By Shotzette
NC-17
This is only a work of fan
fiction and is not intended to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights or
intellectual properties.
Sequel to Missy’s “Pieces of Me’.
Their eyes met briefly when she walked in to the break room, before she looked away from him. Lenny watched her as she and Shirley purposefully chose a table on the far end of the room and then sat with her back to him. He considered going over to her, again, but deep down he knew that Laverne wouldn’t be any more responsive to him than she’d been yesterday, and the day before.
He wracked his brain to figure what specifically he’d done to drive her away. He’d been a complete gentleman on their dates, which had increased in frequency during the last few weeks. He’d only asked her out on nights when he could afford to pay; no more Dutch treat. He’d avoided taking her to Inspiration Point, settling for kisses and caresses on the less pressuring frontier of her couch. He’d taken to showering every day, even when he didn’t plan to see her—just in case.
Then, right out of the blue last Thursday night, Laverne had told him that it was over. She’d barely looked him in the eye at all, instead she told him what he knew were foolish lies, “love you as a friend”, “we were just a casual thing”, and “we should see other people”. He’d been furious at first; feeling abandoned and cast aside yet again. Squiggy had rejoiced in Lenny’s new single state and they’d nearly blown both their weekly paychecks at the Brad Street Burlesque House before Squiggy’s forwardness with the dancers had gotten them both banned for life.
As his head cleared from watered down beer and cheap perfume, he’d heard from various neighbors that Laverne had been holed up in her apartment since the break up. Part of him was thrilled; she’d dumped him for someone better and then had been dumped in return. The thrill of revenge had sated him somewhat until he’d realized that she hadn’t been out at all except for going to and from the brewery. The few times that she had walked quickly past him in their building’s hallways or on the stoop, Laverne looked awful, her make-up haphazard when she bothered to put on any at all and her eyes were red rimmed as if from lack of sleep and tears. As much as she had hurt him, the pain that she bore within seemed to mirror his.
Why?
His reverie was interrupted when Laverne’s voice rose to an unintelligible whine, it’s volume impossible to ignore from even the far end of the break room, and she pushed her chair back from the table and ran away in tears. Shirley Feeney sat alone at her abandoned table, clutching a tuna salad sandwich and wearing a slightly more intelligent version of the look that had taken up residence on his face.
Shirley’s face twisted into a grim knot as her eyes met his. She stared at him for several long moments, as if trying to make up her mind before she walked over to his table. “Do you want Laverne to be your girl again?” Her eyes stared at the floor and he had to strain to hear her quiet question in the sparsely populated break room.
Dumbly, he nodded.
Shirley looked around furtively. “Don’t clock back in yet. Give me ten minutes and then meet me at the end of the east parking lot.” She grabbed the front of his coveralls and she drew him closer to her and enunciated her next words into his ear. “Do not, under any circumstances, bring Squiggy with you. Are we clear on that?”
Not trusting his voice, he nodded again and then watched her hurry out of the room.
The sky was overcast and the air was heavy as Lenny shivered in his coveralls. He was wondering if he’d been the butt of yet another joke when he finally saw Shirley step out from between two trucks.
“I’m sorry that I’m late,” she muttered looking at him but seemingly seeing something far away. “Bertha Trotski cornered me as I was leaving the line and asked me what she was supposed to do with a batch of cutters.”
He shrugged. “I don’t care if you’re late if you can tell me how to win Laverne back.”
Her eyes focused on him and narrowed suspiciously. “Win? Do you think that this is a game, Lenny?”
Lenny shook his head vigorously. “No. It ain’t no game to me, Shirl. I’ve been making myself crazy for the last week trying to figure out why Laverne dumped me. I don’t know what I did wrong.”
She looked out into the distance of the parking lot as she spoke. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Leonard.”
“Then why won’t Vernie speak to me?” The whine of his own voice made him cringe.
“It’s because of me.”
