Its only a game. He shrugged. Its more fun to play than it is to watch.
Doesnt it hurt when you get tackled like that?
The idea is not to get tackled.
Youre a stubborn man, Raphael Taylor, she accused. Its almost impossible to talk to you. Me?
And will you stop looking at me all the time. Every time I look up, there you are, watching me. You make me feel as if I dont have any clothes on.
Im sorry.
Ill start making faces at you if you dont stop it, she warned. Then how would you feel?
The question is how are you going to feel when people start to think your gears arent meshing?
Youre impossible, she said, but her voice was not really
angry. I have to go home and study some more. She turned abruptly and strode away with a curiously leggy gait that seemed at once awkward and almost childishly feminine.
Marilyn, he called after her.
She stopped and turned. What?
Ill see you tomorrow.
No, you wont. Im going to hide under the table. She stuck her tongue out at him, turned, and continued across the lawn. Raphael laughed.
Their growing friendship did not, of course, go unobserved. By the time it had progressed to the stage of going for coffee together at the Student Union Building, Flood became aware of it. Raphaels being unfaithful to you, Bel, he announced on one of his now-infrequent visits to the lake.
Get serious, Raphael told him, irritated and a little embarrassed.
Dont be a snitch, Junior, Isabel said quite calmly. Nobody likes a snitch.
I just thought you ought to know, Bel. Flood grinned maliciously. Since I introduced you two, I feel a certain responsibility. His eyes, however, were serious, even calculating.
Our relationship isnt that kind. She still seemed unperturbed. I dont have any objections if Raphael has other diversionsany more than hes upset by my little flings.
Raphael looked at her quickly, startled and with a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Oh, my poor Angel, she said, catching the look and laughing, did you honestly think I was saving myself for you? I have other friends, too, you know.
Raphael was sick, and at the same time ashamed to realize that he was actually jealous.
In bed that night she brought it up again. She raised up on one elbow, her heavy breast touching his arm. How is she? she asked, The other girl, I mean?
Its not that kind of thing, he answered sulkily. We just
talkhave coffee together once in a while, thats all.
Dont be coy, she said with a wicked little laugh, deliberately rubbing her still-erect nipple on his shoulder. A young man who looks like you do could have the panties off half the girls in Portland inside a week.
I dont go around taking peoples panties off.
You take mine off, she disagreed archly.
Thats different. He moved his shoulder away.
Why is it different?
Shes not that kind of a girl.
Every girl is that kind of a girl. She laughed, leaning forward so that the ripe breast touched him again. Were all alike. Is she as good as I am?
Oh, for Gods sake, Bel. Why dont we just skip all this? Nothings going on. Floods got a dirty mind, thats all.
Of course he has. Am I embarrassing you, sweet? We shouldnt be embarrassed by anythingnot here.
What about those other men? he accused, trying to force her away from the subject.
What about them?
I thoughtwell He broke off helplessly, not knowing how to pursue the subject.
Are you really upset because I sleep with other men once in a while? Are you really jealous, Angel?
Wellno, he lied, not really.
We never made any promises, did we? Did you think we were going steady or something? The persistent nipple continued its stroking of his shoulder.
I just didnt think you werewellpromiscuous is all.
Of course Im promiscuous. She laughed, kissing him. I had you in bed within twelve hours of the moment I met you. Is that the sort of thing youd expect from a nice girl? Im not exactly a bitch in heat, but a little variety never hurt anyone, did it?
He couldnt think of anything to say.
Dont sulk, Angel, she said almost maternally as she pulled
him to her again. Youve got my full attention at the moment. Thats about the best I can promise you.
His flesh responded to her almost against his will. Hed have liked to have been stubborn, but she was too skilled, too expert.
You should try her, Raphael, Isabel said almost conversationally a couple of minutes later. A little variety might be good for you, too. And who knows? Maybe shes better at it than I am. She laughed, and then the laugh traded off into a series of little gasps and moans as she began to move feverishly under him.
vi
The idea had not been there before. In Raphaels rather unsophisticated views on such matters, girls were divided into two distinct categoriesthose you took to bed and those you took to school dances. It was not that he was actually naive, it was just that such classification made his relations with girls simpler, and Raphaels views on such things were simplistic. He had been raised in a small, remote city that had a strongly puritanical outlook; his Canadian mother had been quite firm about being nice, a firmness in part deriving from her lurking fear that some brainless sixteen-year-old tramp might unexpectedly present her with a squalling grandchild. Raphaels football coach at high school, moreover, had taught Sunday school at the Congregational church, and his locker-room talks almost as frequently dealt with chastity as they did with the maiming of middle linebackers. Raphaels entire young life had been filled with one long sermon that concentrated almost exclusively on one of the thou shalt nots, the only amendment having been the reluctant addition ofwith nice girls. Raphael knew, of course, that other young men did not make a distinction between nice girls and the other kind, but it seemed somehow unsporting to him to seduce nice girls when the other sort was availablesomething on the order of poaching a protected speciesand sportsmanship had been drilled into him for so long that its sanctions had the force of religious dictum. Isabels sly insinuations, however, had planted the idea, and in the weeks that followed he found himself frequently looking at Marilyn Hamilton in a way he would not have considered before.
His relationship with the girl passed through all the normal stagescoffee dates in the Student Union, a movie or two, the first kiss, and the first tentative gropings in the front seat of a car parked in a secluded spot. They walked together in the rain; they held hands and they talked together endlessly and very seriously about things that were not particularly significant. They studied together in the dim library, and they touched each other often. They also drove frequently to a special spot they had found outside town where they parked, and in the steamy interior of Raphaels car with the radio playing softly and the misted windows curtaining them from the outside, they partially undressed each other and clung and groped and moaned in a frenzy of desire and frustration as they approached but never quite consummated the act that was becoming more and more inevitable.