Page 89 of Absorbed

Melissa had tears running down her cheeks.

“That’s enough, Jess,” Chad said.

“She gets to publicly humiliate me with her two-faced puppet Stacey, but I can’t say anything about her? Fuck off.”

Melissa got up and stormed away, Desiree trailing after her, sending waves sloshing across the jacuzzi.

Jessie stood and scowled. “What about you, Stacey?” he said. “Or do you only have something to say when Melissa is feeding you lies to repeat to her groupies?”

Stacey felt sick to her stomach, but she had told herself when the time came she would apologize to Jessie for what she’d said. She swallowed hard and exhaled, looking straight across the water at Jessie’s flushed face. “I’m not Melissa’s puppet. What you did hurt me. But I shouldn’t have lied or spread rumors about you. I’m sorry.”

Jessie’s eyes narrowed. “Suddenly you have such a change of heart? Now you don’t mean what you said and I’m supposed to just forgive you?”

“This isn’t ‘suddenly.’ I’ve had a really shitty couple of weeks, and it all started with you. It’s not likeyouever apologized. Whether you forgive me or not is up to you.”

“Well, this has been the most depressing high EVER,” Mark said. “Chad, give me a lift home?”

“Sure, bud,” Chad said as the group stood.

Tiffany hugged Stacey goodbye while Jessie grabbed his skateboard from the front porch and started down the hill. Mark climbed into Chad’s passenger seat and they headed in the opposite direction from Jessie.

Stacey’s car’s headlights captured Jessie fading into the distance. There was no moon yet, and this part of the foothills had no streetlights along any of the narrow winding roads. She couldn’t imagine just driving past him and letting him skate home to their neighborhood in total darkness. She pulled the Silver Bullet up beside him and rolled down the window.

“I’ll give you a ride.”

Jessie looked ahead on the road, where it was pitch black for at least a mile. It was after nine and they were five miles from home. He looked back at Stacey, scrutinizing her. “If this is pity, or a plan to humiliate me again, I’d really rather get myself home.”

Stacey let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “I meant it when I said I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that stuff about you at Travis’ party. Get in.”

Jessie opened the passenger door and sat down. “Why did you?” he asked as he stood his skateboard between his legs and closed the door.

She bit the inside of her cheek. “Because I was hurt. And embarrassed.”

“But why? I don’t get it. I liked you. I thought you liked me, too. We had fun together.”

She pulled away from the curb. “I liked you for a really long time, Jessie. When you finally noticed me, and kissed me, I thought it was because you wanted to be with me. Everything happened so fast. I wasn’t ready. Then, when I saw that you were still with Melissa, it crushed me.”

“Whoa! I’ve ALWAYS said I don’t want a girlfriend. You should have known that. We were just hooking up.”

“Why did you think I would just ‘hook up’ with anyone? I had zero experience before you.”

“No way. You’re hot and smart and you went to prom with that varsity basketball guy. Everyone has sex at prom.”

Stacey pulled over to the gravel at the side of the road and pulled the emergency brake. The headlights lit the winding, narrow road. She took a breath, then turned to face Jessie. “Are you talking about Ryan Johnson? I did NOT have sex with Ryan. Not EVERYONE has sex after prom, actually.”

Jessie rolled his eyes and shook his head, leaning back against the headrest. “He’s a starter on the varsity team. Of course you had sex with him.”

“Jessie, Ineverliked Ryan, and I was a VIRGIN before I went out with you!”

“Bullshit,” Jessie said in a sing-song voice as he stared at the ceiling. “That night at the movies you said you’d screw a different guy every day, and when it was just the two of us you told me ‘Maybe some people aren’t meant for monogamy.’” He held his palms up as though he’d presented proof that supported his argument.

“We were playing Would You Rather and I was talking about your parents!” Stacey said, exasperation creeping into her voice. “So, because I went to a dance with a guy who wasn’t my boyfriend, and I said ‘some people aren’t meant for monogamy,’ you assumed I just wanted to have sex with you, no strings attached?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged, his expression genuinely confused. “Chicks always seem to want it, like in movies and stuff.”

Stacey cupped her forehead in her palms. “Are you talking about porn, Jessie? That’s not real. And what happened between us isnotwhat I wanted.” Tears stung her eyes and her anger burned in her chest, but Stacey took a slow, deep breath and kept the tears in. She leaned her back against the door. “I was super excited when you asked me to watch the meteor shower and actually thought THAT was what we were going to do and maybe kiss again.” Stacey looked at her hands. Her voice grew quiet and shaky. “But…you moved so fast… I’d never done ANYof those things with ANYONE before. I wasn’t ready to have sex, but I was embarrassed to say no.”

Jessie looked back and forth between Stacey’s eyes in the dark car. “No way! Bullshit. You were totally into it. You never told me to stop.”

---