Page 8 of Just Try, Again and Again

“My mini-me likes to be decorated.” My reversed Prince Albert piercing is already glistening in precum. This thing is fucking stupid, but a dare is a dare. And I didn’t back out of mine. It was a pleasure to get, too—knowing that my dad would lose his shit if he ever found out. I shudder at the direction my mind is taking me.Stop thinking about your dad, Bryce. Not the time.

I peel her panties off of her. I spread her legs so that I have enough space to settle between them. From this angle, I see the entirety of this girl. With her colorful hair, her funny tattoo, and her nail polish, she looks nothing like the cheerleaders who are usually my type. She looks like a goth chick doused in pixie dust. But I’d be lying if I said the sight of her doesn’t turn me on,and every cell in my body is mesmerized by her. She’s fucking gorgeous.

My right index finger plays with her clit, using her own wetness, while my other hand guides my boner to her opening. When Haruki feels the metal on her skin, she lets out a whimper.

Drawing lazy circles with my thumb, I watch her as she starts to pant. Her fingers reach down for my hand and she guides me to move faster.

“Do you like that?” I ask as I stroke my own dick.

“Yes,” she says with a moan. “Faster, please.”

I continue rubbing her as I roll the condom along my length. They say the first few seconds of your penis being inside a vagina is the best part of sex. This feels like crack. My heart and my dick agree—this will not be the one and only time I will be doing this with this girl.

Pulling out of her slowly, the gasp she lets out tells me she feels the loss just as much as I do. Her, the way I fill her up. And me, the way her pussy hugs my shaft like it’s a fucking winter parka.

Going back in, I pump myself in and out of her, hoping that this won’t end too quickly for me and praying that she will climax first before I embarrass myself. I wish I could slow down, but I can’t. The feeling of our organs bumping against each other with her slickness lubing it all up feels too good, fueling my impending climax.

“Bryce…this is intense,” she says in between breaths, her gaze focused on where we’re connected and the thumb I just placed on her clit. “I can’t handle you doing both at the same time.”

“Just enjoy it, Haruki.”And please, just come.

Knowing I have to pace myself, I thrust in and out of her slowly. Despite what the primal side of me thinks, my brain isdeciding to go against it. I want to savor this.I need to savor this.How many times will I get to be with her before she leaves?

“Bryce…” she whimpers.

“I got you,” I say with a smile, but inside my head, I’m scrambling. Despite the rumor mill at our high school, which likes to churn out gossip about me being a player, I have no fucking clue what I’m doing half the time. I’m pretty sure the girls I’ve slept with just claim that I was a good lay for bragging rights.

So, I do what the university of porn has taught me and start thrusting into her harder while my finger picks up the pace. She’s not hating it. My dick clearly doesn’t hate it. We’re good.

The moment she arches her back and calls out my name, relief washes over me. I take that as a cue that I can also let go. It takes me only three fucking pumps before I’m also over the edge, releasing my cum and grunting as I do so.

I give her a quick kiss on the forehead before walking to the bathroom to throw away the filled condom. When I come back, Haruki is already wearing one of her oversized shirts. She turns on the air conditioning in the room and goes back to the bed.

“So what’s the story with the cat robot tattoo?” I lie down next to her, spooning her body that perfectly fits into mine. I don’t tell her that this is my first time cuddling a girl I just slept with.

She turns around and kisses my chest. “He’s my favorite character. He has this door called the Dokodemo door that can take you to any place you wish. I always thought that it was so cool that Doraemon and his friends could travel anywhere they wanted to.”

“If you had one of those doors right now, where would you go?” I ask as I tighten my hold on her body.

“To a time when my mother was still alive, but no door could take me there. So I’ll settle for the country she grew up in.”

I finally get it. Our spark. Our connection. Our peculiar nighttime hobby. Despite us being completely different people, Haruki Sano gets me because she is me. We are the same. I’m willing to bet that she got her tattoo and her hair dyed for the same reason I got my dick pierced and I keep going to pointless parties all the time.

When your mother is dead and your father throws himself into work, you’d do anything to make yourself feel alive. You’d do anything to scream,hey, it’s me! Take notice! I’m here!It’s comforting to know that loneliness looks the same no matter where you live, no matter how you look, no matter who you are.

“What about you, Bryce?” she asks me. “Where would you go?”

“I’m already where I want to be.” I might actually still be drunk, and this is not something that I usually say to girls, especially since I’ve never had an actual girlfriend, but I say it anyway. “Where you are is exactly where I want to be,” I tell her before my eyelids close and I drift off to sleep.

6

Bryce - 32 years old

There it is again. My phone just won’t stop vibrating in my pocket. This is the seventh time in a row the caller has been trying to reach me. No doubt, it’s the same person—all seven times. With no time in between? Definitely.

Bobbing my right leg up and down, I glance at the clock under the projector, checking the time. 07:30 p.m. I wonder who could be calling me right now? Knowing that it can’t be Birdie’s school at this hour, I let it go to voicemail once again while I listen to the presentation one of my business development representatives will be pitching next week. It has been a long fucking day. Thank the heavens that the day after tomorrow is Saturday.

As much as I tried to fight it, I ended up becoming a corporate slave after all. No wonder Dad is proud of me, despite everything that went down.

---