Chapter 35
After another quick check of her tables, Lucy ducked out back to call Theresa. Now that she’d had time to think about what was happening with Jesse, her emotions overwhelmed her. She was crying by the time Theresa answered the phone.
“What? What is it? Where are you?” Theresa asked in a panicked voice, ready to jump in the car and go to Lucy if she needed her.
“I’m sorry,” Lucy said, trying to calm down. “I’m fine. More than fine. It’s Jesse. I-I don’t know what’s going on, but I think he’s alive again.”
“What?”
“I touched him, Theresa. I could touch him and hold him, and he kissed me. And he has a heartbeat and…” She broke down crying again. “He’s breathing, Theresa. He’s breathing!”
“That”s impossible!” Theresa said.
”I know! I know it sounds insane. If I hadn’t witnessed it for myself, I”d never believe it. But it happened. I felt him. I put my arms around him and––”
”That”s crazy,” Theresa said, her voice barely a whisper. After a moment of contemplation, she added, ”Well, I am a Christian after all. I believe Christ rose again, so why not Jesse? That’s amazing, Lucy. Just amazing. I’m so happy you got to finally touch him.”
“Me, too.” And I’m planning on touching him a lot more tonight. “Look, I really need you to stay at Steven’s tonight.”
“Ohhhh, I see…” Theresa said in a knowing voice.
Lucy rolled her eyes. She knew Theresa would tease her, just like Joel was bound to torture Jesse.
“You’re going to deflower him, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Lucy laughed. “I guess I am. So I need you to make yourself scarce.”
“No way! I wanna be there when you rock his world!”
“Theresa!”
Theresa cackled. “Of course. Of course I’ll stay with Steven.” She didn”t sound thrilled at that idea.
“Thanks.”
“I’m so happy for you, Lucy. Really,” Theresa said sincerely.
“Thanks, ’Resa.”
“Have fuuuun,” she said in a singsong voice. “I want details tomorrow. And Lucy? Be gentle with him.” Theresa giggled before hanging up the phone.
* * *
Jesse wasgrateful that he found Joel right away. He wasn’t surprised to see Fillis sitting with him at their usual spot on Steinwehr Ave, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to get through this conversation with her there. Sure, they girl-watched together and joked about sex, but she was still like his mother. Jesse needed Joel to tell him exactly what to do to pleasure Lucy, and the discussion would probably get rather graphic.
Jesse ran up to the two of them. Fillis looked at him with concern at his haste until she saw his expression. He looked happy, so she calmed down.
“Didja kiss her?” Joel asked, grinning and getting right to the point.
Jesse’s grin spread even wider. “Yes! I got to kiss her and hold her…and she feels just as soft as she looks.”
“Bet you weren’t soft when you touched her,” Joel said with a chuckle.
With a slightly uncomfortable look at Fillis, Jesse admitted with a slight blush, “No, I wasn’t.” He looked down at Joel sitting on the steps. “I really need your help. I’m gonna make love to Lucy!”
“Oh, honey, that’s wonderful,” Fillis said, her face filled with love for Jesse. ”What a gift this is. How lovely for you both.”
“And you need my help?” Joel asked with amusement. “Hate to break it to you, but this is something you’re gonna have to do on your own.” He waved a hand through his crotch area, not even looking to see if anyone was watching. Nobody screamed, so he figured he was safe.
“As if I’d let you touch her,” Jesse said, before remembering he’d better be nice if he wanted Joel’s help. “I just…I need your help. I need your advice on what to do. I-I-I mean, I know what to do, I-I just mean…” Jesse stammered as he glanced over at Fillis. His face felt hot.
“You’re blushing more than that lovely girlfriend of yours!” Joel laughed heartily.
“Okay, okay,” Fillis said, getting up. “I can see you don’t need your Second Mama here for this discussion.”
Jesse smiled gratefully at her.
“You didn’t ask for my advice, but I’m gonna give it to ya anyway. Listen,” Fillis said, making sure Jesse looked her in the eye even though she knew how embarrassed he was. “That girl loves you. She just wants to be with you. I don’t want you puttin’ all kind of pressure on yourself ’bout this, ya unnerstand? Don’t worry about what does or doesn’t happen, ya hear? Remember what this is all ’bout. You finally have a chance to express your love physically. Love her, hold her, touch her, be sweet like ya are. That’s all she needs from you.”
“Thank you, Second Mama.” He took her words to heart, and felt a little less nervous. “You’re right.”
Fillis smiled at him, then murmured to Joel, “Now you teach him how to treat that girl right.”
