008

At the end of what was probably the longest and most honest conversation they had had in years, both Michael and June finally agreed on admitting that his proposal had emerged from a feeling of doom, as if it was the last possibility at attempting to save something that was already dead. But they were young, and a clean separation could turn out to be the best decision for both of them. If they were making a mistake, there would be time to fix it.

Soon after, however, Michael started to slowly disappear from the social scene he and June shared and not a long time passed before June completely stopped seeing him, though she knew that he was still alive because John and Michael still got together for a football match whenever John was in town. Then John also stopped talking about him, and the moment June started to think that there was a possibility Michael might have vanished into thin air, she ran into him at a party. Him and his best friend’s Charly’s ex-girlfriend, Rena. Holding hands.  

Nothing could have prepared June for that. The ever charming Mr. Perfect Michael with his best friends’ ex-girlfriend? After recovering from the original shock, everything finally made sense inside June’s head: they were in the same class, studied together and had known each other for years. Rena was an easy-going, pretty, normal girl, exactly what Michael needed. Taking his best friend’s girlfriend must have been the boldest thing Michael had ever done. The opposites attract each other my ass.

The aftermath of the encounter was equally baffling: far from feeling sad or jealous, June felt free, completely free for the first time in years, and her mind was suddenly flooded by infinite possibilities. The need to catch up with things she had postponed for a long time became more and more solid, and the first thing that she needed to catch up with was traveling. That’s how she took a year off college and just traveled. Until she was tired of it.

Once satisfied and back home, she spent five days like a zombie in front of the TV of her parent’s house. When she finally got herself to get up, she had only one thing in her mind: to graduate and get the hell out of that town. And that’s exactly what she did after publishing another novel she had written during her travels.

The obvious option was California, but John being in New York turned out to be too much of a temptation, so taking the chance that John was touring around Europe with the band, she would crash at his apartment until she could find a place of her own. It didn’t take long for her to realize that living in an apartment in New York just wasn’t her thing. The city was beautiful, but June needed a backyard, and a house with a fireplace.

When John came back from Europe she was already settled down and counted with a modest but growing group of friends, at first mostly people from the publishing company but that had quickly expanded to other acquaintances. As a way of officially beginning a new stage in her life, she organized a party that would stand for both a home-warming for her and a welcome for John, her newly acquired group of friends and John’s own would be invited. And his girlfriend, the petite cute blonde model that had turned women-loving John into a little puppy first, then into a committed, in love man.

It was predictable that people from the band and their entourage would come to the party, but she’d assumed that Jon wasn’t a guy to attend a party where he wasn’t familiar with the guests. The reason for Jon not coming to the party, however, was another.

“Dorothea is pregnant and he just wants to spend as much time as he can with her, we still have another leg of the tour to go”, John told her.

“Oh…I see. Well, send my congratulations then”, June nodded and smiled gently.

On the phone one day, while they were discussing the following weekend plans, June noticed that John was evasive. John seldom acted this cryptic, and when he did, he’d at least give her clues so she could get a notion of what was going on until the issue was solved, but this time there were no such clues, and June sensed that something was brewing.

“John, tell me what’s happening. What’s so important that you can’t have dinner with your sister on a Saturday night and you can’t even tell her why?”

June heard John’s deep sigh at the other end of the line. “OK, I’m so stupid, I shouldn’t underestimate you, but I honestly don’t know if or how I should tell you this, I know you guys have been over for years but…”

“John?”

“I’m going to Kalamazoo tomorrow, Michael and Rena are getting married and I’m invited to the ceremony... June, we’ve remained friends, I can’t miss it”

June felt how her brow instinctively furrowed. “You fucking asshole”. John was baffled by June’s giggle. “You thought I’d be upset about it?”, another throaty laugh followed.

John couldn’t help but agree. “Yeah, guilty as charged. I don’t know why I found it so difficult to tell you”. Then he chortled too as he realized how stupid he’d been, he felt relieved that his sister had taken it so well.

“Send my congratulations”

“Yeah, sure”

June hung up and chortled sharply. Of course she was fine with it.

Then as if product of some magic trick, things just started to happen. Parties, dating, braking up, traveling, dating, braking up, inspiration, dating, braking up, a new book dating, braking up and growing success.

