Goodbye, Miss Granger Ch. 02-03

"Pardon?" his eyes widened with surprise, not quite sure he heard that right.

"My name's Jeannie," I said, moving my lips closer to his ear, ostensibly to make sure he heard me, but also to smell his aftershave, which was something woody and reminiscent of the outdoors.

"I'm Kevin," he copied my action by leaning close to my ear and I felt a tingle of excitement wondering if he was smelling me too. "I'm sorry," he continued, "but I have to confess that I don't know you."

"What?" I smiled, but I was confused. "Well that makes us even."

"No," he shook his head. "I don't recognise you. I mean, I know you're some kind of celebrity, but I'm not very good with names or faces."

This was entertaining. I usually get told exactly who I look like, but this was almost the exact opposite. "Then how do you know I'm not just some boring Pure Maths post-grad?" I grinned playfully.

"Because there's a life-sized cardboard cut-out of you beside the sign-up desk," he informed me. "That's why I noticed you when I came in. I thought you were another cut-out until you moved."

"Oh!" I said, disappointed. "Is that the only reason?"

"Um? Oh, no," he backpedalled. "Just at first. Your dress; it's … um … very …"

"Conspicuous?"

"Striking, I was going to say," he laughed, recovering nicely. "But yes, that too." We looked around together at the collection of t-shirts and jeans, plus a small number of Hogwarts school uniforms like Belinda's. "Why are there school kids here drinking Jimmy-and-Coke?"

I suddenly understood the last minute of conversation; he doesn't know Harry Potter or Hogwarts, and he certainly doesn't know Hermione Granger.

"Kevin," I laughed. "Do you know what party you're at?"

"Hags?" he asked uncertainly.

"Which stands for?" I raised an eyebrow. I shouldn't tease, but this was kind of fun.

"I didn't know it stood for anything," he admitted, scratching his beard. "I just thought it was playful self-deprecation, like the Old Bastards Club. Hardly any of them are old … I didn't ask about their parents though."

 "So you came to HAGS to see if it was studded with young hotties?" I laughed.

"No," he shook his head, smiling to indicate that he got the joke. "I told you, I'm looking for someone. He told me to meet here."

"Hi Kev," Belinda returned carrying fresh drinks. "Andrew says he running late. He told me to find you and feed you beer." She handed cans to both of us. "I didn't know you two knew each other."

"We don't," I said, my mind was trying to catch up. I was beginning to enjoy Kevin's company and when Belinda stepped in, my inner lioness growled 'he's mine'.  "Hang on, how do you two know each other?"

"Kevin is Andrew's best mate," Belinda explained. "Now, Jeannie," she smiled at me, "we need to find you a guy so that you don't scare the game away from Kev. When Andrew gets here, he's going to want to get straight into wing-man mode."

"Oh!" I looked back and forth between Kevin and Belinda. How could I tell her I'd already picked a man to meet? "I thought I might … ah …"

"I'm messing with you, Jeans," she giggled. "You two are cute. And single! How cool is that?"

"So, ah, you two know each other," Kevin frowned.

"Roommates," Belinda smiled. "Or are we besties, sweetie?"

"Besties," I agreed with a forced smile. Until you scare Kevin off, then you're public enemy number one, bitch.

"And you're not a celebrity?" Kevin asked.

"Did you tell him you were Emma Watson?" Belinda laughed. "That's my job, stop spoiling my fun!"

"I'm a boring, Pure Maths post-grad," I smiled at Kevin.

"Oh!" he said. He didn't look disappointed at all. "I'm Applied Maths. Honours year, so technically a dirty under-grad like Belinda."

"I don't think anybody's quite like Belinda," I laughed.

"Hey, our Number Theory lecturer told us a maths joke," Belinda chimed in. "It's a bit dirty, though."

"Say no!" I grabbed Kevin's wrist in mock horror. "Don't get her started!"

"If I said no," he grinned, "would you tell it anyway, Blin?"

"Why is a prime number like a virgin?" she asked.

"If you ignore her, she'll go away," I smiled at Kevin, still holding his wrist. I probably should let go soon.

"I don't know, Belinda," said Kevin, playing the straight-man to a tee. "Why is a prime number like a virgin?"

"Because the only things that go into it are one and itself," she sang, holding up first one and then two fingers together.

