Reunion Blues

Moving closer, I pull her to the edge of the counter. Her body is such a beautiful, curvaceous, sumptuous offering that I kneel at her feet and sniff her wonderful aroma. I begin to lick at her vulva. I feel like worshiping her, her body, her soul.

I run my tongue up her vulva, opening her slit as I go, to her clitoris. It protrudes there, looking very much like a small penis crowning a pair of vertical lips of joy. A temple for me to worship at.

I can’t get enough of her. Her taste is so erotic, it teases my senses. My head is spinning. I love this above all else. This woman.

I bury my tongue inside her vagina, as deeply as I can, plunge once, twice, the remove it and run it up her crease to her nub again and then repeat it. I continue this move over and over again.

Neoni begins to buck against my face after several of these luscious moves. Her sudden shudders and her continued bucking nearly throw me off of her, but I lock onto her clitoris and suck it into my mouth until she goes through her first orgasm, as her juices flow from her and I taste her essence, and then her second. I hold her in my mouth, with very little pressure but with a lot of pleasure as she comes down. She’s a long time coming down. The small shudders that continue for some time to wrack her body finally cease and I feel her fall limp in my hands.

I stand up and she is laying listlessly back on the counter top before me. I stretch across and kiss her and feel her try to respond.

I pull back from her and place my penis at the entrance to her vagina, and slide into her smoothly.

She is hot, slippery with her juices, and we fit together perfectly. It has never been this good for me. She encases me with her clenching warmth and it takes me to a higher plane away from the cares of humanity. I lean forward, bracing my hands on either side of her so that my pelvis is pushing against her clitoris when I go into the warmth.

Slowly, she begins to move beneath me, then she begins to fuck back at me, and she becomes multi-orgasmic within minutes, clamping down on my penis, milking it, and I can't hold myself back for long. My cum boils out of me and erupts into her, overflowing her canal, running out of her onto the table beneath us. We hold each other closely for a long time.

After awhile Neoni stirs in my arms and I let her sit up. She smiles at me. There is a gleam in her eye that I can’t help thinking I put there.

She turns and reaches behind her and grabs some paper napkins from the counter positioning them between our bodies. When my penis wilts and falls out of her, she is quick to contain our combined juices.

"You are a dream come true, Neoni. I think I’m falling in love you," I say and I realize that it is true. I am falling in love with her.

Neoni looks down at the counter, her eyes moving over the surface around her. She looks up at me and says, "We sometimes eat breakfast on this counter."

She starts to laugh and it's contagious.

"You're wonderful," I say.

"No, you are." Her eyes have lost their lust, but they sparkle in the moonlight. "You are wonderful."

She jumps off the counter with the paper napkins pressed to her sex, kisses me, picks up her panties, and leaves me standing there with my dick hanging out.

Finally, I recover enough to wipe our juices off my penis, my shorts, and my pants with some paper towels from under the sink. I pull up my trousers and look unsuccessfully for a trash can. I end up just folding the soiled paper towels and when I shrug into my jacket, I place the soiled remainders of our tryst in my jacket pocket.

After getting some cleaner and a sponge from under the sink, I clean off the island counter and dry it with more paper towels, which I also place in my pocket. I survey the kitchen and decide it looks no worse for wear. I would eat there. Matter of fact, I already have. A low laugh rumbles in my chest and I know it wants to come out, to shout out, “I’m in love.”

I look around. No one would guess the passion that just taken place in this room unless they look in my jacket pocket, I think and it makes me laugh again. But I quiet myself and wait for her to return. This is the part of sex that has always confounded me. What do people do? Do they talk after sex? Do they hold each other? I've always done both.

When Neoni comes back to the kitchen a few minutes later, I am sitting at the table top again, hoping she doesn't regret what we've shared. She comes over to me and kisses me. She collects our barely touched glasses of orange from the counter top and comes to join me, pushing mine toward me.

"So, Brian, tell me, do you still want to take me to lunch Monday?" she asks me straight-faced.

I laugh. "God, yes. I'm more interested now than I was before."

We sip at our glasses of slowly warming orange juice.

“Actually," I say. "I was thinking when we came into your house tonight that I could sense your personality everywhere. I admit I have been wondering what you might do to my loft."

She looks me right in my eyes. "This was a one-time thing, Brian. I can't do this."

"To Charlie?" I ask.

