Chapter 1: Devin's (sort of) Date

Phillip Kushing was fighting a bush. A thorned, overgrown, vine-twisted, man-eating, homeowner’s-association-piss-offing bush. He was drenched in sweat at 3:30 PM on a Friday, sweat that soaked into the long sleeves and jeans he’d worn to protect against the stickers, thorns, and bugs. One might have suggested he not take the day off of work and maybe do that yard work in the evening, but he had a hidden reason for this apparent idiocy.

She lived two doors down on their U-shaped road that left their houses back to back separated by bushes and yard. He’d known her when she was just a scamp running around the neighborhood. She’d always been a little cutie and her mom was always a really friendly woman, though her father was a little bit of a recluse. He was 21-ish when he first moved in and much more energetic. Sometimes when he was out and about in the neighborhood or when he was visiting his neighbors, Devi and the other neighborhood kids would come charging at him chanting, “Spin me! Spin me!” And so he would, sometimes by the arms, sometimes hand and foot, flying like superman, and they would always squeal in innocent delight.

Devin’s mother always liked Phil, but she really came to trust him on that one October day. Little Devi was trying to learn how to skateboard. Clad in her helmet, knee pads, and sk8urgrrl clothes, she was determined and utterly fixated on staying on the board. She was so focused that she didn’t see the car coming around the bend in the road far too fast. In a flash, she felt a hard yank and was flung from the board right before a loud honking horn and the terrifying crack of splintering wood. Her board was shattered and Phil’s knee was bloodied, but he’d yanked her out of the way of a reckless driver.

Later, when Devin told her mother the tale in the kitchen as Mrs. Fawkes’s attended to his scrape, Phillip became the most trusted non-member of the Fawkes family.

But that position of trust now just added to the guilt Phil felt for the flutter he would always feel watching Devin jog by in her cross country outfit. Still, he couldn’t help but drink in the lovely form of her body now in bloom. The red flush in her cheeks and sweat glistening off her skin, from exertion as she ran, sometimes in an oversized t-shirt, but more recently in a green spandex sports crop top. He loved to just catch a glimpse of that bare midriff. In his mind’s eye it was a full 8 inch strip of soft feminine flesh, when in reality, it was barely three fingers width and her shorts almost always came up so high as to cover her navel. But sometimes, alone at night, he’d imagine her wearing something much more skimpy, shorts sitting low on her hips, the full length of the cleft of her abs that trailed down to her perfect navel. Her thumbs hooking into those bottoms and pushing down...

“Hey, Mr. Kushing?” Her voice jerked him out of his fantasy.

Phil smiled back to the young beauty wiping some sweat onto his sleeve, “Hey Devin, how’s it going?”

“Not bad, what’cha doing home on a Friday, Mr. Kushing,” she asked with a casual smile.

“Yardwork,” he grunted, extricating himself from the vines, “and bleeding. And what’s with the Mr. Kushing stuff? You’re making me feel thirty.”

For a moment she’d thought he’d said ‘dirty’, but maybe not. “Yeah, no, I just thought I’d be funny, you know.” Sometimes she wished she could be more witty. Or more interesting, like some of the women Phil dated from time to time.

“So you just getting back from school?” Still slightly embarrassed at his own fantasies, he tried not to look at her while he talked to stay detached.

“Nah-”

“Jeez is it 4 o’clock already?”

“Nope, I just cut out fifth period and went for a run.”

Phil chuckled shaking his head, “Wow.”

“What? It’s just study hall.”

He chuckled even more knowingly this time and looked back at her, “First, I know you have government for your last class, and second, aren’t you even the least bit scared that I’ll get you in trouble?”

She batted her eyes at him, “You, Mister Kushing? Nah, you love me too much.”

He dropped his load of vines, and turned to regard her. There she was in all her glory, hands clasped and beaming with coy innocence. Her hair shining light brown in the sun, pulled back away from her face in a pony tail with her bangs matted with sweat from her run. Her lovely lean bare arms were clasped together sweetly as she posed for him. Did she know how much her overly innocent act pushed his interest up just as her arms held just so such pushed her modest breasts together under her faded powder blue tank top? Probably not. He probably shouldn’t let his eyes linger too long on her smooth bare legs either...

