The End of Summer (2 page)

“I
just came out of the shower,” Mrs. Brooks said as she closed the door behind
me.  “Lyn just went in; make yourself at home. I will be back in a minute.”  She
went inside the bedroom and closed the door.  Her blond long hair was still
wet, and she was not wearing a bra under her robe. Her wet breasts clung to the
satin fabric, and they looked perfect. As I was about to sit down, she opened
the bedroom door just enough to tell me that there was some beer in the fridge
if I would like some.  I told her that I was fine, and I sat down.  She opened
the door again and said, “By the way, call me Becca,” and went back in and kept
the door slightly open.  From where I was sitting I could see the bedroom door,
and I was able to see Becca moving inside.  I wanted to keep looking and get a
glimpse of her naked body, but I reluctantly looked away, and tried to
concentrate on something else.

I
loved Lyn’s apartment.  It was an open space with the kitchen open to the
living room, and on the other side, there was a door leading to a bathroom and
a bedroom next to it.  The bedroom was big enough for a double bed and a ‘woman
grade’ wall closet.  There was even a wood-burning fireplace in the living
room, but I am not sure if Lyn ever used it.

Becca
was fast.  She came out wearing a navy blue V-neck dress, the same kind of
dresses that Lyn wears, but on her mom, it looks even better.  Becca had fuller
breasts, and her cleavage pushed up above the neckline of the dress, revealing
her ample curves.  She stood in front of me like little girl and swirled.  As
her dress lifted slightly as she spun, she turned and asked me, “What do you
think?”

“You
look magnificent,” I replied, my throat dry and barely able to contain my lust.

“Let’s
go, handsome boy. Oh! One minute.  Let me tell Lyn that we are going out.”  She
walked towards the bathroom door, knocked and opened it a little bit.  “Honey,
Richard and I are going for a coffee.”

Lyn
came to the slightly open door and obviously didn’t know that I was there because
she opened it some more.  I was able to see her thighs and her right breast
dripping wet.  Still not knowing that I was there, she asked her mom, “Who’s
Richard?  My Richard?”

“We
will be back in an hour.  Bye now,” Becca quickly said, not answering her
daughter’s question.

I
turned to go to the door when Lyn saw me.  I didn’t see her, but I heard her
shout at her mom.  “Ma! What the fuck?  Why didn’t you tell me that Richard was
here?”  Lyn shouted as she closed the door a little bit and held her hand over
her breasts.

“Who
comes out of the bathroom naked?”  Becca asked.

Lyn
told her, “Just don’t take the key with you.  It’s the only one I got, and
don’t be late.  We are going for dinner,” then she shouted to me, “No crazy
ideas, Ricky boy, or my dad will cut your nuts off.”

“Just
one kiss, I promise.” I said laughing.

She
threw a bar of soap at me, but it missed me and hit the door.  Becca laughed
through all this and ran to the door, and we ran down the stairs. We went out
to the street, still laughing and pretending that Lyn was running after us,
naked and armed with a shampoo bottle.  I didn’t know that Becca was this
cool.  Lyn and I had never talked about our parents, although we were very
close.  She always said that her mom was a teenager wrapped in a grown up woman,
and that Lyn sometimes feels older than her mom.

Becca
looked gorgeous walking beside me.  I never had such a beautiful and elegant
lady walking down the street with me.  I gave her my hand, and she took it, and
we crossed to the other side of the street.  Walking hand in hand in the
streets of New York was simply enchanting.

She
asked me about school and if I like my major and all that stuff. She asked
about summer and what I’m doing now and what would I want to do after I
graduate.  She asked me about if I was seeing someone and how I find girls my
age.  She navigated very well around Vanessa, and she never mentioned her even
though I knew that she wanted to ask me about her.

We
crossed another street, and this time she put her arm around me as we walked to
the other side.  As soon as her hand touched the small of my back, I felt heat
rushing to every extremity of my body.  My heart beat a little faster, and I
felt warmth spread to my cheeks in the cool evening air.

We
arrived at Starbucks, and we went in.  There were 2 girls and a guy ordering in
front of us.  She stood so close behind me that I could feel the heat of her
body on my back.  All the time we were standing there, she touched my hand and
put her hand on my shoulder, on my back, and on the top of my hips.  Very soft touches
and it gave me a great feeling that I hadn’t felt before.  It was one of those
rare moments that you wish that you could stand in line all day long. 

