Afraid Of Romance

Romance, everyone wants it but others fear it, for it may show people a side of them that they do not wish to share. In her short story "Not a Good Girl", Perri Klass' main character, the narrator is a successful Immunologist speaking at a conference and has what she calls a "two-night stand" with Eric, an attendee. During her description of how her weekend was, small details of romance wishes start to appear.

The narrator, the woman, appears to be a career-goal oriented person; well, at least that is how she describes herself. It appears throughout the story that she is afraid to get romantically involved with someone. At this seminar she is giving, she meets a graduate student of immunology who keeps her company through out the weekend.

Through out the story, she makes several mentions of romance and the lack of romance in Eric's approach. She also describes the light of the moon on their first encounter as a silver splash. All these words make it seem that she does want a relationship, but fears that they may not like what they get once they get to know her. Eric makes her do things that she would not normally do. She gets excitement from this; however, she hesitates to answer Eric when he asks her if there were a possibility of them having an affair if they lived closer to each other. Even though Eric sees possibility in her as a partner, she is afraid to commit to a relationship for the fear of losing control. She has worked her whole life to get where she is by setting goals for herself and doing whatever it takes, and this gives her control of her life while sacrificing any romantic relationships that may have come along. If she were to get into a relationship, she would make herself vulnerable and it is something she does not like to feel.

Eric appears to be a decent man and open to whatever life may bring him. While he is taking her to the hotel, we get a sense of how straightforward Eric is. He flat out asks if she would like some company for the night and she says yes. When they are back at her room, he does not beat around the bush, he asks her to take her clothes off. And after their sexual encounter, he starts to talk to her of how women are nowadays. It appears that he is comfortable around her and sees potential in her being his mate. At their stop at a public park he chases off three teenagers peeping in on their make out session - a man normally shows this display of character when he is "defending his woman's honor."

As she describes her nervousness before giving her second speech, she admits that Eric being