Page 30 of The Bride
It wasthe next Tuesday after the prom. I was no longer hanging out with Riley. Obviously. In a lot of ways Jake was right. I wanted to have sex. Riley was the guy I was hanging out with, but I didn’t know how much I wanted to have sex with Riley. I liked him. I liked kissing him. But all that stuff Jake said about Riley penetrating my body and was I cool with that?
Truthfully, I think I probably would have freaked out.
Fine. I didn’t yet know which guy was the one. I would wait. It wasn’t like sex was going anywhere. There would be all kinds of chances in the next forty or fifty years. I wasn’t sure at what age people stopped having sex. My dad was still going strong at fifty-seven, so that had to mean something.
I sat down at our normal lunch table in the high school cafeteria. Karen, Lisa, and Chrissy where there. They all knew what didn’t happen. They all knew about how cool Jake had been about the whole thing. They were all supportive.
They were my friends.
Now it was behind me. We had all vowed to never speak of what became known as the Great Prom Debacle again.
Except in that moment Bobby MacPherson showed up at our table. Sitting down next to me on the bench, facing away from the table.
“So Mason, hear you are looking for some action?”
My face flushed as I realized what he meant. Seriously, that’s how you know you’re a virgin, because it takes you that long to realize what he’s asking you.
Bobby MacPherson was the best athlete in the school, which really didn’t mean much as team sports weren’t that big of a thing in Riverbend. Mostly because we were too far away from other schools to have regular weekly games, but also because non-traditional sports like rodeo were bigger in Montana.
Still, we had a football team that mostly scrimmaged amongst themselves and played the team from Jefferson twice a season. Bobby was QB One and like some bad cliché in a high school TV drama, QB One thought his shit didn’t stink. He made everyone in class call him Mac, which was stupid because his name was Bobby. So I called him Bobby.
“Screw you, Bobby.”
And screw Riley for blabbing. I mean really? He rejects me then has to tell everyone about it. What kind of douchebag move is that?
“No, screw you. That’s what I’m offering,” he snickered at Chrissy’s horrified gasp.
As I previously mentioned, I was mostly liked by people but let’s face it, it was high school and the weird kid was always separated from the herd. Weird enough I had no mom going in to high school. Now no father. Weirder still I had a husband and everyone knew it. I suppose they had been giving me an obligatory amount grieving time before dismissing any considerations for my feelings. Now the gloves were off and I, the weird married high school student, was fair game.
“Although I don’t get it, is Jake not doing a good job of plowing you every night? Or is that even legal? I mean you’re his wife, but you’re also still jail bait. What’s a guy to do?”
“You’re disgusting. And you’re not worth my time.”
I turned back to my lunch and ignored him. Or at least pretended to.
“Every guy in school knows you’re fair game now, Mason. That you’re hot for it.”
He’d said it quietly in my ear. Like it was some kind of threat. Yeah, most people liked me because I got along with most people.
Not with Bobby. Because he knew I didn’t buy his bullshit and because I called him by his fucking name.
“You’re a dick, Bobby. Go be it somewhere else. You’re ruining my appetite.”
After that I continued to ignore him until he left.
“Are you okay?” Chrissy asked.
“He’s such an asshole,” Karen added in support of me.
Lisa didn’t say much, because I knew Lisa secretly still liked Bobby. That’s who she had given it up to for her first time. He’d taken her virginity and then dumped her a week later.
Asshole.
“I’m fine. Empty threats, but wow what a jerk Riley turned out to be.”
“They’re guys. They can’t not talk about this shit,” Karen said wisely.
“Whatever.” I said it like it didn’t matter.
