Late July 13th A Milestone
You're glad the girls are back from their mini-vacation. You missed them. You love hanging out with Sunny, but she's been really distant and more reserved since the incident at the club. You just do what you can to be supportive of her.
Today, you went over to Justin's with Stacey and Kristy. Kristy was there to practice lacrosse, so you and Stacey sat on the picnic table watching them, sharing a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke.
The weather is hot. After only a few minutes, both Justin and Kristy are sweating. It doesn't take long for Justin to take off his shirt. Your eyes widen. Justin shirtless was something you hadn't seen before. You like this, though are now suddenly very aware of your lack of abs beneath your t-shirt.
"When we were at the pool over the weekend, I noticed it too," Stacey says. "I wish you could have come."
You nod, suddenly wishing you could have come too.
You and Stacey chat, and you don't remember what leads to this question, but Stacey asks, "So, is Justin a good kisser?"
You pause for a long moment and say, "I wouldn't know. We haven't... you know, kissed."
"What? You guys have been together for over two weeks. You haven't kissed at all?"
"No," You say, thinking of how Justin greeted you today. He gave you a hug, the sort of gay TV couple greeting. It hardly seems realistic. You don't have a problem with hugging. Hugging Justin isn't a problem at all. You just wish that something more could happen.
"Oh, screw this," Kristy chucks her shirt too. She's wearing a white sports bra (a term you just learned today).
Kristy and Justin fight for the little ball, smacking sticks (crosses, they're called) against each other and Justin screaming at Kristy the things she's doing wrong, and her shouting right back at him.
You turn to Stacey. "You have to admit, this is pretty hot."
"Kristy should just wear a little mascara," she replies.
"Nah," you say, "look at her in that bra, sweating like crazy playing sports. You can tell that's what Kristy was made to do. That's hot."
Stacey studies her for a moment and then nods. "You're right. She just needs to find a guy who can deal with all that aggression." She pauses. "The mascara would run anyway."
You laugh and go inside. Stacey follows you and together you figure out how to use the percolator to make iced tea.
Stacey's digging through the fridge looking for an actual lemon instead of the REEL LEMON JUICE that's sitting in the door. You pour the hot tea into a pitcher and set it in the sink you filled with cold water. You add ice and hope it'll cool before they come in.
It doesn't. Justin and Kristy walk in about two minutes later.
"Iced tea! Just what we needed," Justin says. He stands next to you and leans over the sink to get a better look at the tea. He pushes away from the sink with one hand, and touches your shoulder blade with the other. Your knees buckle and you can hear Stacey snickering.
"So, Kristy," Stacey says, "too cool for shirts?"
Kristy laughs. "No, too hot. Aren't you glad I didn't get that black one, and went with the sports bra? I couldn't run around in just that black thing."
"It'd be better than the nothing you would have been running around in. Anyway, I guess the sports bra is better for you. Since it's you." Stacey relents. Then she turns on you. "Anyway, Ducky though you looked pretty hot out there."
Justin's head snaps toward you. "What?"
You, as always, say exactly what you mean. "I, no, uh, it's not like... I just meant... um, uh..."
"Both of you," Stacey supplies. "That both of you looked hot."
You nod. When Justin looks away, you give Stacey a bit of a glare and she returns with an apologetic expression.
You can't stay angry at these girls.
You pour the now mostly cold iced tea for everyone. Justin's hand brushes yours as he takes the glass from you. You don't know if this just something that happened or he did it on purpose.
You sit next to Justin and he puts his hand on yours like you've been together for years. It's this very comfortable, natural movement.
Justin and Kristy go back out and play some more. You and Stacey go grocery shopping for Justin. He doesn't have bread or eggs in the house. Something needs to be done and he made it clear that his mom wasn't going to be shopping anytime soon. He said it was fine and declined your offer, but you and Stacey insisted.
You come back and put things away. Kristy and Justin come back in and have more iced tea.
"I think we should call it day," Justin says to Kristy. "You're improving."
"Thanks," she replies. "So, Ducky, are you going to drive us home?"
"No, Kristy, we can walk," Stacey says before you can say anything. She drags Kristy out of the house before she can protest.
July 14th
You meant to finish that last night. But you fell asleep. Probably because everything leading up to the events are so boring.
Stacey and Kristy leave, leaving you and Justin alone.
You must remember to thank Stacey, buy her that shirt she wanted and carry her suitcases around forever.
"So," you say.
"So," Justin replies. He's smiling.
"Did you have a good time on the trip with the girls?" you ask.
"Yeah. Could have been better, though. If you could have come along. Not that you would have fit in my car with all of them, but, you know, we could have strapped Kristy to the roof."
You laugh. "She could take it."
"I missed you, you know," Justin says. He puts his hand on yours again, but then moves it and touches your face. You stand up, and then want to smack yourself for that. Justin doesn't seem offended. In fact he follows suit and stands up with you.
"I'm sorry," you say.
"Chris, you have nothing to be sorry for," he says. This time he wraps one arm around your waist (probably to keep you from running away) and runs his thumb from his other hand along your jawline. You're thinking that this seems sort of cliché, but you're not going to stop him, especially when you know what he's going to do.
He kisses you and all of your anxieties just pass. You realize that this is why you felt this way about Justin. That this is it.
You wrap your arms around his neck and kiss him back. Everything, for one moment, is right in the world.
Then things get weird and complicated.
The kiss is growing. It's not stopping, and you're not fighting this. Then Justin start kissing your neck and this is also quite enjoyable, and he's groping at your chest which is either habit from dating girls or he's trying to find muscles that just aren't there.
He works off your shirt and you're now VERY aware of your lack of abs, but Justin doesn't seem to notice. He's still kissing your neck and you hear a moaning, and it takes you a moment to realize that it's you.
Justin stops and pulls away only so his mouth isn't still touching you. "I've wanted to do that for ages. I can't believe I waited so long."
This is the first time you actually enjoyed kissing someone. But then again, you never kissed anyone quite like that before.
You kiss again and after a few minutes you find that Justin's hand is on the back of your pants, as if trying to find a way in through the denim. You pull away.
Justin stares at you for a second and says, "That was too far too fast."
You nod.
"Yeah, you're right. We have plenty of time to get there."
"I'm looking forward to it," you say.
Justin grins. "But we can keep kissing, right?"
"Yes. Oh yes."
You still have the bruise he left on your neck. Which is a problem this morning when you go to eat breakfast.
You innocently sit at the table and eat stale Cheeri-O's without milk straight out of the box with strangely old tasting orange juice.
"Hey, Ducky," Ted says sleepily, grabbing the box from you.
"Hi," you say. You take a drink of the orange juice and decide to just drink water.
Ted hasn't looked away and is now inspecting you carefully. "Is that a hickey?"
You touch the spot where Justin was kissing your neck. "Um, no?"
"It is! Christopher has a giiiiiirlfriend! Ha, and I was starting to think you were a fag.."
You don't say anything and Ted is too stupid to catch on.
"Which one is it? The blonde?"
Even though that describes half of the girls you know, you realize that he means Stacey.
"No," you replied. "A... brunette."
"Sucks. You can't beat a blonde," Ted says, walking away with the Cherri-O's.
You know that you can't hide this forever. And you don't want to be ashamed, and you're not. But Ted isn't going to take it as well as your friends do. You have no idea what your parents would say, but it doesn't really matter since your parents aren't going to be home until Christmas if you're lucky.
You need to call Stacey to plan that shopping trip. She can have anything she wants.