Present Perfect

by Alison Bailey

  “Well, hello Amanda. What are you doing here?” Brittani said with the most self-satisfied smug look across her face. What I wouldn’t give to punch that look right off her face.

  I remained silent. How could I have been at the party this long and not have seen her until now? She was pretty easy to spot, at least her big ass was. Her arms crept around Noah’s waist. He quickly stepped away from her. She looked pissed, but recovered quickly.

  Sounding syrupy sweet, she said to Noah, “Baby that was amazing, as usual. No one fucks me like you. The way you suck my…”

  “Shut up, Brittani,” Noah said, cutting her off. Anger laced his voice while sadness overtook his eyes as they stayed fixated on me. She raised her hand to run her fingers through his hair, but he shrugged away from her.

  Placing her hands on her hips, she huffed, and said in a whiney tone, “What’s wrong?”

  With his jaw clenched, Noah spat out, “Get out of here.”

  She looked over at me with her signature Cheshire cat smile plastered across her face. God, I hated that damn smile and face.

  She purred at him, “I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready for round two, baby.” Giving me one last shit eating grin, she headed downstairs.

  Noah and I never broke eye contact the entire time we were standing in the hall. Suddenly, the feeling started to come back into my body. I felt like I was going to throw up. I turned and ran back to the bathroom. I hovered over the toilet for a few seconds before emptying the contents of my stomach into it. The last time I had eaten was nine hours ago, so there wasn’t much to bring up. The dry heaves made my entire body convulse. My head was pounding and the ache in my chest was so intense, it felt as if my heart just shattered.

  After I was sure all I had in me was gone, I sat on the floor, leaning back against the bathtub. The sobs started coming at a rapid pace. I had no control over myself. There was a soft knock on the door. I stayed quiet. There was another soft knock. Then I heard Noah ask, “Tweet, are you alright? Can I come in, please?”

  Was he kidding me? I had gone from hurt, to devastated, to angry, to enraged in less than three minutes.

  Trying to control my sobs I screamed at the door, “NO AND NO!”

  The door behind me slowly opened. Trying to get to the bathroom as fast as I could, I forgot to lock it. I could not believe he was actually coming in here. I screamed, “STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, NOAH!”

  I scrambled to my feet as the door swung wide open. I caught my reflection in the mirror. I looked like hell. My eyes were blood red, my face was blotchy, and streaked with tears. Noah stepped in, closing the door behind him.

  “I know you don’t want to hear this right now.” His voice sounded so small and strained. “I am so, so, so sorry.”

  “For what? I’m not anything to you,” I said in as flat a voice as I could.

  “It doesn’t mean anything. She’s just a fuck.”

  “Wow! What a romantic you are.”

  He rubbed his hands up and down his face. “I was so angry with you for choosing him.”

  “You’re not going to blame me for what you just did with her. How could you with her?” I stormed toward the door, but he grabbed my arm.

  “I don’t know. When I saw you kneeling by that Smurffucker helping him… It pissed me off.”

  “So you fucked Brittani to get back at me?”

  “No! I wasn’t trying to get back at you. I just wanted to be numb.” Tears continued to fall down my face as we looked at one another.

  I shrugged out of his grip, took a step back, and said, “Why with her? You didn’t see the look on her face when she came out of that room after the two of you…and saw me standing there. She looked so goddamn smug. Like she knew she had something that I never would.” Sobs were pouring out of me.

  “You do have me. Every part of me. You always have. You just don’t want me.” His words slapped me in the face. He had to know that wasn’t the case. I explained all of this to him. I was beginning to suffocate. I had to get out of there. I shoved Noah as hard as I could. This time he let me move him out of my way. Once I hit the hall, I took off running. I ran down the stairs, through the living room, across the deck, passing Brad who was still waiting for me. I had no clue how long I had been gone. It could have been minutes or hours. Once I got to the bottom of the deck steps, I kicked off my flip flops, and ran full speed down the beach. I had no idea where I was going. I just knew I had to get away.

