by Lily Foster
Yes, the Pierce clan was here and her house, her estate, really, was the site of a few casual get-togethers. Hers were also the most decadent. Christian was back in California, not that he didn’t condone her shenanigans. He was from the dark side himself; he and Melanie were perfect for one another.
The night before I woke up to Kasia’s evening phone call, I had been at Melanie’s. Unlike my peers, I had gone to my local high school which, even though it was in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country, was unheard of. My dad had relented because of the championship lacrosse team and my incessant begging to stay with my friends. Truth was, I was scared shitless to move away from home at the age of fourteen like the rest of these kids had. I knew all of these prep school girls and boys from various social events, though, so in a way, this was like a crazy, two-week long reunion. The gatherings at Melanie’s were always pool parties; I think she liked the environment to be as clothes-free as possible. Tonight was no exception and she had plopped herself in my lap wearing a skimpy bikini bottom the second I sat down.
“Are you enjoying the holiday, Dylan?”
“Yeah, it’s good to see everyone.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck and looked at me, her face less than six inches from mine. “I know. It’s so good to get away from everyone on campus sometimes, isn’t it? And Dylan,” she moved in closer, purposely pressing her tits into my face as she lowered her voice, “what happens here stays here, you know?”
“I’ve got to get up,” I said, patting her hip. I looked around, “Anyone need a drink?”
When about six people answered me, a girl named Penny that I vaguely knew, volunteered to help me. I was just glad to get away from Melanie. I decided to steer clear from her for the rest of the night.
By three in the morning I should have had the sense to leave but that’s not how these things usually work out. Melanie always had a stash of blow on her and one of my closer friends from this circle, Tyler, convinced me to do a line with him; he didn’t have to twist my arm too hard. I was already well on my way and the coke gave me a second wind. Without it, I would have been asleep on one of the lounge chairs; several other people already were. The other half of the party was full of energy, thanks to Melanie’s vast supply of various pharmaceuticals.
She texted me soon after, asking me to come upstairs; she needed my help with an emergency. I wrote back something like, not tonight, and she wrote back that she was absolutely not interested in that. Believe me, I knew better, but I went upstairs anyway. From the end of the hallway I heard her saying to someone, “I want you to say my name.” I heard the guy saying Melanie’s name so I followed the voices. What was she up to? I opened the door. Her suite was set up so that you could stand in one part of the room and look into where the bed was, but stay relatively out of sight in the adjoining area. Melanie was in bed with Tripp Parker, boyfriend of her good childhood friend, Delia. Melanie shot me a smile that Tripp couldn’t see. She wanted me to watch. I can’t say that I even gave it a second thought. I leaned against the wall, mesmerized watching as Melanie instructed Tripp on what to do to her. I won’t get into all the details but Melanie had a sick body and she put on one of the best quality porn productions imaginable. About ten minutes in, I felt a naked body behind mine, her hands reaching down to stroke me and then undo my board shorts. I didn’t even turn around to see who it was; I knew it was Cecilia. Pulling myself away at that point was not possible; I was so turned on from watching Melanie and I was high. I had to get off. I turned around and picked Cecilia up as she wrapped her legs around my waist. My shorts fell away from me and as I stepped out of them, she had a condom on me in two seconds flat. I pushed Cecilia roughly against the wall and fucked her. That was that.
I woke up in bed with both Cecilia and Melanie. I recalled that things had gotten a little wild; more lines, Tripp did Cecilia, I did Melanie, I did Cecilia again while she and Melanie were getting it on. I think that’s when Tripp took off.
At around noon, I peeled myself out of bed. The girls were still comatose. I put my shorts back on and took a dive in the pool. My head was aching as I drove back to our place. No one so much as blinked when I didn’t come home all night. Mother was just happy I was having fun; happier still, probably, that I was having fun with “our kind”.
I felt like a dirty fucking dog. It’s not like Kasia would find out; as much of a bitch as Melanie could be, I knew she’d never tell Kasia what had happened. Melanie, Christian and I had an honor code of sorts between us that was unspoken. The entire situation, though, was fucked up. How do I go back to being the loving devoted, boyfriend now? I thought to myself, disgusted, I’ve officially become my father.
Kasia
I left a few days early to meet up with Valerie at her home in the Georgetown section of D.C. before heading back to school. She had just gotten back from staying with Cooper’s family in Colorado skiing. “I hope you had a better experience with Dylan’s parents than I did with Cooper’s. Cooper’s mother was definitely not a fan of mine.”
“Did you smoke while you were there?”
“No! I was weed-free! Wait, I shared one joint with Dylan at the top of the slope one afternoon but that was it. And she was nowhere around at the time.”
“What do you think it was?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a ‘no one’s good enough for my baby boy thing’ or something? I’d like to say I don’t care but it’s really bothering me. I like Cooper—a lot.”
“Maybe you’re being overly sensitive. Could you have read her wrong?”
“Maybe, but my gut tells me no.” She smiled wickedly then. “I feel like letting myself get pregnant. Serve that bitch right; she’d be stuck with me forever!”