"To myself," she corrects.

Not long after that, I leave her sitting there and go home. I think we both have some serious thinking to do.

Later that night, lying awake in my childhood bed, I wonder what Neoni and I might have in store for each other in the future. I wonder about Charlie. How can he be so stupid. He’s losing his wife. Maybe he deserves it though. How do I feel about what we did tonight? How do I feel about betraying Charlie? But then, what about me? How can I be so gullible. I’m letting myself fall in love with a woman who is married to someone I’ve always considered one of my best friends, although that has certainly come into doubt now. How can there be a happy ending to such a volatile, disastrous mix?

PART FOUR - THE THIRD DAY

During breakfast, Mom asks me about the night before. I tell her I’m in love and although I don't want to hurt Charlie, it is obvious to me that they are very unhappy and seem destined to continue to fall away from each other. I admit to her it won't be easy, but I want Neoni. I want her to be my wife.

I tell Mom about the previous night, but not about making love to Neoni. I also tell her about the dinner plans I have with the two of them tonight and my plans to see her on Monday.

My mother surprises me. "Well, Brian, you've always managed to accomplish whatever you've set your mind to do. I don't suppose this will be any different."

While watching me eat my pancakes, she sips her juice and then surprises me again. "Actually, I'm pulling for you, son. I’m not sure, but it sure sounds like the two of you belong together.”

She pauses, sips, then, “Brian, I'd love to come to New York for your wedding."

Amazed she was being so supportive about my plans to steal my best friend's wife, I simply say, "Thank you."

When I arrive at our high school's baseball diamond for the game, Charlie is already there bright eyed and bushy-tailed.

"What happened to you last night?" I ask.

"Got busy," he laughs, tossing a ball at me, which bounces on the ground. I catch the ball on the bounce and throw it back to him. I make sure to throw him an easy one, since I don’t know what kind of shape he is in.

He throws it back to me with some steam on it. "Thanks for taking Neoni home last night," he says.

"I wouldn't trust her with someone like me too often, Charlie."

"Ha," he laughs as the first batter came up to bat. I wonder whether or not he cares if Neoni has an affair? I still don't know why she was so sad last night.

We won the ball game easily. Charlie and I pick Neoni up from the stands and we all run hand in hand to the barbecue. Charlie and Neoni grab some hamburgers and hot dogs and walk off together, talking.

I feel like an intruder, so while I load my plate I talk with some of the other players before going off to eat by myself.

Later, Charlie finds me. Neoni hangs behind him as if she doesn’t want to be a part of what’s going on between the two of us.

Charlie says to me, “Look, Brian, I’ve got some things to do today and Neoni needs to get home to start dinner. Do you mind driving her home?”

Is he driving us together? I look at Neoni but she is looking at the ground, scuffling her foot in the grass. Her face is red.

“Sure, happy to,” I say to Charlie.

He smiles at me, almost a cheshirish smile, “Good, good. See you tonight, right?”

“Yes,” I tell his receding back, the second of these like scenes, I tell myself.

I watch Charlie walk out of earshot. He doesn’t even look at Neoni, or tell her goodbye, or that he’ll see her later, nothing.

I walk over to Neoni.

“You alright?”

She looks up at me as I walk up, I realize that she is crying again. “This is just so embarrassing, Brian. He is so mean.”

“I know, Neoni.” I’d like to hold her, and she looks like she’d like that too, but I don’t. All these people know the two of them. I don’t care what they think of me, but I do care what they think of Neoni. Turning away, she dries her eyes with her handkerchief.

I take her arm. “Let’s get out of here,” I say, and lead her away.

We walk to the parking lot where I’d left my car and find it quickly. I open it and watch her slide onto the seat. I realize that at this inconvenient time, I am aroused by her. However inappropriate, I cannot control myself any longer. I close her door.

“I’m so sorry, Brian.”

“Don’t be sorry for me, as far as I’m concerned I got the better end of the deal.”

She turns and looks at me, her eyes still red.

“The better end of the deal being you,” I say.

She smiles, still red-eyed. But it’s a real smile. I round the car

I open my door and get behind the wheel.

“Thank you, anyway.”

I glance at her. She smiles at me. "What did I do?"

"Mainly,” she says. “For not being possessive in front of my neighbors. But also for giving me another ride."

"I'd drive you right out of this town if you'd let me," I say, starting the car.

