We both drank a third shot. I stood up, lightheaded and giggling. She always tried to act super serious when she was drunk, but we’d spent four years of college together either in the dorm or own apartment, and I could read her thoughts sometimes. Before we left our apartment, I stopped at the door and went over a checklist in my mind.
Condom? Check. House keys? Check. I.D.? Check. Check Card? Yes. I giggled.
“You ready, silly girl?” Amy asked impatiently on the porch, her hand on her hip and her foot tapping.
“I’m always ready, you bitch,” I said as I walked past her.
“Still a no on that for you.”
She locked the front door of our apartment while I danced down the stairs to the walkway leading to the sidewalk. A group of five college students – three guys and two girls – walked past across the street. I waved at them, nodding my head. I’m the cool college senior dressed as a joint. Yep. When they didn’t react as I wanted them to, I shouted out, “Four twenty forever…yeah!”
At that exact moment, a campus police cruiser rolled by with the windows down. The officer behind the wheel glared at me. I freaked the fuck out when he used two fingers to point at his eyes then pointed them at me. Is he going to be watching me all night? Has he seen me dressing through the house window? What the hell? Amy stumbled into me.
“Don’t yell at the cops. You know that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. You ready?”
“Indeed.”
We walked, arm in arm, to the sidewalk and down the street to the house party. Another group of people passed us, heading in the other direction.
“What do you like in a guy?” Amy asked as we walked, fitting perfectly side by side on the sidewalk.
“Smart, sexy, funny. You know. The usual. What about you?”
“Big cock and small brain. That’s what you should be thinking about tonight.”
I laughed. “You’re crazy, girl.”
“We really need to get you a catchphrase.”
“Right? Like none of the ones I try fit me.”
“We’ll come up with something.”
“How far is this party?” I asked, already wanting to go back home, curl up and watch Gilmore Girls reruns.
“We’re close. You can’t chicken out yet.”
“Why did the joint cross the road?” I asked.
She turned to look at me. “What?”
“I was trying to make a joke.”
“Well, if you want us to get guys tonight, leave the jokes to me, okay?”
“Sure thing.” I giggled.
“No crossing your fingers or anything. Promise me.” She stopped and took my hands in hers. We made eye contact. “Say you’re going to let me get us laid tonight.”
“I say that. What you said.”
“I’m serious, Carissa. This is the biggest party of the year. Or it could be. IT’s taking place in five houses next to each other.”
“Rex Street has totally become the party block.”
“Yeah, I read that article in the campus paper too.” She smiled. “Anyway, you follow my lead, and we’re going to be rocking out with our cocks out.”
“Wouldn’t we want the cocks in us?”
“Well, yeah, but…” She stuck her tongue out at me. “Shut up. Let’s go.”
We walked the rest of the four blocks to Rex Street, which was on the very edge of campus, in between the jurisdiction for the local city police as well as the campus police. Both were fighting for control of the area. In the meantime, business savvy students were running a system of speakeasies in the two and a half blocks of the no-mans-land.
“Where are we going to start?” I asked, wanting another drink to keep my buzz going.
“The first house, stupid. There’s an order so you don’t get too fucked up in the wrong order.”
I cocked my head to the side and looked at her.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “We’re here to get some hard bodied college guy cock and nothing else. Just follow my lead.”
She headed toward the front door of the house with a rectangle sign with a number one on it in the yard. A dozen other people were either headed into or out. We made our way through them and into the living room. It was setup like a Vegas casino, complete with darkness, neon lights, and buzzing and ringing noises.
“Are those actual slot machines?” I asked Amy.
When she didn’t answer, I turned around and noticed she was gone. I scanned the room as well as I could in the near darkness. She was about ten feet away, standing next to a hunky guy at one of the slot machines. So much for sticking together, I thought to myself as I watched her walk away with the guy. They headed into the kitchen, so I followed.
By the time I made my way through the throng of people, they were no longer in the kitchen. I sighed and wandered to the quietest room I could find. It was the back porch, where the stoners had collected and were passing joints back and forth. One was offered to me, so I took it. I’d smoked pot before, but I didn’t make it a daily habit.
After my first hit, I realized it wasn’t a good idea to be smoking in public with strangers. The more I smoked, unable to stop myself, the more my anxiety acted up. Half a dozen tokes later, I stood up. Everyone stared at me, as if I was about to say something important. When I couldn’t think of anything, I waved then left the back porch and went into the backyard. Where the fuck is Amy?
Two
Mark
As I drove to my stepsister’s apartment on campus, I thought about my feelings for her. They were deep rooted. We were good together on so many different levels. Well, every level except the physical one. I’d never acted on my physical urges. Her friendship meant too much for me to chance ruining it just to try to get into her panties. Besides, I had a lot of other stuff to think about.
I looked down at my crotch while stopped at a red light. A week earlier, I’d been diagnosed with testicular cancer. I hadn’t shared the news with anyone, not even friends or family. Fortunately, the hospital had made a huge mistake. I was perfectly healthy after all. At first I was pissed at them, and threatened to sue, but after having had seven days to think about death, I had an epiphany about life.
