by Mia Archer
“Kirsten,” Carrie said, beaming between the two of us as though she was expecting a connection to be made already. “Meet my roommate Cara.”
I stared, my mouth hanging open. Of all of the girls for her to set me up with, it was this one? I was suddenly very glad I’d gone along, because holy shit was the universe throwing me a bone after the way it’d tried to fuck me over last night!
13
Cara
I blushed as the girl got closer.
It was one thing to look at someone in a picture and think they were totally hot. It was another thing entirely to see a girl in person who was totally out of my league.
I’d been sneaking glances at her and Carrie talking on the other side of the kitchen ever since I got dragged in here.
I also kept glancing at the window. I’d been looking over my shoulder the entire walk over. I couldn’t get over the feeling there was something out there lurking. Watching. Waiting.
My mouth was dry as they walked over. I was nervous about talking to this girl, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she’d supposedly killed a werewolf and everything to do with how insanely hot she was. Suddenly I was a girl standing in front of a beautiful girl who was way out of my league with a case of shaking knees because damn.
“Hi Cara!” Carrie beamed. “Meet Kirsten.”
I licked my lips. My pulse was picking up. I’d suddenly forgotten the whole reason I’d come over here. It was like my brain had stopped working.
Not to mention the whole cheerleader thing was a touch intimidating. It brought to mind crushes I’d had back in high school. Crushes that’d always stayed unrequited because there were no girls on the squad who were interested in the ladies. Or if there were and it turns out porn hadn’t been lying to me, I didn’t get invited to those sorts of slumber parties.
“Are you okay Cara?” Carrie asked. “You’ll have to forgive her. She’s been acting weird since last night.”
“Weird,” Kirsten said.
It was just one word. It hung there between us. Meanwhile Carrie was looking between the two of us like we’d both lost it. Then she grinned. She slapped both of us on the back.
“I can tell I was right on with my hunch,” she said. “You two have fun getting to know each other. I’ll be in the front room if you need anything.”
And with that she was gone. I looked Kirsten up and down. I’d come here with every intention of asking her about the whole werewolf thing, but now that she was here in front of me…
Well let’s just say I was forgetting all about the terror of last night, and thinking about switching from the horror genre to the romance genre. Even if it was just for the evening.
“Can you believe Carrie?” she asked.
I grinned. “Right? It’s like she always has to get up in your business.”
“Yeah, but she means well,” Kirsten said.
“Does she?” I asked. “Or is she just the kind of person who likes meddling in everyone’s lives around her?”
“That too,” Kirsten said. “But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just annoying sometimes.”
“I suppose,” I said.
“I was a little worried before I got a look at you,” Kirsten said. “There’ve been so many times when someone tries to set me up because…”
“They know someone who’s gay and they assume that’s all that’s required for a love connection?”
“Right?” Kirsten said, giggling. “They’re not attracted to every dick that waves in front of them, so why would I be attracted to every woman who’s interested in me?”
“I bet you have a lot of people interested in you,” I said, then blushed.
It’s not like I’d even had all that much to drink, and yet here I was running my mouth. What was wrong with me? Though from the way she smiled and giggled she seemed to enjoy the attention.
Giggling meant she wasn’t pissed off. Giggling meant she wasn’t about to slap me and throw her drink in my face.
Not having a drink thrown in my face was good. Almost as good as not having a werewolf doing its best to kill my ass on the way out here tonight.
Which only served to remind me of the real reason I’d come out here. Which was a reminder I could’ve done without.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You look like you’re a counselor at Camp Crystal Lake and you just saw someone in a hockey mask and it’s not hockey season.”
Now it was my turn to giggle. That was almost like something one of my brothers would say. Almost, but coming from her it was cute rather than annoying.
“Or maybe I saw someone with a burlap bag over their head instead of the hockey mask,” I said.
“A woman of taste, I see,” Kirsten said.
“I don’t know if I’d call myself a woman of taste,” I said. “More like a woman forced to watch horror movies over and over growing up by a bunch of asshole older brothers.”
“I see,” she said, taking another sip. “Still. I’m impressed you got a deep cut like that.”
“I’d hardly call Jason wearing a bag over his head in the second movie a deep cut,” I said.
“These days it is,” Kirsten said. “Most people aren’t even familiar with those movies now.”
“Well the remake was abysmal,” I said.
“So what’s your favorite horror movie?” she asked.
Back home that question would’ve annoyed me. Mostly because most of my friends knew how much I hated being forced to watch horror movies. Though again, coming from her I didn’t mind so much.
“The Nightmare on Elm Street movies that Wes Craven directed,” I said. “I could take or leave the other ones, but…”
“Dream Warriors is a masterpiece,” she said.
“Right?” I said. “I think I liked that one so much because it felt more like an ‘80s fantasy movie than it did a horror movie, if that makes sense.”
