by Anita Claire
As I walk up the two steps, he continues to hold my hand but stays on the path. I turn to face him. I’m now closer to his height. With his free hand, he extends his finger and gently tips up my chin. He gives me a sexy half smile that shows off his dimple. My breath catches before it goes slow and deep. Prickly thrills run from my chin, around my ears, and down through my stomach. His eyes are on my lips. Watching him, I intuitively lick them, and then I take a deep gulp. My lips part slightly with anticipation as he leans in and slowly, gently touches his lips with mine. The contact feels soft and warm; I close my eyes, waiting for more. I feel his lips, as he softly nips mine. Again, I respond by slowly, softly kissing his lips. We continue like this for a while. My arm hooks around his neck, my palm flat on his back. My other hand finds its way to his arm. I love the way his muscles feel. I just want to roll my fingers across his amazing abs. He licks my lips, and then kisses me softly again. As his tongue finds its way to mine, an amazing whoosh moves from my tongue right down to the base of my belly. With one of his hands on my lower back and the other on my ass, I can just hear Cassie making fun of me for kissing on the front step. But the night is silent and dark. I pull away and quietly say, “Can I invite you inside?”
He gets a smile on his face and slowly nods. We lean into each other and start kissing again. The silence of the night is broken by a woman screeching out, “Get a room!”
Followed by another woman who yells, “What? Are you in high school?”
A different voice yells, “Don’t do it on the front steps!”
After a large cackle, I hear another drunken voice screech out, “Hey! You want to share?”
Zach and I separate just in time to see a fancy white sports car turn the corner. Shit that’s Cassie, with a car full of drunken women. I hope she’s just driving past, that she’s not stopping and staying. I turn back to Zach; raise my fist, with a big smile I say, “Damn you, random drunk women.”
He lets out a deep chuckle. We turn back to each other, with matching sexy smiles. “Now, where were we?” I say just as the lights in my place turn on, and a dance song blares through the windows, over the shrill sounds of drunken women. Zach looks at me and raises an eyebrow. “I guess they weren’t just random drunk women.”
I roll my eyes, “Unfortunately not.” I tip my head, “Are you still interested in coming in?”
He chuckles again and shakes his head, “Yeah, I’ll leave you with that.” He kisses me lightly, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Breakfast, right?”
Staring at him, I respond with a tiny nod.
He turns and walks off.
I watch him walk away. Damn, he has such a cute butt. I look at my front door. Oh good, just what I’m in the mood for, a house full of wild, drunk, football players’ girlfriends.
Chapter 12 – Programmer Party
Saturday evening, Hita, Isabelle, and I get together. They both joke that I might have two guys interested in me, but I’m still going out on Saturday night with my girlfriends. This makes me wonder what Zach’s up to. He sure acted interested. Why didn’t he ask me out tonight? What’s he doing on Saturday night?
After the movie, Hita checks Facebook and her Twitter feed to see if any of her friends are up to anything. She smiles, “Jackpot.”
“The guys with the arcade version of Dance Dance Revolution in their dining room are they having another party?” Isabelle wonders.
“No, some different guys.” Hita knows a lot of Silicon Valley engineers since she’s into Coder Nights.
It’s as geeky as it sounds—just a bunch of programmers meeting at a location, usually a coffee shop, and developing code together. Of course, Hita found a coding night not overrun by brogrammers, instead it’s overrun by guys who look like they’ve never seen the light of day or haven’t done one minute of physical exercise in their life; which makes me wonder if there is a happy medium when it comes to programming. When I attended, the leader gave everyone a puzzle to solve using a specific programming language. I’m not interested in ever going again. After a full day working with a bunch of guys writing code, the last thing I want to do after work is sit around with a different bunch of guys writing code. Even though the guys at the Coder Night were much more verbal than the guys I work with. They cracked a lot of jokes that only fantasy and science fiction fans could follow.
