Apology and Forgiveness

Then she lazily got back on all fours with her elbows on the mattress again. "It's time, Willie. Put your forgiveness in me."

I didn't budge, "Sorry. I don't have a condom."

"Of course you don't. I'm safe. Now, um, how would Brent put it... get behind me and tap that. NOW!" It was another order, but I was more than ready to comply.

I lined up and she was so wet I entered her easily. I started slow, trying to be as tender as possible. I couldn't believe I was actually inside Rae Bloom. The feeling alone was incredible, but that realization of what I was doing made me so excited that I went into her just a little harder and faster until I was pistoning in time. She was grunting and gripping the sheets harder. I felt a little urgency and realized I wouldn't last much longer this way, so I reached underneath her belly until I was able to get her on her back while I positioned myself on my side facing her, our legs scissored together. I entered her again and with the same intensity as before, I drove in and out of her while she ground back in rhythm, my free hand strumming her clit like a guitar and alternately rubbing circles over and around it. She stared into my eyes like she was pleading, and just like before, moaned-whispered, "cuuuuming," barely audible before her entire body shuddered. That was enough to set me off and I came with her.

We looked into each other's eyes for a long time until she gave me a silly face. I asked her what that was for and she said, "Your 'forgiveness' is running down my thigh." I chuckled and then brought a washrag from the bathroom and cleaned her up.

We lay in bed feeling each other's warmth for a while, her curled up over me. She made circles with her finger curling my chest hair. We didn't speak, but I could sense that her mind's gears were turning at a ferocious pace.

She softly broke the silence, "Know how many men I've slept with counting you?" I didn't answer, but just kind of grunted, inviting her to tell me or not. She sighed. "Two. I was married once, for a few years anyway."

"Oh." I didn't know what to say about her reveal.

In the same soft voice she said, "Including the two orgasms that you gave me, know how many orgasms I've had that weren't self induced?" I grunted again and she confessed, "Two."

She couldn't see the surprise on my face with her head burrowed in my shoulder, but she sensed it anyway. She looked up at me with a wan smile. She then looked so sad and vulnerable, which just added to my confusion.

She asked, "Is it OK if I spend the night?"

"I'd like that."

"Will you hold me?"

"Absolutely."

I moved over top of her, careful not to put too much weight in the process and kissed her lips as tenderly as I could. She kissed back and we made out until I felt the pull of emotion from both of us and the room seemed to steam up. It wasn't long before I was hard again and we made slow but passionate love, alternating between locking lips and her gazing into my eyes. It was the most sensual experience of my life to that point, and it will never be forgotten.

+++++++++++++++

I woke with her naked body in my arms, and she must have sensed I was awake because she wiggled her ass against my erection before turning to face me with a smile. Bed head and all, she looked beautiful. "Thought you were going to sleep all day," she said playfully. After quick trips to the bathroom, we made love again, our bodies now understanding each other better, moving in perfect time like they were simply tailored for each other to fit.

I opened the windows to air out the room and then we showered together, making sure that all the naughty bits were triple cleaned and that all the 'forgiveness' that had pasted and dried itself to her body was washed away. While drying off I heard her stomach growl. I said, "We skipped dinner last night. I bet you're hungry."

She feinted extreme distress, "Starving!"

"Wait," I said, suddenly realizing something, "Do you have time to eat? You'll be late for work."

She grinned, "I took today off. Will you feed me?"

I made us some coffee and she ate a bowl of cereal at the kitchen island while watching me scramble some eggs. I also fried up some hash browns from a bag I found in the freezer that were probably a year or more old. I didn't tell her that, of course, but she could probably guess as I had to shake out the ice crystals from the bag. She giggled a lot but refrained from teasing me though I knew she wanted to, she was a relentless smart alec when we were kids, and I was just a bumbling fool in the kitchen as an adult.

We cleaned up the mess together and she poured another cup of coffee and returned to the barstool at the island. I refilled my own and turned to look at her, instantly regretting it, her gaze like laser beams into my eyes.

