Pleasure Point: The Complete Series

by Evans, Jennifer

  Jax

  Rosalyn needed time to cool off. After she left, I did what I always did when life got tough. I surfed.

  “Don’t you ever get enough?” one of the more aggressive locals said as I paddled hard into a wave. I managed to catch twice as many waves as the rest of the surfers. When I needed to calm myself, the ocean always did the trick, but honestly, I wasn’t particularly upset about what’d happened. In fact, I was kind of glad the truth was coming out.

  When I got home, Tyler was back from practice and fixing himself a quesadilla. I propped my surfboard against the wall and brushed past him to get a drink out of the fridge.

  “Can’t you use a glass?” he said as I drank straight out of the carton of orange juice.

  I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “What’s it to you?” We glared at each other. I settled myself at the kitchen table next to Tyler as he tore into his food, grease dripping onto the plate. “Hey.” I nudged his arm. “You got a minute to talk?”

  “What’s up?”

  I picked up a napkin, crumpled it into a tight ball and threw it in the trash can, where it landed with a satisfying three point shot. “I kind of messed up today.”

  His green eyes twinkled with amusement. “Again?”

  “This time was pretty screwed up.”

  His hand stopped midway to his mouth. “What happened?”

  I toyed with another paper napkin, folding it, refolding it, and then tearing it into bits. “Promise not to say I told you so?”

  He took a bite of quesadilla and washed it down with a soda. “What happened?”

  I collapsed against the chair. “Mom caught me kissing Rosalyn.”

  Tyler popped up in his chair, his back straight. “What the fuck? How?”

  “We were doing a little more than kissing, if you want to know the truth.”

  His eyes became wild. “No way. Were you screwing her? Please tell me no.”

  “No, we weren’t doing that.” I leaned forward and combed a hand through my hair. “After I surfed with dad, and after they’d left for their trip, Rosalyn came over.” Tyler watched me with wide eyes. “And we kind of got in a fight, and then we started kissing, and then I pulled her top down. I was …” I looked away. “I was sucking her nipples when mom walked in the door.”

  “Oh my God.”

  I folded my arms in front of me, sliding down the chair. “Mom kinda freaked.”

  “No way dude, this is serious. What’d she do?”

  “Oh, she was surprised all right.” I pictured the shock on mom’s face. “She yelled at us and then she slapped me.” Tyler’s eyes grew. “But she promised she wouldn’t tell dad because she doesn’t want to ruin their weekend.” I exhaled. “I guess I’ve got the weekend till all hell breaks loose.”

  Tyler said, “Shit. I knew you guys were going to get caught. This totally blows.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “What was the fight with Rosalyn about?”

  I smiled. “She was mad because I told her I loved her.”

  He stood up and slammed his plate onto the kitchen counter. “You are so stupid! Why’d you go and do something dumb like telling her you love her? I thought maybe you’d get over it, maybe start getting bored with her. She’s too old for you.”

  I jumped out of my seat and squared off with my brother. “She’s not too old. Don’t ever say that again.”

  “Don’t you think you should find somebody your own age?”

  “I don’t want someone my own age! I want Rosalyn. I love her.”

  He turned on his heel to leave the kitchen. “Yeah, well, when she finds a real adult, then maybe this whole thing’ll be over.”

  I grabbed Tyler’s shirt from the back. “Take it back!”

  He laughed and shrugged out of my grasp. “Not taking it back. Rosalyn’ll find somebody else, and then your ass is getting dumped.”

  Blood thrummed through my ears, and my fists clenched. “She won’t. We’re good together.”

  “Yeah, right. Your dick’s talking pretty loud and clear,” he said. I moved so fast that Tyler didn’t see me coming. The look of surprise on his face was priceless when I tackled him to the living room floor and all the air whooshed out of his lungs. “Get off of me!” he managed to say in a hoarse voice as I pinned him down. And then he laughed. “When you get off of me, you can apologize.” I forced him into a headlock. “What’re you going to do? Beat me up?”

  I wanted to hurt my brother. “I’ll kill you!” My nostrils flared, my breathing rushed. I squeezed hard.

