost sounded like he said ‘rabid Packer fans,’ but neither Clara nor I was paying much attention to the others after the game kicked off.
The game started off wonderfully for the Packers. The first two drives culminated in a total of ten points. Their defense however left a bit to be desired. Both of Arizona’s first two offensive drives nearly went the length of the field before settling for field goals. By halftime the Packers were ahead 17-9.
“Well, I gotta go meet Daniel,” Abbie said after the break started. “Sorry, I wish I could stay.”
“You do not!” Clara laughed. “You hate football!”
“Okay, you got me, but I do need to go meet Daniel; so I’ll see you all later.” Abbie took money out for her food, and headed towards the exit. Just before she got to the front door, she turned around and called back, “Oh! And if I don’t see you before you go back, tell the rest of the Crockett family I said ‘Hi!’”
“Damnit Abbie!” David shouted, half laughing. “I swear, she gets me so frustrated sometimes!”
“Hmm…” Sophie purred as she stroked my best friends arm. “I wonder if there’s any way that I can help you work off that frustration…”
“Well, that’s my cue,” David said before he quickly drained the last part of his beer and pulled out money for his dinner. “By the sound of things, I’ll be back late tomorrow morning.”
“Alright,” I laughed. “See you tomorrow.”
“Take care man!” David called back as he and Sophie basically rushed for the door.
“And then there were two.” Clara said as she leaned over to give me quick peck on the cheek.
“Soon to be one, I gotta go too.” I informed her.
“What? I thought you were going to watch the whole game with me.”
“I am,” I assured her. “But this is my third Coke, and I have to go to the bathroom while it’s still halftime.”
“Alright, Tiger,” Clara said as she gave me a half smile. “Just hurry back. I don’t want to have to give you a recap of the action.”
“Won’t be a minute,” I said before heading to the bathroom.
In the end it took more than a minute. Aparently, I wasn’t the only man who thought that this was a good time to relieve his bladder. A little while later I was out of the men’s room and heading back to our table. I was surprised when I saw another man already standing next to Clara. He had unnaturally blonde hair and was wearing a rumpled button down shirt. As I drew closer, I realized he was a few inches shorter than me, and a lot more wiry than I was. It was clear that Clara was quite annoyed by his presence when she quite loudly exclaimed, “Leave me alone Paul!”
“Aw, c’mon sugar tits,” the man, Paul, said. His words were slightly slurred, probably from too much alcohol. “You know you and me were always meant to be. Why fight the inevitable?”
“Seriously?” Clara asked. “You and me? What the hell ever made you think that? As to why I’d fight you, you’re the reason I had to leave my last job!”
By this point I’d finally made it to the table. “Everything alright here?” I asked.
The look on Clara’s face was a mixture of relief and worry. “Oh thank God,” she breathed a sigh of relief, “Can you tell this asshole to-”
“Whadda you want?” Paul’s words once again came out slurred, and the overwhelming smell of alcohol on his breath assaulted my nose. “Can’t you see I’m with my girl?”
“She’s not your girl.”
“Oh yeah?” It seemed like Paul could barely stand let alone walk. “Lemme tell you somethin’. This bitch and I go way back.”
“Then you’d better back away,” I said coolly. “Clara’s my girlfriend, and I won’t have anyone calling her a ‘bitch.’ How do you know my girlfriend?”
“He was one of the employees at my last job.” Clara answered before Paul could.
“And let me guess,” I said as I angrily looked Paul in the eye. “You weren’t one of the douchebags who was too cowardly to step in and stop others from harassing her. No, you were one of the assholes that didn’t know how to respect women.”
“I was ‘er boyfriend.”
It was an obvious lie. There was no scenario that I could imagine that Clara would even consider going out with a man who was so blatantly chauvinistic. “Her boyfriend?” I scoffed. “I don’t believe you. There’s no way a girl like Clara would even think about dating an asshole like you. Now, get out of here.”
“You can’t make me leave,” Paul stepped closer. “This's a public bar and you don’t have the authority to make me.”