"Brian, please," she says, looking away. "I told you last night that I can't handle it."

I guess I know she is right. Even though I don't intend to, I am pushing her. Last night was good, but I can be a very patient person when I want something badly enough.

Arriving at her house, I park in the drive. We get out and I follow her inside. Nothing has changed. Charlie still isn't here. No signs of the momentous occasion we'd participated in last night can be seen. Somehow it seems empty to me and I feel empty at the thought of losing her.

Neoni makes lemonade as I sit down at the island counter. Looking out at the back yard, my mind flooded with beautiful memories of the night before. She brings me my refreshment and sits down with a glass for herself.

"I'm in love with you," I say quietly.

She looks at me with the saddest eyes. "I wish it were that easy, Brian, but it's not. It's just not that simple. I'm married."

"Why were you crying yesterday?"

She sighs. "It’s so common. Charlie cheats on me, Brian. I've known it for a long time." She looks deeply into her lemonade. "And about a year ago, he came home drunk one night and he beat me."

I look up in shock.

"Oh," she smiles demurely up at me, "don't feel sorry for me. I gave as good as I got. He's never touched me again."

"I had no idea," I say.

She smiles again, looking back into her glass. "Back to the reason I was crying yesterday. Marriage is not a casual thing for me.”

She looks up at me after that, “After the fight, I thought I'd leave him, but I didn't. I stayed and stuck it out, hoping against hope that he would change."

She grimaces and looks away while saying this, I suspect she feels she is a fool for expecting him to change. She looks up at me again and says, "And he did." Sadness fills her eyes. "For a while."

Then, her expression and tone turns cold with bitterness and anger. "Yesterday, I discovered for sure that he started cheating on me again and I knew it was over."

"So?" I say, genuinely confused. "Let me ask you something, Neoni. You know I love you. If you return my love, then why don't we just run away together?"

She looks at me as though I am a child. "Because I'm married. I can't just simply run away. I've got to get a divorce. And I want you to think too, long and carefully. Charlie's your friend. Do you want to end that relationship? If I were to run off with you, you'd be doing exactly that."

"Neoni, don't look at me that way. Get a divorce. You're making this much more difficult than it needs to be. As to my history with Brian, it’s simple, I don’t have friends that beat on women!"

She smiles at that. "It takes a year to get a divorce in this state, Brian!"

"That doesn't mean you have to stay here, does it?"

"No, I suppose not." She shakes her head. "I don't really know. I know we bought this house together. It’s increased in value." She shakes her head again in exasperation.

Both of us get lost it thought. We’re quiet for some minutes before I say, "Look, Neoni, I'll admit that I don't know for sure, but I think we ought to find out. You need a lawyer, I suppose. Just to let you know, I have some money. You don’t have to worry about things like that. You just have to love me enough."

"That sounds beautiful, Brian, and I do love you. I think maybe getting a lawyer sounds like a good idea, though." she says.

We drink our lemonade for a while, Neoni running her finger through the rings left on the table from the wet glasses.

Finally she drains her glass, and stands up. "I've got to start cooking. Dinner's at seven-thirty. Don't be late."

I stand too. "I won't. You know, I don't know where your shop is."

She goes to her purse and pulls out a business card from her wallet. "Here," she says.

I cross to her, hold her close, and kiss her, but she refuses to let me into her mouth.

"We’ll work this out, Neoni.”

“I hope we can, Brian.”

“Okay,” I say. “I'll see you tonight. And I'll see you before noon tomorrow."

"Okay" she responds in a small and I can't help thinking, forlorn voice.

When I leave her there, I can tell she is not a happy lady.

* * *

When I come back that night, Charlie meets me outside. It is a cool night, so I turn up my jacket collar as we walk.

"Gonna be a beautiful," he says. “The clouds are gone, the smog is gone. “Look up there,” he points at the sky, “stars a zillion.” He is only wearing a T-shirt and jeans, but as far as I can tell, he doesn't feel the cold at all.

"The moon will be almost full. Beautiful." He turns back to the house. I follow him.

He sits in the porch swing. I take a seat in a chair near him.

“This is a great setting you’ve got here, Charlie,” I comment, to say something. “How much property have you got here?”

“Only a half acre. It seems like more because of the forest behind us. It blocks the freeway beyond.”

