Hita (11 page)

On Sunday night Savi and I talk. She’s still giddy about married life, but has come down enough to be excited for me. When I tell her my date’s name is David she gets all annoyed.

“Hita, why can’t you date proper Indian guys?”

This is shocking coming from my friend who only a little over a year ago only dated White guys.

***

Juliette gets pulled away again on Monday. Walking down to the cafeteria with her on Tuesday, she asks, “What did you wind up doing? I haven’t talked to you since Thursday.”

I know I have a silly smile on my face as I tell her, “I had a date.”

“On Thursday you were complaining about no prospects.” She gives me a questioning look before asking, “As in a real date with a real guy?”

I playfully hit her arm. “How dare you insinuate that I don’t go on real dates with real guys.”

Juliette barks out a hardy laugh, we’ve always had the kind of friendship where we’ve enjoyed giving each other shit.

“Okay, did he pick you up at your place and pay for the food, or did you meet him at some gaming event and he followed you around for half the night?”

I laugh, the princesses could never get over how Brandon and I met up during the school year. In my best sassy voice I tell her, “Real date, real guy, real car.” For drama, I count to five before telling her, “and a real kiss.”

Juliette looks at me surprised, in an admiring voice she says, “Wow, Hita, good for you.” She then leans in and quietly asks, “Is he a good kisser?”

I nod and wink in reply.

Juliette loves the inside scoop. Her eyes sparkle as she asks, “That’s good.”

With a shitty ass grin I play it cool and nod again.

“Where’d you meet this guy?” she asks. Then with a chuckle she teases me again. “Please tell me he wasn’t wearing a super hero costume when you met him.”

Dramatically rolling my eyes, I tell her, “Really? You’re going to go there?”

***

Over the next week, David and I meet up in Minecraft every night. On Wednesday he e-mails me.

David: There’s an all-night underground game party on Friday. Can you join me?

My stomach twists with excitement as I e-mail back

Hita: Yes, sounds like fun.

David: Is seven okay? We can grab a bite to eat before we go.

I see my smile reflecting back at me from my computer screen as I follow up with him.

Hita: I can’t wait.

***

On Friday I leave work early so I have time to wash up before David comes over.

He looks nice in a hoodie and a Dr. Who T-shirt. Giving him some good natured ribbing, I say, “Dressing up tonight? No work T-shirt.”

He laughs displaying both dimples, and then shyly shakes his head. “I’m not sure if Dr. Who is dressing up or going more casual than one of my work shirts, though, I get more comments when I wear this.”

“Comments? Like what?”

“Usually I get to hear which doctor someone likes best.”

“Which would you say is the most popular?”

“I think it’s split between David Tenant and Matt Smith.”

“Yeah, I think Matt Smith is my favorite.”

He gives me a look igniting both dimples, shakes his head and says, “Naw, it’s David Tenant.”

I bark out a laugh, “That’s right, it’s your name on Minecraft—David10.”

“And you’re Pocahontas?”

“She’s an American-Indian.” I give him a smirk and nudge him with my elbow. “Get it? So am I.”

We continue our nice casual banter as he drives us over to The Counter, a casual designer burger joint.

I get a veggie burger, he notices and asks, “Are you a vegetarian?” Nodding my head he continues with, “I’m glad I didn’t choose a place that only has meat.”

“I usually find something to eat where ever I go. I’m casual about being a vegetarian. My family is from South India. It’s what I grew up with.” With a tip of my head, “It’s not like I’m a vegan.”

He laughs as he shakes his head. “I’m from Houston, Texas. I think steak is the state food. Anyway, I work with this guy who’s a vegan. I call it the Fundamentalist Religion of Veganism. He’s always going off on how terrible animal products are. I really like cheese. I make a point of eating it in front of him, just to get him going. He loves to tell me how terrible our agro industrial complex is to chickens and cows.”

“Kind of takes the fun out of food,” I say in agreement.

He nods his head as he bites down on his double patty, with cheese and bacon. After eating our burgers and fries, we head over to the all-night gaming party. It’s being held in an office that’s up for lease. There’s a handmade sign on the door that says “Underground Gaming Night.” I don’t know how they procured the space, but David pays my twenty dollar entrance fee. There are homemade signs that guide you to the different areas. Our go to game is Star Wars, as we enter that room we’re greeted by a number of people dressed in costumes. I chuckle to myself as I think of Juliette’s comment. Now I wonder if these guys date. Looking at David I smile, I’m glad he’s into games, but not so into it he dresses in character. My friends would never let me live it down.

We play for awhile as doubles. We’ve played against each other, which helps since we have an idea how each other thinks. After a while we get a beer, and then decide to check out the other games. As we enter the Star Trek room, I hear my name being called. Turning around, I see Colin, my ping pong partner. It doesn’t look like he’s here with the blond from last year’s holiday party. I wonder what’s with that.

