by Hazel Kelly
I groaned and followed her into the house.
Needless to say, the music was not to my taste, and for the first two minutes, I felt like all I could see were wide shoulders and waterfalls of shiny, flat-ironed hair.
“Oh shit,” she said.
“What?” I asked, following her line of sight. When I narrowed in on the far wall, I could see Luke leaning against it, facing some girl who looked about as clean as the cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
“That girl is the thirstiest,” she said. “Under no circumstance can you leave him alone with her, do you understand?”
I was surprised how much it hurt to see him smiling at someone else, especially someone who looked so…plastic.
“I’m sure he’ll ditch her as soon as he knows you’re here,” Nikki said.
“I’ll text him,” I said, reaching for my purse. “Casually.”
“Too slow,” she said, squaring up to me. “Do you trust me?”
“Why?”
“It’s a yes or no question, Rosie.”
“Yes.”
She kissed me as soon as I said it, tossing her sterile-tasting tongue in my mouth until the heat of her breath warmed my lips. And right when I was going to pull away, she grabbed the back of my head with one hand and opened her mouth even wider. The next thing I knew there were whistles and cheers erupting all around us.
When she finally let me go, I felt too giddy and shocked to be angry.
She leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “You’ve improved a lot since we were fourteen.”
“What the hell were you thinking?” I said, trying to keep a smile on my face so as not to upset all the eyes we’d attracted.
“I was thinking if some of the other guys clocked you, it would put Luke back on offense where he belong—”
“That was quite the entrance, ladies,” Luke said, appearing beside us. “Don’t let me interrupt.”
“You aren’t,” Nikki said. “I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”
I shifted my weight, feeling like a guppy among sharks.
“But don’t worry,” she said, flashing her eyebrows. “Rosie might have a few kisses left for you.”
Luke smiled at me. “That’s a relief.”
“If you play your cards right,” she said, glaring at him, “and don’t waste any more time with Amber.”
“Amber’s just a friend,” he said.
“Good,” Nikki said. “’Cause if she’s ever been anything more, I suggest you get yourself tested.”
Luke twisted his face.
“That’s enough, Nikki,” I said, my eyes pleading with her. “Chill.”
“Can I get you guys something to drink?” Luke asked. “Beer? Jungle juice?”
Nikki nodded. “Two jungle juices, please.”
“Coming right up,” he said. Then he reached for my hand, squeezed it, and walked away.
“Two jungle juices?!” I said, sticking my neck out. “We’re going to be shitfaced.”
“First of all, we’ll actually be less likely to be hungover since we’re already on liquor,” she said. “Second of all, beer makes you pee too much, and I don’t want to spend all night in the bushes.”
“I’m sure there’s a bathroom here.”
“If you want to walk through sticky piss and crouch over a liquid yellow toilet seat, be my guest,” she said. “But I’m not going anywhere near that soon-to-be warzone.”
“You think it’ll get that bad, huh?”
“All I know is that the bathroom floor in the football house was so sticky last time we were there, Kimberly’s shoe came off.”
My gag reflex shuddered down my body.
“And it smelled so bad in there, she didn’t even stay long enough to wash her foot.”
I raised a hand. “You’ve made your point. Jungle juice it is. Just don’t give me shit when you’re holding my hair back later.”
“Fine,” she said. “As long as you promise me that if you have to hold mine, you’ll take me in the bushes instead of asking me to kneel on the floor in the—”
“I promise,” I said. “And Nikki?”
“What?”
“That wasn’t a bad kiss.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Hey Nikki,” some guy said out of nowhere.
Her expression drew a blank.
“Jordan,” he said, laying a hand on his chest. “We met at the football house a few weeks ago.”
“Right,” she said. “I remember.”
“And you’re Rosie,” he said, pointing at me. “Luke’s Rosie.”
My insides lit up just before Nikki elbowed me in the arm.
“Yeah,” I said. “I suppose I am.”
T W E N T Y F O U R
- Luke -
It wasn’t even eleven, and things were starting to get messy.
“So this is how you guys are getting focused for the season ahead?” Rosie asked after the beer pong table collapsed.
I took a sip of my drink. “It’s team building.”
“This makes the parties at Molly Riley’s house look tame.”
“Did you think those were wild?” I asked, thinking back to senior year.
“Her treehouse got burnt down.”
“Could’ve been worse.”
“Didn’t you get arrested that night?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “Just questioned. I got off ’cause I was the DD.”
“Lucky break.”
“You?”
“Nikki’s house was only a mile away,” she said.
“You ran from the cops that night?”
She nodded. “I even hopped a few fences.”
“No shit. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Me neither.” She smiled at the memory. “It was the best rush of my life.”
I laughed.
“What?”
“Just the thought of you sweating and hopping fences,” I said. “You’re usually so measured.”
