I did not stay at Jessi's apartment for long on Saturday morning. As I had sensed by her tone of voice in the shower, the quirky blonde had withdrawn following the rather rough oral sex in which we had engaged. It was as if some part of her had shut down.
I had seen Jessi do this before. Over the course of the just ended semester, she had withdrawn a few times during class, usually after answering a question or making a comment. And of course, she had done so after I kissed her last Monday evening, but I had not expected it now, not after the evening and morning we had experienced together. I began to worry that what had happened in the shower was too much for her, despite the fact she instigated it.
Before I left, I told her that I had a very nice time, and she mumbled her agreement. But when I went to hug her, she had turned away, and I ended up just putting my arm around her shoulder and giving a quick squeeze. I did not even try to kiss the young blonde, since her face was turned away and her eyes were downcast.
The only remotely affectionate response from Jessi came just as I was about to leave. I had stopped in the open door, turned around, and blown her a kiss. I felt a little silly doing it - I had not blown anyone a kiss since I was a child - but Jessi's response was worth it. The pretty blonde cocked her head to the side, and her vivid blue eyes flashed as she fixed them on mine and held the stare a normal Jessi length, which of course meant awkwardly too long for everyone else.
An almost smile quavered on her lips, and then she brought two fingers up, puckered up, and blew a kiss back at me. I winked at Jessi and smiled, and she dropped her eyes and shut her apartment door, although I was quite sure I saw her almost smile turn into a real one before the door closed.
The rest of that Saturday was an odd day for me. I cannot clearly recall much of what I did for the rest of the morning or that afternoon, but the day passed relatively quickly. I know I went home, ran on my treadmill, did some housework, and responded to several emails, but the details of all of that were unimportant. What occupied my mind was Jessi, and to a lesser extent, Jessika.
My thoughts on Jessi focused on a mix of fantastic and troubling memories, with the fantastic memories holding a slight edge. However, even though I pondered many aspects of my relationship with the socially awkward twenty-year-old woman, what I kept coming back to, even when I did not want to, was her admission about being bisexual, as well as her use of fantasy scenarios involving a threesome with another woman to arouse me. And when I thought about the latter, I thought of Jessika as that other woman.
Of course, I had no evidence at all Jessika would be open to such a thing. Furthermore, I had some doubts as to whether Jessi would actually be agreeable herself if it really came to that. However, even if the blonde turned out to be interested in pursuing a threesome, I absolutely knew that Jessika, who Jessi saw as a rival, would not be an acceptable third. Despite this knowledge, it was such a wonderful scenario for me that my mind kept returning to it throughout the day.
As evening approached, I tried texting both Jessika and Jessi. Jessi did not respond at all. At about 8:30, when I was just finishing up dinner, Jessika texted me.
"OMG. Blind date from hell!" she wrote.
"Sounds bad," I replied.
"Doubt he could tell you my eye-color - just staring at my boobs," she complained.
"I thought you like guys looking at your breasts," I teased her, adding a wink emoticon at the end.
"I have no problem with looking or even salivating. But I do have eyes!" she clarified, a graphic of a frowning face following her text.
"And luscious lips," I added.
"YOU would notice my lips!" she shot back, and this time the image that followed was of a face winking.
"I do not know what you mean," I texted her back.
"Yes you do," she wrote, and this time her text included a graphic of a pair of red lips, the same or similar to what Jessi had sent to me a couple of days earlier. However, I did not have to ponder what Jessika meant by sending the graphic, the way I had when Jessi had sent the same image.
"By the way, are you texting with your date sitting there?" I asked.
"No. In the ladies room. Can't face going back," she answered.
"Did you drive or did he?" I inquired.
"Separate, thank God!" she texted. "I am going to try to leave ASAP. Trying to think of excuse."
"Good luck," I sent.
"Thanks. Will need it," she responded.
I did not hear anything else from Jessika until nearly 11:00pm when my cell phone buzzed with an incoming call from the sexy brunette. I was just about to go to bed, so I lay down as I answered the phone.
"Hey Jessika," I greeted her when I had accepted the call.
"Hi Mark," she replied. "I know it's late, but I wanted to hear a friendly voice."
"It is not a problem," I assured her. "So, what happened?"
"Well, I was going to tell him my dinner hadn't set well in my stomach," Jessika told me, "but my friend Jenna, the one who set us up, texted him while I was in the bathroom and suggested we meet up with her and some others for drinks."
"And you agreed?" I asked.
"Yes, like an idiot," Jessika affirmed. "I thought it'd be rude not to go. I spent the next two hours either trying to engage him in any type of meaningful conversation or listening to Jenna tell me how great a guy he is, and how much she just knew I needed sex since the divorce, and how it'd been a while for him too after a bad breakup, and how we could help each other out."
"You are kidding." I responded.
"No. I wish I was," Jessika sighed. "I really think she set up the whole thing to try to get me to hook up with him. She even said one of the reasons she set me up with him is because he likes big boobs."
"Well, you do have a great rack," I said, a little self-conscience with my word choice, but I thought it would give Jessika a laugh. And it did - I heard Jessika snort as she laughed.
"I never thought I'd hear you use 'rack' in that context, Mark," she said, when she had stopped laughing.
"I thought it might amuse you," I told her.
"It did - it did," she replied. "And I needed a laugh."