“Hey, Colin, I didn’t know you’re a gamer.”

He smiles as he nods his head. “Yeah, I’ve never seen you at any of the underground events.”

“It’s my first time.” I introduce him to David.

Colin looks at my beer as he gets a bit of a glint in his eye. “Hita, something other than orange mineral water?”

“Did this just rock your world?”

A big smile lights up his face as he shakes his head. “Not really, I guess it would have to be grape mineral water to rock my world.”

I laugh, but figure it’s probably not too cool to be having inside jokes with Colin on my date with David.

Colin looks over at the boards. “Are you guys in?”

I look at David to see what he’s interested in doing. I’m not sure if he’s cool with Colin joining us for a game. He shrugs, so I figure it’s okay. We all head into the next room. Colin plays these games like he plays ping pong—well. He’s quick to pick up on an opposing player’s strategy, and can lay out his own strategy without broadcasting what he’s up to.

At about one in the morning I start yawning. David watches me, and then says, “I think it’s time for me to take you home.”

He parks in front of my apartment. As he walks me to my door he takes my hand and threads his fingers through mine. I look up at him with a smile as we walk up the stairs together. My insides are tight. Do I invite him in or do we stand at the door and kiss? Isn’t there some kind of three date rule? I don’t want to be like Caroline, but I sure don’t want us to end up like me and Anil.

Opening up the door we stand there smiling at each other. Finally I say, “You want to come in?”

He nods his head as we both move over the threshold. The lights are off. I don’t know if Kristi is at Tim’s, or if they’re here in bed. I drop my purse on the carpet as I walk over and sit down on the couch. I wonder if I should turn on music, or the TV. David takes the wonder out of it when he sits down right next to me. Brushing my hair over my shoulder. he leans in and kisses me. At first softly, but the soft kisses become more passionate and it doesn’t take too long before there is a lot of tongue involved.

His hands rub my back as I decide I want to touch skin. Snaking my hand under his shirt, I can feel his warm skin. He follows my lead. I back up from him. Maintaining eye contact I throw off my jacket, stop, and then with what I hope is a slightly sly smile I pull off my top. David’s lips part and his eyes open in astonishment. He follows my lead, pulling off his hoodie and shedding his T-shirt. We both lean into each other again, kissing with much less constraint as our hands feel each other’s back. David stops at my bra clasp, maintaining our kisses as he struggles, finally unlatching it. Once free, his hands run up and down the length of my bare back. Again we release our kisses as he moves back to look me in the eye. His breath is heavy as his eyes move to my chest. I drag my bra down my arms and drop it on the floor. Then I brush the back of my fingers down his cheek, finally dragging the tips of my fingers down to his bare chest. He repeats my movement, stopping at my chest where he traces the curve of my breast with his fingers. We move back to kissing. My apartment is quiet, all I can hear is the sound of our heavy breaths. We move together again, this time our kisses are hungry with more passion behind them. My fingers run along the planes of his back while his hands continue to palm my breasts.

At some point we fall back onto the couch our bodies entwined as we kiss and touch each other. His skin feels warm, surprisingly soft. We rub against each other, my core tingles and contracts. We’re still both in our jeans; I wonder if we should move to my bedroom. But then I realize I’m not ready to make love with him. I figure I can leave something new for next week.

It must be at least an hour later when our kissing and touching evens out and I lay still in his arms, my cheek on the warmth of his chest. I’m tired, but my mind is buzzing too hard to sleep. Unfortunately, I’m no longer comfortable as a wave of exhaustion runs through me and all I can think about is sleep. Should I ask him to leave? Should I ask him to my bed?

David breaks the silence, “I need to go into work for a bit tomorrow. Can I call you when I get home? Can we have dinner together again?”

Relieved that he’s outlined a plan, I sit up. He stares at my naked chest. I wait until his eyes migrate to my face. He looks a little uncomfortable when he realizes I’ve been waiting for eye contact. I reach over and grab my sweater and pull it on.

With as sweet a smile as I can muster, I say, “I’ll look forward to your call.” Then I get up making it clear he’s being escorted to my door.

As he follows me to the door we kiss lightly as he shyly says, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Then with a bit of a smile he shrugs before saying, “Or should I say later today.”

In the morning, after getting up late, Kristi asks me, “Did you have a guy over? I thought I heard a male voice.”

I smile behind my mug of coffee.

Her eyes get big as she gasps. “You did have a guy over. What time did he leave?”

I shrug, then reign in my smile before delivering, in what I hope is a cool voice. “Late, I didn’t look at the clock.”

“You got in late, he left early,” she says as I snicker in response.

David comes over on Sunday night with a pizza that we share with Kristi, and then he spends the night watching Sherlock with us.