  I ran as fast and as far as my legs allowed before I collapsed from exhaustion on the sand. My breathing was so fast and heavy I was lightheaded. I heard my name being called in the distance. I didn’t care who it was. I didn’t care about anything except forgetting this night. As the voice got louder I didn’t look up, I knew who it was. Brad ran up and collapsed beside me, completely out of breath. I brought my knees to my chest and hugged my legs. I continued to stare out toward the ocean, hoping the crashing waves would calm me and help me forget what just happened.

  When his breathing recovered, Brad turned to me and asked, “What can I do?”

  My voice was flat. I didn’t look at him when I answered, “Nothing.”

  We sat there in silence for several minutes before he spoke again. “I’m sorry you saw that.”

  I slowly turned my head to him and asked, “How did you know?”

  “Brit likes to brag,” he said sheepishly.

  Looking back towards the ocean, I mumbled, “I want to completely forget the last hour ever happened.” Turning to Brad, I whispered, “Help me forget.” He leaned toward me and softly touched my cheek with his hand before brushing my lips lightly with his.

  Brad stood up and offered me his hand, helping me to my feet. He kept his arm around my shoulders the entire walk back to the beach house. Once we got to the steps, I hesitated. I didn’t know if Noah was still inside, but I knew I didn’t want to see him.

  Brad sensed my apprehension and said, “It’s going to be fine. I’ll make sure he doesn’t come anywhere near you. I promise.” He touched my chin, tilting my head back slightly. His look penetrated through me. “Trust me?” His eyes were filled with sincerity and were smoldering.

  Breathlessly I answered, “Yes.”

  He tried to lighten the mood and make me smile. “Great. Stay here. I’ll be back in a minute. Then we’ll start Operation Fo Getta Bout It,” he said, doing his best New York accent. He winked at me then jogged up the stairs.

  When Brad reappeared, he had a blanket under one arm, a plastic baggie full of lime wedges, a salt shaker, two shot glasses, and a bottle of tequila.

  He pushed my elbow with his indicating he wanted me to

  take the blanket. “Help a guy out.” I grabbed the blanket from him.

  “Follow me,” he said walking past me.

  We walked a few yards down the beach. There was enough light spilling over from the house, plus the moon was very bright, so we were able to see what we were doing. We were fairly well hidden from curious onlookers, though.

  Turning to me, Brad said, “Please tell me if I’m wrong, but I’m assuming that you’ve never done tequila shots.”

  “You assume correctly, sir.” Spreading the blanket out I glanced at all the stuff he was holding. “It looks complicated. There’s a lot of stuff involved.”

  “Well, lucky for you, Beautiful, you’re being taught by a master shots-man.” His playfulness brought a slight smile to my face.

  We sat facing each other with our legs crossed in front of us. Brad placed all the ingredients for the shots between us. He picked up a lime wedge and held it in his left hand. Looking up at me with his sapphire blue eyes, he licked the back of that hand, wetting it slightly, and then sprinkled a small amount of salt on it. Tilting his chin towards the tequila he said, “Pour some booze in one of those glasses for me.”

  Smiling, I did as I was told. He took the glass from me. Looking very serious, he said, “Pay close attention. There will be a quiz afterwards.” I actually giggled. Brad
was doing a great job of lifting my mood.

  He quickly sucked the lime, then licked the salt, and downed the shot. He shook his head and growled, “Oh baby, that’s tasty,” making me laugh out loud/

  Brad watched me intensely as I set up my first ever shot. I had the lime and salt all ready.

  He handed me the shot of tequila he had poured. He instructed me, “It’s best to go as quickly as possible and know the sequence. Remember SLS.”

  I looked at him confused and asked, “SLS?”

  A sly grin appeared. “Suck. Lick. Swallow.” I felt a deep red blush cross my cheeks. Leaning in closer, he said in a low voice, “SLS can also be applied in other situations.” He gave me a devilish look and wink.

  Sitting up tall, I squared my shoulders, and repeated SLS in my head. I sucked the lime, licked the salt, and swallowed the shot as quickly as I could. The minute the tequila hit the back of my throat, I began to choke and cough.

