Page 48 of All Your Firsts

“Oh, it’s a juicy story. Wait.” She reaches over and grabs a handful of my popcorn to throw in her mouth. “Oh, that is good,” she says, licking her fingers.

“Told you.”

“Okay, continue.”

“So, he literally carried me out of the bar, then he spanked me and threatened to do it again if I moved from the back of his bike,” I whisper, not wanting any of the other moviegoers to hear the naughty details.

“Wait, he let you on the back of his bike?”

“That’s the only thing you’re questioning?” I whisper-yell. She didn’t even bat an eye when I mentioned the spanking.

“That’s big.”

“Why?”

“Most of the guys consider it sacred and only let ‘the one’”—Jess air quotes—“on the back. Unless you’re Trey. He lets anyone with boobs on the back. Stay away from that ho.”

“He only let me on the back because he had no other choice.”

“Maybe, maybe not. What happened next?”

“Well, then, we got home, and we ended up kissing, and...” Why is it so hard for me to just spit it out? It’s my first experience with a guy, so maybe that’s why? Geez, I’m a mess.

“Oh, you’re blushing. It musta been good,” she says with a smile. “You guys hooked up?”

“Well, kinda.”

“Kinda?”

“We didn’t have sex. We just rubbed against each other until we both orgasmed.”

Her smile is the biggest I’ve ever seen until she’s cracking up. “How very middle school of you guys. I love it. Then what happened?”

“He freaked out, and I didn’t hear or see him until he stalked me in the bookstore yesterday.”

“Well, that’s odd.”

“That’s what I thought. He’s so hot and cold with me. Maybe it’s for the best since he’s my brother’s friend, and I’m not even sure if I like him, like him. We just had a moment, and now I feel stupid because I’m sure it meant nothing to him.”

“It’s not stupid. Did it mean something to you?”

“Maybe... I don’t know. I’m lost.”

“We all are. That’s what having friends is for,” Jess says as she pats my hand. “You got to be kidding me.”

“What?” I look over at Jess and follow her line of sight. Vic and Axl are at the bottom of the theater steps.What the hell is he doing here?

Vic says something to Axl, and he laughs before they split up. Vic makes his way to the set of stairs on my right. He doesn’t take his eyes off me as he ascends the stairs. I place the popcorn in front of my face, attempting to block my view of him. I’m feeling awkward about just discussing our incident and then having him materialize out of nowhere. The memories are still at the front of my thoughts.

The heat of his presence looms over me, but I refuse to look up. Acting as if the popcorn container is far more interesting.

Vic grabs the popcorn from my death grip. Yellow kernels of popcorn fly everywhere. My eyes snap up to him. But my glare doesn’t deter him. He reaches up to my head, and I slink back into the leather chair. His fingers rest on my scalp for a mere second before he pulls back with a piece of popcorn between his fingers.

“Just cleaning you up.” Vic plucks out two more pieces and eats them.

“Stop that,” I say, smoothing my hair down only to find one of my Sour Patch Kids stuck. “Shit.”

“Let me help.”

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