"Psst...Hey. Hey mister!"
I'd neither seen nor heard from the neighbour's daughter for four weeks, and truth be told, I was both worried and a little glad for the lack of contact. When I heard the familiar voice behind me, my heart kind of sank. It was something I'd probably been expecting ever since I went back to my apartment after our encounter.
I guess I was feeling a fair amount of guilt and anxiety over whether or not I had taken advantage of a young woman when she was feeling emotionally vulnerable, and further, over whether or not I'd gotten her pregnant. I know of course that early withdrawal is hardly a safe method of contraception, and I had no way of knowing if I'd gotten her at the wrong time of the month. Fact is, I was living in a state of anxious anticipation this past month, when I imagined the worst each time someone came knocking on the door. I was expecting an irate father, no less, so maybe this wasn't so bad.
"Hey mister... can you come over? I need to tell you something."
OK, that statement got me. Needed to tell me something? Shit in a bag.
I turned round to look at her. She was standing at the doorway to her unit, dressed in a robe that came down to her knees... much longer than the outfit I had first seen her in. She was smiling at me, so I grinned at her warily and replied: "Sup?"
"I need to tell you something," she replied, opening the gate to her apartment. Her meaning was clear. She wanted me to enter her apartment. Oh well. No running away from this, I guess.
"Sure," I said, stepping across the corridor and removing my shoes before stepping in.
She closed the door behind me, then turned around to face me.
"Ummm... so what have you been doing?" I thought to start with light banter. "You look... different."
I wasn't being facetious too. Her complexion was ruddier, quite different from the pale vanilla color she had had when I first saw her. Idly, I wondered if her tan was really all over.
"You noticed?" she said, smiling and spinning around to show me her new tan. The hem of her robe fluttered upwards, but did not rise above mid-thigh. I wasn't sure if I should be glad or not, that she wasn't trying to do the same thing she did the first time out. "I went tanning at the pool. Do you like it?"
"I don't know," I said. "This is nice, I guess, but I already liked you the way you were."
When in doubt, try a little charm. I thought it a safe option, but what do I know about young women today? It didn't work. She began to pout.
"So you don't like me like this?" Her pout became more pronounced and she looked down the the floor between my feet. Shit. I was upsetting her again.
"Hey, what was it you wanted to tell me?" I thought to try changing the topic before she had another emotional outburst. "Tell me."
She seemed to brighten up and looked me in the eyes. "Do you remember what happened the last time you came in? What you did to me?"
Did I ever. I nodded, hoping that she wouldn't notice I was beginning to panic. Damn. I was in deep shit. Where was this going? "Yup."
"Well, you do remember how my parents came back after... you know..? And how you had to leave so quickly?"
I nodded, swallowing my anxiety and not trusting my own voice. Double damn. What were her parents going to do? Visions of an irate father banging on the door and bars on the window floated through my distracted mind, so much so I didn't hear what she said next.
"Sorry... what was that again?"
"I said, my parents aren't coming back tonight," she beamed at me. "You know what that means? You can stay here tonight. And we can... ummm... do that again."
I looked at her without replying. It took a few moments for the idea to sink in that she was NOT pregnant and I was not in trouble, with her parents or with her. Geez, all that worry over nothing.
Uh oh. The pout had returned to her face. I realized I hadn't responded as she'd hoped I would, and she would likely take it to mean I wasn't too keen on the idea of "doing that again" with her. I grinned at her, but it was too late... her eyes had returned to the spot on the floor beneath me.
"You don't like me. This way."
"Hey, wait a minute. I didn't say that," I tried to assure her. "I just wanted you to know that you were fine just the way you were."
She looked up into my eyes as if she was trying to read my mind. "You didn't seem very keen on staying over."
"Well, that's 'cause I was wondering if I should pop back home to take a shower first. I've just finished my run. I stink." I thought that one up on the spur of the moment. Not bad, if I may say so myself.
She wrinkled her nose and giggled. "A little. But... you really don't like me tanned like this huh?"
"No. Not at all. I'm used to seeing you without that tan, so this will take some getting used to," I explained. "You don't seem the sort to go tanning. At least, I didn't think you were."
"Ummm... I'm not," she admitted, her face flushing just a little. She looked a little bit like she had just before she came. "I... thought you might like it."
Her eyes flew back down, and her right foot began making in small circles on the floor. Oh man. Did she have a crush on me? Why? Because of the sex?
"I do like it," I said. "It's still you, tanned or not."
She looked up at me once more. "But you prefer me without..?"
"I guess I don't see the point in trying to be different from who you really are," I explained further. "You're you. You'll always be sweet."
She blushed a little harder. Yup, that really looked a lot like when she was coming.
"If you'd not tanned before, it must have hurt quite a bit," I thought to change the subject again to save her from further embarrassment.
