Alone in the special room, Justin was very nervous. A tufted aqua-blue couch occupied a good portion of the area. Justin sat still on it, and clamped his fingers together to relax them. But the fingers didn’t stay in place very long. Damn, he was way too nervous. He stood up and began pacing around in anticipation of the girl’s arrival. A wide mirror panel lining the wall kept throwing back the reflection of a fidgety young man treading nonchalantly in an unknown territory.
Jesus Christ, he suddenly panicked. Was he really going to have sexual intercourse in just a few minutes?
He wasn’t really feeling excited about it, though. He was expecting some sexy hormonal rush or something; the arousal of some alpha beast inside him. Seriously, in a situation like this, the girl he picked out could turn on any dead-brain… But no reaction in his body was upending its limp status quo.
For a moment, Justin felt depressed. Good thing Solene picked someone older – and probably experienced, too – with whom to lose her virginity, he thought bitterly, imagining the fiasco of a love scene between him and her.
Christ, he shook his head; by the end of it she wouldn’t even want to talk to me anymore.
And the truth of it all made him feel like a real disappointment. He looked around the room, hoping to maybe find some liquid courage. When he didn’t see any, he wondered why the hell they even called this room the ‘champagne room.’
Or was it, the ‘special room?’
Sure it looked very special in its overall glossy, intimate-sex vibe. But Justin also figured the soundproof walls isolating it from the rest of the club had something to do with the nametag. No doubt, the room was special, because whatever happened in here, stayed in here…
Anyway, the girl was still a no-show. What the hell was taking her so long? Justin realized he hadn’t even asked her name. But hey, for a hooker – or whatever she was – she knew how to take her time like any regular-type girl. And thinking again about normal girls, Justin reasoned that it wouldn’t hurt him to get some practice in for when he did it with… well, hopefully Solene Greaves.
Seriously, who else? He couldn’t see himself with someone else.
Finally, somebody knocked on the door, opened it, and entered. It was her, the girl... She’d done away with the ponytails and her blond hair hung loose, evenly splayed around the shape of her face. Also, she’d swapped her previous attire with something quite biting: black brassiere, red net shorts, and matching stockings.
As soon as she stepped into the room, her face changed to total bewilderment. She said, “Are you supposed to be the customer?”
“Ahem ––” Justin started, nervous as hell. “I guess. Yeah, that’d be me.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
She’d just murmured that part, but it hadn’t slipped by Justin. They both stood there for the brevity of a moment; then Justin invited her in.
“Hey, won’t you come on in?”
She entered, high heels muffled on the thin carpet. The door rotated back to its closed position. Now that the time was upon him, Justin didn’t know how to proceed. He had no clue. And she wasn’t helping much, either. She was slowly rubbing her brow, as if annoyed or something.
“Is everything alright?” Justin asked, just like that. He knew it was something lousy to ask, though. Maybe she was just as nervous as he was.
She looked at him, tossed a lock of hair behind her ear, and sort of smiled.
“Obviously, this is a very peculiar situation.”
“Yeah… why’s that?”
“How old are you?”
Justin returned to the couch and lounged on it, listlessly. She was still standing though, and holding on to the smile.
“Does it matter?” Justin finally answered, trying to sound in charge.
“It does matter to me.”
“I’m 21––”
She immediately cast a cross-eyed look at him and he took back the lie.
“I’m gonna turn 16 in a few months.”
A detail Stone obviously omitted to mention, Suzy thought, blaming herself for ever agreeing to this travesty. There were two round, low tables, that went with the couch. She finally decided to sit on the one farther away from Justin. She crossed her legs and caught Justin staring at them.
She said, “And do you have a name?”
His first instinct was to lie again and give her a fake name. But he had already given his real name – first name only actually – to the ‘ugly’ guy.
“Justin,” he said. “And you? What’s your name?”
“Susanne,” she said. And an afterthought later, she added, “But you can call me Suze or Suzy. Everyone calls me one or the other.”
“You mind if I stick with Susanne?”
