Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Introduction

How Can You Love ‘Em If You’ve Never Met ‘Em?
A story about friends, love, distance, and sex. Lots of sex.
By Samantha Davis

(A quick note - check the archive for new chapters, because the blogger is slow and doesn't always post them!)

(And an author's note...this story is based on fact, but there's a hell of a lot of fiction involved. If you're wondering if these things have happened to me, as you read, your safest bet is that the exact context is off. I've changed the personalities a tiny bit; changed likes, dislikes. And I added a fetish or two, for interest's sake. My main purpose in writing this is to communicate two things:
a) a rebuttal because ALL of the mainstream romance novels have no "kinky" aspects to them
b) a vague idea of what a long distance relationship feels like. The time in this novel is shortened...the nights spent lonely or sobbing have, for the most part, been removed.
My point is, if I was going to write an honest account, I wouldn't have changed names and ages. But, enjoy anyway. Forget you know the writer, and get to know the character.)

Introduction from Storm

People have been coming to me for years with a statement which they’ve attempted to get through to my thick skull. It still hasn’t worked. However, in case the reader would like to know, the statement in question is as follows: You can’t love someone if you’ve never met them! Honestly. What kind of statement is that? Do you fall in love with someone because of the way they move? The way they kiss you? Or do you fall in love with someone because of the way they think? The way their morals fit so nicely with yours, sometimes, not so nicely. The way you two can argue for hours and, in an instant, come to a decision that you both absolutely love.

This is a harsh question, but one that begs to be asked. Do you fall in love with someone because of the way they look? Or the way they think and contemplate all of the little things in life? It basically comes down to that separation – is it for the body, or the mind, that you fall in love?

Anyway, I’m sure all of my friends will be looking for justification from me. They ask me all sorts of other questions…what if the dude is a stalker? What if he’s an 80 year old pedophile who’s just getting kicks out of making you think you love him? What if he’s an eight year old genius who’s just fucking with you?

Well, if I believe so strongly in the fact that you love a person for who they are, and not how they look….whether he be eight or eighty, male or female, smart or silly…if I love them, then I love them. So what if they’re really missing an arm or have a latex fetish (one I don’t care for, personally). It doesn’t matter.

And so, here is my rebuttal to my friends’ eternal questions. If I, once, make you, the reader, go “Awww!” or “Oooh!”; either to yourself, or out loud, then I win.


On that note, I should finish off my rant and get to the small introduction. Hi. My name is Storm McAllis. I am…less than thirty, older than ten. We'll get to that later. I have grown up in a very small town for most of my life, which we shall, for all purposes of this book, label Nowhere, New York. I don’t have any siblings, and my parents are perfectly normal. No, really. No quirks. Dad’s a business consultant. Mom’s a lawyer. I have dogs…two of them. Silly and Crazy. They’re big, they slobber, and they never go away. They’re from the same litter of German shepherd mutts, brothers. Their real names were Sam and Jack, one named for the Dr Seuss book, and the other named for Jack the Ripper (I was a strange kid).

I also have a ferret, who has his own room. He tried to escape once – his name is Bill. The dogs had him cornered when I walked in from school…it wasn’t a pretty picture. My ferret is rather odd, in that he doesn’t…quite…act like a normal ferret. He has this funny habit of hanging himself upside down and meditating. No, I’m not fucking with you.

That’s my biological family; the one I live with. From this point forward, you will meet the other family that I have. Be afraid…be very, very afraid.

Chapter 1: School

School

“Wanna hang out tonight?” Kaley asked me as she shuffled through her notes to get them in order.

“Umm…yeah, sure.” I said. “I might as well get a small break from all the stuff I have to do when I get home this weekend.”

Kaley hoisted her backpack onto her shoulder. She looked at me and shook her head.

“You know its your own damn fault you have so many classes. You could cut down to honors classes.” Kaley shrugged.

“I know, but I can’t. I’d feel like I was quitting. You know me, anyway. I just complain a lot. Its not really that bad. This is the first year I’ve had more than an hour of homework in a week. How’re yours coming?”

“My what?”

“Classes.” I said. We walked out of the library together. Part of the thing that always amused me about the library was the “Security” features it had. It had the theft identification system, where you have to walk through the little arch, and if you have a stolen book, the alarm goes off.

“They’re fine. Chem is probably the hardest. I’m glad I didn’t take choir this year. I don’t think I could stand another year of the Hag.”

‘That’s a horrible nickname.” I commented. “I know we all use it, but if you think about it, its really mean. She can’t be more than sixty, and Mrs. Haggel is only bitchy forty…ok, eighty nine percent of the time. I don’t blame her.”

“I suppose I’d be bitchy too, if I had to deal with the same two hundred kids every day.” Kaley admitted. The door shut with a huge clang that made me jump.

“So where are we going tonight? Anywhere special? Or just the Grind.” I asked her.

“I don’t care. You’re the driver if we want to go outside of the town. I don’t have a car. The Grind is always fun at night, when all the weirdos come in and hang out. And there should be a band on tonight, it is Friday.” Kaley replied. “I love it when our English teacher decides to give us a free period to do whatever we want. With that, you wouldn’t think that we had a huge six hour test coming at the end of the year.”

“She seems like a good teacher though, you know?” I added in, shifting my backpack’s uneven weight higher on my shoulder,

“Yeah. Boring, but she seems to know what she’s talking about.” Kaley agreed.

“You need anything from the locker or you ready to go home now?” I asked her, coming to the fork in the hallway. The hallways were crowded now, everyone aiming to go home.

“No, I’m good. Let’s get out of here before anyone else so we don’t have to wait in the traffic. You need anything?”

“Nope.” I replied.

We waded through the hordes of people filing out of the school as fast as they could to get to their personal methods of transportation. We had to go almost to the back of the student parking lot, but it was a nice change from the dark, dank atmosphere of the school. Even on the rainiest of days, the school seemed more dismal than the outside weather. It was bright inside, but so stale. Even in the midst of the nastiest snow storms, the school seemed worse inside.

The crisp spring air was a welcome change from the normal weather, anyway. It was the middle of February, and it was the first decent day in the entire month. The snow was just beginning to melt, but it was warm enough to go outside in a T-shirt. Well, it was 45 degrees. Which was a warm reading in New York, in February. I inhaled deeply smelling the…snow, and car exhaust fumes.

“Lovely smell, isn’t it.” Kaley snickered.

“I can always hope.” I rebuked, walking slightly ahead of her.

Kaley…was my lifeline. Since I moved to this town when I was five or so, Kaley had been my first friend. If we didn’t have anything else to do, we always hung out together. Other friends would come and go as they pleased, but Kaley and I were basically, joined at the hip. We had the sacred best friend oaths and everything.

I pushed my little red button to unlock my truck so we could get into it. As nice as the weather was, I didn’t really want to spend more time outside than I absolutely had to. I was good this year with not getting sick, and I didn’t really want to start when the sun was finally showing through the clouds, if you know what I mean.

“Did we have to do anything for English today?” I asked Kaley as she stood on the other side of the truck. “Oh, shit.” I realized I hadn’t unlocked it all the way. I got in and pressed the little switch to unlock the other door.

“No one ever said I was intelligent.” I offered as an unsaid apology.

“We all know that. What’d you say before?”

“I asked if we had anything due for English the next class, or if it was a true fuck off period.”

“I think we’re good. I’m not really sure. You didn’t think I actually paid attention in that class, did you? The few minutes we were actually in the classroom, I spent reading the note that Alicia gave me during lunch. She was detailing all of the problems that she’s having with Jared right now.”

“She’s having problems with Jared?” I asked. I put the key in the ignition.

“In a way.” Kaley grinned. “You see, they’re not emotional problems. Jared seems to have a problem both getting it up and keeping it up. He’s afraid they’re going to get caught. Alicia was complaining because he always manages to keep it up just fine if she’s going to blow him…” Kaley paused.

“Okay, I get the point. I don’t really find the idea of one of my friends going down on her boyfriend appealing to me. Maybe that’s more up your avenue.”

“Eww, no. At least, not Jared. He’s not scrawny enough for me. You know that, I can’t date or even think about a guy that I don’t outweigh by at least twenty pounds.”

“You’re fucking crazy.” I put the truck into drive and pulled out of the parking spot. No bird shit on my window yet, and the windows hadn’t even fogged up. It was going to be a great day.

“Well, you don’t exactly find him appealing either.” Kaley shot back. “Oh wait, that’s right. You plan to fuck the eighty year old from Arkansas.”

“Ok, hold on a second.” I said, laughing. “First of all, he’s twenty-eight. Second of all, he lives in Missouri.”

“What’s the difference?” She shook her head. “I never will understand you, Storm. Maybe your parents gave you the weird name for a reason.”

“That’s right. I’d be careful though; I’m the one driving, and you’re the one telling me I’m weird. Do you really want to trust me in a vehicle?”

Chapter 2: Secret Life of Storm

Secret Life of Storm

I signed on mostly to check my email. I did have homework to at least start before I went to pick up Kaley so we could hang out. The Yahell! Message popped up before I even got around to opening a window to check my mail.

Roger says: Hey cutie, you around? I should be until three thirty, just get back to me. We gots us some things to discuss.

I shook my head. Roger could be so…liberal with his nicknames. I looked at the time…three twenty. I double clicked to open the window and typed my reply, even though the messenger warned me that “Roger may not be available and s/he appears to be offline.”

Storm says: I’m here, you around? I missed you today!

I minimized the window and went to check my email. If he was around, he was a slow typist and it would take him a minute to respond. Moments later…

Roger says: Hey Girl! How was your day at school?
Storm says: eh…boring as all hell. Yours at work?
Roger says: same old, same old. you checked out the site recently?
Storm says: I just got home! Relax old man!!!!!!!
Roger says: damn, you’re bitchy today. Callin me all old n stuf…
Storm says: lol, I was only joking. Where do you have to be at three thiry?
Roger says: *thirty . I have to take the cat to the vet for her annual check pup.
Storm says: *up . Like you should be correcting me on my spelling errors.
Storm says: You spoil that cat, btw. Its not like she ever wants for anything.
Roger says: I know, but I love her so much. She’s all I got.

I know, I said I was going to check my email. But talking to Roger is so much fun. I only knew him for a few months by then, he had a girlfriend and everything. But he was hot, and he kept me on my toes. We ran a chat forum together.. Fun stuff, right?

Storm says: Anything interesting happen today?
Roger says: Nope. Hey babe; I gotta go. I’ll buzz ya tonight when I get in.
Storm says: Don’t promise anything you can’t keep.
Roger says: Love ya munchkin
Storm says: I’m not little!
Roger says: Uh huh…
Roger has now signed off of Yahell!

A small note here…Yahell! is my translation for Yahoo! Messenger. Mostly because its inaccurate, unreliable, and has the worst color scheme of any of the messengers. However, I would choose it over AOL any day. Who wouldn’t?

I checked my email. Nothing. Then I sat back to rot my brain with news clippets and message boards. I had homework, yes, but I could relax. Everyone had that right, right?

