by Parker, Ali
Chapter 18
Olivia
6 Years Ago
Nothing had changed in my own reflection but I felt like a completely different girl on Friday morning as I gazed into my vanity mirror and spread my favorite shimmery pink gloss on my lips. I rubbed them together, smacked them twice, and moved on to my mascara.
I was only a little tender from having sex with Caden the night before in the bed of his truck. I didn’t really feel it when I was up and walking, but I definitely noticed when I sat down. I had to be more mindful, that was all, and I didn’t really mind the ache. It felt more like a bruise than anything else and it served as a reminder of what had happened.
We’d taken the next step.
I smiled at myself in the mirror. “You’re going to marry him one day.”
Giggling, I hopped up from my stool and padded barefoot to my closet to throw open the doors and stand back to deliberate on what dress to wear. I wanted to look pretty for Caden today. I wanted him to see me and ache to do what we’d done last night all over again. And again. And again.
Dresses always made him particularly handsy.
Still smiling like a fool, I opted for a comfortable knee-length powder-blue dress. I shrugged my favorite denim jacket over my shoulders and pulled my hair out from under the collar. Then I slid on my brown sandals and headed out into the hall and down the stairs, a finger playing with the back of one of my new diamond-stud earrings.
My parents were in the kitchen brewing coffee.
“Good morning, kiddo.” My dad grinned, looking up from the morning paper. “How’d you sleep?”
“Like a baby.” I tugged open the bread box and helped myself to a slice of multigrain, which I dropped into the toaster. “Anything wild and exciting in the paper this morning?
My dad closed the paper and shrugged dismissively. “No. Is there ever?”
My mother poured three mugs of coffee. “Boring news is the best kind of news. It means nobody is suffering.”
I bounced on the balls of my feet and waited for the toast to pop. “Hurry up.”
My father fixed our coffees and slid mine across the counter to me with a skeptical frown. “Someone’s in a hurry this morning.” He glanced at the clock on the stove. “You have plenty of time before school. What’s the rush?”
“Dana is picking me up this morning. We’re going to stop and grab coffee on our way to school.”
My father glanced at the full mug of coffee he’d just poured me. “Oh.”
“Don’t worry, Daddy. Two cups of coffee never hurt anybody, right?” I picked up the mug and took a sip.
When my toast popped, I smothered it in butter and didn’t bother getting a plate. I chowed down, put the whole thing back in a matter of five bites, and then washed my buttery fingers clean under the sink with my mother’s favorite basil-scented hand soap.
“I’m going to wait on the porch for Dana. She should be here any minute.” I swept through the kitchen to place kisses on both my mother and father’s cheeks, and then grabbed my school bag from the floor in the hallway before racing out the front door to the end of the drive. I plopped down onto the grass and waited anxiously for Dana’s little purple hatchback to swing around the corner.
She arrived right on time.
Her radio was blaring The Beatles when she came to a stop and I slid in the passenger seat and stuffed my backpack on the floor between my feet. I pulled my seatbelt on and nodded for her to drive.
“Look at me,” Dana said.
I looked. And then I smiled.
She threw her head back with wild laughter and stepped on the gas. “That’s my girl! I need to know everything. Was it good? Where did you go? Did it hurt? Was Caden surprised?”
“One question at a time.” Laughter shook me as I reached out and turned the volume down so I could hear myself think. “It was… magical and a little disenchanting all at once.”
“What does that mean?”
I blushed. “It was really fast.”
Dana snorted. “Of course it was. Caden’s been having wet dreams about having sex with you for years. Did you really think he’d finally get his chance and last more than five minutes?”
I didn’t say anything.
Dana groaned. “Oh God. Did he not even last five minutes?”
“I don’t think he lasted one.”
She slammed the heel of her hand on the middle of the steering wheel as more laughter took her. The horn beeped weakly under the slap. “I’m so sorry. Poor Caden. He’s probably horrified.”
“It wasn’t a big deal. Just unexpected, I guess. I mean, he was finished right when it started to feel good.”
“I think that’s just how it goes for people’s first time. I bet with a bit more practice—which I’m sure you will both have because you’re going to start screwing like rabbits when school is done—he’ll be making your toes curl.”
“Dana, don’t be so crude.”
“What? I’m just saying. Give the guy a couple more tries and he’ll rise to the occasion. No pun intended.”
I rolled my eyes at my friend as we pulled through the drive thru of our favorite coffee shop. She insisted that the coffee, mine and the one I ordered for Caden, was her treat, a reward for me finally losing my V card and for him finally “getting it in.” I accepted graciously and endured her teasing me as we waited for our coffees at the pickup window about how it was the least I deserved after being all worked up and worried about a fifty-five second event.
As we pulled out of the lot, she skewered her straw through the top of her iced coffee. “So when are you going to do it again?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you’d better get used to the idea of Caden wanting to do it all the time. Now that he’s got a taste, he’s not going to want to stop.”
I shrugged. “That’s fine. How else will we get better?”