Lenny blinked in surprise. “Hey, I know you ain’t my biggest fan or nothing, but I never thought you’d stab me in the back, Shirley Feeney.” Anger welled up in him as he took a step toward her. A small part of him felt satisfaction to see her eyes widen in fear as she stepped back until she was flush against the side of the delivery truck. “Lemme guess, I ain’t a doctor or a professional man, that’s it, ain’t it? You just don’t want to see your best friend tied up with some stupid truck driver, who ain’t never gonna be rich, ain’t handsome, and is afraid of linoleum; that’s it, ain’t it?”
“It’s not any of those things, Lenny.”
“Oh, I got other awful things about me that you can’t stand?” His shoulders slumped and his angry stance gave way to his usual beaten down posture. “Why’d you have to go make Laverne hate me, Shirley?”
“Laverne doesn’t hate you; that’s the problem. She’s in love with you!”
“Well, she sure has a funny way of showing it.” The sensation of his back slamming against the side of the truck behind him silenced his outrage.
Shirley glared up at him, her mouth was a hard line and her small hands angrily clutched the front of his coveralls. “How do you feel about her? Do you just want to use her and then toss her aside, or do you want more from her—‘cause more is what she deserves,” she said with a vehemence he’d never heard from her before.
He grabbed her small wrists and yanked them away from him, a motion that didn’t come as easily as he thought it would. “I love her, Shirl! I have for years! Hell, do you think that I’d propose to just any friend that another guy might have knocked up?” He swallowed noisily before continuing. “Ever time I think about my future and stuff that I want to do with my life, she’s always in that little picture in my head. It’s worse now because until last week, I thought that she might want to end up with me one day.”
“She does.”
“Huh?”
Shirley closed her eyes and looked as if she was ready to become physically ill. “She wants to end up with you, be with you always. You can give her a future,” Shirley said as her voice thickened. “You can give her a marriage and children, and….all the things that I can’t.” Her eyes opened as she whispered the last few words and she looked up at him expectantly.
His walrus-like guffaw rumbled out of his chest of its own accord. “Of course, you can’t give her marriage and kids, Shirl! You’re a girl! You two couldn’t do that. Heck, you’d only want to do it if you were….” His eyes widened in shock and his knees threatened to buckle out from under him. “Oh my god…”
“Lenny…”
His mouth opened and closed several times before words could escape him. “Carmine was right, wasn’t he?”
Shirley’s normally pale skin took on a horrible ashen tone. “You talked to Carmine?”
He nodded and looked down at the pavement, unable to look her in the eyes. “It was after you two broke up a couple of months ago. I didn’t want to listen; heck, I even threatened him with a knuckle sandwich. I’m such a big dope…” His litany of shame was interrupted by the sound of a sob. He turned and saw Shirley crouching down on the ground, her blue eyes large and fearful.
“Shirl?”
“Who else knows, Lenny? Who did you tell?”
He blinked in surprise. “I didn’t tell no one, Shirl. I don’t gossip!” At her look, he relented. “Okay, I gossip. A lot. But not about something like this—which I thought was a lie—and not about you. Honest.”
“You swear?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. I ain’t never told no one what Carmine told me. Oh my god. It’s true then, isn’t it?”
She looked away from him and nodded.
He looked at her in complete confusion. “Then why’s Laverne upset about dumping me? You think that would make it easier on her not pretending to like going out with my stupid face every weekend.”
Shirley smiled a small smile that held little happiness. “Laverne wasn’t faking, Lenny. She really cares for you. A lot.”
Lenny shook his head as he tried to make sense of the topsy-turvy world that had been going on under his nose for so many years. “But you said…”
Shirley winced, as though her words caused her physical pain. “She loves you, Lenny. She loves both of us.”
He threw up his arms in exasperation. “How? That don’t make no sense, Shirley. None of this does.”
