Eve laughed, but it sounded nervous. “Youwant to live vicariously through a virgin?”
Genni grinned and then teased, “Well, I haven’t been one ofthosein ages. It might be fun.”
“In that case, maybe we should turn around,” Eve joked, shaking her head at her friend’s dig.
Genni giggled but then sighed, reaching out to squeeze Eve’s hand. “Madame Allegria’s is thelastplace I would ever expect to find you, darling Evelyn.Meon the other hand…well, it would be the first place if I had a rich husband,” Genni joked. “Oh look! There’s the restaurant!”
And just before they turned the corner to Restaurant Row, Eve looked over her shoulder one last time, glancing at the dark alley, the quiet street…the name of which she memorized and she didn’t even know why.
Chapter Two
“And I told him that no, he couldn’t cum there,” Genni finished, finally taking a bite of her salad. Her friend had been picking at it as she’d told Eve the story of her latest lover. Genni sighed, apparently relishing the taste of lab-grown lettuce. “Why do men always want to cum on your face?”
Eve wouldn’t know, but her cheeks flamed when the couple seated at the table next to them cast disapproving glances at Genni…or at least the woman did. The man was trying to slyly eye Genni’s figure without his partner noticing.
Genni had been talking for most of their meal at Luna, one of the most popular restaurants on Restaurant Row. It had received a rave review in the Gazette that Eve read religiously, but she wasn’t all that impressed with the food. She thought it was bland, but the atmosphere more than made up for it.
Luna was dimly lit by hundreds of wax candles, not an electric bulb in sight. The ceilings were high and directly in the center was a bright, glowing full moon suspended by clear cables, the namesake of the restaurant. Eve had read about Old Earth’s moon. She’d seen pictures at the archives and had seen it in the old films.
At Luna, it was in full display and Eve even thought she could see the ‘man on the moon,’ which she’d also read about.
Genni’s latest lover worked next door to the beauty shop. He was a tailor, apparently, and had met Genni since their noon breaks lined up with one another. After a couple lunches together, they’d started having sex and now, more than a month later, Genni was getting bored.
It was her friend’s cycle. She repeated all her same mistakes with every lover she took and complained to Eve any moment she could. A part of Eve didn’t mind. The curious virgin in her took a strange thrill hearing about Genni’s sexual escapades because Eve knew that she would never be so bold as Genni.
Eve had a healthy interest in sex, had pleasured herself with the latest toys and vibrators that she got discreetly delivered to her townhome, and she’d seen her fair share of erotic films. She tried to imagine what sex would be like, to have a man deep inside her body, to feel his weight on top of her, to hear his groans and rough breaths in her ear, to touch the shifting muscles of his back as he thrust into her.
To be connected to another person in a way that sex could only provide.
But the truth was that Eve couldn’t imagine it. She’d never experienced anything as intimate as sex. She’d been kissed once during her schooling days, which she later found out was a dare. She’d received friendly touches from strangers, which she’d soaked in with sad desperation.
Eve craved touch. No one ever touched her anymore, except for Genni, and even that was done with absentmindedness since Genni touched everyone she spoke with.
Looking around at the other patrons dining at Luna, Eve was struck by her loneliness again. Even when she was with Genni and listening to the chattering voices of at least fifty people, she was lonely.
She’d done it to herself, she thought, briefly glancing down at her half-empty plate of braised modified meat and lab-grown vegetables. She was a coward when it came to people and relationships. She hid herself away in her big townhouse because it wasn’t frightening, because it was easy.
Genni was talking again, unhindered by Eve’s silence. “I still can’t believe Mrs. Langley visits the Krave. I always pegged her for a prude.”
That got Eve’s attention. “Really?”
“She’s always very distant when she comes into the shop. Then again, all the richies are like that,” Genni added, but then said, “Not you though.”
Eve almost sighed. Genni always made comments like that and Eve wondered if Genni thought she was vastly richer than she actually was. Yes, Eve would be able to live comfortably for the rest of her life if she budgeted the credits and assets her father had left her. But she was by no means as wealthy as the Langleys or the Buttes or the Chungs. Not even close. And Eve would never dream of giving up her shop job, not only because she liked working there, but because of the credits she brought in.
It gave Eve peace of mind…and there was something comforting about being able to live off her own credits, not her inheritance.
“Still, she never gossips or rants about her husband. I mean, I’m a beautician. I get an intimate look into all my client’s lives and that includes sex. But not Mrs. Langley. She’s never talked about it once, so I just assumed she didn’t have much of it,” Genni said, taking another bite of her salad.
Eve hesitated, but then said softly, “What…what have you heard about the Krave?”
Genni grinned. “Lots. What have you heard?”
“Just that, you know, their…” Eve trailed off, glancing at the couple again seated close to them. Whispering, she said, “Their ejaculation…er, fluid triggers orgasms.”
Genni laughed, taking a sip of her wine. Not bothering to lower her voice, she said, “Longorgasms, Evelyn. I heard as long as their cum is inside you, it’s like a never-ending orgasm. You have to clean it out for it to stop.”
Eve’s thighs clenched and she swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the couple that was obviously eavesdropping on their conversation. Not that Genni was trying to be discreet about it anyways.
