Graphite

by Anne Leigh

  She smiled and a dimple showed on the right side of her face. “Nora. Nice to meet you, Kara.”

  She had a cute voice too, ugh.

  Deciding to swallow these unwanted feelings that made an appearance at the most inopportune times, I said, “Hey Bishop.”

  Only then did he look at me.

  His dark eyes met mine and for a split second, I saw his eyes become darker, then it was gone. A mirage.

  He did a quick stare, as if he was taking a mental picture of me with his eyes and then the side of his face lifted, “Hi. I had no idea you guys were here.”

  Scott, my boyfriend, said. “It’s cool. We can double date. Kara and I just ordered our food.”

  Bishop said. “I don’t want to impose. We can wait for a table. The hostess said it would only be a few minutes.”

  “I think that’s a great idea.” That was me.

  At the same time, Scott, whose dark blonde head was shaking, said, “Nah, it’s cool. It’ll be more fun this way.”

  “Is it okay with you?” My eyes were on Scott as I heard Bishop asking his date.

  Nora, the petite girl with a dimpled smile, looked up to Bishop, her dark locks framing her face, “It’s okay with me.”

  She answered with a smile and as I moved my chair to the right so Nora could sit, I had to figure out a way to get through this night without being rude or acting like a jealous bitch.

  Because even if I’d been going to sleep to dreams of this dark-eyed man sitting across from me, I had a boyfriend.

  And I had no right, absolutely none, to Bishop.

  Bishop

  My hands were valuable parts of my body.

  Without them, I wouldn’t be able to execute spin passes so that my teammates could catch the ball at long distances while running at fast speeds.

  Without them, I wouldn’t be able catch the ball safely and secure it.

  Without them, I wouldn’t be able to whack off to the images of a blonde girl who has my dick twisted around her long legs and sultry eyes.

  I had Googled her.

  I had stooped that low.

  I didn’t find much about her. Just more of her family. Some of which I already knew because of Rikko.

  I checked her Instagram account. She didn’t have many images on it and she rarely posted, just like me. The last time she posted a pic was when she was at a Texas spa. She had tiny shorts on and a white tank top and my dick had surged to life.

  So I whacked off.

  Again.

  I imagined her beneath me, on top of me, on my side.

  I never knew how active my imagination was until I pictured Kara in many different stages of undress.

  Satan had a place reserved for me in hell.

  It’s a special place for assholes like me.

  Assholes who wanted their frat brother’s girlfriend.

  She always sat in the front of the class and when Professor Milliken was lecturing, I often imagined Kara’s pink lips wrapped around my cock.

  Which was why I had to rush out of class so she and I didn’t have a chance to talk, so that I wouldn’t be able to add more to my spank bank.

  I’d seen pretty girls. There’s a lot of them everywhere.

  I couldn’t say that Kara was the only one who made my dick hard because that would be a fallacy.

  But the truth was, she was the only one who made my dick that hard that fast.

  Her mile-long legs and hot curves were just a part of the equation because I also fantasized about her whispering theorems to me and it made me come just as fast.

  But there was no way I could act upon my attraction to her.

  She belonged to someone else.

  So I’d become content to think of her in the four walls of my room but as soon as I stepped outside, logic and reason were my masters.

  I would have been satisfied keeping everything in and going on with my drama-free, woman-free life until three days ago, while we were walking out to the parking lot after practice, Ian said, “There’s a cute girl in my class who’s been asking about you.”

  I was going to shrug it off when he added, “It’s okay to have fun once in a while. We’re graduating soon and you’re not gonna be able to take this time back. Why not have some fun, dude? She’s pretty dope. I would have asked her out, but she mentioned you. I guess she’s been watching some of our practices?”

  There were lots of women who watched us practice.

  “Your sister’s doing good, right?” He was the only one I talked to about Bridgette. He didn’t wait for my reply, he just looked down on his phone and seconds later, I had a girl’s phone number on my screen.