“Totally,” Kirsten said. “You’ve got the cheesy stop motion animation that was amazing for the time, a group of people fighting off a scary monster, and sure the scary monster kills some of them, but it is an Elm Street movie.”
“Right,” I said. “You expect a few people to die in elaborate setpieces.”
“What movie scared you the most?” she asked.
“Silver Bullet,” I said.
I could tell I’d said something wrong the moment the words left my mouth. I could’ve kicked myself for being all sorts of a fucking idiot. Why would I go talking about that movie? It had a fucking werewolf in it, and she’d had an up close and personal experience with a werewolf all too recently.
Maybe.
She took a drink. And then, to my surprise, that short drink turned into her chugging the whole thing. Finally she crushed the cup and tossed it in the trash, which was impressive because that looked like a plastic cup, not paper or styrofoam.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she said.
She didn’t sound fine.
“Okay then,” I said.
I didn’t believe her, but I also figured if she wanted to tell me she was fine then I’d play along. The last thing I wanted was to chase her away by seeming too interested in what’d happened at that theater.
“So you’re a cheerleader?” I asked, desperate to change the subject.
“Totally,” she said, looking just a bit distracted. Though she did smile.
“What’s that like?” I asked.
“Oh you know,” she said, vaguely waving her hand.
“Actually I don’t know,” I said, taking a drink of my own as some unpleasant memories were brought to the surface. “It was always something my mom wanted me to do, but it was never something I had much interest in.”
“Your mom was a cheerleader once upon a time?” Kirsten asked, looking me up and down and sending a thrill running through me.
“What gives you that idea?” I asked.
“Good genetics,” Kirsten said.
Damn. She was gett
ing right to the point. The way she stared at me left no doubt she was interested. It would take a complete and total idiot to miss the signals she was sending me.
There’d been plenty of times I’d missed signals being sent my way, of course. There’d also been plenty of times I’d thought signals were being sent my way, only to discover, too late, that I’d been very wrong.
I’d lost at least one friendship over that bullshit, though I guess in the end it wasn’t much of a friendship if it was mostly me pining over a friend and thinking about how cute we’d be together.
This was nothing like that, though. No, she was practically eye fucking me. Goose bumps rose all over my body. I wouldn’t mind having some fun with her.
“Well it’s something fun to do on the weekends, anyway,” Kirsten said. “I know I should be proud that I managed to get on at the college level, but it’s not like our school is all that great when it comes to athletics.”
She got quiet as she said that last bit. She glanced around the room like she was making sure none of the players had overheard.
“I’m sure you do a great job when you’re out there cheering,” I said.
“I try,” she said. She glanced around the kitchen again, and then took me by the arm. I looked down to where she was touching me and shivered. I liked her touch. I wanted to feel her touching me all over.
That didn’t seem like the kind of thing that would be a great thing to say when we were just getting to know each other, of course, but that didn’t stop the thought from leaping into my mind unbidden.
“What would you say to going someplace a little more comfortable?” she asked.
“That’s fine with me,” I said, unsure of where this was going but hopeful.
“Follow me,” Kirsten said, pulling me through a surprisingly large living room to a smaller room off to the side by the stairs. The woman of the house probably called it a drawing room back when the place was built a hundred years ago.
Kirsten pulled me to a couch that was so threadbare I could feel every spring pressing up against my ass. Not that I minded, because Kirsten plopped down next to me and leaned against me.
“You don’t mind if I sit by you, do you?”
I licked my lips. My mouth had gone dry. I wasn’t exactly a slouch in the dating department, but I was having trouble believing a girl as beautiful as her could be into me so quickly. Maybe it was the booze doing some of the work.
I hadn’t been to many parties like this, but my understanding was social lubricant was the leading cause of people having ill advised one night stands.
Though I hoped that any one night stand we might have, assuming that’s where this was heading, would be anything but ill advised. I also hoped it wouldn’t be just one night, for that matter!
“I don’t mind at all,” I managed to stammer out.
She smiled. “I thought you might say something like that.”
Well okay then. She was cocky, but she had good reason for that cockiness. She was hot, she knew it, and for the moment she seemed interested in yours truly so I wasn’t going to knock that cockiness too much.
“So what about you?” Kirsten asked. “I’m the cheerleader, but what are you into?”
She’d leaned in close. My mind was racing. I was having trouble thinking straight.
I mean of course I was having trouble thinking straight. Kirsten was the kind of girl that would have a straight girl having trouble thinking straight.
“Um…”
My mind was blank. This girl was obviously totally into me, and I was sitting here trying to think of small talk when all I really wanted was…
Fuck it. I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers. It wasn’t a blushing peck on the cheek, either. No, I attacked her, and she seemed to like it! I felt something wet pressing against my lips. I realized with a shiver that was her tongue. So I opened my mouth to hers.
She threw herself on top of me as she opened her mouth to mine. As our tongues dueled. I moaned as my hands moved down and I squeezed that ass I’d been ogling all night.
