356 Chapter one, 2017, flashes of summer: 10 (1/2)

During the life he left behind Ulf took his first real girlfriend to his bed after some hesitation, or rather she took him to his bed. He'd been far too awkward to understand the repeated invites she gave him, so in the end, during a late evening alone with each other, she took to the offensive in a way even he wasn't able to misunderstand.

Now was different.

While he and Christina had shared their bodies on a few occasions it was still a matter of adults in teenager bodies, or at least as much adults as their bodies allowed.

Noriko, however, was very much still a child. At least in his eyes. Ulf was thoroughly grateful she hadn't tried anything in that direction. Spending the moments before they entered the pool together was bad enough, but she defused it by walking away before she took off her clothes.

It wasn't like he wasn't interested at all. She was cute, and he didn't really have any body type preferences. Had he been the age he looked he probably would have tried something bad, or good, depending on how you looked at it.

As it was he wasn't ready for neither love nor making love, and Noriko deserved the full attention of the man who shared that sensation for the first time with her.

So in the end he was grateful for the pool as well. It was very much the same as a sauna during his university days back home. After a while the conversation drew most of his attention, and he felt his misgivings fade away as he revelled in how she handled different topics in a way that lay far beyond her years.

Ulf enjoyed talking with Noriko. Problem being he had enjoyed talking with Christina as well since she quickly dispelled any notions he held of her being all looks. He'd been guilty of some severe preconceptions about beauty and brains.

Still, Noriko was different. She gave him a run for his money. Her mind moved so quickly he needed all of his experience to catch up, and only by playing a dirty game of steering conversations to where experience mattered more than pure brains did he manage to keep up.

They talked and laughed, and talked some more. After a while he forgot that neither of them wore any clothes, and from the way Noriko acted, so did she.

A little too much time in the pool it turned out.

Dizzy from heat and fatigue Ulf left the water, grabbed his towel and got rid of the worst of the water. Then he draped himself with a yukata, not even bothering with the obi, and checked that Noriko didn't fall asleep in the pool or anything equally stupid and dangerous.

He needn't have worried. She stood, towel in her hair, with water dripping down her body in the light of their room and almost only a pitch black night as background.

Whatever lit the terrace was more for setting the mood than anything else, and Ulf was rudely reminded that this was, after all, not the same as sharing a sauna back home with friends.

Small breasts, narrow hips and yet a body that had decided to grow into adulthood, and all framed by her thin arms and a white towel furiously dancing around in her hair.

Ulf looked down in embarrassment but his body had already reacted, and he pulled the yukata tighter around himself and quickly took a few steps in the direction of the water boiler.

'Damn. I'm getting turned on. Shit! I'm a creep after all.'

”Could you pour one for me as well?”

Ulf refused to turn around and meet her face. From her voice he could hear that she was oblivious to how his mood had changed. ”Sure, green or black?” he said with a voice you could curdle milk with.

”Sorry, I didn't get that.”

”Black, sure I'll get you one,” Ulf said and pretended he had misunderstood what Noriko said.

”Urufu?”