Truth Undressed (Exposed Series, #3) (9 page)

For example, you will only regret seducing someone who has strong
feelings for you that you can’t reciprocate. It’s wrong to lead people on and
give them false hope whether the circumstances are sexual or otherwise. Most
women I’ve known who have close male friends have at least two that would sleep
with them given the chance. And not only would they sleep with them, but these
friends often harbor feelings that go way beyond that.

And just like you wouldn’t want someone to play around with your
feelings and use you as a means to an end, don’t do it to others. Mutual play
is fine. Objectification is not.

So figure out who’s “off limits” based on this criteria and
respect that.

Then, while you’re at it, take a moment to think about which of
your male friends are the type that lose all respect for women after they hook
up with them, and do yourself a favor. Vow never to fool around with them
either. Because it will mess up your friendship. Trust me. I learned this the
hard way. More than once.

Anyway, when taking on a less experienced partner, just follow
the Golden Rule. Because people are delicate, especially when they’re naked and
vulnerable. And no matter how shocked you might be to discover that someone has
less experience than you, cultivate a default reaction of compassion and
understanding.

And for the love of god,
never
laugh at a man when he’s
naked whether he’s just baring his soul or a whole lot more. The only appropriate
reaction to a naked man is to be both excited and impressed. And if you aren’t,
you ought to reconsider taking things further. Preferably while putting your
clothes back on.

Finally, should your inexperienced partner enjoy himself too
much too soon, try to avoid using the phrase “don’t worry, it happens to lots
of guys.” The reason being that comments like this do nothing but mislead and
discourage him while demeaning you.

That being said, have fun with beginners. They’re often eager to
learn and best of all, eager to please.

I dropped my beer can a full two seconds before Danielle did.

“I can’t believe how much beer you just wasted. You poured half
of it out on the lawn!” I said, pointing to the puddle at her feet. “I’m never shot
gunning with you again.”

Danielle bent over and put her hands on her knees. Which was
standard. Even the little bit of beer that she’d swallowed might not stay
there. Her gag reflex was extremely delicate. As a result, not only did she eat
painfully slow, like, all the time, but I was also pretty confident that she’d
never binged and purged.

She stood up and looked at me.

“Let me guess, you’re shitfaced?”

“Nearly,” she said. “Let’s get another, but not for shot gunning
this time.”

“Okay,” I said, putting my arm over her shoulder and heading
back inside.

I don’t know if it was just me, but it seemed our parties had
evolved in recent months. People were becoming more relaxed about who was
welcome in their homes and stuff, which was nice. I liked to think it was because
we were all getting older and wiser in the face of our impending graduation.

However, maybe it was just a side effect of the fact that the
parties were getting wilder, too. We were all getting a little drunker and
staying out a little later. It was like everyone’s parents felt like they’d
gotten us close enough to the finish line that we could probably make it from
here.

A few parents hadn’t loosened the reigns, but it seemed so
ridiculous. Like, why sink your claws into your kid when they’re just trying to
have a good time? Especially when six months down the road they’re going to be
doing whatever they want and whoever they want whenever they want. Seemed to me
that starting to let go was better for everybody.

Then again, when I saw the wobbly stances and blood shot eyes of
the people in the kitchen, it occurred to me that maybe we weren’t all equally ready
to be unleashed on the world.

There was a flip cup tournament going on around the butcher
block led by none other than Ian. Just the sight of him made my skin crawl now
like I needed to take a shower. He was standing next to some junior bustdown.
She wasn’t even playing the game, just ogling him and filling up his beer.

Behind them, three guys huddled around the sink doing waterfalls-
or as I heard them say- “getting catatonic.” This involved taking turns huffing
weed from a plastic two liter bottle and coughing like pussies. And if their
slitty eyes were anything to go by, the shit they were smoking wasn’t half bad.

But I was fine just watching them. I didn’t really want to get
catatonic. What I wanted was for Kevin to show up, but he’d already promised a
friend of his that he’d go downtown. But I knew the truth. He was over this
scene. And even though I sort of wanted to be, I wasn’t.

I wanted to squeeze every last memory from these high school
parties because time was running out, and it wouldn’t be long before we’d all
have to start taking life more seriously.

I encouraged Danielle to slide into the ‘breakfast nook’ which
is what I imagine Mrs. Ford called it when it was being used legally. Then I
grabbed two cups of keg beer and returned to her side. She hadn’t been in a
very good mood lately, and I wanted to be understanding without encouraging her
to dwell.

“Have you considered doing your sulking during the week? Maybe
even during school hours like I do? So you could muster up some cheer by
Saturday night?”

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe I’d be cheery if I got into my dream
school like all these ass clowns.” She waved her cup in the direction of the
butcher block.

I agreed with the ass clowns thing, and she was probably right. I
mean, everyone she was referring to was a varsity athlete. “You don’t want to
go to school with them anyway.”

“It’s just embarrassing. That’s all.”

“What is?”

“Community college. Not being able to afford to go somewhere
cool and far away like everyone else.”

“It’s not.”

“Really? Cause I haven’t heard anyone bragging about it lately.”

“It’s not a death sentence. At least you got into the other
schools. Didn’t you tell me you could transfer in two years after you save some
money?”

She nodded.

“So it’s not the end of the world.”

She leaned back and acted like she was going to take a big swig
of beer, but instead she just took a few tiny sips. I watched her throat move
as she did it.

