Carmen, Act I, Scene III
"It's a TWIN BED?!?!"
"So."
"Right. It's also the last one. Are you sure this is o.k., Carmen?"
"Yes."
"Will you put on some music, Colton? I'm going to freshen up."
"I will."
I fumbled with the stereo, trying to find a good station, or a cd that didn't piss me off, until she emerged from the bathroom in her panties.
Her hair covered her breasts. Standing in the doorway, the only bright light in the room coming from the behind her I could see little more than her silhouette. She was dark. Her hips were full. She was taller than I remembered. Her breasts were bigger too. I remembered Tony guessing she'd had them worked on.
I stood up, and turned to face her. We met at the foot of the bed.
We kissed.
She bit my lower lip, hard.
I bit back, harder.
I tasted blood.
Hers or my own, or both, I couldn't tell. I didn't care.
I held her face with both of my hands.
I wound the fingers of my left hand into her hair.
I pulled her head back, kissing her chin, biting her neck.
With my right hand, I pulled her breast to my mouth, and bit.
She cried out.
I stopped.
Carmen pushed me away from her.
She said, "Why did you stop."
It wasn't a question, so much as a demand.
"I don't want to hurt you."
"You can't."
"I won't."
"Colton, do you know how you'll know if you're hurting me?"
"I won't do that."
"Answer the fucking question!"
I'm confused. What the fuck is she talking about? How much did she have to drink? How much did I?
I clench my teeth and stifle a roar that comes out "
HOW?"
"I'll fucking tell you you're hurting me."
Then she closes the three feet of space between us and tears off my shirt.
She can't figure out my belt, and growls at me to take it off.
I pick her up by the arms, and throw her onto the bed. I'm still not sure what is happening, exactly, but I'm not about let Carmen and her smug pretentions order me around.
I take my time taking off my belt. I drop in on the floor and step out of my shoes.
I undo the button and zipper and step out of my pants.
I bend down to take off my socks, not taking my eyes off Carmen's.
I slip off my boxer briefs.
I step around the side of the bed closest to the bathroom.
I lean over to kiss her.
I wrap the fingers of my right hand into her hair.
I kiss her mouth, hard.
My left hand finds her nipple and twists it.
She bites my lip again. This time, I know it's my blood I can taste.
She grunts.
I pinch her nipple harder. I release it, and slap her breast hard enough to leave a mark.
Again, she cries out.
I slap her face.
She smiles.
I pull her mouth onto my swiftly stiffening cock.
I slap her other breast. Then I pinch the nipple, hard enough to turn my fingernails white.
She keeps sucking. Louder now.
I slide my hand under her panties.
They're purple.
I know this, because until I moved to the Pacific Northwest, they were in my safe.
They're soaked.
I know this, because as I drove to Vegas, they were still wet in my glove compartment.
I pull them toward her feet, still holding her face to my cock.
I climb on to the bed, a knee on either side of Carmen's head.
I bury my face in her her almost bare pussy.
Her clit is swollen.
Her labia, too.
She tastes exotic. Like Marrakesh or Morrocco. Somewhere on the Spice route.
I push my elbows under her knees until her feel are up in the air, my elbows in the backs of her knees.
I greedily eat her pussy.
I'm biting and sucking on her clit.
She's squirming and moaning around my cock.
My saliva and her juices are running down the crack of her ass, and pooling around her asshole.
I'm seconds from coming already.
She does.
She almost falls off the bed holding onto my ass, trying to keep sucking my cock as I struggle to pull away.
I won't know until the next night as I'm getting ready to head to out for the evening from my room in Las Vegas that she dug her fingernails into my ass and thighs hard enough to draw blood.
All I know now is that I don't want to cum yet.
Carmen looks disoriented.
"Are you allright?" I whisper.
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes, I think so."
"Yes."
"Be sure. I'll ask again."
"Yes."
"Fuck me."
"NOW!"
I wrap my right hand around her throat. So quickly, she has no idea it's coming.
First, her eyes go wide with surprise, and she sucks in a little breath.
Then, she smiles.
I lean into her face.
"Don't fucking tell me what to do," I hiss.
Then, I squeeze.
She smiles wider.
"Do you understand."
Her lips peel back.
"Fuck you."
I smile.
And let go of her neck.
I grab a fist full of her hair.