Basically, the fact that life is too short to be cautious and hold back. Since learning I was cancer-free, I’d been thinking about telling Carissa I loved her. Before making my move, I decided it would be a good idea to go out and have some fun. If I was lucky, I might get laid. After learning my balls were okay, I wanted to put them to good use. Chances were high my stepsister would turn me down.
I stopped at the next red light and took a deep breath. Her apartment was close. If I made a turn, I could pull up in her driveway and tell her. Doubts assaulted my mind from all angles. The local college radio station was on in the car. One of the student DJs mentioned some sort of the big party on campus, but I blocked it out and thought about confessing my love to Clarissa.
Even her name excited me. When I said it in my mind or spoke it out loud, a sense of calm washed over me. She was everything I wanted in a woman; smart, funny and sexy as hell. I pulled up in front of the house she lived in and parked on the street. After another deep breath, I got out of the car and headed toward her front door.
Halfway up the porch, I noticed a group of people sitting next door. I nodded my head at them briefly. They watched as I knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. The same song that had been on in my car when I parked was blaring out of their speakers. It ended and the DJs mentioned the big party on campus again. Apparently, costumes were involved.
“Hey,” I called to the other porch. “You guys seen Carissa around?”
“She’s at the party, man,” a guy with dreadlocks yelled.
“Where’s that at?”
“Over on Rex Street. But you’re going to need a costume.”
“Thanks for the heads up. You know of a costume store around here?”
“This late?” He laughed. “Come
on over here, man.”
I walked over and onto the neighbor’s porch. When I stepped up, I saw a tie-dyed sheet tacked to the roof. It would make a good costume in a pinch.
“Hey, can I buy that tie-dye?”
“What? No, man. That’s our house flag.”
“I’ll give you twenty bucks.”
“Try a hundred.” He held out his hand.
“For real?”
“You want to go to this party, don’t you? Only way in is a costume. Supply and demand, man.”
He was right. I dug out my wallet and get five twenty dollar bills.
“That works,” he said then reached up and tore down the sheet. “Here you go.”
“You have some scissors so I can cut some eye holes into it?”
“What the hell kind of costume is that going to be? A tie-dye ghost?”
“The ghost of Jerry Garcia.”
I smiled and nodded my head. The genius of my idea dawned on the budding businessman.
“Not bad, man. Not bad at all. You might get some chicks with that line.”
“I’m not after just anyone…”
“Oh, yeah. Carissa. She’s hot.”
Did this guy sleep with her? I looked him over. “You know her well?”
“Not too well, man. You dating her now or something?”
“Or something.” I lifted the sheet. “Thanks for this. You got some scissors?”
“Sure, man. You can even use them for free.”
He went inside to get the scissors. The other four people on the porch – two men and two women – looked at me and nodded their heads. After a few more awkward moments, the guy with dreadlocks returned with the scissors. His housemates watched in horror as I cut two eye-holes into the tie-dye sheet. When I threw it on and said, “Boo, I’m the ghost of Jerry Garcia,” they laughed approvingly.
I took it off and went back to my car. Rex Street was infamous for being the place where most campus parties took place because it was nestled in a contested area between two jurisdictions. Buddies of mine said it was like a mini-Las Vegas, but I’d never been to any parties there myself. I had to park a block away so many people were headed to the party. I put my costume back on and locked the car before I left.
When I walked around the corner, I realized five houses were participating. The parties in a single house on Rex Street were legendary. I couldn’t imagine what was going to happen with five houses going at the same time. Someone’s making a shitton of money tonight, I thought to myself as I made my way up to the first house in my path, which had a yard sign with a “5” painted on it in green.
Instead of going in the front door, I headed around to the back, a tactic I’d learned my freshman year in college many years previously. Before I got around the house, I heard a female voice yelling loudly about being able to skip ahead to the last house – number five is alive – because she was a senior. Her language was much more forceful and would have made a sailor on leave blush.
A moment later, I saw her – the sexiest cupid I’d ever seen in real life or art throughout the centuries. Basically, she was naked with a few strategic pieces of her flesh hidden. A quiver covered in glitter was strung over one shoulder. It was full of cardboard arrows. Or are those real? I asked as I walked over to her and the college guy standing close by. She pulled the string back on her bow.
“You two gotta go,” the bouncer, who had on a wrestling jacket, said to them menacingly.
“Hey, it’s okay. Follow me,” I said to her.
The bouncer eyed me suspiciously, but I ignored him and attempted to get her to walk around to the front of the house with me.
“I’m the ghost of Jerry Garcia. I think you’re going to want to follow me,” I said.
“Fine,” she said, still seriously upset.
She followed me around the corner of the house to the driveway. The guy she’d been with wandered away without a care in the world.
“Fuck,” she said when she noticed. “Where’d my man go?”
“Never go up against a bouncer straight-on,” I said, trying to get her mind off the fact her guy had ditched her.
“What?”
“You want to get in the party, right? Well, I have a better way to do it.”