At some point Kristi says, “I’m going to my room.” As she leaves, she catches my eye and winks while mouthing out, “don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.”

I’m thinking that leaves very little not available to us as David and I both watch her leave. Her door isn’t even closed before we’re in each other’s arms, kissing while ripping off each other’s top. It’s almost a repeat of last night, just a few hours earlier and with the soundtrack of some unknown TV show in the background masking our moans and heavy breathing. Again, I kick him out before we get much farther then petting. As I crawl into bed, I smile to myself, next weekend I’ll let him spend the night. I smile thinking about my plan, it’s not hop in the bed desperate like Caroline, but it’s not barren like Anil.

***

At work Roger re-aligns our group. Now I’m working tightly with Chris and Avery, which is cool, while Juliette is working with Mark. They already have good rapport going since they were the ones that figured out how to fix the big bug.

As we walk towards the cafeteria, Juliette asks me, “Have you overheard any of the guys on our team making any comments about me being uncooperative?”

“Where’d that come from? You’re the opposite of difficult.”

“Roger told me someone made that comment to him.”

“Really? Who in our group would make a comment like that? Mark requested to work with you, and the other guys? You’ve never worked with any of them.”

“Jim could be pissed off about my dad helping me find the bug.”

“Yeah, but he wasn’t working with you. Anyway, he’s a dick, who cares what he thinks?”

She shrugs as we each head in our own direction upon reaching the cafeteria. We have a new cook who makes great vegetarian dishes. That’s the line I head to, while Juliette heads off to get meat.

Meeting up at our standard table, I join the other women who are all talking about this year’s company holiday party. It’s going to be held at the Tech and the theme is Star Wars. I pull out my phone and text David. My company’s holiday party is at the Tech, the theme is Star Wars. Do you want to join me?

I get a text back about three minutes later from David: YES!

I show my phone to the other women. “Looks like I have a date.”

As I drive home, I start stressing on what to wear. Before I go to bed I text Olivia. She texts me back, “The lending clothes library is closed, you have a job, I’ll take you shopping instead.”

Juliette told me about her experience shopping with her roommate, Cassie, who took her to the most expensive designer stores. I’m hoping that Olivia doesn’t think the only clothes worth buying are real expensive designer labels. I really don’t want to spend too much money on an outfit I’ll wear once a year.

David texts me every night, which makes me smile. When I get his texts I debate if I should ask him over, but then figure I should hold back on any shenanigans on a school night, opting instead to meet up with him in Minecraft. Afterward, I get to bed early enough to be able to think the next day. Also, I have the princesses on Tuesday nights and coding on Wednesday nights.

On Friday when David comes over to pick me up for dinner, Tim’s over. Kristi asks us if we want to get take out and play a board game. David looks at me while I look at him. We’re both trying to figure out what the other wants to do. Finally I lift my shoulder and say, “I’m cool with it if you are.”

He looks back at me, “That’s cool.”

Tim calls Rose Market, a local Persian place that has, according to Tim, the best take out shish kabob. Considering I’m a vegetarian, I get him to also pick up falafel and hummus.

We eat and play a few different games. As the night goes on I think I’d rather move to the next game, that is the one in my room. Not quite sure how to do that, I finally say at a break in play, “I’m getting tired. I think I’m going to call it a night.” David gives me an inquisitive look. I give him a sly smile then say, “David, come on let’s go to bed.”

David, Kristi, and Tim all have shocked looks. I stand up and head back to my room. It takes about one second for David to follow. I shut the door and we’re in each other’s arms in less than a second, kissing with abandonment as we try to rip off each other’s clothes. Realizing this isn’t working real well, I release the kiss, back up, and with a big smile on my face and lots of eye contact, I start stripping. David watches me. Once I’m naked I smile, turn, and crawl into bed. David looked like he was in shock as he watched me strip. Crawling in bed kind of woke him up as he throws off his clothes really fast and joins me in bed.

The air in my bedroom is cold as I quietly say, “You need to warm me up.” While he says in a real Boy Scout kind of voice, “Oh, okay.”

Running my hands over his shoulders, arms, and back, our lips lock as he matches me by running his hands down my back, butt, and then back up. Our kisses get deep, our tongues twist with each other. The taste of him and feel of his tongue ignites my core and causes my groin to pulse. I run my fingers down to his groin and feel him twitch as he grows hard, while gasping from my touch.

Pulling our mouths apart I rub our cheeks together saying quietly in his ear, “Do you have protection?”

He gasps, and then says, “Yeah, in my pants.”

“You realize that’s not really going to help us if it’s over there?”

“Yeah,” he says as he flings himself out of bed and starts pawing through the clothes on the floor to find his jeans.

