by M. R. Joseph
The band comes on stage, the lights go up, and the people in the bar start to clap. The lead singer introduces them.
“Hey, Lucky’s, how’s everyone feeling tonight?” Everyone starts to hoot and holler. “We are ‘The Members Only Mullets’.”
The band looks hysterical but in a fun way. They are all young guys, maybe in their early, early 20’s, they all have 80’s big hair mullets, and are all wearing Members Only Jackets. Hence the name.
Their set starts off terrific. Each song is better than the next. People start dancing around in front of the stage, applauding, drinking, and just having a good time. I turn to Leighton and ask her, “So what do you think of these guys? Pretty good, right?” I stroke my thumb across her bare shoulder.
“I think they are great and will really draw a crowd in for Saturday nights. You may have hit the jackpot, Luca.” She bats her long lashes at me, and I’m smitten. I inch my chair closer to hers and lean into her ear, “I already did hit the jackpot, baby.” I take my hand and run my knuckles gently down the side of her face.
“For God’s sake, will you two knock it off.” Ryan says kiddingly from across the table.
“Sorry, Ryan, I just can’t help it. This girl makes me into a total wuss.”
“And I can recall not so long ago, Ryan, I turned you into a total wuss. Now look at you.”
“You’re right, my dear, you turned my head with your coke bottle glasses and stretch pants. Now look at you, all tatted up, bad girl style.” M.J. pokes Ryan in the ribs with her elbow and he laughs at her.
“So M.J., tell me more about my girl here when we went to school together. What was she like? I hate that I probably passed her a million times in the hall and didn’t know who she was.”
“Well, she was editor of the school paper, dabbled in photography, hung with some pretty awesome people, like moi, kept to herself, was shy but funny, and if I recall you two did meet once. Ouch! Leighton, did you just kick me?”
The look on Leighton’s face is one of warning and I’m not really sure what it’s all about.
“We met before? At school? When?”
“It’s no big deal. We may have run into each other.”
“No, that’s not an answer, Leighton. Tell me.” She lets out a gush of air and shuts her eyes for a moment. She’s acting like she’s mentally preparing to tell me something.
“Fine, I’ll tell you. I was run down in the hallway by a couple of jerky jocks, my books spilled everywhere and I fell on my ass hard in the process. You yelled at the guys who did it to me, picked me up off the floor. We talked for a few minutes, you carried my books, and walked me to my class. Happy now, M.J.?”
She nodded. “Very.” M.J. seems satisfied with that.
I shut my eyes and try to remember. If I yelled at one of my teammates, it wouldn’t be in school, it would have been on the field. I wasn’t a fighter. Think, Luca, think. Then a light bulb goes off in my head.
“Wait, what were you wearing that day? Do you even remember? Did you have a Boston Red Sox hat on by any chance?” Leighton looks to me then to M.J., who then looks to me, and she’s not answering me.
“Leighton? Did you?”
“Yes”, she says above the noise of the band.
“Then I remember you. I do, you being small, and frail. You were quiet and embarrassed by the whole incident. You wore that cap. I did help you up. I asked if you were ok. You kept rubbing your butt.”
Then it was as though the clouds parted and I saw clear skies. I realize why there was such a familiarity to her. One that I haven’t been able to put my finger on in the last few months. Her eyes. Hidden under that cap, I saw them even though it appeared she was hiding them. I remember her eyes so bold with so much fragility behind them.
“We had a class together. I sat in the back, way in the back. I never raised my hand. You sat in the front with your friends. You probably don’t remember. I was sort of invisible.”
“It was your eyes I remember, and the way your nose crinkled when you smiled. I see it now. We did meet all those years ago. I knew it was your eyes that made me feel like I’ve known you forever. How can that be possible?”
She is quiet, still even, but she is scanning my face. Waiting maybe for my next question. The band finishes their set and they are about to go on a break, but first the lead singer starts to speak and now I know what’s up next.
