‘It was just something we talked about at yours place the other night, but I thought you might not want to go into it with our families there.’
‘You’ve gone to such an effort with all this, ask me what you like,’ she insisted.
‘Oh, this is no effort at all, I’m just delighted to have your company,’ he said, with a shrug.
‘If you say so,’ she replied, showing her first sign of being shrewd enough to compete with whatever wit he offered. He paused a moment, considering her college degree and wondering whether, although she was inexperienced, Darlene might be twice as clever as him. But it was only a temporary detour.
‘I was just wondering if there was more to it?’ he went on. ‘I mean between you and that guy? – but I know it’s none of my business.’
‘Oh, that! If you mean am I heartbroken or something, then don’t worry.’
‘No, actually I was worried you might be scarred by something,’ he replied. ‘That was why I was a little unsure about asking you out, in case there was something you didn’t want to go through again.’
He was not being entirely sincere on both counts, choosing his words as tactfully as he could in the hope of prying. As it turned out, however, his guess proved fairly close to the mark.
‘You get that impression, huh?’ she said, thoughtfully. ‘And there’s us doing our best to show that everything is normal.’
‘Don’t worry if you don’t want to talk about it,’ he urged, while thinking completely the opposite.
‘No, not at all,’ said Darlene. ‘If I don’t feel secure enough to talk about it out on the open water then where?’
‘Secure?’
‘Yeah! What happened was, the guy turned into a bit of a stalker,’ she revealed.
‘A stalker? Jeez, I thought it was the mother you said was weird.’
‘That’s right, she was. I think that’s why I didn’t clue on that he was a little bit unhinged also, because I was focusing on her too much,’ Darlene explained. ‘The truth is she wasn’t even half the trouble.’
‘Was he aggressive?’
‘You wouldn’t think it to look at him. It all came when I decided we weren’t head over heels for each other, like our parents wanted us to be, and then his nature changed completely.’
‘He didn’t like you having a mind of your own?’
‘The best way of explaining it is that he had a real sense of… entitlement about him. As soon as I called it off he responded as if I was taking away some kind of birth right. At first he started telling me how I had to change my mind and come back to him, egged on by his mother of course, but that soon progressed to calling me all kinds of nasty names.’
‘Sounds like a real psycho.’
‘They were positively medieval. It opened my eyes a bit to some of the wacky religious types my parents still socialize with. Most of them are lovely people, but there’s always one or two at every church that act as if they are the judge of everyone.’
‘He didn’t hurt you, did he?’ Kurt asked and it was as he did so that he stepped closer, sensing his chance. The story was just perfect for making him look the concerned and compassionate type. Whomever the barmy Christian she was talking about was he felt like patting him on the back and saying ‘well played’. Through being weird and unhinged the dude had missed out on the hottest of babes, at the same time as virtually chasing her into his territory.
‘Not… like that,’ Darlene replied, ‘but, erm… I was intimidated for a while. Felt like locking myself away from the world.’
‘I’m glad you didn’t.’
‘Thanks for asking me out, Kurt. It really gave me a boost,’ she then said, smiling sweetly his way and, if he couldn’t step forward and kiss her then, when could he? Darlene had not flinched at all from their closer proximity, though she still looked shy of him. They were alone on the ocean, with the lights of several other yachts visible about them but not close enough to feel like they were intruding. The setting sun meant they were now casting shadows on the cabin behind them, while the temperature was also cooling slightly. Kurt was not the most romantic type, but he knew how the ladies loved a taste of the sublime when giving themselves over to a man’s embrace.
Everything was perfect, especially Darlene. It still seemed absurd that such a girl would get through college without having the boys trailing around after her, but it had taken her a while to step out and he wasn’t about to complain.
Leaning gently forward, Kurt paused for effect, thinking it looked good to show hesitation. The pupils of Darlene’s sea blue eyes widened, showing him it was a good move, but he could tell then she would let him. Then their lips met and the kiss took him back to being fifteen years old when he had first kissed a girl properly. The reason was for that was in sensing the nerves that made Darlene rigid were the same nerves of a girl who had never been kissed properly, just as Marlene Foster had never on that day they were late for lessons.
Kurt was not prepared for such a reminiscence, which made him glow inside in a manner no girl had ever caused. Who would have thought the daughter of Clive Furse would knock all the others out of the water, but Darlene was doing so despite her in-experience.
But then Kurt also realized, in a sense this experience would be something knew for him also. Back when he had taken that first step with Marlene, shyness had held him back from going one step further and, for a number of reasons, they had never gotten around to it. Since then, despite his many conquests, Kurt had always been with women who knew what they were doing. Up until now he had not concerned himself that he had missed out on anything. That was until his lips met with Darlene and he was transported back to first love.
Suddenly he was nervous too, as he realized that, in a sense, now was the chance to make up for that one that got away. Darlene was stiff and trembling just as Marlene had been, but his experience meant that this was an opportunity to go one step further. Being a first kiss sure fed his ego, but being the first kiss who then led the girl all the way too was something else entirely.