Chapter 3

After I got home, I went into my bathroom to shower off the pool water and wash my hair. All the rubbing Mark had done earlier had left my panties a crusty wreck, so I rinsed them out in the shower. I knew Mom would ask me how they got that way if she saw them in my hamper. She was already nosy about personal stuff like that and was entirely too willing to bring up embarrassing subjects at the dinner table.

Turning around in the hot water, I finally let myself cry. Mark had always been a kind of impossible dream. Being with him had been amazing, but I knew it was over. He was right about Dad killing him if he found out what we’d done. Plus, I didn’t want to come between him and Joe. I knew how devastated I’d be if anyone came between Bethany and me.

Then an awful thought struck me. What if I could never feel that wonderful explosion again without him? I wrapped my arms around myself and sobbed.

“You okay in there, Steph?”

I jumped at the question coming through the shower curtain, then realized it was Bethany. Shit. I’d forgotten she was coming to stay over tonight. We usually hung out on Friday nights, either at her house or mine. I tried to sound normal.

“Yeah, I just got soap in my eyes.” Lame, but better than admitting the truth. I’m feeling sorry for myself because life’s not fair. I shook off the stupid fantasy while I soaped myself up.

“Is it okay if I pee in here? Your brother stank up the downstairs bathroom.” She made a gagging noise for effect.

“You know I don’t care.”

Bethany was the greatest. We’d been friends since forever. Both of us started growing boobs at the same time. She had me beat on hair down there, but my puffies were puffier than hers. We’d both been trying to figure out what sex was all about and just then I realized I’d beaten her to it. That made the thought of never being with Mark again a little more bearable, in a way.

“So what’s up for tonight?” Bethany asked.

“Dunno. Mom said she’d order a pizza. Dad’s out of town. I hope Joe goes somewhere so we can watch what we want.”

“Cool.” I heard a flush. “Why are you showering anyway?”

“Went swimming.” I finished rinsing and turned off the water. When I opened the shower curtain Bethany handed me my towel. “Thanks.”

“I wish y’all had a pool. I’d love to swim for a while, but I didn’t bring my suit.” She glanced around the bathroom. “Wait, where’s your suit?”

Shit! I scrambled for a moment as I dried my legs. While I delayed giving an answer, I caught her looking at my wet panties hanging from the hot water knob.

“You went swimming in just your panties?” she giggled. “With Mark and Mason?”

“No one was home when I snuck in through the screen door,” I whispered and hoped she bought it. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“Let’s do that again tonight!” Bethany was grinning wide and bouncing a little at the idea.

“They’re probably home now. You wanna get caught skinny dippin’?”

“Maybe,” Bethany laughed. “I’d let Mark spank me for being naughty.”

I chuckled as I wrapped my hair up in a towel. Bethany could always get me out of my funk. I grabbed my clean panties off the counter and slipped them on, then pulled on a long t-shirt that came to my knees. We both usually wore that kind of thing around the house in the evenings.

“You sit. I’ll dry your hair,” Bethany said as she dropped the lid on the toilet.

I sat and removed the towel, then flipped my long blonde hair over my back. I usually kept it down between my shoulder blades. It was all the same length and mostly straight, but summer humidity could still wreck it. The hair dryer was loud enough to keep Bethany quiet while I relaxed under her long brush strokes.

When my hair was mostly dry, we headed out of the bathroom and skipped down the stairs. Mom was just coming through the garage door from work.

“Hey, girls, we still on for pizza and a movie tonight?” Mom asked. Her good mood was infectious and blew away the last bits of regret I was hanging on to.

“We sure are,” I answered for us both.

Bethany nodded her agreement. “I brought over the sequel to that beach movie we saw last time, if you want.” Her dad was the manager of a large store that sold electronics and movies, and she always had the latest stuff.

“Perfect,” Mom said as she dropped off her travel mug by the kitchen sink and headed towards her room. “I’ll make the call for the pizza. Give me a minute to shower and change.”

Bethany tossed me the disc to load in the player while she took her bag up to my room to change. I got the movie loaded and had pulled out my nail bag before she got back down.

“What color tonight?” I asked as she bounced into the room.

“Pink for me!”

“I’m leaning towards green sparkles myself.”

Bethany was now dressed in a long shirt like mine over her bare tan legs. She always got browner than me because her mother was half Spanish. I pulled the pink polish from the bag and the green sparkle polish I wanted. We sat on the floor between the coffee table and the couch to put the toe spacers on our feet.

“I still have that purple from last week,” she said. “Got any remover?”

“Here,” I said and passed over the bottle and cotton balls. My nails were a blank canvas but were kinda raggedy. I grabbed the scissors and file to trim them. Considering what I wanted to try with my fingers later, I decided to make them really short.

“Okay, the pizza will be here in thirty,” Mom said as she plopped down with the same kind of long t-shirt we both had on. She had her damp hair pulled back in a ponytail and her makeup was gone, but she looked even better without it to me. After she pressed the button on the remote, she grabbed a file and started working on her nails as well. “Let’s see what this movie looks like.”

It was a typical musical with lots of catchy songs, funny dancing parts, and the cute guy always got the girl he wanted in the end. When our nails were dry and the pizza was gone, we danced around the living room like idiots for the ending song, Mom included.

And as luck would have it, Joe and Mark came in right in the middle of us all acting like idiots. Mom just laughed, but Bethany and I were mortified and clutched each other while moaning our embarrassment.

“Looks like y’all are having more fun than we are,” Joe said with a smirk.

Mark was staring at me with an odd look on his face, but I ignored him completely.

“I told you we were having a girls night in tonight. Enter at your own peril,” Mom said with a menacing grin and wiggled her fingers like she was casting a spell. “If you sit down too long we’ll paint your toenails.”

“No thanks, I’m good,” Joe laughed then turned to Mark. “Let me grab my swimsuit and we’ll head over.”

“I wanna go, too!” Bethany called out.

“No way, we’re gonna chill out tonight. Maybe tomorrow.” Joe headed upstairs leaving Mark staring at me.

I continued to ignore him and dragged Bethany down to the couch while Mom backed up the movie to the part we missed. I leaned against her and stretched out on the couch with my legs towards the stairs. Once Mom and Bethany were watching the movie I pretended I had an itch and exposed the gusset of my white panties.

I never turned to look at him, but I could see Mark move closer to the couch from the corner of my eye. When he was right behind the couch I had another itch that required I slip one finger under the edge of my panties and ran it down between my legs. Knowing he was watching, I pulled my finger out and stuck the tip in my mouth. There was nothing on my finger, but he didn’t know that.

Mark made a sound like a strangled cough and backed away. Mom looked up and said, “You okay? Go get a glass of water.”