The three of us head over to the party. The guys hosting it live in a rental house. It’s small—maybe a thousand square feet, built in the 1960s. The walls are all painted white, the carpeting is tan, the kitchen has a linoleum floor, old painted wood cabinets, and tile countertops, and the doors and windows are creaky aluminum. There are probably thirty people in the house, about half are in the living room/dining area where a couple of folding tables have been set up. They’re playing Robo Rally—a totally geeky game from the 1990s that’s really only a computer themed, and more difficult version, of Candy Lane. What surprises me, is that Hita’s friends are actually playing a board game, I figured them to be electronic only.
Isabelle—who’s not at all into programing—takes one look at the guys playing the board game and gives me a disappointed pout.
Knowing she was hoping for something more fun than board games, I lightly nudge her shoulder with my shoulder. “Maybe your true love will be found at this party.”
After giving me a huge eye roll for that comment, we plaster smiles on our faces and follow Hita into the kitchen. Hita introduces us to a couple of guys who quickly hand us each a beer. Of course, when Hita says she works with me, the first thing they ask is if I work in Marketing.
We’re in the middle of Silicon Valley, why is it when guys guess my profession, they never guess engineering? Why are they always surprised when I tell them I’m an engineer? Is it that old double standard again? Anyway, I always guess engineering first when I meet a guy.
Trying not to sound too annoyed, I say, “I work with Hita, do you know that she’s an engineer?”
The skinny guy in the retro Packman T says, “Yeah, I figured that she was technical. But, you look more Marketing.”
It’s probably because I wear mascara and boots instead of no makeup and sneakers. The guys are nice, but all they talk about is Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. We don’t stay too long. When we leave I look over to Hita and Isabelle, “Hey, lets go to some of the bars on Castro Street. We could go dancing.”
Isabelle just looks annoyed, “Monte Carlo is all Español, rock ’n roll, and hip hop. I’m not dressed for dancing with the Hispanic community and I have no interest hanging around a bar drinking.”
“Well, then let’s go to Stephens Green, they have a decent DJ on Saturday nights.”
Hita and Isabelle look at each other. Isabelle shrugs, “We can go for a drink and see if it’s any fun.”
Chapter 13 – Hiking at Rancho
On Sunday the princesses decide to hike at Rancho San Antonio, an open space preserve near my house. Everyone shows up except for Kelly and Jennifer. I guess those two are too busy in bed. Meredith arrives with Amanda; I wonder what’s going on with those two?
Our favorite hike is the eight-mile power-pole loop. The trail takes us up to the top of the mountain and down along the creek. It’s along the same ridge that Nate and I drove up when we hiked and went wine tasting.
Since Kelly and Jennifer are not here, they’ve left themselves open for gossip.
“What’s Jennifer up to?” Olivia asks.
“Olivia, you two were roommates for three years, shouldn’t we be asking you?” Hita says.
“That’s why I’m here. I’m too busy with school. I just can’t keep up.”
“She’s dating a friend of Kelly’s and now she, too, has gone AWOL.” Isabelle answers.
“Kelly told me she’s in shock. She rode with Rocket when she was on tour. She says he’s just into hookups; he never sleeps with the same girl twice. Last week when she met up with some of her cycling friends for pizza, Jennifer was there. She and Rocket were all dreamy eyed aroun
d each other.” I fill in.
“Is this some kind of rebellion?” Meredith asks.
“Jennifer? Rebellious? Never. She likes her men manicured.” Olivia says.
“Well, there’s nothing manicured about Rocket; he’s all rough looking, tattooed and pierced.” Isabelle volunteers.
“What? Jennifer can’t stand angsty, artsy guys.” Olivia says.
“She’s bringing him to my Thanksgiving party. We’ll get to see the two of them in action.” Meredith adds.
Hita says, “Maybe we can kidnap her and get the whole story.”
“Really? Can’t one of us just ask her?” I say.
“You contacted her and she replied ‘fun.’” Isabel says.
“Who is Kelly’s latest victim?” Olivia now questions.
“A friend of Amanda’s, his name’s Sean.” I respond.
Everyone now looks at Amanda.
