The Red Fox: A Romance

by Kim Hunter

  “A Red Fox?”

  He leaned back in his chair. His cheeks exploded brightly.

  “Yeah, a Red Fox.”

  She stood up. It seemed that she was about to leave when she paused. Someone, or something, had grabbed her attention outside. She shifted her gaze from the window back to Jay.

  “And,” she asked, “did you see its den?”

  “Sorry, what?”

  She drew closer and placed her right leg onto his desk, causing her skirt to climb high on her thigh, only inches away from her panties.

  “Did you see where the Red Fox lives, in the bushes, in his hiding place?” she asked.

  Jay stared at the center of her skirt.

  “Imagine it,” she said. “Picture it, dream about it—”

  She placed her leg back on the floor, and smiled, but the smile wasn't directed at him. She was smiling out the window. Jay turned to see who the recipient was. As he did, every part of him went numb.

  Leaf collected her things and left the room without another word. Outside the window Berkley was fuming like a bull, a wild beast with blood in his eyes. He tapped on the window, blowing his frustration between his teeth. He mouthed the words 'dead man' while running his finger slowly across his neck.

  Jay jumped up, grabbed his things and raced out of the classroom. Berkley burst into a sprint, racing around the building and up the stairs. He expected to plow right into his prey, but New Guy was nowhere to be seen.

  He pounded his fist into the nearest locker and exited the way he had come in.

  They stood in the dark, completely silent. She had pulled him into the janitor's closet as soon as he came out of the classroom. It was a tiny room, only meant to hold a few mops; they barely fit in there. At first she had placed her hand over his mouth. Once she saw he understood what was happening, she lowered her hand to rest on his shoulder. He had instinctively wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. The Red Fox was pressed hard against him.

  “Do you think he's gone?” she whispered.

  “I don't know. Is he a low, mid, or high level psychopath?”

  “Mid.”

  “Then I think we should stay in here at least a few more minutes.”

  They couldn't see a thing. They could only feel.

  Her hand was soft. Her body firm. Her breath warm.

  He felt her lift her hand from his shoulder and place it on his cheek. She slowly slid her fingers across his mouth and gently rubbed his lips; one of her fingers penetrated his mouth and rested on the tip of his tongue. Her other hand was on his waist.

  “You're shaking,” she said.

  “There is someone trying to kill me, you know?”

  But that wasn't why he was shaking.

  “What was all that in the classroom?” he asked.

  “An act. I just used you to get back at him. I didn't plan it, but when his stupid block head walked past the window and looked in, I couldn't help it. I had to make him pay,” she whispered.

  “Oh, great.” Jay's legs were weak with fear. “Makes sure they use that quote on my tombstone.”

  “He's a dirty cheat and a liar!”

  “He's going to make my life miserable from now on.”

  She stood on her tippy toes. Her moist lips were just a fraction away from his.

  “I'll make it up to you.”

  Jay swallowed hard.

  The next moment someone outside violently sprang the door open and light invaded the dark room. Jay put his hand over his face. His heart exploding with dread.

  “You're getting action in the janitor's closet on your first day? . . . You're bad, man.”

  He lowered his arm and saw Rick grinning at him.

  “Don't worry, Berkley's gone.” he said. “I watched the whole thing from the end of the hallway.”

  Leaf stepped out into the hallway. As she walked past Rick he looked down and stole a peak at her behind. He turned back to Jay and shook his head. “You're bad, man. Bad ass bad.”

  The three of them stood alone in the hallway.

  Leaf turned to Rick, “What were you doing watching us anyway?”

  “I got to patrol these hallways for an hour every afternoon. He pointed to the small School Captain badge pinned to his shirt. “Duty calls.”

  “Stalking calls is more like it,” she replied.

  “OK, fine. I admit it. I was keeping an eye out for the new guy. God knows he needs someone looking out for him. Your boyfriend nearly ripped his head off at lunch.”

  “He's—” she moved closer to Rick and lifted her knee into his crotch, “not my boyfriend.”

  Rick howled, although it was more for theatrical reasons. She hardly used any pressure. She had done worse to others, much worse.

  The Red Fox didn't seemed fussed. She twirled once and began to stroll down the hallway.

  Rick pulled himself back upright. “Listen,” he said, “there's something you really got to know about her.”

  “More than one thing, I bet,” Jay said. He was about to chase after her when Rick jumped in front of him and grabbed his shirt.

  “Hey, lover boy, you want to let this one go. She's a bad seed.”

  “What's so bad about her?”

  “I know what you're thinking. Your watching that steel-cap ass strolling off, and you're right, her ass is bad. Even a blind man could see that. But I'm not talking about the good kind of bad, I'm talking about the bad kind of bad, and trust me, she's got plenty of bad bad in her life.”

  Jay ran his hand through his hair.

  “Yeah, OK. I'll take your word for it.”

  “Good.” Rick looked relieved.

  A second later Leaf called out from down the hall. “What are you waiting for?”

  Jay stared down at her, then to Rick, then back to Leaf.

  “Nothing. I'm coming.”

  He shrugged his shoulders at his tour guide and ran down the hall. He wanted to know why that first glance was so intense. What was it about her that drew him in so powerfully?

