by T. J. Jones
"Callie, Jesus, are you okay? I think you passed out. I thought you had a fucking heart attack or something. You were screaming your head off, then you fell over. Are you okay?" Abby was crying and pulled Callie up and into her arms.
"Abby, I'm fine. Consider it a compliment. I just kind of blacked out for a second, it was just so intense! Holy shit, my heart is about to come through my chest."
"You were yelling at me to let you go, like you were having a nightmare. Are you sure you don't want to go to the doctor? Do you feel okay now?"
"Doctor? That would be an interesting conversation. Abby I'm fine. Give me a few minutes to rest, I just need to rest. Oh my God, you're amazing." Abby wrapped her arms around Callie and lay beside her, watching her quickly drift back to sleep.
The next morning Abby returned to the Walmart and Callie snuck out of her car, as before. There were no goodbye kisses. They agreed that they wouldn't do anything to endanger Abby's job or Callie's secret. There would be no furtive looks or clandestine kisses at school. Callie found all the cloak and dagger exciting and erotic. The fact that she had a gorgeous teacher available for sex, basically anytime she wanted, was one of her dreams come true.
*****
Jenny liked the new teacher and was constantly asking her for help with her drawings. Having Abby lean over next to her where she could smell her perfume, sent the blood rushing to Callie's loins, and made it difficult not to reach out to touch her. Jenny, exuberant as always, gushed about Abby continually.
"I love Mrs. Cooper, I mean Abby, don't you Callie?"
"She's okay I guess. I think I'm as good an artist as she is, though." Jenny seemed to think about it, then tried to be diplomatic.
"Yeah, maybe so. I don't know anybody who can paint like you, but she gives you some good ideas, don't you think?" Callie smiled and bit her lip a little.
"So, Jenny. If anybody asks, I stayed at your house Saturday night okay? And maybe the next couple Saturdays too." Jenny smirked at her.
"Callie! Are you giving it up for that secret boyfriend of yours?"
"Just cover my ass, Jen. I've done it for you before. And don't start spreading more shit about me around school, it's nobody's fucking business." She glared at Jenny.
"God Callie, you don't have to bite my head off." Callie took a breath.
"You know how my Dad is. If it got back to him that I was out doing the deed, instead of at your house on Saturday nights, the shit would hit the fan. I can't wait to graduate and move to the Cities." Jenny's eyes grew big, as if this was news to her.
"The Cities? What Cities?"
"The Twin Cities, you dumb twit, Minneapolis and St. Paul?" The girl's stupidity seemed endless. Jenny looked down and tears started to roll down her blotchy red cheeks. She glanced at Callie and then stared at the table, speaking in a hoarse whisper.
"God Callie, why do you have to be so mean to me all the time?" Callie wondered if all the sex had softened her heart, because she felt a sudden, and very real tenderness and remorse for upsetting her friend. She reached out and touched Jenny's shoulder for a moment then rested her hand on the girl's forearm.
"Jenny, I'm really sorry, really, I shouldn't say shit like that. We both know I'm an asshole." Jenny continued to look down at the watercolor in front of her, which had several small spots growing where her tears had fallen. "Jen, Honey, come on, you're my best friend. You have to know how much I love you, right?" Jenny glanced at her again quickly, and the tears reappeared, falling even faster down her face. Callie resisted the urge to raise her voice.
"Come on Jenny, stop crying, please, I said I'm sorry."
"I know, that's not it." She pulled some Kleenex out of her purse and blew her nose loudly, then turned to Callie, smiling shyly. "Do you know, that I've known you since the second grade, and that's the first time you ever said you loved me?" She blotted at her eyes and managed to rub mascara everywhere.
"Well, I do, so stop blubbering for Christ's sake." Abby had gotten up from her desk and walked over to their table.
"Is everything okay here girls? You may talk quietly at your table, but you're disturbing the class." Callie gave her a dirty look and nodded.
"Why don't you like Abby? I think she's the greatest." Jenny said, done fixing her face.
