The tips of his fingers set down on her knee, soft and warm, and then slowly slid onto the inside of her thigh. Her eyes swept the room to see if anyone was watching. Her heart suddenly jumped into a furious beating, the good kind of scared. Her eyes closed for a moment and she felt the sensation of his fingers on her skin, the wildness of it. Her left hand instinctively moved onto his wrist and kept him from pushing further up her thigh, but she also left his hand right where it was. It felt good. She began to get hot, if just for a moment.
“We can talk about Lindsey,” he said, “but I’m more interested in whether you like it when I touch you like this.”
“We’re in a restaurant, Patrick.” She could feel his hand pushing, and she had to squeeze harder on his wrist to keep it where it was.
Patrick slowly slid his hand back into his own lap, tracing his fingers all the way back down her skin, and gave a casual shrug before picking up his fork. “I can’t help it.”
She was tingling with excitement all through her legs. “I don’t want you to think of me as something I’m not.”
He reached forward again and this time his fingers slid even further along her thigh, this time grazing the hem of her skirt, his nails tickling the skin. Then he brought it back, and she sighed with relief.
“We can’t do this. Not here,” she added after a pause.
A few minutes later, their plates not completely finished, Patrick discreetly asked for the check.
“Shall we get some air?”
Mallory nodded. She put her lips to the straw of her margarita and finished it before standing up. She was still hiding the fact that her cheeks were flushed with heat.
He waited until they were on the street before taking her hand. There was no reluctance in her now. Not with the tequila and sugar swirling in her stomach. They walked up a side street and he swiftly pulled her into an alleyway that was behind the row of restaurants and shops. He pinned Mallory gently against the wall and breathed on her lips. “I have to kiss you now.”
She didn’t say anything, just watched while his eyes and mouth moved close. She moaned after his soft lips pressed onto hers. She resisted the urge for the first few kisses and then lost her inhibition.
Her fingers pulled on the back of his neck. She lifted one knee and his hand instinctively went between her legs, pulling her panties aside forcibly. He threw his other hand flat onto her mouth to suppress the noise of her moans.
“Not here,” she pleaded.
“You’re right,” Patrick said, breathing heavy also. “We have to go somewhere.” Then he let out a groan.
“What?”
“My roommate is home with a date tonight. I forgot.”
“Can’t we sneak in?” She couldn’t believe the words coming out of her own mouth.
“Maybe.” He took a moment to consider it. “Let’s go get a bottle of wine first. That’ll give me a few minutes figure out what to text him. I promised him I wouldn’t come home for a while.”
“Okay.” Wine. That would be good. She needed time to process what was going on. He let her go and she straightened out her skirt and adjusted her panties, and reapplied some lip gloss. She was so ready for him. Tonight she’d go through with it.
They piled into his car, which was only half a block up the street. They kissed a little more while he drove, continuing to heighten both their desires. He took them to the closest liquor store, and they cruised the aisles for wine. Mallory had to do a triple take when she spotted a head of dark hair on the other side of the store. She recognized that girl. It was Lindsey.
She tried to stand behind the high rack of wine to not be seen, but it was too late. When Lindsey turned, she immediately locked onto Mallory, and then Patrick a moment later.
Lindsey walked over casually, as if she wasn’t eighteen and they were people she saw at the store all the time. They were near the back and no one at the counter could hear them chatting.
“Hi guys,” Lindsey said, her eyes moving between them, sizing up the situation, probably wondering why they were together in a liquor store.
“Hey,” they both replied.
“What are you two doing hanging out, dressed so fancy?” Lindsey was looking over Mallory and her cute outfit.
“Just grabbing some drinks,” Patrick said, taking responsibility for why they were together. “We ran into each other earlier tonight.”
“Oh, I see.”
Lindsey must’ve known it was bullshit. It looked exactly like what it was—a date. There was a ring of envy in the young freshman’s voice.
“I didn’t know you turned twenty-one,” Patrick said, poking a jab at her.
