SCARS

  Me: Back home now safe and sound. xx

  I hit SEND, and it doesn’t surprise me when the phone starts ringing. “Hello.”

  “So, how did it go? I want to know all the details.”

  I hear the excitement in her voice, so I know she’s been waiting for this practically all night. “It went really well, actually. He was a perfect gentleman … as always.”

  “Well, come on then,” she asks impatiently. I know she thinks I’m at home, but it still would make me uncomfortable to answer all that she wants to know.

  “I can’t tell you everything. Not now. I’m just about to head for bed.” I whisper as much as I can to emphasize that talking would wake people up. Besides, I don’t want to talk about it when I know J is in the room right next door.

  I hear her sigh. “Okay, but tell me one thing. I take it I can’t use my nickname for you anymore?”

  I smile knowing she’s referring to “virginal.”

  “No,” I say, just to get her off the phone.

  She squeals down my ear. “Holy shit, Lily! This is huge! What was it like?” She giggles again.

  “Shh,” I say into the phone. I look over my shoulder, but J isn’t in sight.

  “Why are you shushing me? Your parents won’t hear me.”

  “I know. It just feels naughty, somehow,” I giggle. “I feel like a kid sneaking around.” And I do feel like a naughty kid. I keep looking around me, making sure J isn’t in sight.

  “Did you enjoy yourself? That’s the main thing. Do you think you’ll see him again?”

  “Yes, and I hope so.” And I really do hope so. Despite the fact I will never regret this night, it would still pain me if he were to just simply up and disappear on me. “Did everything go okay with you? Did Tyler come and get you?”

  I hear her sigh. “No. He called me to say that Max was in bad shape and needed him. I told him that if he wanted to choose a would-be rapist over me then to go fuck himself.”

  I wince at the would-be rapist part. “Oh,” I simply say.

  “Yes, oh. The wanker.”

  I start laughing at her British word. “Wanker?”

  She starts giggling. “You know Joanie from school? She told me about her friend from London who calls every asshole a wanker. I liked the word, so I kept it.”

  “Okay,” I say, chuckling, “so, how did you get home?”

  “Jerry brought me home.”

  I smile at that. I really like Jerry now that I know he’s not the complete douche I thought he was. “Oh yeah, and how did that go?”

  “Why does it sound like you know something I don’t?”

  I bite my lip. “I just really like him after what he did tonight, and it now surprises me that you weren’t with him instead of Tyler.”

  She goes silent on me for a moment, and I wonder if I’ve pissed her off. “Well, we did fool around for a bit after some dancing.”

  We start laughing together, and it’s then that I feel a set of arms snaking around me. He pulls me to him, and I instantly feel his erection. Despite still feeling a little sore, desire sparks up inside me. “Um, Christine, I gotta go.” I feel him kissing the side of my neck, so I’m desperate to hang up.

  “Okay, we’ll talk laters, okay?”

  “Okay,” I shout, hanging up.

  I spin around and grab his head in my hands. I kiss him as hungrily as he kisses me. “So, you don’t have to go back right now?”

  I shake my head. “No,” I answer breathlessly.

  “Do you want to go to bed?”

  “Yes.” With the answer he wants to hear, he picks me up and carries me back to the bed. We kiss for a while as he works me up into a frenzy. It’s not long before I come, and J puts another condom on. With it being my second time, it hurts a little at first, but soon, just like with the first time, he has a rhythm started, and I am coming again.

  The first time was fantastic, but the second one seems magical. “You’ve ruined me,” he says, breathlessly against my lips. It’s not long after he’s come, so I gather that’s what has evoked these words.

  “I think I can say the same of you.”

  After cleaning up again, we lie for a little while holding each other. I don’t want this night to end, but I know it will. As if reading my thoughts, J sits up. “As much as I want to keep you here all night, I think I have to get you home. It’s nearly two.”

  “Shit!” I say, jumping off the bed. “I didn’t realize it was that late.”

