I listen to her intently, “Yeah, he’s right.”
She gives me a rueful smile. “But then the next day Brent was waiting for me at my locker, and he was so sweet. He apologized for what happened and said he still wanted to be my boyfriend. Brooke, he practically begged me.”
I try to keep my face neutral. This Brent kid is really getting on my nerves. “Okay, then what happened?”
“Well, he invited me to a party tonight. I told him I was grounded, but he suggested I sneak out. I wasn’t going to, but then Dylan said he was going out tonight, and I just really didn’t want to upset Brent. A couple of the cheerleaders said if I didn’t go to the party tonight that he would find someone else.”
I want to be careful in what I say. I don’t want her to feel like she’s naive or stupid for letting these “friends” talk her into stuff. I remember peer pressure, and it sucked. I remember thinking I was so smart and adult. It doesn’t escape me that right now Cassie needs a woman to listen and be her friend, and not have to try to make an over-protective older brother with a hair trigger understand what she’s going through.
“Honey, doesn’t that tell you something? What does it say that he would find someone else if you don’t do what he wants? Those girls are wrong in telling you that. They need to look at their own relationships before giving you advice on yours. And you deserve better than having to worry about something as ridiculous as that. That’s twice in one week now that he’s talked you into doing something he wants without thinking of the consequences for you. What I don’t like is that he was able to.”
She sniffles again, “I just really want him to like me. So I snuck out, and he picked me up for the party. Luke was preoccupied, and the plan was to be back before Dylan even got home.”
I want to say so many things to her right now, but I don’t know where to begin. Part of me wants to tell her how dangerous it is to sneak out, but then the other part of me feels like a total hypocrite. I can’t even remember how many times I did it in high school. “What happened at the party?”
She starts to sob slightly, “Everything was fine at first. We were just hanging out with everyone else. Then he led me to one of the bedrooms in the house. We were kissing, and then he started to undress me. And I don’t know, I just kept thinking about my talk with Dylan, so I kind of freaked out and told him I wanted to stop.”
There’s my good girl. I’m so relieved when she says that, but then her sobbing becomes more intense, “He said I was immature and that he should have known better than to date a freshman. He said I wasted his time and that I was just a tease.”
I pull her to me trying to soothe her. After a minute of her sobbing in my arms, I pull back and look into her tear stained face, “I am so proud of you. Do you know how unbelievably hard it is to do what you did? Especially someone your age. You are a strong young woman, and you should be proud of yourself too. Cass, I know this probably seems like one of the worst nights of your life, but you’re going to be okay. You said no because of what your brother said, and that tells me that all of you are going to be fine.”
She wipes away tears from her face, “He hates me.”
“Who hates you?”
“Brent.”
He’s a little shithead. “I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but someday you will look back at this and laugh. I promise you. All of this will seem so insignificant, and he will only be a memory if that. I think you should try to enjoy other things right now besides dating and boys. High school goes by so fast. Enjoy cheer and the games and hanging out with your friends. There will be plenty of time for boys.”
She kind of smiles, “That’s what Dylan said.”
“Well, maybe he’s smarter than you think. It wasn’t that long ago that he was in high school so he can’t have forgotten too much.”
She gives me a big hug, “Thank you, Brooke. I really have missed you. Do you promise you’re going to try to be around more?”
I hug her back, “I missed you too, Cass, and yes, I am going to be around more, and you can call me anytime, just like before. But you know you can always give Stacey a call to, a best friend who knows all the dirt on everyone at school, just think of the gossip. And best friends are wonderful to watch bad movies with while you eat gallons of ice cream and talk trash about boys.” Stacey is a girl that Cassie met this summer during cheer camp, and they hit it off. I want to be there for Cassie, but I need to encourage her to open up to people her age, and not just me.
She grins, “Yeah, I sent her a text when I got home, but she’s had the flu most of the week. I’m sure she’s sleeping.”
“Ah, well then you two have a ton of stuff to catch up on when she feels better.”
She laughs, “Yeah.”
I stand up, “Why don’t you get some rest now. I’m going to check on your brother.” I walk toward her door and then turn back to her. “Oh and Dylan is going to yell, and he’s probably gonna ground you for longer, but take it easy on him okay? This job of his isn’t that easy.”
She nods and climbs under her covers on her bed, obviously worn out. “Okay, I’ll try.”
I smile and go upstairs. I pick my heels I left by the door at the top of the stairs and just hold onto them. I find Dylan sitting on the couch in the living room leaning his head back with his arm over his eyes. “Hey.” I get his attention.
He removes his arm and looks at me, “Is she okay?”
I nod and walk over to the couch. I sit in the middle and turn toward him. “Yeah, she will be.”
“Ahh, so you can’t tell me anything,” He says knowingly.
“I probably shouldn’t, but just know she’s gonna be fine.”
He sighs deeply and looks at me imploringly. “Can you please just tell me one thing? And you don’t even have to flat out tell me. You can just nod your head once.” He swallows like he has a bad taste in his mouth and barely gets out, “Is she still a vir….a virgin?”
