Ren'Ai Rensa: Hatsukoi Part 7

The fork clattered to the salad plate, and Aiko appeared on the verge of frustrated tears. "Why? I don't get it. You can have any girl in this room, apparently, and you're dating me? I'm not even sure if I'm like you."

"But you haven't ruled it out?" Reina chuckled. "You don't give me any bulls.h.i.+t. You've been upfront since the beginning about what you do know you want and don't want. You're sweet. And you've been taking to this different way of life I live a lot easier than most apparently straight girls." Reina locked her eyes with Aiko's, prepared for the final move. "And even with all that, you're still very pretty, and I want to f.u.c.k you."

Aiko's shoulders slumped. She dabbed her lips with her napkin and stood, her chair making no sound as it shot backwards and b.u.mped into another. "Excuse me, I need to use the restroom."

Most left like that would wonder what they had done or said wrong, but not Reina. She waited until Aiko was out of sight and stood as well, walking to the counter to pick up some fliers. She took them to her table and sat down again, aware that both the Chinese woman and the university student stole glances at her. Do they even know where they remember me from? Lord knew Reina barely remembered.

When Aiko returned, she carried a handkerchief lined with pink lace. She sat and threw the handkerchief onto the table, her hands rubbing her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Reina slid the flier across the table.

"I don't know. Maybe." Aiko looked at the flier. "What's this?"

Reina resumed eating her salad, but did not stop talking flecks of greenery shot through her teeth as she spoke. "It's an event newsletter some other lesbians put out every couple of months. You know, events." Reina picked out a small piece of spinach from beneath her tongue. "Parties, socials, club and bar s.h.i.+t..."

"I'm not twenty yet."

"Oh."

Aiko pa.s.sed the flier back. "I don't think I'm interested."

"You sure? Some of those parties are a lot of fun." I love a good guarantee to get laid.

"I'm sure." Aiko folded her handkerchief and bit her lip. "Look, Reina, it's not that...I don't like you back at all." Her voice fell into a whisper. "I don't know what I want right now. I mean, up until last week I never even thought about being with another woman. And now I'm dating you, I guess, and you're...so beyond me."

Reina leaned her elbows against the table and folded her hands in front of her face. "So tell me, you've dated men before, right?"

Remembering the bewilderment on Aiko's face would give Reina a good laugh later. "Of course I have!"

"And how do those relations.h.i.+ps usually go, time wise?"

"You mean how long before things happen?"

"Sure."

If Aiko fidgeted with her things any longer, she would likely destroy them. "I don't know. I told you, I don't do things on the first date."

"Well, what about the second date? Would you kiss a guy on the second date?"

"Maybe. I guess."

"When was your last relations.h.i.+p?"

"I broke up with my last boyfriend a couple months ago."

"How long before you did anything with him?"

Reina didn't want to imagine Aiko sleeping with or kissing some random guy h.e.l.l, she didn't want to imagine any man having any kind of love life. And it appeared Aiko didn't want to remember it either, for her lips trembled, as if getting ready to divulge some truth n.o.body else knew. She's not a virgin, right? For some reason Reina hadn't guessed she was, for all the "good girl" jokes she made. By this point she was used to every subdued woman sleeping with every boyfriend even if she didn't want to.

"I guess..." Aiko took her handkerchief again and crumpled it in her lap. "I guess maybe the third date we...did something."

Three whole dates? Good G.o.d, I would slice my leg off. "So why would it be different with a woman?"

"I don't know. Please, stop asking me these things."

"Tsk." Reina did as asked and dropped the subject, but not without another purse of the lips or a raising eyebrow. She focused her attention on her salad and ate the remaining leaves. More customers left the cafe including a majority of the ones Reina had once slept with than came in, and soon Reina and Aiko had an entire half of the cafe to themselves. However, Aiko kept her eyes down and her mouth busy eating, and Reina spent her time staring out the window as if a meteor would come cras.h.i.+ng down between blinks. This is the worst date ever. She wondered what Michiko was doing.