"I suppose she's okay. But it took me ten years to admit I love you, so baby steps for fuck's sake." Callie laughed and hit Jenny lightly on the forearm. The redhead picked up her watercolor brush, dipped it in some paint, and then made a pass across Callie's hand, eliciting a fit of laughter from them both. It surprised Callie how good it felt to make her little minion happy.
*****
"You are so smart and talented." Abby told Callie as she drew small circles with her finger tips on Callie's bare stomach.
"So, flattery works, what are you trying to talk me into?"
"I'm being serious. You're so smart, it's hard to believe you're only seventeen years old."
"Save that for the cops, when they kick down the door. I smell a but coming."
"Okay, well sometimes you're sort of mean, kind of bitchy, actually."
"Wow, you're really shitty at this flattery business. If I wasn't still a little horny, I'd get up and storm out of here." Abby giggled and moved her hand a little. "Okay, now that you have my attention, what are you talking about?"
"Jennifer and you, the other day. That girl adores you. What did you do to make her cry like that?" Callie turned on her side, sliding away from Abby's hand.
"Would you believe I was actually being too nice? I accidentally told her I loved her, you know, because she's been my only friend forever, and boom, Niagara Falls."
"She was probably in shock. You're usually so mean to her. You should look out for her, not pick on her. I don't think she's the sharpest knife in the drawer, she needs someone like you to help her." Callie began to grow angry.
"Okay Mom, thanks for the life lesson. I'm the least of that girl's problems. Life is going to treat her a lot worse than I do if she doesn't get her head out of her ass. She's going to marry some asshole like Greg Johnson, pop out four kids and if she's lucky, get to blow him every Saturday night. That doesn't sound like much of a life to me."
"No? But maybe that's what she wants. Maybe fate has---"
"Oh, don't start with that fate shit." Callie interrupted her. "You sound like my parents. Next you're going to say God's got a plan, right? Wrong, we're born, shit happens, then we die, that's all there is." Abby shrugged.
"You don't think fate might have brought us together?"
"Please, I saw that beautiful behind of yours and I wanted some."
"God, you're such an asshole! I still don't know how I ended up sleeping with you. It sure as hell wasn't your sparkling personality. I never thought of having sex with a girl until I met you, now it's all I can think about."
"I have to say, you're getting very good at it." Callie said dryly.
"Just try to be nicer to Jennifer, would you? You'd be surprised, being nice to people isn't that hard. Maybe you won't be so pissed off all the time."
Callie had surprised herself more than Jennifer when she told her that she loved her. Normally she was more careful about that sort of thing. The fact that it was true, was a little unsettling. She knew that caring about other people just made it easier for them to take advantage of you. She had certainly taken advantage of her parents plenty in her young life. But Jenny, more than Holly, or anyone else, meant a lot to her. Jenny was always the one that pulled her out of her shell and talked her into doing things with her. Callie would have stayed hidden in her room through most of adolescents had it not been for Jennifer. It was true that Jenny acted like an abused rescue dog every time Callie gave her a dirty look, but then Callie always had a soft spot for helpless animals. If Jenny was a rescue, then she was Callie's rescue. Callie admitted to herself that maybe Abby had been right, she would try to be nicer to the girl, maybe look out for her a little bit. Jenny needed someone to protect her from the Gr
eg Johnsons of the world, and Callie decided that would be her. The idea of sex with Jenny had always been tempting, but she pushed it from her mind. That would lead to more drama than she needed. Callie chuckled at the thought of Jen as a rescue dog. Dumb as a two-year old, and cute as a puppy. She decided she would make a real effort to be nicer to the girl.
*****
The Friday afternoon before her eighteenth birthday, Callie's parents surprised her with a car. When she got home from school there was a new blue Camry sitting in the driveway. She assumed it was one of her mother's church friends, but when she walked into the house, there was a card and a set of keys sitting on the table next to the front door. Her dad had talked about a car when she graduated, something older and more sensible. But the card said that he had seen a car that matched her eyes and couldn't pass it up. Callie's opinion of her parents elevated considerably in the time it took her to read the card. Suddenly they didn't seem like the complete losers she had taken them for. She hugged her mother for the first time in two years, thanked her repeatedly, then drove to her father's hardware store. He explained that there were strings. She had to stay the following summer and help in the hardware, then she could go to college, wherever she wanted.