She shrugged in return. “I don’t know, but I know she does. I’ve known for a long time.” Shirley winced as she turned around to look him in the eye. “I haven’t been very nice about it.”
His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why are you being nice all of a sudden?”
Shirley took a deep breath before replying, as if steadying herself. “Because, her breaking up with you is killing Laverne. I love her too much to see that happen. I was awful, Lenny! We had a fight and I called her some awful names. I’ve just been so jealous of seeing her with you that I can’t think straight.”
His jaw dropped. “Jealous? Of me? I don’t think that anyone’s ever said that before,” he muttered.
Shirley nodded and her eyes brightened with unshed tears. “It’s true, and I’ve behaved awfully towards her—and to you. I’m sorry, Leonard. It’s just been so hard since you two got more serious. You’re the lucky one…”
“That’s another thing that I’ve never heard before.”
She continued, ignoring his words. “You get to take her dancing, date her, hang out with her. I can’t do that.”
Lenny rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated breath. “You two are out together all the time.”
Shirley shook her head sadly. “Not really; not the way we want to, the way that I want to. I’m always trying to not stand too close to her, not hold her hand, not do anything that could make people think that we’re like…”
“Ann Fletcher, from the high school?” Lenny was startled to hear his voice say a name he hadn’t thought of since high school. The memory of a tall girl with a sturdy build and light brown curly hair flashed before his eyes. She’d turned him down once when he asked her to dance at a sock hop in tenth grade and had actually been nice about it.
Shirley nodded her head vigorously. “Yes! She had too much to drink at Susie Warner’s Sweet Sixteen party and then tried to kiss Janet Heims!”
Lenny’s cheeks burned in shame. That story had been all over school before the end of homeroom the following Monday. He’d been one of the boys who’d toilet papered Ann’s house a month later.
“I was at that party, Lenny!”
“My invite got lost in the mail.”
She swatted his arm, a frustrated gesture that he’d endured for ages. “You don’t understand. I saw Ann try to kiss Janet!”
Lenny cocked his head to the side and looked at her, his curiosity running wild. “Were you jealous then?”
“No,” she replied softly as a flicker of a smile warmed her face. “I was happy, for a little while at least. I knew then that I wasn’t the only girl who felt things like that.” The smile vanished from Shirley’s face. “Then all the other girls started whispering about her. None of us talked to her after that, Rosie even kicked her out of the Debs. I didn’t even talk to Laverne about it for a few years…”
“I don’t even remember her graduating with us.” Lenny shrugged. “I just remember her Pop selling his florist shop and moving away.” He looked down at the woman crouching on the pavement beside him. In all the years that he’d known—thought he’d known—Shirley Feeney, he’d never seen her look more lost and frail than she did at that moment. “I guess I know why you gotta be careful, Shirl.”
Her face twisted into a sad parody of a smile. “Laverne’s more careful than I am, Lenny. She’ll go out with almost any creep who’ll ask her—no offense—just to prove that she’s not ‘wrong.’ She never wants me standing too close to her, or touching her when we’re out in public. She’s terrified that her father will find out.”
His lower jaw threatened to collide with the asphalt. “Her own father don’t know?”
She looked at him in askance. “Could you tell your father that?”
“Sure, but he’d be too drunk to remember it the next day and I’ve been able to outrun him since I was twelve.”
“I guess you’re lucky on a lot of counts, then.”
“Then why do I feel so sad for you?”
“Don’t.” Shirley’s back straightened into almost a military posture. “This is the best way for all of us.”
He shrugged. “It’s the best way for me. It might be the best way for Laverne, but what about you?”
“Lenny…” she began.
He shook his head and reached out to her, taking her icy
hands into his. “Just hear me out. You two are close—okay, closer than I ever
thought possible. You know that I ain’t a bright guy, Shirley, but even I ain’t
dumb enough to try to come between two best friends. If me and Laverne high tail to the road to
happiness, only I’m gonna be happy. She’ll be busy missing you too much. And,” he said, “I don’t want to ever feel
like you’re feeling right now.”
