Clockwork Romance

by Andy Mandela

  Love, Karina and I still haven’t said those words to each other yet, those three little, yet strong words. The closest we came was when I was teaching her French, and she asked me how to say “I love you,” amongst other phrases, thus not making it so conspicuous.

  I told her, “Je t’aime.” It’s pronounced like “zhu tem.” Since I’ve been teaching Karina different languages, she has really picked up well. She knows a little German, but her favorite has been French. She has also developed a decent French accent. By now, I’ve just about taught her everything I know. We have tried to have conversations in public, which I’m sure has made people wonder if we’re from out of the country. We both found it amusing, giving ourselves a chance to practice holding entire conversations. Those people who heard us would be surprised when we switched back to English and spoke with perfect American accents.

  Though we are from Texas, not everyone has a thick Texas accent. Neither of us are the country-folk type of people who greet everybody with “howdy.” That’s only a stereotype. Our city isn’t like that at all. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like we’re from Texas, until we feel the heat and are reminded once again. But really, the only people I know who actually have Texas accents are the anchors on the news. Sometimes it can get annoying, but Karina knows how to do a funny impression of the anchorwoman, so it’s easier, and more entertaining to watch, especially if we’ve been drinking.

  We don’t get drunk all the time, but I at least have one or two a day. I’ve heard it’s healthy, or it could be that I just like beer. The first time we got drunk together, we came extremely close to going all the way in bed, but I still had the smallest shred of sense left to stop myself. We did, however, kiss passionately, so much that the hangover we felt the next morning was well worth it.

  Though she goes along with it, I think Karina might be getting a little worried about when the right time will be for us to make love. She’s never asked, but I feel like it could be bugging her. I could be wrong, but I don’t want to wait too long either. I keep telling myself, “soon.”

  Another good thing that’s happened over the past few months is that Karina as quit smoking. She hasn’t had one since the first night we went out together. She’s never bought them, or even talked about wanting one. And another thing, I’ve stayed clean as well, ever since that night I took the indigo. Karina and I have never had a discussion about the various drugs we’ve taken throughout the years. I guess neither of us deemed it important to bring up during a conversation. The both of us have agreed that whatever’s in the past should stay there. I wish it was that easy for me. Hopefully tonight will keep my mind off the subject.

  I’m looking forward to the fireworks lighting up the sky tonight. What I thought was a lot more fun was buying our own fireworks. But unfortunately, we won’t be doing that this year. That’s all I used to do when I was younger, go out with friends outside the city limits and blow hundreds of dollars’ worth of fireworks for only a few minutes of amusement. Most cops don’t really care if you do it within the city limits, so long as you clean up your mess afterwards. But we would usually have so much, we would rather go somewhere where we wouldn’t be disturbed.

  Right now, Karina and I just got done eating and are just about to go to the fireworks show. We didn’t go out to eat, but rather Karina made us something at my apartment. She is a very skilled cook. She says it’s one of favorite hobbies. Tonight she made spaghetti for us, since Italian is one of our favorite cuisines. We sat around my small kitchen table, enjoying the meal, while discussing our anticipation for the evening.

  Karina enjoyed cooking. She would sometimes joke around, saying she would love to be a housewife and take care of me. I’m not sure which part was the joke, the housewife part or the taking care of me part.

  We each had water, which Karina put it in wine glasses to make it look fancier. Most of what I drink is water, since it don’t really care for soda.

  It’s a little after nine in the evening right now, so we go ahead and get ready to leave so we can get good seats. The actual show starts at ten, but it can get pretty crowded way before then. One more great thing about Karina is that she doesn’t suggest that we dress up for the holidays. No painting our faces, no wearing red, white, or blue clothes, or any other ridiculous fashion that other people are no doubt going to wear.

  I’ve just got on a plain t-shirt and jeans. Even though today was pretty hot, I’m not really the kind to wear shorts. I’ve got a few athletic shorts lying around, but I only wear those when I go work out. Working out was another thing Karina and I would do together. We tried to go a few days a week. It’s free for us, since we are students and we’re using the college gym. Karina has surprised me by being able to jog on the treadmill for thirty straight minutes. She would tease me because I couldn’t do half that. I’m getting better though, and maybe one day I’ll beat her, perhaps going forty-five minutes.

  Karina puts on her shoes, and we leave. Karina will probably be getting the look by plenty of guys tonight. She’s wearing a baby blue t-shirt and white short shorts. Her shorts showed off her perfect fair-skinned legs. At times, I would give myself an excuse to touch them, like patting her leg if she made me laugh, or asking her if my hand was cold. Whenever we make out, that’s precisely where my hands go. But I’m afraid the jealous boyfriend in me might have to play a role tonight in case there are any dumb males out there wishing to give Karina any unwanted attention. But I think I can manage to be cool, since noticing an attractive woman is only natural.