Sighing, I got off of the computer and looked longingly at my bed. It was almost too much to ask; being able to nap for an hour. I looked at the clock, and realized my parents would be home in maybe thirty minutes. I could try to sleep.

I stood up from the computer and stretched upwards, feeling the tension loosen in my back and my abs. If I slept, there was a good chance I would wake up sore and grumpy for the rest of the evening.

I reached under my shirt, behind me, and struggled with the clip of my bra. I got the bottom half unclipped, then growled in frustration as the second part came unclipped. I slipped the straps through my T-shirt and over my arms and slid it off underneath my shirt. My pants were next – all of my pants just kind of slipped off. Leaving my underwear, socks, and shirt on, I climbed into my messed up bed.

It was getting close to the time when I could sleep with a thinner blanket, but right then I still had my heavy fleece blanket covering my bed like a huge canopy. Even on the coldest nights, I’d wake up sweating. It was so comfy.

I snuggled under the covers, feeling empty. The one thing I hated about going to bed was that hole that I felt in my stomach, always. What I would give, even with no boyfriend, just to have someone hold me. Its that feeling that you’ve always searched for, and you know what it is, but its not like you’re going to go up to some random stranger and say, “Hey, stranger, will you sleep with me so I don’t feel like I have a hole ripped through me by an ax?” You know?

I closed my eyes and drifted off to the night’s oblivion.

Chapter 3: The Grind

The Grind

“The Grind” is probably the dumbest name for a coffee shop that could have ever been invented, in my personal opinion. But the name didn’t provide an indicator of what was held inside of those screened doors. The Grind was our home away from home; during the warmer months, because it became pointless to freeze while warming the vehicle up, freeze while picking friends up, freeze on the way from the truck to the shop, freeze while leaving, warm the truck up again, freeze while dropping friends off, freeze on the way from the truck back into the house. So during the winter months, we didn’t frequent as much. It was cold.

Kaley, Steve, Christy and myself is, in general, not a good mix. Kaley was Kaley. Steve was crazy by all accounts – there was nothing he wouldn’t do. Christy was like a small child in a candy shop – easily excited, easily amused, and very blunt in describing things. She could be like the poster child for the group of kids that tell their parents’ best friends that said parents were screwing the night before. And she did it with such blunt innocence, that she could pretty much get away with anything.

I picked up Kaley, and Steve and Christy got rides from Christy’s parents. We met at seven, just as business was beginning to pick up in the Grind.


“KALEY!!!!!” Was our announcement from Christy as she stood up, squealed, and ran over from the corner to tackle Kaley. I was not without a greeting as well.

“STORM!!!!!” Christy squealed, not two inches from my ear, before jumping on me as well. I hugged her back, then looked over her shoulder, past the staring patrons, at Steve, snickering in the background.

“Please don’t tell me you gave her caffeine. You know what that shit does to her!” I yelled to him. He shrugged and pointed to a steaming mug of cappuccino where Christy had been sitting. I shook my head dramatically.

I reached gently around Christy and pushed her away a little bit. She stood back, looking sheepishly at me.

“What? You don’t love me anymore?” She gave me the puppy eyed look, going so far as to bat her eyelashes at me.

“I love you, darling, but I’m thirsty.” I explained, before walking by her to place an order for a bagel and a hot chocolate.

“Who’s playing tonight?” I asked the clerk after telling him my order. He looked back at me. I have to admit, in the scrawny-guy category, the man was hot. Old enough to be my father, but he wore the hippie look well, with the long straight hair slung over his eyes limply, posture slumped. As stoned as he might look, he was always quick to respond and an intelligent conversationalist.

“We have an acoustic band playing tonight, it’s a three part band, female lead singer, male guitarist and drums.”

“The woman play anything?”

“No, but she has an amazing voice.” He slid the bagel and the steaming cup of hot chocolate over the counter. “Three seventy eight.” He said, pressing a few numbers on the ancient cash register. I dug four dollars out of my pocket and handed it to him. He gave me change and I grabbed my plate and cup and went to sit with the others. As I approached, their conversation seemed to reach its peak, and Steve was watching with mild amusement as Kaley and Christy were telling the story most with their waving arms and exaggerated facial expressions.

The dark atmosphere of the Grind provided a homey feel. It made you feel like you were different, yes, but that was okay. The sweet, comforting smell of coffee made even the most depressed people lighten up a little bit. And the way my friends told their stories, well, that was classic. I sat down across from Steve just as Christy finished her epic.

“Hey, Storm. How’s it goin’?” Steve asked me. Steve was a newer friend, he moved from Texas the year before, and had the most adorable drawl.

“Better than some, worse than others. Yourself?” I asked him. I spun the straw in my hot chocolate idly. I still saw steam, and as tempting as it was to sip, I’d burn my tongue, and if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to taste my bagel. My tongue was more important than my stomach, so I forced myself to ignore the sweet smell of the drink.

“Well, I was in a bad mood because of the horrible job I did on one of my projects, but watching these two…” He grinned. I nodded.

“Its enough to make anyone happier. Or, if they react the other way, enough to make them want to kill themselves.” I agreed, placing my mouth over the straw. Thirty seconds…it had to be cooler by then, right?

I sipped carefully, meeting Kaley’s glare as the steaming liquid made its way up the straw. Seconds before impact, I realized that it was going to hurt.

“Shouldn’t drink that.” Kaley warned as the liquid burned a searing hole into my tongue. I let go of the straw and grimaced.

“Should have warned me sooner! Fuck, that hurt!” I commented after a moment. My tongue felt like it was on fire. The familiar feeling of numbness settled in after a moment. I shook my head.

“Okay, everyone, we need to get our minds off of school!” Christy announced. I looked up at her. Her blonde hair was tied back, mostly, with a piece or two falling in her eyes.

“What are you? A cheerleader?” I asked her. My mouth felt funny. Sadly, I tore off a piece of my bagel, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to taste it.

“For these purposes, yes. After here, we need to go somewhere and do something. Like the little kids’ playground, or a movie, or something.”

“There’s a chick flick we could all go see tonight, if Steve doesn’t mind.” Kaley chimed in, looking around.

“Oh sure, like you’d actually take my voice into consideration!” Steve exclaimed, laughing.

“That all sounds great, but lets watch this band first.” I suggested. I looked up at the small stage in the front of the café, where a young, scrawny woman was setting up the stage with equipment littered all over the place.

“I wonder if they’re any good. Remember the band from last time?” Kaley said. “I swear they were drunk.”

“Eh, we’ll wait and see. Then we’ll see a movie a little bit later, if they suck or we can’t talk over them. We have all night.” Steve said with finality, ending the discussion. A moment of silence ensued.

“Quibble!!!” Christy chirped. It was going to be a long night.

Chapter 4: Journal Entry 1

Journal Entry

So I definitely think Roger isn’t happy in his relationship. He barely ever talks about that girl; Tina, and she never seems to be around for him. I mean, what the hell kind of girl hangs up on you?

I…don’t know what I want. I’m single, yeah, but Roger seems to be giving off all of the…right vibes. Its like forbidden love or something. He wants it, I want it, but he won’t dump his girlfriend. It seems like there’s a barrier between him and I that can’t be breached. Its really fucked up. He’s hot, his voice is gorgeous, and he’s the first guy that treats me with respect. Granted, he’s…twelve? Thirteen? Years older than myself, but it doesn’t seem to matter when I’m talking to him. Its like I could tell him about my day and even if I ended up having a really bad one, one word of comfort from him could make it all better.

I feel so…wrong liking him. My parents are ten years apart, yeah, but its still disconcerting to think about it. I mean, Jesus (and I’m not even Christian), he’s closer in age to my father than he is to me!

I spent the night with Kaley, Steve and Christ tonight too. It was fun, and relaxing. I’m kind of worried about her - Kaley – she hides it, but there are some freshly opened scars along her wrists. I think she’s been cutting because of the family problems. Her mom’s a bitch, but Kaley doesn’t make it any better for herself. And what’s up with her brother? He’s a fucking drug dealer. That’s not the kind of thing that exactly produces a happy home life, you know?

I guess I’ll go start some of that US homework. I know the DBQ (document based question) is going to take me a little while because it’s so complicated. The teacher wants so much evidence to support each document, but in the same instance he only wants us to write four pages. How can you fit enough evidence to make him happy in just four pages? Double spaced? I guess I’m a writer.

Actually, never mind. I’ll do it in a second. I wish Roger would stop saying stuff like “Love ya babe” to me. I mean, honestly. Is he trying to lead me on? If he keeps it up, keeps hinting that he likes me, I’m gonna end up opening up and admitting that I’ve fallen totally, head-over-fucking-heels in love with the man. And then what? He’ll tell me off. Ah, hell. In my fantasy world, he’s mine.

I’ll have him. It may take ten years, it may take this lifetime, but right now, he’s who I want. He’s the first person I want to talk to in the morning, and the last person I want to kiss good night.

Off for homework. I hate boys.

-Storm


ALTERNATE JOURNAL ENTRY

Journal Entry 1

So, tonight was fun. I went out with Kaley, Steve and Christy. We went to the Grind and hung out for a long time, then stopped up at the diner for a brief interlude of food. And then, because we missed the movie – the bad was awesome – we went and hung out by the river until around eleven, when we finally decided to get home. Steve had to work the next day, so he had to get some sleep. I dropped Kaley back at home, and the other two got rides from Steve’s parents.

I haven’t had a night like that in a long time. Its like we were all really stressed out because exams are coming up soon, but we all got together and screwed off for a night anyway. We don’t have too many of those nights anymore since we’ve all either got jobs or homework to be doing. Steve, with his dad’s new job, lives mostly by himself now, and a lot of the time has to take care of the dogs or clean the house for his dad when he comes home. Kaley…family problems. And Christy, well, as silly as she seems, she’s in quite a lot of extra activities – band, soccer, art. It keeps her busy.

I’m getting kinda freaked out, now that I’m thinking about it. It’s february, which means that AP exams are coming up very, very soon. I have Music Theory, Calculus, US and Psychology. All of that is a pain in my ass. I think I’ll be okay, the two that are giving me the most trouble are the Calculus and the US.

What about Roger? He’s been acting odd lately. Its like he’s distracted – he barely has time for the site. And his girlfriend’s been a bitch lately, which has translated to him being grumpy. It doesn’t really look good for them right now. I guess we’ll wait and see.

I think…and yes, I know he has a girlfriend - I think that I have a crush on him. I mean, I love every second that I get to talk to him, especially when we talk for more than ten minutes. He’s intelligent, respectful, and has an awesome sense of humor. He can keep me amused for hours. And on top of that, he’s willing to debate and argue any topic. It seems like he knows a little about everything, enough to understand it.

I dunno. He has a girlfriend, so he can’t be mine or anywhere close to it. Its not like he would want to be anyway – he’s twenty eight. He has life to live, and I’m still just a kid. Well, I’m nearly out of high school. And then I’ll get dragged into college for six years. By the time I get out of there, I’ll be old and he’ll be ancient. That sucks.

