Brooklyn Story by Suzanne Corso

this kind of intimacy with such a great-looking guy, a stranger whom I was getting to know real fast? Tony brushed my lips with his, pressed both sides of my head with his hands, and then thrust his tongue deep into my mouth. I was startled, but my mouth drew him in. I had never been kissed like that before, I had to admit, and I had to admit, too, that it felt good. I liked that feeling and felt as if he was talking to me without saying any words. I also felt privileged that Tony, the great blond gladiator whom everyone showered with admiring eyes, was kissing me. Poor, no-father, sick-mother me!
    I relaxed a little and he kissed my neck and ears. I shuddered and turned my face completely toward him, asking for more as a John Paul Young song, muffled in the distance, wafted through the branches to where we were:
    And I don’t know if I’m being foolish,
Don’t know if I’m being wise …
    He wanted me and no one else, I kept telling myself. I allowed my tongue to probe his mouth and felt a familiar moist heat between my legs. There was something about Tony that made me tingle all over. With his body pressed so close to mine, I felt a man’s hardness for the first time andmy body stiffened again. Tony seemed ready for anything but I wasn’t. The kiss had been fine but this was way too fast for me. I pushed his shoulders away a bit, took a deep breath, and smiled at him. He backed off.
    â€œYou’re a natural, Samantha Bonti,” Tony said, “since this was your first kiss and all.” Did he really believe I’d never kissed another boy in my whole life? I wondered, my pride somewhat dashed. But I knew it had never been like what he had just done. And I knew I sure as hell wasn’t going any further than kissing.
    Tony leaned toward my ear once more. “I want ya ta know that I really like ya, Samantha Bonti,” he said. I just loved the way he said my name. “And that’s a pretty big thing in a girl’s life, when a guy like me falls for her. I know we just met and all, but there’s sumthin’ about ya that I could get used ta … if ya know what I mean.”
    The things he had done and what he was saying both excited and scared me. I was glad he hadn’t forced himself completely on me and that I would have time to sort things out. I wanted to find Janice and go home. “I have to go, it’s getting way too late for me to still be out.”
    â€œYeah, at your age an’ all. Ya should be home in bed,” Tony said with a narrow smile. “Gimme your number. I might wanna take ya out to Angelo’s sometime. What do you think of that?”
    I thought enough of going to
the
place in Manhattan’s Little Italy to open my purse and take out a tube of black eyeliner. I grabbed Tony’s hand and wrote my number on his palm. He reached into a pocket and handed me a piece of scrap paper with his name and phone number written on it. “Take this,” Tony said, “an’ call me when ya wake up tomorrow. I wanna hear how ya sound first thing.”
    â€œYeah, okay,” I said, taking the paper from him and staring at it before putting it in my purse. “What do you do? Carry those around in case you meet a hot girl?”
    â€œYou’re already breakin’ my heart, Samantha Bonti.” Mine fluttered as he led me back to the avenue. “Let’s go find Janice so’s you two can hold hands on the way home.”
    I walked beside Tony, searching for my friend at every food and game booth that we passed. I saw her at last, hanging on Richie’s arm and munching on a cannoli. I smiled at the two of them together and then rushed over and hugged my friend. “Hey, Richie,” I said after I separated from Janice.
    â€œHow ya doin’, Sam?”
    â€œNot too bad,” I answered, blushing. Tony came up and they exchanged hellos. “Want one a doze?” he asked me as he pointed at