Hookup List

by J. S. Abilene

  “Fatty?” I protested. I glanced down at my shredded abs. Was the girl blind?

  “You heard me,” Faith said. “So what’s your story, anyhow? I haven’t seen you around before and trust me, I would have remembered seeing a guy who’s frickin’ red even if I am just a freshman. Are you new here?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I got kicked out of my boarding school. My parents live in town so here I am.”

  “Uh-huh,” Faith said. “Why were you at a boarding school?”

  I sighed. This chick was wearing me out. “It’s a long story,” I said.

  “Sum it up,” she replied. “We’ve got about three minutes until we’re in the parking lot.”

  “Fine,” I said. I didn’t know why but I suddenly felt nervous. I had never really told this story to anyone before. “When I was in middle school my dad and I got into a fight. It turned physical. After that my parents decided it was probably best not to have me around too much. My dad and I never get along too well.”

  “Why not?” Faith asked.

  I sighed again. “He’s not really my dad,” I said. “My mom and he split up for a few months after my brother was born and she had a fling with another guy. After that I was born. They weren’t really sure whose kid I was – especially ‘cause I looked so much like my brother – so they decided they didn’t want to find out for sure. Finally my dad – I mean Jerry – wanted a paternity test. After they found out I wasn’t his kid he started treating me differently. He got drunk one night and hit me. He was really sorry afterwards, of course, and he doesn’t drink very often. I think my mom felt guilty for the whole thing so she couldn’t bring herself to leave him. The unspoken compromise we all made was that he had to go into counseling and I got shipped away. Mom tells me to still call him dad and think of him that way but I can tell he doesn’t look at me as a son anymore.”

  That was way more than I had planned to share. I took a deep breath. Once I had started talking about things they had just gotten away from me.

  “I’m sorry,” Faith said softly. “That must have been really hard.”

  “I didn’t mean to dump all of that on you,” I said gruffly. “I have never talked about it before. Just forget about it. I just met you; you shouldn’t have to worry about my family issues.”

  “Family issues are not unique to you, you know,” Faith said. “You never know what someone’s background is and whether they’ve been through something like you and know how to help. What about your real father? Do you know who he is?”

  I shrugged. “No, and I don’t really want to know,” I said. At least, I didn’t think I wanted to know. What if my dad was some kind of axe murderer? He couldn’t have been a stellar human being if he had never bothered to visit his biological son. “My brother became my father as well as my best friend. Aaron was the only reason Jerry and I could be in the same room together; he made both of us happy and at ease. Without him around, I don’t think this little experiment of Jerry and me living under the same roof is going to work.”

  “Well, I hope it does,” Faith said. “You seem like a pretty nice guy to me and I think your choice of skin color is a novel way of introducing more diversity to the school.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. Faith’s non-judgmental attitude and spunk were infectious.

  We reached the parking lots. “I see David, my brother,” Faith said, pointing to tall blond-haired guy who was leaning against a car and talking to one of the girls from the soccer team. “He hangs around a lot of soccer girls for some reason,” she said. “Well,” she said, turning to me, “I would hug you goodbye but...”

  “Yeah, I got it, I’m red,” I said.

  “Right. Okay, take care, and try not to let any more boys tie you up,” Faith said.

  I shook my head as she walked away. Insolent little squirt. Still, she was fun. I would have to see if I could find her in the hallways around school. Faith’s brother David gave me a strange look as he suddenly noticed me and I realized I really did need to get cleaned off. I headed back to Aaron’s car, wondering how I was going to keep the paint from smearing all over his seats. The last thing I needed was to give him another reason to be angry with me.

  Chapter 7 – A Loaded Invitation

  “This photo is going everywhere. It’s viral, dude.”

  “Shut up about the photo already,” I said in exasperation.

  “I can’t. It’s too good,” Aaron said. I could see him laughing on my computer screen. “I told you not to cross Sadie and my soccer boys.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said. “Enough of that. How about you tell me some interesting stuff about college? Any good parties? What are the girls like?”