My head was a mess. Was she going to leave? Should I ask her to leave? Did I want her to? Did I really forgive her? Would I ever experience an amazing night like that again? What's next?

She put her palms on the countertop. "Stop it." She cocked her head to the side like she tends to do, and I knew she had read my mind. "Don't overthink this for once in your life. You want to know what's next? I'll tell you. We get to know each other again and then whatever happens, happens."

I tried to put my confusion and conflicting emotions aside but it wasn't happening.

"Willie," she said playfully, "There's something I want to do right now, and I think you know what that is. Please?"

Funny thing is, I knew what she was asking, "Oh, jeez. I don't know... "

"Please, Willie. Make it happen for me." She threw her arms around my neck and started nibbling and sucking my ear lobe into her mouth, a trigger spot for me that she discovered last night that made me really hot. She whispered, her lips practically in my ear canal, "Pleeeeeease."

I knew right then I would never be able to say 'no' to her. I gave in and went into the garage, digging deep into my gaming cabinet, pulling out the old game system we used to play together as kids. I needed an adapter to hook it up to the TV as the old connector was obsolete. She laughed and clapped her hands when she saw that Battle Djinn was still loaded in the game system.

I don't really remember how we landed on this game being our favorite, but once we did, we played it almost every day after school in 7th and 8th grade. It was a battle game where one of us played the blue djinn (always her) and I would play the red djinn, and we would work together to defeat the evil purple djinn's army, and ultimately destroy the purple djinni on the 10th and final level. Because we worked together for the same ultimate goal, it was advantageous to see the other player do well, and not lose too many lives. Even though I found the easter egg to start with an extra 24 lives, we still had to have some strength left, as well as weapons accumulated along the way, in order to have a chance to defeat the monster sized purple djinn.

The last time I played this was with Rae all those years ago when we were friends. I fired it up and we played a practice run of level 1 to refamiliarize ourselves before resetting and then playing all the way through for the win. I chuckled throughout the adventure, remembering Rae's gaming antics where she would yell at the TV and physically weave and bob from the couch as if she were really in the game. We were rusty for sure, but for the next hour and a half, we worked together and ground our way to the 10th level until finally we were at the feet of the purple djinn.

I paused the game and looked at her, asking if she was ready for this. Things were seriously grim. I had four lives left, and she only had two. We used to try and play smart so when we got to this point, we would each have at least ten left and would wage a war of attrition. She smiled back and said, "Let's fuck him up."

I lost three lives faster than I wanted to but laid down some serious damage to the purple one. Rae played conservative and was getting some good licks in until she went left instead of right, and that left us both with one each. We sustained that for longer than we should have, being so out of practice, until I got zapped and left her on her own. In a clutch move, she pulled out a chainsaw lamp weapon and managed to couple that with a 10x flame and got him right between the eyes for the win.

Just like she was 13 again, she jumped up on the couch and started her victory dance, pulling out all her signature and silly moves. It was the cutest thing ever.

She made one final jump and landed on her ass on the couch next to me, making me laugh. I asked, "Remember when my mom caught you doing that one time?"

She laughed until she doubled over. "She was so pissed! I wasn't allowed back for a week." She calmed down and touched my cheek. "It was the longest week of my life."

She straddled my lap and gave me a deep kiss. When she broke it she put her hands on my temples so I couldn't look away while she said, "I'm going to go. Thank you for everything. Now I need you to do something for me. And don't argue."

"What?" I couldn't read her at all.

"I want you to repeat after me." She made a serious expression, hands still on my temples. "I will not make things be weird at work."

I didn't repeat right away so she gave me a stern look and I gave in. I repeated, "I will not make things be weird at work."

"When I see you at the office, I will always say 'hi' to you."

"When I see you at the office, I will always say hi to you."

"I promise I won't avoid you."

"I promise I won't avoid you."

"We will make a great team at the office."

"We will make a great team at the office."

"I will not block your calls."

"I will not block your calls."

"You and me. We are good now."

"You and me. We are good now."