He grabbed my arm and tried to twist it, but I was taller, heavier, and stronger than him. He tried to turn me around and get my arm behind my back, but all he ended up doing was losing his balance and falling to the floor. At this point the staff took notice of what was going on. I saw a waitress hurry into the kitchen before returning with two cooks.
Paul struggled to get to his feet. “Don’t make me tell you again. Leave!” I shouted.
“Go fuck yourself, prick!” he shouted furiously, spittle flying from the corners his mouth.
Shit, this guy legitimately had me scared, but I did my best not to let it show. “You call your ‘girlfriend’ a bitch, you tell a man you don’t even know to go fuck himself, and you’re drunk off your ass. Just go the hell home!" I said, still shouting.
By the time Paul finally managed to stagger to his feet, the three staff members had finally arrived at the table. The cooks grabbed Paul by the shoulders and essentially dragged him to front door. The waitress turned to us and began apologizing profusely. “I’m so sorry to both of you. We normally don’t have anything like that here. Sometimes it happens during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but usually the other patrons keep it from getting nasty.” She looked up at me as she added, “I’m sure you could’ve taken care of him if he did anything stupid, but I’m still glad there wasn’t a fight.”
“Me?” I scoffed at the absurdity of her last statement. “I don’t know how to fight!”
“Well, I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’m still glad we were able to get him out of here before things got ugly. Oh, and for keeping things civil, your drinks are on the house tonight,” She added cheerfully.
“Sweet! I get free refills on my Coke,” I said with a chuckle. The waitress just shook her head before returning to the kitchen.
I sat back down and turned to face Clara for the first time since confronting Paul. “Are you alright?” I asked.
One look into her eyes was enough to give me pause. Her expression was one of worry, doubt, and fear. "Yeah…I- I’m sorry, Felix,” Clara’s voice was barely more than a whisper.
“Clara, oh Clara,” I said, hugging her close, “You have nothing to apologize for.”
Clara continued in a shaky voice. “I thought I’d gotten away from that sort of thing after I left that job. I can’t believe I ran into him again.” She was on the verge of tears
“You know what they say about the kinds of people in the world, right?” When Clara shook her head, I continued. “The world is full of assholes. Some of them are a lot more shitty than others.” I know it was a terrible joke, but I was willing to try anything to lighten the mood.
It was small and uneasy, but the sound of her laugh filled me with relief. Clara used her thumb to wipe a tear from her eye, “Thanks, you always know what to say.”
“Nah, I just make it up as I go along.”
“Haha! You’re just proving my point.”
“In all seriousness, I know that there’s things in your past. I’ve got a lot of stuff too, but what’s important right now, is just… now.”
“Such an eloquent way to put it,” Clara giggled. Her tone of voice implied that my words definitely were NOT eloquent.
Her laughter was contagious and soon I was laughing too. “C’mon, can’t I say something profound without it being eloquent?”
“Thanks, Felix, I mean it,” Clara said before she leaned over and gave me a small kiss on the cheek.
We sat next to each other at that table just staring into each others eyes for God knows how long.
Is this the time? I wondered.
Is this the moment that I should tell her how I feel? It certainly seemed like it was the right time, even for what David had said to avoid. We weren’t in front of our friends. It didn’t seem like it would be too far out of left field given the current conversation. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to tell Clara- “Aw, what the hell is that?” Clara blurted out before I could say anything.
“Uh, what?” I was so shocked by her outburst that that was all I managed to say.
“We’re tied! How the hell did that happen?” Clara said as she turned her head to look at the TV that we had been watching earlier. She must have seen the score out of the corner of her eye, because true enough the teams were tied at 17. “They must’ve scored on the kickoff and gotten a two point conversion,” she muttered unhappily.
“Dang, that sucks,” I agreed, only partially referring to the new score. Damn, if I’d been just a few seconds quicker I could’ve told her. I mentally kicked myself for missing my chance to tell her how I felt; but I’d missed that window, and all I could think about was whether an opportunity like that would happen again soon. The game continued with the second string players for both teams, but it just got worse and worse for the Packers.
