Chapter 43

Going through my morning routine, I wasn’t looking forward to work. There were two trucks to unload and it was supposed to be 92F with 100% percent humidity.

When the first truck showed up at 8am, it was already 80F, but with the heat index it was 88F. The load of fertilizer and grass seed was going to be a pain in the ass as a few of the pallets had shifted and they would need to be re-stacked.

Getting the first 3 pallets off was easy, I then started fixing the screwed-up pallets. The back of the truck was a virtual sweat box, it took about 2 hours to re-stack and pull the pallets off the trailer.

I went to my truck during lunch as I had a bunch of clothes for after kick boxing. I was drenched in sweat, so I grabbed a t-shirt to change into. We weren’t busy again due to the heat and the second truck was running late.

It was about 6pm when the driver dropped the trailer off and went to a motel for the night. He was going to pick up the trailer at noon tomorrow. This one turned out to be a load of small pine straw bales which were used for landscaping rather than wood chips in the south due to the prevalence of termites.

This was going to be a bitch to unload seeing as the bales were only about 3ft by 2 ft, there were a shit ton on the trailer, and they had to be unloaded by hand. I was only about halfway done when Mr. Pope came into the warehouse at about 9pm.

“Barnim, time to call it a night. I’ll get some more unloaded and then you can finish in the morning.”

“It’s alright, I’ll get it done.”

“Barnim, you’re a teenager. Go have some fun. It’s Friday night and I know you’d rather be doing someone else tonight.”

“OK, no need to twist my arm.”

I got some more clothes out of the truck and went into the bathroom. While I was changing, I used some wet paper towels to try and get as much of the sweat and stink off. It was a good thing that I kept a stick of deodorant in my gym bag, hopefully it covered what was left.

I didn’t remember putting it in the truck but I had the address of the party in the glove box. Checking the map book that was by the register for the rare times that an order had to be delivered I found the address. Based on the location of where the house was, whoever lived there went to Eagles Landing high school.

There were 3 high schools in Henry County. Henry County high school where Ellie and I went, Stockbridge where Adriana went and Eagles Landing. It was the newest school being built in 1990. It was also in a very affluent area which was evident from the map seeing it was lakefront property.

I stopped by the warehouse on my way out to the truck. It was the first time I’d seen Mr. Pope doing this much physical labor.

“You sure you’re going to be OK? We don’t need you to have a heart attack from actually doing something physical.”

“I’m not that old! I can still kick your ass. Go have some fun, but not too much. Remember, no drinking and driving.”

“Not a problem.”

“Oh, and don’t drink so much you can’t come to work tomorrow. You have to finish what this old man can’t get done.” He gave me the finger.

“I’ll be here.”

“Go.”

I made my way over to where the high school was and found the road I was looking for. I actually passed the driveway twice before I realized which one it was.

Pulling into the long driveway, it was just about 10pm. This was a pretty big party as there were at least 35 cars parked in the driveway. Somebody had pulled in right before me, so as I got out, I followed them around to the side of the house.

Just inside the gate I could see there was a large pool with people all over the place. There was a keg just off to the side of the pool, and turning, there was a pretty stacked redhead eyeing me as she greeted the 3 girls who arrived just before I did. She walked up to me as the girls walked over to the pool.

“I’ve never seen you here before. Who invited you?”

“My girlfriend was invited by her friend, they came early. I had to work so I just got here.”

“Too bad you had to work. So, what’s her name?”

“Ellie, and her friend is Adriana.”

“Is Adriana about my height, really dark hair?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I feel bad for you.”

“What the hell are you talking about.and who the hell are you?”

“Wait here for a second.”

She walked into the house, then came out a minute later.

“Come sit in the house with me for a minute. I think you need to be made aware of a few things.”

I had no clue what the fuck was going on, but my gut told me this was going to be bad. Suddenly a lot of things made just a little bit of sense. I needed to keep my anger in check as I didn’t have any facts yet. If it was what was running through the back of my head, I’d need to stay very calm.

I followed her into the house, and we sat in what I could guess was a sunroom. I took a seat on the wicker couch. She took a seat across from me, tucking her leg under as she sat down.

“So, I’m Jules Grehan the Eagles Landing cheer captain and this is my house.”

“Parents don’t mind big parties?”

“As long as nothing is broken, and things are cleaned up they don’t mind.”

She paused, looked down and then straight at me.

“I’m going to be blunt. Your girlfriend is probably getting fucked by Adriana’s boyfriend right now.”

“Boyfriend, wasn’t aware she had one, at least that’s not what she told us.”