I jerked involuntarily, spilling some of my nearly-full beer; I'm sure Kevin felt it through my hand on his wrist. At twenty-four, I was feeling more than a little self-conscious about my virginity and Belinda had caught me off guard with a thinly veiled joke about female masturbation, which is the only kind of sexual contact I get.

I felt a warm flush rising up my cheeks and took a swig of beer to try to cool it down. Kevin put his hand over mine; I wanted to look somewhere else, but I took a peek at his face and saw his earlobes glowing red. Was he blushing too behind that beard? He gave me a strained smile and squeezed my hand. Why was he embarrassed? It's not like he was the virgin here?

Belinda tried to recover. "Kev, Jeannie's got a wild party trick."

"Belinda," I moaned. "Really?"

"I hope it's suitable for mixed company," Kevin said with an ironic smile.

"Seven hundred and forty-seven," Belinda blurted, eyes shining with glee.

"Three, three, and eighty-three," I sighed. "I've told you a dozen times, Belinda, pick one where the digits don't add to a multiple of three."

"Seven and four is … eleven … and seven …" Belinda counted on her fingers. "Eighteen, that's not a multiple of three."

"Yes it is, sweetie," I said.

"Twice," agreed Kevin. "So you factorise numbers in your head," Kevin smiled at me. "That's impressive. How far do you go?"

Oh dear, awkward double-entendre. "How far can you take me?" I laughed behind my hand. I did not just do that!

"I-I-I-I'm going to … um," Belinda looked around desperately, "go over there and … do something else … by myself." She stepped hurriedly away to let me sweep up the shattered pieces of my dignity after that shameless come-on.

But it was as though Kevin didn't notice.

"Seven thousand and eighty-one," he challenged.

"Seventy-three and ninety-seven," I smiled at him crookedly. "You picked two high primes and multiplied them in your head, didn't you?" He gave me an embarrassed smile, caught red handed trying to trick me. "That's pretty good at short notice." I was a little impressed.

"Not as impressive as instantaneously factorising four digit numbers," he marvelled.

"It's not instantaneous," I admitted. "You probably know all the primes under one hundred?"

"Mmmm? Probably," he agreed. "I might need a couple of seconds to think about some of them."

"Well you just need to memorise the product of any two of them," I shrugged. "And it doesn't hurt to be able to quickly recognise multiples of three when you're doing it for Belinda."

He looked at me with serious eyes. "You're very smart," he shook his head slowly, watching me in a way that made me feel warm inside.

"Does that make me scary?" I asked, looking shyly down at my drink.

"Scary wasn't the word that I was thinking of," he said. Actually, he kind of sighed it.