We spent the rest of the evening talking about football, work, friends, and all sorts of other things, but there wasn’t another moment that felt appropriate, so I just kept that little birdie to myself. The Packers ended up losing in the end, but the first string had held their own for the most part, so it was still a fun game to watch.
After I paid for dinner, we made our way back to the car. I was unsure whether I should start a conversation or just continue in silence. It turned out to be a fairly quiet ride back. The silence was only broken after the Weird Al song ‘Tacky’ played on my iPod, but once the conversation began, things returned to usual.
“So what do you want to do tonight?” I asked her as I took hold of her hand.
“Well,” Clara paused as she thought it over. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
“Sure. What kind?”
“I know they’re not your favorite, but can we watch a romantic comedy?”
“I’ve got just the one.”
“I didn’t know you liked rom-coms.”
“Clara, I happen to own the best romantic comedy of all time!”
“Well now I’m curious. What is it?”
“You’ll just have to wait. We’re almost there anyway.”
“C’mon, Felix, can’t you just tell me?”
“Let’s just say it features a pro wrestler and a battle of wits with a Sicilian.”
“The hell?” Clara guffawed.
“I can’t say it any clearer than that,” I said as I squeezed her hand the usual number of times. “But I promise you’ll like it,” I concluded. Despite her continued efforts to get me to talk, I didn’t give her anything else to go on. After getting into my apartment, I poured a cup of water for myself and a glass of wine for Clara. I put the DVD into the player and sat next to Clara on the couch.
When the opening scene appeared for The Princess Bride, Clara squealed with excitement, “Oh my God! I love this movie!”
“I know, me too.” I laughed. “This thing is full of gems. ROUS’s. I’m not left handed. Inconceivable. Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. The list is almost endless!”
“You left out the best one.”
“Which one’s that?”
“You’ll just have to wait for it, but don’t worry, it comes near the beginning anyway.”
“Fine, I’ll wait.” I grumbled.
As it turns out, her favorite line was ‘as you wish,’ which is how the two main characters say ‘I love you.’ I found that line fairly ironic, considering my love for her and the way I showed it; but I remembered David’s warning about ‘context’ and not telling her out of the blue. So I kept my mouth shut. As the movie went on, I put my arm around Clara’s shoulder. A couple minutes later she shuffled closer to me. First, she nestled her head against my shoulder. Then, against my chest. I could feel the heat of her body as she snuggled closer to me. I looked away from the movie and glanced down at her body.
Clara’s eyes seemed riveted to the screen. Her mouth moved noiselessly as she silently recited lines along with the film. The blue tinted light from the screen danced across her skin like moonlight reflected off a calm lake. Even though her skin seemed semi-luminescent, her lips still appeared bright red. As my eyes fell to her chest, I noticed the rise and fall of her breasts with each breath. Her breathing was rapid and shallow. I found myself wondering if she felt as aroused as I was becoming. In an attempt to control my hormonal urges, I focused my attention back on the screen.
As the movie came to an end and Wesley and Buttercup shared one final kiss, I kissed the top of Clara’s head. “Pretty good movie, right?” I asked rhetorically.
“Yeah,” Clara agreed before asking, “So isn’t that the best line of the movie?”
“You mean the ‘as you wish’ line?” I asked. When she nodded, I continued. “I suppose it’s pretty good for a movie, but I don’t think it would work in real life.”
“Why not?”
“I mean, if a guy says ‘okay’ when asked to do something, that doesn’t always mean that he loves her.”
Clara turned her head so that she could look me in the eye. “It’s not the actual words, it’s how they’re said.”
“Aw, c’mon, I gotta call shenanigans.”
“Alright, I’ll prove it. You say things, and I’ll tell you the emotions behind them.”
“If you say so.” I shrugged.
“Skepticism.” Clara said as she moved a little bit away from me so she could see me easier.
“Hey! I didn’t know we were starting!”
“Indignation.”
“Stop it. We haven’t started yet!”
“Annoyed.”
I just remained silent as I thought about what to say. If I went in a pattern like I was currently, it would be easy for her to discern what I meant. After a moment of thought I said, “Wait a minute, why do we have to do that?”