So instead he just sighed and shook his head in acquiescence, “You, you’re trouble - nothing but.”

“Me?” she asked, “Little ole me?”

“Get outta here!”

She giggled and dodged his halfhearted swat, and started to head on. “You better watch it kiddo, or I’ll get you grounded.”

“Ha!”

“Yeah, then you won’t be able to go to the movies with your buddies.”

“How’d you know-”

“Please,” he smirked, “You guys always do the same thing every Friday.”

“Well, you’re wrong, I have a date tonight,” she retorted. Technically he wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t really matter. “And, what are you going to do, get into your broken hot tub with Clarissa?”

He paused for a moment. A moment longer than a moment. Devin worried that she’d hit a nerve somehow, even though his hot tub had been broken since before she’d gotten into high school. She’d teased him about on many occasions.

“Ehhhhh! Wrong on both counts. One, I had the hot tub repaired two weeks ago, and Clarissa is a no, for good.”

As if mirroring what she assumed he must be feeling, Devin looked crestfallen. His tone was even and unaffected though. Was he hurting or not? She just couldn’t tell. “What happened? Did you split up?”

“Meh, she just didn’t turn out to be my type.”

Devin nodded with excessive solemn gravity, “Are you okay?”

He grinned at her, “Yeah, she had too many piercings anyway.”

Devin grinned back, “Uhm, yeah she did.”

Their banter devolved into a back and forth of pin-cushions, porcupines, and jokes about the magnetic problems of Clarissa the artist. Today, more then most days, he couldn’t keep his eyes from wandering over her young body and wondering what lucky kid would be taking Devin Fawkes out on a date tonight.

Baxter was a bust.

Well, not in everyone else’s eyes, but definitely in Devin’s. When he found out in class that the date was going to be more of a group thing, he seemed okay with it. Maybe even excited about it. Devin had been pleased that they could check out the lit-flick while the rest of the gang went to a prick-flick.

Maybe she should have gotten some kind of clue when he said, “I’ve got a surprise for you,” in the car on the way to the mall. “It’s in the trunk.” Whatever it was, it clearly wasn’t flowers, but she could hope.

He managed to get their whole clique there for the big reveal, a big bottle of Cutty Sark whiskey. The guys flipped, and even Sarah squealed, but Devin and Piper didn’t say a word. They just exchanged glances: resigned frustration and condolences, respectively.

Preconceived notions are funny things. They can start as nothing but a wrong idea and gain momentum until they lead inexorably to self fulfillment in the rudest of ways. Baxter had a preconceived notion that ‘cool kids’ all love alcohol. He also had a hope that Devin would, with proper application of said alcohol, get a little loose and have a little fun. If nothing else he’d score cool points. So that dumb idea that led him to spirit away that most vile and harsh spirit - whiskey.

That dumb idea presented to the rest of them led to the dumb idea of skipping the movie altogether and heading to a park to drink.

To drink what? Warm whiskey.

At Baxter’s insistence, she’d tried to imbibe some of that horrid liquid, but to her, just the mouthful she got was more than enough to get her bile up. A swallow left her mouth a hot mess of what she could only describe as, “rancid ichor.” That - of course - got her mercilessly teased, even by Jake the junior senator-in-training when he and Piper returned from their excursion to get Coke as a mixer.

Piper pulled Devin aside, “Hey you okay?”

“Yeah, this is just a disaster,” she replied in hushed tones, “It’s not even 9:30 and...”

“I know it’s a mess,” Piper’s soft eyes expressed her concern even more than her hand on Devin’s shoulder. Normally, Devin wouldn’t ever try to take control of a situation. She was more prone to going with the flow and letting other people decide what to do. If the whiskey hadn’t tasted so terrible, she’d probably be as drunk as Sarah was getting, especially with Baxter’s insistence that was starting to border on creepy.

