Chapter 4
Chris almost sprinted out the door Friday morning; it was Week One of Chris Marshal and Lisa Doyle Are Officially Dating and therefore, Chris Marshal Is Officially Hot Shit. He'd never been asked so many questions by so many cool people, had so many of the cool kids include him in their conversations.
And the two Kings of Chamberlain High, Henry and Mark Evans, had been sufficiently impressed to invite Chris to sit at their table, at the royal court of their school. Those two were almost too cool to be real: well-dressed, supremely confident and so fit and strong they could've been bodybuilders, models, anything they wanted. Getting to sit at their table was incredible.
Only thing was, Jason Morgan was sore about getting upstaged by them. He'd been kind of the prime contender for King of Chamberlain before Henry and Mark rose to surpass him somewhere back in middle school. Tony was the one Chris got most of this from; Jason tended to get mad and start ranting if the subject came up.
And plenty of subjects did come up, what with Chris hanging with Jason and Tony day after day this week. Tony had taken a near-instant liking to him, so despite some gripes from Jason, Chris was "in." And Jason liked Chris more than he would admit. That seemed to be his thing, not admitting to his friends that they were his friends, and more so the more he liked you.
Tony Summers, as a result, got insults and jabs from Jason almost constantly. Chris, the newcomer, got his share, which he took as a good sign. For now, he'd made it in with the "in crowd" at this school, and Jason and Tony were the best ones to know of all, even better than the Evans brothers, in Chris' opinion, since they weren't as scary.
Being "in" with Chamberlain's two coolest guys meant he got to come to all their workouts now, whether it was at the local YMCA with the Evans brothers and a bunch of the other popular guys, or the private gym at the Morgan place. Determined to keep it up with the "I fear nothing for some reason" approach, Chris had tried to box Henry and Mark and gotten soundly beaten each time, but the reckless daring impressed people. Even the Evans brothers themselves said they liked it, that they respected Chris for it.
That was Chris' image now. The random new kid who showed up, impressed the Evans brothers and everyone in their inner circle, got a date with Lisa Doyle on the first try, and was now at the one-week 'anniversary' of being her boyfriend.
It was wild. It was impossible to make any sense of it. And Chris was in love with every second of every day.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
Lisa was slouched at her open locker, double and triple-checking her makeup, her light jacket of choice for wear inside the school, her gloss lipstick, and of course her hair when Chris showed up.
"Hey, beautiful." Chris gently took her hands in his as she turned to face him.
"Hey, you."
Chris smiled, leaned in and kissed her, holding it for almost twenty seconds. It was fun. Lisa was still wishing Henry would drop Brittany Jorgensen and come see his for-real dream girl already, but Chris was fun to be around, more than she'd expected.
"You like the rose I got you?"
"White roses are the best."
"Like you."
"So sweet." Lisa smiled despite herself. He could be corny sometimes, but the fact that he always seemed to actually mean it, no matter how he said it, was kind of refreshing. Like all his big-shot friends he was no doubt expecting sex in return for his affection sooner or later, but he was doing a pretty nice job of pretending like he could wait.
Admittedly, dating teenage boys, Lisa could say from experience that none of them could wait. Least of all the cool, handsome, athletic guys she was used to dating. Most of them would've wanted to just fuck on the first date if they could, and the rest would've wanted to on the second.
Lisa didn't need to do that. She had enough respect for herself to choose the boys she liked carefully, and they got what she wanted them to have, when she wanted them to have it.
"What're you thinking about?" Chris asked, getting daring and brushing gently at her hair with one hand.
"Boys," Lisa answered honestly.
"Oh, we're just the worst, aren't we?" Chris asked, making a face at her.
"Sometimes," Lisa answered, trying to suppress a laugh and not quite making it. Chris smiled a little more, pleased with himself. Lisa liked that somehow. Chris seemed to be having so much fun with anything he was doing, and you couldn't help but have some fun too, just being around him.
"Hey, Jason and Tony asked me last night-"
"Oh, you were with Jason and Tony last night?" Lisa asked, arching her eyebrows in mock surprise.