"Ano, Reina-s..." Aiko stopped herself from saying any formalities. "I mean...the day you called me for this date...I was happy. I wanted to see you again."

Reina c.o.c.ked her head. "Are you sure? You don't seem happy to see me today."

Aiko returned an apologetic nod. "I'm sorry. You see, I'm not used to dating people who are so forward about what they want. I think you intimidate me."

"Well, we're on 'your' time, right? It's fine. Although to be frank with you..." Reina figured she should start putting on her armor for the onslaught she expected. "Look, I'm only so cool about you taking your time because I'm seeing other women. Not like this, but s.e.xually. It's how I am."

After expecting a paling face, a sneer of disgust, or even an outburst full of denial, Aiko offered a sigh. "You have your needs."

Yes. Needs. That was a nice way to put it. Since tasting s.e.x for the first time a few years before, Reina hadn't gone longer than a week without it. She didn't even want to imagine life without it. Odds were the frustration and pent-up s.e.xual energy would eventually set off a body bomb and she would find herself on the brink of death. Well, maybe not that dramatic. But Reina preferred to never find out.

"Nice of you to be so understanding," she said. "Anyway, how about we get out of "

"I'm going to the restroom again." With the swiftness of a cat leaping from low to high, Aiko vacated her chair.

What's with her? Reina popped a crouton into her mouth.

She was content to sit there and wait for Aiko to return, until the server crept to the table and stood before her like a timid statue. "Ano, Yamada-san." She lowered her voice and cupped a hand around her mouth. "That girl you came in with went into the restroom, crying."

"Uso?" Reina scooted out of her chair. "Why was she crying?"

"I don't know."

"Mendokuse, na!" Picking up the bag Aiko left behind, Reina went to the restroom and opened the door.

Aiko stood in front of the sink, her head bent over the counter and her fingers wiping away the tears on her cheeks. Reina closed the door.

"Daijyoubu?" She didn't touch her. "You okay?"

Quivering as she held in another sob, Aiko turned on the sink and rinsed off her hands and face. Reina waited, although she would rather go flirt with the server instead of watching somebody cry. Before she could make an a.s.s out of herself and leave, however, Aiko turned off the sink. "I don't think I can do this."

"Do what?"

"I don't know. Whatever this is!" Aiko shook her hand between them, spraying water on Reina's jeans. "Dating a woman! Watching women have s.e.x on TV!"

"Wait, what channel?"

"Wondering why my boyfriends don't make me feel good!" Aiko choked back a sob and slapped her hand against her eye to hide her tear. "Dancing around my mother who asks me how my dates are! And..." She looked like a girl just told she couldn't have a puppy. "And how I'm going to deal with wanting to sleep with you!" Aiko flung herself against the counter.

At that, Reina reached out and rubbed a wary hand against Aiko's back. Her sobs slowly, slowly subsided, and Reina withdrew her hand to touch her fingers against a warm cheek.

"Aiko." Reina turned on her supportive, feminine voice as opposed to her usual charming lower register. "Don't over think it. In my experience, it's just best to go with your gut." That thing always telling me to f.u.c.k everything.

"How can I not over think it? What if I regret this?"

A tick appeared above Reina's brow. Regret? Me? She supposed there were girls who regretted the situations in which they first made love with Reina Yamada, but she'd be d.a.m.ned if any of them regretted her. Wasn't that a challenge of some kind?

Reina put a hand on Aiko's shoulder and turned her around. She glared into her puffy face and said, "Are you thick? I'm a human! You're a human! It's natural for one human to want another! G.o.d! It's little s.h.i.+ts like you that make me hate this game! f.u.c.king around with other women when in the end you get too scared and go back to your s.h.i.+tty little straight lives! What's next, Aiko? Gonna call your ex-boyfriend and ask him to marry you? Go on, do it!"

The shock on her face should have been enough to placate the s.a.d.i.s.t inside Reina. All she knew about regret was how much she regretted ever asking Aiko out on a date.

