CHAPTER 2

Thirty minutes later, they were at Steve’s apartment on Maple Street, sitting on the edge of his bed and kissing.

It started off nice and gentle, but as seconds went by, Alisa started kissing him more vigorously, more wildly, and at one point she bit down on his lower lip, a bit too hard, and he winced.

“Hey,” he said, forcing a smile, “careful, love, that hurt a little.”

“Sorry,” she whispered, though she looked anything but.

After a couple of minutes, Alisa parted her lips and looked at him, a radiant gleam shining from her eyes. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

“What?”

She giggled, her cheeks flushed. “I’m a little embarrassed to ask.”

“Don’t be. Go ahead, tell me,” Steve said, though part of him wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

She bit her lower lip. “Would you lick the bottom of my shoes?”

Stunned, Steve stared at her, his eyes wide, before a nervous laugh escaped him.

Her smile faltered. “What? What’s so funny?”

“I, um, well…I mean, really?”

Alisa narrowed her eyes. “Yes. Really. Do you think I’m joking?” There was an edge to her voice.

A heavy feeling of guilt settled over Steve, and he felt a knot of fear tightening in his stomach. He didn’t want to make her angry; something told him that would be a terrible idea. “N-no. No, love. It’s…it’s just that–”

“Just that what?” she said in a harsh tone, crossing her arms.

“I wasn’t expecting this,” he said in an uneven voice. “That’s all.”

He hadn’t been aware of Alisa’s unusual fetish. They’d been together for a couple of months, and she’d never asked for anything like this, but he couldn’t satisfy this desire of hers. He had an open mind, but this was just pushing it too much; it was unhygienic, for Christ’s sake.

Steve cleared his throat. “Sorry, but I just can’t do that, Alisa.

You gotta understand, they can’t be very clean…

think of all the dirt on the street.” Then he had an idea.

“I can lick your bare feet if you want.” He smiled, although he wasn’t crazy about doing that either—she’d been in her shoes all day, after all, so her feet probably weren’t the cleanest. “How about that, huh? How about if you take off your shoes and socks and I–”

“I don’t want you to lick my feet,” she spat. Suddenly, she seemed to have transformed into another person. “Are you crazy? That’s gross!”

Yeah, and so is licking the soles of someone’s shoes, he thought but didn’t say. He lowered his head, not knowing what to say.

A frown creased Alisa’s face as she directed her gaze at him. “Do you have any idea how hard it’s been for me to gather the courage to ask for this? Are you aware of how difficult it’s been for me to open up like this?”

“Alisa, I–”

“Do you have the slightest idea how fucking humiliated I feel right now?” she yelled at him. “Is this what you wanted?”

“No,” Steve exclaimed, raising both hands. “Of course not. I never meant for you to feel like this.”

“Oh, shut up.” She pushed herself up from the bed. “Take me back home.”

Steve was bewildered. “What?”

“You heard me,” she said coldly.

The radical turn of events was such that it felt surreal. With a dry swallow, Steve gulped. “Okay, listen, I’ll do it, I’ll lick your shoes. I’ll do it, okay?”

“I don’t want you to lick them anymore!” she yelled at him. “You’ve spoiled all the fun. You’ve ruined everything!” Her words stabbed his chest. He felt his body swell with pain.

Gaping at her, Steve’s mind was a complete void, and his hands were shaking.

“Take me home,” she said as she put on her jacket. “Now.”

◆◆◆

A thick, tense silence filled the car on the drive back to her house. Steve was too hurt to speak, and he knew there was nothing he could say that could appease her, anyway.

When he parked in front of the gate, she opened the door, and before she could step out, he said, “Alisa, please, listen to me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Please, let’s just talk about it.”

She glanced back at him, and a look of pure contempt flickered across her face, stunning him. It made him gasp, his breath catching in his throat.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she hissed. “You’ve behaved like a jerk. You’ve made fun of me, humiliated me. Next time, think twice before making fun of me.”

“Alisa, I didn’t make fun of you.”

“Yes, you did!”

“Alisa, please, I never meant to hurt your feelings. I just didn’t want to lick–”

“Shut up! Just shut the fuck up!” Her eyes blazing with fury, she jumped out of his car, slammed the door, and pointed her finger at the road. “Get out of here. Now!”

She scurried to the gate, and Steve watched open-mouthed as the vast gate opened and she walked up the driveway. He watched as she walked up to the mansion, without looking back, her figure getting smaller as the gate closed.

Steve stayed still for a while, trying to understand what had just happened, trying to make sense of it. After a couple of minutes, he pulled out and started driving back home, shaken up, a tremor running through his hands.

◆◆◆

As his car moved on across the small, yellow-lined road, the sky dark and starless, Steve thought about the unfairness of the situation. He hadn’t made fun of her, for Christ’s sake. He just hadn’t wanted to lick her shoes. Was that so terrible? Her reaction had been ridiculously disproportionate.

He didn’t feel angry, though. Instead, his eyes wanted to well up. He felt hurt. But he also felt angry with himself.

Why hadn’t he gone along with her request from the very beginning?

Because licking the bottom of someone’s shoes is disgusting. That’s why.

It was disgusting. But still…

He felt so bad about having upset her. She was probably right, maybe he had behaved like a jerk. Maybe he should have been more tactful. Maybe he deserved to be treated by her in such an awful way. Self-loathing gnawed at him. He felt stupid for having drawn her away.

However, there was a question that kept coming to him: just what had she seen in him to begin with?

He still struggled to understand it. They were physically attracted to each other, true, but that was about it.

They were so different from one another.

And her parents were extremely rich, which meant she was extremely rich, too.

Something he most definitely was not. And he felt ashamed of his humble status.

His parents had given him a shining example of what it meant to barely make ends meet.

And it didn’t look like he’d ever be able to aspire to something more.

He thought that if he’d gone to college and had a fantastic job waiting for him, like Alisa, this would have increased his self-esteem considerably.

“You useless piece of shit,” he muttered to himself as he neared his red-brick building.