Lindsey shushed him, her eyes bugging wide.
Patrick laughed.
“I got a fake ID,” Lindsey mouthed to them, smiling like a little demon.
“Ah,” Patrick said. “Look, don’t risk it, just tell me what you need and we’ll meet you outside with it. You can pay me back later.”
Mallory thought it strange that Patrick would offer to do this for her. Again she wondered if they were sleeping together. What would everyone at work think about this whole situation? She knew there was no way Lindsey would keep it quiet that she’d run into the two of them.
There was a bottle of Jäger in Lindsey’s hand and she passed it to Patrick immediately. She gave a sort of bow and then walked out of the store.
“I can’t believe she’s here,” Mallory said, worry soaking through her voice.
Patrick nodded. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t say anything.”
Mallory was grateful for that. She looped her arm under his, they found a bottle that looked suitable, and then went to the register to pay.
Once outside, they approached Lindsey’s car with the booze and she rolled down the window. “Thank you so, so much!”
“I wouldn’t want you getting into trouble,” Patrick told her.
“My middle name is Trouble,” she replied.
It looked like she had already been drinking some, by Mallory’s estimation.
“You headed to a party or something?” Patrick asked.
“Yeah, in a little while.” She glanced at the bottle and then back at them. “We should all have a drink. Consider it a ‘thank you’ for getting this for me.”
Mallory shot Patrick an apprehensive look. She didn’t trust Lindsey. Also, there was a chance that the girl would try to pry him away.
Patrick checked his phone, presumably for a text from his roommate, then shook his head. “Where? My place is a no go.”
Mallory felt a twinge of relief. There was nowhere to go. Lindsey would have to leave them be.
“The store,” Lindsey chimed.
“The store?” Mallory repeated, aghast. “Lindsey, no.”
“Someone’s a Nancy No-Fun. It’s not a big deal. No one will know. It’s just one drink. We’ll clean up everything.”
It made Mallory angry that Lindsey was weaseling her way into this night she was supposed to be sharing with Patrick. And that it now seemed he was considering it.
He looked at Mallory and placed his hand on the small of her back. “It would be a good place to kill some time.”
“Well, where else were you guys going to go?” Lindsey asked, knowing full well they weren’t going to answer that.
“All right,” Patrick said. “We’ll meet you there.”
“Cool.” Lindsey rolled up the window and let a devious smile linger a moment too long while staring at Mallory.
In the car, Mallory asked Patrick again, this time more directly. “I need to know if you guys are having sex, Patrick. I don’t feel comfortable. If this is going to go any further, then I need to know.”
He chuckled as he looked for a parking spot on Main, which was livening up by the minute with people. “No, we haven’t had sex. Don’t worry.”
“I think she wants you,” Mallory replied.
“So what? I want you. What she wants is irrelevant. It’ll be a good place to hang out while Josh finishes dinner.
”
“Okay.” She agreed but still didn’t like it.
They found a parking spot and headed to the store. Lindsey had found a spot and was coming toward them from the other direction with the bottle of Jäger in one hand and the keys to the store in the other. Patrick had the wine in one hand and a wine key in the other.
Lindsey opened up the shop in a snap and immediately went to disarm the alarm. Mallory flipped on a light. “If we get caught—”
“We won’t get caught.” Lindsey paced over to the front and drew the curtains all the way over the windows, covering everything but the door.
Patrick wandered around the store while the girls made sure the door was locked.
“We’ll drink back here,” Lindsey said, motioning to the back of the store, which was almost completely separated from the front by a wall. There was a sheik couch and the make-up chair where they performed makeovers in front of a big illuminated mirror. Lindsey flipped on the lights around the mirror and then went back up front to shut off the main set. The front of the store blipped to darkness. The bulbs in the back gave plenty of light for having the drinks, but not enough for people on the street to know they were inside.
Patrick sat down on the couch, relaxing, about to uncork the bottle. Lindsey jumped onto it, settling up next to him with the Jäger.
