It had been an agonizing night. It had taken him hours simply to get out of the wicker waste basket, and he wasn’t sure why he’d bothered, once he got out. After all, the night had brought the incursion of more condoms into the basin, proof that Kari was truly enjoying the giant’s company.
When he finally emerged, he was standing on the floor of the bathroom, cold and alone, and bitterly depressed. Still, he wasn’t giving up. Not yet. He wished he’d met the beauty a month earlier, or a month later. But nevertheless, he had to try to get Kari’s attention. Surely she wouldn’t torment him so if she knew he was here, what he’d given to be with her.
* * *
There is something about new love that isn’t replicable in any other way. Oh, people in deep, long-term relationships will point out that new love is facile, that a deeper relationship is more meaningful — and they’re absolutely right.
But new love is something else entirely, like being simultaneously drunker and more sober than you’ve ever been. It’s transitory, and you know it’s transitory; if you’re lucky, you can hold just a piece of it, and let it mellow into the deeper, more meaningful long-term relationship. If you’re unlucky, it burns too brightly, and burns itself out. But while it burns, there are few human experiences that can compare.
Kari and Paul were in the midst of new love. Neither knew if it was going to be the kind that flamed out or the kind that deepened and grew. And like anyone newly in love, neither of them were worried about that right now. They were far more interested in finding the sweet spots in each other’s psyches, and the sweet spots on each other’s bodies. There would be time to think long-term. For the moment, their most important task was figuring out what to do that afternoon.
“We could just stay in and have sex,” said Kari. “That’s been fun so far.”
“Oh, I know,” said Paul, “and I’m all for more sex. But you know, I do have to recuperate for a while. I can’t keep up this pace forever. I figure a nice lunch, maybe do something fun, then come back, and I should be ready to go until bedtime.”
“You know,” said Kari, smiling, “it was pretty smart of you to pack for the weekend.”
“Well,” he said, “I thought it was unlikely you were inviting me to your house just for spaghetti — not that it wasn’t good.”
“Hm. You’re just after my body.”
“Well, it’s a pretty nice body, you’ve got to admit.”
Kari chuckled. “All right, tell you what — you have any interest in art?”
“I don’t know,” said Paul. “I know it can be pretty.”
“I was an art history minor; not useful, I know, but would you be interested in going to a museum? The Art Institution’s got a nice collection from the Romantic period.”
“A museum?” said Paul. “Huh. I don’t know as I’ve ever been to an art museum, except in school.”
“In that case, we can do something else….”
“No, actually, it sounds interesting, kind of. Hey, learning new stuff’s part of the fun, isn’t it? Just promise that if I try to drag you out on a hike sometime, you’ll give it a try, at least once.”
“I like hiking,” said Kari, “but I’m sure there’s something you like that I don’t, and I’ll try it, at least once.”
“Well, you did last night…”
“And I liked it! See, that’s how it works.”
“Good deal. All right, you want to shower first, or should I?”
“You think we need a shower? I mean, we’re just full of sweat and sex.”
“Okay, I’ll take the first one. It’ll give us a chance to get full of sex and sweat again.”
“Deal,” said Kari, smiling quietly. (more…)
