Susan: A Love Affair

by Stuart Powell

A met her on the lanai of a condo in Maui. We were both twenty two. I had moved to Hawaii from Colorado six months earlier on a whim. She had just arrived from California an hour earlier at the airport in Kahului.

It was a warm summer night when I arrived at my friend Sue’s apartment. She was excited about the arrival of her childhood best friend. The two of them had grown up together in the Redondo Beach neighborhood of Los Angeles. They were both named Susan.

Sue was brunette, vivacious, and a valley girl. Susan had honey blond hair, gorgeous blue eyes, and was very matter-of-fact. I suppose their differences enhanced their friendship.

Earlier in the day, Sue invited me to come over and have drinks and meet her friend that evening. She warned me, however, that if Susan wanted something, she got it - especially from a man. She knew I was unattached and somewhat shy. We were also close friends. She made me promise not to sleep with her. I promised.

That evening I let myself into Sue’s apartment. I could hear laughter coming from the back. I walked through the living room, pushed open the sliding glass doors and stepped out onto the lanai that overlooked the ocean. The two of them were sitting on cushions crosslegged and drinking wine. Susan looked up at me and smiled.

Sue introduced me. I sat across from Sue with her friend in between us. Already I could feel her energy. She immediately put me at ease. As we talked she would touch my arm or leg when she made a point or laughed.

After an hour or two, Sue and said she was going to bed. She had to open the restaurant she worked at the next day. Susan and I stayed on the lanai together another hour. The sound of the waves gently breaking on the beach, the warm sea breeze, the moonlight, the wine, and our conversation pulled us closer. She kissed me. She pulled back a bit, looked into my eyes, and kissed me again. I held her close. Her lips were luxurious and fit perfectly on mine.

Susan stood up, finished her glass of wine and said, “Let’s go to bed.” She led me through the apartment to her bedroom. I closed the door behind us. The moonlight lite her room. She turned to face me. We kissed again. This time, it was more urgent. She took the edge of my bottom lip in her teeth. We undressed each other. I could feel her hands on me.

My heart was pounding. She laid back on her bed and I crawled up and over her. I kissed her forehead, her cheeks, and her lips. I pushed myself down and kissed her neck and her shoulders. I pushed myself down again and kissed her perfect breasts. I could hear her moan. I moved my head to her side and kissed her down to her stomach. She threaded her fingers through my long brown hair. I kissed the inside of her thighs. Her hips started to rise and fall slowly, rhythmically. She sighed and moaned deeper.

We made love most of that night. We took turns waking each other up with a kiss or a caress. I barely knew this woman, yet it was as if we had done this before.

The next morning I woke up, got partially dressed, and stepped out of her room to make coffee and take a shower. Sue was already up. “I knew it!” Her eyes were angry. “I knew you’d sleep together. But on the FIRST night!”

I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t embarrassed. I didn’t want to have this ruin our friendship. Hopefully, she’d forgive me.

I had no money when I arrived on the island. Bartending on beach bars put a few bucks in my pocket. Being young and a relatively broke bartender on a tropical island probably put me in a category where no woman would take me seriously.

Susan and I never became a couple. However, she frequently had me in her bed. We got along well as friends.

We would go to nightclubs or hang out on the beach in Lahaina. We often had dinner dates. Sometimes the evening would end with sex, sometimes it wouldn’t. Susan kept me around for reasons I never really knew. Many times she told me she loved me. I knew I loved her, but I did my best to keep her at a distance.

One morning, after spending the night with her, I woke up to her talking on the phone and smoking a cigarette. I was lying on my side facing away from her. She didn’t know I was awake. I quickly determined she was on the phone with her mother in California. She was telling her about this man she met. She told her she was in love. “Oh, no,” I thought to myself. How did it come to this? Were we now officially a couple? Was she going to put me on the phone to meet her mother? How would being a couple affect our “relationship”? Were we even in a relationship? My mind was racing. Already I began to feel trapped. Not long into their conversation Susan started describing her man. He was tall, balding and worked as a chef where she worked as a waitress. Her man wasn’t me. At first I felt relieved. Then I felt anger. Then I felt confused.

How could she love me and him? What was I to her after all? Did I mean anything to her? Then I settled down. I reminded myself how relieved I was when I found out I wasn’t her man. I reminded myself what we had just done all night. I also felt an odd sense of security knowing she was comfortable talking about her new, serious relationship with her mother while I was in the same room.

Susan would stay on the island for the next six months. Nothing changed in our relationship. When she had a free night (because they had been arguing or he was visiting his family on Oahu) she’d call me. We’d have dinner and watch the Hawaiian sunset and end the eve ning tangled in her sheets.

Looking back at my time with Susan I realize it was more fantasy than reality. We knew from the first night we slept together that nothing would come of it. Yet we couldn’t stay apart for too long. There was always a romantic aspect when we were together. There was always an anticipation of how good it would be. For me, it truly was a love affair.