Letting Lox In

by S. M. Donaldson

  I pull into the driveway at my house and my neighbor and lifelong friend Cade is sitting on his front porch when I get out of the car. I walk over to him; he looks up and smiles.

  “Jeez Gabby, you gotta put a shirt on over that swimsuit top. That nice rack you have is bouncing all over the place.”

  I slap his arm. “Shut up jackass! Don’t talk about my rack. You’re like my freakin’ brother.”

  “I’m just stating the obvious.”

  I roll my eyes. “Whatever.”

  “So I heard you had to keep Tiffany Miller from punching Elle in the face.”

  I roll my eyes again. “Yes and Elle had the nerve to tell me that she didn’t see why it was a big deal that she came after her. I told her to get some self-respect and she threw Reece and my V-card in my face and I told her to F-off.”

  He laughs. “Sounds like an interesting day at the lake. So did you see the wonderful Mr. Reece White?”

  I smile. “Yes, we spoke for a few minutes about school and he brushed the side of my cheek. He called me sweetie and doll and then he whispered in my ear.”

  Cade rolls his eyes. “Look Gab, I know you think Reece is wonderful and all but have you ever noticed him keeping a girl around for any length of time? Also, I will stare at your rack if I want to.”

  I punch his arm. “Whatever. Reece is just so… and I think he likes me, but I can’t ever be for sure. I don’t like just putting myself out there. I can’t be like Elle.”

  “Trust me; you don’t want to be like Elle. Guys don’t really like her. They just know she’s easy and we’re just pervs. What can I say? But what you don’t realize is that plenty of guys here want to talk to you and not one of the guys I’m thinking about is Reece White.”

  I roll my eyes. “Why are you so full of shit Cade? I love you and thanks for trying to lift my spirits but we know that’s not true. If so, wouldn’t they have asked me out by now? I mean, hell, I’ve known most of them since kindergarten. But just like I am with you, they are my friends and will never see me as anything more.”

  He stares at me. “You really don’t see how awesome you are, do you? Look, I shower and practically live with the football team. Some of them who are brave enough ask me about you. They like you and think you’re pretty or whatever…but the most important thing I hear from them is that you’re so freakin’ cool, you just like to hang out with them, you don’t get all girly and giggly. You will drink a beer with us, smoke a joint with us, and you smoke like a chimney anyway. I mean, you know I think you look hot, but why the hell wouldn’t I? I’ve seen you naked…”

  I slap his arm. “Yeah and if you wouldn’t have just barged in my backyard while I was lying out, you wouldn’t have seen me that time. Asshole.”

  “Hey, I love you like a stepsister. No blood so I can still enjoy the view, but I don’t want to date you or have sex with you.”

  “You are such a dickhead, but I love you, brother. Back to the matter at hand before my nakedness came up, being cool didn’t get me asked to Prom. So I guess being easy speaks for itself and so does being just being one of the guys.”

  “I hate that you feel that way. I hate that you don’t see yourself the way others do.”

  I stand up. “Well, I’m going inside to start getting ready for tonight. You’re still going to the lake party, right?”

  “Yes I am. I’m hoping to hook up with Leslie tonight.”

  “You are just as bad as Elle. Whose car are we taking? Mine or yours?”

  “First of all, Leslie doesn’t have a boyfriend, so I’m not like Elle. Second we are taking mine.”

  ~*~

  There is always an end of spring break bash up at the lake every year. Cade and I always ride together, so that we aren’t stranded and, if he decides to hook up with some random girl, I can drive his car home. As we walk into the opening, Cade looks at me. “Okay Gab, tonight is your night. I’ll be the DD; you drink as much as you want, smoke a joint or two, whatever, as long as I don’t have to take you to the hospital.”

  I know he’s just doing this because I had a shitty fight with Elle; he’s trying to cheer or loosen me up. I take the hint and down a few shots, drink a few beers, and take a drag off of a joint or two. I feel great and braver than I ever have. I run smack dab into Reece’s naked chest. He runs his finger down my face. “Hey there, pretty girl.”

  I grin. “Hey.”

  He’s still running his finger on my face. “You got into the liquor, didn’t you?”

  I wink. “Yep.”

  He laughs. “You aren’t much for words tonight, are you?”

  “Talking when two people are this close is highly overrated, don’t you think?” Holy fucking shit! Did I just say that out loud?

  He gets this cocky look on his face. “Oh really, so do you wanna go for a walk or something?”

  I giggle. “Sure. Or something.” What in the hell am I doing? I’m acting like Elle. Whatever; I’ve had too much to drink to worry about it.

  We walk around the lake to a boathouse. As we walk in, I realize he’s been here before; he’s too calm about it. He turns to me and brushes my hair over my ear. “You know I’m sorry I didn’t think of doing this sooner with you…”

  I look up into his eyes. “It doesn’t matter. We’re here now, right? ” I’m desperate for him to kiss me now and he does, which quickly leads to more. By the time my sundress is around my waist from the top, and bottom and my panties are off, Reece drops his jeans. Oh, heavens to Betsy, I’m nervous now. He puts on a condom and leans over me. “I’m gonna make you feel real good.”

