Then he showered, scrubbing his hands and arms to remove all traces of paint, and changed into clean clothes. He stuffed some condoms into the drawer of the nightstand and opened a bottle of wine to let it breathe. Then he closed the windows, cranked up the heating and waited for her to arrive.
Claire turned up almost on the dot of seven. As he had expected, she appeared nervous. ‘So, boning for beginners,’ he said, smiling and rubbing his hands together as he let her in. ‘Ready to begin?’
‘Um… yeah.’ She bit her lip. Maybe that hadn’t been quite the way to put her at ease, he thought.
‘Sorry. Have a seat.’ He motioned to the sofa, hoping she would sit on the cushion that still had some padding left. ‘Would you like a glass of wine?’
‘Yes, please.’ She sat on the wrong side, almost sinking through to the floor. She tried to extricate herself surreptitiously, coming to perch on the edge.
‘Why don’t you sit on that side?’ he said, pointing. ‘It’s more comfortable.’
She scooched over and he handed her a drink, sitting beside her.
‘Cheers!’ He clinked his glass against hers. ‘Here’s to sex education!’
‘Cheers,’ she mumbled, then took a huge slug of wine.
Infuriatingly, Luca’s neighbours chose that moment to start a domestic. There was a lot of shouting and screaming, followed by several loud thumps, and the sound of something heavy hitting the wall. ‘Sorry,’ he said, rolling his eyes and getting up. He went over to the iPod dock andswitched it on, turning the volume up loud. Adele’s voice filled the room. He had cued it up earlier, guessing Claire would be the sort of girl who liked Adele. Most girls he knew did. Noticing that her glass was already half empty, he picked up the bottle of wine and topped it up.
‘Are you trying to get me drunk?’ she asked, as he sat back down beside her.
‘No, definitely not. I don’t want you drunk at all. In fact, I think you should slow down,’ he said, nodding towards her glass, which she was raising reflexively to her lips. ‘I just want you to relax.’
She lowered her glass without taking a sip. ‘Sorry. I’m a bit nervous.’
‘I know. But don’t be.’ He reached out and ran one finger down her bare arm. ‘There’s nothing to be nervous about. We’ll take it slow. And, remember, you’re calling all the shots here. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.’
‘I know. It’s just— it’s a bit weird, you know, doing it in cold blood like this. I mean, you didn’t have to do this, with the wine and everything. I’m a sure thing, you know?’ She laughed shakily.
‘So you thought we’d just go straight to the bedroom and get down to it?’
She shrugged. ‘I guess. I don’t know. I mean, it’s not as if I’ve ever done anything like this before.’
‘Well, I thought we should talk a bit first – about what we’re doing here. For example, I don’t know how much experience you’ve had. If any,’ he added, shooting her a wary look.
‘You mean… sex?’
‘Yes. When you say you’ve never done anything like this before… you have had sex before? You’re not a virgin?’
‘No.’
‘Good.’ Luca was relieved that this wasn’t going to be her first time.
‘I’ve had sex before, but I wasn’t sure—’ She broke off, blushing. ‘I wasn’t sure what was going on.’
Luca chuckled. ‘You weren’t sure what was going on?’
‘Oh, shut up!’ she huffed. ‘This is hard enough without you laughing at me.’
‘Sorry. So you know how it all works?’
‘Yes, but I just…’ She was struggling to explain. Eventually she let out a heavy sigh and said, ‘I just didn’t get it.’
‘You didn’t get what all the fuss was about?’ He nodded understandingly.
‘No, that’s not what I mean – or not just that. I mean, no, it didn’t rock my world or anything. But also I didn’t understand what was going on. I didn’t know if I was doing it right, and I couldn’t tell if it was going well or not. I mean, he was there, whacking away?—’
‘Whacking away?’ He laughed. He couldn’t help it.
