“I hope so. He carries a gun. He has a lot of guns. I would like to never have to see them.”
Jake laughed and clapped Rick on the shoulder. “Well done, Slick. I’ll just leave you to it,” he said with a small leer, and he went to the basement door and down the stairs.
Once he disappeared, Rick turned to me and put his other arm around me. I had never really hugged him before. I couldn’t believe how nice his chest felt. He rested his head on top of mine and just held me. We stood like that for several minutes, and then he leaned back.
“You need to tell Asshole tomorrow.”
“You know tomorrow’s Sunday, right? I might not see him. He does a lot of stuff with his family.”
“Don’t you usually talk every day?”
“Well, yeah. It seems kind of mean to break up over the phone.”
“Who cares? He’s an asshole. He deserves to get kicked to the curb over the phone.”
“He probably does,” I said, thinking of how Dave had reacted when I had broken up with him. He had spread all kinds of nasty tales about me, about how I was such a slut, all the things I would willingly do, that kind of shit. We hadn’t even slept together, even though we had been dating for almost a year and a half. Rick was right. He was an asshole. And he had been an asshole for the rest of the year to me for daring to break up with him. Well, to hell with being courteous. If he was going to talk shit about me, I might as well go ahead and be the bitch he painted me as.
“You’re right. He does. You know what? I’ll call him right now.”
“You will? Good. The sooner you tell him, the better.” I made to walk to the kitchen phone, but he grabbed me and pulled me back to him. He took my face in his hands and kissed me. This time, he was a lot less clumsy. Once again, the kiss was a toe curler. It was going to be hard not dragging him off somewhere and shredding his clothes. With just a few kisses, he brought back all the intense feelings I had ever had for him. Only now, because I had gained a bit of wisdom about relationships, and the opposite sex, and sex in general, I knew how good this could be. I could love this guy. I’d suspected it before, but I knew it now. I was a twenty-six year old woman in a seventeen year old body. It had been some time since my last partner. I was going to have to go get on birth control. I didn’t see myself holding out long.
“I can’t call if you’re kissing me,” I said, smiling at him. “I’d rather be kissing you, but I need to get this out of the way.”
“Okay, okay. Go. Talk to him for the last time.” He looked a little surly.
I leaned towards him to whisper. “You’re super sexy when you’re jealous,” I said.
“Go,” he said, waving me towards the phone. When I picked up the phone, I stopped. Shit. I didn’t know the number! I closed my eyes, thinking, and let my fingers drift across the phone. I dialed a number and mentally crossed my fingers.
I couldn’t believe it when Dave’s mom answered the phone. That was pure, dumb luck. It took her a minute to collect him. They had a pool room at their house too, and Dave had told me some of the guys were going to come over and shoot pool and watch movies. With a start, I remembered that X hung out with Dave at times. Would he be there tonight?
“Hey. Babe.” His mom must have told him it was me.
“Hey,” I said.
“What’s up? I thought you were next door at the game party.”
“I am, I’m calling you from there.”
“Are you okay? You sound weird.”
“No, I’m not okay.”
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
“We’ve been arguing a lot,” I said. “It seems like we do that more than anything else.”
“Well, yeah,” he said.
“I think that means something. I think we need to stop seeing each other.” Boom. Done. I would have hemmed and hawed over this in high school.
“What? What are you talking about? We don’t need to break up over this,” he said.
Riiiiight, I said to myself. Because who’s going to take care of your Mr. Happy if we break up? I stopped my internal bitch, because if I didn’t, it would come out in the conversation. I kept remembering how people would drive by me as I walked home from school, taunting me with the things that Dave told them. When it had happened, I had been so hurt, and a little afraid. It’s scary, a car full of guys asking you if you’ll give them blowjobs because Dave said you gave really good head. They never pulled that shit when I was with X, as he was quick with the fists in those days, but he couldn’t watch out for me all the time. Thinking about it now made me angry. I already knew what he was going to do, so I would just end it, and then take care of him on Monday at school.
