"You can, uhm, leave your coat on the couch if you want," the lanky boy looked back at her briefly, flashing a pressed smile, as he fumbled with the door's lock. His voice was coated with a thick shakiness as he tripped over his own words, and she could tell he was holding back a cough. God, she hated her job sometimes.
Sure, he was sweet, and offered to tip, and his apartment was extremely clean (not like that Goodwin guy who's house was like serial killer clean, but neat for a single man in his twenties' apartment), but he oozed inexperience, and Gloria wasn't sure what he wanted.
Although she longed to keep her coat on in the scarily freezing loft, the girl draped the teddy bear jacket across the back of the mossy couch, and, as the boy struggled with taking his boots off easily, smoothed down her skirt and fixed her bra. Goosebumps arose almost immediately on her exposed skin, and she felt her core burn in the cold.
Looking around the small apartment, no red flags arose. There was about threeish rooms, the living room-kitchen hybrid, the bathroom and the bedroom, which door stood wide open. Gloria's eyes had already adjusted to the growing darkness that was settling, but she moved towards the bedroom a bit more to see deeper into it. Normally, clients brought her to a hotel, but this one requested to go back to his place. And normally, she would never go home with a client, but Gloria was three weeks late for rent and to be perfectly honest, this one seemed too pathetic to hurt her. She also had Daniel on speed dial for reinforcement.
Behind her, she heard a sigh, which guided her to face the boy. He looked about her age, maybe four inches taller, with curly brown hair. The sun, setting deeply into the night, cascaded along his face, calling attention to a scar that etched down his cheek to the top of his lip that he lazily tried to hide with leaning his head to the side. He wasn't that bad looking, in fact, maybe one of the better one Gloria has had.
Focusing her attention on her posture and keeping her jaw still in the freezing air, she watched as he struggled with keeping eye contact.
"Will, right?" her voice was scratchy, much scratchier than she wanted. Closing the distance between the two, Gloria inched towards him, taking off her own heels in the process. His breathing deepened, even though he struggled for control, and he cursed himself for not closing that damned window before he left.
"Uh, yeah. Will," his face heated as he heard himself whisper. Looking around, it was getting harder and harder for him to look at her as she approached to the point of their chest standing two inches apart.
"Well Will, where would you like us to go for our little party?"
His room was almost ten time colder. To the point their breaths were visible. Wind pushed through the ajar window, hitting the shear curtains. They flowed in gracefully, strumming the guitar lightly that stood alone against the wall. In front of the window sat his bed, which was thrown together haphazardly. Next to the door sat a skinny bureau, in which Will dropped his keys on top of. Across the room as a little table that held a record player. Under the table was a basket overflowed with records, all neatly taken care of.
For the first time ever, Gloria had no idea what to do with herself with a client. His nervousness must have rubbed off on her as she lingered near the door, watching the boy float across the room with her arms crossed herself, bearing the same energy as a school girl uncomfortably attending her first dance.
He sat down on his bed, leaning his forearms on his thighs, and took a breath before looking up to her. Uncrossing her arms, Gloria took her time to meet him, trying to come up with some possible way not to make this more awkward. The tension was thick between them, and as she took her place next to Will, she licked her lips before scanning his face again. His scar was more prominent, it was obviously fading, but it was deep enough to be an old one. Following the line down to his lips, she flashed her sight back up to his own eyes, asking for permission. He seemed at unease, but she wasn't able to tell if he didn't want her or not.
Without overthinking it, she reached up and palmed his neck, rubbing a circle into his jaw before kissing him. He seemed a bit shocked in the movement, as if he wasn't paying her to do so, but as she guided him into a deeper kiss, he followed willingly. The boy tasted inexperienced, and Gloria pulled back, keeping her hand rested at his neck, her finger slightly playing with one of his curls.
It immediately clicked in her mind as she searched his eyes, and it made sense. "You haven't done this before," her question came out more of a statement, but the two knew the answer. A blush grew across his face as he drew away slightly.
Goddamn it. Gloria was going to take this guys virginity. God fucking damn it. She wasn't mad, but she recognized the embarrassment that painted his face as he refused to look at her and realized she couldn't let the kid down.
Taking ahold of his face again, she softened her smile, "hey it's okay. We all gotta start somewhere."
"Are you trying to patronize me?" His fingers knitted together as she let him go to look down. The mop of curls on his head shielded his face from her, and she felt nothing but guilt.
"No, I just wish you told me, I wouldn't have dressed like this."
Will looked up slightly to re-examine her clothing, and his eyebrows folded together, "like what?"
Chuckling slightly, Gloria looked down at herself, "well, like a stereotypical hooker I guess."
"I think you look nice." His eyes were back down to his hands, curls hiding him away from her sincerity.
In a swift movement, Gloria got up and pushed herself down to the records, folding her legs underneath herself. Nodding towards them, she looked towards the boy, who shrugged in approval without returning the gaze, and she carefully shifted through them.
"You've got a good taste in music."
"I guess."
Landing on a black covered recorded, simply labeled Cigarettes After Sex, she lifted it up and showed it to him, "I didn't know they pressed this album for vinyl."
He lifted his eyes up to her, flicking it down to the record, and for the first time it seemed like he wasn't uncomfortable. "I bought it when they were on tour, they are amazing live," the boy spoke with a bit more confidence as Gloria smiled back, taking the vinyl out carefully before putting it onto the player.
