“Well, you look like you’re having fun,” I commented from the open doorway.
Marilyn squealed and ducked even lower under the bubbles, although there were enough I hadn’t seen anything anyway. “You’re not supposed to be in here!” she protested.
“Considering that this is my bedroom and my bathroom, I could say the same to you.” Marilyn stuck her tongue out at me. “You know, maybe I need a bath, too!”
“No, you can’t!” she protested.
I peeled off my shirt and kicked off my shoes. “Why not?” I asked with a smile.
“Because!”
I peeled off my socks and dropped them in the corner with the sweaty shirt. “Because why?”
“Just because!”
“You sound like you’re telling something to a four year old,” I laughed.
She smiled at that. I rescued her modesty by turning on the shower (deluxe suites had deluxe bathrooms, with both showers and tubs.) Then I stripped down and jumped in for a quick shower. She blushed when I stepped out and dried off. “You know, you saw everything last night,” I reminded her. I wrapped the towel around my waist and turned the water on in the sink.
“Not really,” she admitted. “I think my eyes were closed.” She gave me a very sheepish look.
I grabbed my towel and moved so as to whisk it away. “We can fix that!”
“NO!” Marilyn yelled, and then actually ducked down under the water. When she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, she surfaced and wiped the suds from her eyes, to find me standing there, my towel still around my waist, and laughing my ass off at her. “Now I have to dry my hair!” she complained.
“That’s not my fault,” I said with a laugh. I turned away and went to the sink to begin shaving, and found a wet wash cloth flying through the air to hit me in the shoulder. I turned to face her and did a bump-and-grind, yanked off my towel and then showed her my butt as I shaved. Marilyn gave a little harrumph of displeasure.
When I was done, I left the bathroom and allowed her to finish up in privacy. I pulled on some clean briefs and a clean pair of chinos, along with a sports shirt. I also took a look at Marilyn’s silk robe. It had a few blood spots and semen marks from last night. I took it into the common room and found a dry cleaning bag and stuffed it inside, and then I called down to room service and asked for a bellman for some dry cleaning. Maybe it could be cleaned. Those types of stains aren’t the type you want to keep around and reminisce about; just ask Bill Clinton!
From behind me, in the direction of the bedroom, I heard Marilyn. “Carl? Have you seen my robe?”
Ooops. No good deed goes unpunished. I went to the bedroom door and said, “I sent it to the cleaners.”
“Well, what am I supposed to wear now!?” she protested.
I laughed and pushed the door open. Marilyn squealed in outrage and tried to wrap her towel around herself. I simply strode up to her and wrapped her in my arms. “Will you stop worrying! You might not remember what I looked like from last night, but you can believe that I remember what you looked like, and I liked every single square inch!” I tugged away her towel and kept hold of her. “I like seeing you like this. I think I’m going to have to see you like this more often.”
Marilyn blushed, and then she giggled. “I guess I am being silly.”
“Yes, but I like that, too. Now, get dressed and we’ll get breakfast.” I tossed her the towel and she went off to her room carrying her towel. I followed, happy to see her from behind.
“I think I can do this myself,” she said with a smile.
“Well, I mean, it just seems logical, if I get to take your clothes off of you, I get some say in what goes on you,” I countered.
“You’re too logical for your own good.”
“Then let me make a suggestion, seriously. Put on a long skirt or sundress, and leave off the unmentionables. It will cut down on the irritation, hmmm?” I figured this was a long shot, but it sounded logical, and would definitely be more interesting.
“OUT!”
I skedaddled out of there. I figured I would be able to experiment later and see if she liked my idea.
Marilyn came out a few minutes later in some flat sandals and a long halter topped sundress. I smiled and looked at her hips to see if I could figure out if she was wearing anything under the dress. She noticed and laughed at me. “I’m not telling you, either.”
I shrugged and smiled. “It’s even more fun to wonder.” I grabbed her hand and the room key and we headed out the door. In the elevator I took a chance and hugged her, and in the process ran my hands along her rear. At first she moaned slightly, but then she jumped back and swatted at me. “That’s cheating!”
“I can’t imagine why you would trust me not to cheat. I wouldn’t trust me not to cheat!”
She glared at me for moment, but I just smiled innocently, and then buffed my fingertips against my shirt theatrically. Marilyn blushed again. Unless she was wearing a thong, and thongs weren’t all that common back in ’74, I was pretty sure of the answer.
Breakfast was a buffet, and Marilyn happily loaded up on some scrambled eggs, toast, and juice, while I limited myself to juice and some fruit salad. “You’re not hungry?” she asked.
“Breakfast isn’t my big meal for the day. I normally just have some fruit and juice, or something light. My big meals will be lunch and dinner. I need to watch my weight.”
“You’re kidding me, right? You’re like pure muscle.”
I laughed at that. “Not hardly. When I was a little kid I was nothing but skin and bones. I have to work at it. Besides, a soldier can’t afford to be fat; I need the muscle.”
“I find that hard to believe, too. I can’t see you as a soldier.”
“Hey, you saw the ‘Wall of Heroes.’ Even if I am drummed out of the family, my mother will put my boot camp photo up there next year,” I told her.
We talked some more about the road trip that summer, although I avoided discussion of my winning at the casino in Las Vegas. We also talked about our schedules for that fall, when school started.
After breakfast it was time to take a walk around town. It was continuing to stay gray outside, but it wasn’t raining, so we walked down to the Boardwalk holding hands. By now businesses were open and people were coming out to the beach, although there weren’t as many as if it had been bright and sunny. There are about a million tourist traps and stores along the Boardwalk, and we went into several. I bought a box of salt water taffy, which Marilyn had never had before. I said we’d have to buy a big box for Tusker and Tessa, and Marilyn asked me why it was called salt water taffy if there was no salt water in it, and I couldn’t answer that one.
I bought a straw fedora for myself and a big floppy straw hat for Marilyn. I also pointed out several different miniscule bikinis and offered to buy them for Marilyn, which earned me a lot of blushes. I decided I would revisit the question later in the week.
We perambulated down the Boardwalk slowly, taking in the sights and letting the breeze blow around us. At one point it picked up enough that she had to grab her dress to keep it from flipping up and answering the question she refused to answer herself. I laughed and pointed to a little girl walking with her mother on the other side of the Boardwalk, towards us. She was giggling and pointing at us, among other things. I leaned over and whispered to Marilyn, “I know what she just told her mother.”