“I think we do. I think we both knew this was coming and have been avoiding it. I didn’t want to face it, but I’m tired of all the fighting. I know you are, too, Dave. It’s not fun. It’s not fun to date someone you fight with all the time.”
“There’s someone else, isn’t there? You are such a slut.”
“All righty then. That’s it for me being polite. I’m done, Dave. No coming back from that. I was right about you. Later, asshole.” I slammed the phone down.
“What did he say?”
“Asked me if there was someone else and called me a slut.”
“I’ll beat his ass. Just say the word.”
“No need. I can handle him. He’s a punk. Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m going to take you to school and pick you up this week,” he said. “He’s a dick. I don’t want him to hassle you.”
“You would do that for me?” I said. I was really touched. It had been a long time since anyone had offered to make a chivalrous move on my behalf other than X.
“Of course I will. You’re my girl, and no one gets to call you a slut.”
I leaned close to him and, lord help me, I practically purred. “You might get to call me a bad girl, if you’re lucky.” The crazy thing is, I KNOW I used to flirt with him like this. In high school, I had innuendo down to a tee. How had nothing ever happened?
He gave me a quick, hard kiss. “You gotta stop that. You’re a terrible tease.”
“Am I?” I was interested to see what he thought. While pulling it together, he was not sober, so he might be willing to be all honest and open.
“Are you kidding me? You’ve been driving me crazy since I met you. You are totally the biggest flirt I have ever met.”
“I know, I am flirty, but I meant it with you.” I looked up at him and batted my eyes at him.
“You better mean it only with me,” he said. “I don’t share well with others.”
Hmmm. He looked rather serious. Did he have a really bad jealous streak? I smiled. “Good. I don’t either.”
“Yeah, but you’ve had a boyfriend since I met you. There’s that guy you’re always with too, what’s his name? Excalibur?”
I laughed. “Xavier. We’re just friends. Look at what happened now, Rick—all it took for me to be free was for you to tell me how you feel.”
“It’s about time. He wasn’t good enough for you.”
“I know. I didn’t used to think that, but I know it now.”
“I mean it, Tibby. I don’t share. It’s made me crazy watching you date that guy. That time he came over here looking for you, I nearly beat the crap out of him. Lucky for him that Jake stopped me.”
“I always wondered why you were so angry about that. I know you guys had been drinking, but I always thought that he hadn’t done anything to piss you off.”
“Except be an asshole and still get to date you. He bothers you at all, you tell me, okay?”
“I will. But will you trust me that I can handle him? I already know that he’s going to talk shit about me, call me names, that kind of thing. Let me deal with it. I’m a big girl, and I’m the one that needs to stomp him if he gets shitty.” Not to mention X would help out in that department. Given Rick’s jealousy, probably not a good thing to mention right this moment.
Rick looked at
me with an odd look. “I bet you can. I know I’m kind of trashed,” he ignored my very unladylike noise, “but you’re different. It’s like, I don’t know, I always saw you one way, and you’re still that way, but more. Never mind, that sounds completely stupid.”
“No, it doesn’t. Listen, I won’t be so flirty, I’ll keep all my wiles just for you. There is more to me. I bet there’s more to you, too. You’re no slouch when it comes to being all flirty and practically indecent.” I mock glared. “And you’re giving me hell? I wasn’t talking to myself, you know.” I was going to need to find the teenaged me again. How the hell that was going to happen automatically, I didn’t know. Thankfully, he wasn’t entirely sober now, so I still had a little wiggle room. I could still be Older Tibby right now, and he would chalk it up to impressions made while drinking.
“It’s ‘cause you drive me crazy.”
“Oh, no! You don’t get to blame this one on me!” I laughed at him.
“No, seriously, you do. Don’t you realize how sexy you are?”
“Not really. No one takes me seriously. I don‘t think I really want them to.”
He kissed me at that. “I do,” he said.
