Lydia’s body was on fire from her head to her toes. She ached at the bar while gazing at him, wondering, “What is he thinking?” Her sunburn from the day before was practically peeling off her body as if she were a giant cicada. Like the god Helios was still clawing her back and supple waist in ecstasy.
Baxter stared back at her, his eyes bulging, not knowing where else to look, his social anxiety throbbing. He was telling her about Wes Anderson, which, if she let him, he could do all night long.
“It was James L. Brooks who gave Anderson and Wilson their first shot, though the script’s revision process was notoriously difficult at first—“
Lydia cut him off. “Do you just want to just get out of here?” she said, resigned and lonely, biting her lip, trying to chew off a little fleck of dead skin.
Baxter was taken aback. So forward! This was extremely intimidating. He spread his legs even more as he slid off the uncomfortably low bar stool, his crotch bumping up against her knee — strictly by accident.
But there was a lot of bumping to be done that night. Their bodies pressed together in the back of the car during the ride home, either in anticipation of their lovemaking or because there were so many other people in the Uberpool, and they didn’t have a choice.
Soon they were in the bedroom, clothes peeling off one by one. Baxter slowly revealed the condom in his wallet, but it was clearly too old. “Don’t worry,” Lydia cooed. “I have a bunch.”
Baxter again felt threatened by her words, but said nothing. She handed him a condom and he rolled it over his four and a half inches of pure shaft. Their legs sort of rested on top of each other as they picked up their rhythm, both necks crushed into double chins.
Taking great pains to avoid eye contact, they whispered into each other’s ears…
“Is this okay?”
“Yes.”
“Is this okay?”
“Yes.”
“Is this okay?”
“Yes.”
“Is this okay?”
“Yes.”
“Is this okay?”
“It’s fine, Baxter.”
And then with a cry and a steadying of the glass of water on the bedside table, it was over.
Two days later, Lydia and Baxter would see each other at a coffee shop and have a regrettable conversation that would inspire both of them to move out of the city to opposite ends of the country.