by Shey Stahl
Cole came by resting his chin on Rosa’s shoulder. “None of that is true. She’s from Charleston. And she doesn’t have any kids.”
“Fuck you, Cole,” Rosa said, throwing cooked Spanish rice at him.
Ever tried to get cooked rice out of your hair? It’s not easy. He was occupied for quite some time.
Around nine, I found myself doing shots in the kitchen with Cole, who still had rice in his hair, when Casten found me.
“Hey, there,” he said softly in my ear from behind, his chest pressed against my back as he examined my drink of choice. “Jack, huh?” I nodded. “Hmm … how about I show you something even better than this?” Casten reached out with one hand and leaned against the counter. I glanced down at the large hand wanting to feel it against me.
“Sure,” I was trying to keep my cool but it was hard. “What goes on at these infamous Rowdy Riley parties? I watched a very interesting YouTube video earlier.”
He threw his head back, laughing. “We’ll get to that later. No one can be sober for that. The less abstemious witnesses, the better.”
“Fair enough, so what’s this drink of choice?”
“We’ll get to that, too. Let’s start with…” he looked around until he found what he was looking for. “Beer. I want some honest answers out of you.”
So we played this game, a game he designed, I think, and I’m not so sure I understood the rules but it seemed fairly certain with just one smirk I would do anything this boy wanted.
The game was, as I understood, one person asked a question about themselves and the other guessed the answer. Turns out, I wasn’t very good at following directions. Nothing new there.
I repeated kindergarten twice. Enough said.
Given my confusion, I went first. “How old am I?”
“Nineteen?” He answered too quickly.
“You cheated!”
“How so?” he challenged playfully. I think he knew I wasn’t going to win this game.
“What’s the winner get out of this game?” I asked arching an eyebrow at his smirky face.
Please say an engine block examination. I want to check for proper clearness.
Listen to you, one week working with engine builders and you’re talking shop. Be proud of yourself. It took you eight fucking years to learn three Spanish words.
Casten’s eyes closed briefly before opening with a new hunger in them. I would refer to this as the lusty face. “The winner gets whatever they want.”
“Game on then.” I slipped another wink in his direction and leaned back in the chair relaxing. “How did you know my age?”
“My dad told me.”
“Fair enough. How old are you?”
He sighed, closing his eyes. “That’s not how you play. I’m supposed to say, how old am I?”
“Well, fuck, I don’t want to play this game. It’s too complicated.”
“Alright,” he gave me a lopsided smile and leaned to one side shifting his weight in the chair. You know that lean that guys do when they sit in a chair that screams, “I’m relaxed enough that I don’t care, and sure enough in myself that I still don’t care?”
Yeah, it was that sort of lean.
“Fine. You get ten questions. Ask me anything you want to.” He said running his hand through his hair before putting his white hat back on and then adjusting it so it fit correctly. Loose chunks of his rusty hair poked through on each side. The white hat contradicting against the green in his eyes was beautiful.
“I thought that game was called twenty questions?”
“I wouldn’t want it to be too complicated.”
Glaring, I asked my first question. “How old are you?”
“Eighteen.”
“Girlfriend?”
“Nope,” he winked. “No girlfriend.”
I looked around the kitchen to see people shuffling in and out not paying any mind to us. “Your house?”
He nodded. “My parents actually.”
“Is this the house that’s on YouTube for that insane party?”
“Yep. A little remodeled now but same house.” He pointed to the pool. “I spent four months cleaning that damn pool out. And, we’re about to destroy it again when Noah gets back.”
“How?”
“You’ll see,” he winked.
“Do you frequently talk dirty engine building with girls?”
He tipped his head back and forth, undecided. “I have before. How about that?”
“Fair enough.”
Scrunching my nose, I tried to think of better more remarkable questions for the final six but didn’t come up with much. “When’s your birthday?”
My god you’re stupid. You could be asking him the results of his sonic testing but no, you’re asking shit a four-year-old would want to know. Next thing you know you’re going to ask him to play doctor with you.
Now there’s an idea.
Casten seemed to notice I was a little flustered with myself.
“January eighth.” He took a slow drink of his beer before running his tongue across his lower lip again. I bet that lip saw a lot of tongue action. “I don’t mind the personal ones, honey. Ask away. Don’t be shy.”
I got my shit together and rambled off with, “When’s the last time you had sex?”
“I’m a virgin,” he said with a completely straight face.
My mouth made a few opening and closing movements similar to a fish out of water before he giggled. Fucking giggled.
“I’m just messing with you.” Another bout of laughter rang through the kitchen, seemingly amused with his lying ass. “Let’s see,” he tapped his forehead lightly with his index finger, “it was about three weeks ago.”
Recovering after a drink of my beer and kicking him in the shin, I asked. “Girlfriend … or one night stand?”
“Neither, just a friend,”
“Still friends?”
“Yeah, I would say so. I see her occasionally at various parties and what not.” He leaned forward resting his elbows on the table. “Last one … make it a good one.”
Drawing in a deep breath, I blurted out. “Do you want to fuck me?”