Chris blushed crimson and stuttered incoherently for almost a minute while Lisa giggled, thoroughly enjoying herself.
When he could speak in a complete sentence again, Chris managed, "I was downstairs in Jason's pool, and we were swimming around, and hanging out in the hot tub."
"But I heard you always skinny-dip there."
"I do. I gotta show 'em I don't fear shit."
"So bold."
"Yeah." Chris grinned. "Kinda gotta be that way. That's me. Just all me."
"So how does being naked in front of a pair of handsome, muscular boys go with all that?"
"Hey! I-I'm straight," Chris protested awkwardly. "Look, I'm so straight I- it's all to make 'em know I'm cool, like, I'm not afraid or anything."
"You looked really, really brave at that basketball game. I mean, like, I think playing skins team really does that, like, it brings that out in you."
Chris leaned in and kissed her again, actually closing his eyes while he held it. Lisa responded by cupping his neck with one hand, pulling him a little closer. Chris grunted in surprise but went with it.
"I knew you'd like seeing me with my shirt off," Chris said in an almost-whisper, looking and sounding quite pleased with things.
"So what'd Jason and Tony do?" Lisa asked. "Did they invite you to one of Henry and Mark's parties?"
Flaming-Red-Hair Boyfriend (For Now) stared at her, visibly startled.
"Hey- h-hey, how'd you know?" he asked.
"Oh, c'mon," Lisa sighed. "You've been hanging out with them all week, basically anytime you're not with me. Henry and Mark throw these big parties and everybody wants to get invited." She met his eyes steadily. "So'd you get invited or what?"
"I got invited," Chris admitted.
Lisa sighed again- explosively. "Oh, I know. And I know y-"
"I told 'em no."
"Uh?" Lisa asked, more a sound of registered surprise than anything.
Chris looked away shyly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand- a sure tell that he was feeling awkward or embarrassed, Lisa had found.
"I kinda… well… I was gonna ask you out again. Like I did last Friday."
"What about the big fucking party?"
Chris sighed. "I-look, okay, Jason said I could just bring you, but I said I didn't wanna do that. Mark even said I could, but- I just didn't want to."
"Why not? I've gone to their parties before, you know."
"No, I know, I mean, like- I get that."
"So? What's the problem, then?"
After taking a second to collect himself, Chris flashed one of his brilliant, charming smiles.
"How'bout we ditch all that? How about, instead, we go to… I dunno… Fore Street?"
"Fore Street?" Lisa repeated in disbelief. Can you even afford that?
She almost said it, but at the last second bit the words back. She might have been waiting- like she had for years now- for Henry Evans to return to sanity and notice how perfect they'd be together, but basically calling Chris Marshall poor after the fun dates, the pleasant kissing, the near-perfect romantic gesture with the white roses… that would have been too mean. Too harsh. Maybe even cruel.
Besides. He was unbelievable with his shirt off, once he got nice and sweaty. Oh, was he ever. No, no, you didn't say stuff that mean to a boy who looked this good.
"Fore Street," Chris answered, interpreting the drawn-out pause as evidence he could say something else.
Fair enough, I guess, Lisa thought with wry amusement. God, look at me, sitting here trying to think of what to say like he's making me confused.
Maybe he is.
No! He's not hot enough for that!
Jeez, and who turned you on so much you forgot what planet this is during that shirts-and-skins basketball game you watched?
Oh. Well, look, he was just-
Hot. He's hot.
Not like Henry is.
Yeah, but he's basically in the same league as Mason Sarkozy, Jason Morgan, Paul Hendricks, Tony Summers- and they're all coaching him and working out with him. Oh, give Chris a couple months and just think of how good he's gonna look then-
"Lisa?" Chris asked uncertainly, tilting his head to one side.
"Oh. I mean- yeah, sure, if you want," Lisa shrugged, trying to recover her cool. "I guess you'd be pretty hot- fun, I-that'd be fun, I guess, if you got a reservation."
Nice recovery there. Reaaaaaall nice.