  Brad crawled over to my side and patted me on the back until I calmed down. While he patted and rubbed my back, he admitted, “Probably should have mentioned that if you’ve never done shots before, the first two are a bitch.”

  “Thanks for that bit of info now,” I choked out.

  Brad was right. After my second shot, the others went down smooth as silk.

  We continued Operation Fo Getta Bout It until our supplies had dwindled down. I had lost track of time. But, I was feeling fantastic, without a care in the world. It didn’t even hurt when I thought of what’s his name. “Wow, the bottle is almost empaty…empatty…empty,” I slurred.

  “How do you feel?”

  I cocked my head to one side and answered, “Buzzed and breezy.” We both laughed.

  “God, you’re adorable and great at shots.”

  “I had a good teacher,” I said, looking up at him through my eyelashes.

  At this point, liquid courage was flowing steadily through my body and mind. I had never flirted before, so I was completely out of my element. I just hoped Brad wouldn’t laugh in my face.

  Leaning into me, he ran his nose up and down mine and whispered, “I’d like to teach you a few more things.”

  He moved in closer and started nibbling behind my ear. It tickled and sent chills throughout my body. I giggled. What was happening to me? I pulled away from him a little. The spot behind my ear was on fire.

  Giving him a sideways glance, I grinned and asked, ‘Like what?”

  Brad propped himself up on his right arm. He returned to the spot behind my ear, running his lips gently over my skin. He whispered, “Come here.”

  Reaching over, he grabbed my hips, and pulled me on to his lap, so I was straddling him. The move was so quick it took me by surprise. He began to lick and suck a trail from my jaw down my neck. I tilted my head to the side to give him an obstacle free path. I like to help my fellow mankind whenever possible. It felt amazing. I was on fire and had chills all at the same time. His hands traveled down my hips. Palming my ass, he pulled me closer to his chest. The feel of his large hands holding and squeezing me made every part of my body tingle.

  “Heyyy!” I looked back at Brad’s fingers digging into me, and then I started to giggle. “You’re touching my ass.” I could feel him smiling against my neck. “No one has ever done that before.”

  “Ever?” he muttered, surprised, as he continued working his lips and tongue up and down my neck.

  “Not on purpose,” I giggled.

  He brought his lips to mine. He sucked and lightly nipped my bottom lip. Every part of my body was responding to him. He pulled me in close and squeezed my ass again, causing a little moan to escape me.

  He whispered against my lips, “That surprises me. It’s such a cute little ass.”

  I could feel the heat and wetness spreading between my legs. He thrust his tongue deep and explored every inch of my mouth before pulling away. Again he nibbled a trail from my jaw to my neck. His hot breath washed over my neck as his hands started to travel up my back underneath my shirt.

  Sounding out of breath, he said, “There are a lot more places on your body I want to touch on purpose.” His tongue moved to behind my ear. I heard him mumble, “So sweet. I want to lick every inch of you.” I thought I was going to explode. His words had my body feeling things I didn’t know existed. They drove me crazy.

  My hands moved from behind his neck up to his soft dirty-blonde hair. Brad let out a groan as I laced my fingers through it, slightly tugging. Our breathing was so fast and heavy, we had a hard time slowing it down.

  He let out a low growl, and then whispered, “If I haven’t made it perfectly clear, I really like you.”

  “I like you too,” I said while laughing. I don’t know if it was Brad, the tequila, or a combination of both, but I was feeling very happy.

  He held me tightly against him. “Can you feel how hard you make me?”

  “Mmmhmm…” My answer came out as a moan.

  “Let’s go somewhere less sandy.”

  “Ok,” I smiled and then giggled. My head was swimming so fast, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was agreeing to. All I knew was I felt warm, tingly, and turned on.

  I crawled off Brad’s lap. He struggled to stand up, taking a minute to regain his balance. Holding his hands out to me, I put mine in his, and he pulled me up off the blanket.

  I started to gather our stuff when he said, “Don’t worry about that stuff.”

  “We shouldn’t be litterbugs,” I told him with my best pouty face. He burst out laughing. Yanking on my arms slightly, I fell into his chest, laughing.

