by Joey Bush
I nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t think it would be this bad though. I didn’t realize they’re such elitist assholes.”
He pulled me toward him and brushed a few wisps of hair back from my face. “Let’s not talk about them,” he said. “There’s something else I’d much rather be doing right now.”
31.
Graham
“I like the sound of that,” Chloe said.
I ran my hands down her back and kissed her neck, then nipped and sucked at the soft skin there. She smelled so good and her skin was like silk. She slipped her hands underneath my shirt and drew her fingernails up and down my backside. We moved over to the couch, shedding our clothing, first her shirt, then her bra, and I paid attention to those gorgeous, perfect tits of hers before removing my own shirt. She slipped out of her shorts and her underwear and I kicked my jeans off.
“I didn’t get to return the favor after that day in your studio,” I said, gently pushing her down on the couch so she was sitting but leaning back all the way, her ass at the very edge. I repositioned myself and put my hands on her inner thighs, pushing them apart. I put my mouth on her, licking first her clit and then her pussy, feeling how wet she already was. She groaned and reached down, grabbing my hair with her fingers.
I spent a while down there, feeling her getting wetter and wetter. While I licked her clit, I slid one finger, then another, inside of her and she squirmed against me, arching her back, moaning through clenched teeth. I didn’t want her to come yet though, and each time I sensed she was getting too close, I backed off a little, pulling my fingers out or letting my tongue just rest on her without moving.
“Oh my god,” she kept saying in a throaty whisper. Finally, she yanked on my hair, hard. “I need you inside of me,” she said. “Right now.”
Ah, music to my ears. My dick was as hard as it’d ever been, and I fumbled first with getting my wallet out of my discarded jeans, then getting the condom out of the wallet, then finally with ripping open the packet of the condom and getting it on my dick. I just wanted to hurry up and get it on so we could get back to it. Finally, I got it. She slid down toward the end of the couch, draping herself over the arm, her feet on the ground now, ass up in the air. I held on to either side of her hips and she dropped down to her forearms, making it easy for my dick to just slide right in. I took a deep breath and let my eyes close. Fuck, that felt so good. She pressed her ass back against me, then moved forward, then back again, repeating that, so for a few, heavenly minutes, I just remained still while she fucked herself on me.
And then we shifted positions; I brought her back onto the couch, much like she’d been when I’d gone down on her, except I put her legs up onto my shoulders and leaned over her. My face was right in front of hers and I leaned down, almost folding her in half, so I could kiss her. I slid back inside of her, and with her knees up by her head, I was able to get as deep in her as I’d ever been in anyone. I moved slowly at first, a warm tingling feeling shooting up my spine, into my brain, with each thrust. I rocked my hips faster, and she squeezed her legs around my neck, her eyes shut, mouth slightly open as she panted and groaned. I could feel her pussy muscles contracting and relaxing against my dick, pulling me in further the faster I moved. She was right there at the edge, about to come, and I wasn’t far behind. I kissed her again, and then just left my mouth there against hers as we moved together, not really kissing but just connected, and then she bit down on my lip as she started to come, letting out a little shriek, her fingernails scraping the length of my back, the pain of it just heightening the pleasure I was feeling even more. That ecstatic tingling feeling that had been spiraling up my spine exploded through my whole body as I came, and for a few, incredible seconds, it felt as though my brain had short-circuited, rendering me nothing more than a pile of neurons and synapses, pulsating in pleasure.
And I could tell, just by looking at Chloe, she felt the same way.
She worked her legs down from my shoulders and stretched out, and though it was a tight fit, I lay down next to her on the couch. Our bodies were slick with sweat as I wrapped my arms around her. She nestled back into me, sighing in contentment.
“That was amazing,” she said. “I think that was the most amazing feeling I have ever experienced.”
I smiled. I’d been given plenty of compliments over the years about my ability in the sack, but that was, by far, the one that made me feel the best.
32.
Chloe
I left Graham’s place later that afternoon when he went to go meet up with a buddy of his for a bike ride.
I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face as I drove home, and I kept replaying the day back in my mind. It almost felt like this wasn’t my life—except it was, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. But that smile faded when I turned down the driveway and saw Parker’s car there. He was standing on the front lawn, talking with my mother, who had that charmed look of hers on her face.
“Chloe!” she said after I parked and got out. “Look who was just in the neighborhood and decided to drop by! Did you get my voicemail? I left several of them; I wasn’t sure where you went.”
“The art center,” I said immediately. I walked over, my inner thighs sore. “Sorry, the ringer was turned off on my phone.”
“That’s okay; Parker and I were just having a nice chat. But I’ll leave you two. Nice to see you, Parker!” My mother grinned at him and then turned and walked back toward the house.
“Hey,” he said. “I was just about to leave. Glad you showed up, though. What are you up to right now?”
I couldn’t keep this up. I had to tell him.
