I didn’t know what to say, so I spluttered out something stupid. “We still talk.”
That made her laugh. “I’ll bet you do. So how is it?”
“It’s good,” I blushed and looked down, “as in amazing. Like, ‘I had no idea it could be this good’ good.”
“Wow. So, I mean, she’s really good? What’s she like, is she crazy and aggressive?”
“Sometimes. But mostly she’s really gentle and giving. It’s nothing like being with a guy. So much better.”
Carrie peppered me with a few more questions, and weirdly it made me more comfortable, instead of less, as she did. And the more I answered, the more I realized how amazing being with Michelle really was. And I was just asking myself the question when Carrie verbalized it.
“So why are you guys hiding?”
“Cause I’m scared. I mean, even in the best of circumstances my family is really reserved, especially about romantic stuff. I mean, you’d never catch my parents being affectionate in public. I don’t even think I ever saw them hold hands.”
“Really? Geez. My parents, they don’t, like, make out in public, but they hold hands. And they’re always hugging and touching at home.”
“Not mine. I mean, the only evidence that they were ever affectionate is the fact they have three children.”
“And is that what you want? That isn’t going to go over well with Mitch.”
“She understands. I mean, she hasn’t complained.”
Carrie shook her head and sat back with a pitying look on her face. “Cindy, Mitch is a full on ‘physical touch’ person. It’s her primary.”
“Her primary?”
“Yeah, her love language. From ‘The Five Love Languages’. We read the teen version in my youth group.”
I stared at her, befuddled. What the hell was a love language? It sounded like mushy things you wrote in Valentine’s Day cards.
“You seriously don’t know? Go look it up.”
So I did, spending the hour and half after lunch and before my next class studying and reading everything online I could find about the five ‘love languages,’ instead of doing my Diffy-Q problems like I should have been, (that’s ‘Differential Equations’ to the mathematically challenged). I know, I’m studying for my relationship again. Not the sexiest thing in the world, but it was so eye opening.
After reading the basic overviews I took the quiz, coming in strongly as a ‘quality time’ person. That made sense, looking at it. My feelings really blossomed for Mitch when we started hanging out, me tutoring her or binging ‘Buffy’ in her room, or us spending time together on the road.
And Carrie had been totally right. Mitch was a ‘Physical Touch’ person. She was quick with a hug or a back rub. She was always touching the people she cared about, and not in a creepy way. It was just her.
But reading more, I realized something that left me fighting tears. Those times when I wouldn’t hold her hand in public, when I created artificial distance between us, I wasn’t just being careful. I’d been telling her I didn’t love her. She may have understood in her head, and it may not have been what I meant, but it’s what her heart had been hearing.
I went back to all those arguments I’d had with myself before I’d put what I laughingly thought of as ‘the moves’ on her last Friday. Could I be what she needs? She needed someone she could touch.
My heart was beating fast as I headed to the athletic complex for our daily workout. I heard Mitch in a loud, jovial conversation with someone as I entered the locker room. When she saw me I smiled at her, a warm, lover’s smile, and her face lit up.
As soon as we were in the weight room I asked Mitch if she’d spot me on some squats. She nodded, the surprise evident in her face, and then I returned the favor when I was done. I forced myself to touch her, nothing too overt, but just little reminders that I was there. The effects were almost instantaneous; Mitch’s eyes were just dancing after ten minutes, and she was her usual jovial self.
I waited for her afterwards as she finished her spirited debate with one of our teammates regarding the Bulldogs chances this year in football. When she finally headed toward the door I joined her, walking by her side down the pavement.
I intentionally made sure my bag was over my outside hip, so my arm nearest Mitch would be free. It only took a few steps before her hand brushed against mine. I took what I hoped was an unnoticed moment to steel myself before I hooked it with my little finger. Mitch looked down at what was happening as our palms pressed together, before turning towards me with that heart-melting smile of hers.
I just grinned innocently at her, like it was no big deal. “So how was your day?”
She spluttered for a second. “It, um, yeah, it was good. You?”
“Good. I didn’t get my math done, but still, learned some stuff. Do you remember what the cafeteria has for dinner?”