  “Her name’s Nora. She helps me with homework sometimes.” He continued to sell the idea to me.

  An idea that was gaining ground in my head.

  Then for the kicker, he added, “She’s the opposite of Blondie.”

  He must’ve known that I had the hots for Kara. I didn’t think I was obvious at the frat party, but Ian, being my closest buddy, must have sensed something there. Normally I hung out inside the house with everyone else but that night, I stayed outside because I was avoiding her. He wasn’t dumb so he must’ve figured out why I was staying away.

  “I’ll call her,” I said before I clicked the alarm on my car, letting me know of its location. SDU had a big-ass parking lot and sometimes I couldn’t remember where I parked, especially when everyone was trying to find a space to park in and I grabbed the first empty one.

  “Good,” he called out before jumping in his Dodge Charger.

  As soon as I got inside my car, I texted Nora, “Hi, it’s Bishop. Ian gave me your number.”

  She’d responded right away, “Hi Bishop!”

  As if the exclamation point made me see how excited she was, I asked, “Wanna meet up?”

  Three days later, after one cancellation because she had work at the Student Bookstore and I had a late practice, here we were at Red One.

  It wasn’t too far from campus and I texted Nora if she’d like to try it and she said, “Yes.”

  I picked her up at an apartment south of campus, which she shared with two other girls.

  The first time I saw her, I thought of how right Ian was. She was a tiny brunette who was pretty cute.

  She kissed my cheek after I handed her a small bouquet of flowers; it’d been a while since I’d taken a girl out on a date but I thought that flowers were always in fashion.

  She’d joked that she was allergic to them and I immediately wanted to throw them in the garbage, but then she’d laughed and said, “Psyche!”

  She made me laugh and it was one of the best ways to start a date.

  I didn’t have a reservation at Red One, but I figured that if we the place was full and we couldn’t get in, there were lots of cool restaurants in the area and I’d wing it.

  Nora was lively and had a great personality.

  She also had a great rack, it was probably what caught Ian’s attention in the beginning. I couldn’t fault my friend though. Boobs were great.

  The hostess at Red One said it was only going to take a few minutes, so Nora and I were waiting patiently by the small lounge.

  We were both checking out the restaurant’s modern décor, the high steel chairs and the abstract paintings on the wall when a flash of blonde caught my attention.

  I’d recognize that hair from anywhere.

  If you stuck me in a room with fifty blondes, I’d know which one was Kara. Her hair had the striking silvery shine that looked golden in the soft lights.

  I hesitated to approach them, but Scott had already seen us and he was waving.

  “Nora, do you want to meet my friend Scott and his girlfriend?” Girlfriend. The word burned like acid in my throat.

  She looked in the direction I was pointing my hand at and said, “Scott Strauss?”

  “Yes,” I said smiling. Scott was SDU’s most popular athlete. How could he not be? In his freshman year, he’d lead the shittiest offense in
the NCAA and two years later, SDU was now in the top 10. I had nothing bad to say about the guy. He lived, breathed, and ate football.

  I understood him though.

  There wasn’t much I would not do to be at the top of my game.

  Well there was. I wouldn’t do drugs and performance-enhancing shit, but when it came down to it, I lived and breathed playing the game I loved.

  I eyed Kara’s back and from my standpoint, I couldn’t help but check out the way the golden waves of her hair flawlessly swept over her white top. She was wearing dark skinny jeans that I’d bet a thousand bucks hugged her curves just right.

  I felt my cock tighten inside my jeans.

  Shit.

  Why?

  Why couldn’t my dick react that way to Nora or to any other girl aside from the blonde beauty who was now facing us, whose ears were adorned by hoop earrings that did nothing to distract me from her pink, parted lips.

  I did the introductions and the next thing I knew, Nora was sitting by Kara and I was sitting by Scott.

  The server came and I ordered a beer on tap. Scott followed suit and soon enough we were all conversing like regular ole’ buddies. As regular as buddies who didn’t know that one of their buddies had the hots for his long-time girlfriend.