Leighton and I continue to assess one another.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we hope you are all having a good time tonight. We have been asked to sing a special song, a dedication of sorts, to one very lucky lady. This one goes out to you, Leighton Parks, from Luca. Enjoy.”
Leighton practically jumps around to look at me astonished. Her jaw is dropped and I smile at her adoringly. When the band starts to play Foreigner’s “I’ve Been Waiting For a Girl Like You”, she scrunches up that adorable nose, and bites her lower lip. She blinks a few times, and I can see the beginning of moisture pool in her eyes. We just sit there and listen to the lyrics, take each other in, without words, without actions, with nothing more than silence between us.
I stand up and take her hand. “Dance with me.” I say looking down at her amazing eyes.
“No, Luca. I don’t dance. Please, just sit back down with me.” I sit back down and look as her face blushes.
I bend to her ear, “Why, baby? Are you alright?”
She leans over and whispers, “I can’t dance.”
“You what?” I wasn’t sure if I heard her correctly. I saw her at my party dancing around with her friends.
“She said she can’t dance.” M.J. yells to me. “Ever since she tried to dance with Corey Clark in the eighth grade to that freaking song from Titanic. She broke his toes when she danced with him. She was labeled the toe breaker from Ocean Pines forever. Hasn’t danced with a guy since.”
“Thanks a lot, M.J. I’m sorry Luca. I’m just not comfortable.” She is suddenly shy, and I know this is not the persona of my girl. I yank her up out of her chair and tangle my hands in her hair. I crush her lips to mine and dip her back. I kiss her for dear life, as if she’s my last breath. The song is still playing and I hear cheers from the people in the bar. When I release her and bring her back upright, Leighton’s eyes are still closed. I settle her as she slowly opens them.
“Was that too uncomfortable for you, baby?” She shakes her head at me.
“Not a chance.” She grabs her purse off the table, reaches over a gives M.J. and Ryan kisses on their cheeks. She turns to me, takes my hand in hers, and pulls me towards her.
“Let’s go home, I need you. Now.” I wave to M.J. and Ryan from behind as Leighton shoves me out the door. When we are a safe distance away from the bar, Leighton pushes me up against a car. She uses her arms to cage me in, and comes nose to nose with me. Her breathing is fast, and she licks her lips. It’s usually the guy that puts this girl in this sort of position, but It’s a turn on, and I’ll take it.
“That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I have never had a song dedicated to me, Luca. It made me feel special, needed, and wanted by you. Take me home and fuck me.”
The woman didn’t have to ask me twice. She was all mine. I was going to destroy her tonight. Make her forget what the fuck planet she’s on. I text James to cover for me for a little while.
“Yeah well, if I take you home and fuck you, the way you want to be fucked, it’s not going to be pretty, Leighton. It’s going to be rough, and sweaty, and sheet clawing.” I grasp her chin with my hands and make her look at me. She’s not in the mood for making love, at this point, neither am I.
“There will be no cuddling tonight. No sweet talk. This is going to get dirty, and nasty, and I’m going to do things to you that would make porn stars blush.”
She lets out a moan and I place my fingers in her mouth. She sucks on them lightly, and I trace her bottom lip with the one I pulled out. Her tongue flicks out trying to reclaim it.
“I’d fuck you aga
inst this car right now, but see I’m a staple in this community and it would look bad if the high school baseball coach was seen fucking his girlfriend on some stranger’s car.” That cute mouth of hers hangs open and she releases her arms and places them around my neck.
“I’m… I’m your girlfriend? Did you just call me your girlfriend?” She says it to me in the tiniest of voices.
“Of course you’re my girlfriend. We didn’t establish this already?” I stroke her face and lock my hand at the nape of her neck. “There’s no one else I want, or need. You are it for me, Leighton.”
“Okay. Good to know. Now, can my boyfriend take me home and fuck me?”
Damn, I love it when she talks dirty.