The
baristo was looking at us, and when he saw me looking at him, he looked down
and concentrated on his work.  He was a young college student, just like me,
working summers to help pay for his studies.  We were both the same, except
that I was with the most beautiful woman in town.

We
were next in line, and Becca was now leaning against me, setting her chin on my
shoulder.  Her hair was brushing against my neck electrifying my spine and
sending signals to every part of my body.  As I turned to ask her what she
wanted to drink, she moved her head back but not fast enough because our lips
almost touched.  I wanted to kiss her right there and then, but I didn’t.  Her
breath was a mix of strawberry and almonds, and it was intoxicating.  Our eyes
met and when I was about to kiss her she said, “Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino,
with cream on top.”

“What
size?” asked the barista who was taking our order.

“Tall,”
Becca replied.

“I’ll
take a Grande iced coffee,” I said.

We
walked slowly up the crowded street, sipping our drinks and avoiding tourists
as much as we could.  Becca started asking me again about college and what was
I thinking of doing after I graduate.  I told her that I really didn’t know.  I
was not sure what to do next.  I was majoring in political science, and I might
go to law school.

“I
applied to law school many years ago,” Becca said.

“You
never went in?”  I asked.

“Lyn
was still three or four, and I thought I could handle it, but Miles talked me
out of it,” she then added unconvincingly, “I’m glad he did.”

“Why
don’t you reapply? Lyn is a big girl now, you know,” I suggested with a smile.

She
let out a mild laugh and said, “We will be classmates then.”

She
reached out and put her hand on the back of my neck and pulled me towards her. 
She gave me a peck on the cheek and a light slap on my neck.  She then looked
at me and said, “Come.  We have to go pick up something from Bleecker Street.”

We
walked towards Bleecker, and all the time she was talking to me and touching my
hand, my face, and my back.  Every time she touched me, I felt the warmth of
her hand and the softness of her skin warming and caressing my soul.  As she
came close to me, her scent filled the space between us and engulfed me with
bliss.  “Here we are,” she said and stopped in front of an old record store.

I
knew the place.  It was David’s, a guy you have to know to hate, but he knew
his music, and he catalogued every record that has ever been produced since the
dawn of time.  We tried to enter, but David was sitting at the counter with
stacks of old records and pointed to the almost empty containers in our hands. 
I took the cup from her hand, and she went in. I walked a few steps down the street
and found a trash can.  As I walked in, David was handing her a package.  She
opened it and said, “Perfect.  You are a genius, David.”

“I
hope that these young kids keep me in business a little bit longer,” he said and
pointed at my iPad.  “These days they get their music online and their movies
online, and also they get their women online.”

A
laugh escaped Becca as she took out her credit card to pay for a package that
cost her a full one hundred and fifty bucks.  That made me wonder, “
What’s
in that package to cost that much and if it was a record why didn’t she
download it for two ninety nine?”

“Don’t
touch anything please,” David commanded as I was roaming around looking at
records.

I
showed him my empty hands and continued looking around.  Becca finished paying
and, while still holding the package, came closer to me.  It was a very dark
store, and everything was in the way.  You had to navigate your way around
boxes of old records that, to me, looked arbitrarily placed, but apparently, to
David, it was all done according to a system.

I
reached the back of the store, and I was looking at a record by a sixties band
called The Mamas and the Papas.  I looked behind me just in time to catch Becca
tripping over a box and falling right into my arms.  We both fell to the ground
without making too much noise or disturbing anything around us.  David looked
our way and looked back to whatever he was doing.  Our eyes met, only a couple
of inches from each other.  I was holding her with both hands, afraid that she
would fall back and wanting her close to me.  I didn’t want to let go, and from
the look on her face, neither did she.  My body gathered all the determination
it had stored inside it since I first met her, and at the right moment, I
kissed her.

My
lips crushed into hers, and she parted her lips to let my tongue slide between
them.  She met my tongue with hers, and my heart was pounding heavily, the
blood in my veins boiling. I released her arm, and I slid my fingers in her
hair behind her neck.  Her delicious breath was intoxicating, tasting faintly
of her peppermint mocha Frappuccino, and I wanted this moment to last forever.