“Trust me, I wasn’t measured when I got back to Nikki’s and realized I’d landed in dog shit somewhere along the way.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“She made me throw all my clothes away and then stand still so she could hose me down.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Fortunately, I was so full of adrenaline it wasn’t that bad.”
“You were more wild back then than I thought.”
She shook her head. “There was nothing wild about me back then.”
“You ran from the cops.”
“Yeah, because I’d had two Smirnoff Ice’s and thought I was going to go to prison for the rest of my life if they caught me.”
“You were pretty wild in the library the other day.”
“That wasn’t me,” she said, dropping her head back against the wall. “That was…some other person you bring out in me.”
“And do you like her?”
She rolled her head towards me. “I like that you like her.”
My eyes dropped to her lips.
“That girl has been shooting me glares all night,” she said, looking past me.
I followed her line of sight to where Amber was standing with some friends by the kitchen door. “I’m sorry,” I said, turning back to Rosie. “That’s my fault.”
“Why?”
“She wants to ask me to some sorority event—or so I heard. I’ve been avoiding her in the hopes that she’ll take a hint and ask someone else.”
“You don’t want to go?”
“Fuck no.”
“Why not?” she asked. “She’s a pretty girl.”
“She’s all right…if you’re into women who don’t know their Austen from their Brontës.”
She narrowed her eyes at me.
“But I’m no more interested in her than Nikki is in Jordan.”
“Ouch.”
“So you’ve noticed?” I asked.
“It would be kind of hard not to,” she said. “He’s been on
e step away from letting his tongue hang out all night.”
I sighed. “He went to an all-boys school.”
“Ahh. That makes sense. Nikki probably looks like a calendar girl as far as he’s concerned.”
“Basically.”
“Poor guy,” she said. “He’s got less game than me.”
“I hate to break it to you, babe, but you’ve got game.”
“I have zero game, Luke.”
“I have to disagree.”
“When have I ever had game?” she asked.
“Your make-out session with Nikki comes to mind.”
“All her idea,” she said, pointing at me. “And don’t dwell on that. It won’t be happening again.”
“Good.”
“Good?” she asked. “I thought guys went bananas for that stuff?”
“Normally I would. But in that case, I was mostly jealous.”
She dropped her head forward. “Jealous?”
“Of course,” I said. “I’d rather kiss you myself.”
“Nikki’s probably the reason I even have the guts to kiss anybody.”
“What?”
“She made me practice with her when we were in high school.”
“You’re just saying that to make me hard.”
“Nope,” she said. “It’s the truth.”
“Funny how times change.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean, these days you could probably teach her a thing or two.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious.”
Her cheeks turned red as she buried her face in her Solo Cup.
“Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“When was the last time you touched yourself?”
“Did I say truth?” she asked. “I meant dare.”
“Too late.”
“Fine,” she said. “It was yesterday.”
“Did you think about me while you were doing it?” I asked.
She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “Maybe.”
“Your turn.”
She pressed her lips together. “Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Are you going to try to sleep with me tonight?”
I let my eyes drip down her body before answering. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no try.”
“So you’re feeling confident?”
“Should I not?”
“What if you’re disappointed?” she asked, looking away. “Sometimes the fantasy is better than the reality.”
“The fantasy is pretty good,” I said, nodding. “You know what? You’re right. It’s probably a bad idea.”
Her face fell.
“I should just fantasize about you for another four years instead of putting you out of your misery.”
“My misery?!”
I turned to face her and laid a hand on the wall over her head so our faces were so close I could smell the sweet juice on her breath. “Look me in the eye, Rosie, and tell me your body doesn’t ache when I touch you.”
She swallowed.
“Tell me you don’t want me to spread you open and fill you up.”
She bit her lip.
“Tell me you don’t want to come over my dick while I fuck your orgasm right through your fingertips.”
“Enough,” she said, exhaling and placing a hand on my chest.
I leaned forward and kissed her breathless mouth, using all the self-control I had to not pin her against the wall with my body.
“Let’s get some fresh air,” she said, her eyes lifting from my lips when we paused for breath.
“Good idea. I’ll meet you outside in two minutes.”
She headed for the door, and I made a beeline for Jordan.
“What did I tell you, man?” I asked, smacking the back of his head to get his attention.
“About what?”
“About hitting on Nikki.”
“That I’d have a better chance of getting her attention if I made someone on the other side of the room laugh.”
“That’s right,” I said. “And what have you been doing?”
“Uhh…”
“Breathing down her fucking neck. That’s what.”
“What am I supposed to do?” he asked.
“Give her some space, and go practice spitting your game somewhere else.”