"Yeah, I got a reservation." Chris grinned. "I'm Chris Marshal. And all I had to say was, I'm asking out the prettiest girl in Maine, and they just handed me just the table I wanted."
"At least I don't have to sit through Rush Hour again," Lisa huffed.
"Hey, I- you liked that movie!"
"I always like Jackie Chan movies, dummy," Lisa told him.
"But- wait- last week- you said you hated- what?"
Chris was stammering, baffled, confused, and as handsome as ever. Having recovered from that wonderful little gaffe there and confused her boyfriend, Lisa took a moment to just enjoy herself, kissed him gently, then went on her way, accompanied by Nicole Miles and Brittany Jorgensen as usual, plus a bunch of other hopefuls on the social ladder she didn't notice half the time.
A reservation at Fore Street Restaurant, a nice, quiet dinner with some excellent food. That wasn't bad. And Chris was right about avoiding all that noise and all the drunk, barfing kids.
That stuff was just not romantic at all.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
"I'm gonna throw up."
"Jeez!" Jason exclaimed from his favorite spot in the gaming room, sprawled across one of the thousand-dollar sofas with his feet on the coffee table. "If Chris says that one more time, I'm gonna fucking throw up."
"Che la pace sia con te," Tony answered pleasantly, like he'd heard this from Jason before. He'd probably heard it a great many times before, Chris realized. Jason and Chris had been friends since… forever, essentially.
"Fucking- what?" Jason demanded. "Tony, I don't know a word of Italian, you know I don't."
"C'mon, you just don't appreciate the beautiful language, brother. You've heard me speak plenty of Italian."
"Whatever. Are you done getting Redhead's bowtie fixed up?"
"Have a look." Tony stepped back, smiling at his work.
Jason stood up. "Wow. This dork almost looks like he seriously amounts to something."
Chris cleared his throat. "Jason, I wanna thank you for-"
"What, buying you a real suit? You're lucky Tony called in a favor I owed him. If he hadn't? To get me to buy you that? The amount of dick you would've had to su-"
"Jason, I didn't know you went both ways!" Tony exclaimed in apparent surprise.
Jason swore violently and started ranting about something really impolite, but Tony, having expected this, cracked up laughing. Chris tried not to, he fought to keep a straight face, but finally had to let it out.
Laughing hysterically at both Tony's remark and Jason's indignant ranting, Chris felt better than he had all afternoon. It took a minute to calm down again and a couple more minutes for Jason to stop pretending to be angry, but in the end, Jason and Tony, two of the coolest, most masculine guys Chris had ever met, looked Chris over in his new Brooks Brothers tuxedo and agreed that, yes, he looked excellent.
They even did the air guitar thing, much to Chris' delight. Bill and Ted would've been proud.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
Chris was on time, like always. Lisa was fussing over herself in the mirror, agonizing over whether she should've picked something more daring and whether Dad would've freaked out over how much of her chest Chris could (in theory) get a look at.
It wasn't like she was even that nervous about him. Or so she kept telling herself. He was entertainment, a diversion until Henry finally noticed she'd been waiting for him the whole time. But she fretted, checked her hair over and over, fussed over whether she'd really picked her best perfume, everything.
She'd been getting ready for over an hour and she was still nervous. This was just a temporary thing and she was still nervous. She didn't really like Chris like that. Even if his smile made her get butterflies in her stomach half the time, and seeing him with his shirt off, even if he wasn't Henry Evans, was amazing all the same.
When Lisa finally went down the hallway and reached the top of the stairs, Chris was at the doorway to the living room, chatting pleasantly enough with Mom. Dad, thankfully, had given up on bullying her latest suitor for today and was no doubt grumbling about exactly that in his study.
It took a moment for Chris to notice movement at the top of the stairs, to turn and see her there in that emerald-green silk dress. His eyes widened and he stared, captivated, as she began a slow, deliberate descent, keeping her eyes on him, a steady smile on her face.
"Hey," he called out intelligently. "Uh-" Chris paused to clear his throat. "I-good evening."
"Good evening, Chris," Lisa answered him. "Mom, was Dad being nice?"
