by Mia Archer
“You knew about that car?” I asked.
I was talking about it like it was in the past, but that thing was still very much a part of my present. It was parked behind our house waiting for me to take it to the freshman parking lot this fall where I’d be able to park it away from prying eyes so I could drive it home on the weekends.
“I think everyone knew about that thing,” Robin said. “Mostly because there were a lot of guys who were very interested whenever you pulled into the parking lot. I think there was a betting pool going on about what you were wearing that day.”
If anything my blush got even deeper. “You’re bullshitting me.”
“Trust me, I’m not,” Robin said. “There were lots of guys who were very interested in what tight little outfit Mari Reynolds was going to wear. For a goody-two-shoes church girl you sure have some interesting fashion choices.”
“Like you noticed,” I muttered.
“Oh I noticed,” she said, her voice getting husky for a moment. “I noticed you every day Mari.”
That blush turned to a shiver that ran down between my legs. Hearing her talk about me like that was thrilling. It was enough to get me over the embarrassment of hearing how much attention the pervs at school paid me.
“It’s not like I was trying to dress like a slut or anything,” I said. “It’s just that I liked dressing up nice.”
“And I liked it when you dressed up nice. Everyone did, so everyone wins,” Robin said with a grin.
Another buzz from her pocket interrupted the moment. I was glad for the interruption. I thought I was about to die from embarrassment. Sure it was nice to know she’d been looking at me, but it also felt weird to know she’d been watching me for at least as long as I’d been watching her and wondering.
Even if I hadn’t been willing to admit to myself that I was watching and wondering back then.
“Are you going to get that? What if there’s an emergency or something?” I asked.
“What emergency?” Robin replied.
“Maybe something happened to your dad?”
“Don’t care,” Robin said.
“What if something happened to your sister?”
Robin stopped. Stared at me in the darkness. Sighed. She pulled her phone out and looked at the screen, then chuckled.
“It’s just John trying to get ahold of me. Whatever he wants it can wait.”
“If he’s been trying to get in touch with you then it might be something important. Seriously, I can wait for a minute while you talk to him.”
“You sure?” Robin asked.
“Positive. I’m not budging from this spot until you find out what he wants.”
“Fine,” Robin said. She swiped at the screen. “Robin here.”
Robin turned away. I figured it was a normal conversation until she started cursing. I arched an eyebrow. Not what I was expecting. A moment later she turned back around and hit me with a sheepish grin.
“Is something wrong?”
“I sort of forgot to give John something important he needed for tonight and he was calling me about it,” she said. “But I don’t want that to interrupt our date night. John can cool his heels.”
“Where is he? Would it really be a big deal to stop by before we head out?”
“Well he’s sort of at a party out at the old factory right now.”
“Oh really? There’s a party going on at the old factory and you didn’t want to tell me about it?”
Robin looked away and for a moment she seemed genuinely upset. When she spoke her voice was quiet.
“I told you there can be a rough crowd out there. I didn’t know if they’d be there tonight so I didn’t want to say anything,” she said.
“So what did John say? Because all I’ve ever heard is people from our class go out there to get drunk.”
Robin sighed. “Yeah, it’s mostly people out there getting drunk tonight.”
I bit my lip. I’d already done one crazy thing tonight lying to my parents and sneaking out to be with Robin. Why not add one more crazy thing to that list? Besides, it might be fun to see what it was like with the other half. The half that wasn’t dragged to church every Sunday and expected to act perfect all the time.
I was only going to have one summer after graduation, after all. Why not enjoy it?
“I want to go to the party,” I said.
Robin’s eyes went wide. “No way. We’re not going out there. I told you John is on his own for now.”
“Come on Robin,” I said, stepping forward and putting my hands at her waist. My hands felt good down there at her waist. “Are you really going to tell me you don’t want to go out there with me?”
“You don’t want anything to do with the kind of people who hang out there,” she said. “Hell, I’m surprised you want anything to do with me!”
I sniffed. “Seems like this is a perfect opportunity for me to prove I’m not as judgmental as you seem to think I am.”
“I guess I deserved that,” Robin said.
“You did,” I said. “Don’t make assumptions about everyone just because you’ve had bad experiences with a few people around here.”
Robin grinned and took my hand. Pulled me towards her car. “I guess you’re right, but I’m warning you this party might be a little too much for you!”
I grinned right back at her. “I’ll be the judge of that!”
I felt giddy as we hopped into the truck and Robin gunned the engine like she had so many times before in the school parking lot. It felt different being inside the cab and feeling the roar of the engine between my legs.
That wasn’t the only thrill I was getting between my legs as I sat next to Robin though. The truck had a bench seat which made it easy for me to snuggle up right next to her even if it did make it a little more difficult for her to handle the gearshift.
This was wild. I couldn’t believe I was being this crazy, but as long as I was with Robin it all felt right as we roared off into the night and towards my first real party ever.
