She took a sip from her beer and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“That the one that raped you?”

She knew.

She knew.

I didn’t know how she knew, but she did. And maybe that wasn’t so surprising; after all, she had a blooming social life in which she spoke to a lot of people. I wondered who had been indiscrete, though I didn’t care too much about it, really.

“You thought I didn’t know?” she asked as I didn’t answer. Her voice was a little deeper even than before.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Didn’t think about it, really. Yeah, I guess I’m surprised you know.” She looked at me, asking. “But yes, that was the one.” The questioning look in her eyes didn’t seize. She said nothing, asked nothing – just looked at me. In a long and heavy course on conversation techniques, I had learned about the power of silence if you wanted to get someone to talk. It is also very effective if you want your conversational partner to pick the direction the conversation is going. She, apparently, just knew that, or had learned through experience. “Maybe I’m not so much surprised that you know as I am that you know and still come up to talk to me.” And want to fuck me.

She smiled and let out a lot of air as she did so. She looked surprised. Then she smiled again and renewed her surprised expression as well. She put her empty bottle of beer down and moved my hair out of my face with her right hand.

“You’re beautiful,” she whispered. “Beautiful.” She opened her mouth again to say more, but shut it without saying anything. I just smiled. I had gladly said something back, but somehow that seemed against the rules. She moved her face closer to mine. I moved forward a little and our lips just touched, very gently. Then I felt them moving. “I want you,” she said in a low voice.

Her bedroom was as I had expected; not too tidy, and the bed was obviously the most important object in the room. It had been made nicely, with what I hoped were fresh sheets. Some girl tomorrow night would hope for the same thing, I knew. It didn’t make me any less enthusiastic about my presence here.