Joel stifled a chuckle and nodded.
Fillis left them, and Joel grinned at Jesse. Jesse groaned inwardly. Joel wasn’t going to make this easy on him.
“Not here,” Jesse said. “I can’t go invisible anymore, and we don’t need to scandalize innocent tourists with this kind of talk.”
“Right. Let’s go sit up at Little Round Top.”
Little Round Top was a good place to go. They could sit up there and look down on some of the battlefields, including Devil’s Den. It might be crowded, but they could find a private spot.
It took them longer than usual to get there, because now Jesse had to actually walk. When they arrived, they perched up on the hill and under some trees, far enough away from the tourists so they wouldn’t be heard.
“Okay!” Joel said. “Where to begin. Well, young man, you’re old enough to know how it works. When a man and a woman love each other very much…”
“Spare me the grade-school lesson,” Jesse said, and Joel cackled at his own wit. “I know where babies come from, okay? I know the basics. But…I need to know…what to do…for her. How do I, you know, make her…”
Joel grinned, amused by Jesse’s sudden shyness. It made him want to be as blunt as possible. “Climax. Come. Orgasm. You want to make her scream, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I do.” Jesse smiled wickedly, his embarrassment fading the more Joel taunted him. He was determined not to let Joel get the best of him.
“All right, Secesh!”Joel couldn’t help but be impressed by Jesse’s can-do attitude. “Do you smell?”
“What?”
“Think about it, Pinocchio. Since you’re a real boy now, do you stink? You know what life was like in camp, all sweaty and gross. We never bathed.”
Jesse smelled his armpits. “Oh, God!”
Joel waved him off. “Don’t panic. Go to the Days Inn when we’re done talkin’. You can’t walk through walls anymore, but you know all the security codes, when the maids come through and all that. Go in and have a shower. Be careful with the knobs and don’t burn yourself.”
“Okay, okay. Good idea.”
“And while you’re in the shower, you need to touch yourself.”
“What?” Jesse said, his face turning red.
“Read my lips. Jerk off. Repeatedly. She’s a beautiful woman, and you’re a 175-year-old virgin. How long do you think you’re gonna last with her?”
“Yeah,” Jesse admitted. “Good point. Okay, but what…what do I do when I’m with her?”
Jesse looked so earnest and afraid that it made it hard for Joel to make fun of him. Be nice, he reminded himself. Charles taught you how to please Emma, and he wasn’t a dick about it. Joel had slept with two women before Emma, but he hadn’t really known what he was doing. He doubted those girls had all that much fun with him. Emma was different. He loved her so much, and he desperately wanted to make her feel good. Joel knew Jesse felt the same about Lucy.
”First thing”s first. Is she a virgin, do you know?” Joel asked.
Jesse shook his head. ”No. She”s been with one other guy before me.”
”Okay, good.”
Jesse cocked his head and looked at Joel quizzically.
”Trust me, that”s a good thing. The first time can be painful for a woman, and believe me it”s no fun when you have to be the one to hurt her.”
Jesse nodded. He looked stressed out, overwhelmed at all the things he didn’t know.
“Relax. A lot of this is just common sense. Take your time undressing her. Kiss her neck, her shoulders, down her breasts…”
Jesse perked up at that.
“You like that idea, don’t you?” Joel teased.
“I just…I can’t believe she’s gonna let me touch her, ya know?”
“I know what you mean. She wants you to touch her,” Joel said kindly. “Remember, she’ll probably be very emotional. I mean, you both will, but you know how tender-hearted she is.”
Jesse smiled, grateful that Joel knew Lucy so well. He would be able to tell Jesse just what to do, what was right for her.
“Make sure you kiss her, especially when you’re inside her.”
Jesse nodded, still not quite believing that he was going to get to be inside his beloved Lucy. And soon.
“Get her naked,” Joel continued matter-of-factly. “Then there’s a few different things you can try to make her feel good. Like when she’s on her back, you can take these two fingers”—he held up his forefinger and middle finger together—“slip them inside her and stroke upward like this.” He made a stroking motion in the air with his fingers.
Jesse looked uncertain.
“What? You can’t be a wuss about pleasing your woman.”
“No, no. It’s just…you wouldn’t give me bad advice, would you?” Jesse asked. They’d come to trust each other lately, but their friendship was still a bit tentative. Jesse wouldn’t put it past Joel to try to humiliate him by telling him the wrong thing.
“I hate you,” Joel said, but in a light tone that made it clear that it was no longer true, “but I get how important this is. Even I wouldn’t do that to you.” He shot Jesse a serious look. “And I sure as hell wouldn’t do that to her.”