“Hm… Confusion mixed with a bit of stubbornness.” She said after thinking for a bit.
“Okay, how about, ‘Step one: open mouth, step two: insert foot.’”
“That’s easy! You stuck your foot in your mouth, and you’re explaining the step by step instructions that you should try to avoid next time.”
“Okay, that one was easy,” I agreed. “How about this. ‘Cat flew off the apple track.’”
“Randomness with just a hint of insanity.”
“Just a hint?”
“Okay, it was probably at least a hearty side portion. Give me something harder!”
It was the moment of truth. As I reached forward and took her hand in mine, it felt like my heart was stuck in my throat. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but I knew that it was now or never. I looked the woman I loved in the eye and squeezed her hand three times.
A look of bewilderment came over her face. “I don’t get it.”
“Tell me what that meant,” I managed to say despite having a mouth as dry as sandpaper.
“What do you mean?” Clara asked, still looking confused. “That’s just what you do.”
“Does that mean you give up?” I asked. Clara remained silent and just waited for an explanation. “Here,” I said, still holding her hand, “I’ll do it one more time as I explain what it means.”
I took a deep breath and squeezed her hand. With each squeeze, I said a single word.
“I. Love. You.”
The surprised expression on her face terrified me. Oh God, I’d fucked it up! I’d said it too soon! Clara’s face remained frozen in shock. Her eyes were wide and her mouth agape as she tried to comprehend what I’d just told her. “You lo-love me?” she asked quietly.
In my panicked state, the only thing I could get out was a shaky, “Y-Yeah.”
“You love me,” Clara said again, It now sounded more like she was trying to make sense of the words rather than question their authenticity. Her face now looked less surprised than it had initially.
“Yeah,” I said. I felt so ashamed that I was unable to maintain eye contact. I couldn’t even look at her, “It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything, but it’s the truth. I lo-”
“YOU LOVE ME!!!” Clara interrupted with a gleeful shriek.
Startled, I looked back in her direction, but I only glimpsed a blur of red hair as Clara literally launched herself at me from the other end of the couch. I had the breath knocked out of me as one hundred twenty pounds of absolute gorgeous slammed into my ribcage. She wrapped her arms behind me and squeezed with a strength I didn’t know she possessed. Clara frantically planted kiss after kiss all over my face and neck.
“So you-” I started to ask.
“Of course, you oaf!” Clara laughed. “How long did it take for you to figure that out?” Clara planted her lips upon mine and kissed me gently. She closed her eyes and I followed suit as her sweet tongue snaked through my lips. As her tongue raked across my gums, I could feel the erection that I’d been fighting the whole evening literally rise to the occasion. She withdrew her tongue from my mouth lightly bit down on my lip as she pulled away. I opened my eyes to see hers mere inches from mine. They were shimmering with unshed tears of happiness as she whispered, “I love you, Felix.”
My heart soared when I heard those words. The woman I cared about so deeply not only accepted my love but felt the same way! There were so many things I wanted to say: Pledges of love. How lucky a man I was to just be with her. How much she meant to me. I wanted to tell her all that and more, but the words caught in my throat as tears sprang to my eyes.
I know the guy isn’t supposed to cry at the first ‘I love you,’ but I was just so overwhelmed. I grabbed her shoulders and held her at arm’s length. With tears streaming down my face, I looked her in the eye and gave her a heartfelt ‘thank you.’ Much to my relief, Clara didn’t laugh at my outpouring of emotion. Then again, at that moment I was so overjoyed that I probably wouldn’t have cared. “Sorry,” I said between sniffs, “I wanted to be cool, but I just ended up crying.”
“I don’t know,” Clara cooed softly. “A loving boyfriend who actually shows emotion? I hear that they’re all the rage in Europe. Very sexy,” she added with a smile.
“Thanks,” I laughed lightly as I wiped away my remaining tears. “So what did you mean about it taking me so long to figure it out?”
“Oh come on! Are you serious?” she genuinely seemed shocked that I didn’t understand. “Felix, I’ve been in love with you for a long time now!”
