murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

again. I'll always stay twisted like this and grow old and waste away
here. I get so chilled it's like I'm all frozen inside. It's horrible ... so
cold. .. "
I put my arm around her and drew her close.
"I feel like Kizuki is reaching out for me from the darkness,
calling to me, "Hey, Naoko, we can't stay apart.' When I hear him
saying that, I don't know what to do." "What do you do?"
"Well ... don't take this the wrong way, now." "OK, I won't."
"I ask Reiko to hold me. I wake her up and crawl into her bed and let
her hold me tight. And I cry. And she strokes me until the ice melts
and I'm warm again. Do you think it's sick?"
"No. I wish I could be the one to hold you, though," I said.
"So hold me. Now. Right here."
We sat down on the dry grass of the meadow and put our arms around
each other. The tall grass surrounded us, and we could see nothing but
the sky and clouds above. I gently lay Naoko down and took her in my
arms. She was soft and warm and her hands reached out for me. We
kissed with real feeling.
"Tell me something, Toru," Naoko whispered in my ear.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Do you want to sleep with me?"
"Of course I do," I said. "Can you wait?" "Of course I can."
"Before we do it again, I want to get myself a little better. I want to
make myself into a person more worthy of that hobby of yours. Will
you wait for me to do that?"
"Of course I'll wait." "Are you hard now?"
"You mean the soles of my feet?" "Silly," Naoko tittered.
"If you're asking whether I have an erection, of course I do." "Will
you do me a favour and stop saying "Of course'?" "OK, I'll stop."
"Is it difficult?" "What?"
"To be all hard like that." "Difficult?"
"I mean, are you suffering?"
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