“Thatta girl. Now you’re getting it.”
The school parking lot was practically over capacity. Dana scored a parking space at the back of the lot and I carefully carried mine and Caden’s very full coffees across the lot and through the school halls. Everything was loud and chaotic as seniors roamed the halls in school colors and passed out invitations to house parties and reminded people about the final game of the football season tonight.
I was looking forward to my last chance to wear my uniform and cheer Caden on. It might be the very last chance either of us got to be on the same field together. I loved cheering his name and being the girl he ran to when the game was over. Now it felt like every moment just meant so much more.
Someone clipped my shoulder as they rushed past and coffee sloshed out of the lids and onto the floor.
“Hey!” Dana yelled after the guy in Edgemont High colors. “Watch where you’re going, Bradley!”
Bradley, a guy from the football team, spun in the hall and looked me up and down. “Nice legs, Desmant. Didn’t know they were so easy to spread.”
The hallway snickered with unified laughter.
My mouth was hanging open. I could feel it but couldn’t do anything about it.
Dana found a napkin in her bag and wiped coffee off my dress and knees. “Ignore him. He’s an idiot.”
But I couldn’t ignore him. Nobody had ever said something like that to me at school before. What were the chances he cracked a joke like that the very next day after I lost my virginity?”
“Dana,” I breathed. “Something is wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
I looked up and down the hallways. Everyone was staring at me. At my legs. And they were laughing. And pointing.
Dana straightened up and peered around. “What’s gotten into these clowns? Hey! Mind your own business, you dickwads. It’s just some spilt coffee.”
“And morals.” Someone snickered.
And then it happened. The walls lined in lockers felt like they were converging on me as my peers gave voice to their thoughts.
“Oli
via Desmant isn’t as innocent as she pretends to be.”
“Desmant fucked Caden Taylor last night.”
“Desmant is a little slut.”
“You want to know what a real lay feels like?”
“Look at her pretending to be all innocent.”
“Did you suck his dick too, Desmant?”
My heart raced and my cheeks burned.
I turned sharply, dropped the two coffees into the nearest garbage can, and sprinted for the girls’ bathroom. Dana was hot on my heels and she came careening around the corner after me, stopping me from locking myself in a stall with a hand on the door.
“Olivia, don’t listen to them. They don’t know what they’re talking about. They just—”
“Yes, they do!” I looked up at her through tear-filled eyes as I sank down into a crouch in the bathroom stall. I buried my face in my hands as the sobs came. “He told them! He told everyone!”
Dana crouched down with me. “You don’t know that. Caden isn’t the kind of guy who would do that to you.”
“Then why did he?” I practically screamed at her.
“I…” She trailed off, searching for words and excuses that didn’t exist.
How could he?
How dare he?
I shook my head fiercely as if to shake away the truth of what had just happened.
The entire school knew I’d slept with Caden last night. What else did they know? Did they know how short it had been? Did they know it had been my idea?
Did they know what fucking color underwear I’d worn for him?
How many details had he given them? And how had word spread so quickly?
“I can’t believe he would do this to me.”
Dana pulled me into a hug. I could hear her sniffling as she rubbed my back. “I’m sorry, Olivia. I’m so sorry. I’ll drive you home once class starts and the halls are empty, okay? You don’t have to be here.”
I sobbed into her shoulder. “Thank you.”
Chapter 19
Caden
Bradley West clapped me on the back when I passed through the front doors of Edgemont High on Friday morning.
“You’re the man, Taylor.” West grinned. “Way to play the long game.”
“Thanks?”
He threw an arm around my shoulders like an overzealous brother, ruffled my hair, and pulled me toward the gymnasium. My first class of the day was gym and Bradley was in my class. “I want details, bro. Lay ‘em on me. How was she? Those tits? Fuck. What I’d give to bury my face between those—”
“What the fuck, man?” I slipped out from under his arm. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb.” Bradley shoved me playfully. “Desmant. The whole school knows you were balls deep in her. Don’t hold back. Tell me how she was. I bet she was tight as fucking sin.”
I dropped my books. They landed at my feet at the same time my fist struck the side of Bradley’s jaw. He reeled, stumbled over his own feet, and pitched backward as the students in the hall scattered, giving us a wide berth.
“Fight!”
“Fight!”
“Fight!”
Bradley pressed a hand to his jaw and glared up at me. “You little shit. What the fuck was that for?”
I was already rolling up my sleeves. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
He swung up to his feet. “Like what? She’s a little slut. Right? Or is what the girls are saying true?”
It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to lay him out again. “What are they saying?”
Bradley gave me a cocky smile and held his arms out wide, gesturing at everyone who had circled around us. There had to be at least fifty students there. It was only a matter of time before teachers spilled out of their classrooms to break up the fight.
I planned on getting in at least three more punches before that happened.
Bradley jabbed a finger at me. “That you forced yourself on her. That you softened her up with some booze, got her on her back, and had your way with her.”
Something inside me snapped. I saw red.