“That’s because it was always real for you, Rick,” I said. “Always. I have liked you since the first time I met you.”
“So you’ll go to formal with me?” He asked.
“Do you want me to not mention where I go to school?” I asked.
“Now that we’re doing more than just flirting, I don’t think anyone will even ask.”
“Does it really bother you?” I really wanted to know. I didn’t think he was shallow, but this might peg him as such.
“Yeah. I wish you were older. I feel kind of like a dirty old man, especially since I met you when you were fifteen and I was nineteen. You’re still in high school. I don’t know, it’s like I wish you had a chance to get out and meet more people. Then you would know that you really wanted to be with me.”
“You are such an honorable guy,” I said. I knew this was somewhat out of character for the teenaged me, but I had to tell him. “I have been dating other people. I dated a couple of guys before Dave, and none of them were ever as nice to me as you’ve always been. Don’t worry about it. I want to be with you.”
“I am so glad to hear you say that,” he said, giving me a hug.
“You don’t know how happy and excited I was when you talked to me downstairs,” I said.
“Really? You looked nervous.”
“I was, a little. Then I thought, this is what you’ve wanted to hear from this guy for like two years, what are you waiting for?”
“I meant it, when I said I…liked you a lot,” he said. His face was very serious. Nevertheless, I didn’t think that was exactly what he wanted to say. I let it be.
“So did I. I like you a lot, too. I have for a long time.” He didn’t know the half of it.
We eventually went back into the front room and sat on the couch holding hands, my legs in his lap. We talked the rest of the night, cuddling and kissing. I cannot tell you how much I wanted to just jump on him. It was amazing to be with him, to see what might have happened had I been brave enough. He’d already noticed the difference, though, so I kept my hormones reined in.
chapter eight
As promised, Rick took me to school every day that week and picked me up after school every afternoon. He even relented and gave X a ride home a couple of times. I was glad to see that X liked Rick, and Rick understood when I told him that we were just friends. Dave, as he did before, started talking trash about my sexual skills. Unlike before, I didn’t cry and huddle in shame. I held my head high, and rolled my eyes as I heard about it. When one of the bitchy, gossipy chicks I knew came to tell me what she had heard a whole three days after we broke up, I laughed in her face. I was alone, of course. She was shocked. Her mouth hung open a little.
“Doesn’t that bother you?” she asked.
“No, Terry, it doesn’t. He’s pissed off I broke up with him over the phone. He’s all butt-hurt and has to take it out on someone. Why would I care what he says? So he’s saying I give good head? So what? It means I cared enough about him to try and make the times we were intimate special, even though he would never reciprocate. It’s one of the reasons I ended it. He is so completely mean and selfish.”
“He’s totally calling you a slut. Says you’ve been sleeping with Xavier this whole time.” She looked kind of mulish. Oooh, this was fun.
“I’ll bet he hasn’t said that to Xavier.” She didn’t respond. I tapped my lip with my finger. “Let me guess. I beg for it all the time, too.” Her eyebrows went up, which told me I was on the mark, but she stayed quiet.
“You want to know something about him? We never, ever had sex. He didn’t believe in sex before marriage. He always wanted a blow job and would get offended if I said no. But he wouldn’t reciprocate in any way,” I stressed the word any so she didn’t miss my meaning. “It was against his religion, or his sense of entitlement, or whatever. He would give me hints that he…” I paused to sink the knife in good. “He just couldn’t handle it.” I gave a shrug so she would see what I thought of such a statement. “All I know is that I loved and cared about him and tried to do things to make him feel good, and he didn’t do the same. And now, he’s saying I’m a slut. It just makes me so much happier that I dumped his ass. He’s a selfish pig, and I don’t give a shit what he says.” I closed my locker with a bang. “I’ve got to go, Terry. Rick will be waiting for me.”
“Who’s Rick?” She asked.
