Pinhole, Higher Learning
Copyright© 2024 by Fanlon
Chapter 23
Laura and Dana rushed through the front door as if they owned the place—no knock, not even a hello to my parents, who had quickly vacated the basement in favor of the living room upstairs. All I heard was the door open, slam shut, and then heard feet pounding down the stairs accompanied by girly, not so hushed giggles.
“Hello girls!” I heard my mother’s voice call out from upstairs.
“Hey, Mrs. Davis!” Dana yelled back.
Laura was already racing past Dana when they hit the bottom step, and she didn’t stop running until the moment she launched herself fully into the air and right into me. The sudden impact nearly took me off my feet, but this wasn’t a new act for Laura. When our eyes met and I saw that silly grin on her face, I knew what was coming. So, I readied myself and opened my arms in anticipation.
Laura wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my torso and immediately planted a hot, steamy kiss on my lips. My arms wrapped around her, holding her tight against me.
“Jesus, Laura,” Dana complained. “You’re going to choke the poor guy to death if you don’t get your tongue out of his throat.”
Dana’s comment didn’t have the desired effect. If anything, it only drove Laura further into our make-out session. It wasn’t until we heard someone coming down the stairs that I let Laura go and she dropped to her feet, grinning madly at me. Mom appeared a moment later, taking in the scene.
“I trust I don’t need to come down here and check on you three periodically, correct?” Mom asked, raising an eyebrow in question and she locked eyes with each of us in turn.
Laura went beet red at the accusation and my mouth suddenly went dry.
“I won’t let it get too out of control,” Dana answered.
The corner of Dana’s mouth twitched as she tried to maintain a stoic, serious expression.
“See that you do,” Mom said, before her eyes bored into where Laura and I were standing next to each other. “Now, I came down here to ask you girls which you liked better, Pizza Hut or Godfathers.”
“Pizza Hut,” the girls agreed.
“Perfect, what do you like for toppings? Josh likes pepperoni, but I wanted to make sure you two were okay with that or if you wanted something else.”
“Pizza!” Laura squeaked.
“Get ahold of yourself, Laura,” Dana remarked as she rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you’ve never had pizza before. Pepperoni is fine with me.”
Mom nodded in acknowledgement and looked at Laura. “And you?”
“Um, can we get a supreme?” Laura asked shyly.
“If that’s what you want, sure.” Mom smiled. “Josh’s dad loves supreme too.”
“Thanks!” Laura grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly.
“Mushrooms, gross!” I made a gagging noise to emphasize how much I hated them.
I was relieved when Mom didn’t linger around any longer, leaving the three of us alone again.
“Now that your mom’s gone and you two are done sucking face, what was so cool that you wanted us to come over?” Dana asked.
Dana tried to sound like she was annoyed, but the glint in her eyes told me she was very, very interested in what had me so eager on the phone.
“Oh, right!” I replied. “Remember that girl Jeff wanted me to take some pictures of but I kind of blew her off?”
“Jeff?” Laura looked at me, her face scrunched up in confusion.
“The guy from your photography class, right?” Dana asked and I nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”
“I don’t,” Laura grumbled. “Anyone want to fill me in?”
While Dana gave Laura the full and unadulterated rundown of the entire story, I grabbed the newly framed photos to show the girls. I thought it would be a good idea to show them and make sure it was okay if I hung them up before I did it. I didn’t think they would mind. Well, Dana wouldn’t care. I would be absolutely and completely shocked if she did. Laura on the other hand, I wasn’t so sure, but I really hoped she would be fine with it. Laura’s was my favorite portrait so far, and not because she was my girlfriend.
“ ... and Josh just left,” Dana finished.
“You ... just left?” Laura turned and gave me a scandalized look. “Why would you do that? I would be pissed too if you had done that to me. I probably never would have called you.”
“Hey, wait a second!” I hurried to explain myself. “I had a lot going on in my head when that happened.”
“Like what?” Laura didn’t look like she believed me at all.
“You had just told me I was going to meet your father.”
“That’s not—”
“In prison.” I cut her off.
“Oh.” Laura at least had the decency to look ashamed.
“Yeah, that kind of was your fault,” Dana said.
“I didn’t mean for—”
“It’s fine, she called him didn’t she?”
“Still...”
“What’s in your hands?” Dana finally noticed what I was carrying.
“I wanted to show you two, these,” I said, handing them over and Dana quickly took them from me. “We framed them earlier and I wanted to see if you two would be okay with me hanging them up.”
Dana and Laura shifted their positions, so they were sitting next to each other on the floor, the stack of portraits on Dana’s lap. I got a bit nervous watching Dana and Laura. The pictures were face down, so they didn’t know what they were about to see. Dana looked up at me, a questioning look on her face. I flushed under her scrutiny, and she smiled a knowing smile.
Laura reached out and turned over the first photograph, the one of Katie in the barn loft. Both girls looked at it for a moment without saying a word. Laura actually leaned over and counted the number of frames on Dana’s lap and then looked up at me. I expected ... I don’t know what I expected actually but it wasn’t the beaming smile I received, that was for sure.
Dana placed Katie’s picture off to the side and turned over the next one. This one was Jo by her pool.
“I still can’t believe Jo wanted us to come over and take this one,” Dana said.
“Why?” Laura asked.
“It was Josh’s first shoot,” Dana answered. “Jo was the first one to show any interest when I started asking around for people to pose for Josh. After they saw the picture of you in the hallway, it was pretty easy though.”
The next one was Dana’s most recent shoot with me, the first one in the new studio. When Dana turned it over, she giggled and handed it to Laura.
“I can’t believe you were the first one to get your picture taken down here,” Laura mused.
“It’s not like your mother would let you come over here.”
“Doesn’t mean it isn’t fair!” Laura replied sullenly.
“What’s stopping you from being the second person? Unless you want to wait for that April girl to go next.”
“My mom asked me to shoot her too,” I interjected.
“Your mom!” Both girls chorused at the exact same time with the exact same wide-eyed, slack-jawed shock on their faces.
Seeing their faces and remembering how I reacted when Mom had asked me about her posing for me, I couldn’t help but smile like a fool.
The girls’ faces shifted into horrified looks of disgust, and I couldn’t hold it back, I started laughing maniacally.
“What is wrong with you!” Dana yelled.
“That’s not funny!” Laura stomped over to stand right in front of where I was doubled over, crying with laughter. “I can’t believe—”
“It’s not...” I waved my hand to cut Laura off. “That’s not what it sounded like.”
“Then what is it exactly?” Dana questioned, stomping up to take her place next to Laura.
Between laughing fits, I explained what had actually happened and why I had started laughing. They both understood, but they apparently didn’t see the same humor in the whole thing that I did.
When the girls finished going through the framed pictures, they piled them back up and handed them to me.
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