  I’d asked Rikko, nonchalantly of course, how long she’d been dating Scott. Rikko had said since Scott was a senior.

  So. Yeah. Long time.

  Scott’s voice interrupted my continued descent to hell. “Where did you guys meet?”

  Nora was cuter when she smiled, she was really adorable. “Oh. I knew his friend, Ian, from Soc II and I asked him to give my number to Bishop.”

  Kara took a sip of her wine glass, her delicate hands wrapping around the stem. “Aww, that’s cute.” Then she took a fast sip of her wine. And another.

  Nora said, “It’s our first date.”

  Scott chuckled, “Man, I forgot how long it’s been since I’ve been on a first date. I’ve been with Kara for so long that dating seems trivial at this point.”

  Kara’s blue eyes darkened, “Actually, that’s not true. Every time we broke up, you were on a few first dates with women.”

  Shit. Were they having a lovers’ quarrel right now?

  I looked away and flagged the server, any server, because I didn’t see Claud, the guy who was in charge of our table.

  Scott faked a cough then said, “Kara, you know those times didn’t count.”

  Nora supplied, “Kinda like Ross sleeping with hot copy girl, Chloe, in Friends? That didn’t count, right?”

  A small gasp came out of Kara, “Oh my gosh, yes! How could Ross do that to Rachel? He kept saying they were on a break…”

  Nora laughed, her head shaking, “When men sleep with other women – they’re on a break. When women sleep with other men, even when they’ve already broken up with the guy they’re seeing, they’re seen under a different light.”

  Where the fuck was the server?

  I’m all for feminist rights and equality, but this topic was way too heavy for a first date.

  I’m sure Scott was feeling the same with the way he was chugging down his beer.

  Claud approached our table. Finally.

  “You ready to order?” His eyes rounded around the table.

  “Yes,” I said, inhaling a breath. I had a sister and she loved to watch reruns of Friends. To this day, we’d never agree on Ross and Rachel and the whole “break” thing. And I’m not in the mood to debate that tonight.

  “The squash pasta for me with grilled chicken, please,” Kara said as she wiped the side of her face with a napkin.

  “Blackened lamb for me please.” Nora gave her order.

  “Short rib sandwich, with a double side of fries. Thanks,” I said, I had to carb up because I needed to run tonight after dropping off Nora.

  Scott said, “Beef burger for me. Medium ra –“

  “Well. Medium well,” Kara finished for Scott. He tilted his head to Claud and motioned with his hand, “What the pretty lady says.”

  Kara looked at Scott oddly, her brows knitting but forced a smile to Claud.

  “And another order of Saison on tap,” Scott said, his voice neutral but at the same time, I thought he was waiting for Kara’s approval or disapproval. Neither came as Kara took a sip of water without saying another word.

  I raised a finger, “Another glass of Sculpin for me.”

  We rarely drank during the season and our break was going to be over in a few days, so we were both taking advantage of it.

  Claud left with our orders and I thought we had a reprieve of the rising tensions at our table when Kara asked, “Bishop?”

  Why did my name sound so right coming out of her mouth?

  I lifted my eyes to her cerulean blues and answered, “Yep. That’s me.”

  Scott chuckled and Nora giggled.

  Kara’s eyes were still on me and her voice was sharp. “Hypothetical situation.”

  Scott shook his head, “Semantics Kara.”

  I guessed there was a hidden meaning behind what was coming, but I was never one to back out of hypotheticals and semantics so I went with it. “Shoot.”

  Kara’s right hand went to the side of her ear. I noticed that when she was nervous, she liked to touch her ears. She’d done it twice during the frat party. You’d never know that she was nervous from her voice though.

  “If you broke up with someone, what’s an acceptable timeframe for you to sleep with someone else?” Her eyes held a defiant glimmer in them, her irises flaming and God, she was gorgeous.

  I swallowed a chunk of air and coughed.

  Scott was padding my back, “Dude, you alright? Kara, I think that’s an absurd question.”