Yeah, that couldn’t have been easy to ask. I have to give him something. I nod my head slightly, and relief washes over his face. “Your talk with her the other day stuck with her.”
“Oh yeah, I can tell by the way she snuck out tonight.” He stretches his arms above his head and folds them behind his neck. His muscles flex, and I catch myself staring for far too long. Real professional Brooke.
“Trust me, it was a good talk. How was your talk with Luke?”
He lowers his arms, “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. It’s one thing or another with these kids. I yelled, he sneered and ignored me while I tried to lecture him on responsibility, girls, blah, blah, blah. I just ended up sounding like our father. And that shit bugs the hell out of me.”
I move a little closer to him. “You are doing a great job. I think that’s just life raising kids, it’s always something. But you are handling it well.”
He shakes his head, “This could have been really bad, Brooke. I can’t believe she snuck out. She could have been hurt.”
“But she wasn’t, and I think she learned a lesson tonight. I really do.”
He stands up and stretches causing his shirt to raise and show skin stretched over some serious muscle definition. I shiver, and he notices. “Let me find you something to wear, you’ve got to be cold.” Before I can say anything, he disappears into the laundry room and returns with a long-sleeve t-shirt and a pair of boxers. “Here these will be more comfortable and obviously warmer. You want some coffee or some water or something.”
I should ask him to take me home. We probably shouldn’t be alone. I shouldn’t be heading to the bathroom to change into his clothes. But all I do is say, “Water would be great, and thanks for the clothes.” Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to hang out for a little while. He goes into the kitchen, and I change.
When he comes back with two bottles of water, he joins me on the couch. I take a big drink because I’m obviously dehydrated from all the drinking tonight, or it could be because I’m here with him and remembering our night at t
he club has my mouth going dry. I have never had a guy look at me like that, touch me like he owned me, or talk to me like he did. I take another smaller drink, and Lord knows why I just blurt, “So, you had a girlfriend?”
He looks over at me surprised, “What?”
I want to rewind, but it’s too late. “Cassie said that you told her about a girlfriend you had in high school. Did you make that up?”
He laughs and puts his water on a coaster on the table by the couch. “No, not exactly. I didn’t make her up. I did have a girlfriend once, for about a minute.”
That’s really…odd? I suddenly want to know everything about her. That’s rational, right? “Really? When? For how long?” That didn’t sound too eager at all, dumbass.
He looks at me questioningly, “You really want to know about my high school, uh girlfriend?”
I shrug deciding to try to seem casual, because, before, I did sound way too interested. I’m just not so sure I’m pulling it off, though. “Sure, why not? Only if you want to. I don’t want to pry, but you can tell me anything. You know, I’m a wonderful listener.” I’m sure that way-too-eager smile and blush covering my face are a dead giveaway that I’m dying to hear this.
“Okay, I dated her my freshman year for a little bit. She was older and loved football players.”
Absolutely nothing he says is making sense, and I know I’m not drunk anymore. “Oh, how much older?”
“She was a senior.”
“How did you meet her?”
“At a football party. She was a cheerleader, and I was the new starting receiver. She zoned right in on me and walked right over. We flirted for a while, and then bam, we’re in an empty bedroom, clothes are on the floor, and in my delusional young mind I had a new girlfriend. It was just that quick and easy.”
Don’t ask Brooke, just leave it at that. “So was that your first time?”
He grins that sexy Dylan grin. “Wow, tequila removes your filter.”
I place my hand on my head; I can’t believe I asked that. “I’m sorry, that’s not appropriate.”
“No, I like it. I like that you’re interested. I miss that. Like you said, Brooke, we should be able to talk about things.”
I smile at him and nod. He’s right, this is just two people talking. Right? “Okay.”
“And yeah, that was my first time, and then there were many times after that with her until she went off to college.”
“So what, she just used you?”
“Yeah, I guess so. And I was pissed at first, but then I got a fucking grip. I mean what 15-year-old guy doesn’t want to be used for sex. And I wasn’t the only one she had fun with that year.”
“She cheated on you?”
He laughs casually, “No, I mean not really. I was young; I had no idea how to do the relationship thing. We never talked about being exclusive or anything. Looking back, it was pretty much just sex. Hell, I couldn’t even legally drive yet, Brooke.”
Part of me is relieved that he doesn’t seem to have any real attachment to her. My relief is shot to hell when he says, “So you know all about my first time, I think it’s only fair you share yours.”
Oh damn. This backfired quickly. Before I say anything he smirks over at me, “Hmm, let me guess, prom night, senior year. Shriller rented a nice hotel room and snuck in some cheap champagne.”
I can’t help but laugh out loud at that. He is so far off. “Oh God, no. Prom night Shriller the Thriller had a huge race, with a Mustang Shelby.”
“And….?”
“And you already know what happened. He got beat.” I say stalling.
“Brooke.”
Hmm. Am I seriously going to tell him about this?