In response, she stirred her eyelashes peculiarly and he didn’t know if it meant yes or no, or if it meant anything at all. But he was going to call her Susanne anyway. Suddenly she got up, still keeping her eyes on him.
“Look, I don’t know what that old crazy Stone told you, but no X-rated stuff is going to happen in here between us. Is that clear?”
“X-rated stuff?” Justin said right away. “Like what?”
The nervousness was slowly wearing out of his system, and he was becoming his witty self again.
“You know what I mean.” Suzy said, adjusting her brassiere so that its fabric took in all of her perfectly round breasts. Justin smirked and she took notice. She said, planting both hands on her hips, “Look, if you want a dance, I can do that, but that’s it. It’s your call.”
“Okay, alright –– Geez, sorry if I make you so uncomfortable and all.”
She said nothing, and just went to a music playing device propped up in one corner of the room. After fiddling with it, an innocuous and yet sizzling music livened up the atmosphere, dulling out the soberness of all their senses. Suzy tried to ease herself into the mood.
Let’s just get this thing over with, she told herself.
Then she came over to Justin, walking in a straight line, catlike, with each step landing right in front of the other, sort of marking the beat. Even though she was forcing herself to look sensual, she started to actually feel sensual and sexy, too. She bit her lips to undo these feelings (which looked pretty sexy, as well). The music was sort of sinking into her depths, unwinding her voluptuous inhibitions, and calling to the exotic dancer inside her.
Transfixed, Justin was watching her edge towards him, mouth mildly open, and partially dry from internal heat.
Jesus Christ, he thought, here we go.
He then wondered whether she’d seriously get into it with him all the way, or hold back because of his age.
Finally, Suzy was up in front of Justin. With a sultry move of both legs, she spread his legs, and stood right in the gap between his feet. The closeness made him very nervous. He hesitantly looked up, and she said in a sugary tone, “Are you still there, Cowboy?”
His neck was so stiff he couldn’t nod. She then lowered her head, and when their eyes were level with one another, she said again, “Sit back, get an eyeful, and enjoy it while the show lasts.”
At last, her long-fingered hand eased him all the way back against the couch. At that point, Justin was nearly losing his brains. But then, something happened. Recognition seemed to pass over Suzy’s eyes, and a jerk twisted her mouth.
“Wait a minute––” she said, breaking the enchantment she had created. “Where do I know you from? ––”
“What?” Justin said, shifting uneasily in the couch.
“Yeah –– I know you.” She reared back. “Mrs. Anne Delacroix; you’re her son, aren’t you?”
“You know my mother?”
“Christ!” Suzy swore.
They both looked at each other, with pink embarrassment stamped on their faces. After a moment they looked away again. Suzy at the music-playing device, and Justin at the door.
“This is definitely too awkward for me,” Suzy finally said, her eyes coming down
to Justin.
She flopped down on the round table, her hips slanted, her knees set at approximately right angles, and her elbows leaning on them.
“What would your mother think if she knew you were hanging out in this type of joint?” She was pretty brutal in the way she asked him.
It was kind of scary, Justin thought. He answered, in equal tones, “A mother knows what she needs to know about her child.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, I guess it’s something only a mother can understand.”
The music was still droning fitfully in the background; but they didn’t have any trouble hearing one another. Even though each seemed to want to speak up above the other.
“How do you know her, by the way?” Justin asked. “My mom?”
“It’s not like we’re part of the same woman’s social club or something,” Suzy said, jauntily kneading her left ankle. Justin’s gaze followed her gesture. “Sometimes we run into each other in the Condo. A real lady, she is. She showed me a picture of you once ––”
“So you live in the condo?” His voice was stoic. But the idea of having walking talking evidence of this very encounter, next door, was quite troublesome.
“No,” Suzy said, “my boyfriend lives there.”
“Oh –” Justin felt a tiny sting in his chest, as if some older kid had just ripped his favorite toy from his hand. But he added with sportsmanship, “What’s your apartment number? I mean your boyfriend’s?”
She stopped kneading her ankle and shot Justin with a curious look. A hint of hesitation appeared in her eyes; she said, “Maybe you’d like to pay him a visit and tell him how we met?”