“You remind me of someone,” she snapped.
“Oh yeah?” My face perked up.
“Yeah, they get on my fucking nerves too.”
“Does cupid need a joint?”
After having been practically ripped off when buying the sheet, I’d swiped a few doobies off the table on the porch without them noticing. They were so stoned and drunk, they would never realize it had been me. I wanted to smoke all three of them with Carissa, but I could use one to stabilize Cupid and get some good karma built up before I decided which house to try to find her in first.
“Yeah, that would be cool.”
“Where can we smoke?”
“Fucking anywhere, man. Light it up.” She studied me closely for a second. “You’re kinda old. Are you a student here, or what? I have mace in my purse.”
“Settle down, I’m okay. I’m looking for my sister. She goes here. I’m just a little older than her.”
“Well?” she asked impatiently.
Confused, I tilted my head. “Well what?”
“Light the joint, dude. Or were you just saying you had one to lure me into your van?”
I retrieved one of the joints from my front jeans pocket. It was a little bent and scraggly looking, but hopefully the weed was good and would calm cupid down. If I was really lucky, she might be able to help me find my stepsister. Cupid was cute, but too skinny for my taste. I liked my women curvy like Carissa. She took the joint and examined it.
“You didn’t have this down your underwear, did you?”
“What?” I chuckled. “Of course not. You want some free weed or not?”
“I don’t know, dude. You seem kinda sketchy.”
“Look, you’re not my type, okay?”
“Yeah? What kind of women do you like?” She lit up the joint and took a long hit before passing it to me.
“Curvy. Smart.”
She exhaled and coughed. “I have someone perfect for you!”
“I’m not here to find someone. Well, I am, but a specific someone.”
“Well, let me introduce you to my friend. If you don’t like her, we can keep looking for your mystery woman.”
I nodded my head. Giving her my Carissa’s name would probably help in finding her, but I didn’t want to take the chance they knew each other. The last thing I needed was someone to know I was in love with my stepsister. After I took a hit through one of the eye holes in my costume, I passed it to her. I should’ve cut out a mouth hole, I thought to myself as we smoked.
Three
Carissa
In the backyard of the first house, someone working security gave me a stamp on the back of my hand, saying it would get me into the second house. I thanked the guy and wandered next door. If I had to get stamped, Amy was probably not too far ahead of me. She’s probably in the second house. I walked to the house next door.
“Stamp?” a guy standing in front of the steps to the back porch.
I held out my hand, palm down. He nodded and stepped aside. The vibe in the second house was different than the first. It had a laid back stoner vibe even stronger than the first house. A nice pile of brownies were on a table in the kitchen with a note that said, “Eat me.” No one else was in the room, so I swiped one and scarfed it down.
To wash it down, I grabbed one of the bottles of water set up on the counter in neat rows. As soon as I walked into the living room, I was certain I would spend the rest of the night in the house. A black light made everything seem even more psychedelic. But it wasn’t glitzy or fake at all. I found it hard to put my feelings into words as a group of twenty-something stoners all looked at me when I came in.
“What’s up, guys,” I said as casual as I could muster with the mix of weed and alcohol i
n my system.
“We’re about to smoke,” a bearded one said. “Join us?”
“Sure…” I sat down in a recliner. The huge cushion swallowed me, trapping me.
“I’m Edison,” the one who’d invited me in said. Ginger beard is Edison. I said in my mind, hoping to remember at least one of their names. The other four introduced themselves one after the other, but as soon as they spoke, I forgot their names. I nodded my head, flashing my smile, which had gotten me out of many college situations in the past.
“I’m Carissa,” I said when it was my turn. My costume gave me a little courage.
All of them nodded their heads, not smiling. They were like wise weed wizards or something. That thought caused me to giggle, a reaction they studied with intense curiosity. Edison handed me a twelve inch green plastic water bong. After I took it from him, he passed me a lighter. The costume had a way for me to easily lift the cloth covering my face.
All five weed wizards gasped in surprise when I revealed my face. Are they gonna start hitting on me now? I wondered. Without waiting for my brain to come up with an answer, I put my mouth into the tube and lit the bowl. After it filled with smoke, I pulled the bowl out and inhaled deeply. I held the smoke in as I leaned forward and passed it to the guy to my right.
The bong made its way around the room as the brownies I’d consumed began to affect my mind. This is a big buzz. It almost feels like… My eyes opened wide as I turned to look at Edison. He appeared alarmed when he saw my face, but he didn’t say anything. If I asked if the brownies had magic mushrooms in them, he’d know I’d snatched one for myself without paying.
“The sign said eat me,” I blurted out.
He laughed, starting with a small chuckle but soon leveling up to a full-fledged guffaw.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“It’s fine. They’re free.”
“Is it shrooms? Just pot? What the hell was in those?”
“Not a lot of shrooms, unfortunately, but some. You may begin to get a bit buzzed.”
When he used the “zzzz” sound, I laughed out loud. “You guys are pretty cool, I said.”
Double Pleasure: Alpha Male Taboo Forbidden Romance Page 5