Painless (23 page)

So what if I was broiling? At least it offered cover from prying eyes. “A little,” I lied. “Why?”

“I’m dying under this thing. Mind if I get rid of it?”

“Uhhh…" I stammered, “what about the Man in the Moon?”

“Huh? Did I miss something?”

“He can see everything,” I whispered.

“What are you talking about?”

I pointed behind Christos. He turned to look at the moon.

Christos laughed, “Yeah, that guy is a total creeper. He’s always looking through bedroom windows around the world, watching people do it. Imagine all the times he’s watched people fucking in the history of man? Before man learned to hide in caves or build the first grass huts? Geez, the moon has seen it all. I think that means he doesn’t care. We’re just two more people amongst billions. He’s probably bored.”

“Okay, I get your point,” I smiled. “You can dispose of the blanket and we’ll behave like primitive man. Sex under the stars.”

He threw the blanket aside.

Now we were really exposed. I was naked from head to toe, under the night sky, my legs spread, Christos and his hugeness deep inside me.
 

Screw it. I didn’t care if the Man in the Moon or the squirrels or the raccoons were watching with binoculars or not. I wasn’t going to let my worries ruin the mood. I’d had a bunch of orgasms already. Christos deserved his.

“Please continue, good sir,” I quipped.

I was in heaven as Christos’ cock slid cozily in and out of me.
 

He leaned forward and kissed me affectionately. “I totally love you,
agápi mou
.”

“Me too,” I sighed pleasantly.

I gazed into his eyes as he accelerated his thrusting. All I saw was his love, his devotion, and his passion for me. His joyous look from earlier had now eased into total, relaxed pleasure.

“
Agápi mou
,” he moaned. “I love you…”

Before I knew it, I was overtaken by his mounting ecstasy. He increased his tempo and I fell completely into his unbridled desire for me. We weren’t just having sex outside, we were fucking.
 

And I loved it.

Let the whole world listen. I didn’t care.

“Take me, Christos,” I hissed.

He responded by pounding into me. The desire in his eyes ignited into burning passion.

Each time he thrust, he grunted, “You. Are. The. Perfect. Woman. In. Every. Way. Imaginable…”

He continued to fuck me, grinding his pelvis into mine, for a long time. It felt incredible. Hot, wet pleasure stormed through my body, bouncing from head to toe. My body broiled with ecstasy.

My own pleasure built back up to maximum and soon I was floating out of my body, up into the stars. I felt connected to every planet and every solar system and every star I could see above me. I never noticed whether or not the Man in the Moon was watching. It didn’t matter. He too was a part of the universe that held the infinite pleasure that circulated between my heart and Christos’, and the hot heat that exploded between our legs as we came together.

I was one with Christos as powerful orgasms tore through both our bodies.

===

Christos and I spent the weekend relaxing together. Most of it was spent in our new bed. Then it was back to the grind on Monday morning for both of us.

I had a little matter of visiting the Financial Aid offices at SDU to attend to. I had no intention of changing my major from Art back to Accounting like my parents had demanded. That meant I had to get a bigger student loan now to cover the portion of tuition they had been paying previously.

After driving to campus, I walked into the Financial Aid offices and put my name down on the list. While waiting for my name to be called, I doodled in my sketchbook.

A little while later, a woman with curly hair who wore a frilly blouse and knee length skirt came walking out of a hallway. “Samantha Smith?” she asked.

“Me!” I waved and stuffed my sketchbook into my book bag before walking over to join her.

She led me down the hallway to a room full of cubicles. We stopped at hers and she motioned for me to take a seat. There were cat posters pinned up all over the walls of her cubicle, and framed photos surrounding her computer. She also had a stuffed cat wearing a miniature SDU hoody that had a zipper and little drawstrings on the hood.

“Hi” she said as she sat behind her desk. The name placard on the front of the desk read: Sheri Denney. She smiled at me and said, “My name’s Sheri. What can I help you with today, Samantha?”

“I’m going to need more loan money for Spring Quarter or I’m not going to be able to pay my tuition,” I sighed. Did I sound like I was complaining? I didn’t mean to.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Can I see your Student ID?”