“But—”
I pointed at him. “No buts. Fuck off for an hour. Then, in one hour, bring her a shot and fuck off again. Don’t even stay for one second. Let her think you’ve completely lost interest. I’m telling you, you have to wipe this slate clean. You’ve made a mess.”
His whole body drooped.
“I’m out of here because I can’t even watch this anymore.”
“I thought I was making progress.”
“No.” I turned around and scanned the room. “Looks like the guy making the most progress with her right now is Dan.”
“But he’s playing beer pong. He’s not even paying any attention to her.”
I waited for him to put two and two together.
“Oh shit.”
“Do yourself a favor,” I said. “Get in on the next game and win it.”
He offered me a blank expression that said he was hoping for more.
“You got this,” I said, patting him on the back. “Good luck.”
T W E N T Y F I V E
- Rosie -
After making our way down the hill, we walked along the bank of the lake, stepping over logs and skipping the occasional rock. Well, Luke skipped rocks. I just sort of plunked them in.
“How come mine aren’t skipping?” I asked. “What am I doing wrong?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Let’s see your technique.”
I looked around my feet, which were dimly lit by the light of the moon, and found a nice flat rock at the water’s edge. “Ready?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Ready.”
I threw the rock as parallel to the surface of the water as I could, but it still plunked in on its first contact.
“Good effort,” Luke said.
“Please enlighten me,” I said. “Surely an educated woman should be able to skip a damn rock.”
He kicked his shoes off by the grass and came down to the water’s edge.
“Here,” I said, handing him another.
“Okay,” he said, turning perpendicular to the lake. “You want the stone to be tilted up at the front, and you want to throw it at a slightly upward tilt as well. Maybe twenty degrees.” He launched the stone with a side arm throw, and it skipped so many times it skidded at the end.
“Showoff.”
“Give it a shot.”
I leaned over, plucked a rock from the cool water, and bent my knees a few times to get loose.
“Anytime now,” he said.
“Shhh. I’m concentrating.” I waved my arm back and forth a few times, tilting the rock in my hand and visualizing the stone’s trajectory. Finally, I launched it. “It skipped!” I said, raising my arms in victory. “Only once, but a skip’s a skip!”
“Congratulations,” he said. “You win a prize.”
I spun around. “What is it?”
He handed me a glowstick necklace.
“Where’d you get this?” I asked, crunching the skinny strand to activate it.
“On my way out of the house.”
“Thanks,” I said, putting it on. When I looked back up, Luke was taking his shirt off. “What are you doing?”
“Going skinny dipping,” he said, unzipping his pants.
I looked from him to the water. “But it’s cold and—”
“You don’t have to join me,” he said, pulling his boxers down.
My eyes went wide.
“You can just stand there and watch,” he said. “It’s a little pervy, but I won’t judge you.”
“You’re nuts,” I said, scrunching my face at the untimely pun. “Why? Just tell me why.”
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“Because—” He stepped up to me in all his chiseled, moonlit glory. “I don’t want to graduate from college and say the craziest thing I ever did was run from the cops in high school.”
My mouth fell open. “That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?” he asked, raising his eyebrows as he walked into the water.
I stared at his perfect butt as it dropped closer and closer to the water line.
“How is it?” I asked, looking back towards the house. It was far enough away that the noise was muffled by the trees, and I supposed that if I couldn’t make out anyone over there, perhaps we, too, were hidden from view.
“It’s refreshing,” Luke said, turning around.
My eyes dripped down his chest to where the surface of the lake cut across his belly button.
“Are you going to join me or not?”
I did not want to join him. I did not want to get wet or naked in the great outdoors. Why couldn’t we be spontaneous behind closed doors like normal people? In a place where I wouldn’t have to worry about fish nibbling my toes?
On the other hand, while I really didn’t want to go in the cold water, I didn’t want to be the uptight girl who was too prudish to skinny dip with her forever crush either. I knew if I did nothing but sulk on the closest log, I would come to regret it. Probably five minutes after he left the water and definitely for the rest of my life.
I sighed, walked up to where he’d piled his clothes, and bent over to unlace my shoes. When I glanced over my shoulder, he was floating on his back like he was having the time of his life. Or maybe he was just trying to give me some privacy. Not that it mattered. I planned on getting in the water so fast he’d miss me if he blinked anyway.
I wiggled my thong off and shoved it in my shoe. Then I pulled my dress over my head, unhooked my bra, and left everything in a pile before crossing my arms over myself and breaking for the water. Unfortunately, I had to ease my way in to avoid splashing too much, but I wasn’t so slow woodland creatures could’ve counted the birthmarks on my body or anything.
As soon as I was deep enough, I dropped down to my shoulders and finally started to relax.
Luke righted himself again and made his way over to me. “Nice, isn’t it?”
“If anything bites me, you’re dead.”
“There’s only one thing in this lake big enough to bite you.”