Bill kept it all innocent. He simply stroked her back and her hair. He was tender about it, soft and quiet. He lay facing toward her somewhat. She lay on her side some and her stomach some.
“That feels so good,” she said. “But let me get my bra out of the way.”
Arlene hoisted herself up and unbuttoned the blouse. When it was open she slipped out of the bra one arm at a time.
Bill did not even bother to look. In other circumstances, at any other time, he surely would have. He would have looked and he would have reached out with both his hands and spread the blouse open so he could not only see her breasts but could touch and kiss them too. Feeling as he did, calm and at ease from the Quaaludes and the wine, it was a thought, a sensation, even a desire. But he did not act upon it even though he could feel himself getting aroused.
Arlene sat a moment as she was. She tossed the bra to the floor unceremoniously and looked at Bill. The blouse sat open but not spread wide. She reached for her wine glass, but because the motion was awkward from where she sat, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. This way she was facing away from him, her feet on the floor.
Bill wondered what she was thinking. He wondered what she wanted. He thought about what he wanted. He surely did not need another sex partner. He certainly did not need to get laid. No matter what he and Arlene did, he’d probably get laid tomorrow at work or tomorrow after work. Maybe it’d be multiple times, each time with a different partner.
Ain’t it funny how the night moves, he thought. When he needed a partner he couldn’t get one, sometimes months and months at a time. Then when he had a partner, now that he was a broiler cook and in control of the kitchen… Well, go figure.
He watched Arlene finish the wine in her glass. Then, since she sat a bit to the side, he saw her reach for his glass. She turned toward him, handed him his glass. As she moved, the open blouse fell away from her, not all that much but enough that Bill could see her bosom. He took the glass but looked away.
“Finish your wine and I’ll pour you some more,” Arlene said.
Bill sat up in the bed. He finished off the wine in one gulp then reached out to hand her the glass. She took it back, set it down, refilled both glasses. Then she stood and faced him.
“Why do you keep looking away from me? Don’t you want to see my tits?” Arlene put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you want to see me naked?” she asked. “Do I not appeal to you?”
Bill stood up and came around the bed to where Arlene stood. He stepped close to her and grabbed the blouse with both his hands, one hand on each side where the buttons and button holes were.
He said, “It’s not that at all. It’s that you’re vulnerable and emotional and I don’t want to…
“Be presumptuous,” said Arlene. “You’ve said that multiple times already.”
“I just want to be clear what I’m doing here. I want to be clear what you want from me and what you need. I want to make sure that you won’t think I took advantage of you.”
“Let me be clear for both of us,” said Arlene.
She turned them so that Bill’s back was to the bed and she had some room behind her. Softly she removed Bill’s hands from her blouse and stepped back two short steps.