“What!? Why didn’t you say anything?”
Clara just shrugged, “I didn’t want to pressure you.”
“What!?” I said again, unaware that I was beginning to sound like a broken record.
“I know it’s your first real relationship,” Clara explained. “I didn’t want to feel like you were forced to say it back.”
Even though I knew her words were sensible, I still couldn’t believe it. From her point of view, Clara had known that she loved me, but she was afraid of forcing my hand. From my point of view, I’d been in love with her, but I’d been terrified of rejection. So even though we’d both loved each other, we’d both been worried about how the other would react!
“Well aren’t we a fine pair,” I said with a slight chuckle. “Each afraid to express how we felt even though we both felt the same way.”
“To be fair, the only reason I didn’t tell you is because I love you so much.”
I wasn’t gonna let her pull that one on me. “Well, if you wanna play that way, I should point out that I’ve been telling you I love you for over a month!”
“Hand squeezes don’t count!” Clara smiled despite her defiant words.
“Well then, lets try this again.” I clasped both of her hands between mine, and with three squeezes I spoke the words that I’d held back for months. “I love you.”
Clara’s eyes seemed to shimmer as she replied with four squeezes accompanied by the words, “I love you too.”
I’m not sure who moved first, but moments later our lips were locked in a fierce kiss. I cradled her face in my hands as I kissed the woman I loved. The feeling was akin to being relieved of a heavy burden. I let out an involuntary moan as I felt Clara’s hand trace the outline of my hardon. ‘Well, two can play at that game,’ I figured.
I slipped my hand beneath her jersey, and traced my fingers across her taut abs. I’d learned early on in our relationship that Clara wasn’t ticklish anywhere but under her arms and feet, but as I lightly brushed my fingertips across her stomach, goosebumps began to rise all across her stomach.
Clara tilted her head away and drew in a sharp gasp. Her whole body shivered with excitement as she let out a moan of ‘Oh my God.’ My right hand crept up her chest and slipped inside her bra. Clara let out a soft whimper as I tweaked her erect nipple between my thumb and forefinger. Her hand stopped grasping my groin; her fingers now fumbling in her attempt to undo my belt.
Taking that as a cue to keep going, I put my left arm behind her back and tried to undo her bra. Though I was ultimately unsuccessful. Over the past two and half months I’d all but perfected the art of removing a woman’s bra. Even if it was pitch black in the room or the bra’s clasps were double hooks, I usually had no trouble uncovering her beautiful breasts. Tonight, however, I was thwarted by something I hadn't encountered before.
“Having trouble?” Clara giggled. “Maybe this will help.” Clara stopped working on my jeans and pulled her shirt over her head. As she tossed her packer jersey to the floor, My eyes traveled upwards to her hot-pink bra that I’d never seen on her until tonight. There was something different about it that I didn’t immediately recognize.
I leaned down to get a closer look though it wasn’t just to examine the bra. I traced my finger across the pink cups that hid my true goal. The bra’s soft satin fabric was so sheer that it barely hid the fact that her nipples were as hard as diamonds. I inspected the fabric that held the cups together and noticed what was so different about this bra from any other that I’d encountered.
“That’s cheating! Did you choose this bra on purpose?” I asked in accusation.
“Don’t you like it?” Clara replied innocently. “I bought it at Victoria’s Secret.”
“I love it, but you could’ve warned me that the clasp was in the front!” With a flick of my fingers I undid the hook that held the two pink cups together, and immediately her bra fell away to reveal the beautiful mounds beneath. I took a few moments just to take in the sight as Clara shrugged her way out of the bra’s straps, but my self restraint was short lived. I eagerly reached out to touch her, but I misjudged how quickly I was moving and ended up pushing Clara back on the couch.
Clara let out a small shriek as she fell flat on her back and I fell on top of her. I still had one of her breasts cupped in my hand when Clara laughed, “Aren’t you, maybe, a little too eager?”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Only if you stop,” Clara said with an extremely playful smile.