“We can just take pulls from the bottle,” Lindsey said, unscrewed the metal cap, and proceeded to take the first.
“I’m not taking pulls,” Mallory chided.
“It’s fine,” Patrick encouraged. “C’mere.” He pulled her by the hand and sat her down onto his lap.
She wrapped her arm around his neck and took a mild amount of pleasure in seeing Lindsey narrow her eyes in envy. Such a little scheming bitch, she was. Mallory grabbed the bottle from her and took a little swig to show she wasn’t afraid. She then gave it to Patrick, who sipped from it.
“So,” Lindsey said. “You two, huh?”
“Good band,” Patrick joked.
Mallory laughed.
“I’m a little surprised,” Lindsey said.
“What?” Mallory asked. “That little ol’ Mallory can still get guys?”
Lindsey laughed. “I guess I just didn’t see it coming, that’s all.”
In a haughty moment, Mallory looked down at Patrick, knowing that Lindsey was just sitting there watching them, and moved in for a kiss.
Lindsey swigged the Jägermeister, probably to dull her own shock. When Mallory and Patrick’s lips peeled apart, Lindsey stood up and turned to face the couch, then leaned down onto it, balancing herself upright on the couch cushions. “Hold on, I need to tell Mallory something.”
Mallory’s eyes grew wider and wider as Lindsey leaned in to whisper something to her. Just as Lindsey neared her ear, she changed direction and took Mallory’s lips with hers. The shock was like a harsh jolt through Mallory’s frame, like being pricked with a needle.
Patrick laughed, and Lindsey broke away from Mallory.
“What?” Lindsey said. “I want to have fun too.”
She leaned forward again and Mallory didn’t resist this time. They kissed, slowly and gently at first, and then harder and more intensely after Mallory got her level of comfort back. The young girl was supple and careful, a surprisingly good kisser. Her mouth tasted like licorice.
Mallory had kissed a girl before, but it hadn’t been since sophomore year of college.
Lindsey began to rub her hands on Mallory’s waist, but then pulled away, took a drink of Jäger, and then with the booze still in her mouth, leaned down to kiss Patrick. Mallory was on his lap still, and she couldn’t really blame him for receiving the booze into his mouth from Lindsey’s lips. He had nowhere to go, pinned beneath the two of them.
Mallory stole the alcohol again and drank two big gulps from it and let out a seductive giggle. She and Lindsey started kissing again, but this time Lindsey removed her own shirt and bra first. Patrick went along with it, kissing up Lindsey’s ribs and around to the side of her bare breasts while Lindsey continued to kiss Mallory.
It wasn’t until Mallory’s shirt and bra came off and both Patrick and Lindsey’s hands ran up her skirt simultaneously, that she realized there was no getting off this train.
Simone
SIMONE WAS DELIRIOUS WITH ANXIETY by the time she pulled up to Patrick and Josh’s place. Her hands were clammy and sore, having gripped the wheel far too tight the whole way over. She turned off the car and laid her forehead into the webbing of her hand between forefinger and thumb and tilted her head exhaustedly against the window.
She peered at their house, Patrick’s room specifically. He’d done this to her. But I let him, she reminded herself with sharp pain wracking her head.
The weeks were ticking away and with each week that passed, an abortion would be harder and harder on her body. If she chose the other route, she had maybe two, three months at most before people would start to notice. Tiffany would be with her every step of the way, and sooner or later, the truth would come out.
She was well aware that Patrick was distancing himself from Tiffany with every passing day. It was obvious to everyone. And after all, she slept just a room away, and was often awakened in the night by Tiffany’s crying.
All of it was dizzying. The truth was that she just wanted to get this abortion done and disappear for a while, not have to deal with any of it.
