Sliding (The Stone Series)

by Kitty Berry

  When Chicago’s “You’re the Inspiration” comes on Tate stands up and holds his hand out to me. I stand and place my hand in his and he pulls me towards him and we start to dance. Michael leaves the room mumbling, “Gross man” but we don’t even notice. Tate wraps his left hand into my hair and places his right hand on my face. I close my eyes and feel his lips meet mine. His lips are so big and soft. He kisses me slowly and gently at first then he sucks on my bottom lip, before I know it his tongue is searching for mine. I put my hands into the back of his silky hair and he pulls me closer as I tug on his hair. When he kisses me like this time stands still. I feel my heart beat like a sledgehammer against his and my stomach flies south. When Tate moans I can’t but help the mewling that escapes me. We make out for the whole song, never even hearing Katrina come in until she starts yelling, “Ew, gross! Mom, Brook is making out with Tate in the family room.”

  We break apart and Tate quickly sits down on the couch with a pillow in his lap. I sit next to him and we try to look as innocent as possible when “Don’t Lose My Number” comes on and my mom walks into the room acting like she’s looking for something. Katrina would have to come home and ruin everything just when things were getting good. He has been trying to talk me into letting him get to third base but I keep putting him off, each time afraid that he’ll dump me for some girl who will go all the way with him. Lots of the girls at school have already lost their virginities to the older boys. Tate isn’t pressuring me but I know he wants more sexually, he makes me promise to lose my virginity to him when I’m ready.

  “Just promise me you’ll save your first time for me.”

  “Of course I want my first time to be with you, Taters.”

  The Varsity football team makes the state championship and Tate is excited and scared at the same time. He’s the third string running back but at practice when Steve, the starting Varsity running back got a concussion they call Tate up back up the starter in the State game. He called me when he got home from practice with the good news. He was so excited because he thinks this will seal his spot on Varsity for next year if he plays well. Danny told him they’ll be rooming together because he was supposed to room with Steve but now Tate will take his bed which works out great because guess who Danny’s girlfriend is rooming with? Me. So now apparently Tate, Danny and Wendy have it all worked out and Tate and I will stay in one room while Danny and Wendy stay in the other after the game. He said the night before the game the players have to be in bed by nine o’clock and they can’t risk getting caught. I hate the thought of breaking the rules and getting caught but I also can’t resist Tate. The idea of spending the night sleeping in his arms instead of over the phone is too much to resist. I want to feel the warmth of his body pressed up against mine as he pulls my back into his front and spoons around me. I want to feel him kiss my hair and whisper, “Good Night” into my ear.

  After school on Friday we all rush home, get our stuff and meet back at the high school parking lot to board the bus. They are making us travel on Friday night so they can be sure all the players are in bed early and then we won’t have to travel the day of the game. Tate and I sit together on the bus and have to endure some teasing from the older kids. Sometimes it’s hard being the only freshmen on the team.

  “We Don’t Have to Take our Clothes Off” is playing on the radio and some of the senior boys take that as an opportunity to tease Tate.

  “Hey, listen everybody it’s the little lover’s theme song!” Lots of kids start laughing and Tate responds with a snide “Fuck off, asshole”.

  “OOO, tough guy in front of the little lady? You better hope you’re that tough on the field tomorrow and that you don’t get your head knocked off out there.”

  “Yeah, well do your fucking job out there and block for me instead of acting like a fucking pussy and I’ll be fine” is Tate’s response that works well because after that they all start laughing and high fiving him. Boys are so weird. Meanwhile the girls are now telling the boys to leave me alone or they won’t be taking their clothes off anytime soon for them.

  We arrive at the hotel and Tate has to go right to his room, they have to have their lights out in half an hour. The cheerleaders are all meeting in the captains’ room; we don’t have a curfew so we’re having a party.

  Wendy and I go to our room to put our stuff away and get our uniforms ready for the game before we head to Bridget and Lynnie’s room.

  “Time to party, honey” is all she says as she leads me out of the room by my hand and down the hall.

  When we get to Bridget and Lynnie’s room they all jump on me, “Party” they all yell and someone turns on the radio. “Nasty” by Janet Jackson starts playing as the girls all start to dance.

  The night goes by, “Let’s Go All The Way” comes on and Bridget asks me if Tate and I have done it yet or if the guys on the bus were right. I tell her that we have not and she persists with that line of questioning asking, “Well, how far have you guys gone, I mean when I was a sophomore I didn’t let any boys touch me but that’s just me, most of the other girls at least got to third base.”

  “No, it wasn’t that you didn’t let them touch you. It was because they didn’t have to touch you, you were on your knees giving them all blow jobs so they figured why bother?” one of the other girls says while smiling at Bridget.

  “Oh, shut the fuck up” is her reply.

  “Okay, seriously Brook, let us help you. I wish I had someone to talk to before I did it, okay maybe not someone whose drunk and high but we’re all you’ve got” Wendy says.

  “Tate and I promised each other never to talk about sex stuff and what we do with anyone; I don’t want to break my promise.”