I couldn’t get over how aroused her words made me. My dick literally hurt as it strained against my jeans, but I didn’t let that stop me from giving Clara my full attention. Clara moaned into my mouth when I continued to knead her soft breasts. Her ecstatic moans rose in both pitch and volume, and she began to grind against my groin. I could even feel the heat of her arousal despite the layers of clothing in between us. We continued to kiss passionately until, finally a few minutes later, I could no longer take it. I raised myself to a kneeling position and frantically began to pull off my jeans. Clara followed my lead and yanked her shorts off before helping me out of my shirt. By this point, the only thing I still had on was my boxers; and Clara, her panties.
I only caught brief glimpse of Clara’s panties before she pushed me onto my back, but from what I could tell, they matched her pink bra. My body felt like it was on fire as she straddled my right leg. The fingertips of her right hand traced up and down my chest while her left reached into my boxers. As she gazed into my eyes, I saw what I had overlooked for months. The look in her eye wasn’t lust. It wasn’t desire. It wasn’t a look of longing or need.
It was love.
That look in her eyes made me realize something. “Clara, this isn’t right,” I said. Before she could question me I continued, “We’ve had sex a lot in the last couple months, but this is different. Tonight I want to make love to you, and I want to do it in our bed.”
“‘
Our bed,’” she repeated with a smile, “I like the sound of that.” Clara got up from the couch and offered me her hand. She helped me to my feet and we began our first walk to the bedroom as lovers. Once inside the room she turned to me and asked, “You ready, Tiger?” Without waiting for a response she kissed me so fiercely that I was literally forced backward. She steered me in the direction of the bed until the backs of my knees were up against the side of the bed, but even then she didn’t stop. She pushed a little further, and I fell flat on the bed with my legs hanging off slightly.
As I lay there looking up at her, the look on Clara’s face suddenly changed. She looked almost shy when she said, “I hope you don’t mind if I act a bit selfishly. I want to take control this time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just lie back and let me do the work,” Clara said as she pulled my boxers off and tossed them to the floor.
“As you wish,” I managed with a straight face.
“Smartass,” she laughed as she threw her panties at me. “If you keep acting like that I might have to punish you.”
“I didn’t know you were into that.”
“I suppose we could try it sometime,” Clara said with a shrug. “Not tonight though. Tonight, I want to show how much I love you by making you cum over and over until you pass out from exhaustion. Now, just lay there and enjoy the first act.” Clara bent at the waist and leaned over me as she began to rub her hands over my body.
I let out a low moan of pleasure before asking, “Can’t I at least help with the show?”
“Sure, Tiger, but I’m the main player in the first act, so try not to upstage me,” she almost purred. Clara climbed onto the bed and positioned herself right above me, but she paused for a brief moment and looked me in the eye. “I love you, Felix,” Clara declared as she lowered herself onto my cock.
The sensation of her pussy never ceased to amaze me. I let out a gasp as my dick pressed against and then into her wet womanhood, “Oh fuck…”
“Don’t worry,” Clara replied with a wink, “we’re getting to that.” She began to move her hips slowly at first until she found the rhythm she was searching for. “Goddamn, you feel so good inside me!” Clara panted. Breaking neither eye contact nor rhythm, Clara fell forward onto my chest. Her breaths came in long gasps as she impaled herself on my cock again and again. She used her arms to push herself up off my chest, “Jesus, Felix, you fill me up!”
By that point, I no longer felt like being a passive observer. I pulled her into a long hard kiss as I began to thrust into her as she bounced on top of me. The sounds she made were muffled by my own mouth as she moaned in ecstasy. I ran my fingers through her hair as I kissed the woman I loved. The taste of her lips, the texture of her hair, the pulsing heat of her vagina, everything about this woman was beyond amazing! We continued to kiss for about almost a minute, and continued screwing several more before, finally, the stimulation grew to be too much.
I broke the kiss and asked, “Clara, are you close?”
Clara just shook her head, “It’s okay, Felix, go ahead. Go ahead and cum for me.”
