Waves and Light: Opposites Attract Series

by Elizabeth J. Merrill

  “Great,” I said a bit too brightly.

  David gave me a skeptical look.

  “Look I appreciate everything your mother has done for me, but I feel guilty about it. I can’t really enjoy these things like other people would. And I’m never going to look like a super model like she does. She should use her time and energy to benefit someone who will truly enjoy these things and look incredible in them. I will never look like a supermodel, so all this fuss feels a little like putting lipstick on a pig.”

  “What do you mean? You look fantastic when you wear nice clothes.”

  “I know I look better in nicer, more appropriate clothes, but let’s face it. I’m never going to look like a supermodel, no matter how many make overs I get or designer clothes I wear.”

  “What? That’s not true. You’re…”

  I cut him off. “The smart one. I’m the smart one. I’m not the pretty one which is fine, because I would rather be the smart one than the pretty one.”

  David looked straight at me then glanced forward and swerved to avoid hitting a car going really slow in the left lane. His face started to turn red, and he looked around in frustration before turning on his blinker cutting across two lanes of traffic and pulling into a rest stop. He emphatically threw the car into park and then turned in the seat to face me. “

  “You’re right; you’re not the “pretty” one. You are the beautiful one—the stunning one—the one that makes every other woman in room look drab. You’re fabulous, always, regardless of what you’re wearing.”

  I looked down at my hands in my lap and blushed. “You’re just saying that.”

  David gently grabbed my chin and turned my face around. “No, I’m not. The second I saw you when you walked into the lab wearing that ratty corduroy jacket, I thought you were gorgeous. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on you. That’s why I didn’t understand that you were applying for the position. I was too busy trying to figure out how to get into your awful pants. I thought you were beautiful. It wasn’t until I began to….have feelings for you that I realized that you were at least as wonderful in here (he tapped my temple) as you looked. Sure I like to dress you in clothes that are appropriate and look good on you, but it’s all just lighting on the Mona Lisa. Just like Leonardo’s masterpiece, you’re still beautiful in the dark or in polyester or whatever.”

  “Really?” I squeaked, a little teary-eyed.

  “Yes.” He answered as he unbuckled his seat belt, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me—a long deep kiss that I felt down to my toes. Before I knew what he was about, he unsnapped my seat belt, lowered my seat back, rolled on top of me, and went back to kissing me. Next, he slid his hand between our bodies, unzipped my jeans, and delved into my panties. He slowly circled the sensitive bundles of nerves at the top of my sex occasionally dipping lower. My breath got fast, and I could feel his heart pounding in his chest. The tension started to build, and I broke the kiss to breath. He was staring at me intensely. “Ready?” he asked while unzipping his jeans.

  “We can’t here. Families—children—stop here,” I managed to pant out.

  “Ready?” he asked again.

  I glanced around the car at the empty parking lot. “Be quick. “

  He rammed his dick in my pussy making me gasp. Then he was stroking my clit and insides with long, deep thrusts that caused my scalp to tingle and goose bumps to break out over my body.” Quickly tension built.

  “David! David! David!” I screamed unable to think of anything but him as I shattered. My orgasm pushed him over the edge, and he too found his release. We held on to one another as sensation carried us up and back down. As our breathing slowed, he gave me soft, wet kisses, before remembering where we were. He fumbled around for some tissues from the pack he kept in the console. He wiped up while pulling out explaining, “I don’t want to mess your clothes up.”

  “Thanks.” I answered lamely.

  Eventually we were cleaned up, basically, and back in our respective seats. David looked at me. “I don’t know what came over me. I just had to have you immediately.”

  “Good. It was good. Intense. I’m still covered in goose bumps.”

  “You are? It was intense. I’ve never just…needed someone so badly in the moment. I always want sex, but I’ve never needed it like that. And I’ve never had sex in my car.”

  “Never?”

  “Nope,” he replied. “I’ve always managed to get to a bed before.”