I pulled it out and handed it to her. She typed my info into her computer. “It looks to me like you’ve reached the maximum federal loan amount already, based on your parents’ income and your calculated financial need.”

“But I need more money,” I scoffed.

She folded her hands on her desk. “I’m sorry, Samantha. But you have to understand, the federal government and the university consider it your parents’ responsibility to pay for college. The loans are intended to subsidize whatever amount your parents can’t cover. And you’re expected to work to help pay for anything left over. I see on my computer that you have a work study job?”

“I do, at the campus art museum, but it doesn’t come close to making up the difference I’m going to owe for Spring tuition.”

“Have you considered finding a second job off campus?”

“I had one, but it didn’t, uh…work out. It was at a convenience store. I smelled like hot dogs every time I came home from work.”

She grimaced, “Hot dogs?”

“Yeah. I’ll never eat one again. I’m traumatized,” I giggled. “It totally gets in your hair, worse than cigarette smoke.”

“Sounds like you’re better off without that job,” she winked. Sheri was nice.
 

“Anyway,” I said, “I’m looking for another job. But I haven’t found one yet. It may take awhile. Jobs are scarce.”

She nodded sympathetically, “The job market is tough right now.”

“But even if I do find one, I know it probably won’t cover the rest of my tuition.”

“How did you cover the difference Fall and Winter Quarters?”

I frowned, “My parents paid.”
 

“Aren’t they going to help pay for Spring?”

I held my palms up in frustration. “It’s complicated, but…no.”

Compassion knitted Sheri’s brows, “I’m sorry to hear that. It happens more often than you might think.”

“So what can we do? Without my parents’ help, there’s no way I can pay my tuition on time.”

“You could pay in monthly installments,” she offered. “Would that help? It’s three equal payments with the first one due in March.”

I did the math in my head. “With the loan money I’m supposed to get for Spring, I’ll have enough to cover the first payment. But I won’t have enough to make the second and third.”

“At least that gives you some time to find another job,” Sheri said hopefully.

“Yeah,” I sighed, “but I’m not going to make thousands of dollars by April, and thousands more by May.”

Sheri winced, “That sounds like a problem.”

“You’re telling me,” I groaned and clapped my hands on my knees. “I don’t know what else to do.”

“The first step is talking to your parents. Try to work through whatever it is that’s coming between you and them.”

“Believe me, I’ve tried. It’s been an ongoing discussion since I started at SDU last fall.”

“But you’re still talking. That’s something, right?” she smiled optimistically.

“Maybe ‘discussion’ is too strong a word,” I sighed. “More like them giving me orders that they claim I refuse to obey.”

Sheri rolled her eyes. “I know how that goes. I was there once myself. My mom and I had it out all the time when I was a teenager.”

“So you know what I’m talking about?” It felt good to have someone who could relate.

“Do I ever. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get through to your own parents.”

“Believe me, I tried.”

She took a deep breath while nodding her head. I half expected her to keep pushing me to talk to my parents, but she didn’t. Instead, she said, “If you absolutely can’t get your parents to understand where you’re coming from—”

I shook my head emphatically no.

“—and nothing is going to change their minds, there is the option of overriding your dependency status.”

I sat up on the edge of my chair hopefully. “Really?”

“Yes. But you have to meet certain criteria,” she cautioned.
 

“What criteria?” I was sure I could meet something or other. Criteria and me were besties. We went way back.

“Are your parents incarcerated or presumed dead?”

Maybe me and Criteria weren’t as close as I’d hoped. But the idea of my mom or dad in jail was hilarious. I couldn’t decide if my mom would rule her cell block or be shived in the shower because she was such a bitch. My dad would probably be like Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption and do everyone’s taxes while outsmarting the warden. As for presumed dead, did it count that they were dead to me? At least it felt that way. I sighed. Probably not.

“No to both,” I said.

Sheri’s friendly expression suddenly went serious. “This is difficult to ask, but were you physically or sexually abused by either one of your parents?”

“No. But does mental abuse count?” I joked.

I could tell Sheri didn’t find that funny.
 

“Sorry,” I said.

“That’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I know you’re probably very stressed dealing with all these money issues when all you’d rather be focusing on is your studies.”