“Is
everything ok back there?”  David shouted, and our lips parted.

“All
is well, David.  Just looking at some rare gems here, dear,” Becca’s voice was
very convincing.

We
both stood up, and Becca checked her shoe to see if it was broken, but it was
ok.  I helped her up.  She then motioned to me for us to leave the store.  I
didn’t want to tell her anything, but I had to.  I pointed to the bulge in my
jeans.  She smiled and grabbed my t-shirt from the sides and put it over my
jeans, then handed me the package that she just bought, and I carried it in
front of me.  That helped a lot, and the look on David’s face as we walked out
took care of the rest.

“Wait
a minute, where’s that cute little store I used to buy my incense from?”  Becca
wondered aloud as soon as we were out of the store.

I
didn’t want to answer because I felt a little bit disappointed.  After all we
just kissed passionately, and now she wanted to buy perfume as if nothing had
happened?  All I wanted is to do was to take her to a dark place and continue
what we started.  She looked around again and said, “It must be there,” and she
pointed to a shop that was being renovated.

We
walked towards it, Becca leading the way.  A couple of guys were doing some work
inside.  She asked one of them about the store that was here before, and he
didn’t have any idea about what happened to it.  As she turned towards me, shrugging
to say “I don’t know.”  An old man sitting on the bench next to the store said,
“They moved to west Thirteenth Street a couple of months ago.”

Becca
turned towards the old man, smiled, and thanked him.  She then came and stood
right in front of me.  Her face was a couple of inches in front of mine.  I was
only two inches taller than her.  She took my hand in hers and looked deeply
into my eyes.  I waited for a kiss and I was dying from anticipation.

“Let’s
go eat.  I’m hungry,” she said and kept looking into my eyes.  I kept looking
at her and didn’t want to go anywhere.  My palms were sweating, and all I
wanted to do was to give her a deep kiss right there in the open.  She knew
what I wanted.  The quiet moment was broken when I heard a familiar voice in
the distance.

“Here
you are.  I thought you went for coffee?”  Lyn said, as she and Joe were coming
towards us.

I
wondered if they suspected anything, and if they did, they were doing a great
job hiding it.  We were supposed to meet and go for dinner at eight, but I
guess we lost track of time.  The four of us walked towards August, a nearby
restaurant.

“Brooks. 
Reservation for four.  I talked to Ed.”  Lyn said to the hostess.

“It
will be only a couple of minutes. You requested the garden, right?”  the
hostess asked.

“We
can sit inside if it’s gonna take time,” Lyn said.

“No,
no, just a couple of minutes,” the hostess said and went in to check.

Lyn
turned towards us and said, “So what were you up to, you two.”

“Nothing
much,” I said.  We went to my place, opened a bottle of wine …” I answered
teasingly, when Becca cut me off and said, “Richard, don’t spoil the surprise,”
and she laughed.  Lyn was not taking this as a joke, but she smiled and shook
her head in disapproval.  Joe was busy taking a call outside when the hostess
came back and lead us inside.

I
sat next to Lyn and facing Becca.  A few moments later, Joe joined us and sat
next to Becca, but he looked worried. I planned to ask him later about it.  As
we were looking at our menus, I felt a nudge on my foot.  I looked up, and
Becca peered over her menu at me and smiled coyly.

“Ready
to order?”  A waitress asked, and my eyes left Becca’s.  “Richard.  Hi.”

We
all looked up, and Becca raised her eyebrows at me, wondering who this girl
was.  “Hi, Caroline.  How are you?  Working here now? Oh, you know Joe and Lyn
and Mrs. Brooks, Lyn’s mom.”  I looked at Becca and said, “Caroline is in my
study group at NYU.”

“Nice
to meet you,” Becca said while looking Caroline up and down.

“Listen,
I’m going to Zinc at around ten if you would like to join me for a drink,”
Caroline said to me, lowering her voice.

“We’ll
see.  I’ll call you,” I replied casually.

After
Caroline took our order, I thought of shifting the focus away from me, so I
asked Joe what was wrong after his phone call.  He just nodded and took a sip
of water and said that it was nothing.

“The
company lawyer called you again,” Lyn asked Joe, already knowing the answer.

“For
the third time today,” he replied in a disgusted tone.

“He
still wants you to sign those papers?”  Lyn asked.