10
Mari
“You sure you want to do this?”
I gave Robin’s leg a squeeze as I looked at the factory. It looked like it always had. A massive hunk of building rising out of the ground that was slowly falling apart because there wasn’t anyone around who gave enough of a shit to take care of the thing.
I knew there was something going on inside there though. I could see people streaming across the grass field leading out to the factory. They moved in little clumps, but they all had the same destination.
It was weird. I’d thought about these parties before. I’d heard about them and imagined what they must be like from the stories I heard at school. Stories that were way different than the stern warnings we got from teachers and people at church.
I even thought I maybe recognized a couple of people heading out across the grass field, though it was difficult to tell for sure in the darkness.
“I’ve never been more ready in my life,” I said. “Let’s do this!”
Robin giggled as she put the truck into park. She twisted the key and the engine sputtered and knocked a couple of times before finally stopping. Something hissed from under the hood.
I turned to Robin and smiled. She was so beautiful in the light cast from an old dome light that was so weak that it probably hadn’t been replaced since this truck was new.
“Thanks for taking me out there,” I said. “Even if you don’t really want to.”
“Hey, what can I say? I don’t want to drag you into my world if I don’t have to,” she said.
I ran a hand up her arm and down to her hand. Intertwined my fingers with hers. “You know so far your world doesn’t seem so bad at all.”
“That’s because you haven’t seen all of it,” she said, a frown marring her otherwise beautiful face.
I put a hand to her cheek. Pulled her towards me. The street was mostly deserted so it’s not like there was anyone around who could be scandalize
d by seeing us kiss.
Besides, if we were going down to that party together then there was a good chance people were going to put two and two together. Realize we were dating. I was so drunk on the thought of spending a night with her and doing something a little naughty before going off to college that I didn’t care.
At least not that much. I really hoped word wouldn’t get back to my parents, but it’s not like they ran in the same circles as anyone who’d be down there in that building.
Our lips came together and I closed my eyes. Kissing her was perfection. It was everything I’d always imagined a kiss should be. I opened my mouth to hers and she gasped just a little as she moved her hands down to run over my body.
I relished the exploration even as I did a little exploring of my own. Her body was soft. Not at all like the guys I’d cuddled up against at games or at church lock-ins.
More than anything there was a feeling that this was right. This is what I wanted. This is what I needed. It was a primal feeling that I felt deep in the pit of my stomach. A desire that I never got with those guys.
Her hands moved down and then they were moving up again. I shivered feeling her fingernails dancing along my stomach even though it was hot out tonight and there was no air conditioning in this ancient truck. Her hands moved up, up.
There were so many guys who’d tried to do this with me. Tried to cop a feel. I’d always stopped them right before they got to the gold. I even hesitated for a moment this time around. I suppose some things were so deeply ingrained in me that I almost instinctively stopped her even though I wanted this so much.
I forced myself to relax. To go with the flow. To let it happen. It was just a little innocent making out, after all.
Then her hand cupped my breast. I sighed. Sure my bra was still in the way, but even with the bra in the way this was so forbidden. So wrong. It was everything I was told I shouldn’t let someone do, and here I was letting Robin do it.
She paused there for a moment. It was funny. Here we were making out and yet I’m sure both our minds were on that spot where her hand rested on my breast. I know I was laser focused. I was hyper aware of every nerve ending as my body reached out for her and goose bumps rose across my chest.
Then it happened. Her hand moved inside my bra cup and brushed against my bare flesh. The heat radiating off me was so intense and that was nothing compared to the pleasure of finally having someone feel one of the forbidden areas of my body.
I gasped and felt something between my legs that surprised me. Moisture.
That was new. Another little something that had never hit me with a guy. There’d been several who would’ve killed to get that reaction out of me.
But it scared me at the same time. Sure this was all new and it felt so good and it felt so right, but there was also an entire life of church ladies putting the zap on my head and telling me this sort of thing was sinful and wrong.
They hadn’t even been talking about the whole girl on girl thing. That would’ve probably stopped their pacemakers if they knew what I was doing right now.
So as much as I hated to do it, I reached out and put a hand on her wrist. Through my shirt. I blushed as I realized just how crazy this had gotten.
“That feels so good,” I gasped.
Damn it did. She was tracing a finger around my breast. Just a light touch, but it was a light touch that set me on fire. I swallowed and decided to try again.
“That feels good,” I managed to get out, without a gasp this time. “But maybe we could go to the party first?”
Robin regarded me in the darkness and for a moment I worried that she might be too worked up. What if she was the same as Alan? What if she pulled the same thing with me? I didn’t think I could take it if she did that to me. Not after she’d saved me.
Not after she’d shown me a whole new world that I’d never really considered before.
Then she smiled. Sighed and pulled her hand away from my breast. I did a little sighing of my own. I missed that feeling already, damn it.
“You’re right,” she said. “Maybe we should take things slower, right?”
