Yeah, suck on me, girl
The Medallion It was there all along, in the tight wrinkles at the corners
of her mouth, the eyes that never seemed to look right at him,
the way she shrank away inside herself when he put his arm
around her. “Have you ever thought of doing it with another
guy?” Alexa asked him once, ever-so-tentatively, and when he
said no, definitely not, she turned away. Gatsby knew he should’ve broken it off right then, on their
fourth date, but it was already too late for him and now her
unavailability attracted him. He saw in her all the women he
wanted but could never have, and he spent lonely hours counting
the ways she was not his; he knew she wanted to love him, but
didn’t know how. People fall in love with souls, not bodies,
he comforted himself. Perhaps in time she’d learn to love him. A week later they stood in line for a romantic movie. Scott,
the soccer team captain, spotted them together. “Alex the
Lesbian,” he called out. Alexa was stoic, silent until they
finally left the theater, and then she started crying and
couldn’t stop. Gatsby wanted to brush her tears away, but
she pushed him away. She reached inside her denim jacket
and pulled out a bottle of tequila. She took three gulps,
then started coughing uncontrollably. “Why are you with me?” she asked. He couldn’t answer. Later, in her room, she unzipped his pants and reached
inside. He tried to kiss her, but she turned her head away.
She unbuttoned her own pants and kicked them off, pushed him
onto the bed and mounted him. She was dry and she winced when
he first entered her, but she impaled herself on him again
and again as if to prove to herself that she desired him. Sunlight streamed through the open window of her dorm room,
the air moist against their damp skin as they grappled on
her bed. She was moist now as he slid in and out of her,
and her nipples puckered. “Kiss me,” he said. Alexa thrust harder, faster, as if she felt desire for him at
last, but she didn’t kiss him. “Kiss me,” he said again. She looked at him with a mixture of pity and disgust, but she
bent down and pushed her tongue in his mouth. Gatsby felt her breasts brushing on his chest, her inner
muscles squeezing him, her tongue thrusting in and out between
his teeth, and he came, groaning. Afterwards, she lay next to him without touching him, as if
her skin were scraped raw and too sensitive to touch. “Why do you stay with me?” she asked him again. Gatsby didn’t answer. Alexa wiped herself off on the sheets, then put her pants back
on. She lay in bed and fingered a silver chain around her neck. “What is that?” he asked. “It was my mother’s,” she said. She took it off and showed him the silver medallion attached
to the chain. “It’s the Virgin Mary,” she said, and then she laughed. “No,
I’m not a Catholic. I don’t believe in anything. But if I did,
I’d be a witch.” She reached over him and grabbed a bottle of
scotch from the nightstand. She took a swig, and a little drop
rolled from the corner of her mouth and fell onto the pillow.
“Yes, the Wicked Witch.” She laughed again. He wanted to ask her why she wore the medallion, but he didn’t. “What do you think of Laura?” he asked. “Why, do you want to fuck her?” “No, but she’s your friend, and she’s so different from you.” “How so?” “I dunno, she’s … sweet.” “Yeah, you want to fuck her alright. Admit it.” Her hand
began stroking him slowly. “Don’t do that,” he said. She kept on stroking him. “Admit it,” she said again. “No, I don’t think of her that way.” “Don’t you think she’s pretty?” Her hand moved faster. Gatsby pulled away and turned to the other side of the bed. “So what if Laura’s a nice girl?” she said. “What’s strange
about that? Why can’t I be friends with a nice girl?” Gatsby turned and looked right at her. “Because she treats
you like shit.” Alexa hit him on the shoulder. “Don’t you –” she started to say. “– You’ve got a crush on her,” Gatsby interrupted. “I’m not … I don’t think of her that way,” she said. “Fine,” he said. “Fine.” Gatsby pulled up his pants and started for the door. He turned
to look at her, but she was taking another swig of scotch.
He opened the door and left. # The next day Gatsby met Laura outside her history class and
asked if she wanted to have a cup of coffee with him. Laura tossed her head and combed her fingers through her dyed
red hair. “Sure,” she said. As they walked along the cobbled sidewalks, they talked about
their teachers and classes and campus politics. Times were
becoming more conservative, and the administration made cuts in
the liberal arts departments. Laura was a studio arts major,
but lately she was thinking about taking computer classes. “I know it’s practical, and it pays more money, but I suck
at computers,” she said. “And if I don’t get a good grade,
I might not get a scholarship next year.” “Hey — I’ll help you,” he said without thinking. “Coolness!” she said. They avoided talking about Alexa. Gatsby found it was very easy to talk to Laura, and she always
looked right at him when he spoke. She had wide brown eyes
and long lashes, and she wore a tie-die skirt. “My mom made
this skirt,” she said. The cafe was a little shop that also rented cult movie videos
like Toxic Waste Avenger and Revenge of the Killer Tomatoes.
A Starbucks had opened a few weeks ago just a block away,
and already the little cafe seemed less crowded than usual.
