Chapter 32

When I woke up the next morning I found myself alone in bed, although there was a warm area next to me that must have been vacated only recently. I could hear water running in the en suite so I guessed Joanna was in the shower. She was humming quietly to herself, an unrecognisable tune, but the effect was incredibly endearing all the same. It didn’t sound as though she had any regrets about the previous night.

Soon after the water stopped running, Joanna emerged from the en suite wearing her prom dress. “I feel really skanky wearing yesterday’s underwear,” she said, “but I’ve got a change of clothing at my friends’ house.”

I bit back any suggestion of her going without underwear.

“Compared to the luxury of the room, the hotel toiletries are rubbish,” Joanna continued. “I normally wash my hair in the morning but I didn’t dare risk it with their shampoo, and I don’t have a brush with me anyway.”

“Are you going to mention the toiletries on the feedback forms?” I asked.

“What feedback forms?”

“Cayenne said that as part of the prom package trial, comprehensive feedback has to be provided on every aspect.”

“But that means Cayenne will find out we spent the night together!” Joanna protested

“I can comment on the meal and the room without compromising our cover story,” I said. I pulled my robe closed then started to climb out of bed. “Now it’s my turn for the shower. I won’t comment on the toiletries because I wasn’t here.”

Joanna picked up the room’s phone. “Breakfast is part of the prom package but I don’t fancy eating in the hotel restaurant in my prom dress,” she said. “If you’re right about us getting special treatment because of my father, they’ll fall over themselves to deliver it to our room. What would you like?”

“Cooked. Lots of dead animals plus some veg,” I replied.

Joanna giggled. “Sorted. I’ll have the same.”

I took my clothes into the en suite and took a leisurely shower, grateful to be able to wash off the crusty remnants of last night’s coupling. When I emerged from the bathroom, I was again wearing my penguin suit, although with the bow tie stuffed in a pocket.

Joanna looked at her watch. “Just in time,” she said. “Breakfast should be delivered at any moment.”

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and a call of, “Room service.”

Joanna opened the door and a uniformed woman pushed a laden trolley into the room. “Your breakfast order,” she said. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

When Joanna shook her head, the woman turned and left, again without soliciting a tip.

The breakfast offering seemed to have cleaned out much of the animal life of a decent sized farmyard, although there were grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, beans and hash browns to represent the world of vegetables.

“I’m sorry I slapped you yesterday,” said Joanna, once we’d started eating. “Did it hurt?”

“It stung for a while but it was worth it,” I said. “Otherwise how would we have ended up spending such a wonderful evening together? Honestly, I hadn’t realised you were still at the prom. I assumed you had left with Cayenne.”

“It was more wonderful for me,” said Joanna. “You did those incredible things to me with your tongue, and then I fell asleep on you without reciprocating. But you must think me very brazen: when I woke up, the girls were pressing against you.”

I was dumbstruck! Didn’t Joanna remember that she’d had sex with me? Without thinking I squeaked, “Girls?”

Joanna put her cutlery down, cupped her breasts over her prom dress and jiggled them up and down, not that her small, firm, bra-encased breasts could jiggle very far. Then she noticed the look on my face. “It’s okay,” she said. “Even if you weren’t gay, you’re such a nice guy that I’m sure you wouldn’t have taken advantage and coerced me into doing something I’m not ready for.” Then she paused for a moment. “I wish I could sneak you into sleepovers with my friends. You’d be very popular; a safe boy with a magic tongue. But the consequences of being found out are too serious to risk.”

At the mention of ‘gay’, I gritted my teeth with frustration. I knew I hadn’t dreamed having sex with Joanna because I’d washed off the evidence in the shower only minutes before. “Do you remember the kiss we shared afterwards?” I asked, to test her memory.

Joanna’s face lit up. “Yes! That kiss was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I remember thinking that if only you weren’t gay, you’d be ideal to be my first. I can’t remember anything after that until I woke up this morning so that must have been when I fell asleep.” Joanna giggled. “I didn’t fall asleep during the kiss, did I? That would be unforgivable.”

“No,” I said, opting to reassure her, “but it was soon afterwards.” Joanna sounded so definite about what she remembered that I didn’t think it worth challenging her. If I told her that we’d had sex and she couldn’t remember it, I couldn’t think of a favourable outcome. The fact that it was her first time too made it all the more special to me, but reawakened my concerns about my not using contraception. What if Joanna was unprotected because she hadn’t anticipated the possibility of sex.”

After we’d demolished the food, we took our time draining the accompanying insulated jug of coffee. Eventually we ran out of excuses to prolong our time together and reluctantly took the elevator down to the hotel lobby.

“I’ll handle the checkout,” volunteered Joanna. “If they need us to sign anything, I can write ‘Kafkasian’ more smoothly than you. You’d better give me the prom package receipt in case they ask to see it.”

In Joanna’s capable hands the checkout went smoothly and we quickly found ourselves outside the hotel entrance, with only the minimum of stares as we did the walk of shame dressed in our prom finery.

“I’m heading that way to my friends’ house,” said Joanna, indicating a direction opposite to my route home.

“I’ll walk with you to make sure you get there safely,” I volunteered.

“That’s not a good idea,” Joanna replied. “If anyone sees us together, it’ll blow our cover story. Besides it’s not far, otherwise I’d have called a cab. And if there’s any trouble, I know five ways to break an assailant’s nose.”

I laughed, then took her hands in mine. Looking her in the eye I said, “I really enjoyed getting to know you better and I had a great time last night. Let’s be friends.”

“My friends call me Jo. I think you’ve earned that right,” said Jo, then she giggled. “I won’t even let Jaymon call me that. I always insist he calls me Joanna.”

“Thank you, Jo, I’m honoured.” I released Jo’s hands and she started to turn away from me.

Suddenly Jo turned back and planted a quick kiss on my lips. “See you at school tomorrow,” she said.

“You betcha.”

As Jo walked away, I noticed we’d been standing right in front of one of the hotel’s security cameras. If the video of that kiss got into the wrong hands, it could be very awkward for both of us. I sighed, then set off in the opposite direction, towards home.

I walked slowly, deep in thought. The previous night I’d lost my v-plates to the girl of my dreams but now she couldn’t remember it happening. Was it the conviction that I was gay that caused her to forget, having too much to drink, or a combination of both? I had to admit there might be an upside to it: Jo couldn’t accidentally spill the beans about something she couldn’t remember. If Jo’s family found out we’d shared a hotel bed last night, my future wouldn’t look very rosy, but if they found out we’d actually had sex too, my future would look very short. I resolved to worry about the consequences of my not using contraception if and when they arose.