She had a sense of humor, and Justin liked that. She ran one hand up her ankle again. If it was sore, it didn’t look like it. Then she started jiggling her foot up and down.
She said again, “Besides, it’s weird enough as it is to start getting too personal, don’t you think?”
Justin didn’t care to reply; he just watched her jiggle her foot, his gaze slowly rising to encompass the stunning sight of her legs.
“Hey, hey!” She sharply snapped her fingers at him to get him to focus his attention on her from the waist up. She said, sort of unnerved, “Don’t you have something better to do? A date maybe? What the hell are you even doing here, huh?”
For a moment that seemed long, Justin thought about it. And he thought about it hard. Then when his brain was done computing the tangle of emotions that he had suffered through since the beginning of the day, he closed his eyes to let a rational answer come to him. But nothing checked out; that is, nothing that wasn’t already marred with the random subjectivity of one’s critical mind.
Justin opened his eyes, and they fastened on Suzy’s anxious face.
“Honestly, I don’t know why I came here,” he said. “I really don’t know. I swear I don’t. I’m crazy; sometimes I just act on impulse.”
Suzy accepted his answer easily. Suddenly, as if judging herself to be too overexposed for his eyes, she flung her arms across her naked belly to sort of cover herself. He appreciated the meaning behind the gesture. He said to her, playfully,
“You’re very pretty, by the way.”
And she said, all funny, “You remind me of my boyfriend.”
“Does he have a pretty face like mine?”
“Prettier ––” She said, without a moment’s hesitation. “Look, I don’t know what your dealings are with Stone, and it’s certainly none of my business. But you don’t want to be associated with him. He’s dangerous, you understand?”
Justin nodded quietly.
“What about you?” He shifted his body forward to show he cared about her welfare as much as she seemed to care about his. “Are you alright with him?”
“I can manage.”
Justin slowly brought his hands together, and he took some time to look at his intertwined fingers. Then, looking at her again, he said, “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Okay –– shoot.”
“What did your boyfriend do to be your boyfriend?”
He watched her eyes go upward as the question was being reflected upon. Her thoughtful expression was bearing high on her brow, while the rest of her features remained unperturbed, save for her lips, which seemed to quiver in amusement.
“Well, lots of things actually,” she started. “But the bottom line is that he was there during the good times and the bad.” She grinned and added, mostly for herself, “And most importantly, he wasn’t afraid to go after what he wanted. And I can tell you that’s really sexy to a girl.”
Justin grinned back.
“Sounds like he’s a terrific guy.”
Suzy nodded, agreeing. She was now profoundly emotional, her eyes almost soaked with tears. “Yeah, he really is –– And I’m pregnant with his baby,” She told Justin. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. Haven’t told him, yet. Just found out today.”
“Congratulations,” Justin said after a moment. “Well, since we’ve now gotten personal and all, I hope I can someday expect an invite to you guys’ wedding, eh.”
He got to his feet. Suzy looked at him, and was grateful for such a nice pleasantry in her moment of need for moral support.
“Seriously, I mean it. Put me on the guest list.”
“Sure, will do if that happens.”
Interestingly, the thought of marriage didn’t give her vertigo, nor did it seem distant or abstract in her mind: a beautiful white wedding gown; a flower tucked in her sun-yellow braided hair, and the heart-chosen one to say yes to.
And we’ll live happily ever after…
Suzy got up as well. as if ready to chase after a dream.
“Sorry to run off on you,” Justin said, moving towards the door, “But I’ve got someplace to be. I really liked talking to you, Susanne.”
“Yeah –– well, do me a favor and find better places to hang out.”
At the door, Justin paused, his right hand gripping the pull handle; he turned with a serious face, and made a gesture.
“This –– what happened here, I mean –– will stay between us, right?”
“No reason to sweat out on your horse, cowboy; nothing happened.”
And it’s a good thing, Suzy told herself, forgetting about Stone’s indecent proposal.
And he can shove it up his nose…
Chapter XXV
UNFORESEEN CRASH:
THE BALL OF FATE’S MYSTERIOUS WORK