Meredith eyeballs her particularly hard. “Have you heard from Sean since Friday night?”
“It’s not like Sean and I correspond.” Amanda dryly relates.
“Has Sean contacted Kevin?” Meredith continues.
“Not that I know of, he didn’t come over last night.”
Now this piques my curiosity. “What did you guys do last night?”
Amanda rolls her eyes. “Poker. Every Saturday night the guys play poker. There’s a whole group of them. They really take their poker seriously.”
“Do they smoke cigars?” Meredith asks as she scrunches up her nose in disgust.
“No, no cigars. They drink beer, ESPN is always on, oh, and there’s lots of talk about fantasy football.”
“When all of this is going on, what do you do?” I question.
“Me, sometimes I might play a little poker, but I’m not that good. Mostly, I just hang out. You know, watch Netflix on my computer.”
Meredith changes the subject. “Amanda, what brought you out here?”
“There are only two things that bring you to Silicon Valley, a job or a guy.” Amanda dryly states.
“Let me guess, a guy brought you to Silicon Valley.” Isabelle responds.
“Yeah, my college boyfriend moved here. He was a year older. After college, I joined him.”
“And?”
She’s looking down, shakes her head, and then looks up. An upset look crosses her face. She purses her lips and sighs, “Turns out he’s gay.”
“Wow, not something I would want to learn about a boyfriend.” Olivia states.
“How did you find out? Did he come out of the closet and break up with you?” I ask.
“That would have been way too easy. I kind of suspected at some level since all his friends here kind of acted like they were gay. Inevitably, I walked in on him making out with another guy.”
“Like Brokeback Mountain?” Meredith quickly brings up.
“Yeah, I spent a weekend crying and watching Brokeback Mountain, now that you mention it. I kept on trying to understand how I didn’t figure it out earlier. Why he would have chosen me?”
“Did Brokeback Mountain help you reach enlightenment?” Meredith questions.
“Well, not the movie, but Brian’s a good guy. He truly liked me. His family’s conservative, religious, and very Christian. They don’t believe people really are gay. He tried for a long time to be what he thought he was supposed to be.”
“So, Kevin?” Isabelle keeps the story moving ahead.
Amanda smiles. “Yeah, Kevin. Now he’s definitely straight. Brian was my first, I had no idea how much better sex could be with, you know, with someone who likes having sex with women. Brian was much more into hanging out and cuddling. Looking back everything now makes sense.”
“What’s the whole thing about not calling you his girlfriend?” I inquire.
“All of Kevin’s friends are single. I guess he just wants to fit in.”
Now I wonder if Zach has commitment issues?
“I give you credit Amanda, if I was with a guy for a year and he still couldn’t call me his girlfriend, I’d move on.” Hita says.
The group moves on to Olivia. “Any hot med students?” Isabelle asks.
Olivia just groans. “Even worse, I have a hot roommate.” She then shakes her head “Like really, really hot. Though he’s also a huge player.”
“Is this hands off or hands on?” Isabelle inquires.
Olivia shakes her head, “No way, hands off.”
“Olivia, you’re falling off your game.” Hita says.
Olivia raises an eyebrow, “I have a good game because I know how to play players. But I’m not messing with my roommate. I like to keep my home, drama free.”
“Are you still friends with Max?” I ask.
Olivia smiles. “Yeah, Max is a good guy.”
“What about Conner?” Hita says.
Olivia gives her a long look, and then flashes her eyes over to Meredith. “Conner is in the Middle East, I’m here.” She dryly responds.
Meredith and I catch each other’s eyes. Conner is Meredith’s brother. This is the closest Olivia’s come to admitting to any of the princesses that she’s in a relationship with him. I wonder what gives.
Olivia turns to me; “You’re being rather quiet, though I hear you’ve been busy?”
I smile, “Yeah, moving back, starting a new job.”
“I’m not asking about the boring stuff. I hear it hasn’t taken you long to get back on the old proverbial horse.”
“Yeah, I’m still riding.”
“Really, you’re going to play that game. Come on, Juliette, cough it up.”