Alright, I have US homework to do. I’ve got one last DBQ (document based questions and essay) due on Monday, before our exam, which I’m only supposed to take 30 minutes to do. Which is fine for me, except it has to be handwritten. We’re going on the honor system, of course. So it won’t take very long to do, and I’m kind of in the mood for intellectual work. I’m not all that tired, and its not really that late – around midnight. So I’ll do that and then go to bed. I don’t have to work tomorrow.

Off. Write more later.

-Storm

Chapter 5: Night Time Wonders

Night Time Wonders

The phone rang. Startled, I opened my eyes and shot up in bed. The clock read 3:15, and it was dark outside. Who could be calling? I picked up my phone and saw “Roger” tattooed across the screen. I picked the phone up.

“Hello?” I asked, my speech slurred with words.

“Shit, you were sleeping. I’m sorry.” Roger sounded strained.

“No, its okay. That’s what my cell phone’s for. What do you need?” I asked him, stifling a yawn.

“I…um…how was your day today? I didn’t get to talk to you earlier besides at three.” Roger said after a moment.

“It was fun. We hung out, saw a movie, I did some homework. Basic stuff.” I replied. I reached up to my eyes with my free hand and dug the sleepies out of them. You know, the stuff that gets in your eyes in the mornings. I was actually glad that Roger had woken me up – my body was sore, and I was sweating underneath my blanket. “Roger?”

“I’m here. Ummm…Tinabrokeupwithmeafewminutesago.” He mumbled. I heard him inhale, long and kind of shaky.

“Okay…slow down. Repeat what you just said.” I said, leaning my back against the bed.

“Tina…she broke up with me a little while ago. Well, we broke up. I caught her with another guy this evening.” Roger said slowly, clearly.

“Oh…that sucks! Are you okay?” I asked him. I wasn’t sure how to feel. My heart was racing, but I’m not sure if it was excitement for myself or sympathy for him. I think he was crying.

“She cheated on me.” He said. If he had been crying, he was done now. “I went up to her house to surprise her and Chris – that’s the name the EMTs told me – answered the door half naked.”

“EMTs?” I asked him, my voice deepening with disapproval. If there was one thing he had, it was an anger management problem.

“He fell onto the concrete steps and cracked his head. And then he was having some breathing trouble.” I could hear the mischievous tone in Roger’s voice.

“He fell? Or did you help him?”

“Well, I grabbed his arm to pull him outside so we could talk, and he fell.” Roger sounded guilty now.

“And the breathing?”

“I stepped on him.” Roger said quickly.

“Repeat that?” I asked him. I cleared my throat when I was met with silence.

“I, um, I stepped on his throat. Not hard…he’s not dead.”

“You…” I paused, and took a breath. He did have a right to do it, but it didn’t make his life any easier when the charges came around.

“I was a little bit pissed off.” Roger admitted. He was so adorable when he was feeling guilty. He sounded like a puppy looks when it pees in the corner and it knows that you know.

“Did you really need to hurt him?”

“He’s a fucking bastard!” Roger defended himself. I shook my head in the dark of my room, muffling my laugh.

“Are they charging you with anything?” I asked him, keeping my voice stern.

“Um, no. The police statement from me reads something like, ‘I heard moaning behind the door, and a little bit of screaming. When the man opened the door half naked, I thought he was raping Tina, so I acted in her best interests. When I realized that she wasn’t in trouble, he was bleeding from his fall down the steps, and he would have gotten up and ran away, when he really needed medical care, so I kept him still until the medics came.”

I couldn’t help but laughing this time. Roger had the best excuses for the dumbest things that he got into. Even if an incident was entirely his fault, he would never get charged.

“So what are his injuries?” I asked. Roger sounded relieved that I wasn’t angry with him.

“Umm, two broken ribs, broken nose, and a few abrasions on his face. I didn’t hit him.” Roger replied. He almost seemed proud of himself.

“Good job on not hitting him. What are your injuries?” I asked him. He met my question with silence for several moments.

“I’m pissed off, and no one’s ever gonna love me. But I’m okay physically.” He said sheepishly.

“Hey, don’t say that. I love you.” I contended his statement.

“You’re just sayin’ that to make me feel better. You don’t have to make me feel better.” He commented.

“If I say I love you, then I love you; so don’t argue with me.” I continued before he could argue any further with me. “And you shouldn’t be pissed off. Its not your fault she cheated on you. At least you guys weren’t living together, right?”

“Yeah. Hey, I’m sorry about calling so late. I just…I needed to hear your voice.” He said.

“It’s okay.” I said. I got up to shut my bedroom door. “Can you go to bed? I guarantee you’ll feel much better in the morning.” After a moment of silence, I asked again. “You there?”

“Yeah.” Roger sighed.

“I can stay up with you for a bit.” I lamented. I wasn’t that tired, and I didn’t have to work the following morning. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Eh…I should go to bed in a minute. I have to get up and cut down a tree for my neighbor, do my laundry. That sort of thing. Adult stuff.”

“I’ll have you know I do my own laundry, thank you very much!” I defended. “And wait a second. You shouldn’t be making fun of me. You’re still in trouble for hurting that asshole.”

“How can I be in trouble if you just called him an asshole?” Roger shot back. This was our normal banter, the few times we spoke on the phone.

“Because I said so!” I commanded with the voice of god. I heard him laughing in the background, and my voice changed to a higher tone. “I hear that! Leave me alone! I’m not little!”

“Are so, munchkin.” Roger snickered.

“I’m not!” I squealed, burying my head under my pillow.

“Uh huh. You keep denying it.” He said, laughing inn the background. He always found great amusement in teasing me.

“So…” I said, choking down the urge to argue. “Did you respond to the thread about nuclear weapons on the site? It seems like a hot topic for the others.”

“Umm…no.” His voice changed tones again, to that of an educator about to explain his views.

“Whether or not the third world countries have nuclear weapons is of no consequence to us. If we have the weapons, and refuse to get rid of them, then others will follow our example. Its stupid, yes, but if we get rid of our nukes, then they’ll blow us up. If we tell them they can’t have theirs, they’ll try to start a war. So instead every country spends billions of dollars developing their war nukes, and all for no reason. But hey, it creates jobs, and raises employment levels in those countries. So therefore, it doesn’t really matter.”

“Damn. You have that all laid out in your mind. But what if one person or another sets off an accidental nuclear explosion? Wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t have those tools?”

“Yes, of course it would. But, we’d still be polluting the air, and we might still have nuclear meltdowns, like that one in Chernobyl in 1986.”

“Wouldn’t know what happened then. I wasn’t alive back then.”

“Well, I’m sorry I’m too old for you.” He said indignantly. I laughed.

“I’m sorry for teasing you about it. You’re not that old. Just older than me. Its not your fault your parents had sex before mine did. Were my parents alive when your parents were doing that?” I paused, thinking to myself. I was really just doing it to bother him.

“Blow me.” Was his only response. I laughed triumphantly.

“That’s what you get for teasing me about being short. But I’m not short. So you see? Its karma.”

“Not quite, that wasn’t three times as bad as what I did to you.” He admitted. “I tease you constantly. You barely ever tease me.”

“Exactly. So you admit that you’re cruel to me.” I commented.

“Yes ma’am, I am horrible to you. But, you like it.”

“Mostly.” I admitted. “Are you feeling better now?”

“I always feel like the world is the right side up when I’m talking to you.” He answered me. “I’ll let you go to bed. Are we going to get together tomorrow on some possible brain storming ideas? I kind of want to work on it all a little bit. It seems like its slowing down.”

“Yeah, I should be around all day. Are you okay? I’ll stay up as long as you need me to.”

“I’m fine.” He insisted. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. You get some sleep. You’re going to need it, because we’re going to push really hard tomorrow.”

“We? I’m the one that does the site work. You just kind of help a little bit.”

“I take offense to that! I do some of the work!”

“Not the technical stuff.” I retorted.

“Well, its not my fault I’m dumb.” He shot back. I could tell he wasn’t really serious.

“You’re not dumb, silly. You’re just not as technologically advanced as us youngsters.”

“I’m hurt. And again, I repeat, blow me.” He paused, and I struggled to control my laughter. If I got any louder, my parents were going to wake up.

“I’m sorry. I won’t tease you again.” I apologized. He laughed.

“No, its okay. Hey, sleep well, alright? I’ll call you when I wake up tomorrow. Or you can call me, but don’t blame me if I wake up grumpy. Its not exactly been a perfect evening, if you know what I mean.”

“Okay. You sure you’re alright?” I asked, concerned. I still wasn’t confident.

“I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself. Good night, Storm.”

“Good night.”

“Bye.” He said awkwardly.

I laughed. “Bye.”

I hung up the phone and looked at its lit up display in wonder. He had just broken up with his girlfriend, and there he was, laughing with me only a few hours later as though nothing had happened. Was that how he dealt with grief? By laughing it off? Maybe. I should probably write down the fact that he called. I flipped on the light beside my bed. The bright yellow light flooded my vision, and for a moment I could not see. I blinked the blurriness out of my eyes and glanced towards the notebook lying on my floor. I shook my head and got up from the bed, bending down to grab the journal and the pen attached to it.

I got a new journal each year around halloween. Not one of the fancy ones with decorative covers, but instead the cheapest one I could find with 70-300 pages in it. Generally, spiral bound. I’d been doing this since I was twelve. This particular one was 150 pages, a lime green, spiral bound. It wasn’t too torn up and abused yet, considering I’d had it for only a few months.
I opened to the spot where I had left off and carefully pencilled in the date. And the time.

Just a note; Roger just called me kind of upset. He broke up with the bitch because he found out she was cheating on him. So that ends that, leaving him available and single. I think I’ll hold off on making any moves for a while though – he’ll let me know if he wants to play around like that. Back to bed.

I closed my eyes, and found I couldn’t sleep. Roger’s call had woken my mind up, and now it was racing with various thoughts. Its not like I could just subdue them – it was like they had taken over my brain. Every time I made the decision to go to sleep, for once and for all, all the random, suggestive things he had ever said to me popped into my head. He had been with his girlfriend for a while – over a year. But we played around, made jokes, like any friends do. Fetishes, etc – you name it, we discussed it. I had mine, he had his, and for the most part, they matched (to be discussed later, you horny reader, you!). Now that he was free…that could be very, very interesting in the near future.

I mean, I was seventeen. One more year, and I’d be cut loose from my parents and into the college world. I could do anything I wanted. Anything.

Chapter 6: Mental Mischief

Mental Mischief

So, did I mention that I’m a nerd? A complete, 100% nerd in every sense of the word. Wow, that rhymed. I have contacts, I had braces for five years, I have an innate knowledge of math, I have never failed a test in my life, I constantly seek out new things to learn – what side of your body hurts when you have appendicitis? The right. I’m always reading new books – fiction and non fiction – as well as old books. I find just about everything fascinating. Which is probably why I met Roger. You see, he’s a nerd too. He knows a little about everything, and also loves to research. The fact that we match on that one small trait has forged a relationship that I have never experienced before. Why am I telling you this?

Well, part of the reason Roger has the ability to call me at three o’clock in the morning is that he has my phone number. And the other part of the reason (I would kill anyone else that did it) is that we work best randomly, in the middle of the night. We run a website dedicated to the research of just about anything for the fun of it. So I can call him – anytime – with a question, and if he doesn’t know it, we’ll both look it up and see what we can find. He can call me with a question, anytime, and if he doesn’t know it, we’ll get online together and look it up through different search engines and see what we can discover about the topic.

