Getting Even Pt. 02

- "You were awesome." I told her, once we'd retreated to our bedroom.

- "I was awful." she said.

- "No, sweetheart. Marco was awful. You were pretty good, for a first try."

- "Are you just saying that?"

- "No." I said. I gathered Kira into my arms (yes, I was a little wasted - beer and shots).

"Kira... you've never water-skied before. You've never played euchre, either."

- "No." she admitted.

- "But you guessed that I wanted to come up here. And you agreed to come along - just to make me happy."

She couldn't deny it.

"Do you have any idea, Kira, how that makes me feel? You keep going outside your comfort zone, to make me happy."

- "I like making you happy." she said, ever so softly.

We were lying on the bed, face to face, still fully clothed. I was kissing Kira, slowly chasing her tongue with my own. I was also caressing her full breast through her clothing. There was no particular urgency to our interaction. I had every intention of slowly stripping Kira, so that I could go down on her - but there was no rush at all.

We both heard the door in the bedroom next to us close. The walls were thin, and un-insulated. We could both hear Anita giggling. I wondered why she'd put us in the room next to hers - coincidence?

Anita was... vocal. She wasn't especially loud, and she didn't scream out obscenities. But she had a wide range of moans, and little grunts; we heard each and every one. There was no mistaking the sound of two bodies hitting the mattress, followed by another chorus of grunts, and the slamming of the headboard against the thin wall separating our two rooms.

Personally? I thought it was funny. I felt like a college kid again, for a moment. But Kira didn't react that way at all. She looked uncomfortable. No... unhappy.

I rolled out of bed, and went to her side. I offered Kira my hand, and pulled her up.

- "Come on." I said.

We were both still clothed. I picked up our big towels, just in case. Then I took her down to the shore of the lake.

This far from the city, there were a multitude of stars in the sky. I put my arm around my girlfriend, and held her close.

- "What do you think?"

- "Amazing." she breathed.

I let her enjoy the stars for a bit.

- "Cold?"

- "No."

I put down on our towels. Then we sat on the dock, next to the boathouse, just enjoying the night sky - and each other's company.

At least, that's what I thought we were doing. Kira, though, had something else on her mind.

- "I'm sorry." she said.

- "What?" I was caught off guard.

Kira took a deep breath. "I'm not athletic." she said. "I don't play cards, and I'm not... vocal like that, when we have sex. I don't know much about sports..."

- "Kira? What are you talking about?"

She didn't answer me. But I knew what she was thinking: she wasn't Anita.

"Kira - Anita is with Marco. You're with me. There's a really good reason for that: you make me happy. I want to be with you."

It was absolutely true, and Kira could tell. She cried a little, and then burrowed her head into my shoulder. When she started plucking at my clothing, I gave in to my baser urgings. I went down on her, right there on the dock.

Then we made love, in the same spot. It was hell on my knees, and it couldn't have been easy on her back, but it was urgent, and passionate, and incredibly wonderful.

Kira couldn't help smiling the next day, every time she looked my way.

Anita apologized.

- "Sorry, Ben. I mean... the walls are a bit thin. I hope that we didn't... put you off."

- "Not at all." I said. I was never going to look at a dock the same way, ever again.

***

Then disaster struck.

Kira invited me over for dinner. She had something to tell me. From the look on her face, it wasn't something she particularly wanted to say. God bless her, though - she didn't beat around the bush.

- "They're opening a new branch. In Winnipeg. My boss is being transferred."

- "O-kay. Is that... bad?"

- "She wants me to go with her. To manage the office."

- "Oh." I knew that Kira was eminently capable, and good at her job. She was one of those increasingly rare people who GAS (Gives A Shit). It wasn't hard to imagine why any supervisor would want to take Kira with her. She was an assistant, now. Office manager sounded significantly better.

- "It would mean a raise. Fifty per cent."

- "Holy shit! Sorry... Kira - that's incredible."

She didn't look very happy. It only took me a few seconds to figure it out.

Winnipeg is a mere 20 hours away from Toronto, by car. It's a 2 1/2 hour flight, which costs a couple of hundred bucks.

There are long-distance relationships, and then there's Toronto-Winnipeg. Now my facial expression mirrored hers.

I could have begged her not to go. I could have asked her to move in with me, or...

We weren't ready for that - neither of us was. I liked Kira. I loved being with her. She was a prize. I knew that. But... commitment? We'd only been dating for a few months. Could I be sure that she was the one for me? Or vice versa?

If I convinced her to stay, and pass up this promotion, how would she feel about it, a few months down the road? Would she regret it, and blame me for holding her back? There was really only one way to go.

- "You have to take the job." I said.

Kira had reached the same conclusion on her own.

She cried. I cried. We skipped dinner, and went to bed. We made love as if we were never going to see each other again.

We salvaged what we could of the spoiled meal, and then made love again. We made unreal promises. It was ridiculous. We both had two weeks of vacation time. What could we possibly achieve with that?

Kira wasn't due to go to Winnipeg for another three weeks. We went out, ate meals together, had sex every day, and built castles in the sky. I suspect that both of us knew that it wasn't going to work.

And then came the first day. Millie organized a going away party for Kira. It was a nice gesture. Millie gave me a nice hug, and cried on my shoulder. To my great surprise, so did Anita. She gave me a full body hug, and a kiss on the cheek.

- "I was really hoping for you two." she said.

Luke wasn't invited - no surprise there. But Marco wasn't there either.

- "Oh." said Millie. "It might have been awkward. Anita just broke up with him - like, a couple of days ago."

Poor Marco. He'd been really into her. I mean... he was heavily committed. For all his macho talk, Marco was really a one-woman man.

Kira enjoyed being the guest of honour, but by the end of the night, she was close to tears. She would miss her friends - and me, of course.

It seems so far away, and then one day you're saying goodbye to your girlfriend. Kira's trunk was stuffed full, and the roof rack on her Honda was tightly packed. I know, because I packed it.

- "You're amazing." I told her. All I achieved was to make her cry.

Then she drove off, out of my life.

*****