She closed her mouth, held back her shoulders, and looked straight into Reina's eyes. "Kisu s.h.i.+te!"

Kiss me. Reina took a step back and held in a laugh. Kiss her! A sobby little fool like her couldn't handle a kiss from the great Reina Yamada. If she's confused now, wait until she kisses me. Maybe the Aiko from the first date could have taken a kiss from her and lived to tell the tale. But this one? The one crying about how unsure she was? Forget it.

"And why should I kiss you? Afraid you'll still miss out on your chance to experiment?"

Aiko didn't relent. "Kiss me!"

Reina scrunched her face and put her hands on her hips. "You want me to kiss you in a public restroom? The h.e.l.l is wrong with you?" Although not usually the type to pa.s.s on kissing a pretty girl, sometimes even reason won out in Reina's head.

Aiko threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around Reina, lips puckered. "Oi!" Reina pushed her away.

"What's wrong with me?" Aiko slammed a hand against the counter, her once sad face now exploding in anger. "You can kiss and have s.e.x with every girl out in that cafe, but not me?"

Reina knew the makings of a slap about to come smack her on the face. It's not that I don't want to kiss her. She's just not ready yet.

Well, for the lips, anyway.

Reina pulled Aiko's lithe body into an embrace, digging her fingers into her long hair and holding her scalp from behind. "I think I'm too fond of you to kiss you when you're this upset."

The body in Reina's arms fell limp, although no more sobs or protests came. They stood in the restroom, holding each other, like one friend consoling another. "I'm sorry." Reina's sweater m.u.f.fled Aiko's voice. "I shouldn't treat you like this. I'm just so confused right now. Please forgive me."

"Maa, it's okay to be confused." Reina used a free hand to rub the top of Aiko's head. "Most girls I've slept with are still confused." And many have boyfriends, even kids. Ugh. "But I'm not confused. I love women. And if you keep dating me, we'll kiss soon enough."

A chuckle formerly suppressed by convulsions shuddered against Reina's chest. "I think I might like that."

"But not today, probably."

"No, you're right."

What Reina would give to find somebody, anybody, after this to give a proper kiss and more too. I wonder if Mi-chan is available tonight, or if I should ask that server girl out. Aiko was out of the question, no matter how cute she was. "I think we should call today's date over. I'll take you back to the station."

Aiko didn't disagree, so they went back into the cafe, paid for their lunches, and walked out into the street. The cold slapped Reina across the face where Aiko hadn't. f.u.c.k! I forgot! The station was over ten minutes away and they walked right into the wind.

"Samui, ne?" Aiko wrapped an arm around her. Within another second she had her face buried in Reina's jacket.

"Yeah, it's cold." She clamped her lips together to keep them from freezing. I should've brought a scarf. Her hand grew numb as well. Against her better judgment, Reina searched for Aiko's hand and burrowed her own into it. She not only let Reina keep it there but covered both hands with her other one. Her handkerchief acted as an interim mitten for them both.

Thus they walked to the station, hands fastened tight. The weather was too cold for anyone else to see Reina's arm candy and ask silent questions it suited her just fine, and she squeezed Aiko's hand ever harder.

I better get to kiss her soon.

The wrapping paper had already overtaken the entire living room when Aiko entered with a tray of tea and cookies.

"Kuso! I ripped it!" Nana pushed away her silver wrapping paper with disgust. "That's fine. He doesn't deserve this perfect present anyway."

"Oh, no, I'm out of tape." Tomoko eyed the cookies on Aiko's tray.

"Maa maa, daijyoubu no yo." Aiko put the tray on the living room table and knelt beside it. She poured three cups of tea and distributed them amongst her friends. "There's plenty."

This Tuesday Christmas gift-wrapping party hadn't been Aiko's great idea that nugget went to Nana but she took it in stride even when Nana complained and Tomoko stared wistfully at the wallpaper. They each brought a present or two to give their current boyfriends, since Christmas in j.a.pan was more about dating and romance than holiday cheer and good will toward men. Why Aiko's friends couldn't wrap them in their own homes, she had no idea.

