Chapter Seventeen
     The ride back to the Single Spire Motel was more subdued than the ride to Simone's house had been. Earl was aware of some tension, and when he was back on the freeway he reached out and threw his arm around her.
     She let that happen, but made no move to come closer and concentrated more on flying her hand out the window than she did on Earl.
     "What's up?" he asked. "You okay?"
     Vicky continued to stare at her hand, slipping it up and down in the wind. "Are you in love with Simone?" she asked. "Is there something between you two?"
     Earl changed lanes, which gave him a moment to think. "She's in love with Perris," he said. "Look at him, now look at me."
     "You two looked pretty close," Vicky said. "I caught you a few times looking at each other." She pulled her hand in and rolled up the window. They were in heavier traffic now and her hand no longer flew. "And you didn't answer my question. Are you in love with her?"
     "I just met her, just tonight." Earl said. "I hardly know her."
     "Okay. Are you in love with her?"
     "She's an attractive woman, but not my type."
     "That's fine. Are you in love with her?"
     "No," Earl said at last. He turned from the road to look at Vicky, who was staring out the windshield. He removed his arm from around her shoulders and grabbed her hands, which she had folded in her lap. "No I'm not."
     "But you want to go to bed with her," Vicky said. "I saw how you were looking at her."
     "Well, yeah, maybe," Earl admitted. "Like I said: she's hot."
     "Oh, now it's 'hot,'" Vicky said, shifting in her seat, but still not looking at Earl. "You said I was pretty the other day," she reminded him.
     "I know I did, and I meant it."
     "Do you think she's prettier then me?"
     "You can't ask me that!" Earl said. He laughed, hoping to make a joke out of it. He didn't want to lie, but didn't want to decide, either. "You two are different, each pretty in her own way."
     Vicky sat quietly, but rubbed Earl's hand a little. "You still think I'm pretty?" She looked at him as she asked this, and Earl caught her eye. The lights outside the car passed across her face in waves, and she looked incredibly vulnerable and open.
     Simone had a classic, sculptured beauty, lithe and elegant, Earl thought, with tantalizing angles and wonderfully dark eyes. Vicky had none of that, had a few extra pounds and a slightly flabby butt. She also had a much more realistic face, a human one that radiated cuteness, and bright, innocent eyes.
     "I think you're as pretty as they come," he said honestly. "Much too pretty to have anything to do with me."
     Vicky lifted Earl's hand up to her face and kissed it. "Oh, Earl," she said. "You're such a goof."
     "I am?"
     "You are. And you know it."
     They drove on for awhile, neither saying a word. When they left the freeway and approached the motel, Earl pulled his hand back and Vicky reached out and laid her hand on his leg, down near his knee.
     "I have a question," Vicky said.
     "What's that?"
     "Does it hurt when you kiss?"
     "Hurt?"
     "Yes, with your lip all sore like that. It looks like it would hurt."
     "I don't really know," Earl said. "I haven't really kissed anyone."
     "Oh."
     "And what's all this about me being a teddy bear?" Earl asked. "Simone said that you called me a teddy bear."
     "She did? When did she say that?"
     "When you were out exploring." He turned from the road to look at her. "Is this the face of a teddy bear?"
     "Sometimes," Vicky said. "But what were you doing talking about me?"
     "It just came up. No big deal."
     Vicky gave Earl a look, but he was unable to decipher it. Her hand still lay on his leg, but it was lifeless and didn't give him any signs that he could understand.
     "What did you say about me?" she asked.
     "I just told Simone that I thought you were sweet," Earl said. "That you were good people, that kind of thing. Then, she told me that you said I was a teddy bear. I had to remind her about the fight, and that maybe Scott saw me a little different than that."
     "I don't think he's seen you the way I have," Vicky said. "And I consider you a teddy bear." The hand patted Earl's knee a few times, and Earl figured that one out.
     They drove the rest of the way to the motel and then Earl yawned, but he didn't feel at all sleepy. He knew that it was just his body complaining, but his mind was as alert as it could be. He was a little drunk and high, but he didn't feel at all sleepy.
     "Do you know what a 'goof' is?"
     "Yeah, I know. Why?"
     "You yawned," Vicky said. "We know that people yawn when they've gone past a word they don't understand."
     "We?"
     "Scientologists," she explained. "It's a sign of a misunderstood word when you yawn."
     "I didn't know that," Earl said. "I just thought it meant you were sleepy."
     "Nope."
     He pulled into the lot and slowly circled, but there were no spots available and Earl pulled out onto the street and stopped his car. As they left the car Earl began seriously wondering about what would happen next. All through the night he'd had fantasies about sex, sometimes with Vicky, sometimes with Simone, and often with both. They were now approaching his door, and if anything were to happen, Earl knew that it would start now.
     If he asked her in and she refused, it was all over. They reached his door, and Vicky made it a little easier for him.
     "Do I get a kiss, too?" she asked. "I saw that you gave Simone one."
     Earl leaned down and gently kissed Vicky, first on the nose and then down on her lips. He opened his lips a little, and Vicky did, too and he lightly touched the tip of her tongue with his.
     "Like that?" he said. He still had her in his arms and could feel her breasts rubbing lightly against his chest.
     "That was nice," she said, but her voice was flat.
     He kissed her again, longer and with more passion. She opened her mouth wide, but only let Earl's tongue explore her mouth. Earl wasn't sure if she hadn't kissed much, or if she was just completely passive. He was gentle, and that was more because of the tenderness he felt she deserved than because of the pain his own lip was giving him.
     "Better?" he asked when it was done.
     "Uh-huh." Vicky looked down at her shoes, which looked tiny between Earl's larger boots.
     He let go of her and unlocked his door. "Want to come in?"
     Vicky looked inside Earl's room and clutched her small bag, fingering it nervously. Earl studied her face and tried to look pleasing. This, he knew, was the crucial moment and he would either end up with her or else beating off and thinking about Simone's wonderful ass and the feel of her nipple under his thumb.
     Vicky didn't say anything, but took a step forward, toward Earl's room. He laid his hand on the small of her back and a moment later she tossed her bag onto his bed and he was closing the door behind them.
     "Will you kiss me again?" she asked, and stared at Earl with eyes full of trepidation and doubt.
     "I'll do whatever you want," Earl said and took her in his arms. "As long as it doesn't involve any more fighting."