Eva Pt. 01

This story takes quite a while to get to the sexual content. It's a pretty long set up. I hope those who stick with it will find it interesting. Thanks loyal readers!

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When I was back in high school, senior year, March 1979, I started dating the class brain. She wasn't someone I sought out because outwardly she was not the type I would usually ask out. Eva was kind of mousy, with long brown hair and big plastic glasses. She seemed like she might have a nice body under layers of clothes, but it was hard to tell for certain. She was also the quiet type, without many friends. So no one knew a lot about her, except she was neck and neck with Elizabeth Chen to be the class valedictorian. Third place was too far behind to be a factor.

Not that I was a class stud. I did ok, I'd gotten laid by a few different girls, but no one I was head over heels about. I dated a few girls but never got all that serious with anyone. I was fairly good looking, with dark brown hair and eyes, a 70s mustache and longer than now acceptable hair. Stocky but not fat. I was on the wrestling team and played softball and football with friends. Good grades and excellent SATs, so I was no dummy myself. In March of my senior year, in 1979, I made the decision to go to Binghamton, in the State of NY college system, a tough school. I hoped I was up to it.

After classes one day in mid-March, I was walking down the hall with my friend Mike (sorry, I'm Jon) on our way to the Student Government office (he was class VP, and I was a 'delegate') when we saw Eva sitting on the floor against the tiled wall, red in the face, a picture of frustration. Now, I didn't KNOW Eva, but I knew her, casually. We went to Hebrew school together from age 8-13 and we went to public school from 7th grade on. So we knew each other a long time, but it was more of an acquaintance than anything. We never had a conversation that I could remember.

As I walked by I said "Hey, Eva, are you all right? Anything I can help you with?" Mike looked at me with a 'what the hell' expression and I just shrugged my shoulders.

She answered "No, you can't help, but thanks for asking." I indicated to Mike he should just keep going and I'd catch up with him later.

I sat on the tiles a few inches away from her, put my books down and said "You can talk about whatever is bothering you if you like. I'm a pretty good listener."

"Do you really care, Jon? We know each other almost 10 years and you've never said five words to me at once. Why now?"

"Eva, if you want me to go, I can do that. I just thought you looked upset and like you could do with someone to talk to." I got up and started to walk towards the SG room.

"Jon, wait. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so rude. Please, sit down? I really am sorry." I turned back and sat back down.

"You're not wrong, Eva. We never have shared more than a few words in all these years. But forget that. You can tell me what's wrong if you want. Or I can just keep you company." Looking through her glasses, she really did have nice soft blue eyes. Her cheekbones were high. She was cute at the least, and maybe more with a little makeup or a different haircut. Something. Maybe she just needed a reason to smile.

"I have few friends here, and none who are very close. I have a cousin I'm close to, but she's not convenient; she lives in Chicago, and a couple of close friends from years of going to sleepaway camp, both as a camper and a counselor. I get together with some of them when I go out, but no one that close here." She blew our her breath, a frustrated gesture. "I found out Elizabeth will be the valedictorian. I get the booby prize, salutatorian. Big deal."

"I'm sorry, Eva, really. I can only imagine how disappointed you must be. But think of it this way. Over 300 of your classmates wish they could be in your position. At least most of them would. I sure as hell would."

"No you wouldn't. You have plenty of friends, you're popular. I'd trade my second place to have some good friends here."

"Yeah, but would you trade first place?" I said with a smile.

She smiled back at me, the first real smile I had ever seen her give. "Probably not. I'm competitive as hell."

"There's nothing wrong with being competitive. I'm that way when I wrestle. But unlike you, I'm mediocre at it. I win some, I lose some. That's ok; it's not like it's going to be a career choice. Binghamton doesn't even have a wrestling program."

"You're going to Binghamton? So am I!" she said with a sense of pleasant surprise.

"How about that? We'll have at least one person we'll each know there. We can be each others support system."

Eva smiled wider. It did wonders for her appearance. Her teeth were white and perfectly even. Her cheekbones were even more pronounced when she smiled. But her hair....