Simone was still eyeing the house, lost in painful contemplation. She didn’t know why she’d come here to have dinner with Josh. A part of her wanted to tell him the truth, but whenever she played it out in her mind, her chest tensed violently. She and Josh had grown closer. She didn’t know if it was the shift in hormones, or maybe just the fact that a part of her actually liked him, but she couldn’t be the one to destroy his and Patrick’s friendship.
Simone got out and faked confident strides to the door. It was almost 7:30 and the day was fading to night. Her simple outfit of jeans and red tank top seemed appropriate, and her dark hair hung in an elegant braid down the middle of her back.
Josh opened the door, greeted her with a smile, and welcomed her inside. He was dressed in a nice ironed pair of jeans and creased button-up shirt. He even looked extra cute with a trimmed up haircut.
Her heart half melted at the candles lit all around the house and the smell of some sort of delicious pasta in the air.
“Smells good, huh?” he said, seeming pleased at her nose perking up.
She nodded and came into the middle of the room. The kitchen, dinner table area, and living room were all laid out in one big space, the table area and kitchen floored with a shoddy tile, the living room with a thin carpeting that had survived multiple renters without getting too badly stained. The beer pong had been taken down and stored away somewhere.
Scads of candles lit the room: three great thick ones on the table; several more on almost all the spare countertop space, from the side tables to a great majority of the kitchen countertop; even the top of the fridge was lined with little baby candles, flickering with soft white light.
It was like being on the inside of a jack-o-lantern. Gorgeous and calm.
Simone rubbed her hands together, feeling underdressed and unprepared. When he’d convinced her to come over he made it seem like they were just going to eat some food and hang out.
“I hope it isn’t too much,” he said, noticing her trying to take it all in. “I just thought it would be cool if once in my college career I went all out for a nice dinner.”
She agreed, still gazing, awestruck. He left her standing there in the middle of the room. Josh worked to uncork a bottle of wine at the kitchen counter, and looked to be struggling with it.
“Here, let me,” she said.
He shook his head and pushed the broken cork into the bottle with his thumb. “I hope you like cork in your wine.”
She gave a hesitant laugh.
Josh brought her a glass filled about halfway with wine. In his other hand was one for himself.
He beckoned her to come sit at the table with him.
She took a very small sip from hers. “Tastes good.”
He smiled. “A nice lady helped me pick it out. Patrick drank all the Carlo I had saved.”
“This was a better choice,” she said with a smile.
He’d really gone above and beyond, and Simone couldn’t help but feel loved. But she didn’t deserve this kind of treatment, not after what she’d done.
He took another sip of his wine. “Should we start?”
“Sure.”
From the fridge he slid out two plates of salad. They were topped with everything: fine slivers of avocados, circles of thinly sliced tomatoes, red peppers, olives, feta, bits of corn, and tiny florets of cauliflower. He even had what looked like a homemade balsamic dressing to top it with.
“I didn’t know about these cooking skills.”
He sat down to his salad. “I taught myself today.”
“Really?”
“No, not really. I called my mom and asked her what to do.”
She laughed. “No, you didn’t.”
He blushed. “I had no choice. I suck at this.”
As they ate their salads, Simone realized that all this food must’ve cost him close to a hundred dollars. From what she knew of Josh, he didn’t have a lot of money, so it meant even more that he’d splurged.
She complimented him on how good it was, and she wasn’t just paying lip-service. It really was fantastic.
She took ginger sips from her wine, thinking it wasn’t a big deal to have one glass.
Once they finished, he called out, “Seafood Portofino!”
“Is that what that smell is?”
He nodded. “Amazing, right?”
She nodded eagerly, craving a main course.
Josh prepared two plates of buttery spaghetti noodles and brought them to the table. After that he lugged a large stew pot over. “I considered just having appetizers, like the first time we went out, but—”
She laughed. “You made the right choice. If I don’t eat enough, I get really pissy.”
“Me too. Super pissy.”
The stew pot was full of a white wine sauce intermingled with shrimp and mussels, small mushrooms and even scallops. He told her exactly what was in it and how he’d prepared it.
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