  Rick watched them leave. He shook his head, turned around and walked toward the opposite exit.

  “This is bad,” he said to himself, “This is bad bad.”

  4.

  “Hey Berkley, what's up with Leaf? Did you guys break up?” Brick asked.

  “Nah, we're just fighting. You know how it is, girls are always looking for a fight. I'm just playing along.”

  They were on their third lap around the field. The big game was next weekend and the coach was pushing them into overdrive. Brick was the other forward, and hung next to Berkley at the back of the pack.

  “What the deal with New Guy?”

  “You mean the skinny kid you pinned against the wall at lunch?”

  “Yeah, you know anything about him?” Berkley asked.

  “I've heard a few rumors. He's a New Yorker. Moved here last week. Lives with his aunt and uncle out in Fonder's Estate.”

  “Why'd he move? Parents die or something?”

  “Don't know.”

  “He's a pervert in any case. Dirty pervert.” Those words were rather ironic, considering who was speaking them. Berkley was the biggest pervert in school.

  “I heard he saw Leaf naked today.”

  Berkley nodded his head. His mind was in a rage. Her naked creamy skin fresh in his mind. Her rounded breasts once hot in his hands, now burned in his mind. The Red Fox dancing around his thoughts, mocking him, howling that he'll never touch its fur again.

  They had dated for four months. He had asked her out because he heard she was easy, and he stayed with her for convenience, 'sex on tap' as he called it. He played the role of boyfriend well, and kept the game of Good Guy going as long as he could. But that all ended last week when she caught him in the ladies room with Lucy. He wasn't even sure how it happened.

  Not quite, anyway.

  He was waiting for Leaf at the local Cafe when Lucy walked in. She had followed him there but acted like it was just a lucky chance. Fortunately for Lucy,
he wasn't that hard to fool.

  When he saw her walk in he told himself: Berkley doesn't want anything to do with Lucy. Berkley is the man—he has a sex bomb as a girlfriend—Berkley definitely doesn't want what Lucy is offering. He often spoke to himself like this in the third person. He thought it sounded classy.

  He'd told himself the same thing last week, and the week before. But when Lucy had a determination to get what she wanted—and she wanted Berkley.

  Lucy was obsessed with Berkley. She had been ever since Junior High. For years she had dreamed of being with him. Until recently, that dream had failed to materialize. However, she was like a block of iron, and what she wanted, she got. Train hard, play hard, take no prisoners. There was a reason they called her the Terminator.

  In recent times, she had developed a strategy that produced some remarkable results. At first it was just another strategic attempt to finally get it on with him, but their bathroom rendezvous had sparked off some of her inner electronics. So much so that she found it hard to contain her primal instincts—but of course she did; she was always in control. For years she wanted Berkley. And now, with the help of a few public places, she had been making out with him, too. But not too much, not yet. She knew his type well. Once he got the full love pie he'd be gone. No, only one little piece at a time. She had a plan and she was outworking it with precision. Slowly, and systematically, she would lure him in.

  One day, the Terminator had often thought, her pupils flashing red with desire, I'll have him for good.

  It was just bad luck, Berkley told himself. Had Leaf arrived five seconds later she wouldn't have seen him follow Lucy into the toilet, she wouldn't have also followed them in, and she wouldn't have caught him with his tongue down her throat.

  But now that he couldn't have Leaf he wanted her more than ever. He thought once she cooled down she would take him back. However, to his surprise, she was adamant that he couldn't have her. Never again. But how could he not have her? That was the question that was ruining his mind. He was Berkley. The Berkley. He was the guy who could have any woman, but now there was a forbidden fruit in his garden. Now there was a Red Fox consuming his mind, and every attempt to catch it again blew up in his face.

  “Do me a favor,” Berkley said to Brick, “and find out why New Guy left his old school and moved here.”

  Brick nodded his moon face in obedience.

  5.

  As Jay and Leaf exited the school grounds they walked past a group of girls, all of them with an eagle eye on Leaf. A few of them called her names under their breath.

  One of them, the ring leader, Jay recognized immediately.

  “Hey pervert, where you going?” Lucy called out.

  “None of your business,” Leaf replied on his behalf.

  “I wasn't talking to you.”

  “Come on,” Leaf said to Jay, grabbing his hand. They began to run, leaving the group of girls behind to watch them disappear into the woods.

  “Enjoy her, like all the other boys have,” the Terminator called out from behind them.

  Jay ran after her as she darted into the woods. He tried to keep up with her, but he wasn't used to such terrain. He was a city kid, and he was afraid he might fall and break his leg at any moment. Regardless of his anxiety he kept on her tail.

  “Where are we going?” he called out.

  “To my secret place,” she replied.

  They had been walking at a good clip for twenty minutes when finally she stopped.

  “We're here.”

  Jay pulled up beside her. He crouched down and took in as many deep breathes as he could. When he felt revived, he stood back up again, even though he was still out of breath. Before them was a giant lake and they were completely surrounded by the thickness of the woods. They were standing on a stone platform, about three meters above the water.

  “It's beautiful here,” Jay said.

