They pushed on a little farther before stopping. Babi opened her bag and pulled out a large Union Jack. “I bought it at Portobello Market when I was in London. Help me stretch it out. Have you ever been?”
Step gave her a hand. “No, never. Is it nice?”
“Very. I had the time of my life. I spent a month in Brighton and several days in London. I went with EF. Education First.”
They lay down on the flag and warmed up in the sunshine. Step listened to her account of London and a few other trips she’d taken. She seemed to have been to a bunch of places but he, largely uninterested in those past adventures and by no means used to that hour of the morning, quickly fell asleep.
A bird sang loudly, and when Step opened his eyes, he barely managed to glimpse the last flutter of wings and the shadow veering away, flapping over distant stalks of tall wheat. The sun was higher now, and Babi was no longer beside him.
He stood up, worried, and looked all around. Then he saw her. Farther down, on the hill. There she sat, among the wheat.
As he walked over to her, he called her name but she seemed not to hear him. When he was close enough, he understood why. She was listening to her Sony Walkman.
Babi turned to look at him. The look in her eyes promised nothing good. She went back to gazing into the distance at faraway fields. Step sat down next to her. He, too, sat for a while in silence.
Then Babi couldn’t stand it anymore and took off her headphones. “Do you think that’s respectful, to fall asleep when I’m talking to you?” She was really angry now. “That’s a total lack of respect!”
“Oh, come on, don’t be like that.” Step smiled. “It’s really a total lack of sleep.”
When she huffed in annoyance and turned away again, Step couldn’t help but notice how pretty she was. Maybe even prettier when she was angry. She held her face high, and everything took on a special quality, chin, nose, forehead. Her hair, lit up in the sunlight, reflected its rays, golden, and seemed to exhale the fresh scent of the wheat. She had the beauty of an abandoned beach, he decided, with the wild sea fringing its distant edges. Like foaming waves, her hair framed her face.
Below her hair, thin eyebrows, dark and determined, resembled the wings of a seagull, soaring confidently. Motionless in the wind, the bird looked down at those twin blue oceans of her eyes. Then those eyelashes, lighter at the tips. Her golden skin, that sweet velvet. Her pouting lips, caressed and dried by the wind.
Step leaned toward her and gathered her soft beauty in his hand but Babi tried to elude his grasp. “Leave me alone!”
“I can’t help it. It’s stronger than me. I have to kiss you.”
“I said leave me alone. I’m offended by you.”
Step smiled and leaned closer to her lips. “I swear that from now on, I’ll listen to it all. England, London, the trips you’ve taken, you name it.”
“You should have listened earlier!”
Step took advantage and kissed Babi fast, catching her unsuspecting lips, ever so slightly parted.
But Babi was faster than him, and she clamped her mouth shut. Then there was a gentle struggle. In the end, she surrendered, slowly, and gave in to his kiss. “You’re violent, and you’re rude.”
Words whispered between lips that were too close.
“That’s true.” Words that were practically muddled together.
“I don’t like it when you behave like that.”
“I’ll never do it again, I promise.”
“I’ve told you before that I don’t believe in your promises,” Babi said.
“Well, then, I’ll swear it…”
“Just see if I believe it when you swear to something…”
“Okay, fine then, I’ll swear on you.”
Babi punched him hard but he took the punch as a joke. Then he put his arms around her and plunged with her through the soft stalks of wheat. High above, bright sun and blue sky were silent spectators. Not far away, the forgotten Union Jack. Closer still, two smiles.
For a little while, Step toyed with the buttons of her shirt. He stopped for a moment, fearful. He looked at her. Her closed eyes seemed calm and unruffled. He undid one button, then another, gently, as if even the lightest touch might be enough to shatter the magic of that moment.
Then his hand slid inside, down her waist, and onto her tender warm flesh. He caressed her. Babi let him do it, kissing him, and wrapping her arms around him even tighter. Step inhaled her perfume and shut his eyes. For the first time, everything seemed different to him. He was in no hurry, perfectly relaxed, and he felt a strange sense of peace.
His open palm slid down her back, along that soft hollow until it reached the hem of her skirt. A gentle slope, the beginning of a sweet, sweet promise. He stopped. Right then a slightly more impassioned kiss from her made him smile.
Gently, he continued to caress her, moving up until he came to an ornate elastic strap. His fingers lingered on the snap. His touch wandered curiously as it tried to solve the mystery. Two hooks? Two tiny half-moon shapes that fit one inside the other? A metal S that’s inserted from above?
He hesitated. She broke out of a kiss to eye him curiously. Step was starting to run out of patience. “How the fuck do you open this thing?”
Babi shook her head. “Why is it you’re always such a potty mouth? I don’t want you to talk like that when you’re with me.”
Just then, the mystery was solved. Two tiny half-moons separated while Step’s hand wandered all over her back, up to her neck, at last unhindered.
He leaned down to kiss her. “Forgive me…”
Step couldn’t believe his own ears. He’d asked her to forgive him. He, Step, had just apologized.
Then, determined to stop thinking about it, he abandoned himself as if swept away by this new conquest. He found himself caressing her breasts, showering her neck with kisses, moving his hand to her other breast, and rediscovering there, too, that fragile hint of desire and passion.
Then he slid slowly lower down, toward her smooth belly, the hem of her skirt. Her hand stopped him. Step opened his eyes. There Babi was, right in front of him, shaking her head.
“No.”
“No, what?”
“No, that…” She smiled at him.
“Why not?” He wasn’t smiling now, not at all.
“Just because!”
“But why not?”
“Just because, period!”
“But there must be some reason, like…” Step gave her a small, insinuating smile.
“No, you dummy, no reason. It’s just that I don’t want to. Maybe when you learn not to curse so much, well then, maybe…”
Step turned onto one side and started doing pushups. One after another, faster and faster, without stopping. “I can’t believe it. Tell me it isn’t true. I’ve figured it out.”
He was smiling as he spoke between one pushup and the next, slightly out of breath.
Babi fastened her bra back together and buttoned her blouse. “What have you figured out? And stop doing pushups when we’re talking…”
Step did the last two pushups on just one hand. Then he lay down on his side and gazed at her with a smile. “You’ve never been with anyone else.”
“If you’re trying to ask whether I’m a virgin, the answer is yes.”