I don’t even think we have any clothes to take off when we hit the inside of my house. She already ripped open my shirt and popped all the buttons in the car on the way home. She gave me the best blow job ever while I was driving. I think I veered off the Coastal Highway several times, nearly hitting a few cars in my path. She’s destructive tonight, naughty, and I fucking love what this girl does to me from her head down to her perfectly pedicured toes.
When we step inside, tripping over the clothes at our feet, I just want to get inside her and not come out till the sun comes up. I raise her arms and lift her shirt over her head. I reach behind her as I’m kissing her, and unhook her bra. Her breasts spill out and my fervor makes me go directly to sucking them. Pulling her nipple into my mouth, makes her deliver a moan that send me into a frenzy of lust, and I just want to lick every inch of her skin. She smells like coconuts and vanilla, even the strands of her dark hair carry the scent. It’s intoxicating.
I break the kiss and strip her out of her underwear, patting each leg to allow me to pull the panties off one at a time. She’s standing there exposed and this time, she makes no attempts to cover up. She’s beautiful, and she’s mine.
I strip out of my pants, and boxer briefs, and with one swift move, I capture her and throw her onto the sofa. What I’m about to do to her doesn’t require a bed. Within seconds I’m inside her wet and aching core. I love this girl, and trust her, condoms are now a thing of the past. She’s all I ever want to be with, forever.
I am relentless with my thrusts, turning her in every position possible. She allows me to do whatever I want, and I do. I take her for all she’s worth, and that’s everything. She’s everything. I continue to pound my cock deep and hard into her as she claws at my back, my chest, my ass. When she holds onto my ass as I fuck her, it spirals me into oblivion. When I’m with this girl, I feel her strength battle against mine, it’s strong and it’s demanding, and I let her take the lead, most of the time. But not tonight. It’s about her submitting to me, letting me take the reins, letting me guide her until she comes around me and I hear her scream my name as she falls apart. She does just that, let’s me take her on a journey, on a ride, to wherever our bodies concede. I feel like I’m on the edge of my release as Leighton is on all fours with my hips move in a radical pace. I reach down, stroke her clit in small circles and when I feel her muscles tense up, I propel in her a few more times until I cry out for her to come.
“Come for me, now, Leighton, I want to feel you drip down me.” She shudders and her pussy constricts my cock. Waves of ecstasy wash over me as I come right after her.
When we are done, our breaths come out ragged, sweat beads on my brow, and I just hug her back. I pull out slowly, and Leighton turns herself around on the sofa and she looked like she’s been through a war. Hair is tousled, cheeks are pink and moist from perspiration, hand prints are still visible on her hips from my hands gripping them. She looks satisfied, and I know I have done my job well.
I snuggle next to her on the couch and wrap her in my arms. I kiss her shoulder and she rubs her finger tips along my hand. We lay in a state of complete satisfaction content in each other’s arms.
“How do you feel about meeting my dad tomorrow?”
“I feel good. I’m really looking forward to meeting the man who raised you to be what you are today.”
“Oh yeah, and what’s that?”
She turns her body more so we are nose to nose. “Smart, handsome, honest, hardworking. I am sure your dad had a bit to do with that, even though I’ll give you some credit for how you turned out.” She chuckles.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“What if I asked your name that day at school? What if we crossed paths more than once and got to know each other better? Where do you think we would be today?”
“Well, I don’t think you would have been interested in a girl like me. You were Luca Ferro, star baseball player, all around jock, and good guy. Girls like Val are the ones that caught your eye. Not editors of the school paper.”
“How do you know that? I remember the way you looked. You had these big, opulent eyes that were shielded by a baseball cap, but I saw them. You cannot hide eyes like that. They are unforgettable. Maybe it was in the cards to meet the way we did. I believe in that you know, things that are meant to be, stuff we have no control over. That’s how I think we found each other.” I see a tear running down her cheek and I wipe it away.
“Hey, baby, don’t cry, we are together now and that’s all that matters. True love in this differs from gold to clay, that to divide is not to take away. Love is like understanding, that grows bright, Gazing on many truths, tis like thy night.”