"Eva, do you mind if I touch your hair? Just your hair. I'm not getting fresh with you." She looked a little bit wary, but she said ok, so I reached over and gathered her hair and pulled it back behind her. It showed her face in full and the effect was amazing. Then I asked her to take off her glasses and when she did, my heart jumped. Her eyes were gorgeous and with her face less hidden, she was beautiful. "Eva, do you have a mirror of any kind in your purse? You should see what I see right now."

I let go of her hair while she rooted around in her bag and came out with a small mirror. I pulled her hair back again and Eva looked at herself in the mirror. It must have been the first time she saw herself like that because her eyes widened, like she was stunned with her appearance. "Oh my god...." She turned her face from side to side, not all the way, but enough so she could see herself in profile, then again straight on. "That's me? That's me."

"That's you" I confirmed. "A change in your hairstyle and maybe some contact lenses or a more modern pair of glasses and you're beautiful." But I noticed something else. I dropped her hair to her normal style and I guided her hand to put her glasses back on. "You're beautiful like this too. I just never saw it before. I never paid attention, and I'm sorry for that."

Eva had a skeptical look on her face. "I'm not beautiful like this, Jon. I know I'm kind of plain."

"No way. I'm not kidding. Talking to you like this, finding out you're a real person," I said in a clearly humorous way, "you're lovely. Change your look or not, you're very attractive either way. And I'm sorry if I made you feel like you had to change to be beautiful. You don't have to. Just be comfortable with who you are."

I could tell Eva wasn't sure what to make of what I was saying. She must have had no, or at least little experience with guys. "You're not screwing with me, are you, Jon? You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"

"Scout's honor. I just wasn't looking before. And that was a mistake. Would you like to go out this weekend? Friday or Saturday? Just you and me."

"A date? Like to a movie?"

"A date, yes. But not a movie. We don't know each other well enough to sit quietly through a movie on our first date. Do you like Italian food and beer?"

"I do, but I prefer wine. And I'd like to go with you. Friday night."

"Done. Pick you up at 7? I know your street but not your address." She wrote it down for me and we had a date for Friday.

That was on Tuesday. I had to go to work at my part time job at a printer shop on Wednesday and Thursday from 3-6:30, as well as Saturdays from 11-5 to put the money in my pocket that made it possible to have a date on the weekend and do other social things with friends. I liked the job well enough, the owner and his wife were decent people and the 8 full time workers there were nice as well.

Friday afternoon I showered and shaved, dressed in neat pair of jeans and a nice gold and red sweater and brown shoes. My kid sister, Camilla, all of 12, giggled as she watched me in front of the bathroom mirror, making sure my mustache was even and putting on cologne. "She must be really pretty if you're going to all that trouble. What's her name, Jon? Tell me!" she whined. My sister was adorable, bright, and sometimes a total pain in the ass. Good thing I loved her dearly.

"If you must know" I said while concentrating on the hairs above my lip, "her name is Eva. And yes, I think she's very pretty."

"She's very pretty and she's going out with YOU?" Another giggle. The kid loved breaking my balls.

"That's right. Maybe if you're lucky when you're old enough, some guy will think you're pretty enough to ask out. Like when your 65."

Camilla knew I was messing with her but she got a big pout on her face and stormed off like I hurt her feelings. I didn't and we both knew it. We had our roles to play in the family. She was about four years from being old enough for our parents to let her date.

I put on a light coat at 6:45 and grabbed my keys to my '74 Ford and said goodbye to my parents, telling them I'd be home by 1. I got in my car and by the time I got to Eva's address, it was just a few minutes to 7. Right on time.

I rang the bell and a man who was obviously her father answered the door. "Hi, Mr. Glazer? I'm Jon Grossman. I guess you know I'm here to pick up Eva."

"Sure, come on in, sit down. She's not quite ready yet. You know how that goes" he said with a chuckle. I liked him right from the go.

Two 14 year old boys that were obviously her twin brothers were lying on the floor in the living room watching tv and barely paid me any attention. Her mother came out of the kitchen and came over to meet me. "Hi, Jon, I'm Phyllis and you met my husband, Harold. Those two brats over there are Walt and Will."

"We're not brats, mom. We're just busy" one of them said.