Today is our work day. It’s a free Saturday – its not our weekend to shop for my disabled uncle, and my parents are actually going to be gone all day at some business exposition in the city. The house is mine. So as soon as Roger wakes up, its game on. My job until then is to come up with as many questions as I can.

Most of our website focuses on philosophies and religions – the humanities, really. But we’re adding stuff about science and history and language as well. And on top of it, we open up discussion threads that are either impossible to answer or very difficult to take a stance on – ex: If you were female and get raped, and find out you’re pregnant, would you take a chance on aborting the baby even though it may be your boyfriend’s? And the male side of that would be – If your girlfriend was raped, would you want the baby? Would you break up with her if she wanted an abortion? If you are against, or for the abortion – the common reasons for your stance can not be used to defend your decision.

So you can see why I’m excited. I get free nights and weekends on my phone too, so I’ve been calling his house every five minutes or so to see if he’s up yet. Of course, he’s probably just rolled over with a pillow on his head, getting extremely pissed off at the ringing phone. Or he shut the phone off – he has a habit of doing that because people call him twenty four hours a day. He’s a sucker for doing favors for people – another good quality – he’s an absolute sweetheart. But he barely sleeps, sometimes he’ll go a week without sleeping more than three or four hours. I probably should have stopped calling after the first six times, but I couldn’t help it. I’m an impatient person.

Considering I hadn’t gotten much sleep, that probably helped my inability to wait for him to wake up on his own. It was only eight o’clock in the morning, and I hadn’t slept for more than six or seven hours. But I, like I said, am very excitable on the grounds of being a nerd. So, I picked up the phone again. Hit send twice. Held it up to my ear, waiting for the standard five and a half rings. I had it times so perfectly. The first ring occurred right around six seconds into the call. Lasted three seconds, waited three seconds – and so on until 00:32 rolled around, where the message machine kicked in. I could even hear the female computerized voice kick in: Hello, you have reached phone number 0-1-3-5-5-5-4-7-4-9. We are unavailable to take your call. Please leave a message. Beep! I usually hung up right after the machine started to speak, so the woman ended up saying “Hell!” to me. Fun, right?

Anyway, I hit send. I heard a half of a ring. And then a very deep, very pissed off voice.

“This better be fucking good, or you’re going to find my foot shoved so far up your ass you’re going to throw it up.” I recognized it as a very tired, very pissed off Roger.

“Hey, grumpy. That’s no way to talk to me. I love you, member?” I said in a very high pitched cute voice. He growled. “We’re gonna work today, right?”

“Oh, hey Storm.” He said in his normal, higher voice. “I’m sorry for yelling. People have been calling every few hours.”

“Its okay. I’m going to make you get up though, sleepy. We got lots of stuff to do and my parents are gone, so I can talk freely without worrying about them.” I said excitedly. He growled.

“Can I make some coffee?” He asked. I heard him yawn in the background.

“Yup. But I’m staying on the phone with you, because last time you shut the phone off and went back to sleep. I don’t care if you have to take a shit, I’m staying on the phone with you.”

“Damn, girl. Alright. But you gotta hang on a second. Alright?”

“Okay.” I replied. I felt bad about waking him up, but it was for the greater good. The sooner he was up, the more we could work. My parents wouldn’t be gone all day, after all, just most of it. And every time they were home I got paranoid. We weren’t dating or doing anything illegal, but they knew how much I talked to Roger, and it wasn’t like we always talked about the most kosher subjects. Abortion, homosexuality, math, space, fetishes, the mind, religions, philosophies. It must have sounded weird to my parents.

A minute or two later he picked the phone up again. “You ever had one of those pisses that seems to last forever?”

I laughed. “Uh huh.” He talked about the weirdest things sometimes, and I had to humor him.

“Don’t you hate those? You’re sitting there, or in my case, standing there, and you’re wondering ‘when is this ever going to stop? Jesus, I must have pissed out a gallon of water by now!”

“Uh huh.” I repeated, trying not to laugh too hard. I understood perfectly. “Why?”

“Oh, that’s what just happened. That’s all. Sorry it took me so long. I just…couldn’t…stop.” He apologized. I laughed.

“Its okay. So do you need to get coffee before we start working, or can I start throwing ideas at you already? I know you’re kinda slow in the morning…” I trailed off, giggling. He wasn’t so much slow as he was grumpy in the mornings.

“I started that, too.” He admitted. “So what are you so jumpy about this morning? Did you have an epiphany or just too much sleep and coffee?”

“I’m just excited. I don’t do coffee, and if anything, I’m probably sleep deprived. What were you going to talk to me about today anyway? You kept me up last night and mentioned at some point during the day that today was going to be a work day. What are we working on?”

“Well, I had this idea. Oops, hang on, coffee’s ready to be poured.” I waited patiently, hearing a crash in the background. “Shit!” I heard him holler, and a few seconds later he returned to the phone.

“Anyway,” He continued.

“Are you okay?” I interjected, wondering if he had broken something.

“Yeah, I didn’t break anything, on me or the dishes. Don’t worry. ANY way.” He said with emphasis, “I was hoping that maybe we could have a part of the site that was like a mini-dictionary for our users. You know, it we use a slang term or an uncommon term, they can go through and look it up.”

“And…” I waited for him to continue. “How are we going to go about doing this?”

“Well, I was thinking that maybe you could use some JavaScript so it wouldn’t be too hard…”

“JavaScript won’t work for that, and on top of it, JavaScript sucks. I’ll have to use databases. Next?”

“Well in that case, I was hoping we could just have it simple, you know, not case sensitive, just words or phrases that it could search out and return a page with the definition on it.”

“You’re a pain in my ass.” I commented, the wheels already turning in my rusty brain. I hadn’t touched the programming of the site in at least a month, and my PHP brain had lapsed. “Case sensitivity is not a problem; I can’t do misspellings without a lot of work though, so they’re going to have to know how to spell the word. And I suppose you’ll want a back part so we can enter new data in?”

“I love you and your brain?” He offered up hopefully. I sighed, with more dramatic feeling than I actually intended. I didn’t mind doing it – it was an exercise in my coding skills.

“Only my brain?” I asked him, laughing.

“No ma’am. All of you. Every little bit.”

“So soon after your break up too…” I joked. I knew what he meant.

“Ah, but babe, you’re different than Tina. She was…here. You’re…amazing.”

“Uh huh.” I said simply, as if challenging him to continue.

“Oh, stop fucking with me! I had a hard night last night.”

“I know, I know.” I conceded. “I’ll leave you alone for now. But I expect answers at some point.”


I switched on my computer and let it boot up. I heard his computer in the background of the phone, and realized we had done it at the same time.

“I’ll make you a deal.” I offered to him. “I will do the coding, if you can make the form and spell check it so I don’t have to go back later and change it all around. You know how to make the forms, right? Just copy and paste. That way you can design it however you want.”

“I know. I’m not completely retarded. And you’ll do the code.”

“Yes, I already said that. It should only take maybe an hour, maybe a little bit longer. I doubt it. Not if I do the copy and paste thing, too.”

“Okay, so I’m glad that’s all working out. Next…umm, what are we both gonna research today?”

“I was thinking of looking into the Darwinism vs. Creationism.” I offered up as conversation.

“And I remember you talking about that Jonathon Smith dude the other day...."

“Ah, yeah, I remember that. How are we doing people?”

“Hopefully you’re doing one person, not people…its hard to do more than one at once, so I’ve heard.” I interjected, laughing. I could almost hear him roll his eyes.

“You have a dirty mind, little girl. I meant,” He paused for effect, “Are we doing biographies as well as papers outlining the controversies of the people? Or do I have to do something on his specific work?”

“I don’t care. The more stuff we have up, the better. We’re trying to build a database, remember? An intellectual hotspot, so to speak. A creative, intelligent environment. So its your choice.”

“Okay, so anything goes.” He concluded. “You want to meet up online in a minute or two, or just stay on the phone? Its free on weekends, right?”

“We can stay on the phone. I like your voice – its hot.”

“I’d almost say you were flirting with me, bard.” He used a seldom mentioned nickname. The first time he had heard me sing, he called me a bard.

“Nah, I’m just appreciating your hotness. That’s okay, right?”

“So you’re not flirting?” He asked me. I heard the messenger noise in the background, and realized he had signed on.

“I always flirt.” I agreed. I didn’t want to push him.

“Uh huh.”

“Its gonna be a long day today, isn’t it…” I trailed off, and clicked the “Buzz” button on my messenger, waiting for its effect to happen several thousand miles away, in Missouri.

I heard the doorbell sound on the other end of the phone and waited the millisecond for the noise of frustration. He hated the “Buzz” sound, and I loved the way he was always at a loss for words after I hit it. Especially when I surprised him with it.

“Damn it, Storm! Why!” He growled. I giggled.

“’Cuz its funny, of course!” I said, falling into the high pitched voice I used with him to stay out of trouble when I did that stuff to him.

The strangled noises continued for a moment before dying off into a low, steady growl. Sometimes he reminded me of a dog.

“I heart you!” I typed into the messenger box and pressed send. I heard the “Ding” indicating a message had been received. The growl diminished to nothing. Trying to hold in my giggles, I pressed the “Buzz” button again.

“If you pressed that –“ DING DONG! “God damn it, Storm I’m going to fuck you up someday!”

“You were saying I was flirting earlier? I’m not the one telling you I’m going to fuck you someday.” I responded, laughing openly. The frustrated, choking noises erupted from his throat again.

“If you don’t watch yourself, little girl, you’re going to find yourself over my knee.” He growled, his voice deepening.

“If you don’t watch yourself, little girl, you’re going to find yourself over my knee.” I mimicked him in the lowest voice I could imagine.

“I mean it. I’ll fly up there, knock on your door, drag you outside, and spank you in front of your entire neighborhood. And make you count.” He growled again. I couldn’t really help it – I was melting thinking about him doing that. But I also couldn’t let it go. I pressed the “Buzz” button once more. Seconds later, I heard the resounding doorbell from his computer. Choking noises ensued.

“Yup.” I agreed with myself as he lay at a loss for words on the other end. “Long fuckin’ day.”

Chapter 7: We All Saw It Coming

We All Saw It Coming

Allow me to explain something here. My friend Kaley is about as tomboyish as they come. She’s nearly as bad as me on a good day. So she’s been pretty much single for the majority of her high school career. But as we entered this year, a certain boy who had just moved recently to the school district had caught her eye. From day one, everyone knew it was going to happen. When she called me that night, with that tone, in her voice, I knew something that was meant to be had come to pass.

“Storm?” I can’t really describe the tone that her voice possessed. It sounded like a mixture of ecstasy and constipation.

“Yeah?” I asked her, chewing on a piece of granola bar. It was Sunday morning, and I was getting ready to bet on the fresh batch of football games. My family? Football freaks.

“Can I be squealy for a second? And act like a girl?” She asked tentatively.

