In the mid 90s, we had a big giant party on our rooftop....and maybe it was a little TOO big. Rooftop full of people......one grill. And I mean, not a gas grill. And guess who had to man the grill?
If you guessed "Leo", well...you'd be correct!
Every five minutes or so, this little Japanese girl would come up to me - someone I didn't know at all - and demand to know when the food was going to be ready. And I was getting annoyed, to be quite honest! Her English was not great, but she was bold, outgoing, demanding...and she was pissing me off! "It'll be done when it's ready", I'd growl. But my growls didn't stop her from coming back every five minutes. I was getting really exasperated with this chick.
Later on in the night, I saw her talking with a buddy of mine, and they were standing behind my drumset, and by the way they were nodding and talking and pointing at equipment, I figured she was a musician. Which she turned out to be.
My buddy, not knowing my previous encounter with this girl, brings her to me and introduces us....and we're smiling, we're pretending we haven't already met. It was cute. To be honest, I like to be the musician in a relationship, usually a girl that's a musician becomes a sister...or even a brother! You can always find another girlfriend....but a bass player?
So I say that.....but she was very endearing because, even though she couldn't speak English very well, it did not stop her at all from being bold and approaching people, making demands, speaking her mind....she was not shy at all. And that made me laugh. And she was also adorable, I haven't said that yet. Pretty. Adorable. Cute. Take your pick, they all describe her. Full of life, not meek at all.
Ok, so.....it turned out she lived two blocks from me. And we started having breakfast together, bumping into each other and walking around.....jamming a bit.....and all along, I was helping her with her English. I started to like her. I remember once we decided to go to the top of the World Trade Center, the observatory in one of the Twin Towers....a very romantic, sweet memory.
But...you know.....just a friend. Until one night, we found ourselves in a bar lounge on Ludlow Street....and we're leaning into each other, and I don't know...it's feeling electric. And at one point, I started massaging her arm? I don't really remember why but.....I remember massaging up her arm, and getting up to her armpit, where she collapsed into sweet, shy giggles, and tried to get my hand away (to no avail). Her reaction was adorable, it was hot......and now I knew.....it was the final piece of the jigsaw, now I had a full-blown crush on this girl. Eventually, it turned to kissing, but I remember for the rest of the night giving her periodic tickles to her sides and quick ones under her arm and her neck, and she'd wrinkle her nose, and squirm and giggle, and she was definitely ticklish.
And yet.....for various reasons....we mostly stayed friends. And we knew we both liked each other! I don't know what it was. I think the music had something to do with it, I didn't want to spoil a rapport I had with a musician...she was a very good bass player!
I know I tickled her a few times....I have a vague memory of tickling her on a street corner, on Stanton Street.........but the next clear thing I remember is.....
One day we were at my place and she wrote on my foot with a pen, for whatever reason, I don't really remember but anyways.....no reaction, I let her write whatever she wanted. When she was done, I said, "Ok your turn!" and she said ..."no no no. I can't take it"....but I wouldn't take no for an answer "no no no, your turn, give me your foot"...and I insisted.
You know what she said?
She said, "You mean, I must?"....I love that. I mean, she thought this was an order! "you mean....I must?" Her face was processing this, like....it was something she had to........so of course, I said yes!!!!
Without missing a beat, she nervously extended me her little foot, and I clasped her ankle tight and started drawing....at very first contact she broke into urgent girlish giggles, periodically hitching back and forth trying to get at her foot when she wasn't surrendering and just taking it, squirming in her chair, giggling. Because she was so small, she was absolutely NO problem to control, my grip on her ankle was firm, and though her foot wiggled, she couldn't pull her leg back at all. I don't remember what I wrote, but I do remember not letting go for a while.
She was a great ticklee and the last thing I remember from this period is being on her couch and having her completely helpless, stretched out across my knee and being able to tickle her, with practically zero trouble containing her struggle. It's a flash of a memory...and I've actually considered going under hypnosis to remember this and other ticklings I dished out. I think she was on my lap and then I tickled her down, but I can't remember.
I didn’t see her for a few years, and then we got reacquainted through a mutual friend. The first time I saw her again, the three of us took a drive upstate…..my friend drove the van, I was in the front, and our girl was in the back. The whole time, there's some tension between us....we’re flirting through my mirror, and it being summer, she was wearing jean shorts, I’m remembering a bikini top, but that may be wrong…..that may be later that day….anyways, she kicked off her sandals and kept kicking my chair, or extending her foot, resting it next to my leg, totally teasing me…and the whole ways, I’m grabbing her ankle and tickling her, sometimes hysterical (annoying our driver friend), sometimes a quick tickle that would just make her giggle and snatch her leg back. But she just wouldn't stop.
Finally, I just said “that’s it”, unbuckled my seatbelt, charged into the back and attacked. I had the whole van seat to work with and squished her into the corner and tickled the fuck out of her, while my friend was yelling "Stop it! Stop it! I'm driving!" I remember her recovering in my arms, catching her breath, panting.....while I looked down at her, smiling...awwwwww!
We hung around a lot for the next 6 months, but something just wasn’t quite right, the spark, it was gone, but I guess we figured…might as well. I tickled her tons of times, probably too many times because I just wasn’t THAT into her (and vice versa). But I can't remember much about those times.
I know she had pictures of herself working at a Karaoke bar, entertaining Japanese businessmen, that's a whole scene I didn't know about, I always imagined her getting tickled on the job.....I'm sure she did......and I'll bet the guy who did it felt really proud of himself, like he'd accomplished something.....that's how I always feel.
