Chapter 5: Sometimes, a Girl's Gotta Rut

The next morning, I put her latte down in front of Emily and sat across from her. It was hard to keep the smile off my face or hidden behind my eyes, so I didn't even try.

"Pirates and natives, Emily? Or should I call you Amélie?"

Emily put her hand on mine.

"Here, I'm Emily. I'm always Emily."

She stared into her latte, frowning, but when she looked up she was smiling.

"I like pirates."

"Does it—do they—mean something special for you, or do something special to you?" I couldn't suppress a laugh. "Well, I know what they do to Amélie."

Emily's smile got bigger.

"Freedom. Absolute freedom."

"How so?"

"Fucking."

I reached out to hold Emily's hand. Her eyes met mine, and they were happy eyes. She leaned across the table to kiss me. She lingered. Her eyes closed.

"Mmm."

She opened her eyes. I thought I saw something wild there.

"You know that summer Annie and her brother visited, right? When you were home from school after your freshman year?"

"Of course."

I shifted a little in my seat. Oh, yes. I remembered that so very well. Emily's eyes seemed to grow bigger.

"Well, there's something else about that time. Remember the afternoon where you all lined up and took me, one after another—you, your dad, Annie's brother, Chris?"

Emily laughed, a low, salacious laugh that almost made me come in my pants, right there in the coffee shop.

"You and Chris had seconds. Your dad wasn't quite up to it, at least not right then.

She leaned across the table and kissed me again.

"I think my dad wanted to join the queue, too."

My mom and Alma had worked Joseph over that afternoon. He alternated between them, fucking their mouths, until he sprayed their faces and they kissed each other. I think if Joseph had been younger, he would have had them both again.

"It's a good thing your mom and mine were there to distract him, Emily."

A pensive look replaced Emily's smile.

"I know." She sighed, then laughed. "Sometimes I wish he'd gone ahead and taken me."

She paused.

"Although I'm glad he didn't."

"Emily, I think he probably felt the same way. In fact, I'm pretty sure of it."

We were quiet for a moment. I looked at Emily.

"I'm also pretty sure my mom had some of those feelings, too."

Emily laughed.

"I know she did, sweetie. I heard your mom and mine talking once when they didn't realize I was around."

I looked around at the neighboring tables. No one was paying attention to us.

"So, Emily, about pirates?"

She brightened.

"Well, that's what I'm saying. Sometimes a girl just wants to get fucked. A lot. She doesn't want to get hurt, although a little rough stuff is OK, but she wants to go mindless, become a total fuck toy and get, well, reamed. Everywhere."

She looked at me. The wild look was coming back into her eyes.

"You remember Caroline?"

I nodded.

"Sure. She of the Euro vacation where her brother jizzed her, right?"

Emily grinned.

"Yup. She's the one. I told you back then I'd made the story up, but I didn't. I was teasing you."

She drank some of her latte.

"There was more to the story. A party later on, some friends they'd met at a neighboring villa, all of them from somewhere else, and things got a little loose. Well, a lot loose."

Emily leaned across the table once more and brushed my cheeks with her lips. She whispered in my ear.

"I'll tell you about it later. Somewhere private."

I straightened up. Adjusted my pants, which somehow had gotten tight. Emily noticed. She was grinning again.

"Back to pirates, Emily, what's the deal?"

"Remember the scene where Amélie is standing beside the helmsman, Antoine? Her breasts are bare and she's feeling the wind blow her hair? That's what I'm talking about. I mean, sometimes you have to let the girls out to play. Don't you feel that way about your—"

Here she gestured in the general direction of my lap.

"Well, sometimes, sure, Emily. I mean, it's nice to let things swing free, I know. Remember our days together growing up in our backyards?"

Emily's smile was tender.

"Of course I do, Daniel. Our parents set the example."

They sure did that, I was thinking.