They looked back to the group to see Sarah laughing openly and smacking one of the boys in the arm. She knew Baxter was sober, but that pretty much meant he was the only one.

That’s when Piper took control.

“Hey Baxter? We’re going home now, get your keys?”

Baxter looked confused, and Jake even more so when he chimed in, “Wait, who’s going home?”

“Just us ladies, and you’re driving,” she replied, pointing to Baxter.

Baxter stammered while Jake cut in, “Babe, babe, what’s going on? Party’s not even started.”

“Yeah, babe, I’m not really feeling this party,” Piper replied.

“What’s wrong, is it prissy-pants over there?” Devin didn’t need to look up to know he was indicating her. Her blood boiled, but she kept her head lowered and pretended she was wearing ear buds.

Piper crossed her thin arms and cocked her hip as he tried to lean in closer, “Uhm, no, you took me to the movies and we didn’t see one, you want us to drink a bottle of ass, and your breath smells like paint thinner,” she added as she pushed him back, “Yeah, we’re going home.”

Despite Baxter and Jake’s further complaints, Piper pushed past to collect Sarah. One of Jake’s buddies who was taking a keen interest in Sarah snarked, “Fine, you two can go, but Sarah’s cool, she’s stickin’ around.”

Sarah, who’d only moments ago and giggling and enjoying his attentions turned on a dime and smiled at him, “Sorry babe, girl’s gotta do.”

Jake’s buddy threw his hands up in the air, “Aw, lame dude!”

Jake’s shoulders slumped, “Fine, I’ll take you home, babe.”

Piper stopped him with a admonishing sip of breath, “No, I’m not getting in a car with a drunk driver, Baxter’s sober.”

“What?”

Piper shrugged as Sarah whisked away the bottle. That stirred up the boys but Sarah just laughed, “Sorry boys, but you all gotta sober up before you go home.”

So, in the blink of an eye, the remaining boys were alone with no liquor and no girls. They turned to each other.

“Sausage fest.”

“Fail, dude.”

“Epic fail, dude.”

Baxter’s car was filled with teen girl laughter on the way home, mostly at the boys’ expense. At Sarah’s insistence, Piper had a little more to drink just because Sarah wanted to see her ick face again. Piper’s over the top gag and shudder spurred another round of laughter. Devin just felt happy to be with her friends.

From the front seat, Devin faced the back and ignored her “date”. She didn’t even bother giving him a kiss goodnight when they got back, just a wave, which prompted a drunk Sarah and a red faced Piper to burst in stifled giggles as he drove off. Devin turned back to regard her friends; three teenage girls and an open bottle of whiskey loitering in front of a home with parents that were still awake.

Devin volunteered, “Well, we can’t go in, not with that bottle.”

“We’re having a slumber party,” Sarah beamed.

Devin shushed her, the last thing they needed was to get caught by her parents. Piper added, “Well, we can’t just stay here.”

Devin thought for a moment, then had a brainstorm, “Okay, what do you say to a hot tub until my parents go to sleep?”

Two arched eyebrows and smiles proved that was a winner of an idea. “Your parents got a hot tub?” Piper asked.

“Follow me,” Devin smiled. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be home, he was usually out Friday nights.

The three girls scurried to her backyard and waited while Devin snuck in for towels a swimsuit and some t-shirts. She stripped down quickly and quietly in the dark and pulled on her dark blue one piece and shorts before heading back outside. Luckily, all of Phil’s lights were out, so the girls were hidden in shadows as they crept along the bushes like cartoon robbers.

They were incredibly impressed with Devin’s daring as she pulled the cover off the hot tub with a whispered, “Ta-da! Now he might not be here or he might be asleep, but either way, you gotta keep quiet.”

Sarah grinned, “Devin, you are such the rock star right now!” She immediately peeled off her tank-top and tight jeans while Devin fiddled with the controls. The lights on the inside of the tub came on and Sarah climbed up.