"Dad is always nice," Mom told her with a gentle hint of reproach.
Lisa bit back a laugh. "Well, did Chris behave himself?"
"I did get loose and run around barking in the backyard at one point," Chris mock-confessed.
"In that?" Lisa gave the tuxedo a second look. "I didn't know you had a Brooks Brothers."
"For you- only the best," Chris said solemnly. He took her right hand in his and gently kissed it, bowing. "Always the best, only the best."
"Listen to him," Mom said, clearly pleased but trying not to show it. "You two know what time to be back, so I won't keep you. Have a good time. Fore Street is some of the best dining around Portland, Chris; you'll enjoy it. Just behave."
"I won't let him play in any mud puddles, Mom," Lisa answered playfully, as Chris offered her his right arm. She pulled the front door closed on her mother's appreciative laugh.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
Lisa found Chris a little quiet at first during the drive over, but he chattered right along after cracking a few jokes that Lisa enjoyed. He was a nervous boy, a boy painfully aware he was out of his social depth here; Lisa had figured that out pretty quickly. She just… didn't care like she usually would have.
Chris was funny. Even if he was green around the gills some of the time (especially when Dad showed up wanting to scare him, God), he had a great sense of humor and came up with some pretty good ones.
That ended up being the first serious thing she asked him, once they were comfortably seated at Fore Street, a nice glass-cased candle gently lighting the white-clothed table between them. They had a corner spot far from the front doors, where neither the chilly New England fall air nor the traffic on the two-lane street outside could bother them.
"So, what's the deal with the jokes and everything?" Lisa paused. "I mean, like, you're really funny, so, where'd you get that?"
Chris flashed another of his brilliant white smiles. "Oh, well, partly, that's just me. It's also my Dad, though. He meets people all over the world and stuff, you know, working on ships." Chris' smile faded. "I guess that didn't impress your dad too much, though."
"He's always been mean to my new boyfriends," Lisa said irritably. She sighed, taking a moment to calm herself. "I guess I could see how your dad being on ships and stuff could mean he'd meet lots of people, though."
"Yeah. I mean, I don't get to see him a lot of the time. A sense of humor can help when things are tough and all; he's always told me that."
"Were those his exact words of wisdom?" Lisa asked, cracking a smile. "'A sense of humor can help when things get tough and all'?"
"Hey, I said get tough and all!" Chris exclaimed indignantly.
Lisa giggled, enjoying herself quite completely. "You're so cute when you get frustrated."
"Well, I think you're cute all the time," Chris retorted. Then he blushed and went for his ice water, taking a drink to try and cover for how perfectly the color of his cheeks and his hair matched up.
"Is that all?" Lisa asked. "I'm just cute?"
"No," Chris answered quickly. "Everyone says how beautiful you are. Guys won't stop asking me how I got a date with you just like that last week."
"What'd you tell them?"
"'None of your business,'" Chris replied with a laugh. "I, uh, like- Tony and Jason and stuff, I kinda told them, you know, how I asked you out, and you told me get lost, then changed your mind. I was gonna go die of shame so, you know, thanks for sparing me."
"I'm merciless," Lisa told him, offering her best movie-villain grin. God, I am having too much fun with this. He's not supposed to even be a 'real' boyfriend, but, you know, whatever, here I am anyway. Dating him and having a great time.
Chris cleared his throat and began to speak like he was reciting something.
"Her glossy hair was cluster'd o'er a brow
Bright with intelligence, and fair and smooth;
Her eyebrow's shape was like the aerial bow,
Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth,
Mounting, at times, to a transparent glow,
As if her veins ran lightning."
"Huh?" Lisa asked, when Chris had finished… whatever he was quoting.
"Oh, uh, I memorized that for tonight." Chris blushed. "Um, I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what it means."
"Where did you find that?"
"This old book in Jason's dad's library or something." Chris paused. "I seriously have no idea what it even means." Another pause. "But- a dude called Lord Byron wrote it."