“Mmm. Shelley. I love Shelley.” Her voice is small and sleepy and I pull her into my body even more. I grab the throw blanket that’s draped over my sofa and cover us.
“Shelley is one of my favorite poets too.” I want to tell her now that I love her, I want a future with her, a life with her.
“Leighton? Leighton?” I whisper. I hear her breathing change and I know she’s fast asleep.
Maybe telling her I’m in love with her tonight just wasn’t in the cards, but soon enough I will tell her just how much I do.
I asked Luca his father’s favorite type of wine to bring to dinner tonight. I grabbed it when I went out to find a new outfit for dinner. I’m a little nervous, but like Luca told me, just be myself. The way he talks about his father is just downright adorable. He tells me his dad is his hero. He has endured so much in his life, and the man is grateful for all the things he has, just like Luca.
I run to one of the outlet clothing store down in Rehobeth Beach, and come out with loads more bags than I anticipated. I settled on a pink eyelet sundress with thin straps, a gathered bodice, and a new pair of white espadrille sandals, oh and sexy new white lace bra and panties to match. They’re for Luca.
I finish up my hair, and go easy on the makeup tonight. I don’t want his dad thinking I look like some dime store slut bag. Just a little dusting of pink on my cheeks, a bit of mascara on the old eyes, and some pink lips complete the look, and I’m pleased. I can’t wait to see if Luca approves, which of course he will. He’s always telling me he loves my natural look.
My skin is now a golden bronzed color from my time here in the sun. My eyes are bright against the tone, and the pink on my dress compliments it.
Luca knocks at my door and I go to open it and there he is standing with a brown paper package.
“Whatcha got there, handsome?”
“This is for you, and may I say, wow! What a dress.” He leans in and kisses my cheek and hands me the package.
“Spin for me.”
“I’m not spinning for you, silly boy.”
He crosses his arms and demands, “Spin, now woman.”
So I spin, the dress twirls around me, and I place my hands on my hips.
“Better.”
“Better? That’s all you have to say?”
“Better, as in perfect, amazing, breathtaking. Did I cover it all?”
There’s the approval I was looking for.
“Well, thank you. May I open this up?” He motions for me to go ahead. I take my time and look at the brown wrapping, tied with moss green raffi
a. When I unwrap it, I’m dumbstruck at what I’m holding.
“Luca, this is a set of poetry books. They look rare. Where… when… how do you have these?” I run my hands over the leather bound book on top. They are gorgeous. Dark red, brown, and navy. Simply a treasure.
“They are rare, very rare actually. I went to a book auction about six months ago when I went to Boston to see Adrianna dance in a show. I got them for myself, but that was before I met someone who would love and appreciate them more.”
I’m overwhelmed by his generosity and how he thought enough to give them to me, and it makes my heart swell.
“I don’t know what to say, they are so beautiful and special. I know how much something like this must have cost you. It’s too much. I can’t accept them, Luca.”
I know these books must have cost him a few thousand dollars. They auction items like this at Sotheby’s all the time.
He bends at the knees so now he is eye level with me. He raises my chin up with one finger, our eyes level.
“Hey, look at me. You are the one who is beautiful and special, not a bunch of dusty old books. Maybe I subconsciously bid on them and won because I was destined to give them to someone who shares the same passion as I do. Maybe it was fate leading me to you just like it led me to them. I don’t know, I’d like to think I was at the right place, at the right time, and that’s why I have them, but something tells me it has to do with the stars being aligned from the time they were in my possession, up until now.” He stands up and holds his hand out for me. I take it without hesitation, and he brings my hand to his face, he runs the back side of it down to his lips and kisses it.
“Thank you, Luca, for sharing something so precious with me.”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go so you can meet my papa.”
We make the fifteen minute drive to his dad’s home. It’s on the outskirts of Ocean City, near the pines, but not exactly near my parents. It’s close to the bay because I can feel the change in the air temperature when the windows in Luca’s car are down. He holds my hand the whole way there, caressing my knuckles, gently, teaseling, lovingly.