“It’s going to be fine.”

She nodded like she wanted to believe me. “Yeah.”

I rubbed my hand on her back while I chugged half my beer.

“So where’s Kevin tonight?”

“I don’t know. Downtown or something. He said he’d come if he
could, but I’m not holding my breath.”

“Are you guys-”

“Are we what?”

“Ya know?” she asked. “Bumping uglies?”

I felt my eyes and mouth open wide but nothing came out.

She laughed. “Sorry. I just couldn’t resist.”

“That is a
hideous
expression.”

“My Mom used it the other day when she was bitching about my
step sister.”

“You’re joking. That’s right up there with ‘necking’.”

“I know. She accused her of
bumping uglies with anyone with a
letter jacket
?”

“A letter jacket?”

“I know. The woman is out of touch.”

“You should tell her that talking like that ages her terribly.”
I looked up and saw Ian Eskimo kissing the scrawny blond girl.

“I tried once before. Like two years ago. But then she started
trying to use- in her words- all the
hip lingo.
I swear to god by the
second time she said
hella
I thought my Dad was going to strangle her.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Lately she seems really old, though. I mean, she was like forty
five when she had me.”

“Really?”

Danielle nodded. “Anyway, are you and Kevin bumping uglies or
what?”

“I can’t hear you when you use that foul language.”

She elbowed me. “Come on.”

“Once.”

“And?”

“Definitely hoping it happens again,” I said. “Best day ever.”

“That good, huh?”

“Best I’ve ever had anyway. By a
long
shot.”

“Wow.”

“But I actually really like him, ya know. It’s not just that
he’s good at… stuff.”

“As if that’s not blatantly obvious to me. You think I can’t
tell? His name makes you blush and everything.”

“That’s not true.”

“Whatever. You’ve been squirrely about him for months.”

I sighed.

“So do you think you’ll stay together?”

“Well it’s not like we’re officially a thing now.”

“So? Do you think you could do the long distance thing if you
had to?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know where he’s going to school yet. Maybe
it wouldn’t even be long distance.”

“But would you? If it was?” she asked. “You either like him that
much or you don’t, right?”

“I mean, I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”

“You mean you don’t want to think about it.”

I tilted my head and rested it on hers for a second. “Right.” I
watched Ian slip his hand in the girls’ back pocket and closed my eyes.

“Am I interrupting something?”

I looked up and saw Kevin standing at the end of the breakfast
nook. He looked positively delicious in his loose fitting jeans and an open,
half tucked plaid shirt.

“Hey you!” I said. “I didn’t think you were coming.”

He shrugged. “I heard you might be here.”

I tried to act cool even though it felt like there were beams of
light shooting out of my face.

“Well scoot in,” Danielle said, smiling. “There’s room for one
more.”

I knew she thought he was cute. She had this weird twitch that
came over her when she thought a guy was good looking. It came across like she
had something in her eye, but I think it was just her trying to bat her
eyelashes more than usual. And I didn’t mind her appreciating what I
appreciated. I considered it a vote of support for my excellent taste.

“I’ll grab a drink and join you,” he said. “You guys need
anything?”

We shook our heads in unison and our eyes followed him to the
keg.

That’s when Ian stepped out of the flip cup cluster. “Well, well,
well. Look who’s decided to grace us with his presence.”

I swallowed.

“Hey Ian,” Kevin said, pumping the keg. “How’s it going?”

“Did you pay?”

“How much?”

“Ten bucks,” Ian said stepping up to him. He wasn’t quite tall
enough to look him in the eye.

“That’s bullshit, Ian,” I said. “It was five for everyone else.”

Ian shrugged.

“You know that’s okay,” Kevin said, pulling two fives out of his
wallet. “Here’s five for the beer and five towards your dick implant.”

Ian took the money. “More like five for beer and five for
stealing Kate from me.”

I wanted to shout that I was never his to begin with, but
Danielle squeezed my arm really hard.

Kevin laughed. “She’s worth more than a fiver, Ian. Didn’t you
know? Maybe that’s why you fucked it up?”

“I didn’t fuck it up,” Ian hissed in Kevin’s face. “She fucked
it up by being a fucking tease.”

The whole flip cup crew was watching them now and everything
faded in comparison to their conversation. It was like someone had turned the
volume of the whole party down.

Kevin laughed in his face. “Aw come on man. She’s not a tease.
Everyone knows you just can’t get it up.”

For a split second Ian’s eyes flashed in my direction, and I
shook my head. I wished I could tell him I never said anything because it was
the truth. Kevin came up with that all on his own.

But before I could even open my mouth, Ian took a swing at
Kevin. Fortunately, Kevin just blocked the punch and twisted Ian’s arm
backwards until his whole body was contorted.

“Come on. You know better than that. Remember what happened last
time you tried to fight me?” Kevin pushed him to the ground.

Ian’s face was the color of his maroon lacrosse jacket as he
rubbed his arm. When he didn’t get up right away, the girl he’d been groping
all night gave him a disgusted look and then turned towards one of his friends.

“Oh good,” Danielle whispered. “I was beginning to worry she
wouldn’t find anyone who would push her head down tonight.”

“I know, right? Shit.” I couldn’t wait to tell Annie what
happened.

Kevin walked back up to the head of the table oblivious to the
glare Ian gave him as he stood back up.