Chapter Three: Yesenia

Steve shut off the alarm clock and got up. He checked, and sure enough, Yesenia was still sleeping off the alcohol she had consumed the previous year. He took a shower and put on clean clothes, then shaved and brushed his teeth.

Steve had spent every waking hour of the night thinking about how to phrase everything. The first order of business, when Yesenia started to stir, was to bring her a large glass of cool drinking water.

Yesenia opened her eyes and looked around. “Where am I?” she asked.

Steve gave her the glass of water. “Drink this. The alcohol you drank dried you out. You need water first.” he told her.

Yesenia accepted the glass and consumed the water. Then Steve recited his opening line. “I hope you didn’t take that as a rejection last night.”

“I don’t remember. What happened?” Yesenia asked.

Billy told her, “I brought you over here because I figured you might not want your parents to know you got drunk. You kept putting your arms around me and cuddling with me. It’s not that I didn’t want to. Believe me, I really wanted to. But you had been drinking so much. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t think you were any less desirable, just because you had been drinking. It’s just that, well,…” He paused and took a deep breath. “I felt it might not be right, because I might be taking advantage of your drunkenness. Did I do the right thing?”

Yesenia’s brown eyes opened wide, and she took a deep breath. Then she turned and looked at Steve. “Oh, yes. That’s for sure. You definitely did the right thing.”

Then Steve maneuvered cleverly. “I felt the right thing to do was to let the alcohol wear off, and then see if you’re still willing.” He had decided against “still want to” and “still interested” in favor of the lower threshold, “willing”.

“Well, actually, no.” Yesenia said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Steve maneuvered more, this time for pity. He let out a sigh and said, “It figures. A girl as desirable as you are would have to be drunk out of her mind to be interested in me.”

Steve sat down on the side of the bed, next to Yesenia. She put her hand on his back. “Oh, now don’t say that.”

“Why not? I mean, it’s true.” he replied.

“Well, I just, like, couldn’t do that.” Yesenia explained.

This time, Steve tried guilt. He sighed again, saying, “Well, if you absolutely, positively don’t want to, there’s obviously nothing I can do about that. It just means I lose because I did the right thing.” He paused for a few seconds to let that sink in. Of course, he knew Yesenia had every right to refuse for any reason or for no reason at all, but he subtly raised the standard to “absolutely, positively, don’t want to.” Then he asked, “Would you like some breakfast?”

“Thank you anyway, but no. I don’t want to impose on you. Thanks for letting me sleep in your living room.” Yesenia answered.

Steve took Yesenia’s hand in his, and looked her in the eye, saying, “I’m going to tell you the honest truth. I figure you might be hungry, and in a hurry to get home and have breakfast. It might be to my advantage to feed you here. I know a good recipe for hard-boiled eggs.”

“Well, that makes you a regular cordon bleu chef. You know the recipe for hard-boiled eggs.” Yesenia joked.

“Hey, it’s worth a try.” Steve admitted. “Oh, well, I guess I lose because I did the right thing. A girl as desirable as you are would have to be drunk out of her mind to be interested in me.”

Yesenia put her arm around Steve and said, “Well, like, if you really want it that badly…” She sighed.

“May I fix you breakfast?” Steve asked.

“Sure.” Yesenia replied. She stood up and let Steve lead her to the kitchen, where he started boiling a pot of water.

Steve put his arms around Yesenia. She sighed, “Oh, what did I just get myself into?”

“It’s okay.” Steve assured her. He hugged her and she hugged him back, and then he kissed her. “You’re beautiful.” he told her. “And, thank you, very much.”

When the water boiled, Steve added six eggs. “Juice? Coffee? Milk?” he asked.

“Juice.” Yesenia replied.

Steve smiled a lot during breakfast. Then he led Yesenia to the living room, where he stowed the sleep sofa back into a sofa. “I want to spend some time cuddling with you. You’re beautiful.” They spent some time cuddling on the sofa.

“You look nervous.” Steve observed. “Are you afraid to touch me, because you think I’d get angry at you? That’s natural. Usually, you can’t just put your hands on somebody.” He unbuttoned his shirt and put her hands on his chest. Yesenia smiled. Steve said, “Thank you again, by the way. You don’t mind if I keep saying ‘Thank you,’ do you?”

“Oh no, that’s fine.” Yesenia answered. She smiled again.

Steve warmed up Yesenia. Then he led her into his bedroom.