Her gorgeous, looooong black hair.
The hair I used to steal smells of, as I'd lean over her shoulder at work, pointing out a better sentence structure.
Now I know she took a dive.
She made the mistakes on purpose.
To tease me.
Who's teasing who now, Carmen?
I twist her head to her right, her neck, and the rest of her body follow.
She's face down on the bed.
I pull her hair back until she's on all fours.
I pull her back further, while I dig in my pants for a condom.
I find one, and tear the wrapper open with my teeth.
I set the condom on her lower back as I switch hands so I can use my right hand to roll the condom onto myself.
I suck on my right thumb, wetting it with spit as I slowly pull Carmen back towards my cock.
I roughly run my thumb from her pussy over her asshole, starting to push it in her.
Carmen tries to turn around, but I pull harder on her hair.
I grab my cock with my right hand, and guide it into her pussy.
With my left, I pull her hair to my left, forcing her to watch us in the mirrored closet doors, as I fuck her.
She arches her back and pushes back into me.
"Harder."
I give her hair a sharp jerk, and let it go.
I dig the fingers of each hand into the flesh at the top of her hips.
I push and pull her away from me and into me, as I fuck.
I'm certain I'm brusing my pubic bone with every thrust.
I push my right hand into the small of her back.
I keep slamming us together with my left hand.
"Look at us, Carmen."
"Unghfffff."
"I waited a decade for this."
"MMMMmmmmggghhhhffff."
She comes again, bucking into me with no rhythym.
I try to still her, so I can get started again, but she pulls forward and away from me.
Her eyes are as big as saucers.
I move to push her knees toward her chest and climb on top of her again.
"Enough."
What?!
"I have to go."
I can't imagine the look on my face. Picture, in your head, the photo that would go in the dictionary next to "slack jawed yokel." Better yet, "incredulous slack jawed yokel."
"What's wrong?!?!"
"I have to go."
This, while she's starting to get dressed.
"Are you o.k.?"
"No."
"I have to go."
She's dressed. She's looking around for her purse.
"Wait, I'll walk you to your car."
"Then hurry. I need to leave, NOW."
I dress. I find her panties, still sopping wet, and shove them into my pocket. I'm afraid if I don't, I'll believe this was a dream.
Or a nightmare.
Somehow, the bill has already been slipped under the door.
On the way by the desk, I ask if there is anything else I need to do to check out.
There isn't.
At her car, Carmen kisses me goodbye.
"Call me tomorrow," she says.
I say, "It IS tomorrow."
"Then call me later today."
"I will."
"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"
"No."
"But I'm glad you came to meet me Colton."
"I have to go."
"Call me."
Curtain closes.
Carmen, Act I, Scene II
I was late, spending 20 minutes trying to avoid a $25 valet fee. I was in grad school for fuck's sake, and spending the summer of my internship travelling around the West while I still had the freedom to do so.
Carmen was sitting at the bar, drinking... scotch, maybe? At least she handn't given up on all of her pretensions - that was something.
I stood behind her, watching her in the mirror behind the bar, waiting to see if she'd recognize me. I must have waited a whole 10 seconds before I couldn't take it any more and leaned forward to whisper in her ear.
"Carmen? You look like you've surpassed the promise of the woman you might have become. Amazing."
She turned. Looked at me. Smiled. Spent what felt like an hour looking into my eyes before taking a head to toe inventory.
"You have no idea."
She was right. And in the space of a minute, I was 20 again. Lost in my head, wondering what the fuck I was doing, and how not to fuck it up.
So, just in time, I decided to pretend I had a clue.
We ordered again, and went to a table out by the pool overlooking the city. I had a LOT of listening to do.
Carmen had met the love of her life - but couldn't tell me more. They had broken up, and it had been nasty. Very nasty. She couldn't tell me more without crying.
So we talked about everything else.
The more we drank, the easier it got. She was never sloppy. It just doesn't exist within her. It did come out though, that she wasn't ANYONE's little sister.
She liked fucking. Her ex was preoccupied with work.
She liked giving up control.
She liked girls.
As a prelude to cock.
While we were sitting, drinking and talking, I excused myself to the restroom.
I returned to find Carmen at the outdoor bar talking to what looked like a gaggle of models, if not super models.
When she came back to the table, she said they'd invited her up to their suite. She said she'd check with me. Do you want to go?