  I look up at him. I need to tell him, but this is embarrassing.

  ”Um Reece…I’ve a never…well, I’ve never went all the way with someone.”

  He chuckles. “That’s okay. I can still work with you. ” He can still work with me? What the hell?

  As he starts to slide in, I get tense. I’ve always heard this hurt. At least he’s taking it slow.

  I hear him groan a little. “Oh shit girl, you are so tight… ” He slams into me and now I know the pain they were all talking about. I scream. “Oh shit that hurt.”

  He mumbles over me. “It’ll feel better now, but you are still so tight. I’m not gonna last long….uh….ah…Oh shit, that was awesome. So tight. I should hook up with virgins more often, except all the blood is nasty.”

  And then it is over. He kisses my cheek and stands up, discards the condom, throws me some paper towels, pulls up his jeans, and walks out. “Get cleaned up and I’ll see you back at the party in a few minutes.” I sit for a few minutes. I’m so stupid. I don’t even know what you would call what just happened.

  ~*~

  It’s the first day back from spring break. I really don’t want to see Reece today. He hasn’t called me or texted me or anything. Jerk.

  As I walk down the halls, I feel people looking and whispering. I see Reece and Elle in a conversation. Even though I hate to admit it, I still did the physics notes for him; I guess I should take them to him. As I walk up to him, I can see this look on his face like he doesn’t want me there right then. I simply hand him the notes and walk off. The rest of the morning, I feel eyes on me. Weird …

  When I walk in the cafeteria door at lunch, I see Cade get up and storm off from the football players he’s sitting with. He stops in front of me. “Hallway. Now!”

  He never talks to me like that. I step in the hall.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Did you screw Reece at the party the other night?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business but yes.”

  “Oh it’s my business when the football team is giving me the play by play that Reece gave them, which includes the fact that you bled all over the place.”

  I can feel my face burning. My eyes are stinging. “I, ah…I’m so freaking stupid.”

  “Normally I would disagree with you, but yes you are and I’m not finished yet. They also informed me that for the last three months he’s
been hooking up on the side with Elle and she told him this morning that she’s probably pregnant.”

  All of a sudden, I have to run for the doors. I’m going to be sick; I’m gonna throw up.

  Cade catches my arm as I’m going outside.

  “Cade damn it, let me just go. I can’t be here. I knew people were talking about me. And I’ve been betrayed by my best friend. That bitch; I’m going to kick her ass.”

  “Well, do me a favor wait and find out if she’s pregnant first before you kick her ass.”

  Now the realization has hit home. My best friend, whom I’ve defended and put up with and loved like my sister, fucked the only guy I’ve ever liked. She’s had half the fucking county, but she had to come after the one thing I wanted. “Cade, I’m going home…I can’t be here.”

  He kisses my cheek. “Okay I’ll check on you this afternoon.”

  Throughout the rest of the day, Elle keeps texting me.

  Hey where’d you go?

  Why haven’t you answered me?

  We need to talk…Cade just confronted me…so I know you know and that’s why you aren’t answering.

  You shouldn’t be mad at me about this… He wasn’t with you.

  Jeez, is that really her answer for everything?

  Are you ever going to answer me?

  Finally, I do. FUCK YOU! YOU BACKSTABBING SKANK WHORE! An hour later there is a knock on my front door. When I open it, I see Elle.

  “I don’t want to talk to you so you can go back to the slut hole you crawled out of.”

  “I know you’re upset with me…”

  “You don’t know shit…You knew how much I liked him…you knew what this would do to me…and then I finally get my shot and you fuck me again. So what? To top it all off you’re carrying his kid now too?”

  She laughs. “First of all, he just fucked you the other night because he could see you’d be easy and he said it was messy from all the blood. Second, I’m not pregnant; I went to the doctor today.”

  I just heard her say it. She’s not pregnant; there is no one here to protect her pretty face from me. I rear back and slam my fist right into her nose. Blood is pouring out, then I rear back again and punch her in the eye. I smile.

  “Look. Now both of us are nasty bleeders…but you know your face is going to look like shit tomorrow. Too bad you pissed that girl off that always kept this very thing from happening… ” With that, I slam the door in her face. Just four more weeks and then I get to move to college. I can do this. I get to leave this Godforsaken shithole town.

  CHAPTER 1

  ~Linc~

  We pull into the parking lot of Drake Hall, the coed dorm. I look over at Russ grinning from ear to ear. I laugh at him. “What in the hell are you so happy about?”

  “I just can’t believe we actually got into the coed dorms.”

  I roll my eyes. “Hey Don Juan, I know you’ve always been the man-whore, but the two chicks we’re moving in with are off limits. I’m serious. We have to live with them so I can’t have you pissing them off.”

  He sighs. “I know, I know, but that’s only two of the thirty-six chicks living in this hall.”