  Once we arrive at the mall, there is already a considerable amount of people here. Still, we are able to find a decent parking spot not too far away from the crowd. We get the folding chairs out of the back seat, along with a few other items we decided to bring along. Once again, she brought the camera. I should mention that our photo album is about halfway full right now. She refuses to throw any photo away, claiming that no matter how bad it is, there is still a memory in it.

  Before finding a spot to sit, we notice a few vendors selling snacks around the parking lot. I buy us a long plastic bag full of popcorn first. I couldn’t believe that it cost four dollars. Those vendors just love to pop up everywhere and charge people insane prices. But apparently it works. We were about to resume finding a spot to sit, when Karina brought my attention to a little hut selling snow cones. So, being as persuasive as she can be, we go over and I purchase us some snow cones. Standing in line, we read all the dozens of flavors they offer. Ultimately, I settled on cherry and Karina got piña colada. When we were done with that, we once again proceeded to find a spot.

  On the way, we noticed a few kids having their own fireworks show. We eventually settled on a sidewalk amongst quite a few other people. It was still about twenty minutes before the show began, so I didn’t want to eat the popcorn too fast. Karina and I made ourselves a noticeable couple by holding hands while sitting in our chairs. While waiting for the show to start, Karina and I reminisced about past Fourth of Julys.

  The first thing Karina said was, “Back in Austin, I went to a fireworks show every year. One specific time I remember, I think was when I was thirteen. I had my first kiss that night.” Her story made me think back to my first kiss. Mine wasn’t until I had my first girlfriend, and I’m sure hers was a lot more special than mine. We continued to snack on popcorn and snow cones while we waited, which was only about for another five more minutes. Then it became a few minutes after ten, and nothing had started yet.

  “Maybe they’re starting fashionably late,” I suggested. Then, just as the words escaped my mouth, we see what looks like a missile shoot up in the sky. It explodes, creating a circle of sparkles turning from gold to red. Then another missile shoots up, then another, and another, at an accelerating rate. Colors of blue, green, red, purple, and others light up the sky. I can see Karina looking over at me and smiling in the corner of my eye, so I look to her and smile back. Then a feeling comes over us, and our smiles slowly begin to fade, but the feeli
ng of romance still inhabits the air.

  We both know what we want to do, the look in both of our faces says it all. We lean in, eyes closed, and our lips touch. We still hear the fireworks going off in the background, but our minds have created new ones. Our lips stay together for a short time, but somehow, it always manages to feel longer, yet at the same time, not long enough. We then return to sitting back in our chairs, continuing to watch the show.

  More people start showing up, making it a full crowd. The entire show lasts about a half hour, which led me to wonder why there are so many people and vendors out here just to celebrate thirty minutes. Well, it brought us out here. And as much as I enjoyed it, I would have preferred the show those kids were having with their own fireworks. They had the good stuff, the things that explode right before your eyes. At least there’s always next year.

  We choose to stay for a while so everybody else can leave. I hate heading straight into busy traffic, so we’ll give it a chance to die off a little bit before we leave ourselves. Surprisingly, people left a lot quicker than I thought, so we pack up our chairs and head back to the car. I see the vendors closing up shop as well.

  “So what do you wanna do now? Go home?” Karina asks. She actually said “go home” as if there was only one, like we were living together. But I’m sure she meant my apartment, since that’s where we were previously.

  “Yeah,” I answered. We held each other as we walked, my arm over and around her shoulder, and her arm around my waist. Karina took a few photos during our stay, however not one including us both. Most of them were of the fireworks.

  Once we arrived “home,” Karina said, “I need to use the bathroom.”

  “Fine, I’ll get us some beers,” I respond. I put everything up first, including the chairs and food. I empty my pockets, setting my keys, wallet, and cell phone on the coffee table. Then I go into the kitchen and pull out two bottles of Chat Noir and bring them with me back to the couch. Right on cue, Karina comes back into the room and joins me, setting her purse on the floor beside the table. I had previously turned on the television to see my second favorite thing about the Fourth of July. Every year, they would show a marathon of the Twilight Zone all day.

  “Ooh, which episode is this one?” asks Karina, knowing already what the show is, since I’ve already introduced her to the series some time ago.

  “It’s the one with a bunch of people in a diner and they’re trying to figure out which one of them is the Martian,” I tell her. We enjoy our beers as well as the episode.

  Then a few more beers and episodes later, we’re still hanging out on the couch, with no lights on in the apartment. It’s hard to stop watching this show, since every episode is a classic. However, just how all great things come to an end, new greater things just begin. It’s almost one in the morning now, so we go and lay in bed. I turn off the television, and we walk in mild darkness for a few seconds, along with a bit of moonlight, before I reach the lamp in my room. Just like in Karina’s apartment, we sleep on the same respective side of the bed, though in my apartment, the lamp is sitting on my side of the bed atop a nightstand.