  Nora shook her head, “Double standard you mean?”

  Kara smirked and said, “You can calculate the photon energy from a transition in an infinite square well potential in less than a minute and yet you can’t answer a hypothetical question?”

  Fuck, she’s good.

  Professor Milliken had given extra credit to the person who could solve the problem he’d written on the board last week. I needed all the points I could get in class to keep my GPA up so I raised my hand. I didn’t have my answer right away, but I solved it while I was writing on the board.

  Nora’s eyes were wide as the saucer plate on the table, in awe of the girl sitting to her right, “You? You look like that and you –?”

  She had a hard time forming a sentence.

  “Double standards,” Scott laughed. His head rocking side to side. “Yeah, Kara’s a crazy scientist.” I also heard the pride in his voice.

  “I’m sorry. You’re right, Scott. I’m just taken aback. Your girlfriend looks like Candice Swanepoel from Victoria’s Secret, but she speaks like a NASA scientist. I need a minute…” Nora said in fits of giggles. “Damn double standards.”

  Kara raised her wineglass to Nora and glasses clinked. Kara’s right eyebrow was raised and she was still waiting for my answer.

  I reached my left hand to my neck and rubbed an invisible sore spot.

  “It depends,” I said, hoping that Claud would come around again to drop our orders off.

  “On what?” Kara asked, her eyes intent on me. Was this what it was like when I had her full attention? In a space of a nanosecond, I allowed myself to imagine what would it be like to be with her. As fast as the thought came, it was also the same rate I allowed it to linger in my head. Which was nada. Not even a fraction of a second.

  “If I really liked the girl,” I responded honestly, taking another drink of my beer.

  “Let’s just say you really liked the girl…” She pushed on, Scott’s eyes were now volleying back and forth between Kara and I.

  “Kiki, leave the man alone,” Scott said, casting a look of disapproval.

  A flash of dismay and surprise panned over her delicate features as she said, “I can’t.”

  Then as if regrouping herself, her brows knitting togethe
r, she continued, “I just want to know.”

  If you were mine, I’d never think of sleeping with anyone else. Because I’d keep you.

  I’d keep you.

  Nora had a strange look on her face, probably trying to make sense of why we were on this topic. “Umm...when’s the food coming? I’m hungry.”

  The sound of Kara’s laughter broke through, and I found myself smiling, too. I looked to my side, ready to raise my beer to toast Scott when I saw him looking at his girlfriend, as if he was studying her, trying to figure her out.

  Claud came with another server helping him carry our orders.

  As we ate our food, the lively conversation moved on. We stayed on neutral topics like the state of the country and our upcoming games.

  I allowed myself to enjoy the company of Kara, Nora, and my frat brother who I’d never really hung out with.

  Scott and I ran in different circles.

  We had the frat in common, but he had his own set of friends and I had mine.

  By the end of the night, I shook hands with Scott and said, “It was cool hanging out with you and Kara.”

  I was about to shake Kara’s hands when she reached for me and gave me a hug.

  She also gave Nora a big hug and I saw Scott open his door for Kara to climb into his Audi.

  As soon as we reached my Chevy Silverado, I opened the door and helped Nora get in the passenger seat. It was a cool night, being close to the ocean made the breeze even cooler. It would be nice to walk around the shopping area, but it was getting late and Nora had mentioned that she had to get up early for her shift at Giggles, the coffee shop a mile away from SDU.

  I had to give it to her, she worked hard. It was an admirable quality. I could barely keep up with helping Aunt Nina at her moving company and this girl worked two jobs.

  Sitting in the driver’s seat, I lowered my head and caught Kara’s soft scent on my blue shirt.

  “I had a fun time tonight,” she stated, her voice sounding happy. “Scott seems like a good guy, he’s not like the aloof quarterback that those sports channels make him out to be. He’s pretty talkative and he’s got a good head on his shoulders.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “He’s chill.”

  “I could do away with the sexual tension though.” Her voice was teasing so I turned my head to look at her.