Forever Yours
©2025 Elder Road Books - Lynnwood WA
Chapter 8: Impatience
HENRY PULLED UP to the residence hall where Carol was waiting for him Friday afternoon. He put her bag in the back of the car and kissed her before opening the door for her.
“We’re off!” he said when he started the car and pulled away from the curb.
“I can’t believe I’m going off on a dirty weekend,” Carol said as she reached across to put her hand on Henry’s leg.
“I have never heard it put that way,” he laughed. “How about a romantic weekend retreat?”
“That does sound more ... romantic. Um ... We don’t have to spend all our time in bed, do we?”
“I have no idea what there is to do in Youngstown, but I certainly hope we’ll be able to find something else to do. I’m a teenager, but I’m not a superman when it comes to being a lover,” Henry said.
“Oh, thank God. I haven’t had sex since high school got out in the spring. I don’t want to be too sore to walk when we get to Cleveland.”
“Hon, we’ll take however much time we need and do whatever feels right to do,” Henry reassured her, patting her hand, still on his leg.
“So, what’s the dream, Henry?” Carol said. “Um ... I don’t mean about screwing all weekend. I mean for life. What do you really want to be when you grow up?”
“The life dream?”
“Yeah. Like I really want to be a doctor and practice women’s medicine.”
“You mean like gynecology?”
“There are other parts of women,” Carol snorted. “I just think women need to be tended by people who don’t see all their problems as hysteria and the solution to be an orgasm.”
“That’s pretty eighteenth century.”
“Well, we’ve been regressing as fast as possible.”
“Okay. Well, I want to conquer AI. I want to be the one who creates applications that are needed and uses AI to accomplish it. All the major research is toward how to get a general AI and once the tool is there, then they go hunting for a use for it. I’ve got some ideas for solving some real problems that I think would be better if there was a degree of artificial intelligence used in the process.”
“Will AI become truly intelligent?”
“Not in my opinion. AI depends on processing power to arrive at solutions, not on creativity. But real intelligence—human intelligence—doesn’t require massive amounts of processing power. It involves the creative instinct to leap beyond the available data.”
“How are you going to go about it? I mean, becoming a doctor has a series of well-defined steps. Degree. Medical school. Internship. Residency. General practice. What are the steps to becoming an AI developer?”
“Not as clearly defined,” Henry said. “I’m already an AI developer. I have two copyrights and three patents pending. And I’m hoping to file a couple more by the end of the year. The big question is how to make it successful. That’s not something one person can do. I have three partners and we are all working toward having a corporation set up and funded by the time we’re out of college.”
“Wow! Fast!”
“In some things, I’m not a very patient guy. I want to see some of my solutions being used by the public. On the other hand, if we need all weekend just to get to know each other without actually having sex, I’m in. It’s just in my career and development that I’m impatient.”
“So, in four years, you expect to have your degree and your corporation set up and funded so you can start selling your solutions?”
“Three years. I’m taking every class I can fit into my schedule to accelerate my degree. Which is why the rest of my ‘free time’ for the fall break will be spent writing code.”
“A new application?”
“This time, I’m setting up the server to host our company so the four of us partners can work together in a secure environment. None of our email, for example, will be stored on a hosting site. It will all be on our own server and connected through a virtual private network. Do you want to tell me about ovaries now? Because getting any deeper into what I’m doing is about as interesting as dissecting a single aspect of medicine.”
“People do that, you know, but we should be able to enjoy our weekend without boring each other to tears with minutiae,” Carol said. “That being said, you provided just enough that it was interesting even if I didn’t understand half the terms you were using.”
“In an ideal world, no one has to understand the terms to use the product.”
“So, in that ideal world, what happens when you create the perfect AI? What will become of Henry Pascal?”
“I suppose I’ll die,” he said, reaching down to give her hand a squeeze. She still didn’t remove it from his leg.
“What? No retirement plans?”
“Do you know anyone our age with retirement plans?”