“Uh huh…” I waited for her to continue. I heard her take a deep breath and then she nearly blew my ears off.

“Colin kissed me!!!!! Colin kissed me!!!!! It was soooooo awesome.” She shut up like a clam, waiting for my response.

“Awwwwww!!!!! That’s soooooooo adorable! Oh my god, I’m going to melt!” I squealed back in the phone. “I TOLD you so! I knew it! I fucking knew it!”

“Shut up, you did not.”

“So, my lovestruck puppy, tell me more.”

“We were at a movie, and he just leaned over and…yeah. And then when he was bringing me back home, at the door.”

“Did he break up with whats-her-name?” I asked her. The boy was about to go on my asshole list if he had kissed my friend while cheating on his girlfriend.

“A few days ago. But we’re not dating or anything.” She made it sound as if that made it all better.

“That’s SO cute. Hey, hang on a second, alright?” I asked her. I lowered the phone from my ear and yelled down the stairs.

“Hey mom! Guess what!” I shouted, waiting for her response. I heard a muffled “What” coming from below me, but I could barely hear it over Kaley’s shouts of ‘you better not tell her!’

“Kaley got kissed by a boy that she has a crush on! And we all knew it was going to happen!”

“That’s cute!” Mom hollered back up the stairs. “Is he a nice boy?”

“He’s alright.” I shouted down. “The biggest surprise is – she’s acting like a girl!”

“Wow. When are you going to do that?” Mom yelled back upstairs, teasing me.

“Shut up!” I yelled back down, laughing, and I shut my bedroom door. If only she knew…

“So, was he a good kisser?” I asked her, settling down on my bed to hear the entire story.

“Well the first time was an hour ago, and the second was fifteen minutes ago, and I’m still smiling. So I suppose so.”

“Or maybe its just that you haven’t been kissed in a long time.” I suggested, teasing her gently. It hadn’t really been that long, maybe a year or two. The last boyfriend she had had though, wasn’t one that had made kissing a pleasant experience. He was a rebound from the previous relationship, and he was fat, hairy, and his IQ was about as high as his age – eighteen.

After that boy – Mike, I think his name had been – Kaley had laid off of the relationships. Myself? I haven’t been kissed in three or four years, last time being fucking around with one of my other friend’s brothers while she was passed out because of a bad stomachache. Right beneath her slumbering form, we screwed around for a while. Strangely, I find that I can turn myself on better than the thirteen year old George McCann ever could. After that, I too, laid off of kissing boys for quite some time.

“So, did anything else happen? Or did he just kiss you? No secret sexcapades in the men’s restroom or anything?” I asked her.

“No, that’s dirty. I’m not a whore!” Kaley protested. “Stop laughing, Storm!”

“Yes ma’am.” I answered her. “Are we doing anything today? I don’t have to work today, so I’m just set to watch football.”

We can’t do anything today or tonight. I’m set to go to grandpa’s and help him clean out his garage. Doesn’t that sound fun?” She asked pleasantly, with sarcasm dripping from her voice like a leaky faucet.

“Oooh, it does. Well, you have fun with that. I’m gonna go eat something because I’m hungry. Am I picking you up tomorrow?”

“As always.”

“Alright, I’ll see you around.” I closed the conversation.

“Bye.” I heard the click of her phone, and then I, too, hung up. I sat back grinning to myself. I knew that was going to happen.

Chapter 8: Stress? Hardly.

Stress? Hardly.
(A Few Days Later)

So, for all of the older readers out there, I find myself explaining a concept that may be foreign to you, especially if you are disconnected from the educational system. There are several things that cause stress for high school students which you should be aware of. After briefly touching upon them, I will continue on in the story.

Freshman year poses a large amount of stress to a high school student. They don’t know where they’re going to fit in. Sophomore year is the easiest year. Its like “Hah, I’m still an underclassman, but I know where to go.” Junior year is hell. Senior year can be as well, for different reasons.

Sex. You think you had problems back when you were growing up? Kids nowadays have to deal with this “abstinence only” shit, AIDS, Syphilis, Genital Herpes, Pubic Lice, Gonorrhea, Genital Warts, Hepatitis B and the million other STDs that we are convinced we can get if we even think about sex. We also have to deal with birth control – condoms, IUDs, morning after pills, “The pill”, spermicide…you name it, we know about it.

Medicines. Back when you were growing up, if you had a problem, you took two Tylenol and went to bed. Now? Pharmaceutical companies pay doctors to give out trials and get kids hooked on legal drugs – sleep aids, depression medications, bipolar medications, ADD pills, ADHD pills, birth control (mentioned above); you name it, we have it. All of these cause mood swings and hormone swings in a body whose hormones are already jumping around excitedly screaming “Oooh, lets fuck our person up!!!”

Homework. Most of its busy work, and most teenagers believe they have better things to do than to sit around doing work they either know how to do or have absolutely no clue how to attempt. Projects are okay, but some homework is pointless.

Testing. We have the SATs, we have the ACTs, Regents for New York and California residents, we have AP testing, we have SAT 2s. We have CLEP, GRE, GED exams. Basically, high school students have tests coming out of their asses. Oh, don’t forget midterms, finals, and research reports.

And finally, the problems only upper classmen face: prom, jobs, scholarships, colleges and what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

So needless to say, yes, adults have bills to pay, mouths to feed, jobs to do, houses to clean, babies to take care of, funerals to go to, dinners to cook. But high school students have the entire rest of their lives in front of them. And trust me: when you’re in high school or college, that’s some scary shit.

My point being, no matter how emotionally stable you are as an individual, the stress gets to you. Whether school’s stress is on top of family or relationship difficulties, the stress eats away at you until you breakdown. And the part that sucks about breaking down is that usually when you do it, there’s no one but yourself to comfort you.

And that’s where I was in life right then. Alone, in my room, crying my eyes out. No one was home except the dogs. Roger wouldn’t pick up his phone. Kaley was out with Colin. And I was upset about a lot of things, top of the list being the fact that the AP tests I had to deal with were the next week and I was flipping out a little bit. Well, a lot bit.

So there I was, sitting, and crying silently to myself. Maybe you don’t know how I cry, but the general routine is – sniffle a little bit, bury face into pillow, sob. Now the trick is getting yourself to maintain the tears. Because outbursts are easy. But maintained crying, that’s a challenge. But in this particular case, I was doing pretty well. Every time I would start to level off a bit, I’d start thinking to myself:

“You’re fucking silly to be crying like this. Well, except for the fact that you’re probably going to fail. And no one really loves you. Well, you love someone, but you don’t know if they love you back. The only ones that care about you are the damn ferret and the dogs.”

I was in the middle of another round of outbursts when my phone started ringing. I checked the caller ID and realized that it was Roger. Unable to resist, I took a deep breath and hit the Answer button.

“Hey.” I said softly, trying not to sniffle.

“Hey babe. You alright? You tried my phone a bunch of times. I just got in from work.” He sounded mildly concerned.

My face scrunched up as another wave of tears fought its way to the surface. I pushed them back down.

“Yeah, um.” I hiccuped, a dead giveaway. “I’m fine. Just a little stressed.”

“You don’t sound okay.” He said. I could almost hear him frowning over the phone. “You want to talk about it?”

“I’m just worried about the tests coming up next week. I’ll be fine.” I sighed, swallowing the last of my tears. I don’t cry. I never cry. Never, ever.

“What tests? Remind me again?” He asked conversationally. I could tell he was still worried about me.

“Umm.. I have Music Theory, Calculus, US and Psychology.” I replied, listing them off out loud as I thought about each subject briefly. “Music Theory will be easy, and Pysch somewhere in between, but Calc and US I’m kinda freaking out about a little bit.” I admitted.

“Twenty seven missed phone calls in the span of forty five minutes? I’d say so.” He asserted. “You’re the smartest person I know, silly-butt. You’ll do fine. If anyone can get good scores on standardized tests, its you.”

“I know, I know…am just in a bad mood. Blame it on the hormones.”

“Blame it on whatever you want. You done crying now?”

“I wasn’t crying.” I protested, coughing.

“You’re as full of shit as a Christmas turkey.” He commented, paused, then continued. “I wouldn’t suggest lying to me again, I can pick it out like a black man at a nazi convention.”

“Bite me.” I continued to protest, less vehemently. It wasn’t fair that he could tell. “You cry, too.”

“We don’t talk about those times.” He spoke as if delivering the word of God. I laughed.

“Uh huh. Don’t accuse me of crying, and I won’t bring those times you’re sure I imagined to the surface.”

“Okay babe.” He agreed. “But were you?”

“Maybe.” Yes! I screamed in my head.

“Okay, I get it. I’ll drop it. So if you called so much, what did you want out of me anyway?” He asked. “It’s a Friday night, I’m supposed to go out and do security tonight for a bar.”

“I don’t know. I just really wanted to talk to someone. My parents are gone and my friends are all out and I’m feeling lonely. The only company I have are Bill, Sam, and Jack. And they’re not exactly the most comforting of sorts, if you know what I mean. Sam drools, Jack whines and Bill…that ferret is the most confounding thing I have ever seen. You’d think he was human until he bit you.”

“Biting indicates a non human quality?” Roger asked, astounded. “You ain’t been around me. If you were here I’d bite you…probably right on the shoulder.”

“Okay.” I said, “But I bite back. Hard.”

“And where is your little mouth going to fit around on my big body?”

“I can think of a few places. Your nipples, your fingers, your toes, your…other spots.” I could feel myself blushing just thinking about what I was about to say.

“Go on!” He said laughing. “You can’t say it.”

“Say what? That I want to bite your cock? I just did.” I stated boldly. Before then, I had never mentioned something so… bluntly.

“Damn girl, that had a bit of an effect.” He commented after a moment.

“Oh really?” I asked, laughing. “And what’d it do to you? Upset your virgin mind?”

“My virgin mind? I’ve had a kid, and you have the dirtiest mind I know.” He laughed.
“So back to this me having an effect…” I tried out my newly discovered power. “Me telling you that I want to kneel down in front of you, unzip your jeans…” I paused a moment.

“Uh huh…” He almost begged for me to keep going, I could tell. I humored him.

“Kneel down in front of you, unzip your jeans, pull them down off of your legs, take your cock in my hand, wrap my mouth around it and bite down? This has an effect?”

Silence met me on the other side of the phone line. I giggled, knowing what I was doing to him.

“You alright over there?”

“Uh huh.” I swear to the Gods, from that day forward, and I remember it clearly. He squeaked.

“Well I’m glad I have an effect. Did I mention I’m about to gush blood for seven days out of my vagina?” I held back my laughter, and my reward came. Choking noises on the other end of the phone. It seemed I had done what I do best – frustrated him.

“Did I mention I love you?” I asked sweetly. He growled. Cleared his throat.

“Any way; you’re lonely? Doing that to me isn’t a good way to keep me on the phone, sweet heart.”

“I got upgraded to sweet heart? Wow!” I said with mock enthusiasm. “Ah, I’m sorry Roger. Its been a long day. Thank you for letting me torture you.”

“It seems that’s what I’m here for.” He sighed. “So are you going to be okay tonight? I really have to get going.”

