My fingers gripped my glass tight enough to crack it. I needed to go now but there was no getting past Oz so I told him what he wanted to know. “She lived with me growing up. We were close.” I left it at that.
“That’s a good story, that explains it.” Oz chucked a chewed up olive pit at me, which thankfully missed. “Fuck, man, I mean were you together a long time? High school sweethearts?”
“We never dated. She was just a spoiled little thing my mom took into our home and she had everyone wrapped around her pinky.”
“Ah. She’s beautiful then.”
“Perfect. And manipulative.”
“She must’ve been the one who turned you into a fuckin’ animal,” Oz laughed. I wasn’t sure if he was referring to my sexual appetite or pitiless business tactics, but either way, he was right. “Give me your best story and we’ll go.”
I tried to think of a way out of it but couldn’t. “Fine.” I didn’t have a best story but I gave Oz the one he’d already reminded me of because it had jumpstarted my business inclination to use whatever I had to get exactly what I wanted. Moral or not.
The incident was from senior year, on a particularly shitty Monday. The entire week had been rough and it was topped off by the fact that I’d gotten not a blink of a sleep, having spent all night and morning listening to my mother cry into her pillow. She muffled it well but I knew to look for the sound at night. It was like clockwork and she refused to ever talk to me about it so I always laid in bed half pissed off, half miserable with her. On top of that, Lake was being a nightmare herself. I didn’t know if it was my mother or Theo or whatever issues she was having on her own but she, like my mother, refused to talk and it felt like I was drowning in fucking mood swings and estrogen.
So I smoked a joint in Mercer’s second floor bathroom that morning to take off the edge. I was two hits in when one of the ruddy English teachers barreled in, sniffing hard, nostrils flaring. I’d never had him before but I knew from my friends that he was a hard-ass who lived to write us kids up. And that was exactly what was coming to me when he laid eyes on the joint still dangling out of my mouth. I didn’t immediately cower in fear so the threats started pouring in fast.
“I’ll have you suspended, Callum. I hope you know that.”
“Sorry. I won’t do it again.”
“That’s it?” He waited for me to grovel or burst into tears or something. Whatever he wanted, I didn’t give it, so he sneered. “You’re not nearly as scared as you should be right now, Callum Pike. I know you got into Hodgson on a wrestling scholarship. I know the Junior Olympics are coming in August. I’m fairly certain you could lose all of that when they find out about this.”
“Can you let it go with just a warning then?”
He laughed in my face. I suppressed my urge to do the same. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s not exactly how I conduct business around here, Mr. Pike. When you break the rules, I make it known.”
“But you didn’t tell anyone when Lake flashed you her tits.”
His face was priceless. I must’ve looked like the smuggest bastard alive. And I should’ve left it there. I knew I should have but I couldn’t help egging him on. It was just so satisfying to see him huff and puff and turn beet red while trying but failing to think of any sort of defense.
“I’m pretty sure that falls under inappropriate conduct. Unwanted sexual advances, probably.” I grinned. “Unless you wanted it. I wouldn’t blame you. She’s got nice ones.”
Lake shrieked when I told her the story. “You did not say that last part.”
“That you have nice ones? You do and I did.”
“Holy shit, Callum, you are so bad.”
“You’re the one who flashed your teacher.”
“Because you told me to!”
“You said you wanted to.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to. I said dare. There’s a difference,” she smirked. She was sitting on my lap at this point, casually rubbing my hands all over her chest. We did that often without thinking about it. If we weren’t fighting, we were talking or hanging out and every once in awhile, when we did that, I mindlessly stroked my favorite parts of her body. She did the same to me, taking my hand and running my fingers over her lips, her neck, whatever parts she wanted felt. The benefits of living together. We were teenagers with sexual cravings. Random needs to rub, squeeze and be touched. Lucky for us, they could be fulfilled at any time. Like raiding the fridge when we were hungry or getting water when we were thirsty, it was just a regular part of the day.
I laughed. “Don’t try that with me. You don’t ever have to do it if you don’t want to. You know that.”
“Of course I know that. I mean,” she tightened her hands over mine, “that I wouldn’t just volunteer to flash Mr. Price on my own. I like doing it if it’s a dare because then it’s really for you. And it keeps our streak alive.”
“Yeah.” I was squeezing her tits at this point, my thumb
s drawing circles over her tight nipples in the same casual way someone might tap their feet. She was grinning because she felt my dick swelling under her. “It’s a good streak.”
“And it all works out because now you’re not going to lose your scholarship.” She laughed. “And in a couple years you’ll get Olympic gold for being the best at stuffing your face in dude crotch.” That had always been her choice interpretation of wrestling.
“Christ. Shut up.”