In out, in out, in out, in out.
That's all I could think about for the next few days. Gale and I had hooked up in the bathroom during a party and the sex lasted about a minute. Maybe. I had been avoiding him ever since.
I walked down to the kitchen that morning and noticed the house was incredibly quiet. After I grabbed the carton of orange juice I saw the note hanging on the fridge.
"Couldn't wake you up sleepy head. Family is going out on the boat today. Gale is at the house too. Don't forget the rehearsal dinner is tomorrow night and you need to buy a dress. Love mom."
I sighed.
When I turned around he was standing there in his boxers without a shirt on. I rolled my eyes.
"What's up?"
"Everyone's gone for the day." I walked past him to grab a cup, barely grazing his arm with mine.
"Sounds like we can have a lot of fun then." Gale grabbed my hips from behind and pulled me in towards him. He slowly kissed the side of my neck and I involuntarily let out a small moan. I felt his hands moving up, slowly tracing the contours of my body.
"Stop." I pulled away from him and turned around.
He was smiling and stopped when he noticed the look on my face.
"What's wrong."
"You." I poured the juice in the cup and walked past him to return the carton to the fridge, avoiding making contact with him.
"Nicole." He grabbed my forearm when I tried to walk past him again. "What is the problem?" He was searching my eyes trying to detect what he had done wrong, like he didn't already know.
"You can't be serious." I felt myself roll my eyes yet again.
"If this is about the party-"
"Ding Ding Ding we have a winner!" I laughed and he was still staring at me, holding my arm. "Let go of me." I jerked my arm away from him, spilling my juice in the process.
I sighed and searched the room for paper towels. I finally spotted them directly behind Gale.
"Move." I tried to grab them but he blocked my way.
"We need to talk about this." He was staring into my eyes again. I hated it.
I finally snapped. "There's nothing to talk about you asshole! You had your fun. You had sex with a girl who is less than half your age, congratulations you win the award for most original midlife crisis!"
Gale was just standing there looking at me. I had no idea what to do so I said the most obvious thing, "I need to clean the orange juice up." He was still looking at me, but now he folded his arms and sighed.
"I still don't know what the problem is."
"Are you that stupid?"
He was still staring at me. I dropped my eyes to stare at the mess on the floor. Hoping he would stop trying to make eye contact with me. We stood there for a minute, neither one of us making a sound.
Finally I broke the silence. "I'm mad because of how you treated me at the party." I still refused to make eye contact with him. I grabbed the paper towels and wiped up the spilt juice.
"How I treated you at the party or in the bathroom?"
"Bathroom." I walked over to the sink and wet a towel to make sure the floor wouldn't be sticky. I dropped to my knees and began scrubbing the floor.
"I know I was a little trigger happy but come on Nicole it happens." He paused for a second. "No pun intended."
If it had been normal circumstances I would have smiled, but it wasn't and I was still angry. I finally looked up and met his eyes. "If I had wanted someone to last a whopping sixty seconds I would have gone to any one of the dozens of teenage guys who want me. I could literally have almost any guy I want and we both know it. I could have had James at the party and I'm sure it would have been better. All you did was masturbate with me like any other guy could have. You didn't give a shit about my needs." I paused and waited for his response.
"I'm sorry. I just thought you weren't really into it at the party and-"
I cut him off, "And why does it qualify as sex if only the guy has an orgasm? It's the 21st century for crying out loud. Women have the right to vote, but not the right to cum."
"I didn't." Gale uncrossed his arms.
"You didn't what Gale."
"I didn't have an orgasm. You looked really uncomfortable pinned against the wall and you were completely dry and I just stopped. I didn't want you to be mad so I faked it."
It was my turn to stare at him now. "You. I'm. I didn't know." I had no idea what to say.
"Is everything settled now?"
"I'm sorry I'm a bitch."
"It's okay." He was smiling now. "I knew what I was getting into. But I'm definitely going to have to punish you for that little comment about James."
I smiled, suddenly becoming aware that I was on my knees in front of him. I crawled over to Gale and he grabbed a handful of my hair, forcing me to look up at him.
"Are you sorry for what you said?"
"Yes, sir." I moved my hand up to rest against the waistband of his boxers.
"Are you going to show me how sorry you are?"
"Yes, sir."
"How?"