“I’m always fine, especially when I’m blessed by your company for a little while during the day.” I said, my way of saying he was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to me, and he didn’t seem to realize.

“I’m not that great. Hey, I’ll call you tonight when I get home. I got some stuff I have to ask you.”

“Why can’t you ask me now?” I asked him, curious.

“Because its not the time. You just finished crying. I’ll call you when I get home.”

“Don’t get hurt. I’ll hurt you if you get hurt again. I love to listen to you on pain medication, but I don’t like the feeling of you getting stabbed. Just remember that – I feel it, too.”

“Don’t worry, and get some sleep. Alright?”

“Okay.” I relented. “But you better call.”

“I promise. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone smiling. Everything about him made the world a better place. He probably wanted to talk about the website later. We hadn’t spoken in depth about it in a few weeks. We had spent the time mostly screwing around – I had my tests, he had two jobs. We’d get back together soon on it. So our “stolen moments” consisted of talking about our days and the funny stuff that happened to us. Sometimes he’d spend a half hour just telling me stupid jokes and listening to me laugh.

Unfortunately, I was still alone. And I’d be alone most of the night, until my parents got home. They were out at some store in the city near by, looking for new tiles for the kitchen, Both of my parents had a bad habit of always changing things around. No matter what, at least once a month, something happened to alter the design or function of a piece of our property, whether it be a vehicle, the house, or something else. That was part of what made life so interesting for us.

I gave up on crying. Studying was only going to stress me out more than I needed to be stressed out. What I knew, I knew, and no amount of studying was going to retain it any better than it already was. What I didn’t know, I was in no mood to study and understand. Considering it was eight o’clock, I decided to do the two things that cure just about anything: Take two Tylenol, and go to bed, to wait for happier times. No, I wasn’t popping pills randomly. I did have a sinus headache, accentuated by my large round of tears.

And with that, I shut my eyes, forced my thoughts out, and fell asleep. Not for long, granted, but I slept.

Chapter 9: Friday Night Surprises

Friday Night Surprises

My parents woke me up the first time. Well, I heard them come in, and the dogs started barking, and it was impossible to stay asleep with Dumb and Dumber jumping around the house barking like hell; their excited sounds could permeate an eight foot thick concrete cell, I swear. That was around ten. And then I went back to sleep. And right in the middle of a good dream, something better happened. My phone rang, and I picked it up to the sound of Roger’s voice.

“Hey babe, did I wake you up?” He asked me as I groggily mumbled something incoherent.

I growled into the phone and mumbled something about a dream I was having, then looked at the phone in wonder as I slowly realized I wasn’t dreaming anymore.

“You can go back to sleep.” He said once he realized I was already half asleep.

“No no no no no no no!” I mumbled, opening my eyes and forcing myself to sit up. “Time?”

“It’s a little bit after one. You sure you don’t want to go back to sleep? Your dreams sound better than talking to this old fart.”

“No no no no no!” I growled again. “I’m up, I’m up. Hi. How was work?”

“Ah, it was fun.” He started, and I interrupted him.

“Can I go get a drink and go to the bathroom? I have to, really bad.”

“If you take the phone with you.” He challenged me. I laughed.

“When people in hell get ice water. My parents are asleep, silly. I’ll wake them up.”

“Damn. You piss that loud?” He asked me.

“No. You’ll make me laugh.” I protested. “Just give me a minute, alright? And then I’ll be awake.”

I got up and went to the bathroom. I’ll spare you the details, but allow you in on a little known fact. Within the first five or ten minutes of me waking up, I can’t guarantee I’ll remember what I said. So most of the conversation I wrote above is most likely imagined on my part. After I get a drink, my memory generally starts because I run into objects on the way to and from the bathroom. I’m clumsy.

“Okay, I’m back.” I found my way back to the phone. “So tell me. Anything interesting happen? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. There were no hospital visits by anyone tonight. It was calm. I had a drunk old lady I had to remove because she was hitting on all of the young men in the bar, sidling up to them and offering them blow jobs.”

“Nice.”

“How was the rest of your night? Your little breakdown?”

“Bite me. When we got off the phone, I just went to sleep for an hour, then mom and dad woke me up around ten. I went back to sleep, and was in the middle of a very good dream when you called.”

“I offered to let you go back to sleep.” He argued. “Its not my fault you didn’t take me up on the offer.”

“I know, I know. I like talking to you better than talking to you in my dreams. You’re more fun when I don’t control your responses.” I think I was dreaming of him that night. I wasn’t really sure.

“You dream about me? Wow, I’m honored.” He said. “I dream about you almost every night. Mostly that your parents are going to kill me because I’m talking to their daughter, but sometimes it’s a good dream.”

“You have bad dreams about my parents?”

“Yup. I dream about them finding out, and then I dream of your father beating me to death with various household objects.”

“I see. Have you gone to a counselor about this?”

“Bite me. They’re just dreams. Its because I’m worried, I don’t want to lose you.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I argued, smiling to myself. Even if he wasn’t mine, he was still adorable.

“You promise?”

“Yup.”

“I can never tell with you…” He started, then paused. “Before I go on, I want you to be completely silent and not argue with me until I’ve said what I need to say. I would have done it online, but we’re not there. Okay?”

“Okay…I’m confused.”

“That’s alright. I can never tell with you.” He began slowly. “You say you love me, and I try not to respond back in case you think I’m some sort of pedophile freak. I mean, you do tease me an awful lot about being old. But the truth is, since even before I broke up with Tina, you were the light of my life. I can’t remember a time without you, and I don’t really want to. You’re beautiful, intelligent, nice, and you seem to enjoy putting up with my odd ball ways. The mere thought of anyone kissing you or touching you makes my heart burn with envy. I…am I alone in my feelings? I guess that’s what I wanted to discuss tonight. You say you love me, but do you mean it as a friend, or more?”

Damn. It was like he knew what I wanted all along. He answered my prayers that night, to be sure.

“When I say I love you,” What was I getting myself into, here? I wondered as I continued, taking a deep breath; “I mean I love you. All of you. Every stupid little thing you do, and every silly little thing you say. From the times that we’re serious to the times that we’re joking around. I’ve been writing in my journal about the fact that I want you for months now, since the winter at least. I just always figured you thought I was too young. I mean, its not like we can date, right? I’m seventeen. You’re twenty eight.”

“The age difference just means we can’t have sex, and you turn eighteen next April.” He said. I had actually thought about it often.

“And what about my parents? I mean, I doubt they’ll notice anything has changed; I don’t let them listen to our conversations and they know I talk to you a lot because of the site…”

“My heart is yours, if you’ll take it.” He said. “I’m all yours – every little part of me. My heart and soul.”

“I knew that already.” I commented, laughing. “And as for me, I gave you my heart a long time ago, you just didn’t know it. Was that the big thing you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Does this mean we’re…” He tried out the words as if they were foreign on his tongue… “Boyfriend and girlfriend?”

“I think so.” I said. “Now that begs the question…Who do we tell? I think my friends mostly figured it out, and its not like they would go babbling to others about it.” I didn’t really want to have a secret love life. If we were dating; it meant I needed moral support for the times he pissed me off.

“As long as you trust them. We can’t go telling people on our site though, agreed? To them, we’re still just partners in web site building. They could get us in trouble.”

“Okay. Your friends?”

“Not a chance in hell. They’ll tease me, and possibly report me and get me arrested. So even my friends on the site – no. Got it?”

“Yes sir. If I was there, I’d salute.” I grinned, knowing the comment would only frustrate him more.

“Okay, since we’re going out, I have to be able to say it.” He started. I braced myself for the worst. “I love you I love you I love you I love you!” He yelled. I burst out laughing, thankful that no one could hear him.

“I love you too. I mean it.”

“And neither of us are going to go and break the other’s heart, right? No cheating, no dating other boys…”

“You date boys?”

“I was referring to you. No one likes me around here, especially not the boys. I tend to piss them off.”

“Am I still allowed to tease you?”

“As long as I’m allowed to tease you.”

“Sex?” I asked, suddenly.

“Not until you’re legal.” Again, the voice of god. And I protested.

“Cyber? Phone? Something?”

“Maybe. We’ll talk about it later.”

I have to stop to explain something to you. I am not what most people would define as normal. Why else would I submit to a relationship where I don’t get to see the person until I’m eighteen, and even then, maybe once or twice a year for five to six years after, depending on what major I choose in college? Only a masochist (for those of you who don’t know the term, its someone who submits themselves to pain for pleasure) would engage in that sort of thing. Well, my masochism doesn’t stay just in my relationship choices. I enjoy mild pain. Yes, I did just announce that to the whole world. I get turned on by thinking of being dominated, tied up, spanked, forced, and fucked. If you’re uncomfortable with it, I doubt you’ll enjoy the rest of the reading.

And yes, by the way. Roger knew all of these things. And though you can’t out right tell from how we speak together normally, he was the exact opposite of me on that spectrum. He gets turned on by thoughts of dominating, forcing, manipulating, tying up, spanking, and fucking a submissive person. Mainly, me.

That’s not to say that from this point forward, this book will be about sex. If a relationship was about sex, there’d be a lot more babies in the world. Anyway, on with our conversation.

“So…” I said after a comfortable pause in our conversation, “Does this mean I get to call you cutesy names like sweet heart and sexy and cheerio?”

“Cheerio?” I could almost hear the wheels in his head turning. “Um, if you want. As long as I get to call you poopy pants, munchkin, baby, sweet heart, princess and anything else.”

“Poopy pants? And I’m the strange one? Okay…”

“Just a thought.” He laughed. “In case you find one embarrassing. I have a good rebuttal.”

“Okay, cream puff.”

“Be careful, carrot head.” He said in rebuttal.

“My hair isn't even red, pookie.” Carrot head? How creative.

“Ouch, you’re straying into dangerous territory, cuddle butt.” He said after a moment.

“Don’t get me started, cutie pie.” I shot back with no hesitation.

“Two can play at that game, swivel hips.”

“Are we ever going to stop, cowboy?”

“Not unless we concede at the same time…sunflower.”

“This is going to be a long, long night…isn’t it Rogie-poo?”

“Yes Stormy-chan, it is.”

“Hey did you hear about the body parts on the news?”

“Um, probably not, considering I’m several states away from you.”

“Nooo… It was on CNN.” I continued. “Oh, yeah, you hicks don’t get big news channels. Well, in the rest of the world…Somewhere in Africa, some dude hitched a ride on a plane by hiding in the jet thingee or something. I’m not really sure. Anyway, the man died on the way over to New York City, and one of his legs fell out of the plane and onto a house in Brooklyn.”

“Sucks for him.” Roger said. “Its kinda sad that people feel that they need to get out of their own countries. Nothing’s really happened around here. You want me to grab the paper and read you the police beat?”

“If you want.” He had done this before, a few times. I got to hear about pigs escaping and bar fights erupting in his quiet little one horse town. My town was a little bigger – we hosted a college.

