Page 39 of Space Junk: Houston, We Have a Hottie
“You realize that’s a crock of shit, right? Especially after we saw those slut books you like,” Rose says.
“They aren’t slut books! They’re romance,” Trish says, sounding surprisingly defensive on my behalf.
Rose puts both hands up. “Okay, okay. Ix-nay on the lut-say.”
I study the swirl of whipped cream mounded onto the other shots on the table. “Did you know Pig Latin predates Shakespeare? But it used to be called Dog Latin.” Rose and Trish just blink at me. “Anyway,” I drawl out, “I’m smart enough to know the difference between romance novel fantasy sex and reality.”
“Oh, girl. If you think good sex is just a fantasy, then you truly do need to get laid. And STAT.” Rose leans over and pats my hand. “But before that you need to tell Auntie Rose all about it.”
“Let’s just do another shot.” I reach for the complicated Blow Job, but Rose smacks my hand away. “Hey!”
“No shot until you spill.”
“Fine.” I straighten my shoulders. “When I was in grad school, I was a T.A.”
“Tits and ass?” Rose gasps. “You were a stripper!”
Trish rolls her eyes at Rose.
“A teaching assistant! Sheesh.” I push my glasses up. “Anyway, I taught what a lot of people called the Jock class—remedial math. It’s the course all the athletes took hoping for an easy A.”
Rose smirks. “Were they hot for teacher?”
Trish shoves her shoulder. “Let the girl finish.”
“Sorry.” Rose waves for me to continue.
“It’s okay. I guess you could say they were hot for teacher. Or I thought one of them was at least.” I pause, thinking back.
“What do you mean?” Rose asks.
“Growing up, it was always hard to make friends. I skipped two grades, so I was always a lot younger than my classmates. But in this class, I was pretty much the same age as all the students.” I watch the mirror ball rotate above the dance floor. “He was a baseball player named Brian Hampson.”
“Holy shit.” Trish slaps the table. “TheBrian Hampson?”
“You know him?” I hadn’t taken Trish for a baseball fan.
“I knowofhim. The Houston Astros just signed him as their shortstop. And, I mean, did youseethat underwear ad he did for Nike?” She fans her face. “He ishot.”
“Yes. He’s definitely hot,” I mutter.
“So what happened?” Rose pulls us back to the story.
“He was the first person I ever slept with.”
“You gave up your virginity to Brian freaking Hampson?” Rose yells.
“Shhhhh!” I admonish.
“Hell, girl, if you were going to wait that long, I say Brian Hampson was the way to go.” Trish salutes me with her drink. “Well done.”
“I guess if you look at it that way. But it was all just a game to him.”
“What do you mean?” Rose asked.
“All leading up to it, he acted sincere. He took me out. Introduced me to his friends. Held my hand at parties. It was... it was great. I felt like...”
“Like what, sweetie?” Trish’s voice softens.