  “The parties are awesome,” Aaron replied. “They rage all night long and then we have ‘keg and eggs’ in the morning. It’s pretty sweet. The girls are hot too. Most of them have just broken up with their old high school boyfriends and are looking for a rebound. It’s worth putting in the extra work in high school to get here, trust me bud.”

  “So how many have you hooked up with so far?” I asked wistfully.

  “Hooked up with? Nah man, I’m not doing that. I’m still with Sadie. She’s actually coming to visit me this weekend.”

  “You mean to tell me you’re ignoring an entire university full of hot girls just so you can hang out with a high school chick once a month?” I asked incredulously. “Get your priorities straight, bro.”

  Aaron shook his head. “You don’t understand yet,” he said. “You will one day. That reminds me, though; you need to go cut Sadie’s grass today.”

  I swore. “Are you seriously going to make me do that?” I asked.

  “Yup. You want to keep using my car, you mow her yard. She said she could do it but I assured her that you wanted to help out. Their push mower is all gassed up. It’s in the shed along the side of the house. There’s a letter combination lock on the door. The combination is M-L-E.”

  “Are they at least going to pay me?” I asked.

  “No. They don’t have a lot of money, especially with medical bills. You’re going to do this because you’re a good person and because if you don’t you’ll be riding the school bus,” Aaron said.

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “I just decided I’m going to go into your room every time I have to fart this week. Your clothes and bed sheets are going to soak up the stench.”

  “Love you, little brother,” Aaron said. He was serious, too. Aaron was like that. He was the coolest guy but he wasn’t afraid to get sentimental. It never failed to make me feel good inside and somehow safe.

  “Yeah, love you too.”

  Of course it turned out to be a scorching hot day. September? No way. It felt like we were in the middle of July. There was not a cloud in the sky and the sun beat down on me relentlessly as I yanked on the Anderson’s rip cord over and over again to start up the mower. Within minutes my shirt was drenched with sweat. I took it off and tossed it onto the driveway. Their yard was surprisingly large and there was no way I was going to put up with a wet, sticky shirt for all of it.

  The lawn mower was old and heavy. I had to muscle it up the surprisingly steep slope of the yard. I realized that, aside from the inconvenience to me, it was a good thing Aaron was making me do this. I didn’t like the idea of Sadie’s sick father trying to manage it. It was hard enough for me and I was fit guy in my prime.

  Going shirtless only bought me a short respite. After about 45 minutes I was drenched in sweat again. My mouth was dry and I wished I had brought a pair of sunglasses. I was about to stop to take a break when the front door of the house opened and a tall, middle-aged man with a bald head walked out. He was holding a tall glass of water. My mouth immediately started to water when I saw the beads of condensation rolling down the cool glass.

  The man waved to me. I let go of the mower handle so that the emergency release lever fell and the mower shut off.

  “You must be Aaron’s brother,” the man said. “My name is Gus Anderson. I
’m Sadie’s dad.”

  I shook his outstretched hand. “My name is Nathan. Everyone calls me Nate.”

  “I figured you might want this water,” he said, offering the glass to me.

  “Thank you, sir,” I said sincerely.

  “Thank you for helping us out,” Gus said. “I’m a bit embarrassed, to tell you the truth. I’ve never needed help cutting my own lawn before. The doctor doesn’t want me exerting myself right now, though, and the girls scream at me whenever I try to do it. Do you know that chemotherapy can ruin your hearing but make your ears painfully sensitive to noise at the same time? The girls have learned that they can get pretty much whatever they want with a few high-pitched screams. I finally gave up on the yard.”

  “It’s no trouble, sir,” I said after I had taken a sip of refreshingly cold water. “How are you feeling now?”

  “Better. Much better,” he said. “I’m done with this latest round of chemo and the doctor says the prognosis looks very good. She’s a little hesitant to be too enthusiastic at this stage but I feel healthy and I’m hopeful. I believe the Good Lord wants me live long enough to get my youngest off to college and become independent.”

  I nodded, not sure how to react to that.

  “How’s your mother?” Gus asked suddenly.

