Never a Hero

at my left arm and frowned a bit. I knew the look. He wasn’t disturbed so much as unsure if he was allowed to mention it or not.
    I thought about what Nick had said to me over sandwiches at The Vibe. Most people are trying to treat you the way they think you want to be treated. The bear attack story seemed like the wrong tack here. Instead, I took a deep breath and said, “Amniotic Band Syndrome. I was born without it.”
    He smiled, obviously relieved I’d brought it up. He reached out and put his hand on my arm. My breath caught in my throat. A lifetime of hiding it, and this was twice in one month that somebody I barely knew had touched it, not with distaste, but with tenderness. I found myself melting into his touch.
    He leaned close. “Can I ask you a rude question?”
    “I guess.”
    “Have you ever, you know, used it on somebody? I mean, I know guys who’d love that. Like fisting, but without the fist.”
    I had no idea what to say. It had certainly never occurred to me. I was also surprised by his assumption that I had any kind of sexual experience at all, let alone something so kinky. It was kind of nice to know I didn’t have Twenty-Eight-Year-Old Virgin oozing from my pores. “Are you serious?”
    He laughed. “Yeah. Don’t tell me you’re one of those prudes who never watches porn?”
    I wasn’t that sheltered or naïve, but still, I’d never seen anything like what he was referring to. “Everybody I’ve ever seen in porn has all four limbs intact.”
    “I think you mean ‘all five limbs.’”
    Now it was my turn to laugh. I was surprised at how easily the laughter came to me. At how quickly my discomfort with him had fallen away. “Good point.”
    He let go of my arm to make a dismissive gesture with his hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t ask you to do it to me. That’s not my thing.” This time, he put his hand on my thigh. He leaned even closer. I wondered if he was about to kiss me. “Are you sure I can’t bring you another drink? Or we could go someplace else?”
    The possibilities loomed in front of me. I could have this boy take me home, and I’d no longer be a virgin. That was absolutely clear. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. He was cute, and the idea of kissing him was certainly appealing. I thought about being skin to skin under the covers, and there was no denying the way it made my pulse race. But when I pictured being kissed, or making love, or waking up next to somebody in the morning, it wasn’t Nathan I saw in my head.
    It was Nick.
    I looked around for him and found him watching me with obvious disapproval. I was also pretty sure he was at least a little bit jealous.
    I stopped Nathan’s hand on my leg. “I think I’m not as single as I led you to believe.”
    He laughed, not with annoyance or disdain, but with genuine understanding. He backed up, letting the space between us become more casual than intimate. “No harm, no foul, right? I didn’t offend you?”
    “Not at all.”
    In fact, I felt sexy. Flattered. Almost invincible. I also knew now exactly what I wanted. When Nick walked over and held his hand out to me, saying, “Let’s get you home,” I gladly took it.
    The cool night air of the Light District surprised me. I tried to remember how many shots I’d had. Enough to make me happily tipsy and uncharacteristically bold. “Coming to my rescue?” I asked Nick as we made our way back to his Tahoe.
    His laugh was a sharp and loud. “I wanted to rip his arm off for touching you.”
    Was it horrible that his jealousy made me feel like I could fly? “Then there’d be two one-armed men for you to deal with.”
    He laughed, more genuinely this time. “Bad choice of words. Sorry about that.”
    “I don’t mind.”
    I looked down at the Superman T-shirt I still wore. I really did feel bulletproof.
    I reached out with my right hand and smiled like a fool when Nick took it.

Nick didn’t leave me at my door. He followed me inside, kicked off his shoes, and sat down on my couch. I sat next to him, my heart racing with the possibilities.
    “You going to take Seth up on his offer?”
    “You mean, getting a heart tattooed on my ass?”
    He laughed. “Well, I wasn’t thinking that exactly.”
    “Unlikely.” I thought about Seth asking me if I’d seen Nick’s tattoos. I hadn’t, and suddenly, I wanted to. More than anything. The alcohol, Nathan’s flirting, Nick’s attentions—all of it combined to give me courage I wouldn’t normally