  Lynnie explains, “Don’t think that Tate won’t be running his mouth off as soon as you let him have some. He agreed to that promise now because he has nothing to tell but believe me once he has something to tell he’ll open his mouth. Even the nicest ones do.”

  I sigh and tell her that we made out but that’s all.

  “Ok, time for sex ed. class” they all say in unison like one of our cheers. They tell me everything they know and not just the stuff from our actual sex ed. class, they tell me everything they’ve done and with whom. They said it always sucks the first time a boy does it because he finishes too fast. They tell me not to let Tate talk me into anything too soon, they all wish they waited longer and for someone who really liked them not someone who just wanted to get into their pants.

  Wendy and I head back to our room just after midnight and get into bed without even washing the makeup off our faces. Wendy tells me that she’s glad I’m on the team and she hopes we’ll become good friends. She’s kind and fun and I think we will be friends, maybe not best friends but I like her a lot. When we enter our room I notice the light blinking on our phone when I go to set the alarm. I smile to myself knowing there must be a message from Tate waiting for me. I lift the receiver and follow the directions to get the message and the song “I Miss You” plays in my ears. Then I hear Tate say, “I’m going to miss sleeping with you on the phone tonight and I can’t wait to have you in my arms all night tomorrow. See you at the game in the morning, baby. Later, I gotta slide.”

  “Later, I gotta slide?” What the hell is that some new cool sign off he’s now saying? What, he hangs out for half an hour with Danny and now he’s all cool? Gotta slide! Please!

  In the morning Wendy and I do each other’s hair in cute pigtails, this is Tate’s favorite hairstyle of mine when I’m cheering, and we wrap blue and red ribbons in them. I spot Tate with the team the minute I enter the lobby. When I walk into a room where he is, I feel his presence before I see him. It’s like this strong electric pull, unexplainable. When I see him my stomach does a flip flop and I can’t hide the smile that spreads across my face.

  I don’t know if I should go over to him or not. I’m worried that he won’t want me to bother him when he’s with his teammates. All my worries fade when he sees me and waves
me over. I approach him apprehensively but when I get to his side he wraps his arms around me, pulling me closer to him, and kisses me, covering my mouth with his. Within seconds his tongue is in my mouth and even though I am mortified by this public display of affection I kiss him right back. I’m mortified but at the same time I love that everyone is watching him kiss me. It makes me feel like his, like he’s claiming me for everyone to see. All the boys hoot and holler and when we break away Tate says, “For good luck” as he licks his lips then he whispers in my ear for only me to hear, “I love these pigtails. They drive me wild and I can’t wait to do more tonight.” More, what does he mean more? How much more? More than what, more than kissing like we just did?

  The game starts out pretty bad. We are losing, the first quarter ends with a score of twenty nothing and Tate hasn’t played yet. When the third quarter starts I notice that Tate is finally going in. I am so nervous for him I don’t think I can watch, I’m shaking like a leaf in the wind. Tate scores two touchdowns but the kicker misses one of the extra points so we are only down by five going into the last quarter. We score another two touchdowns but so does the other team neither making the extra points. There are only seconds left in the game when Tate gets the ball and runs down the field making a sixty yard touchdown to win the game as the clock runs out. The crowd goes wild, the announcers are saying something about his amazing touchdown but I am unable to listen, I am running on the field with everyone else.

  When I get near Tate the team is jumping on him and lifting him up onto their shoulders, not like they should be, they should have asked us cheerleaders how to do it the right way first. He spots me and when they put him down he comes to me and picks me up twirling me around. When my feet finally touch the ground he pulls me close and kisses me. He is sweaty, dirty and smelly but I love every second of it.

  We finally break apart, Tate notices his parents a few feet away and he takes me by the hand to lead me to where they are standing. I’m nervous as we approach them. They greet me by telling me how great I was. They tell me they were scared I would fall when I was so high in the air during our half time show. Tate’s mom tells me that Tate talks about me all the time, when I look at him he blushes slightly and shrugs his shoulders. I feel his arm go around my shoulder and he pulls me close to the side of his body.

  “I can’t help it. You’re so cute” he whispers into my ear while his parents look at each other questioning our closeness.

  His parents say they hope I’ll come over again really soon so they can get to know me better. I smile politely and tell them I’d love to and promise to have dinner with them next weekend. His dad tells Tate how proud he is of him and his mom starts to cry as she gives him a hug. Tate beams under his father’s praise and his mother’s affection makes him blush. All Tate has ever wanted was his father’s praise and attention but most times what he gets instead are his critical comments. Tate has to go hit the showers and I need to go with the girls so Tate and I say goodbye to his parents and we head back to the field house hand in hand.

  The bus ride back to the hotel is nuts, everyone is screaming and you can’t hear a thing until “We Are the Champions” comes on the radio. Then the whole bus begins to sing in unison. Tate and I sit together holding hands and kissing between our yelling and singing. It’s a fast ride and when we arrive back at the hotel Tate tells me he’ll see me in an hour in the ballroom for the team party. He says we’ll talk about how we’re going to sneak away later.