"You-" Lisa cracked up just as the waiter came back with their order, and she lost it until she almost had to excuse herself. She managed to quiet herself down, remembering she was supposed to be a big deal around this town and this was a nice restaurant, but still. It was too much.
This boy with the flaming red hair had just up and memorized some weird poem from some old-and-no-doubt-dead-guy in that twerp Jason Morgan's dad's friggin' library.
"Uh… so… I…" Chris laughed himself, looking like he was worried about Lisa's reaction but unable to help himself. "I guess you liked the poem?"
"You- you dork!" Lisa managed to say. She finally sighed, wiping at her eyes. "You- heh- you're a total dork."
"Is that… good?"
"Yeah. Sure. Wow. Good one there, Chrissie."
"Chrissie?"
"Some people get to call me Liz. I get to call you Chrissie."
Chris hesitated. "But- that makes me- that sounds like I'm- a girl."
"You're so big a dork you'd be better off as a girl," Lisa told him.
"But then I couldn't be your boyfriend."
"Oh, well, that'd just be tragic."
"Sarcasm? I'm so hurt."
"You'll live."
"I'll try." Chris cleared his throat. "So, um- I was thinking, this salad we each got? It's like- I've heard a lot of good things about it. And we can always get something more when the waiter comes back, if we feel like it."
"I'm not even-" Lisa sighed. "How'd I let you talk me into not- do you know what I have to do so I look like Miss Perfect all the time?"
"You do that every day just by being alive."
Lisa looked at him sharply, but Chris met her eyes steadily. He meant it. He'd seemed so upset when he found out what Lisa, Brittany and Nicole were doing, making themselves throw up to ensure they didn't put on any weight from lunch. She'd half-expected him to act like he cared and drop it but no, he'd stayed on about how healthy salads could be, how many kinds there were.
And here he was, dropping a line like that. It would've sounded so corny from so many guys, including most of the ones he hung out with and constantly tried to mimic and impress.
But it sounded all right, coming from him.
Lisa took a moment to glance around. They had some space here; Chris had made sure they would. She moved her chair over a little, a little more. Then she went for it and kissed him. She held it for a long, long time, even deciding to close her eyes and really go for that romantic look and feel.
Chris responded by gently cupping her chin with his hand. When they broke the kiss, he murmured, "I guess I shouldn't tell you I made that one up just now."
"It's okay."
"Good." Chris paused. "Liz."
"What?"
"Please don't hurt yourself. Ever. Don't hurt yourself. I couldn't stand it." Chris' voice shook and his eyes filled with tears. "You don't need to hurt yourself to be beautiful. I promise."
Lisa kissed him again, holding it even longer this time. His lips were nice and soft, but firm too. He was a fun boy to kiss. And he actually meant the kind things he said. He really, seriously meant them. That was gonna take some getting used to.
"I guess I'm gonna need a personal trainer at the gym or something," Lisa offered, once their lips parted again. "I wonder if there were any, you know, nice boys who could show me around the place."
Chris smiled, truly happy at the thought, and Lisa realized he wasn't just happy about more time with her. He was happy that she wasn't going to force herself to throw up, that she was moving further away from doing that.
"I think I might know somebody," Chris replied. "I bet he might even charge, like, one kiss for each session, too. Really reasonable."
"I guess if he only plays on the skins team, anytime there's a game he's playing in while he's there," Lisa suggested.
Chris grinned. "I think he could do that."
They took some time to get through the salad they'd each ordered, then playfully argued over whether to order lobster and then how to have it, finally agreeing to share part of one plus another salad, one they'd also share.
Skipping out on that party had been a better choice than Lisa had even imagined. Chris didn't know it, or maybe didn't, but she'd had sex with boys who had invited her to parties with them. Her first with Jason Morgan had been at the first party he'd ever hosted for Henry and Mark. Fun, yeah, but not that romantic. Those parties weren't supposed to be romantic.
This was honestly way, way better.
Lisa ended up telling Chris all about her parents, what was cool about them (a few things) and what was uncool (more things), and each being an only child, they had fun talking about that, getting a laugh out of how many kids at their school were stuck with siblings- but not them. Neither of them.