"Too busy to be polite to a guest?" I liked Eva's whole family. They reminded me of my own in a lot of ways. While we waited her parents asked me questions, nothing too personal but enough so they knew I had a part time job, I was smart if not a genius like their daughter, a couple of things about my parents. It was getting to be 7:15 and, while I had been kept waiting by dates at times, this was getting to be pretty late, especially for a casual date. A couple of minutes later Eva finally came downstairs and I tell you, she looked good. I mean it. Good. Her hair was pulled back in a long ponytail that showed off her face with light makeup. No glasses, so she was either using contacts or she was going to have a little trouble seeing clearly. She was wearing a dark green silk blouse and designer jeans, Calvin Klein, which were all the rage with girls of the day with the Brooke Shields very sexy ad campaign. The jeans fit her like a glove, like they were spray painted on. I'm telling you, she looked GOOD. She sure as hell never dressed at school like that.

I stood up and said "Hey Eva, you look great! Really. Are you wearing contacts?"

"Yes. I've had them for years, but only wear them on special occasions." So she thought of this as a special occasion. Good, so did I. I helped her on with her coat, including holding her ponytail up. She told her parents she wouldn't be too late, whatever that meant specifically and we left. I opened the car door for her and Eva smiled her approval.

We talked kind of nervously on our way to a local Italian restaurant. The place, called Marco's, was nothing to look at from the outside. It looked like a neighborhood bar below a private residence on the bottom on a mostly residential street and it was, with about a dozen tables in the back in a cheaply decorated room with checkered tablecloths. But the food was amazing, and it was very inexpensive. Perfect for a high school student on a budget.

Eva never heard of it before and looked at me like I was out of my mind before we went inside. She thought I was taking her to a dive bar, but it was a dive restaurant. It was busy, always a good sign, and we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. I asked her whether she preferred white or red wine and I ordered a carafe of the house red. I asked if she liked chicken and when she said yes, I told her to forget the menu, that the chicken cacciatore was the best anywhere. It took 45 minutes to prepare. She trusted me and I ordered it for both of us with ziti.

While we waited, we drank, slowly, so as not to get more than a light buzz and we talked and we had a very good time. We learned a lot about each other. We both liked 60s and 70s rock music and we both hated disco. We both liked to read books beyond what school assigned. She didn't care much for sports in general, but she liked baseball. She was a Mets fan, the local team in Queens, but I was a Yankees fan. We filled in the time while we waited for our dinners.

"I've never let anyone order my food for me, not since I was little. Then again," she said with open honesty, "this is only the second date I've ever been on. And the first one was two years ago." She kept my gaze, those very lovely blue eyes locked on my brown eyes. Eva wasn't easily embarrassed.

I was pretty sure she didn't date much, though one date a couple of years ago did surprise me. "Who was that date back then, if you don't mind me asking?"

"A friend of my family. My family and his are close friends and I've known Steven almost all my life. He's nice, but I'm not exactly attracted to him. I went just to be able to say I've had a date in my life. And now I've had two."

"Are you attracted to me?" I asked both jokingly and curiously.

She rested her chin on the back of both hands. "What do you think? Am I out with you just to have a date or am I attracted to you?" She gave me a smile that gave away the answer.....I hoped.

"I think you find me attractive. At least I hope you do. Otherwise why would you have accepted?"

"Maybe I liked how you talked to me when I was feeling down. Maybe I think you're funny. And honestly, I do think you're a good looking man. As for you, we already know you found me attractive. Why else did you want to ask me out?" Eva kept her eyes on me. I could tell she had a powerful bullshit detector built into her brain. The truth was my best bet. It almost always is.

"Well, you know when I got a good look at you, I thought you were beautiful and I still do. I also liked you when we started talking. You have a sharp sense of humor. And you're so smart, obviously. I like that in a woman. I know a lot of guys find that intimidating or a turn off. But not me. I like a woman to be who she is. And I prefer smart over average. I don't like dumb people in any way. So you had a lot going for you. Not that I'm God's gift to women."

Eva was about to ask me another question when our food arrived. Two big plates of a half chicken cut up, lightly breaded and sauteed in a pan before it was cooked in the oven with onions, peas and a lot of a thick tomato sauce served on a bed of ziti. I waited while she tried her dinner and Eva loved it, as I expected.

"This is fantastic, Jon! Really delicious! Where did you find this place?"

