She giggled some more and squirmed a bit, making me think about the experience a little too graphically. "Just how many girls at school have experienced the Carl Buckman Experience?", she asked.
"There is no such thing as the Carl Buckman Experience!", I replied. Good Lord!
Jeana shrugged. "Well, if I ever experience it, I'll know who to talk to about it."
"I repeat, there is no Carl Buckman Experience. I'm just being friendly.", I repeated.
"It certainly sounded friendly.", she agreed.
I groaned. "Is that all they had to say about me?"
"No. They also said you were wicked smart and the toughest guy in school and that you've even killed people, but I thought that was kind of crazy." Suddenly she seemed rather nervous; I could feel her tense up and pull away.
I looked at her curiously. "Jeana, what is going on? I know we've only been dating a couple of weeks, but you must know by now I'm not some crazed killer. What's the matter?" She had a confused look on her face, and I could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes. I lifted her off my lap and stood up. I went to the bar and fished out some more ice and coke, surreptitiously adjusting myself in my pants in the process before coming back. "Jeana, just talk to me."
"Well..."
I freshened her glass as well as mine and then sat down again, this time making sure that Little Carl wouldn't be uncomfortably down a pant leg.
I wasn't sneaky enough. Jeana noticed me adjusting myself and said, "That!"
"What?"
She gave me a very embarrassed look and nodded her head in the direction of my lap. "That!"
I figured out what she was talking about, but still wasn't connecting any dots. "Huh? Jeana, I'm not following you."
Her face turned beet red and she stammered out, "I have to know about the Carl Buckman Experience!"
I spewed some Coke out, missing Jeana but spotting the armchair, and she ran off to get some paper towels as I coughed. If she was looking to break the tension, there had to be a healthier and safer method. "Sweet Jesus, Jeana, are you still worried about that nonsense?! Good God!"
"It's not nonsense!", she protested. "All those girls at school, telling me about what you're like, and how I'll know all about it, too, and everything ... Carl, I'm not like ... I mean, I'm..." Tears were starting to leak down her cheeks.
I took the cleaning supplies and set them to the side, and then pulled her gently back onto my lap, being a lot more careful as I did so. I just wrapped her in my arms for a bit, and just rocked her, whispering, "It's all right, it's all right." She settled down after another few minutes.
Once she had stopped crying, I helped her sit upright and turned her face to mine. "Okay, you want to know about the Carl Buckman Experience?" She nodded and I smiled. "Well, this is it. It's just me being me."
"I don't understand."
"You think I plan to make you another conquest. I'm going to seduce you and make love to you and then leave you for another girl, don't you? Right? Hmmm?", I asked.
She nodded shyly, not looking at me.
"Jeana, did all those girls tell you I've had sex with them? All of them? Because I haven't."
Jeana's eyes widened at this. "You haven't?"
"Nope. I will admit I have been with some of them, maybe even most of them, but not all of them. I never go beyond what a girl feels comfortable with, and never take a relationship beyond what they want."
"I don't understand that.", she admitted.
I smiled. "Not every girl wants a steady till-death-do-us-part boyfriend. Some of the girls in school might, in fact, just want a friend to go to a dance with or somebody to see every once in a while. Friends, but maybe a little bit more, but nothing serious. Can you follow that?"
"I guess so."
I could tell she really wasn't following me. "Here's an example. You met Tammy Braxton the other day, right? Now Tammy and I were friendly on occasion, even very friendly, but we were never more romantically involved that that. Now she is dating Randy Bronson and they are a whole lot more serious than we ever were. I mean, like deeply in love serious."
"So you aren't looking to get serious with me either then."
"No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that it's up to you, not me. If you just want to be buddies, I will understand. I'll be disappointed, but I'll understand. If you are starting to feel more like how I'm starting to feel for you, I will be very happy with that idea, too."
"You mean... ?"
I grinned and wrapped my arms around her again. "I mean, just like I said before, it would be very easy for me to fall in love with you. I'm already at least half way there, so try not to break my heart if you are just looking for a friend."
Jeana wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly, and I could feel the wetness on her cheeks as she started crying again. I let her go for another few minutes, and then pulled her away. "What's the matter? Are you all right?"
"Oh, God, I think I love you, too."
"Well, that certainly makes it more convenient. So stop crying. Girls in love are supposed to be happy, not sad.", I answered.
"I am happy, you jerk!"
I shrugged. "Okay, I'm a jerk. We can add that to the Carl Buckman Experience, too."
Suddenly she got nervous again. "Carl, uh, I'm not actually all that ready for the Carl Buckman Experience. I mean, I'm not ... I mean, I haven't..."
I rolled my eyes. "Here's a part of the Carl Buckman Experience you are ready for. Tomorrow I plan on killing any girl who ever calls it that! I am not a ride at Disneyland!" Jeana giggled at that. "Seriously, nothing happens unless you are happy with it. It's not like I was planning on ravishing you as soon as we got down here this afternoon."
She blushed at that. Jeana was innocent, but not all that innocent. Somebody, at least, had taught her how to kiss.
I wrapped my arms around her again. "Here's the real Carl Buckman Experience. It's about caring and sharing and listening and talking and protecting and being a friend. Anything else is just a wonderful extra. Can we start out with all of those things, and then worry about the extras later?"
She eagerly nodded. "Yes!"
"Now, would you like me to tell you about how the Carl Buckman Experience starts out? The first part?" Those big brown eyes looked at me eagerly. I stood up and held her in my arms, then lowered my hands down to her very warm and soft rear. Jeana squealed when I did so. I leaned down and whispered in her ear. "The first thing I do is pull your jeans down..." I rubbed her butt and she whimpered. " ... and then I give you a good hard spanking!" I brought both hands down hard, and Jeana squawked in outrage. I kept my arms around her, keeping her from hitting me. "And that's what you get the next time you talk to me about it!"
"You bastard!", she complained, rubbing her butt.
"Now, go upstairs and wash the tears off your face, so your father doesn't shoot me as soon as he sees you!" I sent her scampering up the stairs and I cleaned up the basement. I ended up in the kitchen carrying our glasses, just as she came back down the stairs. Her parents came in a few moments later to see us chatting in the kitchen.