We cracked up at the thought of it. “How was Meet the Coles? I have to say, Kasia, I’m impressed with him making the effort to bring you there. I’m still not one hundred percent in his corner but I have to admit that he seems to be very into you.”
I rolled my eyes at her half-hearted words of support. “Dylan’s parents seemed nice. I really didn’t spend a whole lot of quality time with them. When Dylan was at my house it was more…intimate. He spent a lot of time talking to my parents and my brothers. At his home there were family and business associates and…I don’t know…it was more formal. I really didn’t give it much thought before now but I really couldn’t tell you what his mother or father thought of me.”
“Do you know what Cooper’s mom gave me for Christmas? A freaking set of soaps that smelled like they were for an old lady. She totally re-gifted them, I know it! To think I spent a fucking hour looking for those beautiful cashmere scarves for Mr. and Mrs. Stanton.”
“My parents gave Dylan a set of engraved cufflinks. I was embarrassed for a second—I mean who the hell wears cuff links anymore?—but Dylan actually seemed really touched by the gesture.”
Valerie had a soft spot for my parents. “Your parents are so great, Kasia. Maybe I should marry Tomasz instead.”
“I would love to have you for a sister-in-law!”
“Yeah, right, you’d be afraid I’d corrupt your brother. What did Dylan’s parents get you?”
“Nothing, actually. To be fair to her, though, they weren’t expecting me Christmas Day. I didn’t think my parents would want me to leave because we had family coming over again so Dylan had planned for me to meet his parents for dinner in the city one night that week.”
“So she was under the impression that she would be seeing you at some point during that week?”
“Yes, but maybe she was planning on shopping for me after Christmas.”
“Totally,” Val nodded her head laughing. “Mrs. Cole needs that day after Christmas discount, right?”
I laughed with Melanie as I said, “Maybe she doesn’t like me, Val,” but deep down, the realization stung.
Bernadette and Trish both flew into D.C. and spent the night at Val’s before we all drove back to campus together. We went out to dinner with
Val’s parents and stayed up late into the night catching up with one another. I told the girls about the whole drama-filled visit from Patryk and it made them all feel a little blue; they had all met Patryk and knew what a good guy he was. I had a hard time shaking that whole situation off. A few times over break I contemplated calling him but after talking about it with both my mother and Alex, I thought it best not to. Keeping up the relationship, in any way, would just make it worse for him in the long run.
That next day, Trish wanted to head straight to see Brian, he had been texting her all morning. I was intent on going back to our place first. I couldn’t put my finger on it—I spoke to Dylan every day, he said the sweetest things to me and told me he loved me, but I felt something had shifted. He flew straight from Florida back to school so we hadn’t seen each other since the day after Christmas. Two weeks had passed and, for me, absence had not made the heart grow fonder. Instead, I felt a subtle sense of unease; there was something in his voice, something different. He texted me while I was unpacking:
Where r u? Thought u’d come w Trish
Nope, I’m not coming to you, I thought. I responded:
Unpacking. Need to get some things done here.
He wrote right back:
Can I come ovr?
I was still feeling bitchy and distant as I wrote:
Sure
“Hi, baby.” He nestled into my hair as he lifted me off the floor in an embrace. “I missed you so much. I should have flown back earlier. The last week dragged.”
“I missed you too, Dylan.”
He put me back down and looked at me intently. “Is something wrong?”
I wasn’t good at faking. I felt stiff and incapable of smiling. “I don’t know, is there? I feel like you’re different.”
“Whoa, where is this coming from?”
I couldn’t look at him for some reason. “Dylan, I don’t know. Maybe it’s me.”
He looked wary then. “Did anything happen with Patryk? Did you see him?”
I shook my head. “He has nothing to do with this, Dylan. I haven’t seen him since Christmas Day.”
He sat on the bed then. “Then what’s going on?”
“I haven’t been able to shake this bad feeling I’ve had. I’ve been feeling it since that night I spoke to you after I saw the play with the girls.”
“I was missing you the entire time I was there, Kasia. I’d even decided last week that I wasn’t going on any more family vacations unless I could have you there too. Jesus, Kasia, tell me we’re alright. You’re scaring me.”
Maybe it was me. Was I insecure? Maybe, for as much as I acted like those girls from high school didn’t affect me, maybe I did feel inferior and threatened by them. If that’s what this was, then it then it was all on me—Dylan had certainly never made me feel less-than. “We’re ok, Dylan.” I forced a smile that I hoped looked genuine. “Do you want to take a run? I need to clear my head.”
“I would love to but I’ve got practice in an hour. Can we go to dinner tonight?”
“Definitely.”
“Good.” He stood up and hugged me close again. “I love you, Kasia, so much.”
Dylan
Shit. Was she psychic?
I could feel the breath rush out of me and thought I’d gone pale when Kasia mentioned that night we spoke on the phone. For a split second I thought maybe someone had told her. That wasn’t the case because if she knew anything, I was pretty certain she wouldn’t have been answering my calls and she would have been throwing shit at me instead of hugging me when I walked into her room today.
The fact that she was perceptive enough, knew me well enough, to sense something was wrong made me feel terribly sad. Kasia was the best thing that had ever happened to me and I had done something that would end it all—and for what?—a cheap fuck with some girls who’d seen more cock than a couple of low-class call girls?