Mitch shook her head, grinning and making a joke about mystery meat surprise. Happiness was just rolling off my girlfriend in waves, and it made my heart soar. This little contact made so much of a difference for her, and I could hear the music in her voice as she told me about that one guy in her education class who’d gone and put his foot in his mouth again. I just basked in how much my day brightened simply being near the woman I loved. My hand tightened in hers, and we went down the sidewalk together.
***
My eyes closed as I leaned back against her, feeling my body hum from the string of orgasms Mitch had just given me. The little kisses which were currently feathering my neck were pretty nice, too. She’d been a woman possessed when we’d gotten back to the room. I just let her have at it. I mean, I’m not stupid, and the cloud I was floating on just now, mmm, yummy.
I held her to me. “That was amazing, Sweetie.”
She pressed her lips to the back of my neck. “I’m glad you approve.”
I turned in her arms, our legs entwined together under the sheets. “You know what this means, though.”
She smiled at me. “What?”
“I still haven’t done my Math.”
She giggled. It always amazes me how girlish her giggle is, when she does it. It was adorable. “You are so weird, Cindy.”
“Yeah? Well, you love me. So what does that make you?”
“A connoisseur of all things bizarre and interesting.”
I laughed and kissed her, losing myself for a moment in the way her lips felt on mine. “I’m not the only one bizarre and interesting in this bed, missy.”
“Guilty as charged.” She said it with such bombastic flair that I laughed again before rolling her over onto her back. I began to kiss down her body, pulling the tip of one of her breasts into my mouth.
“I thought you, ooh, had math homework. God, Cindy, that’s good”
“Yeah, I do, but this is more fun. I can do it tomorrow morning, nothing until ten. Nothing but this.”
I dropped lower, kissing down her belly until I was settled between her thighs. I buried myself in her, revelling in the way she tasted and smelled, musty and sweet, the feel of her lips in mine, the sweet sounds she made at the top of the bed, the way she seized in bliss as I brought her to orgasm.
I climbed back into her arms and kisses. “See? Better than Math.”
“You aren’t going to fall behind?”
“I’ll have time in the morning.” I ran my finger down her breastbone. “That is unless you distract me again.”
“No can do, babe. I’ve gotta be down at the ticket office at seven to be in line. Playing Vanderbilt this weekend.”
“Football, right? Is that an important game?”
Mitch snorted with laughter. “We should win easily, but Vandy’s a bunch of brainiacs. They can surprise you. I wish you’d let me take you to a game.”
I wrinkled my nose. “It’s football. The football players at my high school were all jerks. People treated them like gods.”
“Did you have a good team?”
“For our size school we were decent. Biggest game of the year was always against Daviess County. It was all people could talk about. The whole town would shut down. I thought it was nuts.”
Mitch looked at me with amused incredulity. “But you’re an athlete.”
“Yeah, a female athlete in a conservative little bass-ackwards Georgia town. I was tolerated. Not celebrated.”
“And that chafed you a bit?”
“We won two state titles while I was there, and we barely even got noticed. Our football team never made it past the second round of the playoffs.”
“So you have a chip about them, huh?”
“Of course not. Except, yeah. We were actually lucky. Our A. D. had two girls who played softball, so the women’s programs weren’t completely ignored like at some other schools, funding-wise, at least.”
Mitch ran a finger up and down my arm, which calmed me instantly. “I think we’re lucky. Do you know how screwed up people get by being treated like that?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“I grew up in Florida. High school football is the shit there, too. Our quarterback raped a girl my senior year. Wanna guess what happened to him?”
“You broke his nose?”
That made Mitch smile, but her eyes were serious. “I wish. Should have. Thought about it. But the girl, Molly, she was demonized, tortured for speaking up. And she was just a Sophomore, not even sixteen. Her parents had to take her out of school.” Mitch just played with my hair, her look haunted as she gazed at me. “I wouldn’t ever want to be like that.. We, you and me, at least, are going to have to be functioning members of society someday, regardless of our athletic laurels. Just a quiet life.”
I snuggled in. “I don’t think you’ll ever live a quiet life, miss thang.”
“Well quiet enough. Doesn’t sound so bad.”
“So if football is so terrible, why do you want to take me to a game?”
“Because it can bring out the best in people, too. You see athletes who found charities, serve their communities. There are kids who stay in school just because they can play sports. And the sense of togetherness, ninety thousand people all pulling towards the same goal. It’s amazing, and overall, I think there’s a lot more good than bad.”