  He laughs as he watches me dress. It’s a sexy laugh that makes me wonder why the hell I would want to leave him so soon, but I know my parents will worry if they wake up and find I’m not there yet.

  As if sensing my trepidation, J is dressed and ready just as quickly as I am. He places the mask back on his face, and I shake my head with an amused smile. He still wants to hide himself despite what we’ve just done…

  Twice.

  “Are you ready to go?” I nod my head and grab my bag on the way out. I take the car keys from my bag and give them to him with a knowing smile. “You didn’t need these after all, huh? Maybe Mr. Bates isn’t so bad.”

  I smile like an idiot because, quite frankly, I feel like I have the right to smile. Despite tonight starting badly, J has made sure it’s ending on the most perfect of notes.

  As we drive back home, J takes my hand and puts the radio on. LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live” plays softly as he drives. No one is on the roads. There is just the darkness of the trees and the outline of the mountain tops. I feel humbled as well as more relaxed than I have felt in a very long time.

  As I feel his hands caress mine, I listen to the words of LeAnn Rimes, and I wonder how I would ever live without J now. He’s taken my life and catapulted it into the unknown stars in the sky. Who could ever top that?

  “We’re here,” he says softly, breaking the sweet spell we were in.

  I look over to my house, and thankfully, all is dark. I smile tenderly at J. “Thank you for tonight. I will never forget it.”

  He grips my hand a little. “Are you saying goodbye?”

  I smile, thinking how much I was hoping he didn’t want that. “No, on the contrary. Unless, of course you—”

  “I don’t think that I could ever say goodbye to you… Not even if you said it to me.” He kisses my hand softly, and a contented sigh escapes my lips.

  I have such a romantic stalker.

  “I’m happy to hear that.” I look over to my house. “I better go.”

  He drops my hand, letting me know I can leave. “Of course.” I pull the handle to go, but he calls my name. I turn around, and he beckons me towards him. Of course, I go to him and because of it, I’m rewarded with a soft kiss. “Time’s up, Beautiful.” I feel him smile against my lips, and it makes me smile in turn. I think I’m falling into dangerous territory with this guy.

  “Goodnight, J.”

  “Goodnight, Lily.”

  I open the door fully, and this time, he lets me exit. I don’t ask him if he’ll call or text because a large part of me believes he will anyway.

  He watches as I walk to my door, and he doesn’t drive away until I step fully inside and shut the door. Once I place my purse and keys down, I lean up against the door and sigh.

  Then, the light switches on.

  “Care to tell me who the hell that was who drove you home? It certainly wasn’t Max.”

  I take a deep breath, thankful that it is Elle and not my parents. “Elle, you scared the shit out of me.”

  She stalks towards me with attitude—a challenging look to pull off when she has Winnie the Pooh pj’s on. “Don’t try to change the subject. Spill. I saw you two kiss. Who is he?”

  I gulp hard, wondering what I should tell her. “Max and I got into a fight, and this guy from school, J, brought me home.”

  She gives me a worried frown. “You had a fight with Max. What about?”

  I sigh. “He got drunk and pushed the fact that we’re just friends and he wants more a bi
t too far. He tried to kiss me, and Jerry pulled him off me.”

  “That was Jerry in the car?”

  I shake my head with a smile. “No. J is someone else that comforted me afterwards.”

  My God, was he a great comfort!

  She places her hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to go through that with Max. What a douche.”

  I nod my agreement. “Totally.”

  She studies me a moment, and when I don’t say anything, she huffs. “So?” she asks indignantly.

  I shrug my shoulders as if to say, “What?”

  “This guy … J … Who is he? You’ve never mentioned him before.”

  “There isn’t much to say. I only really talked with him tonight.”

  She walks closer. “Yes, but you kissed him. I know you. You would never let just anyone kiss you. He must be worth something to have gotten that close to you. I always thought you and I were alike in a lot of ways. You put priorities into perspective. You’re safe.”