Callie's plan of going to college in Minneapolis was never what her father intended for her, and it was a constant source of friction between them. But the application was in, and Callie had refused to give up on her dream of leaving the little town she had despised for most of her life. As he always did, Callie's father relented. She knew he hoped that she would change her mind, or come back after getting her degree. She was pretty sure that wouldn't happen, and of course she had her reasons, other than the school, for wanting to live in a city. Reasons she couldn't share with him. She had thought about coming out to her parents on more than one occasion. Ultimately it didn't seem worth the risk to her. She was sure they were so entrenched in their religion and their small-town mentality, that they wouldn't be able to accept it. Better to wait until later, especially with college tuition and a new Camry on the line.
Callie had always had access to the family van, but a car of her own opened up a lot of possibilities. She thought about Abby's house and her new found mobility. An occasional tryst could become a frequent thing, now that she had her own wheels. She sat outside the hardware store with her father, enjoying his company for a change, while she played with the stereo and figured out the Bluetooth. She endured the safety lecture that he felt obligated to give, even though she had been a safe driver for the last two years. She finally reminded him that she was two days from turning eighteen which resulted in a difficult moment when he appeared ready to cry. She restrained herself from impatience and he finally let her go on her way. She thought again, about going to Abby's house, but turned the car east and drove to Jenny's instead. Jenny's mother was in the yard raking, piling leaves up over frost bitten flowers, preparing for the coming winter. Callie pulled up beside her, tapped the horn and rolled down the passenger window. The woman peered into the car, didn't recognize Callie at first, then smiled.
"Well, Callie Fisher, how have you been? I've been meaning to ask your mother about you. Is this a new car?" Callie catalogued the fact that Jenny's mother might be talking to hers. Jenny's Mom had the same red hair and freckles as her daughter, even though she appeared to be well into her fifties. Callie always wondered how she could have a daughter Jenny's age. She walked stooped over, as if life and a teenage daughter had been too much for her. Her husband had passed away when her daughter was young, the year they had moved into town, and Jenny had always been more than she could handle. Most days she sat in front of her television, knitting, and taking wild guesses at the questions on Jeopardy.
"It is new, Mrss Mconvil, is Jenny around? I was hoping to take her for a ride." As she spoke, Jenny came bounding out of the front door and up to the car. Callie smiled, thinking of the grateful rescue dog. She leaned toward the passenger window, smiling. "Come on Jen, get in, we have to try out my new car."
"Me?" She looked around, as if wondering if there were someone else around, more deserving, that Callie had overlooked. "Mom, I'll help you with that later, okay?" The redhead smiled happily, and jumped in the car, waving at her mother as they pulled away from the curb. "Holy shit, Callie, this is beautiful. I see why you hardly ever go out. Have you been saving all your money for this ride?" Callie nodded. Most of the money she made at the hardware was put away as an escape fund, just in case her Dad backed out of sending her to college, but there was no reason to share that information with Jenny.
"I just got it. I came right over to pick you up." Callie looked over at Jenny and gave her a warm smile, trying to make her feel special. She felt a growing fondness for the girl, it was so easy to make her happy just by being a little nice. Jenny looked back at Callie like she had just given her a kidney, and Callie found it surprisingly touching. They drove a few blocks, then turned onto the main drag of their little town and followed it out to the state highway. Callie turned up the radio and laughed as Jenny sang along, totally off key.
"Should we pick up Holly?" Jenny asked. Callie glanced at her and decided she didn't want to share this. Jennifer was being properly appreciative and entertaining, and Holly wasn't as easily steered. She remembered the conversation she'd had with Jenny's mother.
"Pretty sure she's busy Jen. Let's just hang out, the two of us, okay?" Jenny laughed and leaned over, singing loudly into Callie's ear. "Jenny, do you have anything going on tonight with your dipshit boyfriend? I was thinking we could have a sleepover, like back in the day, when we were kids. Is that too lame?"
