We broke away and just stared into each other's eyes for a bit, before reluctantly letting go fully. "Want me to finish you off?" Nicole asked.
I shook my head. "Nah." I answered. I looked for more to add, but I couldn't find the words.
Nicole laughed softly. "Yeah, I find it difficult to fuck after I get all sentimental too." She winked at me, and feeling a hell of a lot better, I winked back. I bent over to pull my pants back up and button them back up, and of course by the time I looked back at Nicole, she was fully clothed, laying down, casually checking her phone. It was even more impressive this time, considering it wasn't even the same outfit she changed out of.
"Seriously, how do you get changed so fast?" I asked her, still doing up the zipper on my pants.
"Seriously, grade 11." She shot back, looking up at me with a determined small smile. She got up and hugged me again. "So are you gonna stay?"
"Nah, I just want some time to think to myself if that's okay." I answered, hugging her back.
She sunk into my arms, clearly in disappointment. "I understand." she said nonetheless. "I'll see you tomorrow then?" she asked, looking up into my eyes.
I smiled. "Definitely." she smiled back and let go of me, waving me off as I exited her room and went down the stairs.
"Glass of water?" Mrs. Baker asked with just a hint of malice to her voice as I entered the kitchen.
I sighed. "Yes, I'm having sex with your daughter." Where the hell did that come from?! Clearly I could be more bold than I thought.
Mrs. Baker just gave me a bit of a scowl. "You're not anything special, you know. I've met a dozen young boys just like you. She's just being a rebellious teenager. I don't know what we did to deserve it, but she just enjoys causing us pain." She turned away from me and walked back to the table, mumbling to herself, "I just did something wrong when I raised her."
"Even if I'm not special, I'm just glad to know her. I was upset when I came over, and even without the sex, just by listening to my problems and comforting me, she made me feel better. She's a good listener."
Mrs. Baker let a small smile slip. "She gets it from me." She informed me.
Bingo. That's what I was waiting for. All of the anger at May didn't die out inside me, but it was about to switch targets. I was angry at hell for how Nicole's parents treated her, and whether I even wanted to or not, tonight I would let them have it. Plus, with the way I bonded with my dad earlier, there was no way I was going to allow Nicole not to have the same thing. With a sudden surge of adrenaline, I began my bold retaliation.
"Yeah, she seems to get a curious amount from you. How old are you, Mrs. Baker? Because may I say, you look awfully young. How old were you when you had Nicole? You couldn't have been older than 20. It's very interesting that you condemn Nicole for doing what teens crave, when you yourself were undeniably indulgent of the same forbidden fruit."
Mrs. Baker's eyebrows shot up to meet her hairline. For the first time, I saw Mr. Baker putting down his book.
Nevertheless, I continued. "If she's sleeping around, there's very few ways a parent could consider that 'punishment,' and I think we both know the kind that applies here. If you're worried for her, how about you tell her that, instead of antagonizing her?"
Mr. Baker got up from his seat to stand by his wife, who was now struggling to hold back a single tear. She still didn't give up her tight-lipped expression, though.
"Boy, you're not in your place to say anything about this family." Mr. Baker started. "And you're going to apologize right now."
Standing my ground, I replied, "Let me know if anything I just said is false and I will apologize. I'll take it all back. Just give me the word."
"No, that's not how this works." Mr. Baker commanded with a low voice, taking another step towards me. "We're not going to do anything. You're just going to apologize. Right. Now."
On the inside, I was on the verge of another panic attack, but I couldn't give up now. "I'm sorry, Mr. Baker. But I won't stand back and let you continue to treat Nicole this way, just because you misunderstand her."
Mr. Baker's eyes flickered with a hint of rage, before he took another menacing step towards me. "I warned you." he growled.
"Duncan." came Mrs. Baker's commanding voice. Mr. Baker hesitantly took a few steps back and rejoined his wife, still looking me dead in the eye. They both were.
"Adam, remember that you've known her for a few weeks. We're her parents. This is more complicated than you think it is." Mrs. Baker told me. She was still upset, but I was glad the conversation was going somewhere.