At that moment, the entire goddamn raucous around us halted and you could have heard a fucking pin drop, aside from the rushing of blood in my ears.
For the first time since I met this dirty talking engine builder, he flushed slightly but didn’t lead on. He shifted again and then tipped his head slightly—his eyes searched mine.
“Come with me.” He immediately led me away from a crowd and into what looked to be a dark movie room.
Casten backed me against the wall placing one hand beside my head and one against the wall, leaning to one side relaxed. The other pushed my hair away from my ear, his head bent forward and he whispered—sexy knee weakening whispering.
“There are a lot of things I want to do to you. Most of which involve you, naked, in my bed. I wouldn’t exactly say I want to fuck you. It’s more like I want you in any way I can have you.” His breath blew teasingly across my already heated skin—I felt drips of sweat roll off me in various locations. My legs shifted moving me just enough so that our bodies were now pressed together. “I want to feel your soft skin against mine and taste you in all the places your clothes don’t do your skin justice. I want you. All of you.” He pulled back to look at me, my entire body trembled and to be fair, his breathing was rather heavy, his eyes extremely hooded. “Does that answer your question?”
“Y-y-yes,” I choked out before clearing my throat. “Your turn.”
“Do you want,” he paused letting me wait, “a beer?” He smirked knowing I was thinking he was going to ask if I wanted him.
“No, I want to get these questions over with.”
“Alright then, boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Girlfriend?”
“No.” I giggled. “I like dick.”
“That’s a good thing.” He smiled back at me, his eyes dropping to my lips. “Did m
y…engine terminology turn you on in the shop today?”
“More than you know. My panties were wet for half the goddamn day.”
Casten closed his eyes and groaned. His head fell forward against my shoulder and he shook it back and forth. He muttered something I couldn’t understand before pressing me further against the wall.
“Fuck …” he grunted shifting his stance, creating a little space between us. “That’s hot.”
“Alright buddy, you still have seven questions left.” I ran my hand over his shoulder and then settled on the back of his neck.
“I only have one more I really want to ask,” he said against the sensitive skin of my neck just below my ear.
“And what’s that?”
He pulled back completely and let his hand fall from the wall to reach for his beer he had set down on a table next to us. Then his eyes met mine again. “Can I kiss you?”
A few thoughts scrambled around in my not so smart at times brain. A few of which I just decided to ignore but one was Charlie for God knows what reason.
This was his fault. You don’t tell a girl like me to stay away from someone and then expect her not to fuck him senseless for the pure principal of it all.
Just when I was thinking this, I realized that Casten is really close to me again and had set his beer down allowing his hands to be free.
So what did I do? I grabbed him by his bare shoulders and pulled those soft lips to mine. And, oh, was his mouth soft, and his lips were warm, and the stubble on his face was coarse and he tasted like beer mixed with mint. I’m all for this kissing so I ran my tongue along his lower lip and his mouth opened, his tongue meeting mine.
I felt his hand snake around my back and down until it was resting securely on my ass and pulled my body into his. He was those same hard lines I felt before, soft skin and oh damn, I’ve lost focus.
Before I could really attack him like I wanted, maybe test out those recliners I noticed in the distance, Anna interrupted us.
“Hey, asshole, where’s the hard shit?”
Casten chuckled against my lips, his eyes opening but not moving from mine, and gave Anna a grin. “Asshole?”
Anna tipped her cup at him.
“I’m a feisty drunk. Now,” she leaned into him completely comfortable with her proximity between us, “how about the hard shit. I don’t want to remember a goddamn thing tomorrow except that I had a good fucking time.”
“Well then, follow me ladies,” he tipped his head toward the kitchen and we followed.
By Anna saying she didn’t want to remember anything, none of us were sure to remember. That’s just how it was when you partied with Anna. And I soon found out that’s how you partied with the Riley family, too.
I really wanted to continue with the kissing and being alone with Casten but the party ramped up a notch and, well, I had to keep up. By the time I looked around, there were people everywhere. You could barely move inside the house.
It started when the stove had caught on fire at some point, no doubt by Rosa. Casten got the fire put out fairly quickly.
The carpet caught on fire, too. No one but Cole knew how and he refused to tell anyone.
I wasn’t exactly comfortable seeing it, but people were literally having sex everywhere. Most kept it in bedrooms but there was the occasional instance where I’d walk around the corner and see people fucking up against a wall or outside in the lounge chairs. I saw more tits and dick at their party than I ever cared to see. It was like the filming of some porno.
When Casten noticed, he’d yell at them to find a room, not his or his parents, but to do it in a more private place.
I’ve been to parties before. Many parties, but nothing like this.
I’m sure Sway wouldn’t have appreciated this, but Cole and Casten had a fashion show with her clothes. And Nathan filmed it without Casten’s knowledge. When he found out, Cole had to separate Nathan and Casten. I didn’t really think of Casten as an aggressive guy but certain things pissed him off and he wasn’t at all afraid to let you know it when it happened.
They had inflatable bounce houses and couches setup outside with a stage. An actual stage.
As they were setting up, Casten led me outside and I thought maybe this was our chance to be alone. But no, Nathan, his friend, followed us to the field.