The time passed much faster than Lisa realized. They were making almost a childish game out of sharing a cheesecake for dessert- a really fun game, actually- but both agreed that going home was less important than this, right here.
No noise, no drunk idiots wandering around, nothing like that. Just the two of them talking about whatever they wanted to, and playing rock-paper-scissors over who got to feed who the next piece of the slice of cheesecake.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
As they got ready to go back, heading out from the parking spot close by the restaurant, Lisa got an idea, considered it, and decided to go with it. She offered Chris a sweet smile as he got into the Camaro, swinging the long driver's door closed with a thunk.
"Hey."
Chris smiled back, leaning over to kiss her on the lips. "Hey, Liz."
"I was thinking."
"Oh, yeah?"
"You've been good. Good boys deserve good things."
"Yeah? I mean- yeah. Yeah, I mean, I agree." Chris nodded, shrugged, nodded again. "Knowayamean."
"Drive."
"What?"
"Drive, and maybe something good will happen." She raised her eyebrows slightly, waited.
Chris nodded again, slowly this time; he was clearly trying to figure this out but only getting so far. Finally he leaned his head back to pop on his reflective aviator shades, keyed the ignition, and started to drive. He turned out of the lot and slowed to wait for a red at an intersection.
Okay, time to get started, Lisa decided. Slipping easily out of the shoulder restraint, she leaned over and expertly unbuckled Chris' belt, unbuttoned his pants, and pulled his fly all the way down, going slow, letting the moment register.
"Uh?" Chris asked, more of a surprised grunt than anything. His legs tensed up, but as Lisa parted the front of his boxers, she saw him already getting hard and smiled. It was weird how inexperienced Chris was for his looks and age, sure, but he could be so cute, so honest.
"Just enjoy it," Lisa advised him, "and drive." She opened her mouth and lowered her head.
"Ohh, shhhhhiiiiiit," Chris gasped, moaned and sighed all at once. "Oh, girl, you know what I like." He leaned back in his seat while waiting for the light, hands folded behind his head. Lisa could hear him grinning, the smug jerk. The smug, hot jerk.
Bet you picked that line up from Jason, Lisa thought with some amusement. Or Tony. Or Mason. They all say shit like that. I guess it doesn't really get old, though.
Pausing to raise her head, spit on his, then continue, Lisa thought about her choice in boyfriends. This one was turning out to be lots of fun. A 'reward' like this was pretty much deserved at this point. Good boys deserved good things, just like she'd said.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
Chris was quite a sight when he turned into Lisa's neighborhood and drove up to her house. His dick was still sticking straight up out of his pants, there was this mess all over the super-nice black dress pants right around his favorite thing, and he was amazed that he hadn't crashed his car.
Really amazed.
I just got the best blowjob of my life while I drove my girlfriend back from a fancy dinner date. Jesus, fuckin' incredible we lived.
Oh, yeah, we lived. And imagine what's gonna happen from here.
Making himself think more about Lisa, who was reapplying her lip gloss in the passenger seat, Chris carefully zipped himself back up.
"I hope nobody can see the, uh, mess," Chris said, "but that was fucking amazing."
"Nice boys deserve nice things. I told you."
Deciding to go for absolute, total broke on this one, Chris raised his eyebrows, waggled his tongue at her. "Nice girls deserve nice things, too."
Lisa sighed- a sigh of regret, not disappointment or annoyance, thank God.
"I told Mom and Dad I'd be back by now. I'm pretty sure that was Dad totally not peeking out the blinds in the living room, either."
"I better keep my jacket on if your parents ask me to come on- to- to go inside." Chris felt himself blushing. "Jeez. I'm ridiculous."
"Sometimes." Lisa smiled. "I had a really great time tonight."
Oh, YES! YESYESYES!
"Yeah, well, I knew you deserved better than some noisy party."
"I didn't know you were so romantic."
"I'm full of surprises," Chris answered, raising his eyebrows at her again.
"Maybe you'll surprise me again," Lisa allowed, raising her eyebrows right back, copying him.