"If I see you at the copy machine and nobody's looking, I will grab your ass."

I hesitated and she scolded me. With a sigh, "If I see you at the copy machine and nobody's looking, I will grab your ass." Then I added with a grin, "and maybe even tweak your nipples."

She smiled. "Good." She got up and gathered her things. She kissed me at the door and before she left said, "Call your sister. She says you haven't called in weeks."

I grabbed a beer from the fridge and then plopped on my couch, reviewing the last 18 or so hours. It was a lot to process, and I was failing at it.

I opened my laptop and tried to do some work to take my mind off of what had actually happened. It was surreal. I had actually been working here and there throughout the week, doing my best to conceal anything that might get back to Phil that I was violating the boss's directive over my mandatory days off. After not being able to concentrate, I relented, opening up videoconference and dialing my sister, Amelia.

She answered after two rings and her face popped up on my screen, with her holding her finger to her lips. "Shhhh." I watched her camera jiggle as she moved out onto the patio in her backyard. "I just got both kids down for a nap at the same time. What's up? Everything OK?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just wanted to check in on you and see how you're doing."

She chuckled, "So full of shit, bro. What's wrong? Oh, wait, does this have anything to do with Rae? It does. I see it on your face."

I sighed. "Yeah. It's all about Rae. Ames, I'm so confused right now."

"All right, bro, let's fix whatever is bothering you. Start from the beginning."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I wasn't in the office for more than 5 minutes the next morning when the leads from my project team poured into my office, and for the next two hours, I had a steady stream of visitors. Some were concerned about me being sent home in a disciplinary action, some wanted to praise me for fixing the code, and some just wanted to hear what really happened as the rumor mill had spread all kinds of bullshit.

Finally I was left alone and I called June into my office. I asked, "How did it go while I was gone? Any drama?"

She chuckled and said there wasn't. "I think you'd be proud of me; I was able to hold down the fort. Some on our team were awfully worried with you out though."

"Did Phil give you any trouble?"

"No, but I did talk to him as I was pretty concerned, and he told me that HR was going to make you take some time off anyway. You haven't taken a day off in three years and even stopped accruing PTO a year ago. You just gave him an excuse to do it right there on the spot."

I thought about it and confirmed that it was true, I hadn't taken time off in a while.

"Well," she asked, "did you do anything fun or interesting while you were out?"

From behind June, Rae entered my office and plopped down in the open seat. "Yeah, 'super-coder', anything fun or interesting? Hmmm?" She waggled her eyebrows at me and smirked after she asked.

I stammered out nothing but unintelligible words. Rae was enjoying this while June looked at me like I was some kind of weirdo.

"Well?" Rae was just daring me now.

I finally composed myself, "I did. I caught up with an old friend. Oh! And I played Battle Djinn to the very end, all ten levels."

June laughed out loud, "Shut up!" When she saw on my face that I was serious, she laughed again. "That game is ancient. I can't believe you even have a working game console old enough to play it."

I brought up a couple of details and the three of us talked about old games for a few minutes before June excused herself, chuckling as she left. Rae didn't even blink after we were alone before saying, "So we're friends now?"

I stammered, "Um, yeah. Kinda. I think." I sighed. "I don't know."

"Don't make things weird." She pointed a finger at my chest. "And, yes, we are friends."

For the next few weeks, Rae made a habit over dropping into my office every morning for a coffee break. We talked mainly about our projects, but she'd sometimes tease me or we'd talk about stupid little mundane things that people talk about at work. I had good days and bad days. Sometimes I'd look at her and remember our naked bodies wrapped into one, or I'd see through her clothing and remember that perfection that I'd probably never witness again. Other times she would get me laughing at one thing or another. There were a couple of times where I nearly leaned in and kissed her before remembering we were at the office. Yet there were other times where I'd remember something from high school and I'd be curt with her and our banter would be reduced to one way, all from her side.