Jesse nodded, convinced. That much he knew was true. Joel would never do anything to ruin this experience for Lucy.
“Trust me. Put your fingers in her, and stroke up. When you do that, you’re hitting the same spot that you’ll hit when you’ve got your cock in her. It’s her G-spot or whatever.”
Jesse nodded. That sounded easy enough.
“Okay. Next lesson. You know about a woman’s clit?” Joel asked.
Jesse shook his head, and Joel groaned with annoyance. Jesse looked worried, and Joel reminded himself again to be nice. “Okay. Say this is her vagina,” Joel said, making a circle with his fingers. Jesse winced. “What now?”
“If she had any idea we were talking about her like this…”
Joel grimaced guiltily, then nodded. “I know it’s weird, Secesh. I mean, guys talk about sex all the time, but it’s different when you’re talking about the woman you love. I get that, okay? I love her, too. And you know that I would never disrespect her, right?”
“I know.”
“It’s not like we’re talking bad about her. I’m just trying to show you how to take care of her.”
Jesse nodded. He still felt guilty, but he really wanted to know how to please Lucy. “Okay. If this is her vagina, this is her clit.” Joel pointed to the top of the circle. “This little spot right here—that’s where a woman feels most of her sexual pleasure. If you want to give her an orgasm, that’s where you need to touch her.”
“Okay. Good to know.” Jesse nodded, paying close attention. He clearly had had no idea about such things.
“Thing is, you gotta be gentle. When you’re inside her, whether it’s your fingers or your penis, you can stroke pretty damn hard and it won’t hurt. Usually feels really good to a woman when you thrust hard inside, but the clit is a different story. If you press too hard, you can hurt her. So be gentle. Think of how sensitive your balls are, and that’ll give you some idea.”
“Okay, so what do I do?”
“First of all, you gotta forget all the pornos you’ve seen at the Days Inn. It’s all bullshit,” Joel explained. He stopped talking for a moment as a mom walked by with a toddler in tow. He continued once they were out of earshot. “All those X-rated movies where the woman is screamin’ and having an orgasm with the guy on top of her. It just doesn’t work like that.”
Jesse looked a little disappointed to hear that.
“You gotta massage her clit to get her to come, and you usually can’t get to it when you’re on top. Sometimes if the girl is on top it can work, but you usually have to pleasure a woman separately. If you’re any kind of gentleman, you take care of her needs first.”
“Got it,” Jesse said. He would be glad to take care of Lucy first. He wanted so much to be a good lover to her.
“Now you can rub her clit—gently—with your finger or thumb…or…how shall I put this…think lesbian porn.”
“What?” Jesse asked, more confused than ever.
“Use your tongue,” Joel said bluntly.
“Ohhhh. I get it,” Jesse said, recalling the lesbian stuff he’d seen on TV. “It all seems so complicated.”
“It’s not, really. Touch her gently on that spot. Do it however you want, but I’m telling you, if you go down on her, it’ll be the most pleasurable thing you can do for her.”
“How will I know if I’m doing it right?” Jesse asked, looking stressed out at all this new information.
“Trust me. You’ll know. She’ll probably be screaming your name.”
“Really?” Jesse asked with great interest.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Secesh?” Joel then spoke in a high-pitched voice, “Oh, Jesse, Oh, Jesse!”
Jesse blushed furiously and waved him off. Joel chuckled. He’d behaved pretty well so far, but he still felt the need to give Jesse a hard time.
“Seriously, though. Do this for her. It’ll make her crazy, I swear.”
Jesse looked completely overwhelmed.
“Fillis was right, ya know. Try not to stress about it. Lucy knows you’ve never done it before. She just wants to be close to you. She’s not gonna expect you to be a great lover, but you’re gonna surprise her, now, aren’t you?”
Jesse looked at Joel hopefully, like maybe he really could do this well after all.
“Jesse,” Joel said, calling him by his real name for the first time ever. “You can do this.”
The Texas soldier took in a deep breath. “Thank you. I mean it.”
“No problem,” Joel said. “Somebody once gave me the same advice before my wedding night.”
“Charles?” Jesse asked.
“Yeah,” Joel said with a fond smile.
Jesse looked Joel in the eye and a look of understanding passed between them. Jesse was sorry that he’d killed Joel’s friend, and Joel wasn’t angry anymore.
Joel gestured at Jesse’s dirty clothes and said, “Now, go get cleaned up and go take care of your woman.”