I smiled broadly. “The man I have really wanted for the past two years. You should come with me and see him. He’s totally gorgeous. Then you can see why I don’t care what Dave says or who he says it to.” I walked away, and she caught up with me, as I knew she would.
“So where did you meet him?”
“He goes to college, and he’s friends with my neighbors. We hang out with them a lot, so I used to see him over there with his friend. He finally told me that he really liked me. He’s a lot older though, which is why it took him a while to talk to me.”
“Really? How old is he?”
“He’s twenty one, a junior. He has one more year before he graduates. You know what’s really cool?”
She shook her head.
“My parents love him. Even though he’s older, and that would normally piss them off, they know him and really like him. They haven’t liked any of my boyfriends before, and they totally hated Dave. My dad thought he was a smart-ass and a dick. Since he’s talking shit and being as mean and as big of a jerk as possible, my dad was right.”
She didn’t say anything, which was fine as we had come out the front door. As promised, Rick was leaning on his car, waiting for me.
“Oh, hey, there’s Rick. I gotta go. Nice talking with you,” I said, walking away. I gave her a little wave and then promptly forgot about her as I reached Rick. He grabbed me and picked me up in a big hug. I kissed him, and he hugged me tighter.
“How’s things?” He asked.
“Let’s go and I’ll tell you all about it,” I said with a grin. I turned around and saw that Terry was still standing there watching us. It almost looked like her mouth was hanging slightly open “Bye, Terry!” I called, waving. Rick held the car door open for me, and I got in. He closed it and was around the car and next to me with lightning speed. I glanced out of the corner of my eye and could see Terry still there. Good. Now go tell everybody. The thought made me smile. Then I put her out of my mind. There were better things at hand.
I leaned over and kissed Rick, and he took my face in his hands and gave me one of his toe curlers.
“Let’s get the hell outta here,” he said.
“Let’s,” I agreed.
We drove to my favorite ice cream shop. Over cones, I told him about all the rumors people were just so happy to tell me all about. He was angry.
“I am so going to beat his ass. I can’t believe he is saying that abou
t you.”
“I can. He’s a selfish, bratty little boy. You don’t have to beat him up. I just ruined him.”
“How?”
I told him about my conversation with Terry, and all the things I had informed her of. As he listened, he started laughing.
“You did just totally ruin him. He doesn’t have a chance of ever getting a blowjob again. When does he graduate?” Rick laughed some more. “That’s going to be his only shot. To get the hell out of school and go somewhere no one knows him!” He leaned forward, laughing harder. Then he sobered, and glared like Dave stood across the room from us. “It won‘t help that he‘s saying all these things about you, either. I can beat his ass and settle this shit.”
“I hope so. I thought I would be so upset or ashamed. But I’m not. I’m angry and since he opened the door, I’m going to walk right in. No need for you to beat him up. He’s already done.” Boom. I had just vanquished one of the demons of my high school years. Even though Dave graduated a year before I did, all the things he said about me had lingered on. With this little five minute conversation with a gossip, I negated years of his crap. He was graduating, and all the shit he’d thrown would stick with him and not even be an issue for me. I could see it already.
“Remind me to stay on your good side,” Rick said.
“You are part of my good side. Being with you has made me totally brave.”
“And your dad thought I would be such a bad influence,” he leered at me, waggling his eyebrows.
“Well, you probably will be. I’ll be pretty happy about it, though, so ignore what my dad says.”
“As much as I would like to say otherwise, you don’t have to worry about that. Not right now, anyway,” he said. “Later, for sure. There’s no rush though.”
“What was that I read in one of my trashy romance novels? Oh yeah. ‘Anticipation heightens pleasure.’” I grinned. “I wouldn’t mind seeing if that’s true.”
“You’re gonna kill me,” he said, shaking his head.
“If you’re lucky,” I said. He looked up to look at me, and I slowly licked my ice cream spoon.
Three Wishes: Time Traveler Romance (Heart Of The Djinn Book 1) Page 4