I open the sheets to let him back in. We quickly wrap ourselves around each other. His hard-on is still raging as he lowers his head and kisses the sensitive spot where my shoulder meets my neck while running his hands down to my core. Needing the friction, it feels good when he rubs his fingers along me exploring my folds. He then moves so I’m on my back and he’s on top. He stops, looks me in the eye, and says “You want this, right?”

Gasping out an emphatic, “yes,” he smiles lighting up both dimples as he rubs himself against me, finally finding my opening and thrusting himself in. We both gasp as I wrap my legs around him and he rocks himself inside me. His rhythm increases, I can feel myself coming as I gasp into his ear, “Not yet, not yet.”

Finally feeling myself break apart, I gasp out, “now, yes, now.”

He moans, then collapses on me. It doesn’t take long for me to feel smothered. I finally say, “You need to get off of me, I can’t breathe.”

He answers quickly, “Oh, sorry” as he moves off of me.

Our arms touch, our fingers are threaded together, as my body still shivers from its orgasm. Moving a little bit closer, I lean into his shoulder and embrace his warmth.

The next morning after another nice session of steamy sex, I lie in David’s arms in postictal bliss. “I don’t think I’ve been this relaxed in ages.”

“After sex, our bodies release the chemicals oxytocin, prolactin, gamma amino butyric acid, and endorphins that tell the body and mind to relax.”

This makes me laugh. “Really? You’re going to rationalize our sex high with science?”

“How does knowing the why undermine the what?”

With a chuckle I add, “David, you are really analytical.” I start to wonder if he’s a little Asperger’s, which wouldn’t be a surprise since most guys I know are.

David changes the subject by asking, “What are you doing today?”

I groan as remember Olivia is expecting me to show up at her place for my holiday outfit shopping spree.

***

Picking up Olivia for our shopping date, she says, “Really, you show up for shopping wearing sneakers? All the dresses will look ridiculous.”

“I’m not wearing a dress. I already own a nice pair of black pants that my mother bought for me. Can’t we find a top to go with them?”

“Are you going to wear makeup?”

“Maybe some mascara, but I have dark lashes, I don’t think I need any.”

Shaking her head at me, she proclaims, “I heard you have a new guy, so I doubt you need to wear any makeup to catch one.” She then gets a really silly smile on her face.

Before she has a chance to say anything, I put up my hand and give her a little glare. “Olivia, don’t you start in too. Yes, he picks me up in a real car, we eat at real restaurants, and…” I raise my eyebrows in a flirty way, waiting a few seconds for emphasis. “He kisses well, along with other fun stuff.”

“You know you’ll never live down online dating with Brandon.

“I don’t get it, he was a real guy. You met him.”

“Yeah, but you have to admit your dating life with him was rather….”

I put up my hand up again to stop her, “Don’t go there. They weren’t half as lame as carrying on Skype conversations. Are you still Skyping with the guy in Jordan?”

Olivia gets a flat look on her face before answering, “He’s on the other side of the world.”

“You’re finally admitting you two were going out?” I question. Olivia has always had a string of guys, but lately she’s been quiet about them. “How about Max, are you still hanging with him?”

She smiles and nods, her entire body relaxes. “Max is a good friend.” Then she shakes her head before telling me, “His company didn’t get their next round of funding. He and a couple of the guys are still working on their product without getting paid.”

“You two have been friends for a long time. You get each other. Why don’t you give up on the guy in Jordan who seems to be making you sad, and date Max?”

“Max?” she says in complete shock. “Yeah, I friend zoned him years ago. We’re cool.” She rolls her eyes as she picks up her purse, “Let’s get over to Stanford Shopping Center.”

As we walk to the car I say, “Hey, what’s going on with hot roommate?”

Olivia sighs before answering. “I don’t do drama at home. But, Hita, if he wasn’t my roommate…he is one beautiful man.”

“Does he have a nicer body than Conner?”

She gets a huge smile on her face, slowly shaking her head. She then realizes I caught her. “What? Why would you ask about Conner?”

I roll my eyes. Really, doesn’t she know that we all know about her and Conner? How much longer are we going to be playing this stupid game? But like an idiot I don’t say anything. I guess Conner is now like the tooth fairy.

Olivia and I spend a couple hours running in and out of shops, which actually is fun. We finally choose a form fitting, sparkly and sheer black top and some loose dressy black pants. Olivia declares that this outfit is a classic and will work for years to come. It all fits me well and makes me look rather stylish, sophisticated, and grown up.

Olivia looks me up and down and says, “If you weren’t you, I’d recommend sparkly earrings.” Shaking her head before continuing, “Don’t pull your hair back in a ponytail.”

Now it’s my turn to give her an eye roll. “I’m not completely lame.”

Olivia starts laughing before spitting out, “Really?”