“You can say that again,” I sighed.

“Next criteria. Are your parents unable to be located?”

I had no interest in ever seeing them again, but that wasn’t what she meant. “No. I mean, yes. They’re in Washington D.C.”

“And you weren’t adopted?”

“No.” But sometimes it felt like I was adopted by robots.

Sheri sighed heavily. “Well, unfortunately that means we won’t be able to override your dependency status.”

My shoulders sank and I slumped down in the chair. “Oh.”

“But you might qualify as independent already.”

“Oh?” I smiled.

“Yes. If you are twenty-four, you would automatically be considered independent, but I see here on the computer that you haven’t yet turned twenty.”

“No,” I sighed. “Not until next school year.”

“And you’re not an orphan, or ward of the court?”

“Do you mean a ward like Robin is a ward of Batman’s?” I asked hopefully

She grinned. “Well yes. But you don’t happen to know any superheroes, do you?”

“One,” I grinned, thinking of Christos. “But he doesn’t have a costume. He has tattoos. Does that count?”

She chuckled, “Sadly, no. Maybe if you got him to wear a costume?” she winked

“Probably not,” I sighed.

“Any chance you’re a veteran?”

“No.”

“A graduate student?”

“Still an undergrad. Geez, I’m nothing, aren’t I?”

She smiled. “I wouldn’t say that. I’d say you’re a bright young woman with a financial hiccup. We can work through it. You don’t have any legal dependents, do you? Any children or aging grandparents you care for?”

“No. But I could get pregnant, if that would help,” I said sarcastically.

“I wouldn’t advise it,” she said with amusement. “Besides, even if you got pregnant tomorrow, you wouldn’t have the baby until Fall Quarter, so your dependent status wouldn’t change until then. That wouldn’t help you pay your Spring tuition, now would it?” She winked at me.

“I guess not.”

She leveled a serious but compassionate look at me. “Don’t get pregnant, Samantha. If you think working two jobs is tough, having a child is ten times harder. I know what I’m talking about.” She picked up a photo from her desk and spun it around for me to see. It was her smiling with a little boy and girl. Both kids were grade school age. “Don’t let their cuteness fool you. Like toads, lizards, and demon spawn, the second they realize they’re larger than you, they will try to eat you,” she grinned.

“Got it. No kids.”

“Gosh,” she sighed, “there’s only one other option.”

I winced. “What? Do I have to be a member of the clergy or something? I’d totally become a nun if it would pay for school.”

“No,” she smiled, “just the opposite. You’re not married, are you?”

A bullet of surprise knocked me into the back of my chair. “Did you say married?”

“Yes.”

“As in, wed? As in, hitched?”

She chuckled, “I did. Can I take it that you have a husband? I only ask because I didn’t see a ring on your finger.”

I didn’t see a ring on my finger either, but the idea made me woozy in the best way possible. I leaned forward in my chair and rested my elbows on Sheri’s desk. My brain and heart swirled with possibilities.

What if Christos and I were married?

What if?
 

I suddenly wanted to do the happy dance on Sheri Denney’s desk. But it wasn’t like I could ask Christos to marry me, could I? No. Such things weren’t done. I could hint. I could hint like crazy twenty times a day. But Christos had to do the asking, assuming I didn’t scare him away with all the hinting.

Sheri raised her eyebrows expectantly. “You are married, aren’t you?”

“No,” I sighed. “Not yet, anyway. But I have a serious boyfriend.”

She deflated a little. “Don’t rush into anything, Samantha. I don’t want you coming back in here tomorrow with some adventure story about how you drove to Las Vegas tonight and got Elvis to marry you and your boyfriend at a drive thru wedding chapel for a hundred dollars. Marriage is a serious commitment. Don’t take it lightly.”

“I know,” I sighed.

Sheri rested a hand on my forearm and looked me in the eye. “I’m not saying don’t get married, I’m just saying don’t rush into it. Get married because you love each other, when you’re ready. Not because you need some financial aid money.”

I really liked Sheri. She wasn’t so hard core like my parents, trying to control everything I did. Maybe Sheri could adopt me? No. She had two kids already.