Chapter Five
CHARLIE
September 2012
The first thing I notice is the sunlight. I have blackout curtains in my room on campus, so all of this blaring sun isn’t right. I roll over and see Jeremy, asleep, naked. His strong shoulders and back awash with light from the window, allowing me to see all of the tiny hairs on his body.
I snuggle closer to him, happy to be the ‘big spoon’, and rest my face against his back, breathing him in. I love this, the quiet intimacy of waking first. And if I’m honest with myself, I’m thankful I have a few minutes to process last night without Jeremy’s inspection or potential questions.
So…. I had sex.
I giggle softly and press a kiss to Jeremy’s back.
It hadn’t been the plan. Jeremy had called it quits on the couch last night due to things getting too… hard?
I giggle again.
He invited me to stay the night. We snuggled up in his bed and fell asleep. Or at least, Jeremy did. I stayed awake for a while, playing over the pros and cons to sleeping with him. The first time I would ever have sex with someone.
And I came to the realization that not everyone gets a special first time. Something to remember. And I knew that no matter what happened with Jeremy, it would always be special.
My face flushes red in embarrassment at remembering my boldness. I’d softly woken him with kisses and light strokes across his stomach.
“Jeremy,” I’d whispered. “Make love to me.”
Now, in the light of yesterday’s choices, I squirm a bit, worrying that I came across too aggressive. But I shake it off. I shouldn’t feel apologetic for the sexual desires my body has. That’s just Feminism 101.
And he didn’t seem to mind last night. “Are you sure you want to?” he’d whispered back, almost like he didn’t want to break whatever spell I was under.
“Yes,” I replied. “I want you.”
He gave me this soft grin, the light from the street lamp outside making his eyes bright. His hands trembled as we removed our clothes, but became confident and assured once we were pressed together, the pleasure of being so connected overshadowing the pain of my first time.
And when we came apart, it took everything inside of me to keep from crying at the depth of feeling that was soaring through my body, from the tips of my toes to the ends of each strand of hair.
I thought it couldn’t get any better, but then Jeremy held me close until I fell asleep, stroking my back, his hands in my hair. I couldn’t do anything but sink into him, nuzzle against him like a cat desperate for attention.
Light murmuring from Jeremy draws me back to the now, to this room where we both lie naked in bed, wrapped together.
“Morning,” I hear from him, and he gives the hand that rests on his stomach a light squeeze. He rolls over and looks at me with a crooked smile, something soft and genuine that somehow keeps me from responding. So I just lean forward and kiss his jaw.
“Morning,” I finally manage on a whisper.
Jeremy leans in and kisses me on the mouth, but I pull away.
“I haven’t brushed my teeth,” I say.
“I don’t care,” he replies, coming back at me and kissing me deep, deep, sweet and sexy.
When he finally pulls away, my eyelids flutter open to find him out of bed and tugging on some pants.
“What sounds good for breakfast?” he asks, yanking a shirt from his clean clothes pile at the foot of his dresser.
“Whatever is fine,” I reply, sitting up and holding the sheet against my chest. “But you don’t have to make me breakfast. I can grab something later.”
He rests his elbow against his dresser. “You have somewhere to be today?”
I nod. “I’m supposed to visit my Nan for lunch. Do you know what time it is?”
