A Gentleman's Guide to Hooking Up

b o n u s r u l e

...If you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. You see the grain-fields down yonder? The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you...

...It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose...

Jessica pushed the thought away and glided into the parking space, missing the BMW in front of her by a few inches. It was not ideal but for a beginner, it was passable.

"Jess, I have a feeling you're going to be great at driving."

"I'm a girl and I'm Asian. It's going to be really tough to fight against two stereotypes."

Jake laughed. "You're already doing much better than my first time. I hit the car in front of me after being on the road for only 15 minutes."

"Oh no. Were you hurt?"

"No. But the girl who drove in front of me was watching TV in my house a week later. We didn't watch TV for too long, though."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "That's awesome, Mr. Everyone-wants-my-dick."

He smiled and tapped the side of her head with his index finger. "What are you thinking? We stopped watching TV because we wanted to go over the insurance policy."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you wanted to cover all areas."

Jessica wasn't a jealous girl by nature, and she couldn't care less about Jake's sexual experiences before her. What she cared about was the fact that he was like this, a highly hormonal guy with his needs, and she knew that once they went their separate ways, it would be silly of her to expect him to change for her.

Asking for an extension would be ridiculous. Jake was on his way to become a basketball star and there was no way he would want to give up his freedom and college girls for her. Dating each other everyday over the summer was one thing, but to stretch it into a long distance relationship was something entirely different.

Which was why she didn't want to bring it up. She didn't want to see the awkwardness in his eyes or the reluctance on his face as he tried to come up with something gentle to say.

Jake was too nice and she liked him too much. She wanted the summer to be as marvelous to him as it was to her, filled with sun, ocean breeze, sand, stories, bad poetry, and his sexy cologne, but absolutely guilt and obligation free.

"Hey, Jess. If I turned out to be a real disappointment, at least you got something out of this. You learned to drive, right?" He winked. "Not to mention the countless orgasms that I induced..."

"I made you come countless times too, Jake. Remember the love in my eyes as I held your children in my hand..."

"Yeah, Jess. I can't possibly see myself with a girl who doesn't like my children." He laughed and rubbed her head with one hand.

"Stop touching the driver. I'm trying to concentrate on the road."

"Sorry." He grinned at her, bright as a sunflower.

She used to smile at his sunny grins. Now she still smiled, but with every smile there came a tear at her soul where he couldn't see. They were a little closer to goodbye.

She practiced parallel parking a few times more until Jake interrupted again.

"Wait, I just thought of something. Jess, stop the car."