…

“’I’ve already packed all my party dresses my ass’”, Diane approached June from behind and spoke into her year teasingly while June glanced through a rack of sexy lingerie.

“Yeah…well, so what?”, she answered carelessly. “You like this one?”, she pulled out a two piece set of deep green silk lace and showed it to Diane.

“Whatever”, Diane answered with a giggle, “you’re not gonna wear it for too long, are ya?”. June gave Diane a mock chastising look that she couldn’t hold for too long, and both women simultaneously burst into laughter.

Later that evening June stood in front of the mirror and adjusted the left pendant elaborated with little black beads. Her shiny straight light brown hair fell over her shoulders and was cut in a straight horizontal line just under the collarbone. She parted it slightly to the left of the middle, as was her habit since the day she had cut it short back when she was a teenager. Slightly smokey eyes highlighted her green eyes, naturally rosy cheeks and dark pink lip gloss completed the look.

It was a bright, warm June afternoon, and it would probably be a warm evening, too, so she put on a simple black knee length strapless dress with an embroidery work on the front as the only detail and a pair of simple, black sandals. It was still early in the afternoon, but she’d promised John she’d be there earlier to help him supervise the final details and receive his guests, so she prayed the look would hold up at least until the party started. In the event of that not happening, just in case, she put her lip gloss, eyeliner and mascara in the backpack she usually carried with her when she stayed at John’s apartment. This time, however, she wasn’t planning on staying over at John’s. Hell no. A flutter of excitement in her stomach resonated in her crotch when possibilities of what may lay ahead of her that night flashed through her mind. This no-strings-attached thing was turning out much more fun than she’d originally expected, and she would take every advantage of it that was possible.

The party had already been going on for a well hour and a half when June joined John, his girlfriend and a couple more of his friends in conversation on the terrace overlooking Manhattan’s Soho district, and just minutes later she felt the crowd at her back rumble as her stomach responded with a clench. She didn’t look back, though, she instead breathed deeply and reminded herself to act as naturally as she could.

June saw John’s face lighten up with a broad smile and only when he called Jon’s name and started walking towards one of the open panels of the huge walk-through windows that separated inside from outside of the apartment did she turned her head to look at the man that had just joined the party.

Whether it was her accumulated desire or the excitement of the game that produced such a hard impression on June, the outcome would have been the same: June’s jaw dropped at the sight of the stunning piece of humanity standing a few feet away from her. His now dark, short hair had obviously been worked with mousse to achieve a higher top that exposed his slightly receding hairline. The dark hair made his eyes look much more impressive, though it wasn’t just the color of his eyes but the electricity that they carried that usually did all the trick, specially that tiny black spot in the iris of the right eye. He was sporting his signature look for these past time which consisted of simple blue jeans, boots, black t-shirt and black leather jacket. He was grasping his jacket with his left fist, flexing his arm probably intentionally to showcase his perfectly toned biceps that threatened to tear the seem of the short sleeves that had been carelessly rolled up, letting his right arm tattoo peek from underneath the fabric.

And his swagger. That man was preceded by an expansion wave that altered the very atmosphere surrounding him, any person could physically feel his presence. In June’s case, it manifested in the form of her blood thickening, she could feel it warm up and run through her veins when the two locked eyes. June could see Jon’s Adam’s apple go quickly up and then down as he swallowed and lifted his chin up: he was reacting to her in the same way she was reacting to him.

“Hey girl!”, after releasing himself from John’s hug, Jon finally raised his voice and looked at June “long time no see!”, then grinned and winked an eye at her.

“Hey Jon, how was London?” June asked just before they joined for a discrete hug. She took in a deep breath, it had only been five days, but she realized how much she’d missed his smell. Immediately before she realized how much she was going to miss it. She felt his warm hand and arm encircle her waist, his fingertips snaking and thoroughly pressing against the thin fabric of the dress, eager to feel her skin. He kissed her soundly on the cheek before pulling apart, and as she responded by rubbing one hand up and down against his left side.  

“Fantastic, yeah”, he nodded with a tight smile and moved on to greet the other guests in the group.

As usual, the attention immediately focused on him, but also as usual, he tried to get the conversation to resume the topic that had been interrupted by his arrival, and whenever the conversation went his way, he threw it back or skillfully changed the subject, forcing some other person to take the word instead.

