Page 17 of Reckless Youth
Sometime over the weekend, Booker’s recollection of what he saw in the truck became the town fodder for gossip and the salacious undertones related to the “dirty slut girl who liked to gangbang.” Although we’d all grown up in the same town and everyone knew us; it quickly turned scandalous. By the time I returned home Sunday night and checked my social media accounts, it had spread like wildfire.
The following Monday at school, the rumors were rampant. Like a cyclone that had picked up speed over the weekend and now swirled heavily through the school corridors; our classmates the whips and waves and thunder that spread the tasteless tales around.
All I could do was hold my head high as I walked the hallway to my classroom, even though inside my spirit was crushed flatter than the Kansas plains.
The boys had dropped me off at my house on Friday night and I’d kissed them both goodnight. Although it began as chaste kisses, it soon grew fevered. We’d gotten ourselves worked up again, just from the touches and kisses that stoked the flames of that fire.
The rest of the weekend I was out of town on a college visit with my parents. I hadn’t yet applied to any schools yet but had narrowed it down to a few. We visited Emory University in Atlanta, which was high on my list of potentials. It was my goal to be far enough away from home to learn to live independently; but close enough to be near my family, Cam, and Sage.
Cam had already been accepted into Vanderbilt, which was in Nashville, and not too far from Atlanta. His father, however, was pressuring him to enlist into the Air Force, something that his father and grandfather had all done. Cam had admitted to me on more than one occasion that he was torn between feeling obligated to his family, and his desire to go to college.
Sage, however, wasn’t looking at colleges. It wasn’t his thing, he’d said, and would leave to conquer the music world in some way shape or form.
The indecent rumors made it sound like we had some forbidden love triangle going on. That Sage and Cam were fighting over me and that I was their sex slave. It was utterly ridiculous. So, I paid it no mind and kept my head held high.
The same didn’t hold true with Cam and Sage. They seemed to crack under the weight and pressure of the heavy implications within the made-up stories. While there was only the tiny kernel of truth to the sordid tales that were sown, the lies were so outrageous and egregious that the boys couldn’t turn the other cheek.
And it led us into a heated argument later that week. I had hoped by the end of the week the rumor mill would have died down, but it hadn’t. The stories only grew bigger and more vibrant, leaving Cam ready to forgo the football game that Friday night.
“It’s utter bullshit and I won’t allow people to say the things they’re saying about you, London.”
Cam paced in front of his truck that was parked in front of my house after school. He’d ditched football practice in favor of meeting up with me and Sage.
Sage sat on the soft grassy yard, picking at the blades of grass that were still brown from the heat of the summer sun. His head was bent, either silently contemplating the situation or to avoid the conversation entirely.
“What exactly are they saying that’s so terrible? Who cares what they’re saying? It shouldn’t make any difference.” I softly stated, hoping my bravado sounded believable, even though on the inside I cringed at being the talk of the town. Like I wore the redAacross my breasts.
Cam scoffed, pacing and pacing and pacing like a caged lion.
So serious. So intense.
“They are all mother fucking lies.”
“Just tell me what they’re saying, Cameron. If they are lies, then it shouldn’t matter one bit.”
He bent at the waist, pressing palms against his thighs, huffing out a stubborn protest.
“They’re saying you’re a slut who likes DP. And that the only reason we hang with you is because you’ll let us do anal.” He coughed out the last word and I let out a high-pitched squeak.
“What? Oh my God, that’s so…ugh,” I squealed, covering my mouth with my hand. I turned and stomped off two steps before returning to Cam.
Lowering my voice, just in case the neighbors or my mom, who was inside the house watching her soap opera, can hear our conversation.
I didn’t want to sound stupid, but I needed clarification. “What’s DP?”
Sage choked out a noise, his voice scraping like metal. I looked down at him as his gaze snatched mine, his cheeks coloring with red.
“Double-penetration.”
Sage gave some weird hand gesture with his fist and fingers, lifting a shoulder. My mouth opened as I took in its meaning, and the nasty suggestions from small minded people.
“Oh.”
It made sense that people outside our circle wouldn’t fully comprehend the friendship Sage, Cam and I had together. Or how tightly our bond connected us in ways that were mind-blowing. Maybe we were some odd love triangle or had an unconventional love for one another that others just couldn’t understand so they justified it with explanations that weren’t accurate.
But to create lies and stories about us was inconceivable to me. How could they do that? Where did they get off casting those stones when they weren’t infallible?
The anger bubbled up inside of me and I felt like a volcano ready to erupt, steam rising and climbing from my belly as my fists clenched.