“Okay, lets see…Thursday night, a pig escaped from someone’s backyard…they’re offering a reward for Albert, and claim that someone may have abducted him. A man in the town nearest here got his, and I quote… ‘An emergency call was made to the dispatcher Thursday, around two thirty in the afternoon, when J. Williams, 27, was discovered on his front lawn, unconscious and bleeding in front of his lawn mower. After something had become lodged in the mower’s blades, he had attempted to remove the object while leaving the lawn mower running. He is in stable condition at the nearby hospital.”

At least the man hadn’t shot his own penis off or something. I remember reading a story like that about someone in Arizona whose gun accidentally went off while wedged in his jeans. Roger waited for my laughing to stop before he continued.

“Last night, a break in was reported at Piggly Wiggly’s convenience store. Thieves made off with the entire supply of latex gloves, and beer. They removed no cash from the store and were apprehended a short time after crashing their vehicle into a tree.”

“Latex gloves?”

“I don’t know. The town is fucked up, I tell you.”

Chapter 10: The Next Morning

The Next Morning

What’s your first thought when you wake up? Mine is usually, “Ugh” or “Fuck” or “Damn”, some expletive announcement, even though I don’t always say it out loud. But not on Saturday morning. My head felt better, my life felt better. Roger and I had spent three hours on the phone last night, and it was the second Saturday in a while that I didn’t have to work, so I had woken up late.

“Good morning, mother. It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” I asked my mom as I strolled downstairs. In truth, it was gloomier than a drunk teenager, with rain pouring from the skies. The drizzle had started in the night and would continue possibly until Monday morning.

“Wow, you’re up at a decent time for you – eleven – and you’re in a good mood. Everything okay?”

“I slept well last night, what can I say?” I had slept well. After dancing around my room for about an hour after Roger and I had hung up.

“I see. What are you up to today?” She asked me.

“Wanna make me breakfast?”

“Not really. Make it yourself. You’re a big girl.”

“Okay. You want some?”

“No, I already ate. Shouldn’t you be having lunch?”

“Probably. I’m not really sure what I’m doing today. I have a lot of homework to do. A movie or two to watch. You know how it goes.”

I bent over and opened the cupboard that had the pans. I felt like pancakes, and scrambled eggs. I wasn’t really sure how I was going to do both at the same time, but I sure as hell was going to try.

“What are you having?” Mom sipped her coffee and turned back around to the computer game she was playing.

“Pancakes and scrambled eggs, somehow. You doin’ anything today?”

“Shit.” She muttered to herself. “I lost that game. Umm…not really. My entire day is free, actually. What movies are you going to watch?”

“Well if I can’t find any on HBO, either we can go up and rent some at Video King, or there’s always a Scooby Doo marathon on this afternoon. No better way to waste your afternoon than watching Scooby.”

“I see. Umm, how are you going to do the whole pancakes and scrambled eggs thing?”

“I was thinking…” I reached above me to grab a bowl for the eggs, “That I could make the pancakes first after getting everything ready, and then do the scrambled eggs because they don’t take that long.”

“Why don’t you get two pans out? Your eggs will be done by the time you flip your pancakes for the first time, especially if you pour the eggs before the pancakes.”

“Do we have two pans?” I asked her, bending down to grab another pan. I had already grabbed a large one for the pancakes.

“I think we have a small one you can use for the eggs. Tucked away in a corner somewhere.”

“Ooh! I found it!” I reached under the big frying pan still lodged uncomfortably in the cupboard and grabbed the small one. Mom turned around – I saw her out of the corner of my eye – as the entire pots and pans collection proceeded to fall out of the cupboard. “Oops.”

“And you think you’re fit to live alone when you go to college in a year and a half?” Mom asked me, laughing. She got up and walked over. “You can make your breakfast, and I’ll clean these up. I was meaning to clean out the pots and pans anyway. You just gave me reason to.”

“You don’t have to.” I protested, picking up the pan and placing it on the stove top nearby. “I can do it. You have to watch out for your back.”

“My back is fine today. I’ll sit, I won’t squat.”

“Okay…”

I gave up on encouraging mom to take a break and relax. I actually inherited my stubbornness from her, so I gave her a break when she turned it around and became as stubborn as a mule towards me.

I reached into the pantry and pulled out the pancake mix. I glanced at the instructions, written in a bright yellow print across the blue box of mix. It told me to put one cup of mix and three fourths cup of water into a bowl and mix it to get out seven to eight pancakes. Exciting, right?

“How did you sleep last night?” I asked my mother as I carefully measured out one cup of the white mixture. I reached down and rummaged around in the drawer in front of me for a ¾ cup to get the water. My search proved fruitless.

“I slept okay. No bad dreams.”

“Mom, did you steal the three fourths cup? Or am I just crazy? ‘Cuz it ain’t here.”

“Did you check the dishwasher? I might have used it last night.”

“Thanks.” I said, retrieving the clean cup from the dishwasher. The dishwasher was actually still steaming from its finished cycle. I filled the cup with water and poured it into the dry mixture, stirring with a fork also retrieved from the still simmering dishwasher.

Done with the pancake mix, I took out three eggs and cracked them into the bowl. I added a little bit of milk and “scrambled” the raw eggs until they looked less like eggs and more like a bowl of yellow and white mess. I set the bowl down, found the butter spray and sprayed both pans heavily so nothing would stick. I made sure the stove’s burners were on high, and then put the spray back.

I took the container of the pancake mix and poured two bigger pancakes onto the bigger pan that was just warming up. I set the mix down, resolving to put a lid on it and refrigerate it for the next morning, and reached for the bowl of egg mush. I poured that into the smaller pan, forgetting that I needed two spatulas in order to be successful at the multi tasking. And a bowl.
I nearly tripped over my mother, reaching around her to grab a plate from the cupboard above her head. I bounded around the island stuck in the middle of our kitchen in order to retrieve the two spatulas, and then returned to my sizzling eggs, which had almost cooked themselves onto the cast iron of the pan. I began to scramble.

So I almost had it all under control, right? And then the phone rings. In this case, I wasn’t saved by the bell. I was fucked by the bell. I had just put the egg mixture on the pan and was almost ready to flip the pancakes, when my phone started ringing. And it wasn’t a normal ring either. It was the ring that indicated Roger was calling.

“Mom? Can you finish the eggs? Or at least watch them? That’s an important call.” I yelled to her as I dropped the spatula and bolted up the stairs to find my phone. I heard her mumble an affirmative response – I think.

I got into my messy room and located the phone just as it stopped ringing. I hit the “answer” button just in time, and shoved the phone against my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey baby.”

“I’ll call you back in a minute. Or actually, you can stay on the phone. I’m in the middle of making breakfast.”

“Oh dear gods, where are you?”

“Upstairs.”

“And where is the food?”

“My scrambled eggs and pancakes – shit! The pancakes!” I rushed back downstairs to see mom scrambling the eggs calmly, waiting for me to return. I maneuvered around the island in our kitchen and grabbed the spatula lying next to the pancakes.

“Someone important?” Mom asked, eyebrows mildly raised. I nodded, cradling the phone in between my ear and my neck and flipping my pancakes.

“You still there?” I asked Roger after I had flipped my pancakes. I turned to mom. “Thanks, I’m good now.”

“Okay.” She said. She sounded a little bit skeptical.

“I’m still here, just waiting on you.” Roger’s deep voice rumbled on the other end of the phone. I set the spatula down for a minute and adjusted the phone volume so mom wouldn’t be able to hear his voice.

“I’ll be done in a second. You ever try to do this? Its my first time.” I said to him. I lifted the pan containing the slightly burned eggs and tipped it onto the plate next to the stove. As far as I was concerned, they were done.

“Did you sleep well, flower?” He asked me. I could tell he had been awake for at least an hour, because he had his sense of humor intact.

“Now that’s not fair, buttercup. My mother’s in the room, and she’s going to be giving me very weird looks.” I said to him as I clattered the pan into the sink loudly, trying to cover up what I was saying. Mom had become reabsorbed in her game.

“Oh, but sweet cheeks, you teasing me in front of my friends isn’t exactly fair. And we weren’t even going out then.”

“We are now?” I asked him, laughing. “Shit, pancakes!”

“Don’t fuck with me. And don’t set the kitchen on fire.” He said to me as I rushed to get the pancakes off of the pan. “Why I will never let you cook for me…” I heard him say as I flipped the second pancake onto my plate. I shut the gas off to the flame and set the pan in the sink.

“It all turned out alright.” I protested his comment. “I can cook just fine, thank you very much.”

“You abandoned your cooking to answer your phone. If your mom wasn’t there, your eggs would have burned, your kitchen would have burned down.”

“Well I had to answer the phone.”

“You did?” He asked. I pulled the butter out of our refrigerator and began to butter my pancakes.

“Of course, it was you. We have things to talk about that can’t wait for my breakfast to be cooked.”

“What important things? Like me fucking you?”

“Exactly.” I said, without missing a beat. Right at that moment, food was my primary instinct, not sex. Later on, as you’ll find, I’ll be described as the horniest person he knows. I can, will, and have tired this man out.

“So how are you feeling this morning?” I asked him.

“Good, good. My old bones aren’t feeling too bad. Yourself? I hope I didn’t keep you up too late last night. I know you were tired.”

“Nah, I’m good. I was up for a bit after we got off.”

“We didn’t get off.” He pointed out. “We just talked a while. I’d remember if we got off together last night.”

“I really need to tell you food is the most important thing on my mind right now. We’ll talk about those things after I’m done eating. Did you want to stay on the phone with me while I eat, or do you want me to call you back when I’m done?”

“I don’t mind listening to you chew.” He said. “I have to run a few things by you anyway. We’re not telling anyone on the site about us. And I probably shouldn’t even bring it up, but nothing changes on the site because of this, right?”

“That’s right. We’re still fifty-fifty on our decisions. And the two things stay separate. That’s like, a gods-given law.”

“What? Our relationship and the site? Of course.” He agreed with me. I sat down with my plate of food and glass of milk.

“Shit. Ketchup.” I muttered to myself. Mom looked up at me, laughing.

“Someone should really teach you how to multi task, Storm. You don’t do it very well.”

“Be quiet, mom. You’re no better than me when it comes to remembering things. That might just be because you’re old, though.” I grinned and stuck my tongue out at her. She rolled her eyes and went back to playing her game.

“You should be nice to your mom.” He commented as I got the ketchup and sat back down. “And what in your breakfast plan requires ketchup to make it enjoyable?”

“The scrambled eggs. You can’t have eggs without ketchup. Its preposterous.”

“That’s disgusting. You’re an odd, odd duck, Storm.”

“Its good!” I poured the ketchup over my eggs and stuck my fork in to retrieve the first mouthful.

“Odd, odd child.”

“Storm?” Mom asked me, and I looked up from my breakfast. “I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation, but have you fed the ferret?”

“Oops.”

Chapter 11: Rainy Afternoon

Rainy Afternoon

“Nothing has really changed between us, has it?” Roger asked me as we worked steadily on increasing our site’s database.

“No, don’t think so. Except for the nicknames. And the disgusting, continuous rounds of ‘I love you’ have begun.”

“You know when I was little, I swore to myself that I would never be part of one of those couples.” He commented. “D’you get that code done yet?”

