One with the Wind (8 page)

            Nick rocked in his chair and grinned. “Are you hungry? I think there are some places open in town. There is this great New York pizza place.”

            Josie smiled and dressed quickly. They headed outside to campus where the snow was falling harder. Large snowflakes fell from the endlessly dark sky. Josie stuck out her tongue, closed her eyes, and waited for a snowflake to land in her mouth.

            Nick seized the opportunity and gently kissed her tongue. Josie cupped his face in her hands and kissed him deeply. He pulled away and brushed the hair from her eyes. “I love you too.”

            They walked arm in arm through the falling snow toward the edge of town. A few neon lights of State College broke through the darkness. They were relieved to find the New York pizza place open, however the employees appeared annoyed to have customers.

            It didn’t deter Nick. He walked right up to the counter and ordered. “We’ll have a large,” he glanced at Josie, “sausage, pepperoni pizza to go.”

            “Sausage, pepperoni, I thought you didn’t eat that crap,” she said.

            He grinned. “Yeah, but you do.”

            Nick and Josie took a seat at a hard plastic booth and waited. “Maybe you should try a major in environmental studies like me since you care about polar bears, or maybe politics,” said Josie.

            He laughed. “No. I’d make a horrible politician.” Reclining in his seat, he pondered. “No, I can’t be that specific when I see so much; that’s the problem. So many problems, so many issues, how is it possible to choose one as a life’s ambition. I can’t do it.”

            Josie held his hands. “There’s got to be something.”

            Nick gazed through the square frame of the pizzeria’s glass door and watched the snow fall. His eyes lit up as an idea came to mind.  He leaned forward and sighed. “Huh, no.”

            “What? Tell me,” Josie encouraged.

            “You know what would be a real cool major? Filmmaking. Wouldn’t that be cool to travel around the world, shooting a movie, at some exotic location?”

            “Why would you say no to that? It sounds perfect,” said Josie.

            He laughed. “Me, a filmmaker? Nah, that’s for the A.V. nerds.”

            “Why not? You’re smart, creative.” She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. “I can see you now accepting your Academy Award for best director.”

            “Hell no, I’m not doing any Hollywood crap. Documentaries would be real cool.” He grinned. “I can film animals having sex, you know, the mating rituals of the big cats.”

            Jose lowered her chin on her palm and sighed. “Animal porn?”

            “Everyone has a dream, Jo. Don’t mock mine,” he teased.

            “At least I can be relieved it’s not human porn.”

            Nick winked and muttered, “Huh, now that’s an idea! You can be my star.”

            “Ah, no,” she said flatly.

            He sat upright. “Porn filmmakers have the best fucking jobs. Casting calls must be amazing.”

            Josie waved her hand in front of his eyes. “Sweetheart, back to reality, if you truly love me, you’d forget that idea quick.”

            Collapsing back against the seat, he said, “Damn! It was a nice thought.”

            He looked over his shoulder, saw that their pizza was ready and headed to the counter to pick it up. They walked back to campus in a comfortable silence, enjoying the serenity and peace of the night.

 

            Josie woke the next morning to a stinging bright sunshine. She looked out the window and shaded her eyes from the reflection that bounced off the clean white snow.

            Nick raised his arm, cupped her naked breast and pulled her back down to bed. “No need for you to get up now.”

            “Who said I’m getting up? I was just looking out the window.”

            She cuddled close to him as he kissed her face. She felt safe in his warm and cozy arms. Nick glided his erection lightly across her inner thigh and she spread her legs, inviting him to enter. It was something they seldom experienced—morning sex. As far as Josie was concerned, it had to be the best.

            Sure they could rock it pretty hard at nights, but it was different in the mornings. It was before the stresses of the day, which left morning sex pure, easy and comfortable. There were no tensions or anxieties to release, just the simple joy of being together.

            Nick wasn’t really a morning person so she helped him get into the mood either with a blowjob or by guiding him inside her.

            This morning, Nick was still very sleepy, so he just lay on top of her without moving. It was fine for Josie. Morning love-making was slow and lasted longer and when they finally came, they rested in each other’s arms for hours.

            Josie drove home a few days later when the snow started to melt and the roads were cleared. She smiled and was certain that the future was going to be fine. 

             Nick plugged a cord into an electrical outlet and followed the wire across the blue carpet of the studio toward the camera. He checked all the switches, lights and focused the lens on a small studio with five black chairs positioned in a slight arc.

            He was fortunate to find an internship at a major New York City studio, but it was for daytime talk shows. His entire day was spent listening to caddy problems and complaints. It was rather mind-numbing work—plugging cords into sockets, unraveling wires, checking settings on cameras, and fetching coffee and lunch for the crew. But, he never complained, in fact, he learned quite a lot from the film teamster union.

            Nick checked that the camera was ready for the show and stood to one side. The cameraman nudged him aside and checked the focus. “Good job,” he said. “Do you want to take this one today?”

            “Really?” Nick questioned excitedly.

            “Yeah, I’m tired of watching these old bats slap their gums, besides you can handle yourself behind the camera, can’t you?”

            “Yeah sure,” Nick replied. “Don’t necessarily want to watch the old bats though.”

            The cameraman slapped Nick on the back. “Kid, you have to start somewhere.”

            Nick grinned and covered his ears with the headphones. As he watched the cameraman walk off the set, his stomach twisted in anxious knots. He was only nineteen years old, and filming national daytime television with a large, expensive camera felt daunting. Nick took a deep breath and when the director called, “Action!”, he turned the camera on the old bats and remained steady and poised throughout the entire show.

            Afterward, the cameraman came to his side. “This is going to be an easy summer for me; I think I’ll take a vacation.” He looked at Nick. “You want to take the next show too.”