  I sigh at that word. “Well, maybe I’m tired of being safe. Maybe I want to throw caution to the wind and live a little. I don’t know …”

  “Ooh, teenage rebellion. I wondered when that was going to kick in.”

  I shake my head. “It isn’t teenage rebellion. Can’t I just like a guy and kiss him when I want to?”

  She puts her hands up. “Okay, okay, snappy. I guess you’re not going to give me much, so I won’t push it. It’s late, and you probably just want to go to bed. I was just about to open the fridge to get a bottle of water. Do you want one?”

  I nod. “Yes, please. That would be great.” She quickly runs for the kitchen and grabs a couple of bottles. She hands one to me. “Thanks.”

  “Well, despite everything that happened with Max, did you have a good time?”

  I try my hardest not to smile when I think of J. “I did, thanks. It will definitely go down as one night I will never forget.”

  “Lily, Christine’s here!” my mom shouts from downstairs.

  I groan, looking at the time on my nightstand. It’s eleven in the morning. Shit, I must have been really tired to sleep in this long. J must have really worn me out. I smile at the thought, but another thought quickly rouses me. When I went to bed last night, I noticed I had a little blood on my panties, so I soaked them overnight in my sink.

  “Shit!” I get up, running to my bathroom when the inevitable knock on the door sounds. “Just a minute.”

  “Hurry up, Lily. We have to talk.”

  Hmm, I don’t know if that sounds like a good talk or a bad talk. “Just a sec.” I pull the plug on the sink and watch as the water quickly disappears. I check my panties and see that the stain has come off. Phew. Rinsing them quickly, I squeeze any excess water off and place them in my laundry pile for later. Once I’m done, I walk back to my bedroom and open the door.

  “What took you so long?” Christine, dressed to impress in her short pink sundress, storms past me without permission and sinks herself onto my bed.

  “Of course you can come in, Christine. Make yourself at home.”

  She sticks her phone in the air. “Why haven’t you mentioned it yet?”

  I frown, but my heart starts beating fast. The fact that she’s holding up her phone can only mean one of a few things, and I don’t think I really want to know what any of them are. Despite my better judgment, I ask. “Mentioned what?”

  “You mean you haven’t seen it yet?” she asks a little more excitedly.

  “You’ve lost me.”

  She suddenly squeals and starts jumping up and down on the bed. “Oh, my God, oh my God, oh my God,” she chants. “You have to watch this. It’s all over YouTube. Everyone at school is going crazy on Facebook about it.”

  I rush to sit beside her. I don’t know if I should be worried or not, but the fact that Christine seems so happy about it makes me think that maybe I have nothing to do with it after all; it’s simply me being paranoid after what I did last night. Even still, my guard is up. “What’s this all about?”

  She puts her phone up in the air, and in true Christine dramatic fashion, she announces, “This, you have got to see for yourself.”

  I nod my head, and together we both turn our attention to the phone. She lights it up, and the video is already queued up, ready for PLAY to be pressed. A gasp leaves my lips when I see Max tied up to his bed, wearing a matching red bra and panties with suspenders. He also has on green eye shadow, bright red lipstick, and blush on his cheeks. But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is seeing that his luscious brown hair—the hair he has always been so proud to show off—has been shaved right down the middle. All you can see is the hair he has left on each side of his head, topped off with a pink rose planted neatly in front of his right ear.

  “Come on, maannnn. This isn’t funnnnyyyy,” he slurs, in the video. No one says anything; they just keep filming. Max, however, seems so drunk that he’s unaware of what’s happened to him. “Untie me right now, and take that mask off, Tylerrrrrr.” He then slumps his head forward, and the video ends abruptly.

  “Shit!” I say, covering my mouth. I look one last time and see that it’s already been viewed over a thousand times. The heading reads, “Max Stamper, the Happy Camper.” I can’t help the giggle that erupts at the heading. “Oh, dear… I shouldn’t laugh.”

  Christine turns to me. “You have every right to laugh. After what he did to you last night, he deserves all the ridicule he can get.”