******************
Lenny paced back and forth in the cellar apartment restlessly. “She’s late, Shirl.”
Shirley sighed and set the ‘House Beautiful’ magazine that she’d been thumbing through down on the coffee table. “Of course she’s late. I told you that she was doing some overtime so she could pay for that cashmere sweater that she’s got on layaway at Meckler’s.”
“I know,” he said as he looked out the window onto the dark street, “but she seems even later.”
“You’re just nervous, Leonard.”
He snorted in derision. “And you ain’t.”
She shook her head. “More than you can imagine. You might want to lay off the beer.”
“Sorry,” he said as he chucked he empty bottle into the trashcan, next to its twin. “I’m just…”
She nodded knowingly. “Nervous. I know. Maybe I should have one.”
The door opened and Laverne slowly walked into the apartment, her eyes fixed upon the envelopes in her hand. “Hey, Shirl. You got a letter from your mother and another one of those ads to remove unwanted hair. Who are these people and how do they know?” Her words ended when she saw him.
He stood up as straight as he could and forced a seemingly confident smile on his face. “Hi, Laverne.”
Her lips pursed together. “What are you doing here? I said all that I had to say to you.”
“No you haven’t, Laverne,” Shirley said softly as she walked over to her roommate and touched her shoulder gently.
“Shirl.” Her tone held warning and her body stiffened at Shirley’s touch.
“You love him, Laverne,” Shirley said, her eyes brightening, “I get it, I understand it now.”
“Shirl…” The warning sounded more like a plea.
“You need to be with him, Laverne,” Shirley said as she looked at Lenny resignedly, “You’ve been miserable all week.”
Lenny took a step forward and reached for her hands. “Laverne, talk to me.”
“Len,” Laverne said, as she backed away from him, only to jump toward him when she collided with Shirley.
“Shirley told me everything.”
Laverne paled and her eyes widened in shock. “Everything about what, Len?” The shrill tone of her question made it seem anything but casual.
“About us, Laverne. I told him the truth.”
“How could you?” Laverne whirled around and glared at her best friend.
“Laverne, it don’t matter. I love you.” His heartfelt words seemed diminished and weak as they competed with the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears.
She spared him a quick glance. “Then Shirley didn’t explain everything right.”
Her childish meanness was barely a pinprick to his skin. “She did. I was really surprised. I still am. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but I don’t want to lose you. I ain’t thrilled about this, but,” he said with a sideways glance at Shirley, “if she can share, so can I.”
Laverne looked back and forth at the both of them. “You’re crazy. You’re both crazy.”
“You’re probably right. But, you two need to talk,” Shirley said as she reached for her coat.
“Where are you going?” Laverne watched Shirley with angry eyes..
“I’m going to help your father out at the pizza bowl tonight. Mary’s boyfriend is on leave and she wanted to see him tonight. Your father called here earlier to see if you could work tonight and I volunteered.”
“You ain’t gonna tell him too, are you, Shirl?”
“I know you’re mad at me. I’ve been awful this week. I shouldn’t have asked you to choose between me and Lenny, Laverne. I’m never going to ask you to do that ever again.” Shirley stepped closer to Laverne and took her hands in hers. “I love you, but I can’t give you everything you want. I know that. I just—I just want a little piece of you. I can live on that,” she said, her voice choking with tears as she leaned over and kissed her best friend on the lips.
Lenny stared, too moved by the emotion of the moment to speak.
“I’ll help your father close. I’ll be home late,” Shirley said, pointedly, to Lenny before walking out the door.
When Laverne turned back to him, she eyed him warily. “Don’t look at me. I don’t want you looking at me like that.”
“I’m looking at you the way I always look at you. I just ain’t biting my palm this time.”
“You ain’t,” Laverne argued, shaking her head. “You’re looking at me different now that you know. I can’t believe she told you of all people.”