“Sort of. I want to retire when I’m young enough to enjoy life, but too old to have children. Then I want a beach home—say Malibu—convenient to the local golf club. And I guess, around then, I’ll be interested in having companionship from a nice guy—or a girl if it’s better—who wants to wake up next to me each morning as we grow old.”
“Hmm. I think I’d like to have children one day,” Henry said. “That assumes that I find a wife, since I don’t think I can bear them, and it also assumes that the world starts getting better instead of continuing a desperate downward spiral. I’d be pretty cognizant of the kind of world I was bringing kids into.”
“You’ve left the door open. I’m thinking of slamming it closed. Going into women’s medicine is a last-ditch effort to improve things. It’s really comforting the downtrodden and pointing out that the world sucks, so she doesn’t have to.”
Henry laughed at the double entendre. It was amazing they were nearly to Youngstown already. He checked his GPS for the exit number.
“Do you want to head straight to the hotel and check in, or go out to have some dinner first. It’s almost six. Dinner has less pressure than going to our room.”
“It seems that way. Mostly because when we get to the room, I don’t think I’m going to want to leave it for such a minor thing as eating,” she laughed. “So, let’s do dinner and then go test out the room to be sure it is suitable for our weekend plans.”
Henry had chosen a suites hotel near the freeway. Carol found an unassuming family restaurant nearby. After a light dinner, they stopped at a QuickStop and picked up a few snacks and soft drinks.
“Um ... condoms?” Carol asked.
“I came prepared this time.”
“Thank you! That makes me feel better already,” she smiled.
They checked into the hotel and made their way down a quiet corridor to their room. Henry opened the door and held it for her.
“Henry, this is really nice!” Carol said.
“You didn’t really think I’d take you to a Motel 6, did you?”
“No, but there are probably things that would fall between that and this. I didn’t mean for you to break the bank.”
“I’d like to go on and on about how nothing is too good for you, but the truth is that I found a good deal on the room, so spending a couple of nights here is quite promising,” he said.
“Definitely. Um ... Before we do anything else, could we spend some time just kissing and making out? I mean before we lose all our clothes and jump into bed.”
“You are definitely my kind of girl, Carol. I hate to rush things. And look! Over on the other side of the divider, there’s a nice sofa and a TV.”
“I don’t care about the TV. I mean, I’m not kidding anyone about why we’re here. I’d just like to get warmed up first.”
They got their shoes off, used the bathroom, and settled onto the sofa. Henry sat and Carol laid back in his arms and looked up at him.
“This is nice. You know I could never do this if I didn’t like you, Henry. I don’t even know what possessed me to check you into my room at the golf tournament. That was really unlike me. I’m glad I did, though. It’s been fun talking to you and I know it’s fun kissing you, too.”
They started kissing with little kisses at first before seriously locking lips and exploring each other’s mouths.
“Mmm. I like kissing you, Carol.”
“You’re a great kisser. Let’s do it some more.”
They went back to kissing and somewhere along the line their hands got in on the action. Carol worked the buttons on his shirt open and Henry caressed her breasts.
“If you wear a shirt with buttons tomorrow, I might not be able to restrain myself from just ripping it open and having the buttons fly all over the room,” she murmured as they kissed some more.
“Hmm. I have a western shirt. You know, with the yoke front. A conservative one, not a line dancing shirt. But it does have snaps down the front. I hear girls like them because they can rip them open without having to sew all the buttons on again.”
“That’s a positive. There’s something appealing about having the buttons flying all over the room, though.”
“Can I pull your sweater off so I don’t get tempted to do any ripping?” he asked.
“Yeah. And take your shirt the rest of the way off. I’d like to feel your skin against mine.”
“This could become one of my favorite feelings in the world,” Henry said, pulling her closer so they were chest to chest and lip to lip.
“Don’t go thinking I don’t want you to pick me up and carry me to bed now,” she murmured as their excitement mounted.
“I’d hate to think we weren’t on the same page about that,” he said.
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