Gatsby ordered a mocha with whipped cream and Laura ordered
the same. Laura went to the counter and poured several packets of sugar
in hers, then added several spoonfuls of powdered chocolate.
“I like to put a little kick in them,” she said. Laura ran her fingers along a thin silver chain around her neck. “What’s that?” Gatsby asked. Laura showed him the medallion that hung from the chain.
It looked exactly like Alexa’s medallion. “It’s the Virgin Mary,” Laura said. “A … friend of mine
gave it to me as a joke. I’m not religious or anything.
I don’t even know why I wear it.” She took the medallion off and put it in her purse. Gatsby smiled. Laura leaned forward and touched Gatsby’s hand. “Would you
come over tomorrow and help me with my computer stuff?” “Okay,” Gatsby said. “Great!” Laura said. She looked at her watch. It had a purple
wristband with hot pink flowers. “Uh-oh. Gotta jam,” she said. “See you,” Gatsby said. # All through the night, Gatsby thought about Laura’s medallion.
He couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking about why Alexa gave it
to Laura and not him. She loves her, he thought. She never
slept with her, but she loves her. The next day, on his way to Laura’s, Gatsby tried to picture
her face, but all he could see was Alexa’s. He knocked on her door. “Come in,” Laura said. Her hair was damp and she wore a terry
cloth robe. The room was tidy — nothing at all like Alexa’s room.
Shelves of books lined the wall. Deborah Anapol’s _Love
Without Limits_ was sandwiched between textbooks of art history.
He took it from the shelf and flipped through it. “Do you think someone can be in love with more than one person
at a time?” he asked. “Sure,” she said. “Parents can love all their kids, can’t they?
Of course, jealousy can be a problem.” “You make it sound so simple,” he said. “It’s not, of course. My parents were swingers, back in the
’70’s. It’s really strange listening to them talk now about
how they used to go off and sleep with another couple. I mean,
these are my parents, right?” “Did it work out? I mean….” “Kinda,” she said. “For a while the four of them were like
one big family, but then, well, you can guess. They drifted
apart slowly, and then there was this argument, and then they
were two couples instead of a foursome.” “You’re lucky,” Gatsby said. “My parents got divorced when I
was thirteen. My father was having an affair, and my mother
found out about it and divorced him.” “That’s terrible,” she said. “I wonder what would’ve happened if my mother was more like
your mother. Maybe my parents would still be together.” “Maybe, but polygamy’s a tricky thing to handle. If you
can’t juggle one relationship, you won’t have much better luck
juggling two.” “Maybe juggling just takes practice,” he said. “Maybe,” she said. She leaned towards him. Gatsby felt her breast press against his arm. He closed his
eyes and pictured Alexa. He felt Laura shift around, and the soft rustle of her robe
as it fell to the floor. She held him in her arms, tenderly
as if he were a babe instead of her lover. Gatsby imagined it was Alexa who held him, and that it was
Alexa’s hands that wandered on his body. He kissed her,
deeply, brushing his fingers through her hair and smelling
the scent of her. “Hey, where are you?” Laura said, jolting him out of his
fantasy. “I’m here,” he said, touching the stiff nipple of her breast.
“I’m here,” he said, parting the lips of her cleft with his
fingers. “I’m here.” Laura smiled and touched his crotch with her finger. “Yes, you are,” she said. She covered the toes of his shoes with her bare naked feet,
and together they wobble-walked like a penguin towards the bed.
She tripped him and they fell together onto the mattress with
her on top. Laura flicked out her tongue like a kitten, tickling his ears,
his nose, his lips. She kissed him with a loud smacking sound. She undressed him as if they’d been lovers for years, expertly
undoing the buttons on his shirt, his belt buckle, and unzipped
his pants with her mouth. She pushed her nose inside his pants
and rubbed it against him. Slowly, awkwardly, she used her
mouth to take his dick out of his pants, then slid her lips
over him. Gatsby closed his eyes again and thought about Alexa.
“Yeah, suck on me, girl,” he said. “Do it like that, oh,
just like that.” He pulled off the rest of his clothes and threw them to the
side, then rolled on top of her. He felt around for her
opening, then pushed himself in her wetness. She groaned,
then squeezed her legs together to make the fit tighter.
He pulled out, then thrust in again. “Oooh!” she said, “like that.” He pushed himself in again and again. Laura’s right hand
snaked down between them and settled on her clit. She made
rapid little circles as he thrust in and out. She came quickly,
crying out in sudden gasps, and he came seconds later. “Yum… nice,” she said. “Yup,” he said. Laura slept for a while wrapped in Gatsby’s arms. When he
thought she was fast asleep, Gatsby got out of bed and put
on his clothes as quietly as he could. He fumbled in the
darkness until he found her purse. He open the clasp and
rummaged inside until he found the medallion. He took it and
put it in his pocket. There was a noise behind him. Laura was awake. “Mmmm…. C’mere, dear,” she said. “I’ve got to go,” he said. He went out the door and closed it quietly behind him.