I reached out and grabbed her wrist again. I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I wasn’t in control. There was a hunger deep inside me, a desire that went beyond anything I’d ever wanted before in my life, and in that moment it was the one calling the shots.
I pulled her hand back up to my chest. Deliberately placed it there in the center so she could feel my heart threatening to beat out of my ribcage.
“You did this to me,” I whispered. “I want this, but it’s all happening so fast and…”
She moved her hand from my chest up to my lips. Placed a finger against them. Smiled.
“It’s okay Mari,” she said. “I know what you’re talking about. You’re not hurting my feelings or anything. You take things at the pace you want to take them.”
I smiled. It felt weird smiling with her finger pressed against me, but there we were.
“Thanks for understanding,” I said.
We stared at one another for a long moment, illuminated only by moonlight streaming in through the front windshield. Even the fitful dome light had long since gone dark. That’s how long we’d been making out in here.
Oops.
“We should probably go,” I said, afraid that if we stayed much longer I was going to ask her to push me back on that bench seat and…
I shook my head. Opened the door and stepped out into the warm night air. It was muggy and oppressive, but it felt downright cool next to the heat that had been generated in the truck cab. I took in a couple lungfuls of air and tried to get myself under control.
I’m not sure that I did a very good job of it. I wasn’t sure there was any getting under control tonight. Not with the thoughts racing through my head. I hadn’t even gone to this party and I was already drunk on Robin.
She appeared next to me and put her arm around me. I noticed she had a backpack slung over her shoulder. Now where did that come from?
“What’s in the backpack?”
“Nothing much,” Robin said. “Just some of the supplies John was asking for.”
Her voice was cool and neutral. It was the sort of tone that I got when I was trying to get something past my mom and wasn’t sure it was going to work. But I was still so drunk on the new sensations washing over me that I didn’t care. I decided not to make a big deal out of it.
“Right, so you ready to go?”
Tension I hadn’t even realized was there melted away from Robin and she grinned. Led me off towards the factory.
When we stepped inside it was like moving into a whole new world. Sure we were surrounded on all sides by the dingy remains of a factory that had been empty for at least a decade and it was obvious it was falling apart in places, but it looked like some industrious partiers had transformed it into something out of a rave scene in a movie or something.
It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. I didn’t even know there were parties like this in our city.
When we walked in several people looked at us and I immediately felt self-conscious. Some of them looked surprised, though whether it was because I was the one walking through the door or because I was with Robin was anyone’s guess.
I felt her against me and I didn’t care that people were staring. God her body was sin in a tight shirt. I doubled down and pressed against her even more. I was a stranger in a strange land and I didn’t want to lose my guide.
“You sure you’re okay here?” she asked, her voice surprisingly gentle in my ear.
I nodded. Looked around at familiar faces from school. Not a single person from my church group, but I guess that was to be expected. They always had youth events on the weekends to keep people from “indulging in sin.”
Though as I looked around it seemed like the sinners were having a hell of a lot more fun than we did at church lock-ins.
“So do we get a drink or something?” I asked.
Robin sta
red at me for a long moment and I found myself lost in the contours of her face. There was something about the way the shadows and light from an impromptu DJ booth played across her that made her look so beautiful in this setting. It was like I was seeing her in her natural habitat for the first time, and it suited her. Made her look dangerous somehow.
Finally she shook her head and muttered something to herself. I wasn’t listening closely but it sounded like something along the lines of if I wanted to do something stupid she couldn’t exactly stop me.
I snorted at that. I wasn’t doing something stupid. I knew exactly what I was doing here and I was safe as long as I had her with me. This wasn’t anything like the dangers they talked about in youth group.
I was totally in control.
“Fine,” she said. “If you want a drink let’s get you a drink, but make sure you keep ahold of it. You don’t want someone slipping you something.”
“What if I want you slipping me something?” I whispered in her ear.
I blinked. Did I really just say that? I was being all sorts of forward tonight. There was something about the forbidden temptation of sneaking out, of what we’d done in her truck, that was turning me into a hussy.
At least that’s what my Sunday school teacher would call me. Well fuck her. I was living my life.
Even if I felt a little guilty for even thinking the word “fuck.”
Robin led me along, but I stopped as I saw people going up some stairs near the back of the wide room that had once been a factory floor before it was stripped of anything valuable.
“What are those people doing?” I asked.
Robin followed my gaze and laughed. “People can go to the upper levels if they want a little privacy.”
“What sort of… Oh.”
“Yup. Sort of like the privacy we had in my truck,” she said. “You don’t need to worry about that though. C’mon. Let’s get you that drink and give the good girl her party experience.”
I’m not sure I liked the way she phrased that, but I followed her over to a table where Terry Richards was acting as bartender. I knew him, sort of. His younger brother was in our class and he’d been a senior when I was a freshman. Now it looked like he’d set up a business furnishing alcohol to minors, and from the money I saw changing hands business was good.