Waltz of Her Life

Seth laughed. "Then I guess we should try to find some shade."

They stood up and left the park not long after that. Linda had brought along jeans in the car, but knew they would have to get back to Seth's hotel room so that he could get a change of clothes. Though they'd traveled long distances back and forth, she didn't mind because Seth was such a good conversationalist about nuances of the weather, movies he'd seen, and how the energy crisis was affecting his business.

Back at the motel room was another story. Linda sat in one of the chairs at the round, wooden table with the lamp attached to it. When Seth walked in the room and grabbed the pair of jeans from his saddlebag, he'd said "Make yourself comfortable," indicating the bed. He walked into the bathroom to change. Linda assumed he would just jump into his pants.

When the water came on from the bathroom, she realized he was taking a shower. She suddenly wished she could take one with him. The lake they'd just came from suddenly became the most foul, vile place in the universe. She knew there was no way she could go through the rest of the day with him being fresh and her being clammy from the lake water.

The time Seth was taking in the shower caused her to reflect on the past week and the preparations she'd made. She'd called Lauren to tell her all about Seth's upcoming arrival. "Do you have protection?" Lauren had asked.

Linda scoffed. "Things are not going to get that far," she said.

Lauren laughed. "It's easy to say that now, but when you're sitting together watching a romantic movie after a fun day together, and he touches you, cradles you…do I need to say more?"

"We're not going to do anything I don't want to do," Linda said.

"How do you know you're not going to want to do it?" Lauren paused for a few moments, to let her question sink in.

"Because I can control myself," she said.

"You've had one real boyfriend," Lauren went on. "When you were at the chaperone-date stage. You don't know shit. You need protection."

"Jeez, Laure, you make it sound like I should get a gun or something. Are you saying I should get prophylactics?"

"Well, I know you don't have a diaphragm. You're going to have to get some."

Thursday morning before her class, Linda trudged off to the Rexall drug store to buy two of them. She had to ask for them over the counter, from a starchy looking elderly lady who grinned at her snidely while retrieving them from the shelves. Linda put both of them away.