The night of that phone call, I rolled over and went back to sleep instead of going out; I didn’t have it in me. Mother was annoyed because that was one of her charities. She was on the board and ran their biggest fundraiser in New York every spring. I played it off like I was ill and, in truth, I was sick. Self-recrimination and remorse were eating at me.
Melanie texted me later that night:
Plz dnt tell me ur feeling guilty…im not telling anyone…plz come 2nite
I ignored her at first and then answered:
Not feeling good…ntng 2 do w last nite
Right away, she texted:
K baby…feel better
Her referring to me as “baby” had me running to the bathroom to puke my guts out again.
I took Kasia to Donatella’s, the Italian place I’d taken her on our first date. Maybe it was my way of trying to turn back time and start over again. We shared a bottle of wine and held hands as we ate and talked. It felt better, like she was more relaxed. Like she didn’t suspect a thing, I thought. That’s how it had to be.
Over the next few weeks we fell back into our routine. I tended to stay with Kasia more than she stayed at the house with me; that’s how I wanted it. It’s not like Melanie was dropping subtle innuendos or anything; in fact, it was the opposite. She was nicer to Kasia than she had been before. When Kasia asked Melanie how Palm Beach was soon after our return, she answered simply, without a note of sarcasm, “It was good. You should come next time.” Still, I didn’t want to spend any more time near her or Christian than I needed to. I wanted to tone that part of my life down, if not abandon it altogether. Even with Kasia I toned it down. I was more than content with vanilla sex; I didn’t push anything more risqué. And with Kasia the sex was mind-blowing anyway because I felt a deep sense of love for her.
Parties were picking up around campus, as our senior year was more than halfway over. Our house was at the center of it. I’d abdicated my role as head party planner to Christian and Justin but I couldn’t completely walk away. Kasia was typically there for our parties but tonight Bernadette, Trish, and Kasia were heading to Cooper’s frat; Val had complained that they were never at Tau’s parties. I would have tagged along with them but Justin was giving me shit about being at another frat when we were hosting an event ourselves. He had a point.
Our place was jammed, the usual. I texted Kasia a few times but got no response. I liked that she didn’t live with her nose in her phone screen like a lot of other people I knew but the girl infuriated me at times like this when she obviously didn’t even have it with her. I settled on Trish:
Hows the party?
At least someone had their phone. She answered:
Packed…is Bri behaving?
Brian was crazy about her. I typed out:
Of course he is. K dsnt have her phone again. She ok?
She wrote:
Yep…dancing up a storm.
“I’m outta here, Justin. You good?”
“Really, Cole? Can’t spend one night with your brothers without her?”
Melanie hit Justin’s chest and smiled at me. “Leave him alone, Justin. He’s in love.”
Justin walked away then, clearly annoyed. “Why are you being so nice, Melanie?”
“You act like I don’t care about you, Dylan. I do.”
“Melanie, I don’t want to lose what I have with her. I can’t…be that person anymore.”
“I think you can try to bury that side of you but you’ll never change.” She put her hand on my chest reassuringly. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing, Dylan. I think most people are repressed and we’re the honest ones.”
I was annoyed. “You think I’ll never be able to stick it out with her?”
“No, I didn’t say that. I think you’ll be like most married people, you’ll lie.” She shook her head, sympathetically. “C’mon, Dylan, the world we live in? The world you live in? In a few months you’ll be starting to run a multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation. You’ll be one of the most powerful people in this country one day. With that kind of power comes cer
tain appetites, Dylan, and you know it.”
I thought of my father then; powerful, a commander of people. Able to have whatever and whomever he wanted. Was I destined to be that guy? I mulled that over as I walked to Sigma Tau.
Kasia was one of the first people I spotted as I walked in. Kasia and Bernadette were dancing together, looking mighty hot, I might add. I made my way through the crowd and positioned myself behind Kasia. The moment she put her arms up in the air I moved closer and held her hips as I ground into her.
“Get off me!”
I was doubled over from the elbow I’d just gotten to the ribs but laughing. “Shit, Kasia.”
When she turned and saw it was me she yelled over the music, “What’s the matter with you, Dylan?”
I grabbed her close to me again and danced slowly with her as I leaned in and spoke into her ear, “Do you know how good you look dancing? How many guys have tried to hit on you tonight?”
She glared at me, still angry. “Is that what you were doing, Dylan? Were you testing me? Wondering if I’d let some random guy grind on me or if I’d push him off? To see if I’m like those girls?” She pushed against me with her hands, full force. I actually stumbled back. As I steadied myself I saw her storming out the door.
“What the fuck, Kasia?”
She spun to face me. “Have I ever given you a reason to think I was into anyone else?”
“No! Why are you so angry?”
She came closer and looked me right in the eye. “Have you ever slept with Melanie?”
“Where is this coming from?”
“That’s not an answer. It’s a yes or no question, Dylan.”
Maybe if I’d had more time to think I would have spun some bullshit but what Melanie had said to me earlier about living my life as a liar affected me. “I did. She’s someone from my past, Kasia.”
“When was the last time, Dylan?”