  “Yeah, it is,” she replied.

  “You come here often?” he asked.

  She didn't really want to answer that question.

  “Take off your pants—now.”

  His eyes popped out of their sockets. He quickly swung his head around, paranoid someone was watching. In New York, there was always someone around. Back there, even when he thought he was alone he couldn't help but feel he was being watched.

  However, this wasn't New York, and they were most definitely alone.

  “How about I introduce myself instead?”

  She shook her head. “You saw me naked today, now I want to see you naked. Fair's fair.”

  He looked up to the sky above and then back at Leaf.

  “I'm not much to look at, really.”

  “What can I say. Payback's a bitch.”

  He bit down on his lower lip. This was really embarrassing. He slipped off his sneakers and unbuckled his belt. He pulled off his jeans, followed by pulling his plain white T-shirt over his head.

  “You're not as skinny as you look when your dressed,” she said.

  “Steroids,” he joked. They both smirked.

  He was now down to his socks and underwear.

  She shook her head again. “I wasn't wearing underpants when you saw me, remember? Off with them.”

  He cringed. He was going to kill Rick next time he saw him.

  He pulled his underwear down in one move and on the way back up was quick to cover his privates with his hands.

  She looked at him with a sly grin on her face. “Now, when you stormed in on me in the locker room, did I cover myself up?”

  He gulped.

  “No.”

  “So what's this,” she mimicked his hands over his privates. “Fair's fair. Let's see you in all your glory.”

  His heart pounded. He was sure she must be able to hear it. Slowly, he raised his hands, not knowing what else to do, he held them up as if he was being arrested.

  She stood there and studied him.

  “My, my, someone's happy.”

  He cringed.

  “Sorry, I have no control over 'him' in situations like this.”

  She looked at Jay, half grinning, half frowning.

  “None of you do. You're all the same.”

  “Not completely the same.”

  “You're all the same,” she replied. It was an angry reply and it made Jay feel rather uncomfortable.

  “Can I put my clothes back on now?”

  “No.” She pointed to a tree off to the right. “Do you see that tree?”

  “Yeah,” he replied, looking at her awkwardly. “It's a nice tree.”

  “I want you to take me over there and give your happy friend,” she pointed to his groin, “what he wants.”

  Jay felt his stomach cramp. It felt wrong. Not the thought of sleeping with her. He had already done that twenty times in his imagination. But now that it was happening it felt all wrong. It looked wrong. He continued staring at her, trying to pinpoint what was different, what was it about her facial features that had changed? The change was almost invisible to the naked eye, it was the kind of subtle changes that only an artist would pick up on. Her glow had faded a shade. The softness he had seen in her skin was harder, colder. Her eyes—that was it, that was the main change. Her eyes were telling a different story, like an actress taking the stage.

  Jay took a step back, squinting with his eyes. The subtle changes had turned a masterpiece into just another painting, the extraordinary into something less than it was meant to be.

  “Maybe we could just sit down and talk,” he said, taking a step back.

  “Talk? What do you want to talk about?” she asked, taking a step closer.

  “Well, I don't even know you. I just want to talk about . . . anything.”

  “You just want one thing.” She was smiling at him, but it wasn't real. It wasn't deep enough to be real. It was as if she was acting out a rehearsed performance, and he was now feeling very uncomfortable.

  “I'm serious. You seem like an interesting person,” he said.


  “An interesting person?” She laughed before shaking her head.

  “Do you know what everyone in this town thinks I am: a slut.”

  The word sent a shiver down his spine. He had always hated that word.

  “You're new here,” she continued, “so maybe you haven't formed that opinion of me.” She drew closer to him and grabbed his buttocks. “Let me make it easy for you.”

  She tried to kiss him, but Jay jerked his head back. She pounced again, but once again he resisted.

  “What's wrong with you?” she asked.

  Jay took a few steps backwards, searching for his clothes.

  “I don't think you're that. I'd never call you that terrible word. Not you, nor anyone.” He grabbed his pants and quickly pulled them on.

  She stepped up to him and pushed his chest, almost knocking him over.

  “You don't know me. That's your problem.” The act was gone. Now she was just plain angry. “If you knew me, you'd cut the good guy act and take me.”

  “No, I wouldn't!” Jay screamed out. “You're a woman. A beautiful woman. A woman I desire, but your not a piece of meat. Why are you talking about yourself that way?”

  “Because that's how everyone talks about me!” she screamed back.

  “Then to hell with what people say about you. I don't believe them!”

  “You don't believe them because you don't know me, but that's who I am.” She shook her head before staring at him again. “I brought you out here to have sex with you. Don't you get it?”

  He didn't get it. He hadn't expected this.

  “I just want to get to know you.”

  She gazed at him. Her steely eyes were bending; hidden tears, begging to be let out, hung around the edges. “Bullshit.” She walked away, back the way they came. Jay turned and watched her, speechless.

  “You're like all the rest,” she said. “You're no different.”

  Before Jay could say a word she was gone, disappearing into the thickness of the woods.

  6.

  “Where have you been?”

  Leaf's father was sitting in his chair, his drinking chair.

  “School. I do have something I have to do with my days.