Both Nana and Tomoko had picked out nice presents for their boyfriends, whereas Aiko didn't have anything for anybody. She wanted to get Reina something, but didn't know if it was too presumptuous since they weren't "girlfriends," and besides, she had no idea what somebody like her would even want. So far the only things Aiko knew about the woman she dated was that she loved s.e.x and the color blue. Maybe I'll wrap myself in a giant blue bow and tell her she can "f.u.c.k my p.u.s.s.y" all she wants.

"Ai-chan!" Nana held up her present, a box full of love notes and silk neckties to congratulate her boyfriend on pa.s.sing his real estate exams. "Do you think I should put some bubble wrap in here to fill things out? This is the only sized box I could find, and of course it's too d.a.m.n big."

"I think it's fine." Her tea was boiling hot against her lips, but Aiko ignored it if it meant keeping her mouth too preoccupied to speak.

Tomoko blew on her tea. "Maybe you should write more love notes to fill it up."

The glare Nana shot across the table could have punched a hole in Aiko's living room wall. "My 'love notes' are fine just as is. Why, if I wrote more 'love notes,' as you so flippantly call them, my brilliant Taku-kun might think I was something like a floozy."

"What are you writing him?" Tomoko wrenched the box from Nana's hand, sending wrapping paper all over the floor and shouts of derision into the air. Nana leapt across the table and tried to s.n.a.t.c.h the box away again, but Tomoko had a "love note" in her hand already.

"'Oh, Taku-kun, your eyes make me melt like a sunny day, and when you stick your....'" Tomoko's eyes bulged and Nana just about ripped her hair out of her scalp. "Hora! This isn't a love note, it's a s.e.x letter!"

Nana seized her opportunity to take her box of notes back while Tomoko laughed and pounded the carpet with her hand. "This is private! Bakayarou!"

Aiko settled the tea things back on their tray and set them off to the side. "Ara, Tomo-chan, you shouldn't make fun of something like that."

"But you should've seen the rest of it!" Tomoko still laughed, her baggy sweater shaking with every guffaw. "All sorts of naughty things! Nana's a pervert!"

"Yamenaide." Sometimes Aiko felt a little too much like a teacher amongst a bunch of kindergarteners, but she would never reveal her own curiosity over the sorts of things Nana wrote in her love notes to her boyfriend. The other girl now slapped tape all over her box, lest wretches like Tomoko ever looked into it again. "So I guess things are going well with your boyfriend, then?" Aiko stuck her tea cup against her lips so Nana couldn't see her blush.

With her box now secured, Nana calmed herself with tea and a cinnamon cookie. "He's a perfect gentleman," she spat alongside cookie crumbs. "I really don't have anything to complain about."

"Especially in the bedroom, eh?" Tomoko's cheeks puffed out with a suppressed giggle.

"You...have s.e.x with your boyfriend?"

Nana smoothed a piece of wrapping paper over the top of her box before replying, her voice level and her face utterly emotionless aside from the gla.s.ses lopsided on her nose. "Of course I do. At least, like, once a week. Sometimes all day." Nana picked up a pair of scissors and sliced a roll of wrapping paper in half. "His p.e.n.i.s is huge."

Silence. Then, like a sudden tsunami, Tomoko laughed so loudly the house shook and the teacups rattled. "I'm surprised you don't complain about that!"

"Well, sometimes he tries to put it in the wrong hole. That is rather unpleasant."

Tomoko grabbed her side and fell onto the carpet. Aiko s.h.i.+fted on her kneeling legs. "That would be painful, I think." She barely had any idea where any of her own holes were, let alone what should go in and out of them. "You must like him a lot though, to put up with it."

"Eh. He's gonna be rich." Nana licked her fingers and smoothed down a crease in her wrapping paper. "If he wants to stick it in my a.s.s, whatever. But the least he could do is warn me before he does it."