She picked up the pace now that she knew I was close to the edge. Damn, I berated myself, my endurance had increased over the past couple months so I knew I’d be able to get it up again, but if I could only hold on another few minutes, maybe I could get her to cum too! However, I realized that it wasn’t meant to be. Even as she began to ride me with increased fervor, Clara began to fondle her tits moaning all the while. In the end, that’s what set me off.
I let out a low moan as my orgasm took hold. I grabbed her hips, and with one final thrust, I shot my load deep inside her. Clara let out a lustful moan, but I could tell it was solely for my benefit rather than true sexual pleasure. I could feel Clara’s vaginal muscles contract time after time as she performed her kegel exercises. I felt like I was in paradise. As I shot one last rope of cum, I closed my eyes breathed a sigh of satisfaction as I took a moment to enjoy the post-orgasmic bliss.
“Hey, Tiger,” Clara whispered, “It’s not time to sleep yet.” I opened one eye to see that Clara’s face was mere inches from my own. I was still inside her which kept me from going completely soft, but it would be at least a couple minutes before I was ready to go again.
“What, I have to do that again?” I asked with a straight face. “What kind of man wants to have sex more than once a night?”
“I don’t know,” Clara laughed. "
All ]of them?”
“All you women ever think about is sex,” I shook my head and sighed in mock exasperation. “Can’t we ever just… cuddle?”
A brilliant smile lit up her face as she said, “Who do you think you’re kidding? Men are always ready for sex!”
“Can I at least get a kiss?” I asked as morosely as I could manage.
“Aww, how could I say no to that face,” she chuckled lightly before kissing me full on the lips.
It was more gentle than our previous kisses, but that simply made it more emotional and it certainly didn’t prevent my erection from beginning to regain some of its previous life. I was sure that Clara could feel me growing inside of her, but I simply wanted to enjoy the moment rather than jump right back into another round of sex. After one final flick of my tongue, I broke away and whispered in her ear, “I love you.”
Those three simple words seemed to send an electrical charge through the redhead’s small frame. Clara’s spine stiffened and her eyelids fluttered closed as shivers wracked her whole body. I knew that she didn't actually cum, but it was clear that just hearing those few words had gotten her damn close. I so badly wanted to get her to orgasm that I reached down between her legs and started to play with her clit. Clara’s eyes widened in shock when she felt my fingers make contact, but those same eyes were soon glazed over with a look that was a mixture of love and lust.
“Oh Jesus, FUCK!” she moaned as I continued to manipulate the pleasure center of the female body. “Felix, what are you do-OOMF!!!” Clara’s words were muffled by my lips as I surprised her with another kiss. At first, she was absolutely shocked. Her muscles stiffened and grew tense, but as I gently caressed her lips, Clara seemed to melt in my arms. In moments she was kissing me back; moaning the whole while.
She broke the kiss as she gasped for breath. “Damn it!” she panted. “I thought I told you to ju-Oh Shit!” It was several seconds later before she could continue. “To just lie there and let me take care of everything. You’re not supposed to do any-GOD DAMN!” she shouted as she fell forward against my chest, inadvertantly pinning my hand between her legs.
“Sorry,” I laughed as I continued to rub her with my fingers, “I couldn’t help myself. I mean, you’re just so beautiful that I couldn’t not do it.”
“That’s a double negative,” Clara remarked.
“So what if it’s a double negative?” I asked rhetorically. “I don’t point out all the times that you can’t even finish sentences while we’re having sex.”
“That’s a load of crap,” she scoffed, indignantly. “I don’t have any trouble finishing my sentences while we’re-Fuuuuuuck!” Clara’s last words were interrupted by a long, drawn out moan as I gently tweaked her clit between my fingers. Her eyes rolled back as she let out a shuddering gasp.
“Sorry. What was that you were saying?” I asked with a shit eating grin.
“Damnit, Felix, that’s cheating,” Clara groaned.
“No, Clara,” I sighed, shaking my head. “Cheating would be something like this.”
Without giving her a moment’s notice, I performed a reversal that would make an olympic wrestler jealous. With a strong twist of my hips, I grabbed her shoulders and rolled her over so that I was on top. Clara let out a soft squeak as she landed on her back. I looked down at her pale frame and noticed that she was gasping for breath which was unusual unless we’d really been going at it for a while.