            He didn’t. His shirt was drenched with nervous sweat and his head pounded from concentrating so hard. “Yeah sure.”

 

            That evening, Nick bounded up the steps of the 8th street subway station in New York’s Chelsea district. A block away, he saw Josie heading home. “Jo!” he hollered above the crowd. She didn’t hear. “Jo!” He ran to meet her and dug his fingers into her arm.

            She screamed and laughed when she saw Nick. “Don’t ever do that to me again!”

            “Sorry, I was calling for you and you didn’t hear me,” he said out of breath.

            They walked hand in hand across the street toward the studio apartment they shared. “How was your day?”

            Josie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Filing, typing, more filing and more typing, please do not ask me to recite the alphabet right now, or I’ll punch you.”

            “That sucks,” he said. “I got to shoot the shows today. I shot a nationally broadcasted show—live! It was kind of my television debut; although when they rolled the credits it was my boss’s name, not mine.”

            “Nick, that is awesome!”

            “I know. I was scared shitless. What if I fucked up, the whole country would know, or at least the people sitting at home watching day time television.”

            “Who cares about the people who watch day time television? Who are they anyway?” questioned Josie.

            “People with relationship issues, most likely,” he said.

            They reached the front door of the brownstone building across the street from the New York Transit authority office. Josie kissed him on the lips before they entered. “That wouldn’t be you and me.”

            The studio apartment they shared for the summer was a dump. It was a third floor room with a small kitchenette and barred windows. Cockroaches made regular visits and mouse traps covered the floor, but they loved it. It was their first home together and they didn’t have the threat of someone walking in on them.

            They spent their first night cleaning and preparing their nest. Josie scrubbed the walls and floor with lemon juice after reading that it would repel cockroaches. Nick built a humane mouse trap; he couldn’t bear the thought of killing a rodent.

            Josie tossed her purse on the floor, removed her top and slid out of her skirt. Nick turned on a Marvin Gaye song and took off his pants and shirt. He smiled at Josie and started swinging his hips slowly and seductively.

            Josie danced toward Nick and pressed her hands against his chest. He put his hands on her waist and she swayed gently to the music. Nick pulled her close to him and kissed her deeply. Their bodies gyrated as Nick danced her to the pull-out sofa bed and fell backwards with her on top of him. Josie crawled to her knees and grabbed his leg. Black socks were a turn-off and had to go. She seductively stripped off his sock, jokingly smelling his foot and making a face. They both laughed as she removed his other sock and tossed it over her shoulder.

            Nick sat upright an unhooked her bra, kissing her nipples as she slid the bra down her arms. With her pressed against the back of the sofa, he slid off her underwear, threw them in the air and removed his own. Josie reclined against the sofa with her legs spread ready for him to take her.

            He entered, swiveling his hips to the Marvin Gaye song. Josie threw her head back over the edge and groaned; God it felt so good. Nick rested her legs against his chest and pushed deep inside, far deeper than normal. He gyrated and pressed harder. “Ooh shit,” Josie muttered as she raised her hips higher.

            Nick pulled out, leaned Josie over and entered her from behind, thrusting with more vigor. The sofa-bed edged across the room as their bodies slapped against each other. Nick tightened his grip on Josie’s hips and groaned with each thrust. Josie held onto the fabric of the sofa as her knees began to give way. Nick gave one last push and they both screamed as their bodies climaxed. Nick wiped the sweat from his head and fell on top of Josie. They breathed deeply and laughed.

            “Damn Marvin Gaye!” exclaimed Josie.

            “He is the master,” grunted Nick as he walked naked to the kitchenette. “What do you want for dinner—beef Raman noodles, shrimp Raman noodles, chicken Raman noodles, or scrambled eggs?”

            “Why don’t you mix it all together like you always do? Shrimp scrambled egg noodles.”

            He pulled out a frying pan from the cabinet. “I can do that.”

            Josie hung over the back edge of the sofa to admire Nick. “What a lucky girl I am.”

            Nick glanced around the dingy studio apartment. “You must be the easiest girl in the world.”

            “To you, yes,” she replied. “To many others, a frigid bitch.”

            “Then I guess that makes me the lucky one.”

            Nick served her a plate of noodle slop. “One day, we’ll be able to afford real food.”

            Josie curled up next to him and fed him some of her slop. “One day, we’ll be able to afford clothes.”

            “I say, clothes should be optional,” he said.

 

            That weekend, Nick and Josie strolled the streets of Greenwich Village. They stopped for a cup of coffee at a local café, watched the pedestrians, and read the newspaper. Afterward, they wandered mindlessly through the streets and stopped outside a sex shop. Josie giggled and walked inside. She ran her fingers over the lace lingerie that hung on the racks and looked thoughtfully at the underwear.

            “Hey Jo, I need to get you one of these,” he joked, holding a ball gag. “That way we won’t get any more complaints from the neighbors.”

            “If you wouldn’t fuck me so hard, I would be screaming,” she replied casually, dangling a pair of fuzzy hand cuffs on her finger. “I don’t understand all this. If you need equipment for sex, you’re not doing it right.”

            “It’s toys. Toys are fun.” He picked up a pink vibrator. “I’m buying you this for your birthday—the Rrrrabbit.”

            “You’re all I need, sweetheart.” She blushed and ran her fingers through the fake hair of a tail. “Is this...oh dear God! What are these things?”

            Nick snickered. “Anal plugs. You put them in your lover’s ass.”

            “Why?”

            “It’s supposed to feel good. Want to get some?”

            Josie nodded. “Things are supposed to come out my ass, not in.”

            He laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, guiding her around the shop. “We gotta get something.”

            “The tail is out of the question. I am not shoving a tail up my ass,” she said waving her finger. “Unless you do.”

            He shook his head no. “What about a movie?”

            “Porn?”