  He made a gagging sound. “Let … me.”

  I eased up on my grip, slightly. Through gritted teeth, I said, “Rosalyn and I are in love. I am not thinking with my dick.” He muffled a protest, and I increased the pressure. “Don’t you ever … ever say anything bad about her again, or I’ll put your balls in a vise and squeeze so hard you’ll be singing high notes for the rest of your life.”

  “Lemme up,” he managed to croak out. Tyler’s face turned a crazy color of red. If I didn’t ease up, I probably would kill him. Reluctantly, I let him go, and he kneeled on the floor, coughing.

  Blood pulsed behind my eyeballs. I kicked the sofa, then seeing a stack of magazines on the coffee table, I swept all of them off the table with one violent sweep of my hand. “God damn it!” I towered over my brother, my hands clenching and unclenching. “You’d better take back what you said.”

  He put his hands in front of him in surrender. “Okay, okay, I take it back. But only because I know you’re going to be in a world of hurt when dad finds out.”

  Tyler stood up and brushed himself off. The two of us stared at each other, my breathing erratic.

  Tyler said, “Listen, I know you’re pissed, but can we talk about this?” I rubbed my knuckles, forcing my hands to unclench. “Sit down,” he said. I collapsed on the sofa, my arms crossed, staring straight ahead. Tyler’s green eyes studied me. “You’re going to have to do some serious apologizing to mom and dad. Here’s what you’ll do. Maybe tell them that you only kissed her once and tried to get her to do more but she wouldn’t.”

  My mouth was a firm line. “I know they’re not going to like it, but they’re going to have to get used to it.”

  “They won’t.” His eyes narrowed. “Just do what I’m saying. Tell them you only kissed once. Then break up with Roz.”

  “I’m not doing that.”

  Tyler leaned in. “Mom and dad are never going to accept the two of you together.”

  “They don’t have a choice.”

  He threw his hands in the air. “What happens when they find out you’ve been with Rosalyn for a year? Behind everyone’s backs? They’ll never speak to her again. They might never speak to you again. You going to deny what’s been going on?”

  I stared at my brother. “I will do anything to be with Rosalyn because I love her.”

  He popped up off the sofa, towering over me. “You’re not in love. How would you know what love feels like anyway? Just chalk it up to some mind-blowing sex with a hot lady and move on.”

  “Whose side are you on?” I felt hurt that my brother didn’t see what I saw. “I thought you and I were best friends.”

  He softened. “‘Course we are. But dude, you’ve got to think this thing through. How’s it going to work?”

  “It just will.”

  “Okay. If you say so.” He nudged my leg. “Just think about what I said.”

  My breathing was finally starting to slow. “I’ll think about it,” I said. “Maybe I can tell them we just started.”

  “Maybe you and Roz need to break up.”

  I flattened my lips. “Not happening.”

  “So, what’re you going to do?”

  “I’ll give Rosalyn the night. Then we’ll come up with a plan.”

  “Okay bro.” He headed for the shower. “I’m going out with Tracy tonight. You got one day to figure this thing out.”

  The following day, after I surfed, I went to Rosalyn’s. When I
propped my surfboard against the house, I glanced through the window and saw her performing a headstand. I smiled. I loved every single thing about her, including her perfect yoga postures. I knocked lightly on the door.

  The aroma of frankincense greeted me when she answered. She looked first right, then left, then pulled me into her house, closing the drapes tightly to the outside world. “What are you doing here? And God Almighty, bring your board in.” I retrieved my surfboard and leaned it against the living room wall.

  I moved to hug her. She felt stiff in my arms, and stood unmoving, like she was my surfboard instead of my lover. I stared into her big brown eyes. “Rosalyn, I know you think yesterday was a disaster, but I’m glad it happened.”

  She jerked out of my grasp. “Glad? Are you crazy? That was the worst nightmare of my life!” She took two steps backward, and rubbed her hands against her yoga pants. “Things are never going to be the same. Your mom is probably going to hate me, and your dad’ll never let you anywhere near me.” Her eyes became wild as she held both my shoulders. “We have to come up with a story. We have to tell them that was the first time anything ever happened. We’ve got to convince them that I came over to borrow something, and somehow, one thing led to another and we … Oh I don’t know Jax. We’ve got to tell them a good story so they think nothing’s been going on.” Her eyes filled. “Then we’ve got to stop.”

