Julie’s face transformed into a slow, sleepy smile.
‘I didn’t really think you would do it, Joe. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing you would do, even then. I wanted to tease you, tease myself, too. I thought you would stop me before I got my blouse off. When it came over my head and I saw you with your shoes off and your pants down around your knees . . . ’ She squinted and began to giggle. Tears, like silver streams, made slow channels down her cheeks. ‘You were bent over, looking up at my breasts, like you’d never seen anything like them in your life.’
Joe felt himself blush. ‘Well, you are a little schemer.’ He sat on the bed beside her, took her hand in his.
‘Was, Joe – not anymore.’ The spark began to fade from her eyes as the medication worked its way into Julie’s bloodstream. She nestled down in the bed, laying her head against his chest. She smiled again, without opening her eyes. ‘I like the way your heart sounds,’ she murmured. Soon she was asleep, her breathing even and calm.
But Joe kept remembering. He could almost feel how exciting Julie had been that night. By the time he was unclothed, she was half a block ahead of him, laughing and calling softly, taunting him. Her hair flew out behind her, as if afraid of being left behind. Joe could see her calves tighten and relax, could see the lines of her legs as she leapt forward.
Joe discovered, before he ever caught up with Julie, that he loved her. As he drew even with her, he caught her hand and they ran until they reached the end of the street.