June remained for a short couple of minutes and turned to face the group on her back, ending up back to back with Jon. She could feel how the fabric of the backpockets of his jeans brushed delicately against her dress. Every time he their bodies slightly rubbed against each other, she couldn’t help but smirking knowing that Jon was probably doing it on purpose. It was time to spice things up a little bit, so after a short while June left the group and joined another one inside the apartment.

Jon unconsciously looked back several times. First he could see June sitting on the sofa talking to some friends, then standing up. June did the same, but they kept missing each other’s gaze, until at one point they met through the window crystal. She smiled softly and made her way to the kitchen. Jon turned his attention (or whatever was left of it) to the conversation but it became hard for him to follow, his attention was now almost completely focused on the woman wearing a black dress that was making her way to the kitchen. In one breath he swallowed what was left of his wine and realizing that the bottle in the cooler by his side was empty, he decided he could take advantage of such predicament.

“How long are you going to keep me with my mouth dry?”, he said seductively as he bent over the counter, extending both his arms in front of him and locking his elbows. With a mischievous smile Jon used his right index to push the base of the glass forward towards June, his undertone was more than obvious.

June’s loud giggle was heard by the people sitting by the couch, she was stirring a spoonful of honey she had just poured into her lemon tea. “What, aren’t there good wines in London, too?”, she turned to the electric cellar, pulled out a bottle of Pinot Grigio and handed it to Jon together with the corkscrew she took from the kitchen drawer on her way back to the counter.

“I left the one I wanted to drink here in New York, didn’t feel like having any other kind”, Jon incorporated himself and took the bottle and corkscrew from June’s hand, making sure of wrapping his hand around hers as he did so, then gently sliding it back. He slightly pouted and threw his head back, then tightened a smile. There were witnesses and the room was rather quiet. This should be fun.

Instinctively reacting to his undertone, June licked her lips, which quickly became reddish and wet. “Drink up then, this bottle’s all yours”

“I know”, he purred, while he busied himself introducing the tip of the corkscrew in the cork and twisting it until it was deep inside the soft material.

June observed as she took her cup of hot tea near her mouth and blew it softly. She tightened a smile and spoke against the brim of the cup when Jon put the bottle between his knees and started pulling the corkscrew up to open the bottle. “You kno-”, the clean pop that resonated inside the kitchen interrupted her, but she continued while Jon put the bottle back on the counter and started pouring the liquid inside his glass, lifting his face to look at her. “Even when I don’t drink, I love the sound of the bottle when it opens, it’s sort of…orgasmic”

Jon lifted and eyebrow and smirked. In the bright lights of the kitchen, June looked for the tiny black spot in his pupil, but they were so dilated she couldn’t, they looked almost completely black. Stretching her arm towards Jon, the palm up, she asked: “Can I smell it?”

“Stop it”, Jon spoke almost inaudibly, they’d been careful so far, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to curb his desire for much longer, and anything June said or did now could make him forget that they had an audience.

June silently took the cork and placed it under her nose and with a slight pout of her upper lip she pressed against the cork, then brushed it under her nose slowly left and right.

Jon chuckled and took a deep breath. “So how’s your book going?” Jon circled the counter and hastily walked towards June, she turned her back to the living room and leaned back against the counter, holding her cup with both hands. Jon did the same, but holding the glass of wine in one hand, he placed his other hand on the counter behind June’s back. June tried with all her might not to melt herself against him.

Regardless, June kept her composure. “Barely out of the oven, should be ready for printing in just a couple week-“

“Can’t wait to have a peek at the first chapter” Jon interrupted and added “and I really mean I can’t wait”. He quickly looked over his shoulder and verified that people were minding their own business and that there was no particular attention placed on both of them. Inside their circle of acquaintances, Jon and June’s long time friendship was no secret or held any special implication, so after taking a quick look around his hand moved from the table up along her back to rest on the base of her neck. June moaned almost inaudibly.

“There may be something I can do about it, I think I have a copy in John’s office”, June was a bad liar, she knew and she didn’t care. She lifted her face to look at Jon in the eyes, unwilling to hide her own desire. “Wanna come?”