“You alright?” I asked, genuinely concerned.
“Sorry,” Clara gasped. “Just got... the wind. Outta breath…”
“So… You’re saying that I just took your breath away?”
“Don’t be. A smartass.” As she spoke, she could only manage a word or two at a time before having to gasp for breath. It was obvious that Clara was still trying to get her breath back.
“Hm, it seems bad,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “Do you think I need to perform mouth to mouth?”
“Okay fine,” she sighed. “Keep being. A smartass.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” I leaned forward to kiss her. Before our lips even touched, Clara uttered a long, lewd moan as I inadvertantly pushed my revitalized cock further inside of her. I kissed her lips, her nose, and along the side her neck. Finally, I began to slowly thrust my cock in and out of her hot, wet pussy. Clara loosely wrapped her legs behind me, but we both maintained the slow pace. It wasn’t hard, pounding sex, and it certainly couldn’t be called something as callous as ‘fucking.’ However, the rapturous look on Clara’s face told me all I needed to know.
We were making love.
While it certainly can be fun to have a hard fuck, this was so much more personal, so intimate. As I gazed into her eyes, I recognized what I had noticed earlier. There was a love in those eyes that at once made me feel honored and humbled. I could only hope that I’d prove myself worthy of her affection. I certainly hadn’t done anything to deserve someone like her; at least nothing in this life. Clara was so far out of my league, but she saw something in me. Though, for the life of me, I could not tell you what it was. I put those thoughts out of my mind. After all, Clara was right here, and she deserved my full attention.
We continued to make love for another ten minutes. We were both breathing heavily but I could tell that Clara was getting close. Each time I drove deep inside her, she made a noise that was something between a gasp and a moan. Moments later Clara began to cum.
Clara let out a high pitched whine and arched her back as the orgasm swept through her body. The walls of her vagina seemed to pulse as I continued to pump in and out of her without changing my pace. Two minutes later, Clara came again. Her body seemed to tremble from the exertion, but I still maintained my slow, deliberate rhythm. I could feel my own orgasm building, but I was determined to give her even more pleasure before then. Barely a minute had passed when she reached her third climax, but unlike the previous pair of orgasms, this one was enormous and didn’t seem to fade away.
Clara’s eyes rolled back as her eyelids fluttered. She let out a long lewd moan while her pussy spasmed. The moan soon became a soft shriek as Clara’s entire body began to shake from the intense pleasure. Finally, it was all too much for me. With a small grunt, I thrusted as deep inside her as I possibly could and released my load. Clara’s eyes snapped open as she felt my cum splash against her cervix. I just looked into her eyes; no words were needed for us to know how the we both felt.
After Clara’s body relaxed, I rolled off to lay down beside her. She let out a long contented sigh as she snuggled up next to me, “We’re gonna need to put clean sheets on the bed in the morning.”
“Hey, that just tells me that I did a good job.”
“Hmm… I’ll let you have that one, but I suppose you know what comes next in a relationship.”
“Well, there’s uh… I mean, next we… Umm, I don’t know.” I stammered. Did she mean commitment? Maybe moving in together? Did she mean the children's rhyme,'First comes love...' I kept my thoughts to myself since I didn’t want to guess wrong, but there was nothing that I would be afraid to do for her.
“Well,” Clara murmured as she rested her head on my chest. “We’re a couple in love, so the next logical step is to meet each other’s families. Felix, what’s wrong? Hey, are you alright? You look as pale as a ghost”
Correction: It turns out that every guy is terrified at the mere thought of meeting a potential father-in-law.
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Author’s Note:
Thanks for reading this chapter of the story. I apologize that it took so long to write. The first draft I wrote for this chapter just didn’t seem right. While I liked the way the story developed, I realized that the tone completely clashed with pseudo-realism of the previous chapters. I completely rewrote the chapter twice before settling on this as the final draft. I had a lot of ideas that just didn’t fit with this story. In the future I might write unrelated short stories that use some of those ideas, but I still want to continue this story.
Once again, thanks for reading!
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