Julian

III. March, Ch. 32

     Calvin was never one for eating outside the kitchen. When Genevieve was home, however, any place that could accommodate two glasses of Chardonnay became a dinner table.

     In this case, it was the living room floor. Italian take-out was on the menu as they went over their first year's tentative business expenses. It was the perfect way to seize an evening when Calvin wasn't forced to share the apartment.

     "Their song" was playing, the same song Genevieve introduced him to at the jazz bar. Her copy played at low volume on the living room record player.

     After hours filled with talk of equity, loans, and profit, Calvin yearned for a laid-back conversation with his new favorite person.

     He shoved a forkful of twirled, saucy spaghetti into his mouth, making a few ends dangle from his lip. Calvin slurped the noodles in, and they cracked like whips, splattering marinara sauce across his cheeks like a Jackson Pollock painting.

     Genevieve looked at him and giggled mid-sip. "I can't take you anywhere."

     She scraped away the sauce from his cheek with her thumb.

     Calvin's body blazed with Genevieve fever. He didn't know how much longer he could take it. "Why'd you do that?"

     Genevieve licked the marinara sauce from her finger. "Do what?"

     His eyes refused to move away from any frame of vision that didn't include her. Did she really not know what she did to him?

     "Here's a better question," she said "Are you afraid of beautiful women?"

     Calvin was so stunned, he shook his head to shake off whatever was clogging his ears. "What? No. What gave you that idea?"

     "Every time I get close, you squirm like a hormonal teenager. Do women make you nervous?"

     He scuffed. "I'm not nervous around women. Just polite."

     She brought her body close to his. "Do I make you nervous?"

     Calvin held his breath. "Never."

     "What about the time I asked if you thought one of my breasts was larger than the other?"

     His eyes went big. He remembered the incident referenced, and he knew the question wasn't a serious one. His reaction, however, was all true to form.

     He stuttered as he organized his thoughts.

     "There it is, that virginal reaction," said Genevieve.

     Not this again. "I'm not a virgin. We've been over this."

    "Yes, but we haven't gone over the details."

     Calvin didn't want to open up Pandora's Box.  "I'd rather not."

     She tapped his arm with her elbow. "Come on. I told you about my first."

     He sighed. "Let's just say I would have been better off staying a virgin."

     Genevieve took a sip of wine. "That bad, huh?"

     "Yes."

     She searched his face. "Really?"

     Ugh, why did I say that?  He set his container of spaghetti down.

     Genevieve spoke softly. Her words walked on eggshells. "Calvin, you did want to lose your virginity when it happened, right?"

     "Of course," he said "It's not what you think."