He ignored the barb. “She told me because she don’t want to hurt you no more; and she don’t want to hurt no more. Anyhoo, Carmine told me first.”
“Bastard…”
“I didn’t tell nobody all those months ago.”
Her mouth opened in surprise. “You’ve known for that long?”
Lenny shook his head. “I didn’t believe him. I just thought that he was mad at Shirley when she gave him the big heave-ho. I can’t figure out why she was with him in the first place.”
She shrugged. “Carmine’s always liked her. She’s always wanted to like him; she tried…”
“Do you like me?” The question left his lips quickly as the words stumbled over one another in the rush to leave his mouth. He held his breath as he waited for the words that would rip him to pieces.
Laverne nodded minutely, her expression softening. “I never faked nothing with you, Len. Honest. I never really faked nothing with nobody,” she muttered as an aside, “I like guys, Len. I just love Shirley more.”
“More than me?”
Laverne shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno, it’s different with you.”
Emboldened, he stepped forward, grabbing her hands in his. “I don’t want to be with nobody else, Laverne. It’s always been you.”
“I didn’t want to break up with you, Len,” she said, as her words became as rushed and desperate as his had been, “I just…”
“Love Shirley more. I get it,” he said, as he tried to make himself believe his words.
Laverne shook her head. “Not more, just different. I always want you to know that. I just can’t let her go. She ain’t like me, Len. Shirley doesn’t like guys, period. If she didn’t have me, she wouldn’t have no one.”
“I dunno, there are a lot of pretty girls out there,” he said, until he realized that, as usually, he didn’t have a clue about what he was talking about. “Uh, I guess…”
“I don’t want her having to look. Len,” Laverne said, her normal, no-nonsense tone returning as she took his hand and sat down on the couch. “Remember when Shirley and I were seeing Sam and Mel in Chicago?”
“It’s hard to keep track of all the guys you go out with, Laverne,” he said, unable to disguise his petulant tone.
“We took the bus go to see them one night about a year ago. They wanted to make it up to use since they canceled on us when they had tickets for Nat King Cole.”
Lenny brightened. “I love ‘The Christmas Song’…”
“Me too,” Laverne said, as she quickly squeezed his hand, as she usually did when they shared a passion. “Anyway, we were walking with them from the bus station to the nightclub and we passed this bar.”
Her eyes narrowed and a flush crept up her cheeks. “Sam was trying to be funny and said something mean about the girls who were going in there, how they were different and that guys didn’t go into that bar because the girls in there were ‘wrong.’ I thought Shirley was going to cry on the spot,” she said, sadly. “We just kept walking the next few blocks until we got to the nightclub. Long story short, Mel had too much to drink and picked a fight with another guy. When him and Sam were arguing with the bouncer, Shirley and I got the heck out of there. We were walking back to the bus station when we saw the bar. I didn’t want to go in, but Shirley did. We were standing down the block talking about it when all of a sudden a paddy wagon pulled up in front of the bar, sirens and lights going like you wouldn’t believe it. The cops were hauling everyone out of the bar and into the wagon and everybody was screaming…”
Laverne’s eyes looked as if she was staring past him and at something horrible. She blinked and took a few deep breaths before continuing. “I grabbed Shirley’s hand and we just ran back to the bus station as fast as we could. I know how lonely Shirley can get, Len,” she explained, “I also know how mean people can be to people who are… different. If anyone else ever found out…”
He squeezed her hands in his. “They won’t. No matter what happens, Vernie, I ain’t gonna tell anyone. I promise.”
“But Carmine…”
“Forget about Carmine,” he said dismissively, “No one’s gonna believe a guy who spends his time helping divorced ladies spend their ex husband’s alimony checks. Everyone will just think he’s jealous that Shirley finally dumped him.”
“I hope you’re right. “
“Trust me,” he said as he leaned down to kiss her.
