It took what seemed like forever for the cab to get us uptown. We sat close and held hands but refrained from making out. I’m sure the driver appreciated our restraint. But once I got inside, I threw my keys down, flipped on the lights, and shrugged out of my coat all at once. I turned to take Val’s jacket from her, but she stood still and beheld the room we had just stepped into.
“Getting organized for your departure?”
“No.” My front room had multiples of everything. Two coffee tables, three side tables, two sofas, several easy chairs. Beyond that, in the dining area, there were two dining tables, one shoved against the wall and another antique-looking one taking up the rest of the space. It looked like a furniture showroom. “Sorry it’s so cluttered. Only about half of it is mine. The rest is my grandmother’s. My parents usually rent this place furnished. They don’t want to get rid of any of her furniture.”
“You don’t mind maneuvering around all this stuff?”
“It won’t be for that much longer. Do you want something to drink? Are you hungry?” I pulled her toward the kitchen. “And just think—twice as many horizontal surfaces.”
“The mind fairly boggles.” Val’s gaze returned to me and immediately smoldered. “How many beds do you have?”
“Just one.”
“Not Grandma’s?”
“No, it’s mine.”
“Show it to me?”
We bypassed the kitchen and headed for the bedroom. The bed was in its usual hastily made-up state, but the room was otherwise tidy enough. I’m not a slob. Val didn’t seem to be looking at the furnishings anyway. We crossed the threshold, and I was in her arms.
“I’m glad we’re doing this,” she said as we stumbled across the room.
“Me too. I like you a lot.” I think I already said that. Was it too much? It was true, though.
She buried her face in that place where my neck and shoulder met and inhaled. “You smell really good.”
So did she. Like some kind of exotic flowers. The kisses she began to press along my neck felt delicious.
I slid my hands beneath her blazer. Her body was warm. I pulled her shirt out of her waistband and finally was able to touch her skin. Smooth, silky, and hot. “Can I take these off? I really want to see you.” I stripped her of her jacket and tugged at her belt buckle. She put her hands to her sides and let me undress her. I wanted to be quick, but I kept stopping to touch each new body part that was revealed. She ended up finishing the job herself and then turned me around and unzipped my dress. She urged the dress from my shoulders and it dropped to the floor. Her arms came around me from behind, and she pivoted us so we stood facing the mirror above the dresser.
Our eyes locked in the reflection. I reached back to pull her against me. I wanted to feel as much of her as I could. The hooded look in her eyes was mesmerizing, but then they turned devilish and she gave a low chuckle.
“A seven point five,” she said with a lazy grin.
“What?” I almost didn’t recognize my voice—breathy and high and sort of embarrassing under different circumstances. But it sounded exactly like I felt.
“After the theater. You said you were a seven point five.” She shook her head like that was a serious miscarriage of justice.
She cupped my breasts in her hands and then with her thumbs started to tease my nipples through the silk of my bra. But that must not have been satisfying enough for her because seconds later the bra disappeared and my breasts were covered by her hands. Darts of sensation traveled from them straight to my core. My body temperature must have shot up about ten degrees with how hot she was making me feel. I grasped at her thighs, needing to touch her too.
“You’re easily a nine point five.” She pressed a kiss into my hair.
Oh, how I wanted to believe her. She was doing everything right, and she was definitely going to get laid, there was no question about that. There was no need for extravagant compliments. “Easy now, flatterer. It’s like you’re trying to get in my pants or something.”
I felt her smile against my temple. Both her hands glided over my stomach, and one of them slid about an inch below the elastic of my panties. “I’ve got news for you,” she whispered right in my ear. “I’m already in your pants.”
I heaved oxygen into my lungs. “Oh, God.”
“Don’t you know how beautiful you are?” Her hand dipped lower for one moment, then withdrew. Her fingers grasped my hips and pushed my underwear down my thighs.
With the last remnants of my brain function, I said, “If I’m so beautiful, why am I not a ten?” Seriously? What the hell was wrong with me? My childish need for a perfect score was rearing its head now? Of all times?
Val’s laughter was like warm honey soothing me from the inside out. “You are one of a kind, Hope.” She snagged my gaze and there was nothing but warmth and amusement in her expression, but then her smile lessened by degrees. “I have to dock you half a point because soon you’ll be three thousand miles away and that feels really fucking inconvenient right now.”