Are you fucking kidding me?! I'm supposed to leave for Vegas tonight to catch up with a bunch of my friends from high school, and one of my neighbors from Texas. Models? I can't explain what came out of my mouth next.
"No. I'd rather just talk to you. It might be another ten years before I see you again."
Another smile.
"You're sweet. And I had such a crush on you. Now I'm going to the ladies room. Will you get us another drink?"
"Yes."
While she was gone, the models were checking me out from the other side of the pool. In my head I could hear their thoughts, as clearly as my own.
"Is he rich? Hung? Both? How'd he get HER?!"
Carmen got back just as the drinks did.
After the waitress left, I said, "Carmen, I have to say something - and please don't take it the wrong way, I value what I sincerely hope will be a strong friendship in the future. If I don't say this though, I'll never forgive myself, and I can't live with that kind of regret."
"What? Is something wrong?"
"Not at all. Maybe inappropriate, but not wrong. I'm going to go get a room. Will you settle our tab, while I do that? When I come back, I'm going to invite you to spend the night with me. It won't hurt my feelings if you don't, but I can't sit here anymore listening to you tell me about who you are now, and not want you. I'll get to Vegas when I get there, and I don't expect that we'll have more than tonight, if we have that. If I come back and you say no, I'll see to it that you get home, and I'll call you tomorrow, and we'll talk about how we can do a better job of keeping in touch."
"If you say yes, though, you get to realize what you called your 'crush' a few minutes ago, and I... Well, I've wanted you since well before we went skiing."
"You'll get the check?"
"Yes."
"I'll be back."
I got the last room available. I can't tell you how relieved I was it wasn't a suite. I won't get into how much it was - but if it hadn't been her, and I hadn't had a half dozen cocktails, and she hadn't become something else entirely than I was prepared for, I would have probably just got into my car and headed East.
I came back, smiling.
"Carmen?"
"Colton?"
"Will you stay with me tonight?"
"Yes."
The Opera - Carmen, Act I, Scene I
In the office where I worked as an undergrad at the large private university in Los Angeles, there were two women. Hell, there were a lot more than two, but we were all to greater and lesser degrees captivated by both of them.
Andi, a dead ringer for "Mallory" from Family Ties was the good natured, sweet, tall, gawky girl next door. She was smarter than the girl from the TV show she favored, but probably less coordinated. Hot, but in the way hope your little sister isn't, because she's your little sister. Exactly the kind of hot you hope your older sister is, because, well, she's bound to have hot friends that you're just certain one day will start to take you seriously.
Carmen was her diametric opposite. If Andi was the light, Carmen was definitely the darkness. Graceful, elegant, wickedly fucking smart, cultured, and undoubtably a daughter of privilege of some type. Greek/Spanish? French/Indian? Who knew? Who cared? Even though she was a "serious person" and a good student, too caught up in preparing for law school (Top 5 program, geographically diverse - looks good on a resume, law review, magna cum laude) she was capable of being funny, usually unintentionally.
"Where do you ski?"
"Me?" I answered? "Colorado is the only place I've ever been."
"Oh." Pause. "Gstaad is amazing!"
She realized how pretentious it sounded moments after the rest of us, but don't think we let her live it down.
I even got to go on a last second ski trip with her. I was hanging around the office finishing up some work and she was racing around trying to get out of the office to head out of town.
"Hey, Colton?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing after work?"
"I dunno."
"Want to come to Mammoth with Jill and I?"
"When?"
"We're leaving in an hour."
"Pick me up on your way out."
Nothing happened. Although she DID warm my bed up before climbing into the one she shared with Jill, her sorority (looks good on a resume) sister.
Carmen was really close to our boss, who swore she was chaste. Maybe she'd slept with her college boyfriend who ended up being slimy. But that was about it.
Then she got married to her best friend from high school.
And I'll be fucked if he wasn't even goofier than I was. Except for being a lawyer, I was, well, better than him. Smarter, more athletic, funnier - what the fuck?! Still, I was delighted to be invited to the wedding, even though I couldn't make it. My future ex-wife even wanted to go, but we had already committed to a different wedding.
So that was two guys she'd slept with.
And I think the last time I heard of her until our former boss, with whom we'd both individually remained close to dropped this on me, after my own wedding.