  “I guess you can cross that off your bucket list then.”

  A mini-van drove up and parked a few spaces down from us. The side door slid open and a nicely dressed man got out with two terriers on a leash. They wore pink and blue jeweled collars. Another well-dressed man got out from behind the wheel and headed toward the restrooms. We watched the terriers stroll around the rest stop sniffing.

  “I guess we should get going,” David said as he buckled his seat belt. I buckled mine. He pulled out of the parking space and headed back to Austin.

  Chapter Eighteen

  David

  I laid in bed with B.D. draped across my chest snoring softly. What was going on here? I nearly told B.D. I loved her today. Thank god I caught myself in time. Did I love her? Could I love anyone? I had always thought I was too bitter and angry to love anyone. I always thought the only way I could be happy—just a little—was to grab tiny bits of happiness through sex. Sex definitely made me happy. But intimacy much less love. That wasn’t for me. It was stupid. It made you stupid. Look at Mom. I think she still loved my dad. And he was a jerk who clearly didn’t love her. She’d given up having a partner who loved her, stability, not to mention years of good sex for a guy who didn’t even see her or even thought about her for years.

  Sigh…I couldn’t truly love someone, and B.D. deserved better than me. It was going to hurt, but I had to let B.D. go. I couldn’t be in love. I couldn’t make myself vulnerable like that. And I wasn’t good for her either—not when I really thought about it. She’s just starting out, and I could just understand her work. By the time she gets into graduate school, I wouldn’t be able to keep up. She was a certifiable genius. She deserved someone who could keep up with her, appreciate her. It flattered my vanity that I was with the most beautiful and smartest person in the room when we were out. We had incredible—truly out-of-body-experience, incredible sex. And I could spend hours just looking at her, but I didn’t really appreciate her intellect. I was just a smart guy who happened to pick physics to study, but she had some kind of physics sixth sense that I could never understand.

  Sometime. Some time soon, I’d have break it off. It would be rough. I would need to time it so that it didn’t impact my life or hers too much, but it had to be done. In the long run, it would be better for both of us.

  B.D.

  Wendy stabbed her salad carefully trying to achieve the perfect ratio of lettuce, avocado, blue cheese, and bacon. “So how was Thanksgiving?” I asked. We had a standing Tuesday/Thursday lunch appointment to keep up now that I rarely saw her at night.

  “Good, good. Same old turkey, same old dressing, same old farm. Although Xavier was back from Afghanistan, so that was good. He actually looked pretty good, and he’s decided not to re-up in just a few months. Mom’s happy.”

  “I’m not sure how she takes it. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing my sons were in harm’s way.”

  “Since they’re in special forces, she doesn’t really know though. They just turn up and don’t talk about. It’ll be good to have Xavier out of it though.”

  “Aaron’s just getting in though. He’s the one I met.”

  “Yep, he’s still training—for at least another year, but eventually they’re bound to send him somewhere dangerous.“

  Aaron had come to visit us on his leave after he finished the first stage of his P.J. training. He was hot in the same tall, blond Scandinavian way that Wendy was.

  “I hope it’s somewhere safe. I would be completely unfair to women everywhere to dep
rive them of someone so hot.”

  “Ewww,” Wendy shivered. “It’s just gross to talk about your brother’s hottness.”

  “First, I didn’t ask you to discuss Aaron’s hotness and second, he’s not my brother.”

  “But you have your own hottie to keep you busy.”

  I smiled. “MMMM, yes I do, but it doesn’t mean I’m dead or blind or lacking a heart beat. Hey, they should use Aaron to elevate heart rates for stress tests.”

  “Whatever.” Wendy rolled her eyes. “How are things going with your hottie?”

  “Hot as ever. Maybe even hotter. I think he almost told me he loved me on our way back from Houston but caught himself and said he had feelings for me.”

  “He actually admitted to having feelings for you. That’s huge from what I’ve heard about David.”