“He
wants me to meet him tomorrow to discuss the merger. I don’t trust him,” Joe
summarized.

“Honey,
if you need any help, I will tell Miles’ lawyers to take a look at it,” Becca
said while she put her hand on Joe’s shoulder reassuringly.  I watched Becca’s
hand go from Joe’s shoulder to his hair as she said:  “You’re like my son,
sweetie,” and she gave me a sultry look as she nudged my foot again.

We
were almost through with our dinner when Becca said, “So Richard, are you going
out with Caroline tonight?”  I looked at her as if to say, why did you bring up
the only subject I want to avoid?  I was about to tell her no, when Lyn looked
at me and said:  “I think you should go out with her.  She’s nice.”  I wondered
if she noticed the looks between her mom and me and was trying to push me onto
Caroline instead.

“And
hot.  Wasn’t she dating that guy, Simon something?”  Joe said.

“Andrews,
Simon Andrews.  They broke up a couple of months ago.” I clarified.

“Then
she is not seeing anyone, and you are not seeing anyone,” Becca said
sarcastically.

“But
I am seeing someone,” I countered.

Lyn
then leaned forward and whispered:  “Isn’t that Sarah Jessica Parker sitting at
the table on the far left?”

Becca
didn’t hear what Lyn said, so she leaned forward to me, and I leaned forward
almost touching her ear and whispered, “You look so beautiful I could eat you
right now, and Sarah Jessica Parker is sitting somewhere around here.”

Becca
turned, and while looking at SJP and smiling, she rubbed her foot on mine.

“Is
everything ok?  Can I get you need anything else?”  Caroline asked as she
passed by our table.

“Does
SJP come here often?”  Lyn asked Caroline quietly.

“I
dunno, really.  First time I saw her in my section.”  Caroline answered Lyn and
repeated to all of us, “Can I get you anything else?”

“We
are fine, the food was great.  Can we have the bill please?”  Becca said.  When
Caroline left, she said, “I have an idea, let’s all go to Zinc.”

While
everyone expressed their approval, I was confused.  What was Becca trying to
do?  It was my turn to give her a nudge from under the table.  She smiled
cunningly, took out her credit card, and said, “This dinner is on me.”

I
wondered what she was trying to prove, that she was not jealous or that she
didn’t care about me.  I was really confused right now, and in the midst of all
that confusion, I realized that I wanted Becca more than ever.  I wanted to
spend the night with her, not with anyone else.  I wanted her to be mine, and
most of all, I wanted to be hers.

As
soon as we walked out of the restaurant, Becca told us to go ahead, and she
would meet us there after she changed her clothes.  She didn’t give anyone a
chance to object.  She didn't give me a chance to look into her eyes to know
what she was really up to or how she really felt.  She just turned around and
started walking away.

Lyn
hailed a cab, and we all went in.  We went past Becca as we were going round
the curve.  She stood there, holding the package and my iPad, and waited for us
to pass before crossing the street.  I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

It
was a short ride to Zinc, but all the mixed feelings and thoughts made it feel
like an eternity.  All I could think about was Becca, the sensual and beautiful
Becca.  The way she held my hand and the way she touched my hair.  I could
still smell her intoxicating scent.  Her breath was still touching my face, and
she was still breathing life in me as she did when she kissed me and electrified
all my senses.

“Are
you gonna get that?”  Lyn snapped at me.

“What?” 
I asked.

“Your
phone?!”  Lyn said pointing at my phone.

“Sorry!
Hello… yeah… Hi, Edith… Oh was it tonight?  Sorry I missed it.  Where are you
now?  I’ll come in a bit.  Anyway, I have to talk to you about something… Ok
bye!”

“Listen
guys.  That was my mom, I was supposed to see her play tonight, and I forgot
all about it.  I have to go see her.  I will join you later,” I said as the cab
was pulling over.

“You
have to see her tonight?  We are already here,” Lyn said.

“Dude,
what about Caroline?”  Joe said and moved his fist sideways implying fucking.

Lyn
elbowed him as I said, “I have all night for that.  Now I have to do this.”  I let
them out of the cab and got back in.  Joe shouted something at the closed cab
window. I mimed, “I can’t hear you,” and turned to the cab driver and said, “Sixty-First
and Fifth.”