“Yeah, well, I’m kind of interested in this one guy I met at swimming. His roommate’s the guy Amanda’s with.”
Olivia lifts her eyes. Yeah, she gets it. To change the subject from me, since I don’t yet know if I can trust Amanda with girl talk, I say, “Has Hita told you guys about her date? Come on Hita, fill them in about Dick.”
Hita starts laughing, “I hope you guys have a better sense of humor than my friends at work.”
Olivia gives me a questioning look as I say to her, “Just wait till you hear this story.”
The top of the trail has three big rises and falls; on a particularly steep section we get separated into two groups. Arriving in the first group to the top of the trail, I drink my water and eat a Cliff Bar as I watch Meredith, Hita, and Amanda arrive.
Amanda gives me a funny look. I turn my gaze to Meredith, who just smiles. “Were you guys talking about me?” I question.
Hita answers, “Oh, we were just filling Amanda in on the details of your two guys.”
I literally gasp, what is wrong with my girlfriends. Why would they tell Amanda about Nate? I’ve wanted to keep these guys separate, this could make things messy. I look over at Amanda, “What we talk about at Rancho stays at Rancho.”
She just smiles and says, “I’m cool.”
On the way down, Olivia nudges me with her elbow, “Juliette, guys like competition, you should make the guys work for it.”
I look at her horrified, “Or, they might think, why bother?”
She looks at me like I’m crazy, “If a guy is so pathetic or so uninterested that he doesn’t put some game on if he thinks there’s competition, then you just dodged a bullet.”
I contemplate what she says as we walk through the small working farm. Meredith stops, looks at the sign by the pigs, and says, “That’s not a Saddleback it’s a Duroc, who can be so stupid that they’d mislabel this pig?”
Olivia dryly replies, “I was just happy that I could label that animal a pig.” We all laugh. I always forget that Meredith grew up in the country, that her grandparents have a pig farm.
Chapter 14 – Slide Show
Monday morning comes way too soon. Zach is at the pool, like usual, I only see him from my lane. But my brain is in overdrive. As he saunters across the pool deck my eyes watch his every move while my mind quickly flashes. First, I see his body gracefully angulate through the water, then he pulls himself
out, his arm muscles flexing and bulging with the effort, I shudder as I recall his breath against my ear as he tells me my technical explanation has turned him on, then I see those wonderful gray eyes and feel his lips on mine, his hands clutching my waist.
My lane mate nudges me, breaking the spell as he says, “You going?” I push off through the water letting its coolness bring my temperature down, as my brain refuses to focus on swimming since the slideshow continues to flash through my mind.
When I get into work I check my texts. Of course there’s one from Nate. I chuckle as I read it:
Nate: I just ate the most amazing French pastry for breakfast, have you ever had a gibassiers?
Me: mmm, that just makes my mouth water. A French pastry shop just opened up near where I live. When you move here we’ll need to check it out.
Next week, when he’s in California, will he still be texting me every morning? As the Zach slideshow uncontrollably plays through my mind again I feel the power of Nate’s presence slipping away. Do I still want him? Should I end this now? I internally shrug. The texts are fun. They’ve created their own little routine in my day. I like to sit down at my desk, turn my computer on, as it runs through its setup procedures I get to eat my breakfast yogurt and check out Nate’s latest message. Maybe I can channel Olivia; she loves having an entourage of men. I’ll just keep Nate at the right distance so these texts keep coming. I can go out with Zach and text with Nate, that wouldn’t be cheating, right?
As I review the rest of my e-mail I see Mark has left an assignment for me. There’s a bunch of code I need to go through to figure out what calls are being made. After three hours of looking through the code I want to stick knives in my eyes. The idiot who wrote the code never documented anything. It took him a hundred lines to write something I could have written in five. The code’s really pretentious, like the developer is showing off how complex they can program, instead of making it simple and elegant. Wondering if maybe his goal was to write impenetrable code, I reflect that most of my college professors would have flunked him if he handed in an assignment designed like this.