God it felt even better than I imagined! She was toned and fit, and she was driving me wild.
I didn’t even care that we were in the middle of a party. I didn’t care that there were probably other people watching, for all that we were off from the main party proper.
No, I melted into the kiss. I enjoyed the feel of her body. Of exploring her curves. She was making out like a desperate woman.
I could understand. Making out with her was doing something for me above and beyond the sexy cheerleader fantasy. Kissing her was an affirmation of life. It was a declaration to the world that I was here, I was still alive, and no werewolf was going to take that from me.
Maybe it was silly, maybe I was trying to put more meaning into a makeout session than was actually there, but I didn’t give a flying fuck because she felt incredible and I was going to enjoy this.
I lost track of time, but eventually she pulled away. I glanced out through the windows and was surprised to see that streetlights had come on.
Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought I saw something big moving in the darkness beyond the lights. Though that had to be my imagination. It would be ridiculous for a fucking werewolf to be out there in the middle of student housing.
That was a far cry from the campus nature preserve. Though appearing in the middle of a movie theater wasn’t exactly discreet as far as places to undergo a transformation went either. Not to mention a werewolf had chased me through the heart of campus.
Damn.
I didn’t get long to think about the creature that might or might not be out there, though. Kirsten pulled me to face her with a surprising strength. Though I guess it made sense that a cheerleader would be strong.
“What would you say to going upstairs and having a look around?” Kirsten asked.
“That sounds like a great idea,” I said, giggling because it was the most obvious thing ever and I didn’t care.
“Great,” Kirsten said. “There are some cool black light posters and stuff up there I’m sure you’d love to see.”
“Let me guess, there’s also that poster of Belushi in a COLLEGE shirt?” I asked.
“Probably,” Kirsten said, biting her lip. She seemed to realize I’d realized exactly what she was trying.
I bit my lip right back at her. “What about that poster of the two girls in their underwear making out on a bed?”
Kirsten grinned. “I’m not sure if they have that one up there, but I’m sure we could improvise something if they don’t.”
Another shiver ran through me as I realized what she was getting at. So I took her by the hand and followed her up the stairs.
This definitely wasn’t what I’d bargained for when I came to this party tonight. I’d been making out with her rather than asking her about the werewolf she may or may not have killed, but I was having a tough time caring.
It’s not like I was dead. Or a total nerd. I wasn’t the kind of idiot who was so focused on the monster that I wasn’t going to have a little bit of fun.
No, there was a beautiful woman who’d just made out with me in one of the most intense face sucking sessions I’d ever enjoyed, and now she was pretty obviously leading me upstairs where the fun could continue.
When a beautiful cheerleader asked you to go upstairs to a private room, you said yes! All that bullshit about werewolves could wait until after.
14
Kirsten
I fell back on the bed and took a deep breath. Then I took another couple of deep breaths. Then I looked over to Cara who was taking some deep breaths of her own.
Watching her take those deep breaths was distracting. Mostly because of the way she looked with just a thin sheen of sweat covering her and nothing else.
Cara turned and hit me with a hesitant smile. Though I wasn’t sure why her smile would be hesitant after everything we’d done. She reached out, took my hand, and gave it a squeeze.
“D
amn,” she said.
“Damn is right,” I replied.
There was nothing hesitant about my smile. I’d just had one hell of a good time, the best time I’d had with a girl in at least a year, and I wanted her to know it.
“You know it’s kind of funny,” I said, letting out a laugh that held no humor.
“What’s funny?” Cara asked.
“I’ve been having some bad luck with my dating life lately,” I said. “I’ve had a few flings with girls who decided they were going to go back to guys after they had their fun, and then there was what happened at the theater last night…”
I trailed off. The last thing I wanted to think about was what happened at the theater last night. Especially when I’d come up here with Cara to forget!
“I know how you feel,” Cara said, giving my hand a squeeze.
“Do you?” I said.
“I mean sort of?” she said. “Honestly I haven’t dated much since I got here. This is probably the first time I’ve…”
She trailed off. The meaning was clear. She blushed, like she thought that was the kind of thing she shouldn’t be talking about with me. But then again talking to her about my lack of a dating life probably wasn’t the kind of thing that I should’ve opened with either.
There was a pause. We both stared up at the ceiling in silence. She was still holding my hand, and that felt good. Not nearly as good as some of the things we’d been doing moments ago, but it still felt good.
“So…” she started, then stopped.
“What’s on your mind?” I asked, giving her hand a squeeze.
“I was just thinking, is all.”
I leaned in and hit her with a kiss. It was just a quick peck on the lips, but it was enough to send a shiver running through me. I was catching a serious case of the feels for this girl, and I liked it.
I also knew it was crazy. I’d only met her an hour ago, and before then I’d been trying to drown my sorrows and forget.
“I guess I was just a little curious about what happened last night at that theater,” she finally said.
