Chapter 11

"Good job, Stephanie," Connie told me when I stopped by the bond office.

"Thank you," I told her.

"I was doing that on Vinny's behalf as well."

"Vinny thinks we did a good job?"

"No," Connie admitted. "But he should. If he has a brain in that rat-faced head of his."

"I'm pretty sure his brain is in his pants," I joked.

"Shut up!" We could hear Vinny say from his office, carrying out the word sounds.

"Are there any new ones?" I asked, hoping that there weren't.

"Not at the present time," Connie replied. I started to slowly release the breath I was holding. "But I wouldn't get too hopeful." I sucked that breath right back up. "Enjoy time off while you can."

"I'll try," I said.

"Do you have another date with Adam?"

"Tonight."

"What are you going to do?"

"Dinner and a movie."

"Again?"

"Well it worked so well before," I defended.

"Have you been leaving him in charge of the date plans?" Connie asked.

"We have been working together on it, why?"

"Your dates have seemed sort of juvenile," Connie said. "That's all."

"What kind of dates should we be going on?"

"Well," Connie replied, her face getting red from being on the spot. "Maybe a play or a concert instead of a movie. Something a little more arty."

"Plays and concerts are basically live movies," I said.

"How about a game?" she suggested.

"I prefer games on TV," I said. "That way I can easily switch channels or leave if I get bored."

"That's it then!" Connie said.

"What?"

"Have an intimate night in. He's a sports writer right? He'll love it!"

"An intimate date at my apartment watching a game," I said aloud to process. "Our last date was at a sports bar. Shouldn't we shake things up?"

"Spending some time with him in a private place might help you get over your intimacy issues," Connie explained.

"My what?"

"Come on, Steph," she said. "I respect your 5 date game plan, but I can tell that something is holding you back from being close to him."

"And you know that how?" I asked. "I've given nothing away."

"Lula might have been highly annoying the other day," Connie said. "But underneath that superficial crap, she had a point."

"I don't have intimacy issues."

"Does he?"

"…Yeah," I decided to say. It was sort of true.

"Do you know why?"

"Yes,"

"Want to share?"

"No,"

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay then," Connie said, thoroughly ready to drop it. Or so I thought. "Are you really sure…"

"Ohmygodyes!" I sped up, thoroughly annoyed now. She put her hands in front of her in an 'I give up, you win,' gesture. I told her to call me in if any new FTAs surfaced, and then I left. When I got outside to my Sprint, Morelli was leaning on it again.

"I'd report you to the cops for harassment," I told him. "But…"

"I am the cops," Joe finished for me.

"Bingo," I said.

"Ready to talk yet?"

"Nope," I said. And before he could ask me when I would be ready, I beat him to the punch with the answer. "There is no longer anything to talk about. I've gotten over it. And I'm also dating someone now."

"So I've heard," Morelli said. "The Burg is all a flutter. Your mother is now a victim of positive gossip. And my Grandma Bella wants to kill you."

"What? I figured it would make her happy that we are no longer together."

"She thinks you're the reason I'm going to hell."

"Please," I snorted. "As if." Morelli chuckled, and it made me tingle. Damn it.

"Things going good with the new guy then?" Morelli asked.

"Yep." Sort of.

"Good," Morelli said. "I heard he's young."

"Not really," I said.

"He looks like he just had his bar mitzvah in his column photo."

"He does not!" I practically honked.

"I'm just busting your balls,"

"I don't have balls."

"I'm well aware."

"Shut up."

"See you later, cupcake," Morelli said, and he got off my car. I watched him walk away, and I nearly drooled. Morelli was good at walking away. He was good at a lot of things. Then had to literally slap myself, I had started to fantasize. I got in my car and started to drive home. When I got home I saw my cell had a voice message. It had come from Morelli, only minutes after he'd left.

"Did you seriously slap yourself?" was all he had said. And then he had disconnected. Dick.

Adam came to pick me up again that night. But we had changed our game plan, literally. We drove to Pino's to pick up some pizzas and beer. We then went back to my apartment to watch a game. But at the last minute Adam surprised me. I had been channel surfing to find my sports channel, when Adam put a DVD box in my face.

"A chick flick?" I said in disbelief.

"It's romantic," he explained.

"I figured as a sports writer," I said. "A basketball game would get you hot."

"Our last date was sort of sports-centric."

"It was sort of chick flick-centric too."

"This is an oldie chick flick," Adam said. "It's not trashy and nauseas-making like the new ones these days."

"I don't have a DVD player," I said.

"You don't?"

"No. I own more VHS tapes than I do DVDs. For the few DVDs I own I use my laptop."

"Then we can watch it on there."

"The screen is kind of small for two people to be able to see it well."

"Then we'll sit close together," Adam said, pulling me toward the couch. He lifted my laptop off the end table and placed it half on his lap and half on mine. He put the DVD in and put his arm around me so we'd fit together better. Our closeness made my heart flip. It had been a long time since I'd experienced something this sweet.

As the movie had gone on, we had slowly started to slouch and mold with each other. By the time the end credits were rolling, we were deeply snuggled. When the DVD went to it's default mode, the room was silent. And we became far more aware of how close we were.

We went from watching a movie, to feeling like we were in one. We were looking at each other directly in the eye, and we did what came wordlessly to us. We had our first kiss. And as cheesy as it sounds, in that moment, I forgot about my indecision and confliction. Before I knew it I had moved on top of him and we were in a deep make out session. It went on for what seemed like a while. We didn't stop until someone else joined the party.

"Oh Jeeze!" Adam winced, pushing me back into a sitting position next to him. The new guest was Adam Jr. "I'm sorry," he said blushing. "I swear I generally have better control of this."

"Don't worry about it," I told him. He did seem to still be worried about it though. If it had been Morelli that this had happened to, he would have been proud of himself and would have continued to put the moves on me.

"You aren't annoyed, or anything, are you?" he asked.

"Of course not," I told him. "Why would I be?"

"Some girls get mad when guys get hard."

"That makes no sense," I told him, even though I knew what he meant. He was worried that he'd crossed a line by letting himself get erect "We aren't abstinent teens, Adam. It's not a crime if you enjoy make out sessions."

"I know," he said. "It's just sort of my reflex to feel bad when this happens."

"Again," I told him. "It's no big deal."

"It's not…" he said awkwardly. "Big?"

"Huh? Oh, I wasn't talking about that." I chuckled. His face got redder. "It's nice," I told him. "From what I can tell of it."

"Thank you," Adam said, with an obnoxious edge starting to envelop his tone. He was getting back to his usual self.

"Nice to know you feel better," I laughed.

"I do actually," he told me. But then he looked down, he was still erect.

"Completely ready with no place to go," I quietly sang.

"Want to move ahead a few stages?" Adam asked. We sat there silently for a moment.

"Are you ready for that?" I asked. After another silent moment, Adam gestured to his crotch

"I think the answer is obvious," he said. We had yet another silent moment. I gulped, and then said the magic words.

"My room is over there."

We got off the couch, and I lead him by the hand to my bedroom.