DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything… duh.
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"Maybe you do."
Tony's words rang through my head. I was sitting on my bed and had been since I woke that morning with a terrible hangover. All the thinking I was doing didn't help my headache. I ran my hand through my dark hair.
Obviously, Tony had said that just to make me think, or to see my reaction and verify Jay and I being together. He was surely laughing somewhere. And I, having known him forever, should have known that and not dwelt on the matter.
So why was I? Why was I sitting there, replaying the scene over and over in my head, trying to pick apart everything I knew about Tony? Was Jay using me to make Kathy jealous? He couldn't be; no one knew we had a thing. But Jay had always found that having more than one woman was so much-
Knock, knock, knock.
The light sound made me jump out of my trance as the knob turned and Alex entered.
"Hey," he said.
"What?" I asked, not caring that he had done nothing to deserve my impatience.
"Can we smoke one? Please?" I was taken aback. I knew Alex smoked, but he had never done that with me.
"Sure, sure," I fumbled out, getting off my bed and crawling under it. My parents thought they had taken all of my pot, but they were seriously wrong. That was my light stash. Nothing big, the real bag was under there. I swept my hand around on the dusty floor, finally falling upon something that crumpled under my touch. I came out from under the bed covered in dust. I swept myself clean, trying to catch Alex's eye. He seemed determined not to look at me, for he was perusing the top of my desk, which contained nothing but my wetsuit. After a few moments of silence, I licked the paper of the joint to seal it, and he looked at me, smiling vaguely.
I took a lighter from inside of the sheets of my bed and lit the joint. I took a deep breath of it and passed it to him.
"What happened to you?' I questioned.
He puffed on the joint, looked at it, and then said, "This is good stuff," he then handed it back to me.
I nodded slowly, not pushing him. Another round and he would be talking, but I didn't need another; I was already talking.
"So at the party last night, Tony said something. And it has me thinking, but what if it's just a joke? And I'm stressed because mom lost her job and I keep thinking I should get one. And Ted hates me, he hasn't spoken to me all week," I sighed finishing my problems. They sounded so lame being spoken aloud. He surveyed me through the smoke.
"You and Jay are going out," it wasn't a question.
"What?"
"Don't deny it, I saw you two kissing outside one night while I was taking Janice back…" he trailed off, lost in thought.
"When was Janice here?"
"She's been coming over here for a while now, mainly at night," he muttered sadly.
"And I've never even met her, I'm ashamed by your lack of manners," I was high and didn't want him to mope around with whatever was bothering him. We needed to talk about me.
"Yeah, yeah… if I tell you something, will you not judge me immediately?"
"Uh… sure man. Whatever," I was prepared for a storm, and lay back onto my bed with the joint.
"We did it, and she's all…serious now. But the worst part is Ted caught me sneaking her in one night and he got all pissed. And then a different night we were smoking a joint and he came in and thought it was a cigarette and didn't get mad, but then figured it out and went off on us. He left for a second and somehow we started to do it again and Ted walked in. It was terrible. I think she's so scared now that she doesn't want to talk to me. And schools out so everyone is going to know that I flunked three classes, and I'm scared I'll get stuck here because I don't have the grades or money to get into college," he finished in one breath. I sat there, frozen by everything that went on in his head.
"Did you start to smoke again, or have sex?"
"Oh my God, don't call it that! And it was smoke, so he thinks I'm…"
"Just like me. But Alex, you're fourteen and already having se- fun? Damn, you're going to be a diseased one."
"Shut up," he replied finally laughing. He handed me the joint and I took it slowly.
"You shouldn't worry so much," I said after a moment.
"Why?"
"Cause I'm always going to be here to do worse things, and you'll get off easy. I'll make sure of it," he smiled peacefully and we finished the joint both concerned with our own thoughts.
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I moved my head back slightly, a huge grin in place.
"Oh, come on I just got there," he sighed happily. I pressed my lips back onto his and felt him smile during the kiss. I was flat on his bed with him lying lightly on top of me. His hands cradled my head softly while my legs were wrapped around him. He broke away and looked down at me. I waited a minute and he said nothing but smiled his notorious smile.
"What?" I asked.
"I'm gonna go shower, would you care to join?" he whispered huskily.
"Better luck next time. I'll take a nap while you do that."
"Fine," he replied and left the bed to the bathroom. I stayed in the exact same position staring up at the ceiling. In the distance I heard the water start to run. I turned over and breathed in deeply. The smell of sandalwood and smoke filled my nostrils. It was the most beautiful scent I had ever known. I had just been with him less than a minute ago, but I wanted him with me again.
I leaped off the bed and crept to the bathroom door, which he had carelessly left open. The sound off water running was louder and masked my footsteps. I looked at my reflection in the fogged up mirror and shuffled my hair a little. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do, but I didn't care. I turned to the shower curtain and punched it, not hard, but with enough force to make an impact. His head popped out from around the corner and grinned devilishly at me.
"Did you change your mind?"
"Maybe," I said.
"Well, come in."
"No, that's not why I'm here," I reached for the handle of the toilet and pushed down.
"Kimber!" he yelled. His head disappeared and then the entire shower curtain was ripped open. Before I had time to register anything he had the showerhead in his hands pointed directly at me. The water was scalding hot when it touched my skin.
"Fuck!" I screamed. The floor beneath me was covered with water and slippery. I fell to the ground. Jay stepped out of the shower still spraying me with water. I then heard him fall and felt his entire weight land on top of me.
"Ugh," I sighed, but then opened my eyes. His blond hair looked darker and was pasted to the side of his face. He looked straight into my dark eyes with his light topaz ones and kissed me, the showerhead flailing around us, sprinkling us with water.
"Here," he tossed me a shirt which hit me straight in the face. "And… here," he repeated the same motion, but this time with a pair of boxers.