"Hey, Colton - had lunch with Carmen last week."
"Yeah - still sultry?"
"Fuck an A. Better. It's like now that she's divorced, she's recognized the power of her sexuality - and she's on the prowl."
"Think she's hit sleeping around yet?"
"Carmen? No chance. She told me she just likes the power."
"That about fucking figures."
"Oh, anyway - she told me that she was into you back when you both worked with me."
"Fuck you."
"No, seriously. She asked about you. I caught her up on the important developments, and then she said something about wondering why you never asked her out."
"Tony, let me be perfectly clear about this: Carmen would have gone out with me?"
"Yes."
"And you're telling me this now."
"Yes."
"If I were standing right there, instead of half a continent away, I would belt you right in the fucking mouth!"
"Why!? That's great news!"
"Shut the fuck up and listen, you prick. I'm married. And NOW, when it does me NO good, when I can do NOTHING about it, when my hands are tied, you tell me that I could have gone out with CARMEN!?"
"Oh. Uhhhhhhhhh, nevermind."
Then we laughed.
Then I got divorced.
And found myself once again in the City of Angels, with plans to meet Carmen at a hotel downtown.
No show.
Tony consoled me with this: "Don't worry. Happens to me all the time. She's busy - and you know her job pretty much runs her life. I think she said she had to fly to London at the last minute tomorrow morning, so it's not like she's blowing YOU, personally, off."
I knew that - but still. I had new information. Well, it wasn't exactly new information, but it did change things.
Or, I thought it changed things. I know now of course, that I had changed things. The kid that had been intimidated by a girl as smart as he was, with some idea of what she wanted, even if she was only pretending it was something she'd considered before choosing, was gone. At least, he'd faded to the back of the frame.
Yet again, occasion to spend an evening in the city I really grew up in.
Again, plans with Carmen.
This time at the Mondrian in Hollywood. Million dollar view of the city below. Would she show?
Yes.
With a bullet.
No gnus is good gnus...
Hey y'all.
Thanks for noticing I was gone. It was, what, a bit over a week? I had no idea I'd be missed. I very much appreciate you checking in.
I'm good. It's been hectic. I started training for a new job last Monday, and I have three more weeks of it. Then another five months, and I can find a position in which I'm really interested. But that's enough of that.
Let me try to recap what happened in my absence:
Jefferson is maintaining a social calendar that makes me tired just reading about it. Seriously, when I was single, and dating a lot, I was exhausted. I've really got to revisit the whole "not having a nine to five" lifestyle again - but it will be awhile. Carry the torch proudly, amigo.
Jenna is suffering from the opposite of "when it rains it pours" syndrome. Been there, kid. Keep fighting. It'll get better, I promise.
Jezebelle is about to do a disappearing act, if I remember correctly. Been a while since I heard from her, and I already miss her. Safe travels, doll.
Jo has vanished. If you're out there, darlin', I hope you're well.
Maddie and Marcus made it in Kentucky, and managed to include the kids on their trip. Reading about it made me miss the me who used to be able to just take off like that. And Maddie. But then, I missed her before I heard about the trip.
Meg had her first mmf threesome. Yea! Go Meg! Geography is still, if not "the," then certainly "a" devil. Can't say that didn't turn me just the slightest shade of green myself.
Then again, she did get to see some "hot boy on boy action" and really, what use would I have been in that situation anyway? We straight guys are apparently not only "dull as dishwater," but we also are rumoured to be dumb and smelly. I wonder, do versatile bisexual guys feel the same way about the boring old tops and bottoms who don't switch? I'd guess probably so.
So, I'm back. And I've got a few days before company starts arriving in waves that will last until almost the end of the month. I can't say I'm dreading having people in from out of town, because dread is too strong a word, but only just.
And I stopped just short of promising my favorite Phillies fan that I'd have something good for her to read soon, and I'm going to have to make soon last a bit longer than I ordinarily would. I'm just about wiped out. I'm looking forward to taking the hounds for a reasonably long walk, taking a shower, and settling in to try to catch up on Deadwood.
Tomorrow, though, I'll post the tale of Carmen. I met her my Junior year in college. If she was born with a silver spoon, then I was born with a paper plate. I crushed on her hard, though, and we became friends, and then acquaintances through our marriages, and divorces.
We stayed in touch through a mutual friend. Until the summer before last...