Students were still chanting all around us as I lunged at Bradley, who drove his knee up into my gut. The pain blurred my vision briefly and doubled me over, granting the bigger teenager a chance to grab me by the back of my shirt and haul me around him to throw me against the wall of the hallway.
The air was forced from my lungs and I exhaled sharply, a football trick I’d learned to use if I was ever winded. I was back on my feet with clenched fists by the time he came back in on me, ready to defend myself this time.
Bradley got two jabs in at my ribs before I struck him across the jaw again. He reeled and I pursued.
Fuck him.
Fuck all of them.
Who the hell was spreading rumors that I’d forced myself on her?
I got him down with another punch. Then I was on top of him and wailing away. Blood sprayed form his nose and split lip and coated my knuckles but I didn’t stop. He deserved it. He deserved all of it.
Then I was being ripped off of him.
More boys from the football team were there, stepping between us and holding me back. I fought to break free but there were too many of them. Joe, a big beefy kid with a peacemaking personality, put a hand on my chest and got in my face. “Calm down, Caden. He’s had enough. He’s had enough!”
I struggled. “Let go of me!”
Bradley spat blood and dragged his hand across his mouth as some of the other players helped him to his feet. He pointed an accusing finger at me. “You’re fucking crazy, man.”
I tore free of those who were holding me and stormed past them. Joe followed as I made my way down the hall to the locker room, where I washed my bloody hands under cold water. “Fucking asshole,” I growled as I realized some of the blood was my own. I’d hit him so hard my knuckles split.
Joe crossed his arms and watched me. “What the hell happened?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. He said that I—”
“Forced yourself on Olivia Desmant last night?”
I froze and let the cold water run over my hands. Then I turned to look at him. “Where did you hear that?”
“Everyone is saying it. Is it true?”
“Of course it’s not true, Joe. Do you really think I would do that?”
Joe shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t think you’d ever try to beat Bradley West to a pulp but here we are.”
The door swung open and other boys began coming in. Most had heard about the fight. I could see it in the eagerness of their stares and the way they watched me. Suddenly, I felt like a rat in a cage.
I turned the water off and glared around at them all. “So what? You’ve all heard this bullshit then?”
“Olivia told the whole school, man,” one student said.
That wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. She’d never do something like that to me.
I thought about our time in the bed of my truck last night. Everything had been so perfect. It had been so right. Sure, it was quick and a little messy and nothing to write home about, but it had been us, and it had been something we’d been waiting for for so long.
“Look, bro,” Joe said, stepping forward and putting a hand on my shoulder. “Olivia is a good girl. How could you have known this would happen? I’m sure she’s just ashamed that she lost her virginity and is just like all the other girls now, so she had to think on her feet and paint you as the bad guy. Fuck her, right?”
Another student laughed as he crammed his gym clothes in his locker. “He already did that, Joe.”
The boys snickered.
I felt dizzy. “This isn’t real,” I breathed.
Joe squeezed my shoulder. “Forget about her. If she’s making shit up about you, she’s not worth your time. Unless she’s not making it up.” The look he gave me made me wonder if he knew me at all. How could he possibly think I would have pushed Olivia to sleep with me when she wasn’t ready?
; How could any of them think that?
What the hell could she have possibly told them to make them doubt me like this?
The bell rang.
My stomach rolled.
I moved away from Joe. “I have to go.”
“Who are you going to go stick your cock in now?” one of the boys called.
Had I not felt like I was about to lose my breakfast, I would have turned back and beat him to a pulp just like I’d beaten Bradley. But nausea tickled my throat and I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears as I stumbled out of the locker room and down the hall to the front lobby. I passed the puddles of Bradley’s blood and wove around them, clutching my gut.
I rounded the corner of the foyer.
And ran smack into Olivia.
Her eyes were filled of tears. She stumbled back and bumped into her best friend Dana, who grabbed Olivia’s arm and pulled her in close. There were mascara tear stains down both of their cheeks and their startled expressions shifted to anger.
I reached for my girl. “Olivia, what the hell is happening? I don’t—”
“How could you?” Her voice trembled.
No.
No. You can’t believe them.
Olivia shoved at my chest with enough force to push me back several paces. Then she screamed at me. “How could you, Caden?”
I struggled to find the words. “I didn’t! Olivia, I promise. I would never—”
“You’re a liar!”
“No!” I cried, desperate. She had to listen to me. She had to believe me. I would never hurt her. “I didn’t say anything. I didn’t.”
“Then how does the whole school know what happened last night?” Fresh tears streaked down her face and she didn’t bother wiping them away. “I have never been so humiliated in my life. I can’t believe it. After all this time, you only saw me as a prize to get your dick into so you could brag to all your stupid friends that you got the girl. Well, guess what, Caden? You didn’t get her. You lost her.”
Olivia turned on her heel and made for the doors. Dana was right there with her.
I raced after them and caught Olivia by the shoulder, spinning her to face me. “Please. Just let me explain. I didn’t—”