“No, hold your horses. I don’t work as fast as professional hackers, and its not like its easy. I’m doing it from scratch.” I muttered as I added another line of code. That’s what we were doing this afternoon. Conversing and working. The same as any other afternoon.

“Damn, okay. Sorry.” He said, laughing.

“By the way, I swore the exact same thing when I was little.” I said to him, a sort of silent apology.

“Get that code done yet?” He asked me again, not thirty seconds after he had asked the first time.

“If I was there, I would slap you.” I commented. I entered the final line of code. “And yes, yes I did get the code done. But now I’m not uploading it for another five minutes just to piss you off."

“Aww, come on. You know I was just teasing.” He complained.

“And you damn well know I just sent you the code in an email so you could put it in and upload it.”

“Yup.” He admitted. “Thank you anyway, baby.”

“You’re welcome. Hey, you mind if I sing? I need to get this melody worked out.”

“Class or for my personal enjoyment?”

“For my personal enjoyment, this time around. I got all my theory homework done.”

“Wow, good girl.”

“I’m not a dog.” I took a breath. It was always odd singing on the phone, but the fact that I could retrieve neither melody or words from my poor, school abused brain was driving me nuts.

“Its time to celebrate the world, rejoice in all we’ve gained; lift your hands and sing today, towards the gods we pray to…” I trailed off, thinking. I had gotten that much down, but beyond that, I was clueless.

“It sounds Christian to me. Lighten it up a bit. Paganism…” I could tell he was about to go on a rant, but it sounded find to me. “Pagans are different because of the way that we celebrate. When you sing that line – the bit about lifting your hands and singing – that indicates audience participation. There is no audience in our rituals, right?”

“We’re all a part of it.” I admitted.

I suppose I should stop and explain a moment. We – us – Roger and I – are not Christian. We are Pagan. Wiccan. Witches. We celebrate the earth and balance, we believe in the Gods and the Ancestors as our guiding forces through the world. We don’t sacrifice living organisms, such as animals, small children, or Christians. Most of the time.

“So shouldn’t the song – and I’m assuming you’re writing it because you want to write a ritual song – be focused more on what the group is actively doing, and less on what they’re automatically doing in their hearts? We all pray, silly. And I’m pretty sure I’ve lifted my entire body in praise of the Lord and Lady more than enough in my life.”

“So something like a ritual dance song?” I asked him. I changed rhythms, changed keys, and tried it out. “Beltane’s come, planting’s here, sow the seeds for the coming year and clap your hands, stomp your feet, laugh and dance to the music.”

“See? That was good. It was simple, it had the potential for a lot of power, and it was pretty."

“Pretty? I used four notes. And it sounded so hollow.”

“Try adding some sort of percussion?” He asked me. “Even just tapping your fingers or hand against your leg.”

“Okay…” I sang the small verse again, adding a basic beat with my hand. “But its not what I wanted to create. I’m in the Choir; I’ve sung the Jesus songs. Some of them – a select few of them, mind you – have this great burst of joy rushing forth. It almost seems like me singing is hollow, like its not enough. I want to gift the gods with the choir sound. I want to write for a choir or at least a group of people.”

“And whose to say that what you’ve just created isn’t strong enough for a group of people?” He challenged me. A window popped up on my computer screen, showing two messages – ‘I love you’ and the web address for the newly uploaded page. “Let’s say you add three percussion instruments, one for the basic beat, one for a syncopated one, and one as a sort of power builder – something low or high, and give that one a driving beat. Then let’s say you put thirty voices behind your own singing that exact same part you sang to me a minute ago. And add another thirty – some for a bass line, and the others for a descant or round type addition to the song. Now I’ve never been a musician and I can tell you that much.”

“But what I sang was minor.” I argued. “I’ve never had the ooh-ahh musical orgasm feeling with a minor song.”

“You’ve never had a musical orgasm with a minor song? Didn’t you just tell me a few months ago how you loved that one song because it was so slow and beautiful?”

“Well, yes. But its not the same. Here, let’s use an example. The feeling I’m talking about – have you ever seen Sister Act 2? The part where the young boy finds his voice and leads with a solo in ‘Oh, Happy Day,’ that gospel song. The warm fuzzy feeling you get when you watch that is what I’m looking for. Understand?”

“Well, I don’t have a pagan gospel choir for you to practice on, nor have I ever seen one in existence. But my guess is that you could still write a song like that from what you have already. You have the talent, you have the beginnings of a background, now you just need to apply it.”

“I suppose I could look at the chord structure. I have a question for you quick – what were the names that you used in the form fields? Or do you want me to check?” I changed the subject, although my mind was still churning. What made those musical progressions so powerful? Was it the energy flowing between the choir members, or was it the actual music that was being created?

“User, pass, term, definition; for the submit form. For the pulling out form, just the ‘term’, and I have to leave it up to your genius to retrieve and display the definition.”

“I’ve actually got most of that code’s setup right in front of me. You should know how to do it before. You took a look at the code that drives the submission pages, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know a PHP query from what I had for dinner last night.” He laughed.

“You’re silly.” I reached over to the side of my desk and grabbed the bottle of Coke I had been drinking. We had been at it for at least an hour.

“I’m taking a small break. The code’s done, my fingers are sticky, and I can’t feel my ass.” I decided.

“Wow, you can type and masturbate at the same time?” He asked me, sounding sarcastically amazed.

“I never said I was masturbating.”

“Well your hands are sticky and your butt is numb, and I know what weird fetishes you have, so I just assumed…”

“You have the same ones.” I tried to control my laughter. “My fingers are sticky from the pop, and my ass is numb from the chair I’m sitting on.”

“Pop?”

“I’m sorry. The southern term would be ‘soda’ or ‘soda pop’. Around here, its pop. I remember going down there once, asking a place if they had any pop. They gave me the weirdest look.”

“That’s because it’s an odd Yankee slang term that none of us southerners use because its…odd.”

“Need I quote you on some of your famous analogies, straight from the heart of hicksville?” I asked him, standing up and stretching out. I let out a small moan of approval as my back cracked five or six times.

“What have I ever said?”

“Something about a rusty bucket down a well? If you used any of your normal language up here, you’d be restrained in one of those little white jackets.”

“That’s because y’all are Yankees and noneya speak right.” (Yes, he did say “noneya”, not “none of you”. I know, I’m going to marry a southern boy.)

“Do I even need to point the irony of that statement out to you?”

“No.” He said sheepishly. “Hang on a second.”

I heard him set the phone down, and moments later, heard a series of cracks echo across the many miles between us and into my phone’s receiver. I shuddered as the mental image of him holding his head and cracking his neck, looking like he was going to rip his own head off, came flooding into my mind. I had watched him and begged him not to do it on his web cam several times; heard him and begged him not to do it over the phone, several times. He never listened.

“Ewwww! That’s so gross! Disgusting!” I said disapprovingly as I heard him pick the phone back up.

“It’s not my fault. Plus, you couldn’t have heard what I did, I set the phone down on the table at least four foot away from my neck.”

“I heard it loud and clear. Disgusting.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to freak you out.” He almost sounded guilty.

“Yes, yes you do. You do it for your own personal amusement.” I amended his statement, trying to sound menacing.

“Oh beautiful princess, you are correct, and again I apologize.” I could almost see the laughter in his eyes as he said that.

“No you’re not.” Arguing with him was a favorite past time. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Again, I apologize.”

“Sure you do.” Smiling, I looked around and decided my neck needed cracking also. “Can you hang on a second?”

“To what?”

“Whatever you’d like. I’ll be right back.”

I set the phone down and twisted my neck to both sides, getting small, satisfying cracks out of it. I ran to the bathroom to do my business and returned within a minute, toilet still flushing in the background.

“I’m back.” I said to him, as I heard him finish up a short tune, hummed in a soprano voice. It almost sounded like Yankee Doodle.

“Hey sugar puff. How was your piss?”

“How’d you know, pookie bear?”

“I heard the toilet, mushy butt.”

“You think I have a mushy butt, cuddly?”

“About as much as you think I’m cuddly; when you know I’m over six foot, two hundred pounds of mostly muscle and a little bit of fat.”

“My butt isn’t mushy.” I protested. “I don’t really have much of an ass, remember?”

“You have a little one, and its cute.” He commented. “It makes me want to pinch it and rub it.”

“Anything else?”

“Slap it?” He asked hopefully.

“Oooh, you’re diiirttty.” I replied, laughing. “You can, if you’d like.”

“What would happen if I didn’t?” He asked me.

“I’d probably end up begging you to.” I admitted.

This is probably a good time to stop and explain a little bit, for those of you that are actually reading my account. We – him and I – have fetishes. Ours do not include the famous chicken-castration and armpit-fucking fetishes, but they are a little out there. We don’t talk about it too much, but both of us mentioned we enjoy the thought of spanking, either way. Which leads into basic domination and submission – ropes, straps, handcuffs, gags, blindfolds. Not that kinky, right? Well, then we get into my forced-sex-acts fantasies, which I’ve been assured lots of people have. Slight exhibitionism – videos, pictures, etc, interest us both, though we haven’t acted on those (that I know of. What he’s done with others is his business).

Anyway, back to the thing I mentioned at first. Since this is my personal account of my personal relationship with a man I’ve never even met, I’m going to go on a small diversion to explain what having a fetish is. I’m going to use the one that we first introduced to each other – the spanking one.

Having a fetish doesn’t mean you get turned on by the thing every time it happens. For example, I doubt either of us would get turned on by watching a mother spanking her child. I don’t really get turned on if one of my friends slaps my ass, which they tend to do quite often. And neither of us is useless sexually if there’s not some sort of spanking involved. Well, again, a guess on my part. I’ve never met him, and my sex experiences haven’t been that awesome.

It’s the same, I’m guessing, with foot fetish, or latex fetish people. If they saw a dead man’s foot covered in gangrene, I doubt they would want to suck on its toes. Latex people…if they saw a six hundred pound woman covered in latex, again, I doubt they’d want to fuck themselves thinking about it. But hey, to each their own, right? And a second thing, having a fetish isn’t a mental problem or a disability. Sometimes it can be caused by a mental problem or a difficult situation. Maybe a foot-fetish person was abused by someone in their childhood. But certainly not all foot-fetish people were or have ever been abused. I’ve never been abused. Roger’s never been abused.

For me, the intimacy between the spanker-and-spankee relationship is the turn on. It’s the mild dominance and submission play. And the doubt in my mind that anyone ever could, well, get me over their knee. Its always interested me, even pre-puberty. It’s the challenge, I suppose.

For others it’s the thought of being taken care of, that you always have someone to watch out for you. Still for others its just fun. Some people need to be challenged, to be controlled, to be dominated, to get pleasure out of life. Some people need to challenge, dominate and control to get their pleasure. Some people need to worship and suck on toes. Some people need to be suffocated, or be covered in food, or dress up like a baby and have a mom take care of them and make them urinate in their adult sized diaper. I repeat what I said above: To each their own.

The rest of that afternoon, we spoke and worked on the site, adding several new sections. I fed the ferret. And then my parents wanted me to go out to dinner with them, so we got off the phone after six hours of continual contact. I know, sad, right? The story resumes when I call him back.