“What are we doing?” I held onto Casten’s arm trying not to trip on the uneven ground.
“Grape jelly.”
“What?”
I kept in step with Casten as we walked, Nathan right beside us, walking and talking, telling me about everything they had planned for the night.
Nathan was a trip. Wavy blonde hair, brown eyes, tall and slender and talkative. He had a story for everything and if you weren’t talking, he was. I don’t think he liked silence. I noticed and told Casten he was wrong about his friends not being annoying.
He looked at me, still walking, and then at Nathan. “He talks in his sleep, too.”
Nathan ignored the both of us and kept talking, as if we said nothing.
“What are you doing with the jelly?”
Casten waggled his eyebrows, smiling wider than before. “You’ll see, pretty girl.” His hand raised and brushed away from my clothes what I assumed was specks of ash from the bonfire in the field.
Pretty girl?
I liked that. I liked it a lot.
My eyes caught his in the light. I felt warm and cozy all over, my hand in his. I don’t think I’d ever held hands with someone, aside from Anna.
It felt nice.
When we got closer, I saw Noah out there leaned against a U-Haul truck.
With his arms crossed over his chest, Noah grinned wide and gestured with a tip of his head inside. “They gave us two free boxes!”
Casten looked at the boxes and then to Noah, straight faced. “Did you tip Kevin for getting them so quickly?”
“Yeah.”
Casten and Noah lifted boxes and started carrying them to the pool a hundred feet away, so Nathan and I did the same.
I did find out about that jelly.
Within ten minutes we stood beside the pool with hundreds of boxes of grape jelly. The boys contemplated how exactly it was going to work considering it was still filled with water.
“You’re going to put jelly in the pool?” I asked, not entirely surprised.
“That’s the plan.”
“Won’t your parents kill you for that?”
Casten looked up to the sky, as if he had to think about it. “Last time I threw a party I landed a car in this pool. I think jelly is a lot safer.”
Noah scratched his head. “There’s roughly thirty-four-thousand gallons of water in there … that’s like nearly four million ounces so,” he looked at the jar in his hand, “that would be like three-hundred-and-sixty-thousand jars of jelly. Give or take.”
Casten and I looked at each other, drinks in hand, too drunk to add any of that up. It’s not like I would ever been able to add like that any other time either. Sober or not.
“How should we do it?” Nathan put his arm around me and Casten, leaning forward between us. “Drain the pool?”
Casten immediately shook his head stepping away from Nathan and pointing to the water, and then regarding Nathan again. “No way. Have you ever drained a pool before?”
“No.”
“We’re not doing it.” Casten seemed adamant and I was beginning to understand that if Casten told his friends no, they listened. He wasn’t into peer pressure.
“Okay,” Nathan seemed annoyed with Casten, but his voice evened out. “Well, what do we do then?”
“What if you just pour it in there with the water?” I suggested, timidly holding my drink at my lips and talking around the red Solo cup. “It’d be like a smoothie.”
Just then Anna came outside in her bra and underwear ready to swim. “Are you putting that shit in the pool?”
“Yeah.” Casten, Noah and Nathan said together, watching Anna twirl around to t
he music from the band in the field.
Anna’s eyes went wide. “I wanna be the first in!”
Cole came outside next. Gone was his hat and shorts leaving him in black boxer shorts. “We doing this shit or what?”
I had a feeling this had been planned for a while since all these guys knew about it. And where would this many jelly jars be purchased just before a party? It was definitely planned.
Cole stopped beside Anna and looked at us. With a beer lazily at his side, a lit cigarette hung from his lips.
Casten reached up and took the cigarette out of his mouth. “You look ridiculous,” he seemed aggravated with Cole. “Stop that shit. And put that fucking camera away!”
Cole ignored him and wrapped his arm around Anna but did set the camera down on the ground. “Just dump the jelly in the water.”
“Yeah,” Rosa came stumbling out of the house, dancing with floaties on her arms. “Pour that shit in!”
So we did.
Naturally they didn’t have the three-hundred-and-sixty-thousand jars so they dumped what they had.
Five hundred jars of grape jelly.
I will say that swimming in your bra and underwear in jelly is rather strange and I wished it was strawberry. I wasn’t a big fan of grape.
There were a few problems with grape jelly in a swimming pool. It was like quicksand, thick and dense. If you went under, as a lot of us did by accident when we decided to play chicken, you couldn’t get back up without assistance.
After a few people needed CPR, we all got out.
Have you ever seen that movie Poltergeist when Carol Anne is rescued and she comes out in the slimy after birth looking shit?
That’s what it reminded me of when you looked around at all of us covered in jelly.
Most ridiculous shit I’ve ever seen.
“We didn’t exactly think that through.” Noah said to Casten, trying to get grape jelly out of his ear.
Casten didn’t say anything but smiled at me and licked some off my cheek.
Thankfully the sprinklers came on at midnight and most everyone decided to run through his parent’s beautiful landscaping and river-rock beds to clean off.
After that, if anyone had some sort of party foul, they were pushed inside the afterbirth as it was now being called.