Pleasure Reading
Jimmy Junior should have known better.
When he saw the notebook fall out of Tina's backpack as she was leaving class, he should have returned it to her right away. He should not have held onto it. He should not have brought it home with him. When he saw that it fell open to a page with his name written on it, he should not have let curiosity get the better of him.
Of course he remembered the time Tina read a story out loud during lunch, that one that had him in it. He never really thought about whether or not she wrote any more. But he had his answer now.
He read the whole notebook, which included several stories and a few sketches, finding that he was unable to stop once he got started. His face felt heated and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. So this was what Tina thought about when she was alone in her room …
He shifted around uncomfortably. No, don't think about Tina alone in her room.
But the truth was he couldn't help it. After reading that, he couldn't help but think about her, imagine what it would be like to kiss her with no audience, feel her small hands on him, see her sprawled out on her back …
Suddenly his pants were feeling a little too tight.
He would never admit it to anyone, but he'd thought about it before, in his most private moments. It wasn't unpleasant.
Jimmy Junior groaned and rested his head in his hands. How was he ever going to be able to be in the same room with her now, knowing this? How would he be able to think about anything else? She had probably noticed by now that the notebook was missing. She was probably frantic trying to find it. But how would he return it to her now? She'd take one look at him, all flushed and sweaty, and know he read it. Would she be mad?
Somewhere deep down inside him, a voice whispered that if she was, he knew exactly how to make it up to her …
He shot up from his seat and made his way toward the bathroom. He could deal with that a bit later, there was a more pressing matter to attend to now.