"Just speaking as a friend of hers, I don't think she has the capacity to punish you as you two describe. I just think you misunderstand each other. And if you approached her with the topic with a friendly disposition, you might make better progress than to label yourself the victim immediately. I'm sure if you told her this, she'll offer the same courtesy." I replied coolly.
"And what makes you so sure?" Mrs. Baker asked me, her face noticeably softening.
"Because while you might not see eye to eye, I've seen the immense amount of compassion Nicole has, and that's not something you can find in everyone." I replied. "And if you're fair to her, she is a wonderful person to talk to about your problems, even if they're with her." I paused before adding, "I imagine she had to get that from somewhere too." And smiled knowingly at both of her parents.
Without giving any hint of a smile, I saw a small nod from Mrs. Baker. "Very well. I'll try to talk to her, but this does not let her off the hook in any way. This doesn't excuse you from those comments you made earlier either."
Realizing my place, I nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry for how I spoke to you after the hospitality you both have shown me. It was uncalled for and disrespectful."
Mrs. Baker sighed. "I will give you this, it wasn't untrue." She said nothing more though, and both parents had their gaze fixed on me. I took this as my time to leave.
As I nearly exited the kitchen, Mrs. Baker added, "I don't regret having her, or either of my other two kids, in any way. It's just that it was difficult to raise them. I just want them to be the best kids they can be, to not make the same mistakes. I love them, but love has to be tough sometimes."
I nodded respectfully, and noted the book on the table. "I guess parenthood is the best of times and the worst of times, huh?"
Internally, I laughed at my own cheesiness, but it got a solemn nod from Mr. Baker. I took that as a victory and exited the house.
As soon as I was outside, I was reduced to a mess of coughing, wheezing, and trying to breathe normally again. That was, as stupid as this sounds, the bravest thing I had ever done, and being as spineless as I was, it took a real toll on me. But still, once I recovered and started to walk towards my own house, I had a spring in my step. I sincerely hope this meant that Nicole and her parents would have a more understanding, caring relationship as a result of this conversation. God knows that given how sweet and empathetic Nicole was, she definitely deserved the same love from her parents. Or someone.
Eventfulness, as my father had predicted, usually just ended up meaning trouble for me, so I was glad to find out that after a very event-filled October, November went by as eventlessly as it could. Thanks to Nicole's talk with me, there was no bad tension whenever I was around May, which was good since drama class necessitated that you need to be ready to act with anyone at the drop of a hat without any tension being present.
Megan and I began texting, more frequently than with Nicole or with May. Then again, that was mostly her doing, with her usually starting the conversation and keeping it going. She made no effort to hide her crush on me, and I needed to be careful not to be rude, but also to not lead her on.
As for Nicole and I, we did what we did best, and most often. Telling each other secrets, screwing, and playing video games, with her naturally beating me every time we tried anything remotely close to competitive. If ever I needed a reason for why I didn't play video games, she was gracious enough to give me that reason. She never talked to me about any talks her parents had with her, though, which made me wonder if all of my courage on Halloween night was in vain. Her parents seemed sincere when they said they would talk to her.
As December rolled around, I got to be better friends with Carson, which was cool. While he was really confident, he wasn't above being friendly, you just had to know him well enough. In early December, on the first weekend, I got to hang out with him for the first time at his place. Dad drove me, and he didn't say anything to that effect, but I got the impression that we were glad to find out I was hanging out with more than just girls.
"Hey, buddy! C'mon in." Carson welcomed me as I entered the house. It wasn't late enough into December that the snow was sticking, but I still had to wear clunky boots that I was all too glad to be rid of.
"What's up?" He asked me as he led me into the living room, then plopped down on one of the couches. I joined him, falling down on the adjacent couch.
"Not a lot." I answered him. "Just finished that y-intercept thing we were given on Thursday."
He buried his face in his hands. "Aw, shit." he said aloud. "That was a thing."
I laughed as his dad rounded the corner. "Oh, hi!" he remarked to Carson. "I didn't know you'd be having company."
"Oh yeah, sorry." Carson said as he stood up. "Dad, this is Adam Watson. He's in my math class. Adam, George Carter, my dad."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Carter." I said as I stood up and shook his hand. Well, I say 'shook his hand,' but the exchange was more like him just grabbing my hand and crushing it.