  “Yep! It’s huge. He’s changing.”

  Wendy stopped eating her salad and grabbed my hand. “Listen, B.D., he may be changing, but don’t count on it. Be careful. Those other girls probably thought he was changing too. Guard your heart.”

  “I will. I will. I’m still just having fun. I am. He’s tons of fun. Besides even if he doesn’t leave at the end of the semester, he’ll leave next summer. He’s applied to graduate programs up and down the coasts. To stay together, he’d have to give up graduate school or I’d have to give up my Fineman scholarship and drop out. Neither of us will do those things. And long distance relationships never work out.”

  She nodded in agreement and reiterated, “Long distance relationships never work out.”

  “For now though, we’re just having fun. And the next fun thing is this fancy Christmas Party in a few weeks. His mother sent me another dress. I don’t know anything about formal wear. I can’t believe I’m saying the words “formal wear.” So, I’m going to need your help deciding which dress and which shoes and how to do my hair. You might need to help me use that tape that keeps things in place. You’ll help me won’t you?”

  “Of course I will. I’d love to, just as long as you’re having fun.”

  “I am.” I twirled my finger in the air sarcastically. “Fun! Woo Hoo! We’re all just having lots of fun up in here.”

  Wendy narrowed her eyes at me. “What am I going to do with you?”

  “Make me beautiful. “

  “Easy…” She waved her fingers over my head. “Poof. You’re beautiful. See.” She held up a compact mirror that she pulled from her pocket.

  “Thanks.”

  “Anytime,” she replied and went back to assembling the perfect bite and then asked, out of the blue, “What if David weren’t…acceptable to your parents?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What if your parents would freak out if they knew you were dating David like if he were African-American or something?”

  “Okay,” I replied. “I get where you’re coming from. First, I’m pretty sure my parents would be fine with me dating an African-American, but I think I understand the question. If David were a drug-dealing, high-school drop out, that would not be regarded kindly by my parents. And…I also can’t imagine dating someone…even for fun…that was unacceptable to my parents. So I don’t think that’s really something I think about too much. Why? Are you dating someone unacceptable to your parents? A.J. Do you think A.J. will be unacceptable to your parents?”

  “What? No, no. I’m sure they’ll love him,” he replied a bit too quickly. “Why would I think about dating someone my parents wouldn’t approve of?”

  I looked at her suspiciously. “I don’t know. Anything you want to tell me?”

  “No, no,” she waved me off and went back to working over her salad.

  *

  I stared at the library across from my dorm room, while listening to Mom’s cell phone ring, but she didn’t answer even though I knew it was during her planning period. She probably just couldn’t find her phone in her purse. I put my phone down on my desk and waited. Sure enough, not a minute later it rang.

  “B.D. is that you? Is something wrong? Why are you calling?”

  “Nothing’s wrong Mom. I’m just calling about going to see Dad for Christmas.”

  “I think we can afford to do that. Let me check on it.”

  “I already checked, Mom. I just talked to the family liaison. Apparently since we’re family, we all can see him all at once in a family room—not through glass.”

  “That’s great.”

  “Yes, it’s great,” I agreed with her. “But we have to do a few things to make that happen and soon. We need to ask for permission from the warden in writing and send copies of your marriage license, our birth certificates, and all our driver’s license. We also have to send Dad our driver’s license numbers, so he can put us on his visitor list. They need all this documentation a month before we visit.”

  “It’s already November 28. How can we get it to them before Christmas?”

  “We can’t, Mom. It doesn’t matter anyway, because prisoners can’t have visitors on Christmas anyway. I think the beginning of January will work though. We can fly in on January 2nd and fly out January 5th. I found some cheap flights, so with the room, food, rental car etc. it should cost around $1500. First though, do you have your marriage license and our birth certificates?”

  “They’re in the safe deposit box at the bank. I might be able to take a half day tomorrow to get them.”