  “We’ll deal with it later. Right now there are more important matters that need my attention.” He gave me a quick kiss on the lips, grabbed my hand, and dragged me up the steps to the house.

  The party had settled down quite a bit from earlier. Brad held my hand tightly as he maneuvered us through the large living room heading towards the upstairs. We made it up a couple of steps when I felt a strong warm hand grab my wrist, stopping me in mid step. I stumbled back against the banister. I was so drunk from the tequila that it took me a few seconds before it registered who grabbed me.

  “NOAH!!” I must have been crazy drunk, because I was thrilled to see him.

  I twisted my hand out of Brad’s. I fell towards Noah, draping my arms around his neck. He looked shocked at how affectionate I was towards him, since the last time we were together, I was screaming at the top of my lungs at him.

  “Look Brad! It’s Noah! My Noah! He’s so sweet and sexy. He’s swexy. He licked my thigh under my parent’s dinner table. You remember licking me Noah?” I said in a loud high pitched voice.

  Placing his hands on my shoulders, Noah helped me stand up straight. He said in a low voice, “I’m taking you home.”

  Looking up at his beautiful face, I replied, “But Brad was going to do some things to me on purpose. I don’t know what, but I’m having fun. Hey! You want to come with us?” I asked.

  I looked up towards Brad, who was standing there glaring at Noah, his hands balled into fist, and his jaw clenched tight. Noah snaked his arm around my waist and started leading me down the steps. Brad was right behind us. He grabbed my elbow, yanking me backwards out of Noah’s arms.

  In a low menacing voice, Brad growled at Noah, “Haven’t you done enough to her tonight? She’s having a great time with me, so get your fucking hands off of her.”

  I smiled up at Brad then turned to Noah and said, “I really am having fun. He’s not a Smurffucker at all.”

  Noah tugged on my other arm, breaking me free of Brad’s grip. We started towards the front door when once again I felt my arm being pulled by Brad. I was getting tired of them jerking me back and forth. Not to mention a little queasy with all the moving around. Not saying a word, Noah dropped my hand, walked over to Brad, and punched him directly in the stomach. My hand fell from Brad’s as he doubled over and dropped to the floor. Noah then turned around and put me over his shoulder.

  As we started towards
the door, I grabbed the waistband of his pants, lifting my head, and yelled, “BYE BYE, BRAD! THANKS! MAYBE YOU CAN LICK MY THIGH NEXT TIME! BYE, BYE!” He was still crumpled on the floor as we made it out the door.

  You find out the true character of a person when they don’t take advantage of a sure thing.

  I must have fallen asleep in the car, because the next thing I knew I was at Noah’s house in his bedroom, sitting on his bed. He was standing at his dresser with his back to me. My head was spinning and so was the room causing me to fall back on to the bed.

  “Noah, you’re room is like a ride at Disney World.” I heard a slight chuckle coming from overhead. Barely lifting my head up off the bed, I slowly opened one eye, and saw him standing in front of me, holding a pair of green and white plaid boxer shorts and a white t-shirt. His anger had disappeared, replaced by sadness and guilt.

  My face twisted in confusion. “You wear plaid underwear?” I asked, letting my head fall back and my eye close.

  “Sometimes. Why?”

  “I never pictured you wearing plaid boxers.”

  I felt the material of the t-shirt and boxers brush across my arm as he sat them down on the bed beside me.

  His voice was gravely and hoarse when he said, “Change into this. I’m going to get you some water and aspirin.”

  “What am I going to do about my parents? I can’t go home like this,” I said.

  “Both our parents went to Myrtle Beach this weekend. Remember?”

  I heard his footsteps as he crossed the room, stopping when I whined, “Noah! I can’t sit up. Help me!” I shot both arms up in the air, pointing them straight towards the ceiling. I felt his warm hands glide over mine as he pulled me up to a sitting position. My head was swimming as I swayed from side to side a few times before steadying myself.

  Fumbling, I tried to unbutton my jeans, but the button kept eluding my grasp. If memory served me correctly, there was only one button on my jeans before the party, but apparently it had babies, because now I saw four.