Chapter 15
Dylan
Fucking hell she looks good sitting there on my couch in my boxers and t-shirt. It blows my mind that I think she looks better in my clothes than she did in the barely-there dress she had on earlier. Now, if I could get her out of my clothes and in my bed for a few hours, or for a night, that would be the best look of all. Since laying eyes on her tonight, future fantasies of Brooke have flashed through my dark mind one after the other. Something tells me that all the things I want to do to her may take more than one night. I could bend the rules, after all, I’ve kissed her. So what’s one or ten more?
I halt my thoughts and wonder why she’s holding up this conversation. Why is she thinking so hard about this? I can’t imagine what’s holding her back. Makes me wonder if Shriller wasn’t such a thriller. Damn, I hope so. I shake that thought because really, why does it matter?
She shakes her head like she is going to back out of answering. I like how open she’s been all night, and I don’t want to lose that vibe right now. “Brooke, open book, remember? I may never trust you again if you don’t share. ” I smirk at her trying to tease her back into the conversation.
She laughs, “Okay, okay. So my first time wasn’t with Adam Shriller.”
“Wait. You never slept with him? So what, you waited for college then?”
She shakes her head, “No, I didn’t say that.”
“You said you only had two boyfriends, Adam and the guy in college.”
“True.” She sighs, “Maybe I need to explain a few things.”
I look at her confused. “That would be good because I’m all kinds of confused.”
“No one knows about my first time, not even Alex.”
What the hell is she talking about? “Not even Alex? I figured you two were the type to tell each other everything.”
“We are, but just not this. It’s stupid really and not that big of a deal now.”
“So then tell me.”
“Okay, so you met Trevor tonight, Alex’s brother.”
Some sound comes out of my mouth, a growl or a grunt, but it’s not actual words. What the hell does Trevor have to do with this? I simply nod and give her a confused look.
“Well I spent a ton of time at Alex’s house, and I guess developed a stupid crush on him. I mean I was always around him, and he was a hot older guy in a band. But he didn’t notice me, I mean like at all. I was just his little sister’s best friend. I kind of pretty much forgot about it when we were sophomores, and he went away to college. I started tutoring Adam and got the biggest crush on him. But he didn’t notice me either. He would invite Alex and me to his races, and I would watch all these girls from school and college flirt with him. I knew little innocent Brooke Porter could never compete with that. But I fell in love with racing and cars. Adam and I would talk forever about them. We just kind of got closer because of that, but he still never saw me as a girlfriend.”
Where in the fuck is she going with this? “Okay.”
“During spring break that year, Trevor came home for the week to play a couple of clubs around here.” She shakes her head. “I stayed at Alex’s house all the time, and spring break we were together the whole week since her parents were gone for the week on vacation. Instead of going with them, Alex and I talked them into letting us stay home since Trevor was going to be there, and they agreed. So, while Trevor was out one night playing a gig we thought it would be fun to go through his things, totally Alex’s idea,” she laughs. “We ended up finding a bottle of some liquor and started drinking. We decided that I needed to lose my virginity and learn how to flirt or seduce a guy if I wanted to get with Adam. Obviously, we had way too much to drink. Unfortunately, there were no prospects for the little job…..” Her voice trails off.
“Eventually, Alex passed out, and I laid there thinking about what we talked about. I had no clue how to seduce a guy, especially one like Adam. He seemed larger than life, especially with all the racing stuff.”
“I can see that. That’s kind of how it was with the cheerleader when I was a freshman. I had noticed her with other football players, but I knew there was no way she would ever be interested in a freshman. She was pretty, though, and I wanted her to notice me.”
”Yeah, that’s all I wanted at the time. So
while Alex was passed out, Trevor came home, and he was drunk.” Why is she talking about Trevor again? She continues, “I heard him stumbling around in the hall. Alex was dead to the world, so I went out and helped him into his room. We were hanging out, then he kissed me. This is where it’s proof positive that alcohol makes you really stupid. In my inebriated young mind, I got the bright idea to try to seduce Trevor. I started kissing him back and….well, it just happened.”
“What just happened?”
She laughs a little uncomfortably, “Sex, Dylan.”
“Wait, you had sex with Trevor? Your first time?”
She nods. “Yeah. I know. It was really stupid of me to do that.”
Obviously. Her first time was just on a whim or something? “So, are you saying it was like, a means to an end. Get rid of your cherry so you could get to the guy you wanted? Did you guys have a secret relationship or something?”
She laughs again, “God no. It was just a one-time thing.”
“But you said you don’t do casual sex,” I say accusingly.
Trevor? Really? That bothers me for some fucked up reason.
“I don’t. It was just that one time, and then it was so weird afterward. Right after we had finished neither one of us said a word. I just got dressed and snuck back to Alex’s room. Right before he left to go back to school we talked and decided we would never tell anyone, and that it was so awkward with having known each other practically our whole lives that we would never do it again. We just pretended it never happened all these years and went back to being friends.”
I just sit there gaping at Brooke. I have no clue what to say. This whole thing is bugging the shit out of me for some reason. The way Trevor was acting tonight did not say he never wanted it to happen again. He was all over her. He was the first one to have sex with Brooke. He knew exactly what it was like to be inside of her. I swallow back a really bad taste in my mouth at that thought. “Um, wow. So you guys never hooked up again?”
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