Myrtle spent all of yesterday trying not to think about Jaquinn, but it was a futile endeavor, as I did my best to tell her throughout that time. Then, quite suddenly today, she changed her mind. She made her way distractedly through her lesson this afternoon, and after it was over, she marched straight to Jaquinn’s apartment.
When he opened the door, he was surprised to see her, having come to believe that she would not come back to him. “Myrtle,” he said, and the strength of his reaction surprised him.
Myrtle heard the emotion in his voice, and she batted it away as if she were a home-run hitter.[1] “Hello, Jack,” she says, pushing past him into the apartment.
Jaquinn’s confused emotions—happiness, relief, apprehension—dissolved into irritation. “It’s Jaquinn,” he said, turning to look at her with his hand still on the open door.
She opened his refrigerator, pulled out a beer, and cracked open the bottle. “So you really pissed me off on Saturday,” she said, her voice light.
“I’m aware,” he retorted. “Now you’re here to tell me how I can make up for it?” The tone of his voice implied that he would have no interest in making amends, but in his heart he was hoping for that opportunity.
“No need to make up,” she said, sauntering to his favorite armchair and sinking into it. She crossed her long legs, aware of the effect that action would have on him. “Yet,” she added, smirking. “But it might come back to haunt you.”
“Uh-huh.” Jaquinn closed the door at last and folded his arms across his chest. “So what are you here for?”
“You wanna shut up and listen, maybe I’ll tell you.” She took another long swig of beer and looked away from him. “So you pissed me off. Royally. And my first impulse was to call Ashton back, have him over, and fuck him all night long.”
Jaquinn didn’t blink, though I was aware of his hand clenching in the crook of his elbow. “But you didn’t follow this impulse?”
Myrtle shook her head, still not looking at him.
Jaquinn lowered his hands and crossed to sit on the arm of the sofa, frowning at Myrtle. “What caused this impressive restraint?”
She glanced at him, then shrugged. “Thought better of it. He was never a great lay, anyway.”
It amuses me, sometimes, how humans choose to explain the influence we have on them. They must always have an answer, mustn’t they?
“Huh.” Jaquinn couldn’t resist putting in a barb of his own. “Lean pickings compared to what you had been eating, huh?”
She gave him a withering look. “Do you want me here or not? Because another quip like that and I’m out.”
He looked down at her, and I did what I could to show her that he did want her there, very much. She sighed and leaned forward, less sharpness in her now. “Anyway. After I stopped being pissed, I realized that you getting all possessive was you trying to say that you didn’t want me seeing other guys. Am I wrong?”
He swiped the beer from her hand and took a drink. “If I said yes,” he said without looking at her, “would that make any difference to you?”
Her chest was getting tight. It was a strange feeling for Myrtle, and she shrugged, pushing to her feet. “What I do with my body and my self is not your concern,” she informed him, giving him a cold glare. Then she looked away. “But I don’t think I really want to see other guys, either.”
I heard the thump of his heart from across the room. He pushed to his feet, but Myrtle spun away from him, holding up her hands to keep him away. “You’re going to have to give me some time,” she warned him. “This is new to me.”
“But it’s what you want?” he asked, watching her pace against the wall. His throat was tight. “To be exclusive[2] with me?”
She looked down and took a deep breath. Then she turned around and gave him a bright smile. “Well, I thought we might could give it a try,” she said.
He was across the room in two steps, catching her face in his hands and kissing her all over it. “Baby, you are not going to regret it,” he murmured, smiling.
“I better not,” she replied, but she was laughing, and when he pulled her back to the sofa, she went willingly.
It was a fine beginning, I thought, and I am pleased, though in the end I had little to do with it. My contribution will come in the following days, the moments when doubt and temptation will begin to draw Myrtle away. It is my quest to see if her wandering heart can be tied down, and if so, to find out then if her strength can be put to nobler causes. We will have to see.
[1] This is a metaphor borrowed from the sport of baseball, in which a small ball thrown at great speeds is struck with a wooden or metal bat into the distance. Ahury currently has an assignment who has a great fascination with baseball, so he has been learning about the sport, and I have had the privilege of helping him.
[2] Many of my fellow Cupids will not like the use of this word—love is not meant to exclude anyone; it is intended to enrich the lives of everyone it touches, however indirectly. But in this particular case, exclusivity will bring greater blessing in the end.