  “She’s good,” I said. “You know her?”

  “We went to high school together,” he said. “We were very good friends once. I actually took her to prom senior year.”

  My eyebrows rose in surprise. Sadie’s dad and my mom had dated? That was too good. It would give me plenty of material to tease Aaron with. I thought back to the pictures of mom I had seen in high school. There weren’t many but I seemed to remember one of her at prom in the yearbook. Her date had been a tall, lanky, blond guy. I looked at Gus. The lack of hair and age made it hard to tell but there was a resemblance.

  “Is she still working as a real estate agent?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “That didn’t work out,” I said. “She’s gone back into marketing. She likes it.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Gus said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. “Tell her to give me a call sometime,” he said, handing the card to me. “It would be great to catch up with her.”

  “Sure,” I said. I looked down at the card. It read Gus N. Anderson, Architect, Lakeville Builders. I slipped it into my pocket.

  “Well, I don’t suppose I could ask one more favor of you?” Gus said.

  “Anything,” I said.

  “Would you mind putting your shirt back on?” he asked.

  “Sir?”

  “I’ve got a 14-year old girl who has been glued to the window ever since you got here,” Gus said. He jerked his head over his shoulder and I noticed the drapes by the living-room window move as what might have been a head suddenly ducked down out of the line of view. “My daughters seem to have a special affinity for Caldwell boys. I may not be able to control Sadie anymore but I’ll be damned if my baby girl is going to be thinking about any boys for at least a few years yet.”

  “Yes sir. Of course,” I said, a little embarrassed.

  “Good. Well, thanks again,” Gus said as he took back the empty glass. “Remember to say hi to your mom for me.”

  “I will, sir. Thanks,” I said.

  Gus left and I walked back to the driveway to pick up my shirt. I was about to put it on when a little red convertible came roaring around the corner and screeched to a stop in front of the driveway. The driver was that girl Carly whom Sadie had called El Diablo. Four other girls were packed into her car. Two of them, I noticed immediately, were especially hot.

  “Nate!” Carly called out as the other girls started whispering to each other excitedly. “What are you doing? This is Sadie’s house, isn’t it? Does she have you doing chores for her now?”

  “Nah, I’m just helping out,” I called back. I walked up to the car. I didn’t bother to put my shirt on; I wanted the hot girls to get a good long look at me.

  “What are you doing tonight?” Carly asked in her overly sweet voice.

  “Dunno yet,” I responded nonchalantly, playing it cool. “What are you girls up to?”

  “There’s a party at Chloe Walker’s house. You have to come!” one of the other girls gushed. “Chloe’s parties are legendary.”

  “Oh yeah?” I said. “Sounds cool. Where’s it at?”

  “Tell you what,” Carly said. “We’re going to pregame at my house. Give me your number and I’ll text you my address. You can come with us to Chloe’s. Show up at my place around eight?”

  Perfect. I gave Carly my number and watched the girls drive off. I was actually quite excited. Things had been a bit rocky at Lakeville so far and not being the considered the coolest guy in school was a new experience for me. A party with plenty of Carly’s cute friends was just what I needed to get back on top. I thought about Carly’s sweet, innocent little face and smiled. She wasn’t that bad-looking either. I knew her type: kind, timid, and eager to please. She had probably never even kissed a boy before. Well, I was happy to be her first. I bet I could persuade her to get freaky under the sheets. Yeah, that would be fun. I was going to teach her and her friends all sorts of new things before the night was over.

  Chapter 8 – Entering The Demon’s Lair

  I put on one of my best pair of jeans. They were old and worn, just the way I liked them. I also put on one of Aaron’s faded long-sleeve checkered shirts. It made me look a bit like a farmer or a lumberjack but not too much. I didn't want to be mistaken for a country bumpkin, just like I was too cool to care about what I wore. I looked in the mirror. Sheer perfection.

  I arrived at the address Carly gave me around 8:30 PM. She lived in a modest beige stucco house. By the time I got there 10 cars were already in the cul-de-sac. That was good; I never liked to be the first person to arrive at a party. It made it seem like I had nothing better to do.