"Maybe I will," Chris said, copying her.
They managed to get a nice, ten-second kiss in before the front porch light flashed off and on again.
"Okay, just don't let my Dad scare you or whatever," Lisa huffed. "C'mon."
"Sure. Let's go act like we totally behaved ourselves," Chris said in a knowing tone. Lisa laughed as they both got out of the Camaro.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
It turned out Lisa had gotten the back-by-this-time agreement wrong somehow. Dad totally flipped out, or he started to, before Mom intervened and basically saved the day. Chris, with that handsome, I'm-so-guilty face he got too often when Dad was around, did almost nothing to help his case except keep the come-stains on his dress pants covered the whole time the happy couple was getting grilled.
Thanks to Mom though, Dad's latest freak-out didn't last too long. Lisa was granted Total Amnesty By Mom and Chris, who swore over and over he just lost track of time and wouldn't do it again, received a Pardon By Mom. Nobody except the oh-so-happy couple knew, or even needed to know, that Chris had gotten road-head on the way back from dinner.
Finally, everything was okay again and after a quick, Dad-supervised (ugh) kiss on the front porch, Chris was on his way for the night and Lisa went upstairs, finally got out of her dress, and spent her mandatory post-fancy-date hour steaming up the hallway bathroom she owned.
Mom and Dad knew better than to pester her about this. She needed the time to relax and turning her personal bathroom into a sauna was non-negotiable. Dating boys was stressful. So was maintaining her looks this flawlessly, especially now, when she was actually, seriously giving up forcing herself to puke after lunch every day.
Standing in the shower, running conditioner through her hair, Lisa gave another irritated thought to her so-not-cool parents.
If you two weren't waiting to go up to Rock Harbor until next Friday, I could've had serious plans for the rest of tonight, Lisa thought with some disappointment.
You literally know he's not as big as Henry. And he's not gonna be as good. How'd he even take this long to get laid anyway?
Oh, who cares? He'll be fun. That's what matters. And I kinda like it that he basically totally said he wants to eat me out as a thank-you.
He's. Not. Henry.
Who. Cares? Jeez. Last time I had any serious fun was Mason during his lifeguard breaks in August. I'm not supposed to go without for that long. And Chris looks amazing with his shirt off, so, that's that. I bet he's gonna be so much fun once he actually knows what he's doing in bed though.
With that happy thought, Lisa got out of the shower, sank into her favorite corner with the low tiled wall, with the water drumming steadily on the glass shower door behind her. Lisa sighed, wondering again if anybody knew how difficult being this perfect really was.
Chris maybe had a decent guess. He'd even been romantic enough to not just bring her to the party. Lisa had gone to those, had fun at some of them. But the fact that Chris had thought so much about really making the evening nice for her, making it about them and not just them plus everyone else and a ton of noise, was… cool. Really cool of him, actually, to do that.
Letting a hand stray between her legs while she lay back in the corner, Lisa thought ahead about her plan for next Friday. She'd waited long enough, all right, and Chris was actually bigger than Mason. It was gonna be a fun night next Friday, and Lisa had it all planned out…
A/N: 3-9-2023.
Wrote this all this afternoon, but I had largely sketched out the chapter beforehand. A key event that was set to happen around this time in the story was Chris getting invited to one of Henry and Mark's parties for the first time, and actually turning it down in order to focus on courting Lisa.
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is an indeed excellent film from 1989, nine years ago as of the story's current setting in October 1998. It was a well-liked film and there's a good chance that Jason, Tony, and Chris all saw it at some point or another.
The Lord Byron poem idea showed up as I was writing the scene with Chris and Lisa at dinner. Jason's father is Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court (which is located in Portland), so unlike Jason, who is not especially interested in anything to do with books in general or Lord Byron specifically, Chief Justice Morgan would probably have some of Lord Byron's works around. Either Chris, Tony, or even Jason himself might have happened upon it at some point while Chris is preparing for his big date, and figured he should try and recite it.
Reviews are always welcome! If there are corrections I should make to this or any other chapter in the story, feel free to send me a PM.