  Wendy and I get ready for the party, we shower and braid each other’s hair and do our makeup. I put on my favorite pair of jeans and a red t-shirt. All the girls are planning on wearing red shirts with blue jeans to represent our team colors. When we enter the ballroom Tate is already there and he’s wearing this new pair of jeans that I have never seen on him before, they are ripped allowing some of his skin to be seen. He has on a white t-shirt and his long silky hair is wet so he must have showered again when he got back to his room. I get that feeling in the pit of my stomach again when I see him.

  “Party All The Time” is playing and all the kids in the room are dancing. I don’t want to bother Tate while he’s dancing which looks more like jumping, with his friends. I wait for the song to change and for him to notice me. It’s that electric connection at play again; whenever we’re in a room together we are always able to find the other one. When “Friends and Lovers” come on Tate looks around to see if I’m there and when our eyes lock his whole face lights up and he heads my way. He takes me in his arms and we begin to dance. I tell him how awesome he was in the game today and how proud I am of him. I kiss him all over his face with little feather light kisses and he giggles like a little girl. He leans down and sucks my neck for a second then tugs my ear with his teeth and I get a different feeling in the pit of my stomach that is growing more and more common when I am around Tate, it’s a kind of burning, an ache. He tells me I look hot and slaps my ass in my tight jeans which only makes the ache growing inside me more pronounced.

  Later in the night, Danny and Wendy find us while we’re dancing to “Take My Breath Away”. They tell us they want to go back to the rooms and that we should head back with them. I nod; Danny slaps Tate, who looks like he’s about to be sick on the back. We all sneak out of the side door to the ballroom and run down the hallway to the stairwell. I ask Tate if he’s feeling alright and he waves me off. We run up three flights of stairs to our floor, I hug Wendy and she whispers in my ear, “Remember you don’t need to do anything you don’t want” and Danny high fives Tate who is looking closer to vomiting than before. We agree to meet in my room before anyone else is awake.

  Tate unlocks my door then he scoops me up into his arms making me squeal, “Tate, put me down, what are you doing?”

  “I’m carrying you over the threshold, baby” Tate responds with a smile, he’s looking a little less queasy now.

  He puts me down after he kicks the door closed behind us.

  “Tate, you were so amazing in the game today. Aren’t you like so psyched? You won the game for us. There’s no way you won’t make varsity next year, you’ll probably start over all those other guys that sucked today. If it wasn’t for you we would have lost States!” I say meaning every word of it.

  Tate smiles at me, pulls me into his arms and says, “I don’t care what any of them think about me as long as you just meant what you said. All I care about is that you think I’m awesome. You mean so much more to me than all those guys and coaches put together.”

  Tate kisses me softly on my lips and he lets out a quiet moan. I feel his tongue try to enter my mouth and I meet his tongue half way. As he’s kissing me he slowly pushes me back onto the bed and he gently climbs on next to me without breaking our kiss. Once I am on the bed Tate pops a tape out of his pocket and says, “I made this for you, let’s put it in.”

  He gets up and puts the tape in the radio and the first song that comes on is “Object of my Desire”.

  He shrugs at me saying, “What, it’s how I feel about you. I desire you, don’t laugh at me” while I break out in a fit of giggles. This causes Tate to come back to the bed and ask, “Brooklynn Adams, are you laughing at “The Tate Taylor” who just won the State championship game? Because if you are I think I am going to have to tickle you mercilessly.”

  I feel the bed sink as Tate lies on the bed next to me and starts tickling me on my sides causing me to beg and plead with him to stop. He doesn’t mean to do it but he makes my shirt slide up a little revealing the bottom of my red lace bra. Tate stops tickling me, I look up to see what’s happened and I notice where his gaze has fallen. Tate notices my bra and freezes unable to take his eyes off of the red lace poking out under my shirt, looking as he did earlier, like he might be sick. I know I should probably pull my shirt down but I don’t, instead I grab Tate by the back of his neck and I kiss him with an intensity I have never felt before. Tate responds by moaning into my mouth and I feel him press his body into my right leg. I can tell he’s w
aiting for me to either stop him nicely or slap his face. I have no plans on doing either.

  Later when we’re lying next to each other I tell him about the conversation I had with the girls the previous night. Tate questions why I was talking about him with the girls, concerned that I broke our promise to not discuss what we do in private with our friends.

  “Um, we weren’t talking about us really, when it started they were just talking in general about sex but then they said they could help me if I had any questions. They asked me about us and I just told them we hadn’t done it yet so they gave me a sex ed. class way better than the one at school. You have Eric telling and showing you all this stuff and I always feel five steps behind you. I would have made a total fool of myself tonight if they hadn’t explained a few points to me. Are you mad at me?”

  “No, I’m not mad at you, I think you’re adorable and I’m glad you have someone to talk to too but no telling them about us…it’s for your own good. If you tell them about what just happened they’re all going to want me for themselves and you don’t want that do you?” Tate teases me. “I’m going into the bathroom, I’ll be right out. I have an extra pair of sweatpants in my bag if you want them.”