The house seems very still, quiet and I find myself worrying about Neoni. I can hear jazz softly playing inside. I sit there thinking that he’s found us out and maybe beat her again.

As it gets darker, the crickets began chirping.

"Great game today," Charlie continues, setting the swing in motion.

"Yes, it was."

We sit in silence for a while. What do I say to a man I don’t like. At last, I hear sounds of movement and the clink of pans from inside. Relief washes over me.

"Hey, Brian, you okay?" Charlie has stopped the swing’s movement, and is leaning over toward me, looking at me. I guess I must have showed some symptom of relief.

"Yeah, sure. I'm just not used to so much fresh air, I think."

"Hell, you looked like you saw a ghost or something,” he comments.

I smile at him.

“Dinner's almost ready," he volunteers, and begins to swing again. "She say’s no beer tonight, we're having a couple of bottles of good Napa wine tonight."

"California wines are very popular now even in New York," I say.

"Europe, too, I hear. Wish to hell I owned a vineyard."

"Wouldn’t you have to move for that? The wine vineyards are all up north or south of you one way or another."

He smiles. "South is okay. There are some good vineyards in Temecula. But Napa, Sonoma, damn, that's where the money is."

Neoni pokes her head out the door, smiles at me [in italic’s please] - I am so relieved that she has no bruises on her, and she distracts us from our conversation. "Hi, Brian. Charlie, come cut the meat, would you? Brian, you can come in too. I need you to open the wine." She is gone before either of us can comment.

Charlie looks at me and winks. "I guess we've got our assignments."

I follow Charlie into his house.

"I'm going to the bathroom, hon," He calls out as we walk inside. "I'll wash up and come in and do the cutting when I finish."

“Good,” I hear Neoni’s voice from the kitchen.

He walks off to the left and I go through into the kitchen, pulling my jacket off. I look at Neoni as I place my jacket over the back of a chair. She is bending, working in the oven, facing away from me. I want to touch her so bad. My mind is fueled by thoughts of her, nude, and available to me, bent, working in the oven.

"So, I understand you need the hands of a master," I say, betraying my natural inclinations. I keep my hands precisely down at my sides where they belong in this situation.. This is so uncomfortable for me. I know it must be hell for Neoni.

"Do I," she emphatically says over her shoulder, then she turns and indicates two bottles of wine on the counter.

One bottle is red and one is white. When I cross to the wine I find they are at the perfect temperature and I open them.

"Who's the wine connoisseur?" I ask.

She tosses what looks like a harassed smile at me. "I guess I am. I took some classes. Charlie's a beer and whiskey man."

I have to admit, the more I find out about Charlie the less I like him. Am I being honest with myself? Is it possible I’m just shutting him off in order to steal his wife. No. He’s a fucking wife beater.

"You can put them on the table," she says, indicating the dinner table in the dining room beyond.

Charlie passes me, entering the kitchen, as I walk into the dining room. I stay in the dining room, looking at the well-appointed table. The room has the same view of the trees in the backyard that the kitchen boasts. Looking at the trees shadowed against the night sky, I can hear Charlie and Neoni bickering in the kitchen but I can't make out their words.

Neoni enters bearing a platter of baked potatoes and steamed vegetables which she places on a steam warmer. She looks at me. She looks so beautiful, if upset.

"You okay?"

"Oh, sure,”I say. “Yes, Neoni, I'm fine."

"Sorry about the bickering in the kitchen," she says.

"I didn't notice," I lie.

She smiles her thanks and leaves me alone again.

Charlie with a very red face, enters after a few minutes later with the platter of meat. Neoni enters right behind him with fresh-baked bread. We sit down and eat. The conversation is mundane, listless, and sparse. Neoni doesn't look at me unless she needs me to pass her something and she doesn't contribute to the conversation. Tonight is nothing like I’d hoped for, or she had planned. I leave soon after dinner.

PART FIVE - THE FINAL DAY

A bell above the door sounds when I as I open the door and walk into Neoni's shop. It is a delightful hole-in-the-wall place painted in olive and a brown that I don’t know but like, on Main Street filled with her dresses, bags, hats, and etchings. All of which are very pretty. I am impressed. The ambiance of the place is youthful and bright.

She glances up at me obviously startled when I come in, but then she smiles. A woman is at the counter paying for her several purchases when I enter and it gives me time to size up the place. She seems the only customer right now, and soon leaves the store.