  I knocked on the front door and after a moment a middle-aged woman opened it. She looked tired, as if she just spent a long day working.

  "I'm here to see Carly,” I said.

  “She's in the basement,” the woman said without further explanation.

  "Uh, okay, I'll… thanks, I’ll show myself down,” I said. I brushed past the woman and walked into the house. I noticed a middle-aged man lying on the couch but he didn't even look up at me. I shook my head. These people seemed to be really checked out. That surprised me. Carly didn't seem like she would be much of a handful to parent. Maybe they just had really stressful jobs.

  I walked through the house and found a hallway that looked like it led down to the basement. I heard music blasting from below. I listened to the tunes for a minute. Was that Justin Bieber? Well, if so, it was okay with me. It meant there were no other dudes at this party.

  I walked down the stairs. I rounded the last corner of the staircase and a smile formed involuntarily on my face. There were about 30 girls crammed into the basement. Almost in unison, they looked up and saw me.

  "Ahhh!" the girls screamed excitedly. I felt a bit like I was Justin Bieber myself and had just walked into a group of rabid fans.

  "Hey girls," I said. "Carly invited me over. Is she around?"

  "Nate!" Carly exclaimed. I looked over at the other end and saw the pretty little girl. She looked thrilled to see me. "I'm so glad you came!" she said. "We were just chilling and listening to some music. Do you like the Biebs?"

  No. "Of course," I said. "Yeah, I listen to him all the time. Hey, when are we planning to go to the party?"

  "Oh, that doesn't start until 10," Carly said. "Just hang out with us until then."

  I was fine with that. As I glanced around I noticed plenty of hot chicks and they all looked to be about my age. I was in heaven.

  Carly walked up to me. "Let me introduce you to the girls. This is Jessica," she said gesturing to a beautiful raven-haired girl with high cheekbones and soft white skin. Jessica gave me a shy smile. I instantly liked her.<
br />
  "And this is Becca," Carly said. Becca was a slim redhead with emerald green eyes and luscious red lips. She winked at me.

  Carly continued introducing me to all the girls. They were extremely attractive and seemed really into me; I could tell that they liked me from the way they couldn’t take their eyes off of me and kept touching me. Each time I met a new girl she would put her hand on my arm and touch my biceps or hands lightly. That was a good sign. A very good sign.

  I settled down in a seat by the pool table to chat with the girls. They brought me chips and pop. The girls seemed to press against me as if they wanted to be in constant contact with me. They sat on the armrests of my chair and stroked my shoulders from behind. Another guy might have been unsettled by all the attention but I was in my element. All the girls, that was, except for Carly. She just sat back and watched me, her eyes never moving from my body as if she were watching some type of magnificent animal in the zoo. The attention was slightly intoxicating.

  When I finished my can of pop the girls brought me another drink. It was red and in a tall glass. I looked at it quizzically. It seemed to be some type of smoothie. “Who made this?" I asked.

  "That was Jessica," Carly said. "She's really into health smoothies. It might taste a bit odd at first because of all the health ingredients she dumps into it but it really is quite good for you."

  I looked over at Jessica. She was beaming back at me excitedly. Well, I would drink whatever a chick with that body wanted me to drink. I picked up the glass and took a sip of the cold, mushy liquid. "Mmm, that's good," I said.

  The girls continued to talk to me as I drank. It was actually quite tasty once I got past the unusual flavor. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but there was something familiar about the taste. Perhaps it was something my mother had made me try during one of her health cleanses. Nonetheless, I was enjoying it and all the attention from the girls.

  I soon discovered that the longer we hung out together the more adventuresome the girls became. Becca sat on my lap and began to softly caress my shoulder. I could feel the hands of other girls caressing me in other places. My neck, my arms, my thighs... It was hard not to get excited with all that touching. Perhaps that was why my head started to feel like it was in the midst of a thick fog. The faces of the girls began to spin around me. I took another sip of my drink. Maybe it would help clear my mind.