“Look, Parker,” I said slowly. “I think you’re really nice, and I appreciate you wanting to hang out and take me places. I know my mom gave you my number and everything, but ... I just think it’s better if we didn’t see each other. I mean, I know we’re not dating or anything, so ... so I feel a little weird having this whole conversation to begin with. It just seems like you’ve really gone out of your way to hang out and stuff and I don’t know, correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s probably to be more than just friends, right?” I felt myself blushing because I knew how convoluted I sounded. What the hell was I even trying to say? It made sense in my head, but now that I was actually verbalizing it, the whole thing sounded pretty confusing. And was I really saying that I thought if a guy was trying to hang out with a girl it was to be more than just friends? What if I’d been wrong this whole time and Parker really just wanted to be friends?
“I’m really sorry,” I said. “I hope you can understand.”
“Wow.” He nodded, but he looked surprised. “Wow. Um, okay.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated. “I know you’re probably not used to being the one who gets turned down.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” It was hard to tell if he was annoyed or not. He looked confused more than anything else. Was he upset? He looked at me more closely, though he wasn’t quite looking at my face.
“Look, you know, if you want to just be friends, maybe we can hang out—”
“Nice hickey you’ve got there,” he said. I brought my hand up to my neck; I hadn’t realized I even had one. Parker walked over to his car. “Have a good one,” he said, and then he got in and drove away.
I knew my mother would come out any second and want to know why Parker left, and then she’d probably see that I had a hickey and want to know where that came from, so I just got into my own car and took off, even though I’d just gotten back. I called Tara.
“Oh, good!” she said. “I was just about to call you. I need a coffee. Meet me at Stacatto.”
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
*****
Tara was already there, sitting at one of the outside tables when I arrived.
“I got you an iced latte,” she said as I sat down.
“Thanks.”
“Um, wait a second, Chloe.” She leaned over and brushed my hair back. “I
s that a hickey I spy?”
I pulled away. “It might be.”
She grinned. “Oh, you’re so bad! I love it. From Graham, I assume.”
“Yeah. Definitely not from Parker. He just happened to be at my house when I got home and I sort of broke things off with him. Except that we weren’t even dating, so it’s not like there was actually anything to end. It was kind of awkward and awful, actually.”
“Oooh.” Tara winced. “Did he take it badly?”
“Well ... not really. I mean, he wasn’t psyched or anything, but he certainly wasn’t brokenhearted. It was just a weird situation all around. I guess that’s what happens, though, when your parents try to interfere with your dating life. But things with Graham are going pretty well.” I tried to keep myself from grinning but couldn’t. “We slept together again. And it was so good!”
She squealed and clapped her hands and made me give her all the details. “I’m so proud of you!”
“Yeah,” I said, taking a sip of the cold drink. “I’m pretty happy about it myself, too.”
“Well, there was something I wanted to tell you too. Michael got in touch with me. Demanding to know if I was seeing someone else. Apparently, he’s coming to the Cape next week.”
“Are you?” I asked. “Seeing someone else?”
“No! You’d know if I was. But that day I ran into Graham at the coffee shop, I told him about the pictures and he said he didn’t care if I put them back up. So I did. And Michael messaged me!” Tara looked positively gleeful.
“You’re not planning on getting back together with him though, are you?” I asked, trying not to feel horrified at the idea. I sure hoped she wasn’t going to get together with him when he got here.
“Of course I’m not. I’m not an idiot. But he was very curious about whether or not I’d ‘found someone to replace him,’ as he put it. So ... I might’ve stretched the truth a little and told him that Graham and I were seeing each other. You should’ve heard how upset he was! Acting like he was all wounded that I’d found someone else. It was really unbelievable. So I asked him if he was still together with that girl, whatever her name is, and he told me that he isn’t. And then he asked if I’d meet up with him when he got here, because he wanted to talk.”
“Please tell me you said no.”
Tara hesitated, and I knew that she’d agreed to see him. “I just want to tell him in person,” she said. “I want to tell him that he’s a piece of shit, and I also want to be able to turn him down when he asks me back out. Because I know he’s going to.”
“Tara.” I shook my head. “He is an entitled prick. He is not going to take no for an answer, and you’re really just antagonizing him. He is not someone who is used to hearing ‘no’ for an answer.”
“Well, he’s going to get used to it, because that’s exactly what he’s going to hear from me. Anyway. The other thing I wanted to tell you was there is an awesome party happening tonight. On the beach. And you should invite Graham.”
“He went out for a bike ride.”
“Yeah, but I bet he’s not going to be doing that all day. This party will be off the hook! If it sucks, we don’t have to stay, but I doubt it’s going to. Text him now and ask. We can meet up at his shop or whatever, and all go in one car. Come on, Chloe! This is the new you, and the new you is someone who goes to a beach party with the man she’s having sex with!”
“Okay, fine,” I said. “You’ve convinced me.” I grabbed my phone out of my purse and texted Graham, asking him if he wanted to go.
*****
It was hard to tell how many people were on the beach, but probably at least sixty or seventy. There was a bonfire and some sort of club-type music being blasted from someone’s speakers. There was also a row of coolers, with beer, wine, and even some champagne.
“Quite the party,” Graham said as we walked through the soft sand.