"You want to come to my house, overnight?" Jenny appeared shocked, then unbuckled her seat belt and flung herself at the blonde, kissing her repeatedly on the cheek. Callie tried not to think of the rescue dog, but started laughing so hard she had to pull the car over to disengage herself. Jenny laughed, then wiped off Callie's cheek with the sleeve of her sweater. They turned the car around and went to Callie's house to pick up her toothbrush and pajamas. She made sure her mother was aware that she was sleeping over at Jenny's house. When Mrs. Fisher asked about all the sleepovers, Jenny lied casually with the ease of any adolescent con artist, happy to cover for her new bestie.
They spent the evening eating popcorn, watching Netflix, and talking about boys. Callie had expected to be ready to put a gun to her head by the end of the night, but was surprised by how much fun she had. Jennifer was a bundle of energy and laughed at everything, funny or not. She was genuinely happy to have Callie there and seemed determined to make the most of their evening. At one point, she decided that Callie's hair needed trimming. While combing and cutting, and leaning, she repeatedly bumped into Callie's face with her breasts, remarking that they always got in the way. Callie pulled her head back, blushing, and trying not to make too big a deal of it. But as they got ready for bed, Jenny strolled out of the bathroom, topless, her perfect breasts on full display. Callie turned away quickly. "Jesus Christ, Jen, put those things away. You're making me feel inadequate."
"Jeez Callie, they're just boobs. Besides, you have a great pair, and you're crazy beautiful besides. But these babies are my best feature, don't you think?" Instead of covering herself, she cupped her breasts, lifting them, and pushing them together slightly. She insisted that Callie look at her.
"Okay Jen, they're magnificent," Callie laughed. "now put some clothes on." Jenny giggled and pulled an oversized tee shirt over her head. She climbed into her double bed and held the covers back as Callie slipped in nervously beside her. The redhead wrapped an arm around Callie and gave her a soft kiss on the lips, before saying goodnight. She snuggled against Callie, smelling of soap and cheap apple shampoo, and it was all Callie could do to keep her hands from reaching out. It occurred to her that she could probably seduce or coerce her friend into having a very entertaining night. As if reading her mind, Jenny slid an arm around her waist and nestled her head against Callie's shoulder, as they had at camp when
they were nine. She sighed comfortably and opened her eyes for a moment.
"Thanks for coming over Callie, I love you lots." Callie smiled and kissed her quickly on the tip of her nose. It wouldn't be right to take advantage of someone as uncomplicated and trusting as her hapless friend, no matter how attractive she suddenly found her. But she lay awake for an hour, breathing in the scent of the girl and allowing the craving between her legs some slight, quiet attention. Jenny snored slightly and Callie finally drifted off, genuinely happy that she had spent the night.
Callie dreamt of Jenny, and of Jenny's boyfriend, Greg. Greg was pulling at something that Jenny wanted, and refused to let go. Callie was trying to help the girl pull the object away from Greg, but he was bigger and stronger than the two of them combined. He finally pulled the object away and backed into the distance, laughing and leering at their helplessness as Callie continued to pull at Jenny's waist with her arms, and call out to her. She awoke suddenly, aware that Jenny was calling her name gently.
"Callie, hey, are you okay? You were pulling on my arm and moaning. Did you have a nightmare?" Callie shook herself awake.
"I just had a dream about your asshole boyfriend. I can't believe you like that knob."
"Wow, I think somebody's jealous." Jenny snickered and pulled Callie's hand against her chest.
"Shut up, and go to sleep." Perhaps it was true, but Callie had no intention of admitting it.
The next morning, after a quick breakfast, Callie got in her car. She didn't go directly home, but went instead to the little house that Abby had rented. She parked her car on the street. Her teacher had just gotten out of bed and Callie wasted little time in getting her back into it. They were getting very good at pleasing each other, and within the hour Callie was dressing, ready to continue on her way. "I'd show you my new car, but your neighbors might start asking questions about the hot young girl you have coming over if I stick around too long." She laughed a little at her own joke, noticing that Abby didn't join in.