  I scoff. “Really Russ? You found out how many girls were in this hall?”

  “You’re damn right I did. Had to figure my odds. You should really loosen up here. I mean I know Jules screwed with your head and all of your friends but me for three years, but maybe all you need is some strange…”

  I nod. “Maybe you’re right.”

  ~Gabby~

  As I walk into Drake Hall, I find my room assignment from the R.A. I start walking down the hall 213A/B. I’m in 213A. I wonder if I’m the first one here. As I walk in, our dorm room isn’t as grungy as I thought it would be. We have a nice living room, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. With bedroom A on the left for the girls I’m guessing, and bedroom B on the right for the boys.

  I walk into side A. My roommate is already here and almost unpacked. “Hey I’m Gabby.”

  “Hi I’m Daria. I hope you’re okay with the side I picked. I got in yesterday. We’re lucky they let us move in for summer session. They normally don’t do that, but last year they lost a bunch of money. I think the board of trustees threw a fit, so they opened the dorms back up for the summer sessions.”

  I giggle at how comfortable she is. She must have been here for a year already. “Are you a sophomore?”

  She laughs. “Yes, I think I’m the only one in our suite. You can tell I’ve been here more than a day or two, huh?”

  “Our other roommates are guys, right?”

  “Yeah, you’re okay with that, right?”

  “Oh yeah. I don’t think I could handle living with more than one female. I have a sister and she was enough.”

  She laughs. “That’s funny; that’s the way I think too. I can’t stand being around a bunch of stupid girls. I mean, most of the time people have two reasons for wanting coed housing. A. You’re a slut or B. You were late signing up for housing. But I like having guys for roommates as long as we make ground rules and stick by them.”

  “I agree…I’ve had my fill of the bullshit that guys throw out and I just don’t want to deal with it here.”

  ~Linc~

  As we walk into our dorm room, Russ looks like he’s going to blow his load in his pants like a kid in junior high. I turn to see what he’s staring at. Whoa; I may just be looking the same way right now. Those tan curvy legs hooked to an incredible ass bent over in a pair of red shorts like cheerleaders wear. Oh shit, my dick…Baseball, ice cream, Platoon, The Sound of Music…okay I’m better.

  She looks up at us. “Hey I’m Gabby; Daria is in our room finishing putting her things away.”

  I’m almost in a trance at her beauty. You can tell she doesn’t know how gorgeous she is. That dark hair, the ass, the boobs, the eyes, damn the whole package…

  “Hey Earth To Linc!” Russ is waving his hand in front of me.

  “Oh hi, I’m Linc.”

  Russ starts laughing. “Jackass, I think she got that.”

  “Oh sorry…I space out sometimes…comes from getting hit in the head too much playing football.” Crap. Now she’s gonna think I’m mentally challenged.

  She laughs. “It’s okay…so are you playing football here?”

  Russ pipes up. “Yep, they picked us up as a duo…he’s the quarterback and I’m the wide-receiver.”

  She smiles. “That’s cool; I like football. My best friend in high school played football.”

  I smile. “What position did he play?”

  “He was a running back. Well, is. He’s actually playing here too. I was hoping he would get to be in this hall but, he ended up over in Swelly Hall. We’ve lived next door to each other our entire lives.”

  Russ is roaming around the apartment talking I’m guessing to Daria. I need to keep talking to this girl. “So what’s his name since he and I are going to be teammates and you and I are roommates?”

  “His name is Cade Johnson.”

  I nod my head trying to seem cool. “Okay well, I guess I’ll go help Russ unpack our stuff.”

  She laughs. “What are you guys brothers or something? I saw that you have the same last name.”

  “We’re actually cousins/best friends, but he could be my brother. We act like it most of the time.” Russ’s laughing breaks my thoughts of her.

  . “Really, that’s some awesome shit. Hey Daria, this is my cousin Linc; Linc this is Daria. She was here last year. She says the people across the hall were straight up Jerry Springer shit last year. All like you slept with my man…you hoe…you bitch…”

  I start laughing. “Really Russ…”

  Daria sticks her hand out. “Hi nice to meet you. Yes I was here last year. That’s what I wanted to talk to you guys about. I told Gabby that we need to have some ground rules and stick by them. If we don’t, shit gets messy and all full of drama and I hate messy drama.”

  I nod. “I agree; I said something like that to Russ. Sin
ce you’ve done this before and all of us haven’t, I’m nominating you.”

  Gabby raises her hand. “I second…I’m just as new at this.”

  Daria looks around. “Okay first of all, it’s best if none of us get involved with each other…that’s how the Jerry Springer shit from across the hall becomes reality. Second, we make a chore chart and hold each other accountable. We also have to figure out an agreement on shopping, but we can do that later. Third, just respect each other’s boundaries…we will be in here a lot together. We are going to get on each other’s nerves…in each other’s space…just respect each other…oh and don’t be uptight. Have fun with each other.”

  We all nod in agreement.