“This is a private beach, so we don’t have to worry about the cops bothering us,” Tara said, skipping ahead.
I scanned the faces of some of the people. It was dark, so it was difficult to see anyone too clearly. I recognized a few of the faces, but it wasn’t anyone that I would say I was friends with. I felt a flare of nervousness, but then Graham reached over and took my hand. He wouldn’t know anyone here either, and he seemed completely unbothered by this fact.
“Let’s get something to drink,” Tara said.
Everyone was quite friendly, whether because they were nice people or because they’d been drinking. As we walked over to the coolers, though, who should I happen to catch sight of but Parker.
“Oh, shit,” I said under my breath.
“What?” Tara asked.
I nodded. “Look who’s here.”
She saw him, but shrugged. “So what? There’s enough people here you don’t have to talk to him if you don’t want to. What do you want to drink?”
Graham opted for a beer and I took one of the bottles of hard lemonade, figuring that that would be the least gross-tasting of all the choices. And it actually wasn’t that bad. I took a few sips and almost immediately felt myself start to relax a little. So Parker was here. Big deal. Tara was right; there were enough people here that I could easily avoid him. He was talking to a gorgeous girl who looked like she was probably a model or something. If he’d been at all upset about our conversation earlier, he certainly wasn’t showing it now.
*****
As the evening progressed, I had another hard lemonade, and then started playing Frisbee with a few people down near the water’s edge. Sports might not have ever been my forte, but I’d always been good at Frisbee, even in the dark, even a tiny bit tipsy. Graham was talking to a few guys who were interested in getting tattoos. Tara was off somewhere, probably looking for a guy to hook up with. And here I was, at a party, having fun. I couldn’t believe how good I felt.
Eventually, I wandered back over to the coolers, this time looking for water. I found more beer, a few bottles of whiskey, and some more hard lemonades, but no water. I was about to give up when someone brushed up against me as they leaned down to grab a beer out of the cooler.
“Oh, sorry,” I said, before realizing it was Parker.
“Hey there, you,” he said. He had a goofy smile on his face and was slurring his words, just a little bit. He came over and gave me a hug. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here tonight.”
“Hi, Parker.”
He wagged a finger at me. “Now listen, I just want you to know that there’s no hard feelings, okay? None at all, and I mean that.”
I smiled. “That’s good ... I’m glad to hear it.”
“Yes.” He held up his beer bottle as if to make a toast. “No hard feelings at all. You know, you’re right ... I’m not the kind of guy who’s used to getting turned down. Not that I’m saying I’m perfect or anything, but ... girls don’t usually turn me down. So it was a little surprising. But it also doesn’t count, I don’t think now, does it?”
He took a big swig of his beer and then looked at me expectantly.
“Um ... I don’t know?” I said finally.
“Well, if you don’t know, let me tell you: it doesn’t count. Because for it to count, the person who turned me down would have to be someone that I was actually interested in. Someone that I was actually attracted to.” He leaned closer. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. “Not that you aren’t pretty. You are. But I’m just not attracted to you. You and I ... we just don’t have that je ne sais quoi.”
I took a step back. “Okay, Parker,” I said. “We don’t have to talk about it. It’s fine. I really wasn’t trying to insult you or anything, I just—”
“You didn’t insult me!” he shouted. “This is what I’m trying to tell you: I was never interested in you. So the fact that you are not interested in me is not insulting. That’s what I’m trying to explain to you.”
“Then why did you keep bugging me to hang out with you?”
“Because your father cornered me that night
of the party! He said if I went out with you this summer, then he’d make it worth my while.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right. That’s ridiculous.”
Parker shook his head. “It might be, but that’s what we were talking about.”
“What was he going to do? Give you money? It’s not like you need money.”
“You’re right; I don’t need money. And if that’s all he was offering, then I would’ve said no.”
“What was he offering, then?”
“He was offering me a job.”
“A job?”
“Right. Job. J-O-B. Say it with me now. Jaaayyyy—ohhhhh—beeeeee—”
“So my father offered you a job if you would go out with me,” I repeated.
“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!” Parker clapped, sloshing beer over his hands.
“And how long were we supposed to go out for?”
“The end of the summer.”
“Then what? What happened at the end of the summer?”
“We’d just ... I don’t know. Go our separate ways. It wasn’t like this was going to be something that would last.”
I nodded. “I see.” I tried not to think about what would happen if I had really ended up falling for Parker. I’d spend the whole summer, thinking that things were great, only to have us “go our separate ways,” as he so put it, once summer was over. “Well. Thanks for being honest with me, I guess.”
“It’s no problem. I’m glad you know.” He held his beer bottle up and looked at it, as though he were surprised to find he was still holding it. “I just thought you should know.”
And then he stumbled off. I watched him go, wanting desperately to not believe a single word he just said. He was drunk! He was just talking nonsense! I kept telling myself that even though I knew it wasn’t true—my father had offered Parker a job at his hedge fund if he would go out with me.
I didn’t know how long I stood there for, my feet buried in the cool, soft sand. Eventually, Graham came over.
“Hey,” he said. “Here you are. Everything okay?”