  “Stop? No way. We’ll come up with a story. But then you and I are going to sit down with my mom and dad and tell them—”

  “We’re not telling them anything! You think this is a game?”

  “Rosalyn, I love you.”

  “Stop saying that! What we have is not love! It’s just … it’s just …”

  “It’s love,” I said. The room became silent. Rosalyn and I stared at each other, and I could’ve sworn I heard her heart beat, smelled the earthy, musky scent of her sandalwood perfume, and felt the heat radiating off her body. The pupils of her eyes were large, like she was inviting me to become a part of her. I loved her so much that I would’ve done anything to be with her. “My parents will have to understand.”

  “They won’t.” Her gaze dropped to the floor.

  “Then we’ll move away.”

  She lifted her head, and the sadness that filled her eyes broke my heart. “We can’t.” She shook her head. I wanted to soothe her, to make love to her, to do anything to make things better. But things wouldn’t get better. Things were about to get worse.

  Rosalyn jumped at the sharp rap on the door. When she answered, there stood Tyler, his face streaked red with tears. Two uniformed police officers stood by his side. At first I thought that Tyler had gotten into some kind of trouble, but when I found out what really happened, I wished it were that simple.

  The cops looked at me, their eyes sad. One of them cleared his throat then said, “There’s been an accident.”

  Tyler’s face collapsed, his voice nearly unintelligible. “Mom and dad are …” and then, with a shaky voice, said the word I’ve never been able to forget. “Dead.”

  Dead. The word reverberated in my skull. Dead.

  “What? No.” The earth collapsed under my feet. “That can’t be … I just saw them. There’s gotta be a mistake.”

  But there was no mistake. My mom, who was an amateur photographer, had had plans to head to the Star Of India in San Diego, a windjammer ship built in the 1800s. She had wanted to arrive early in the morning, just as the sun rose, and photograph the ship for her class. Mom and Dad had been driving through the fog in the Gas Lamp district when some junkie who’d just broken up with his coke-addled girlfriend got behind the wheel of his car. This druggie lost control of his car, smashing into my parents with a violence that ended all three lives. “It was quick. Nobody felt a thing,” one of the officers assured us.

  Rosalyn, Tyler, and I clambered into Ol’ Betsy, and passed the drive downtown in silence.

  The three of us stood in the coroner’s office as the white sheets were pulled away from each of our parents’ cold bodies.

  I hope I never have to see another dead body for as long as I live. I will never get the vision of their lifeless bodies out of my head. The specter comes back to haunt me at the most unexpected moments. When they say “Nobody felt a thing,” I want to know how they knew that with all the blood. The coroner’s staff had done their best to clean it up. I’ll give them that much.

  Rosalyn stood close to me and moaned, “I’m going to be sick.” She turned a ghastly shade of grey, and with her eyes glazing over, looked at me pleadingly. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

  “She’s gonna faint!” Tyler said, sprinting to her side. Between the two of us, we caught Rosalyn before she hit the ground.

  “Rosalyn,” I said in a loud whisper. “Rosalyn, wake up!” Her eyes fluttered, and when they opened, she looked at me, eyes wide with shock as if she were coming out of a bad dream.

  “Let’s get her outside. Rosalyn, hold onto me.” We walked Rosalyn toward the exit, Tyler on her left, me on her right.

  When we pushed through the heavy doors, the sunlight hit us with its intensity, and Rosalyn shielded her eyes, took a deep lungful of air and said, “I’m gonna throw up.” She bent over, while I supported her around the waist and Tyler held her hair back, and she puked on the cold, hard pavement outside the coroner’s office.

  “You okay?” I said. I pushed her hair out of her face with hands that wouldn’t stop shaking. She burst into tears. “Tyler, run inside and get her a cold drink from the vending machine.”

  While Tyler was gone, I put my arm around Rosalyn, and the two of us staggered over to the shade of a ficus tree. “You’re going to be okay.”

