“Coffee cures scratchy throats, I’m sure.”
She giggled and continued nursing her cup.
“Thuy, do you remember last night much or too asleep?”
“I remember that we got angry at each other for the first time since… the last time we talked about Crystal.”
I laughed. “Yeah. How about after that?”
“I can’t tell you what I’ve forgotten.”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Jake, just ask me.”
“‘K,” I wasn’t sure I really wanted to bring it up, but it was the only thing on my mind, so it was talk about this or don’t talk. “You asked why we never dated.”
“I remember that. You told me it was because you thought I was a hideous bitch and you’d rather kiss a snake. Then I slapped you so hard you turned off the road into an oncoming car. We are now in heaven.”
“So you remember.”
She hesitated. “I remember we came up with reasons for the past, but we never got around to the present.”
“You mean, why don’t we try dating now?”
“Yeah,” Thuy’s voice was so quiet I could barely hear her. “We didn’t talk about that.”
“No, we didn’t.” It was too early, too early for this.
She nodded and turned back to her coffee. I knew I should say something, but now I truly was scared. I’d spent years telling everyone I knew that Thuy and I were just friends. I had believed it. Had we been wrong all this time?
I loved her messed up hair and messed up dress.
“Do you work today?” she interrupted.
“In an hour. 12 hour shift, so I won’t get back ’til past nine.”
“Hurry back, Jake,” she said almost plaintively. She didn’t need to worry about that. “I’m going to go shower,” she finished.
“You are welcome to shower here.”
“Not unless you have an assortment of clean panties in my size lying about.”
“My last girlfriend left a lot of stuff here. I’ll go take a look.”
She stared at me blankly for a second. “Last girlfriend?”
“Well, she wasn’t really a girlfriend as much as a stripper I hired at NuFeline. She mostly only wore thongs though. Leather ones. Crotchless.”
Thuy shook her head. “God, you actually had me for a second. I am asleep. See you tonight. And what is the point of a crotchless thong? Isn’t that a belt?”
It was the longest shift of my life.
—
I rang Thuy’s doorbell in my jeans, boots, and Jimmy’s Coast-to-Coast moving shirt. A transformed Thuy in a pair of blue shorts and white t-shirt opened the door. She wore a radiant smile as well, making all the wait worth it. “Good timing. Pizza’s on the way. Pepperoni and sausage still the thing?”
“Yeah, I’m just a guy. I don’t change,” I said, passing into her house.
“Good, ’cause half of it is that. You know, they need to invent the boyfriend/girlfriend pizza with two slices for me and the rest for you. I had to cancel the anchovies on my side ’cause I knew you’d eat half of mine anyway.”
“It’s not my fault that I’ve got ten inches on you.”
She stopped and gave me that little smile. “Ten inches, huh? You don’t have to make up stuff like that. I’m sure it’s plenty big.”
“No, I meant–” I looked at her impudent smile. Two could play this game. I leaned over and knocked on the door. “Pizza delivery!”
“Ooh, come in, pizza boy. I’ve been waiting for something hot for a long time now.”
“Pizza man, ma’am. Pizza man.”
“I see. You certainly look like a man to me. May I squeeze your bulg… ing bicep?”
“Certainly, ma’am. You can put your hand on my bulge any time you like.”
Thuy almost snorted and then reached up to squeeze my arm. I did my biggest muscle man pose for her. “Very nice, very nice.”
“So, ma’am, I heard you ordered the large sausage.”
“Oh yes, I did. Actually I asked for the extra large. I always like them as big as I can get them.”
“We’ve heard that about you. I had to pay a guy a hundred bucks to make this run. Where would you like me to put the sausage, ma’am?”
“Well, pizza man, I always put them in my mouth. What else would I do?”
I stared at Thuy who batted her eyes at me. “OK, you win. I can’t think anymore.”
“Are my ten inches about to become twelve?”
“Fourteen, ma’am. We aren’t Tri-Cities Pizza; we’re Tripod Pizza.”
Thuy giggled and shoved me towards the hall. “Go shower, stud. You stink horribly.”
I headed out the door. “Don’t do the pizza guy while I’m gone.”
“How can I stop myself if he looks like you?” she yelled back as I crossed the lawn. I kept walking. Wait, had she said what I think she had? Suddenly, I heard her voice again. “That came out wrong!” I turned to reply but saw the pizza delivery car turning into her place.
I showered quickly and pulled on some gray boxers, black jeans, and a light blue button-down shirt. Thuy opened the door with pizza dangling from her mouth. I found the box open on the coffee table in her living room where the lights were off and an old sci-fi flick played on the TV.
“What are you watching?” I asked grabbing a slice.
“It seems to be a Black Lagoon rip-off. It’s like Creature from the Black Lagoon, but worse.”