"Mr. Carter is my father." He said cheerfully. "Call me George."
I nodded and sat back down as his dad began to putz around the kitchen. "Is your mom home?" I asked Carson.
Carson shifted in his seat. "Uh, my parents are kinda…" He began, and trailed off, mashing his index fingers together, expecting me to finish for myself.
"Oh, sorry." I said. He waved it off like it was no big deal, but obviously didn't want to talk about it any longer. "So what do you wanna do?" I asked, trying to shift the topic.
He shrugged, and eyed something on the couch, reaching to hold it up. It was an Xbox controller.
Son of a bitch, I was the only one who didn't play video games in the whole county, wasn't I? I sighed, shaking my head, but gave in.
"What, don't you like gaming?" Carson asked me.
"I dunno. I only play with one person, and she beats me every time." I said. As soon as it registered that I said 'she', Carson broke into a grin.
"You get beat by a girl? Oh buddy, that's rough. I need to teach you how to play, so you can kick her ass."
I grinned back. "I'm cool with learning." Carson tossed me a controller and booted up his console.
"Still," he added, "It's pretty sweet that you could find a girlfriend that'll play video games with you."
"Oh, she's not my girlfriend." I protested. He shot me a sly smile.
"Oh, so you two just fuck, huh? I hear that. That's my go-to option with girls too."
I wanted to protest, but realized I couldn't. That's what Nicole and I do, I reasoned with myself. I didn't want to straight-up lie to a new friend, so I kept my mouth shut as Carson continued.
"I mean, as long as you're not hurting anyone, and the girl knows it's just sex, it can't do any harm. Just don't go too far, you'll end up like my cousin."
"What does your cousin do?" I asked, basically just to kill time, as Carson booted up a shooter game.
"He likes to take girls out and use them. He's not above cheating or anything like that either. Like, I'm cool with just having sex with girls, but there's a line, and you need to respect them too."
I nodded. "Does he go to our school?"
"Who, Craig? Oh, hell no. He'd get ground to a pulp by the goody two-shoes students of our school. They wouldn't stand what he does for a second. Nah, he lives a few states over, like most of my family. He's actually kind of a sad story. Like, he's a jerk and all, but no one ever shows him any sympathy or tries to know his good side or anything. I haven't heard from him in a while, but I feel like once he gets a solid friend, he'll clean up his act. He could totally be a good guy, but doesn't know how, you get me?"
I nodded again as Carson continued. "Point is, don't be a jerk. It's the rules I live by. I mean, if you get offended by something I do that doesn't mean, sucks to be you for being oversensitive, but, like, my definition of a jerk."
If Carson was anything, it was self-defined. He appeared to never get affected by the world around him. That was probably the source of his confidence.
"Well, do you have any flings right now?" I asked, half curiosity, half keeping the conversation going. He paused the game and looked at me for a second, apparently in thought.
"Nah… Actually, I was thinking that maybe it's time to buckle down. Y'know, make the commitment. See if relationships are all they're cracked up to be."
"Oh yeah?" I asked him.
He nodded. "But I can't just go looking for relationships. You do that, and you end up a sap. Between flings, I started hanging out with this one girl, and she seems pretty cool. we haven't fucked or anything, but… I dunno. It's kinda different with her. It's cool to just hang around her, rather than just meet and fuck. So I asked her out."
"Dude, way to go!" I said, congratulating him. "Who is it, do I know her?"
"I dunno. I mean, she's not in any of my classes, so I dunno if you know her. May Stevens."
Oh, fuck. You have got to be kidding me. A knot the size of Texas began to form in my stomach. May? Really? When did he even get the chance to meet her?
"Yeah, I know May." I said, trying as hard as I could to have my voice not reflect my jealousy. "I didn't know you knew her."
"Yeah, it's the weirdest thing." Carson answered with enthusiasm. "I didn't even know she existed before the Halloween dance. But there she was, all alone in the hallway yet gorgeous as fuck. So I asked her to dance, and boom! Suddenly we're hanging out, and we find out we have a lot in common. So I asked her out, and she said yes. You ask me, it's in the bag."