"A friend of mine...my friend Mike, you saw me walking with him the other day.... brought me and another friend, Gil, here and I've been coming ever since."

"Ever bring other women here?" Eva gave me a fun grin; it didn't matter to her either way.

"I have. Twice before. The food is great, it's not expensive, and it's small, so not too noisy so it's easy to talk in here." We kept talking while we ate, learning little things about each other, nothing too intense. We took our time and it was almost 9 when we finished eating. After the plates were taken away I asked her if she wanted coffee and dessert.

"No dessert. I couldn't eat another bite! But coffee would be fine. Decaf."

I ordered decaf for her and tea for myself, and after it was served, we sat quietly for a couple of minutes. It was a comfortable silence; we both were having a nice evening. After a few minutes Eva asked me "Jon, why did you ask me out? Really. You've seen me around for years, we've shared some classes, including now, seen me in the halls. We barely said hello to each other. Why now?" She looked at me over the rim of her cup as she sipped.

.

Again, the truth was my best bet. It almost always is, in almost every situation. "Eva, it's pretty much as I told you before. When we were talking, I found you interesting. I said I don't like dumb people. Smart doesn't intimidate me. And then when we were up close, I noticed how pretty you really are, even with your glasses and hair down. But when I pulled your hair back, my heart skipped a beat. I haven't been that drawn to a girl, maybe ever. And I'm not screwing with you, as you asked the other day. Shame on me for not noticing you like this before. Shame on all the guys who ignored you all this time."

Eva put her cup down and looked down at the table. "As you can guess, I'm not used to anyone talking to me this way. I never even had close girlfriends. Even they get intimidated by a smart girl. So I'm a little uncomfortable hearing all those compliments from you. Like maybe you're just saying all these nice things so I'll have sex with you, like a conquest. Something you can brag about."

"Hey, Eva, look at me, please." She looked up and into my face. "I'm not going to say guys don't do that, because they do. Some guys, not all. I don't. I've never been serious with a girl, because I can't seem to find the right girl. I'll be honest with you from the start. I've had sex with a few girls. And I'm assuming you're a virgin, from what you've said about one date with a guy you weren't really into. I'm having a very good time with you tonight. I'm going to ask to see you again. Hopefully again and again. And I promise, nothing will happen between us until and unless you're ready and want it to happen. No pressure, no pushing. I promise. Besides, our date isn't over tonight."

"That's a lot to take in, Jon. I was hoping you'd ask me out again because I'm having a good time tonight as well, though I have nothing to compare to. But I don't need to compare. I'm just having a nice time with a nice guy." She smiled widely and her face lit a small fire inside me. "Since you're being so honest with me, more honest than I would have expected, I'll be honest too. Yes, I'm a virgin. I haven't exactly had a lot of opportunities, you know? I have no idea when that will change. Not tonight" she said with another smile. "And I appreciate when you say there won't be any pressure. I hope you can keep to that. Who knows what will happen and when. You also said our date isn't over tonight. What else did you have in mind?"

"Would you like to go hear some live music? There's a couple of good clubs nearby. Small places and they have live bands most nights. Are you interested?"

"Sure. I've never been before. Let me just go to the Ladies room."

Eva got up and I took care of the check. When she came out I helped her on with her coat again, something she appreciated, and we went to a club called Poet's Corner. It was just a couple of blocks from our high school, so she had heard of it. We got carded at the door and went in to the blaring sound of rock and roll. It was still early yet, about 10, so it wasn't crowded and the music was recorded, but it would change by 11, so we were there right in time. I asked her what she wanted to drink and Eva said "What do YOU want to drink? This is on me."

"Come on, Eva. I asked you out. It's my treat."

"You bought dinner. I can buy the drinks. I want to."

I'd never had a date treat me on anything before, including girls I had been out with a few times. I appreciated what Eva was doing. She wasn't a selfish woman in any way. So I told her I'd have a bottle of Beck's beer and she treated, getting herself a gin and tonic. We found a table not too close to the band, which would be better for our ears, and we talked while we drank. I reached across the table and took her hand and Eva held my fingers in hers. Her hand was soft and slender, a very feminine hand and her grasp was very inviting. When the band came on a little before 11, the dance floor filled with couples dancing to songs of the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen and others, and I invited her to dance with me.