I wondered what his beard would feel like against my cheek.

~~~

The party was fun. I got a little bit drunk, I danced badly with Kevin (not something either of us will be hurrying to repeat) and of course I won the fancy-dress competition with a spontaneous, rapturous ovation from all of the boys in the crowd. I couldn't believe I'd kept Hermione in the closet for so long. I loved this dress; I loved how it made me feel and I was hungry to experience more.

Finally it came time to go home. We live close to the university so Kevin offered to walk with me, while Belinda and Andrew discovered after a rushed conversation that they would rather catch a taxi to Andrew's house than come back to ours. I sensed that I was being given space.

As we turned to walk up my street, images from a thousand teenage movies flashed through my mind's eye: the kiss at the end of the date. But we hadn't been on a date, we just met there; would I get my kiss?

Heart pounding, I stopped in front of the gate to our building.

"What?" Kevin looked around. "Why are you stopping?"

"This is me," I said pointing to the gate. "We're home."

"Oh," he said, obviously taken aback. "I was hoping it would take longer."

"But why?" I laughed.

"Because if I had a bit more time," he began sombrely, "then I think I might have had the courage to hold your hand."

Oh goodness, the blood rush! I could see how people get addicted to this feeling.

"It's a nice night," I said quietly. "We could walk around the block."

"Could we?" he asked with cautious hope in his voice.

"Mm-hm!" I smiled. "But first you need to tell me something, because I can't wait until we get back to find out."

"Anything." He cocked his head, curious about my question.

"Are you going to …" I swallowed. "Are you going to kiss me goodnight?" The alcohol was doing its job; we were both saying things that we wouldn't normally say.

"Oh great," he rolled his eyes and smiled, breaking some of the tension. "Now I'm not going to be able to enjoy the walk because I'll be obsessing about the kiss."

"Well," I said softly, taking half a step closer so that our bodies were touching. "If you kiss me now and make it a bad one, then you can relax knowing you'll do a lot better when we get back.

"That's actually a pretty good idea," he said quite seriously.

I put both hands around his waist and stood with our tummies touching. Leaning back a little, I turned my face up to his and looked into his eyes, just a couple of inches above my own. He closed his arms around my body and held me gently to his chest, my small breasts cushioning our light embrace.

He turned his head slightly to the right so that we didn't bump noses. "Remember to make it a bad one," I husked.

I swallowed nervously as his lips touched mine and forgot to kiss. Noooo! God, I was late to my first kiss! I felt the warm puff of his halting breath as he closed on my lower lip and then heard the tiny smack of his kiss as he pulled fractionally away. Desperately, I opened my mouth and chased after him, catching most of his upper lip between mine, pressing harder and closing down a little bit wetter than he had done before pulling away, agonisingly slow, with a moist smack from both of us.

"Was that bad enough?" he whispered.

"It was terrible," I mouthed, almost inaudible. We held each other close and I could feel the heat of his breath on my lips. It was my first kiss and I was filing away every sight, sound, smell and sensation; I wanted to be able to recall every part of this moment and use it to banish the horror of that day beneath the elms seven years earlier.

After a few more moments he let me go – reluctantly, I thought – and took my hand.

"We should walk," he said simply.

Yes, we definitely should, because I'm not sure what would happen next if I kept holding him that close. We walked slowly, relishing the contact of our hands and the occasional brushing of our bodies whenever the alcohol in our systems re-routed our paths across each other.

I looked up at the stars and contemplated what would happen when we got back to my building. I'd just had my first kiss, and I wasn't going to taint the memory with what most women claim to be a disappointing experience of first-time sex. I wasn't ready for that anyway, but nor was I finished with Kevin for the night.

I could still feel the soft touch of his lips against my own and that sensuous wet, slide when I kissed more deeply than I intended. I sensed that there was much joy to be experienced in kissing, and if I was sixteen again then it is something that I would have ample opportunity to explore. But at twenty-four, the pace of a physical relationship was different; there was no taboo against sex, nothing to stop your passions from overtaking you. I knew I would kiss again – and I would enjoy it – but it would never again be like tonight and I wasn't done yet. I wanted more from Kevin; not everything, but more.

Back at my gate again, this time we stepped into each other's arms without the nervous preamble of earlier.

"Goodnight, Jeannie," he said, our mouths just an inch apart.

"Goodnight," I whispered, and opened my lips to him, letting him come to me. And he did. Touching softly against my lips, we closed our mouths together, but instead of pulling away we both opened again and tilted our heads in unison for better contact. Pressing together more firmly with our mouths and with our bodies, we tasted and touched and learned about each other in a breathless head-rush of new love.

"Come inside with me," I breathed.

"But I …" I felt his heart quicken against my breasts. "I didn't bring any …"

"Not for that," I whispered. "To kiss." And I underscored this by kissing him again; and it was every bit as good as the first two.

I fumbled my keys like a horny prom-queen outside a motel. With one hand around my waist, Kevin closed the other over my shaking fingers and helped me to open the door. Finally inside, I buried my fingers in his beard and felt the soft bristles tickle my palms.

"I've been wanting to do that all night," I smiled, then taking two fistfuls of beard I pulled him close and kissed him loudly on the mouth. "Mmmm, handles," I grinned. "Handy."

Kissing me back through a smile, he reversed into the lounge, holding me close, and then fell onto the sofa. With a muffled shriek I fell with him, scrambling so as not to land my knees somewhere I may later regret, and I ended up straddling his hips in my red dress, the hardness of his belt-buckle pressing at first uncomfortably – and then delightfully – against the lacy gusset of my panties.

I got my wish that night. With lots of kissing and squeezing, first with me on top, and then Kevin, incredibly he never once tried to go further, not even to touch my breasts, although at times I longed for him to do so. We kept going until first light when finally, with eyes hanging out from lack of sleep and my face incandescent with pash-rash, I suggested to Kevin that we could see each other again after we had both gotten some sleep.

Crawling into bed with the new day's sun peeking through my blinds, I slid two fingers into my panties and with the recollection of Kevin's hard manhood pressing into my thigh or my stomach throughout the night, I brought myself to a quick but sweet orgasm and fell immediately asleep.