We spoke on the phone for a couple of weeks before we met. It was nice talking to a woman again, calling someone on my ride home from work. I knew it wouldn’t really be going anywhere; she lived 3 hours way and had a 12-year-old to boot. Still. It was nice talking to a woman again.
She picked out a place for us to meet, an hour and half away from both of us. I wanted to be nervous, but I wasn’t. Wasn’t sure if it was the medication I had just started or because I really didn’t feel anything for the woman at all. She was cute looking, and I knew sex would be possible and that was enough to spend twenty of my last hundred dollars to fill my tank up with gas and drive.
I had asked her to wear something outside of her usual demur dress and she had asked me not to shave. She was older than me and showed it in a lot of ways, but in others she was just like a kid. She still ate Lucky Charms in the morning, hated vegetables and would do anything for anyone if they asked nicely enough. I hated this about her because it made me doubt everything I did. I did everything I wanted anyways, kissed her ten minutes after meeting and grabbed her ass thirty minutes after the kiss. We’d done teenage stuff on the phone and had built up this world in which neither of us would actually want to live in but constantly inhabited during our talks; so meeting her with her hat hiding her blue eyes and her fading blonde highlights dangling down towards her chin, I felt like I had known her for years.
We eventually drove each other wild and ended up in a hotel room. She wanted to keep her tank top on, but she pulled it down enough for me to see her chest. After, laying with her and stroking her hair, tucking the stray strands safely behind her ears, with her drifting off slowly to sleep, I remembered something. I remembered that the watch I was wearing was a gift from a woman I used to love. I remembered stroking her hair behind her ears and feeling content and safe. Better, knowing that I could keep her safe, then later feeling trapped by the burden of keeping her safe. I remembered driving to work having no one to call and being forced to think about myself, stopping by the liquor store after work and then not having to think about anything at all.
Looking down at the woman I had just been with I grew nauseous. I went outside for a cigarette and stared up at the moon thinking of all the other times I’d stared up at the moon and all the times I will stare up at it. I thought about how after I’d be long dead it would still be there staring down at me though I wouldn’t be able to ever tell.
The girl blushed whenever I complimented her and hated herself enough that it made me want to hold her. I think that’s why I went back inside kissed her awake just for me to wrap my arms around her again. Just so I can finally feel good enough to go to sleep.
Image by Robert Karkowski from Pixabay
literally stories 
Hi Yancarlo,
This had that wee spark that we always look for.
The weird thing was that I considered him a serial killer but there was nothing to make me think this bar the tone.
There were hints to both their pasts and they were quite intriguing.
It was a bit sad and you weren’t sure if they would be good for each other or they would just be for the odd hook-up. But then I suppose him wanting to hold her at the end maybe showed that he felt more for her than he thought.
The story leaves you with things that swirl around your mind.
Very well done!!
Hugh
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It is what makes an effective short short: It moves, makes sense, yet reinvents itself as it goes and doesn’t give itself away cheaply.
LA
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This is a very tender story. It conveys an emptiness that’s difficult to fill. But sometimes, something is better than nothing. Wonderfully written!
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Sex and relationships, can’t live with em, can’t live without em. I like the description of the woman. At first the protagonist says he doesn’t feel anything for the woman at all. After sex, he appears to have a change of perception, right after he feels nauseous and goes out to look at the moon. That moon will do it every time.
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I enjoyed this too. It was tender and revealed that despite trying to hide it, he was very vulnerable too. Nicely done. Waiting for part two.
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