  “Great. That’s great. And you’ll also be able to make copies and send the packet to the warden. You’ll have to send it next day air to make sure it gets there on time. Can you manage that?”

  “I think I can,” she replied tentatively.

  “I’ll make it easy. I’ll e-mail the letter you need to print and sign with the address to send it to. Will that make it easier?”

  “Yes, that will help.”

  “You can go to the bank then walk to the post office from there. It’s only a block away. You can make copies there. Stuff everything in the envelop you prepared the night before and send it next day air from there. Got it?”

  “I can manage that. I’ll go ask to get off tomorrow morning. Hopefully the permanent sub is available.”

  “Mom, ask for January 5th off too. Veronica’s out of school, but you have a work day. Ask off for January 5th. If we have to fly out the 4th, it will cut into our time with Dad and the airfare is more expensive. I’ll call tonight to get the driver’s license numbers and make sure you have everything you need. Okay? Once we have all the documentation squared away, I’ll book the flight and pay for it by depositing one of the cashier’s checks. Okay? All you have to do is track down the marriage license and birth certificates and get that stuff in the mail. I’ll take care of everything else.”

  “Okay that’s helpful.”

  “Good. I’ll talk to you tonight. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  I immediately banged out the letter to the warden. Good thing my freshman English teacher took the time to show us how to write a business letter. I thought no one needed to know how to do that anymore, but apparently the Federal criminal justice system was antiquated enough to require the use of that skill. I sent it off to Mom and Veronica. Even if Mom couldn’t print it, Veronica would find a way. She wanted to see Dad more than I did. When I was finished, I laid my head on my laptop and imagined seeing Dad. I started to get excited, but with effort, I calmed down. It still wasn’t a sure thing, but I hoped we could work it out.

  *

  Wendy and I stared in the mirror with our heads cocked to the side looking critically at me in the burgundy dress. Wendy and I simultaneously cocked our heads the other direction. I closed one-eye. Switched my head again then turned to face Wendy. She turned to me and as if we had planned it, we both blurted out, “This is the dress!”

  Wendy jumped up and down and clapped. “It’s perfect. The color makes your skin glow. And I’ve got the perfect maroon lipstick and nail polish!”

  “I hadn’t even thought about that.”

  “And the cut
makes you look like a million bucks—not that you don’t always have a hot bod—but this dress makes it movie star hot. The waist line emphasizes your small waist and the silver belt highlights it. The ruching clings to your breasts and shows them off in an elegant way. The skirt flutters around your hips when you walk. It’s like a designer made this dress just for you.”

  “Yeah it’s great. I’m surprised it’s a sample.”

  “You’d be surprised what even I’ve managed to snag as a sample, and I don’t have the direct pipe line to the goods the way David’s mom does. Although…” she looked at the inside of the skirt. “It does look like this dress has been altered to fit you.”

  “David’s mom must have had it altered. I should pay her back.”

  Wendy shook her head. “If she wanted you to pay her back, she would have mentioned it.”

  “She also sent this handbag,” I held up the silver Valentino bag. “And these “foundation garments”,” I held up the loose bra cups she sent. They had some kind of adhesive to hold up the cups.

  “I was actually going to recommend that you get some of those. You can’t wear any kind of bra with this dress the way that it’s cut, but your nipples will poke out embarrassingly if you don’t have something. Those things don’t provide anything in the way of real support, but one night of freedom won’t hurt the girls, and the cups keep things smooth and in place if you know what I mean.” She jumped up and clapped again. “You’re going to look gorgeous in that dress once I’m through with you.”

  “Do you have the time? Don’t you have plans? It’s Saturday.”

  “I have plans, but they’re for later. And I don’t need to get fixed up like you. Let’s start with your nails.” She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a manicure set.

  I gave her an incredulous look. “My desk drawer was full of pencils and rulers and paper. I’m a college student.. What are you?”