  “What does Tyler have to say about all this?”

  She frowns. “Well, that’s the thing. Tyler denies ever being there. He said he stayed with him for a couple of hours and then left. Max doesn’t believe him of course. I mean, who else could it be?”

  My eyes widen at the thought. Yes, who else could it be? There was only one person I could think of, and there would be only one way to find out. I wasn’t going to text him in front of Christine, though. That would have to wait until later.

  “Max is going apeshit.” Christine brought me back to the here and now. “His parents found out. They were away and were supposed to come back on Monday, but they’ve decided to cut their little trip short after their son’s escapades.”

  Oh shit, I hadn’t even thought about Mr. and Mrs. Stamper. I always got along with them, but that was only because I am the daughter of two prestigious parents. If it wasn’t for that, I highly doubt they would have ever entertained the idea of Max and I being friends. Dealing with pretentiousness is the one thing I have always hated about being in this kind of life. Max always rolled with it, but I didn’t. I just wanted to be me. Knowing that this has happened will send his parents into a tailspin. It makes me wonder what they’ll do to him. I know it will be something significant as they would never leave something like this alone. He’s put a bad name on the Stamper family now.

  “What do you think they’ll do to him?”

  Christine shakes her head. “I don’t know. He’s going to college in three months, so I suppose there’s not too much they can do. Anyway, why should you care?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t. I’m just curious.”

  She sighs like she’s annoyed with something. “You know, I always thought you and Max made a cute couple, but you never once—even though people pushed it—entertained the idea that you and him should be together. I admire you for it, but now I can understand why you said no. I didn’t realize he was that much of an asshole.”

  I yawn and stretch my arms. “Well, he wasn’t always like that.”

  She raises an eyebrow at me. “Looks like someone needed their sleep.”

  Oh goodie, we’re changing the subject.

  “I didn’t get to sleep till late, so …”

  “Are you sore?”

  I gasp. “Christine, what kind of question is that to ask?”

  She shrugs her shoulders. “A simple one. Okay, how about a different question. Any regrets?”

  I already knew I wouldn’t wake up with regrets this morning,
so this question is a lot easier to answer. “No. No regrets at all. He was sweet, kind, and gentle. He made me feel …”

  “You don’t have to tell me the gory details.”

  That surprised me somewhat … not that I was heading there anyway. I thought Christine always lived for the juicy details. I frown. “I was just going to say that he made me feel special, that’s all. You know me, I don’t kiss and tell.”

  She smiles. “Or in this case, fu—”

  “Okay, okay, I get the drift.” She starts giggling, and it sets me off too. “So, how are you feeling today?”

  She starts playing with the end of her dress, so I know something’s on her mind. “I’m good. Especially good after waking up to this baby.” She waves her phone in front of me and smiles somewhat falsely.

  “Christine,” I begin, rubbing her shoulder, “what’s wrong?”

  She suddenly stands and starts pacing. She puffs out some air, shaking her head. “I don’t know … ugh.” She doesn’t elaborate, and I don’t push it. She will tell me when she’s ready to. “Jerry asked me out for ice cream today.”

  I stand. “Oh my God! How could he do such a thing?” I joke.

  Christine shakes her head disapprovingly. “It’s not a joke, Lily.”

  I instantly feel guilty. “I’m sorry. Go on.”

  She sighs and sits back down again. “I just don’t know whether or not to go. I said yes because I was caught up in the moment. Now, though, I’m not so sure.”

  “It’s only ice cream,” I reassure her.

  Her hands fly through the air. “But it’s not really about the ice cream, is it? Well, first it will be, and then that will lead to more ice cream until suddenly it moves on to eating dinner before that ice cream… I think you see where I’m going with this.”

  I’m thinking how strange her analogy is, but I’m following what she means. “You’re afraid of commitment. You think going for ice cream instantly means dinner dates, which will lead to going as a ‘plus one’ to parties, which will then, in turn, lead to waking up for breakfast with him every morning.”