Laverne met him halfway and her arms encircled his neck as he pulled her tightly against him, proving to himself that it wasn’t a dream—she was back in his arms for good.
Her lips were hungry against his. The movements of her body became more frenetic as if a dam had burst within her. Lenny felt her hands move to his shoulders as she pushed his Lone Wolf jacket off of his narrow frame and down his arms. The cold air of her apartment warred with the sensation of her warm, angora-covered torso pressed against him, causing his skin to erupt in goose bumps. His knees buckled beneath him and he was relieved to feel the softness of the sofa underneath him as he fell backwards. He struggled to sit up, but Laverne was astride him in a flash, her denim clad legs entwining with his own. His hands reached out as if of their own accord and clasped her buttocks as he pulled her roughly against him. His eyes flew open in shock as he let go, the apology already forming on his lips as his cheek braced for the inevitable slap. “Laverne, I’m…”
“Touch me,” she mumbled against his lips. “I like the way your hands feel on me.”
Encouraged, he reached behind her again flexing his fingers against her firm flesh as her mouth opened against his with a moan. They moved against each other for long minutes that seemed more like hours behind the safety of their clothing. His hands roamed her body aggressively, inflamed by the sensation of soft angora and coarse denim as his head reeled with the knowledge of what lay underneath both. Laverne moved faster against him and he groaned. He was so close! He quickly glanced around her living room as he tried to figure out what object he could use to hide the wet spot in his jeans as he beat a hasty retreat back to his apartment, when Laverne’s sharp cry caught him unaware.
He looked up into her flushed face as her eyes rolled back
in her head and her body became limp and heavy on his. Oh god, I killed her…
Her sluggish arms encircled his neck as she let out a sigh of relief, punctuated by giggles and kisses to his damp neck.
“Vernie, are you okay? Do you need a doctor?”
She answered him with a throaty chuckle. “No, I’m okay. Really okay,” she added as if for emphasis.
“Oh.” Lenny felt his cheeks flush as the implication sunk in. He’d been rolling around in backseats and on couches with girls for years and none of them had ever… “You’re welcome.”
“I know a better way to say thank you,” she said as her hand slid along the inside of his thigh. Lenny’s head rolled back and he groaned as she cupped the hardness that strained against his Levi’s. “Laverne…”
The absence of her weight from his lap chilled him and he reached out for her automatically. His eyes widened as she pulled her sweater off over her head. She preened for him momentarily clad only in her bra and jeans. She smiled has her hand traveled down her belly and unsnapped the top of her jeans. Her fingertips grasped her zipper in a motion that was more sensuous than he would have ever believed. “I will if you will,” she whispered.
In a flash his hands were on his own fly, yanking the zipper down roughly as he wiggled out of the constricting armor. He strained obscenely at the partially opened flaps of his threadbare boxers, as he sat on the couch quivering with need, praying that she would make the next move.
She smiled in a way that was both hungry and innocent as she shimmied out of her jeans in a motion that hinted of her dancer’s grace. Her underwear was utilitarian and practical, nothing like the scraps of lace and chiffon that adorned the pin up beauties that he had hidden under his mattress; yet he had never seen anything as alluring and seductive in his life. “Come here,” he begged, his hands trembling as he reached for her.
She moved towards him, but instead of straddling him like she had done earlier, she pressed him back and lay full length on top of him. Her lips parted instantly when she kissed him again as he tried to think of all the names of the moths that Squiggy kept in the Mason jar under his bed alphabetically to distract him from the overwhelming sensation of her warm flesh against his.
Each kiss seemed to push him further to the brink as his hands crept up her back, only to be thwarted by the four rows of hooks—locks, whatever the hell women use to keep their bras on. As he pawed at her clumsily, he felt her stifle a chuckle as she pulled back from him.
“Let me,” she whispered against his lips and reached back. As if by magic, the restraining garment slipped down her shoulders slowly, and incrementally revealed her soft curves.