It was after I had a few bad days in a row that she skipped our coffee breaks for a couple days. I didn't see her again until after that weekend. Monday morning, she plopped into an empty chair at my desk and gave me a determined look. "Willie, I'd like you to do something for me." She didn't wait for me to ask what it was, "It will start with a trip to Santa Barbera, you can spend the weekend with your sister, and I'll stay with mine, but we'll drive up together."

I knew it would be pointless to resist, and I really did want to see the kids, so we agreed that we'd leave late on Friday to avoid the worst of L.A. traffic. Even though we'd get to our sister's places late, we wouldn't lose any of our Saturday time traveling.

It didn't dawn on me until much later that driving together meant a 400-mile round trip on a California freeway. Three hours going up (god willing with traffic), and the same going home on Sunday. At least six total hours that we'd be trapped together. I wouldn't be able to run from this one if things got out of control.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I was at her door at 7 PM on Friday, double checking the address before I rang the doorbell. The house, in the highly expensive town of Del Mar, was undoubtedly worth a large fortune, I immediately worried that my GPS had made an error even though I had considered that as soon as she had texted me her address earlier in the day.

She answered wearing tight yoga pants and a tee shirt, inviting me to come in while she grabbed her overnight bag. I had my things in a sports duffel bag and in hand, she insisted that we take her car.

I looked around her place while she slipped away down a hallway. It wasn't a large home, but it was the zip code that made it worth a king's ransom. The inside was well appointed with modern touches but atypical of the style, the furniture looked inviting and comfortable. She reappeared with a duffel bag about twice the size of mine and directed me into her garage.

The first of two cars that we had to walk around was a Lexus UX Hybrid, which I already knew about, seeing her pull up in it at the company parking lot. It was the second car that startled me, stopping me in my tracks. A bright red Ferrari sports car of some sort. I don't know my Ferraris, but I recognized the logo badge, and did it matter what model? All Ferraris are fast and expensive in my mind. She later told me it was a 458 Italia model, for whatever that meant.

She had turned to face me, I felt her putting keys in my hand. "Will you drive," it was a statement, not a question. I protested. She got her way.

After a quick run-through of what and where all the controls were, which was necessary as this was no ordinary car, I started the engine. With weak knees I backed it out of her garage and I managed to maneuver through her neighborhood and towards I-5 without going airborne.

I immediately asked how she managed to have a Ferrari and a home in Del Mar when she stopped me. "Get used to driving my car and I'll explain everything later." She had a point, even finding the blinkers was a new and strange experience, but after putting about 15 miles behind us on the freeway I had gotten over my initial excitement and settled down.

Sensing that I was finally comfortable driving, she broke the silence. "I'm sure you understand the method to my madness by now. I have you all to myself for the next few hours, and we are going to talk and get to know one another all over again."

"Yeah," I responded, "I figured as much. What I don't understand is why."

"That's a little more complicated. The bottom line is I want my friend back. I want you to like me again. I want us to be real friends."

I shook my head in confusion. I could feel her looking at me and a quick glance over confirmed that. She scolded me and told me to keep my eyes on the road.

She went on, "I told you before that I had changed. And I have. But before you can understand that or even believe that, you have to know how I got to this place in my self being. You might hate me after I explain, and I wouldn't blame you, but it is the risk I have to take."

For the next hour, she told her story, filling me in on the missing years and even her point of view of life in high school. It was all new to me, but for her, I could tell it brought up some memories that she would have liked to forget. I glanced over occasionally and a couple of times there were genuine tears rolling down her cheeks. In the end, I believed all of it.

She started from our freshman year of high school, reminding me how driven she was. Using her looks and coordination, she moved from middle school basketball to cheerleader and would eventually be their leader. I remembered that part, but it was all part of her means to an end that I couldn't have known. Besides being good looking and her new instant popularity, two other cheerleaders, Audrey and Paula, plus other names from school that I didn't remember, and even dating the dumb but popular jock, Asshole, were all instrumental in being noticed and getting ahead. Those influences enabled her to get on student council and eventually class president. The final payoff from her behavior and the focus of her drive being that she got into the school she was striving for, Stanford.