  “No!” she said, pushing me away. “Things are never going to be the same.” She fell into a fresh wave of tears, bent over, trying to catch her breath. “This can’t be happening.”

  Tyler, his face white, burst through the doors and sprinted toward us with the cold drink. “You okay?” he said to Rosalyn. Her body shook, and she hugged her arms tightly around herself. Tyler handed Rosalyn the soda. She mumbled a thank you.

  Tears filled my eyes, my limbs shaky. A sour taste filled my mouth, and I wanted to scream. I ran up the stairs of the government office and made it to the front door. My fists pounded on the door, my head bent. “No! It’s not true. They’re not dead!”

  Tyler followed at a fast clip, and when he reached me, he encircled me in his arms. “Jax, stop!”

  “I’m going in there. They can’t be dead. That wasn’t them.” My heart raced so fast I thought I’d zonk out, thought I’d puke. I sagged against my brother, whimpering. “They can’t be dead.”

  Tyler hugged me to him, patting my back, a sob caught in his throat. “I can’t believe it.” He turned his face, swallowing hard, his tears falling on my shirt.

  Rosalyn appeared at our side. Her voice was low and shaky. “Here,” she said, handing me her orange soda.

  I accepted it, and the three of us sank to the steps where we sat like three abandoned kids waiting for their parents to pick them up from school. My body felt numb, like this whole thing was happening to someone else. I glanced at Tyler. His hands trembled as he rocked slightly. Rosalyn’s shoulders shook with sobs, her eyes staring at the filthy pavement. I took a sip of soda, and it tasted like battery acid. None of us spoke. No words would ever make this day okay.

  Rosalyn

  I drove the boys home. I couldn’t get the image of Troy and Lydia’s cold, rigid bodies out of my head as I drove. In retrospect, we’re lucky we didn’t get in an accident ourselves. I was in shock. I shouldn’t have been driving.

  “I’ll see you later,” I said as I dropped them off. No mention had been made as to what the future might hold.

  A few days went by, days when Jax and I spoke on the phone in short, tear-filled conversations that ended in both of us trying to catch our breaths in between sobs.

  I meditated and prayed, trying to decide what to do with my future. I
knew I had to cut things off with Jax. When I asked for guidance, I felt strongly that it would be best for me to leave the area, start fresh somewhere else. Somewhere that I wouldn’t screw up peoples lives. I’d asked around through the physical therapy community at school and found a lead for a job in Santa Cruz.

  As I sat on my meditation pillow, my eyes drifted to the answering machine, its red light blinking days of missed calls. Some of the messages were from work, some from Carissa. “Where are you? Why haven’t you called?” she said. I called Carissa back. When I told her about the accident, she almost lost the ability to speak. Finally she said, “Are the boys okay?”

  “Of course they’re not. They just lost their parents.”

  “Oh Roz, this is terrible.” She paused. “I assume you never broke things off with Jax?”

  I twirled the phone cord tightly around my finger. “No.” Then I steeled myself for the next piece of news. “In fact, things got kind of complicated with Jax.” I told her about what had happened with Lydia catching us together. Tears filled my eyes for the thousandth time that day. “I never … I never had the chance to tell her how sorry I was.”

  “Oh sweetie, she’s in a better place, and—”

  “She’s not! She’ll never forgive me. Troy will never forgive me.” I despised when people used platitudes like “She’s in a better place.”

  “Rosalyn, listen to me. I know you’re not ready to hear this right now, but you know the Universe has our births and deaths predestined. Everything is as it should be. Maybe you could go to a psychic who specializes in contacting those who’ve passed over?”

  “I don’t want to go to a psychic. This whole thing is my fault. If I hadn’t been screwing her son, maybe she would’ve been calmer on her trip. Maybe that other driver wouldn’t have been drawn to her negative energy.” I could feel Carissa nodding her head, concurring with my assessment. But it was bullshit. Just another stupid line I used to convince myself that sometimes things were okay when they weren’t. Bile filled my mouth. “There’s something else.”

  “What?”

  “I’m pregnant.”