“Black Lagoon is horrible.”
“Yes, and this is even worse. It’s amazing.”
“Is that the Professor from Gilligan’s Island?”
“I think it’s his brother. He’s the Professor without all the science.”
The pizza was gone about the time the second blonde was taken out by a guy in a blue frog suit who flew a sardine can shaped spaceship. About the time Reporter Boyfriend shoved Evil Spaceman Kermie off a cliff, Thuy curled up on the sofa with me, pulling a blanket around us. I don’t remember anything of the movie after that.
Thuy leaned into me, placing her head on my chest. I gently wrapped my arms around her and smelled the scent from her hair. I couldn’t remember being this close to her since she broke her foot on that hike and I held her by the road until a ranger truck came. This was different.
“This isn’t the way we normally watch movies,” I said quietly.
“I know,” she whispered back.
We sat silently some time, trying to get used to this, trying to make the shift from friend to more. I wanted to speak, but I couldn’t think of anything to say anymore. Or, more accurately, I could only think of one thing. My hand had fallen on her bare knee and the only thing I wanted in the world right then was to caress that skin. I dared not, though, for it could mean the end of this hug. The clock ticked, as my mind went back and forth, not sure for the first time in a long time what Thuy wanted. Finally, after she had not moved for some time, I whispered by her ear, “Are you falling asleep?”
“I highly doubt it,” she said with a wavering voice.
“Are you OK?”
“Yes, Jake, I’m fine.”
“You’re shaking.”
“I know. I’m nervous.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I moved my hand away from her knee and started straightening up, knocking the blanket onto the floor. But Thuy grabbed my hand and put it right back on her bare knee.
“I’m nervous, but that don’t mean I don’t like it.”
I stared at my dark, working hand on her lightly tanned skin, again frozen on my friend’s body. I could feel the warmth from her shivering skin on my fingertips. Soon, I felt her muscles move gently as she straightened her leg a bit.
“Sorry, I needed to move it.”
“It’s OK.”
“My skin was tingling.”
“We’re acting really silly about this.”
“I can’t help it.”
“No, I mean, you want my hand on your knee and I want….”
She turned her head around some to look up at me. “What?”
After a moment, I confessed, “To touch you.”
She turned back around and I could feel her gaze on my hand. “Good.”
There was nothing I could think of I wanted more than to caress her, but I could feel her eyes upon me, waiting. Eventually, I was able to make my fingers move slowly up and down in place. I saw Thuy’s leg muscles tense up and her breath catch, then they both relaxed slowly. After a minute, she nestled further into my chest. I kissed the top of her hair and then kissed it again. We weren’t supposed to be doing this. We were friends.
“That’s nice,” Thuy said quickly.
I couldn’t help but smile. “This is so silly.”
“What?”
“How freaking slow I am. How you have to encourage me. I have been with girls before.”
“Quantum Girl.”
“And others…”
“But this is different.”
“Very. It’s you.”
“Yeah.” She placed her fingers on the back of the hand that was slowly caressing her knee, tracing them up and down my skin. “So pretend it’s not me, then.”
“What?”
“Pretend it’s not me and do what you would do then.”
I understood but the only thing I could think was what I said next, “If I’ve got you, why would I ever want to think of someone else?”
Thuy turned around to face me, straddling my body, her eyes shimmering in the flickering light of the TV. She placed two soft lips on my forehead, kissing slowly. She pulled up from this kiss and came back for another. Then she started to move her light kisses around my face, kissing my hair, my forehead, my eyes, each in turn. “Oh, Thuy,” I moaned softly, as my heart began to race. My hands suddenly found themselves on her sides where the shirt had ridden up. Not under my control, they slid along her body, roughly moving up her back, dragging the shirt with them. I pulled her small body against mine, harder than I intended. We weren’t supposed to do this, but I wanted it so much. So much. My lips went to her neck and I heard her gasp. I started kissing up and down her neck while her hands tugged at the fabric on my shirt. I didn’t want to stop.
I hugged her as fiercely as I could, kissing the top of her head over and over, unable to prevent myself. My fingers kept sliding up and down her smooth torso, feeling the slender fabric of her bra on the sides. Her tongue found my skin and I felt my will crumbling, forgetting everything but her touch and smell. The world was disappearing around us, falling away like the meteors we used to watch together. All I could see, feel, smell was her. Her. I wanted her so badly. Now. Before it was too late. “Please, please,” I almost growled into her ear, trying to get it out before I was lost to my desire. “Please don’t let this ruin anything. Please tell me. Anything. If I go too far.” I felt incoherent. “This feels too good. My mind is going….”
She pushed away from me enough to look into my eyes. I quickly turned to hide whatever had just happened to me, but Thuy simply said, “Then let it go.”
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