I turned in her arms. “Don’t think about later. Right now is all that matters.” We stumbled back to the bed and when we landed, I was on top of Val. I was going to make her forget everything except my name.
* * *
I woke to the sound of the shower running. A few moments later, Val emerged from the steam in my baby blue moon and stars bathrobe.
“You look so cute in that.”
“You look cuter in that.” Val nodded toward the bed with the covers all mussed.
“Do you have to go?”
Val retrieved items of clothing from the floor. “Yeah. Believe me, I’d rather stay, but I have a lesson at nine and I’m barely going to make it as it is.” She turned her jeans right side out. “These clothes look all right for a second day, don’t they?”
“How will your students recognize you without your C&C fleece?” I chuckled. “I’m kidding. Your clothes look great, and you look great in them.” I sat up and let the sheet fall.
Val stopped and ogled my breasts. “You’re not making this easy.”
I heard my front door open. “Hopey?”
“Shit.” I grabbed the robe Val had just discarded and scurried out to the living room. My mom was in the process of bringing in several bags from Trader Joes. “What are you doing?”
“You know how TJs is always a zoo. It’s less of a zoo if you go early. No lines! Do you have room in your fridge for a few things?”
“It’s way too early for this. Can you come back later?”
“Nonsense. This’ll just take a min—” She stared at something, or someone, over my shoulder. Her surprised expression transformed into one of delight. “Hello.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Mason.” Val gave her a sheepish wave.
I stood back so I wasn’t in Val’s escape path. “You remember, Val, right? My driving instructor?”
“Yes, I do! Valentina. And please call me Cordelia.”
“Good. Okay, I’ll take care of this, Mom, and you can just go now.” I tried to usher her to the door, but she was not having it.
“Just a second. I want to talk to Valentina.”
“Her name is Val and she has to go. She has a lesson.”
“Is that what she’s doing here this early? Giving lessons?” Mom guffawed.
Dad came through the door holding two jars of tomato sauce. “Cordy, I can’t find room for these. Should we give them to—oh. What’s going on here?”
“Nothing.” I exhaled dramatically. “Val was just leaving.”
“Hello, Val. Nice to see you again.” Dad lodged one of the jars under his arm and thrust his right hand out. “How’s our girl doing? Is she getting the hang of it?”
“Hi, Mr. Mason. She’s doing great. She’ll be more than ready when she leaves for Los Angeles in January.”
My parents frowned in unison. They both turned to look at me.
Val continued talking, oblivious. “I bet you’re really going to miss her when she moves. But it’s really not all that—” She finally picked up on their shocked faces. “Oh, no. Did I—?”
“Mom, Dad, I’m moving to Los Angeles.” I held out my arms like a magician at the culmination of a trick. “Surprise.”
Dad dropped the jar under his arm. Tomato sauce splattered all over the hardwood floor and everyone’s calves. Still, nobody moved.
Val said into the silence, “I’m so sorry.”
I grabbed her arm. “Come with me. Mom and Dad, don’t move. I’ll be back in one minute to clean this up.”
Out on the sidewalk, Val kept saying how sorry she was. “I didn’t know. You haven’t told your parents yet?”
“No. I was working up to it.” I bent to examine the sauce spatter on her jeans. Luckily, the drops were minimal and seemed to blend in with the dark denim. “I’m so sorry about your pants.”
She ignored that and pulled me up to face her. “But you’re leaving in a few weeks.”
“I know. I’m actually glad you let the cat out of the bag. I had no idea how I was going to tell them.” I darted a look at the apartment door. “I better go back in there. Are we still on for tomorrow?”
“For a lesson? Yes.”
I momentarily forgot my traumatized parents. I tried to make my face alluring—like Catherine-Deneuve-in-a-sixties-French-movie alluring. “Oh, are we on for something else too?”
“Do you want me to see if I can switch you to the end of the day? Then we can do something after?” She waggled her eyebrows in a corny sexy way.
“Yes! Absolutely. Text me the new time. See you tomorrow.” I gave her a quick kiss.
“I’m really sorry, Hope.”
“Okay, stop. It’s not your fault. It’s mine.” I kissed her again, not allowing myself to sink into it like I desperately wanted to. “Let me go do some damage control.”