  We undress, not shy for us to do so in front of each other, even though we have yet to see each other naked. That would be something I would like to keep sacred until our first time. The mystery that surrounds the wonder of our naked bodies should best be revealed under the best romantic circumstances. That wonder only makes me want Karina more, though I promised we would wait until the time is right. The hardest part of that is knowing when that time is.

  We have just finished undressing when we slide into bed. I usually like to sleep in just my boxer-briefs. Karina says I have a sexy chest. I’m sure I would say the same about her. Karina usually sleeps in pajama pants if we’re at her place, or in panties if we’re at mine. Sometimes she’ll sleep in just a nightshirt or nighttime camisole made of alluring material, such as silk. Tonight, she chose to sleep in her bra and panties. Her bra was a deep purple, as well as strapless, and her panties were magenta. No matter what she wears, it is always worth mentioning in my opinion.

  I turn off the light, and we try to go to sleep. A few minutes later, Karina asks me a question. “I don’t want you to feel pressured, but I just need to ask you something. Why haven’t we done anything yet?”

  I reach over to turn the lamp back on. “What do you mean?” I ask, knowing full well what she meant.

  “It’s just… we’ve been together for two months, and as much as I love making out and everything, I’m just wondering… when?” she says. I knew at some point she would ask me this, since it was really only a matter before she began feeling restless. But there is still this feeling I have, a feeling that there still needs to be more time, yet two months has been quite a while already. I race to find an excuse, but I believe there is a solution that can solve this problem.

  “I promise you, it won’t be long. I don’t want you to feel for a second that I’m trying to push you away or that there is any problem discouraging me. It’s just that… I want it to be special, and I want it to mean something.” I can see Karina’s eyes giving me that puppy dog look. She appears genuinely worried. I touch the side of her cheek and say, “Don’t be worried.” Just as she looks as she’s ready to go back to bed, I tell her, “You know, there are other things we can do, other things… just as good.”

  “Like what?” she asks, anxious to here what I have to say, or do next.

  I lean in, and we kiss passionately, more so than how we were at the show earlier. My hand slowly moves to hold the bottom of the back of her head. She might think this is only another one of our usual make out sessions, so I should probably do something a little more so that she’ll gain interest instead of being content with the level of interest she’s used to.

  I move on top of her, hovering over her body, while shoving the blanket off us to the foot of the bed. Now I see Karina’s beautiful body glowing with the help of the lamp. I kiss her for a while on her neck, then move to her bare shoulders. I don’t kiss her too fast, rather I keep it slow and sensual, not fast and raunchy. I want Karina to know that I want to worship her body, not use it up like a disposable napkin, only to be thrown out. I gently squeeze her arms, so soft and warm, and with a little peach fuzz. My lips move to the top of her chest, soft as well, as my hands move to her hips, my palms just above her hip bone.

  I can hear Karina softly moan as her body fluctuates like a wave. My torso lies directly between her legs, as they alternate up and down. For some reason, I am aroused by the sound of her feet pushing against the sheets of the bed. Karina’s hands are either gripping the pillow, or somewhere on my body. First, she caresses my side, then my shoulders, then my hair, making my hair look like I just woke up in the morning. She begins caressing her own body as I move lower toward her abdomen. But I still, even at this moment, feel that some things should best be kept a mystery until the time is right.

  So I do not seek to remove her bra or panties. I push one of her legs out wide, then kiss the inside of her thigh. Then, I lift her leg straight up to kiss the underside of her leg. Then I move her leg over, hoping that she’ll turn over. Right now is the perfect time to worship her legs, as I’ve always desired to. They showed not even the slightest flaw, so smooth and perfectly shaped.

  As I expected, she rolls over on her stomach, her arms forming acute angles, hands underneath the pillow, and her head lying with her right cheek just below the pillow, her moaning continuing on. Now, I’ve got the perfect view of her nice bottom. Her panties were the bikini cut kind, exposing the bottom half of her butt. I squeezed her thighs slightly tighter, while I couldn’t help but find my lips on her rear. While my lips were focused on one side, one hand would cup the other side. I keep thinking how firm, yet amazingly smooth and curvy her bum was. Karina had great hips, similar to those of a belly dancer, though I’ve never witnessed her trying those moves.

  I slip my hand under her panties as Karina moans louder. As much as I’d love to slid
e them off, I don’t. I go back and hover over her once again to kiss the back of her neck. Then I bring her up, both of us on our knees, me behind her, and I wrap my arms around her, while her arm reaches behind upwards to caress the back of my head. I loosen my arms, my hands on the front of her abdomen, making their way up with the help of Karina’s hands. She holds them, moving them upwards towards her breasts, until I have them both cupped in my hands. Her hands free mine, and she throws her arms back to grab me by the waist to bring me in closer.