He stared at her wordlessly for what seemed like hours before reaching out to her with trembling hands. Laverne moaned and moved forward into his hands.
“So pretty…” The gentle grip of her warm hand cut off further commentary. She stroked him for long minutes, her palm quickly became slick with his excitement. His jaw clenched and his hips jerked forward in anticipation, only to be robbed of her touch.
“Laverne…”
“Yes.” She had pushed herself back and regarded him with serious eyes.
“Huh?”
“Yes, Lenny,” she said more forcefully as she climbed off of his prone form just long enough to divest herself of her panties.
His head reeled as she reached back for him, but he said “No”, cupping himself in an almost comedic fashion. “In my wallet,” he mumbled, as words began to abandon him, “I have, uh…”
She nodded quickly, her face slack with the unfamiliar posture of passion as she leaned back away from him on the couch, exposing more of herself to his eyes.
He ripped through his wallet like a madman until he found the tiny foil square. His hands were shaking so hard that he was terrified that he would rip the fragile lambskin sheath apart as he tried to put it on. Inside he was praying that all of his lonely night spent practicing with rubbers would pay off, and he let loose a sigh of relief as he rolled it down his shaft. He looked at her again, praying that he wouldn’t see hesitation in her green eyes, and praying harder that if he did, he’d be man enough to back off.
Laverne’s leap from the other end of the couch negated his fears. It was as if they hadn’t seen each other in years, hands clutching, fingers probing, and lips caressing every square inch of one another. She moved over him, and he heard her draw in her breath as her flesh came into contact with his. He grasped her hand as he pushed carefully up into her, willing himself to go slow, to be gentle. The warmth of her flesh around him obliterated his loftier goals and something akin to a snarl left his lips as he bucked up into her.
He felt Laverne tense up and heard her cry out, a sound he muffled with his lips. She broke the kiss and pulled away slightly, only to pull him closer a scant moment later. He forced himself to be still, to let her set the rhythm.
She moved against him more strongly as her natural aggression returned. He reached around to cup her buttocks and bring her closer to him as he leaned up and flicked his tongue against her hard brown nipple.
Laverne gasped and her thrusting intensified. Lenny watched as her right hand snaked down her body to stroke her other breast before creeping down her abdomen to where he joined her. Lenny sucked her entire nipple into his mouth in his desire to inhale her, to possess her as she cried out.
The spasming of her hips against him proved to be his undoing as he lost his control and felt himself pulse against the restraining condom. He pulled her down on him, all but shouting her name in her neck as he lost himself inside her.
Laverne collapsed on top of him, the dampness of her flesh mingling with his, silent except for her harsh breath against his ear.
His mind reeled from all of the emotions he wanted to put into words, “Marry me,” “I love you,” and “we should lock your door,” all warred for dominance.
She raised her head up off of his chest and regarded him with an intensity that was almost frightening. “You know, right?”
“Huh?”
“You know that I love you, or I wouldn’t be with you.”
Silently, he nodded. He encircled her with his arms and cradled her against his chest as his breaths matched hers in perfect cadence. Laverne yanked the afghan on the back of the sofa over them as her eyes closed.
He awoke with a start. The living room was dark except for the streetlights streaming through the living room window. He was alone on the couch, wrapped up in an afghan that had been tucked neatly around his shoulders. He sat up disoriented, and looked around the room. His jeans and boxers lay on the floor, mated with her panties and bra as if in an obscene department store window display.
The coat that Shirley had worn to the Pizza Bowl lay draped over the chair at the end of the room.
He stood up and walked over to the closed bedroom door. He reached for the doorknob, but knew that the door was locked even before he touched it. Straining, his ears picked up a muffled moan, one he’d known only too well earlier that evening.
Lenny walked back to the couch and wrapped himself in the afghan to protect himself from the suddenly cold living room. He lay back down and waited, open eyed, for the dawn.
FIN