Illuminated by the lights, Devin found herself checking out Sarah’s body. There was a reason she sometimes referred to her friend as ‘Sarah the Buxom’ in her head. Sarah was by far the curviest of the three with an unfair bounty up top, and a bum that filled out her jeans nicely. Her cups, indeed, did runneth over. She noticed the jiggle of her thighs and bum as she stepped into the tub.

“Oh my God, this is perfect,” the buxom beauty whisper-squealed in delight.

Piper slipped off her sandals, sat up on the ledge, and tucked her knees in, spinning around toward the water. With perfect balance, she tucked her hair back behind her ears as she examined the water carefully. Piper had curled her hair for the evening, and those perfect blonde curls framed her delicate features beautifully in the waving waterlight. She’d worn a pink lace floral blouse over a white tank top and a cream cotton long length skirt that she bunched up to her knees. She kept everything on but the sandals. To Devin, it seemed, everything that Piper did, every motion, was controlled and intentional. It was probably the kind of grace that would come from all of the ballet she’d done when she was younger. Tentatively, and minding her skirt, Piper dipped her toes in the water.

Devin smiled slightly, realizing maybe she’d been watching Piper a little too closely, and looked back to the controls.

“Turn on the jets,” Sarah suggested.

“No way,” Devin abandoned the controls and her shorts and climbed up. She slid into the water just in time to be met with the bottle presented to her by Sarah. “Oh fine,” she said with an eye roll and took a swig.

Up in his bedroom, Phil turned off the TV and the Blu-Ray player. ‘Well, one more movie off the queue.’ He rolled over to go to sleep.

Devin and Piper took turns making ick faces for each other as they passed the bottle around. Sarah was determined to get them as drunk as she was, but the two of them were just taking tiny tiny sips of the vile stuff. Just the one real swig Devin had taken was starting to relax her.

“Hey D, you know what would be really hot?”

Sarah moved in to Devin and leaned forward over her. Devin suddenly blushed at the predatory look Sarah was giving her. Was she really that drunk? Was Devin drunk enough for this? Suddenly, Devin found her words choked up. “Wha?”

Piper’s jaw dropped slowly as she held the bottle in hand, staring at her two best friends. Sarah reached her arms behind Devin’s head slowly as she snaked forward sensually. Devin started sinking down into the tub, but as she got close, Sarah sprouted a mischievous grin, reached past her and clicked on the jets. “Jets.”

Piper squealed in laughter and Sarah grinned devilishly as the hot tub bubbled around them. Devin shrank, her face was hot from more than the water. She couldn’t begin to say anything for fear of betraying the quiver in her stomach that would have turned into stammer at any words. Instead, she sought the liquid courage. “Gimme that.”

Piper giggle, “Oh my God, I totally thought she was going to kiss you. Sarah, you totally had me there.”

Sarah smiled, “Oh yeah, and you would have loved it too.”

“Would not!” Devin complained lamely.

“Yeah, you woulda, cause I’m just that awesome.”

Piper giggled and Sarah beamed with pride.

“The thought of it...” Devin took another swig and shuddered with an ick face, bringing around another round of laughter.

Phil sat up in bed. He thought he’d heard something faint before, but now he definitely heard something. It sounded like laundry. He got up and crept out of his bedroom. Then he heard the squeal of laughter. Instantly, he knew it was coming from his hot tub.

He could have decided any number of different courses of action, one dominated his mind. Perhaps he should be very quiet, keep the lights off, and see if he could get a better look.

He managed to navigate the dark in silence and was rewarded by an amazing sight. Three teenage girls were plainly visible from his laundry room window. There were two girls he didn’t know. One was wearing a light colored bra - she had to have been a D cup at least, she was curvy with wavy dark hair. The other girl was fully dressed and perched demurely on the side with her feet in the tub. She reminded him a little of Devin, but with curly blonde hair, and maybe a little smaller. The last girl, he knew. He could only see her from behind, but he knew it was Devin. ‘I guess she was listening when I said I got it fixed.’