Counting down the tracks, she made sure the needle hit the right spot before joining Will on the bed once more, "John Wayne is my favorite song of theirs."
The first chords of the song played, the guitar humming deeply in the speakers and Gloria felt less uneasy. Taking a steadying breath of her own, she was growing used to the cold, and scooted herself towards the boy next to her. He radiated a warmth that wasn't that strong, but was there nonetheless.
"You don't have to be embarrassed, you know," she whispered, "sex isn't that big of a deal anyways." Gloria felt less perverted when he finally met her eyes, she felt less like some innocence robber.
"I'm aware, I just kind of just wanted to get it over with."
The wind picked up strength, blowing the curtain wildly. Breaking the eye contact, Will turned around and fumbled with the curtain and window, shutting it after some mild struggle. Silence, except for the slow beat of the song in the background, filled the room as he took his time to look back at Gloria, who now began to untuck her shirt. When he faced her, she slid it off, leaving her in her skirt and bra.
She felt his eyes explore her body. It wasn't as gross and hungry as she was accustomed too, but hesitant. Leaning it slowly, Gloria had to skip the awkwardness and just began to kiss him again. It was sweet.
Scooting closer to him, she took one of his hands in hers. They were warm, but very feeble. There were callouses on his knuckles. Breaking the kiss, she bit her lip, "you can touch me you know."
Will took a sharp breath as she guided him to herself, and Gloria almost had to hold in her chuckles as he looked surprised as she aided him in groping her. He was soft, sweet.
Taking her hand away from his, she trailed it up to his face, tracing the faded scar. She thought he was preoccupied, but when her thumb made its way back up to his cheek, his eyes quickly looked back up to her.
"What are you doing?" He wasn't mad, but his tone was hushed.
Keeping her eyes on the scar, she smiled again, "I'm giving you a memorable first time." She allowed herself to look at Wills eyes again, "it's the least I could do."
Indifference stole his eyes. They flashed with confusion, and Will cleared his throat softly. "I don't want a memorable first time," his voice faltered towards the end, "I just want to get it over with."
"Why is it such a rushed thing for you?"
"I just want it over."
In the background, the next song in the album began to hum, and Gloria stared at the boy. Sex filled her life, but she's never felt this vulnerable with most of her clothes on. Licking her lips, she leaned in a bit more towards the boy, "why?" Her voice was low, almost inaudible, but he knew what she said.
Straightening his back, Will shifted his gaze towards the ceiling. They sat like that for a minute as the sun completely fell below the sky, introducing night to their corner of the world. Even though the window was closed, the two felt colder than before.
"I just," gaining eye contact again, he suddenly shifted his body to face the girl more head on, "I feel left out. Like I'm the only one not part of the club."
"You shouldn't waste such an experience just because the grass seems greener."
"That's easy for you to say."
Gloria felt like she should have been offended. Dropping her hand from his face and straightening her back, she digested his words. His face softened and she could tell he didn't mean what he alluded, but she wasn't as hurt as he probably thought she was.
He was kind of right. I mean, it was her job.
But he didn't have to be a dick.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I just-"
"No I know," she interjected, finding her own eyes wandering. "You play guitar?" She desperately wanted to change the subject.
It took him a second to respond, but he nodded and Gloria pushed forth her nicest smile. "I guess we are even, then." He looked up at her with confusion as she continued, "I wish I knew how to play an instrument, but I think you're at the advantage here. We could fuck right now and I would still not know how to play guitar."
Will's face uncrumpled, and for the first time he laughed. It wasn't much, but just enough for Gloria to allow herself to laugh too. The boy rubbed his face and she took the moment to admire how he was properly handsome with a smile. He reached down to his pants and took out a cigarette box, pulling two sticks out and handed one to her. Taking it with a nod, Gloria wedged it between her lips and leaned into his lighter, taking a puff and relaxing into the exhale.
The smoke from the both of them swirled into the room, and Will took his into his hand and stared at it. "I've waited my whole life just to get sex over with because Im not credible without it. I've wasted so much of my time worrying about it that now that I'm faced with the opportunity, it doesn't seem worth it."
They reconnected eyes, and he quickly added "not because I don't want to fuck you", earning a chuckle from the girl.
"No, I understand," she smiled, finishing off her cigarette and handing it to him to put out on the makeshift ashtray that sat on the windowsill. "It's up to you though. It's up to you to take the plunge and get it over with, or wait for someone special at a special time." Gloria leaned back on the bed, reaching up with her right hand and took out her long black hair from the ponytail that held it back.
"I think you are selling yourself short," Will mumbles as he put his own cigarette out, turning his head to look at her, "I think you are special."
A smile crept across her face, and she felt herself even blush. Goddamn. "Well, thank you Will." Looking back at the boy, Gloria let her head go limp on her shoulders and she noticed, even in the dark, that his eyes were a deep shade of brown.
***
hey this is my first short story it's literally just this part but i wanted to share something i've been working on, which is mainly for a film project. anyways, love y'all lmao sorry this sucks and probably has so many errors
also i'm playing with themes so i hope someone's inner english lit teacher can read this and be like "tHiS iSnT jUsT aBoUt SeX"