The Education of Sebastian

He smirked then a shadow crossed over his face.

“Not always. I mean, she could be pretty full on – she liked being the centre of attention, Homecoming Queen, all that kinda shit. It wasn’t really my scene – it was one of the things we used to argue about. But she could be really sweet and fun, too.”

It was my own fault for asking, but I really didn’t want to hear her described that way. My sympathy for her took an early bath.

“What happened?” It was none of my business but now I really wanted to know. “Why did she change?”

He shrugged and lay on his back, folding his hands under his head.

“Some of her friends were sleeping with their boyfriends and she thought we should, too. I just thought it was lame to do it just because her friends were.”

“And you were never tempted?”

“Yes and no. I thought about it a lot…” Then he smiled. “Not as much as I think about having sex with you, but yeah, I thought about it. We got close a couple of times. I’d pretty much made up mind I was going to…”

“Hence practicing with the condom?”

He reddened and didn’t reply.

“So what stopped you?”

“Ches told me he’d seen her making out with some other guy. He wouldn’t tell me who so I figured it was probably someone I knew… I thought maybe Jack… She denied it – at first, then blamed it on having too much to drink. But that just finished it for me. I thought… I thought I must be something special if she wanted to… with me, but… I guess not.”

I leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips.

“Well, I think you’re very special; and Brenda’s loss is my gain. Although, I’m surprised she thought you’d take her back after that.”

He smiled. “She said she didn’t believe I was seeing anyone – that I was just making it up to get back at her.”

“Well, hopefully she’ll go on thinking that.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“Because as long as she’s thinking that, then she’s not suspecting me. I mean, let’s face it, you couldn’t have been more damned obvious yesterday!”

He looked hurt. “I hardly even spoke to you!”

“Sebastian, you were staring at me the whole time. Even when she heaved her enormous tits up in her bikini top, you didn’t look at her. She must have thought you’d gone blind.”

“Enormous tits!” He laughed loudly. “Yeah, I guess they are kind of hard to miss. But I prefer yours.”

“I thought all men liked women with big breasts?”

He nuzzled my hair. “I’m more of an ass man,” and he ran his hands over my backside, squeezing gently, to emphasize his point.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it, because I definitely can’t compete with her on… volume.”

He chuckled quietly and continued stroking my back as I snuggled closer.

Then his hands stilled and he seemed deep in thought.

“I was wondering,” he said softly, “can I ask you something… about you and… David.”

Uh oh.

“What were you wondering?”

“How you got together in the first place. You don’t seem to have much in common.”

Or, in fact, anything at all.

“He was stationed at the Base near where I lived. I’d gone to the drugstore to pick up something for my mom and he drove up in this cute little sports car – a Corvette – electric blue. He was in uniform and he just came up and started talking. I couldn’t believe he was interested in me: sophisticated older man.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I just saw what I wanted to see: and I was desperate to leave home.”

He nodded. “I totally get that.”

“I was in my senior year, so… when he proposed, I said yes.”

“Did… did you love him?”

“I convinced myself I did – at first. But I soon realized I’d made a mistake. I just didn’t have anywhere to go back to. Mom made it pretty clear I’d made my bed; and papa – he just did as he was told. Besides, I got to travel – a bit.”

Jane Harvey-Berrick's books