"Thanks man," I replied. His back was still turned toward the dresser, looking for something for him to wear. I stripped off my wet jeans and underwear. I slid on the boxers quickly and checked to make sure he was still facing the other way. I then took off my shirt and bra, which had suctioned to my skin. But I was slower in putting on his shirt. I shook my shaggy hair in front and looked up to see him watching me. I smiled and put his dark shirt slowly over my head. Once over, I flipped my hair again. I jumped into the bed pulling the covers up to my neck.
"Fill a bowl for me," I said, my eyes closed. I heard rustling for a few minutes and then the squeak of the bedsprings. My eyes fluttered open and grabbed the lighter and pipe from him.
"Thanks." I flicked the lighter on and sucked deeply, holding in my hit and passing it to Jay. "Have you seen Tony or Stacy around today?"
He blew out a cloud of smoke. "Yeah, they were at the pool. Where were you?"
"I slept in and talked with Alex for a while."
"How's he?" I chose not to answer.
"You know what?" he inclined his head slightly to show he was listening, though he was taking another hit. "Isn't Seven a cool name, man?"
"Seven?"
"Yeah! Totally bitchin' man."
"What kid would want to be called Seven? He'd get hell from all the others."
"But you should name the seventh kid Seven, then it would be so gnarly."
"Since when do you even like kids?"
"I hate them."
"So what's all this about?" I shrugged my shoulders, smirking like an idiot.
"I'm high!" I yelled and began to laugh. He grabbed my face roughly and looked at my eyes.
"Yeah, you're definitely baked," he said after observing my large pupils and red, glassy eyes. He wiped a tear of laughter from my cheek with his thumb.
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Waking up in Jay's bed that morning was difficult, mainly because at first, I didn't know where I was, as Jay wasn't in bed with me. I woke, startled, to the sound of someone bustling around in the kitchen. I untangled myself from the sheets and moved groggily into their small kitchen.
"Kimber! You scared me honey," Phalaine laughed.
"Oh, hey," I mumbled nervously.
"Did you sleep here?" she asked jokingly.
"Uh… I… well…" I stuttered.
"Do you need to find Jay? Because he left last night… said something about needing a breath of fresh air."
"What time did he leave?" I wondered, hoping I was not pushing my luck.
"I'm not sure, but his hair was all wet, like he just showered. I doubt that helps though."
"Oh okay, thanks Phalaine," I said, confused.
"Yeah, no problem sweetie."
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"Swear you didn't."
"I so did man."
"You couldn't have."
"How do you know?"
"Cause your you!"
"What are you dickheads arguing about?" I said, annoyed. I had just stepped into Zephyr to find Jay and Tony fighting, while Stacy and Sid stood watching, wearing the same exasperated expression. Skip was behind the counter dazing off into the distance as though he couldn't hear the commotion. Jay and Tony didn't even spare me a glance.
"I'm not sure they even remember," Sid told me.
"Skip's thinking of taking us to another competition," Stacy said.
"Where at?"
"No idea."
"Where have you been?" Sid asked, pushing a lock of brown hair behind his ear. "Stace said you weren't at the Pier."
"Here man. Just drifting."
"Aw, well stop cause I've been bored as hell," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder and dragging out the last syllable.
"You know what? Fine!" Tony said, coming over to where Sid, Stacy, and I stood.
"Hey guys," he said breathlessly.
"What was that about?" I said.
"Oh, that? Nothing, nothing," he started but then, a devilish grin came into place. "We were talking about you."
"No you weren't, idiot. I'm not stupid."
"I know that," he replied, snaking his arms around my waist and touching his forehead to mine. His soft curls caressed my face and covered his next words.
"I've missed you."
"I haven't gone anywhere asshole."
"I haven't seen you in your wetsuit in a while."
I laughed coyly.
"Yeah, that's true. Why don't you come over and I can model it for you?" Tony remained unfazed.
"I wouldn't mind," he said, moving closer until they lightly brushed mine. He began to play with my mouth when I realized he was actually kissing me. I sprung backwards wiping my mouth through laughs.
"Holy shit! I never thought you would have the nerve."
"You underestimate me," he said pushing me even farther from him.
Stacy and Sid were smiling as Tony glanced at Jay who had a forced smile in place. It wasn't until then I remembered Jay and I were together. I was used to doing what I wanted, when I wanted, and with whoever the hell came my way. Obviously Jay had the same mindset as he had left last night.
"You wanna see this new board Skip has in back?" he asked looking at me.
"Yeah man, I know where it is," Sid said.
"Not you," Jay replied while pushing him aside and nodding to me when he was walking to the back room.
"Whatever," I sighed. I pushed the sheet in the doorway aside, ending up in the back room where Jay was standing.
"Where is it?" I wondered. He looked at me, and he didn't look happy.
"What the hell?" he whispered angrily, moving quickly over to me.
"Huh?"
"You just kissed Tony!"
I laughed. "Oh yeah, 'cause you know, me and Tony are in love," I said quietly.
"Shut up."
"Stop making a big deal out of it."
"Stop shoving your face in other guys faces."
"Fine," I growled and roughly pushed my own lips onto his. He began kissing me with force and I returned it, wanting to be the one in control. I broke off, and looked at him, and in his sparkling topaz eyes, I knew I was forgiven. It was then I heard the shuffle of the curtain. My head snapped in the direction and I saw a sliver of Tony's triumphant face grinning at us.
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SHORTEST CHAPTER EVER! And it took me the longest. I'm so sorry! I just couldn't finish it to save my life. Also, my computer was being stupid and wouldn't let me upload. Please don't stop reading! I'm going to try and update every week and a half from now on, as long as I get comments.
I know, I'm a bitch.
-lette.