Jenny and her Gin

I wanted a girlfriend. I wanted the experience of meeting someone new and becoming twitterpated. I fantasized about the wonderfulness that could be. I was on my way to Bryna's house, she'd invited me over for her legendary homemade stew, when I saw a lovely latina girl walking toward me. I wanted to say hello but I knew that women could have a hard enough time feeling safe on an empty street at night and so I just walked by.

"Hey Keith." the stranger said as I passed.

I stopped and tried to figure out how this girl knew me. "It's me, Jenny, Andy's cousin." She was stunningly beautiful. I hadn't seen her since we were kids and, as she was a couple of years younger than me I had never looked at her that way before. Now she was an adult, and what an adult she was.

I invited her to have soup at Bryna's and she accepted. Afterwards she invited me to come by her place and listen to records. We walked to her place and spent hours going through her impressive collection of vinyle and tapes. We hit it off really well. She said she never slept at night and that I could come by any time.

It was quickly apparent that ours was to be a platonic relationship, but it was an unusual platonic relationship. Jenny liked to wear toenail polish but did a miserable job of putting it on. She did a fine job on her fingernails, but just couldn't seem to get the toes right. So, I took care of her toes, and in return she painted mine. This meant hanging out in the bathroom, soaking our feet in an old claw foot tub. Her apartment had a private bath. It was hers and hers alone, but it wasn't in the apartment. She had to cross the hallway and unlock a separate door to get to it. So, rather than pass back and forth we'd just hang out in the bathroom, soak our feet and make each other's toes pretty.

Jenny had a big bottle of gin that didn't mix well with her prescriptions but I made a good dent in it every visit. As I drank my gin Jenny would play and eclectic mix of music on her boom box. When I heard something that aroused my curiosity Jenny would refuse to tell me what I was listening to until I confessed to liking or not liking it. She felt that most people didn't listen to music honestly since they'd already made up their minds about who they like and don't like. This drove me crazy as it resulted in my digging some Bruce Springsteen! I've bought some Bruce since, and have never recreated the experience.

The Gin ran out eventually and Jenny bought another bottle, then another. I asked if she could buy something other than gin and she explained that she didn't buy it for me but just to have on hand. I pointed out that I was the only one drinking it, so she might as well get something more to my liking. She looked me in the eye and said to me with great conviction, "Keith, we're not that kind of friends." I continued to drink her gin, and she continued to replace what I'd consumed.

Eventually Jenny went off to Europe to try and work out a relationship with an x-boyfriend. I really enjoyed the nights spent at Jenny's place, and I really enjoyed coming home to my open relationship. I said nothing as I climbed into bed with Monica, slightly drunk and with my toenails freshly painted. She never asked about my mysterious nighttime adventures and I never said a word.

Previous
Next