No Superstitions Girl (Part 1 of X)

Her name was Rita, but I call her the No Superstitions Girl. It’s a name that we came up with together. I don’t remember if there was one particular reason why we called her that, but that was the name we had for her.

It sounds like a name for a comic book character, a superhero of some sort, or at least that was how she thought of it. She could fly, but she rarely did. Too masculine and too crass, she said.

“What about a fancy car?” I suggested.

“Too cliché. I mean, I’ve always wondered where people would park that thing.” She said as she lit up another cigarette. “Actually, a motorcycle would be very nice. A lightning fast crotch rocket. I like that. Also, I don’t need all the machine guns and little gimmicks. They kind of bother me. It’s almost like...relying on something else other than my powers, you know? That’s cowardly. Besides, they add a lot of weight to the bike I’m sure. I want something sleek, fast, and beautiful.”

Speaking of beautiful, it was a beautiful Sunday morning. We were in her apartment in the Lower East Side on the 22nd floor, in her spacious bedroom that had floor to ceiling windows with the Williamsburg Bridge right outside, in her Swedish king-sized bed, underneath her white silk comforters. I was completely naked, and she was wearing a pair of brilliant lime-green panties and nothing else.

It was gray outside in the typical New York-in-late-November kind of way: everything is dry, and there’s a cold freshness to the air. We’ve turned on the lamp on the night table to our right hand side. It had a shape that resembled a orchid petal. She said it was handmade somewhere outside of Barcelona by a Spanish designer, shipped directly to her apartment, but all picked out by her father.

We were lying on our left side. She pressed her back against my chest and I draped my right arm around her, grazing her belly button stud with my right middle finger.

“But you still want to be able to fly?”

“Of course. In case the bike breaks down. It’s always good to have a contingency plan, wouldn’t you say?”

“That’s smart.”

“Alright. A nice bike. What else...”

“Secret hideout.”

“Ah, that’s a great question. I would need a really nice secret hideout either. In fact I don’t know if it’s really necessary to have one. Besides, who’s going to take care of it and wipe everything down once in a while? Don’t tell me you want to do it.”

I hadn’t thought of that.

“Yeah.” She gave a little sigh through her nostrils. “Let’s scrap that idea. I’d be happy with a very small house somewhere in the countryside, or near the ocean on the eastern coast in Taiwan.”

“You know, once you get used to living in this ridiculously nice apartment it’ll be hard to be happy with anything less.”

She turned her neck back towards me, in slow motion. “You promised never to bring that up.” Her voice dropped a couple of pitches. “We have an understanding. Don’t forget.”

“I’m sorry. But...”

“Uh-huh. No.”

I buried my face into her shoulder and kissed her there. A faint savory-ness.

“Alright. No secret hideout. Retirement home in eastern Taiwan.”

“Sure.”

“So and there’s costume. What are you going to wear?”

“Hmm. No cape. Let’s see...lots of leather. A leather corset of some sort...over a body suit made of stretched lycra. White. And some sort of gloves... I think those arm-length gloves are super sexy, you know?”

“I would be up for that.”

“You know, maybe that’s a bit too much. That’s more like something I would wear if I were a stripper.”

“That’s not so bad either.”

“You’re just a perverted kid.” She lowered her voice a bit.

“Well, I suppose that’s true, and I suppose that’s why you’re
totally head over heels for me”

She chuckled. “In your dreams.”

I released her from my embrace and propped myself up with my back leaning against the pillow. When was the last time I had so much free time on my hands? When I say free time, what I really mean is a free Sunday morning. A free Sunday morning to just sit around, and stare into space.

Rita rolled over and snuffed out her cigarette on an square ashtray made of light oak. I looked at the curvature of her back and the little line of a shadow her spine made. Somehow I couldn’t pull my eyes away as she moved. She stayed like that with her back to me for sometime, just looking out the window.

“You know, thanks for last night.”

“Well, it’s my job to deal with your father.”

“Still, you deserve to be thanked. Somehow you have a way of talking to him that calms him down. He listens to you. I don’t know how you do it.”

I laughed. “It’s nothing. Really. He’s my client, so of course he has to listen to me.”

“I guess you just don’t know him well enough. Of all the years I’ve been watching my father, he’s never really listened to anyone. He just doesn’t think he needs to. And you know what? I think he’s been right about that.”

“So then? I’m sure he’s realized that he needs to listen to me this time around. After all, I am his attorney.”

“Part of his legal team,” she corrected.

“Exactly. I am his attorneys. One of them.”

“Whatever. But I have a hunch that, if his attorney were someone else, he would not have cared. He’s obviously had to deal with lawyers in the past. What’s more, even if you weren’t his attorney, he would be willing to pay attention to you. Did you not see the look on his face when you were explaining the deal to him?”

“What look on his face?”

“My God, you are one dense little boy. Didn’t you notice how he would squint his eyes and bunch his eyebrows up every so often while you were talking?”

“Nope.”

“That means he’s taking his time to process whatever you’re saying. Otherwise, he usually stares you down to try to pretend he’s listening when he’s really not. Anyway, I just think it’s quite impressive. You have some sort of talent there. But you have to be careful. Don’t get too close to him.”

I wasn’t sure what she’s saying, but I figured it wasn't worth getting into at this point. I had something else on my mind. I reached down into the sheets and ran my right index finger down the small of her back until I reached the waistband of her panties. I pulled on it slightly and released it, making a faint sound of the fabric hitting her skin.

She turned around and shuffled towards me, pushing herself higher up until my face was pressed on her between her neck and where her breasts began. She reached over and lightly cradled my head while I took a deep breath, savoring the faint odor of her sweat.