“Her boyfriend is the starting QB of the football team. A major douche bag and serial cheater, so none of the other cheerleaders will date him. I don’t know how they met, but at the beginning of last school year they started showing up at parties together.”

It took another second for it to hit me. I was fucking pissed; my anger was growing by the second. I needed to breath and calm down or I’d end up doing something that would have major legal repercussions.

“So, what’s this guy’s name?”

“Richard Lindquist.”

Fuck that name sounded familiar. I needed to see this myself, that way there was no way in hell that there could be a denial.

“So which room are they in? I’m hoping that you’ll unlock the door so that I don’t have to break the door down.”

“Well, we’d have a serious issue if you did that.”

“I’d pay for the damages and have a conversation with your parents letting them know that you tried to stop me.”

“Look, they’re not in a room, I saw the three of them walking down towards the lake. There’s an area with benches and a couple of picnic tables by the dock.”

“Well, can you point me in the right direction then?”

“I’ll take you down there as long as you promise not to start a fight, I don’t need the cops showing up.”

“I don’t plan on starting anything, but I will defend myself if necessary.”

“I’m OK with that.”

We got up and as we were going through the kitchen. Jules stopped in front of the frig.

“You want a beer?”

“Yeah, but I’ll pass as that keg is probably piss warm by now.”

“Well, seeing as you’re having such a shitty night so far and it’s probably going to get worse, I’ll give you one of my secret stash.”

She opened the frig and pulled out 3 Coronas. Not my first, or second choice, but will do in a pinch. She had popped the caps and handed me 2.

“Let’s go.”

We walked around the pool with Jules telling a couple of people that we’d be back in a few minutes. There were a bunch of strange looks as we took off through the gate; there was a pathway that I assumed led to the lake. The property was huge and it took a couple minutes before we made it to a point that we could see the moon reflecting off the lake.

Before I could see the clearing, I could hear a guy talking. From what I could hear, it was pretty clear that somebody was fucking.

I slowed down to limit the amount of sound that I was making and stopped where the trail opened up into the clearing, Jules bumped into my back.

There was a bench about 15 feet from the bank. Some guy had a girl bent over the back of the bench and was going to town, I couldn’t tell who the girl was. Looking over I saw Adriana kneeling in front of the girl and I knew. It was over, there was no coming back from this. The only thing left was to make a huge fucking scene. Was it petty, yeah, would it make me happy for a little bit, yeah? Fuck it, let’s do this and let my inner asshole run wild.

Just as I started to move around a little to get a look at Ellie, the guy started talking.

“You like that, don’t you? You can’t get enough of that dick can you. The best you ever had isn’t it.”

The answer from what I heard lacked any enthusiasm, passion or feeling at all

“Yeah, it’s great.”

“Fuck, here it comes, you ready to take that big load?”

Well, there was no doubt that it was Ellie, I was fucking sick to my core. By that last comment I had a feeling that the guy didn’t have a condom on. Before I could open my mouth and say anything, the dude popped his load. I really wasn’t paying attention to what else he said, I was fucking disgusted.

I came to my senses and started clapping very loudly. Three heads snapped around to stare at me, I just kept clapping. Adriana and then the douche bag responded.

Adriana finally realized who she was looking at and her eyes went big. “OH SHIT. We’re so fucked Rich.”

“Is this her pussy ass boyfriend? I’m not worried, he can’t be much of a man if I just fucked her.”

“Shut up and don’t piss him off anymore.”

It was taking everything I had not to beat this weasley fuck into a puddle of blood and pulp. Ellie was looking like a deer in headlights. It was at this point I had the extreme displeasure of seeing the dumb fucker’s little pecker as he pulled out. So much for Ellie being a self-proclaimed size queen.

“Well, seeing as Ellie decided to fuck around, you two can keep her. Adriana don’t ever let me see you again, I might not be able to control myself. Douche bag, have a good time with the skank brigade.”

I knew Adriana had a major part to play in this whole scheme. I turned to walk back when Ellie finally decided to say something.

“Barnim, wait.”

I didn’t say a thing and just kept walking. I suddenly felt and arm on mine as I was walking briskly back towards the house. It was Jules, and she looked up at me.

“Sorry you had to witness that, but it’s best to rip off the band aid.”

“Sounds like you speak from experience?”

“Yeah, same douche bag freshman year.”

“Sorry you had to go through it.”

“Not your fault.”

We made it back to the pool area, and people were looking at us. One girl came over with a worried look on her face.

“Jules, did you break up with Derrick?”

“No. I was just helping my new friend deal with some garbage.”

“OH?”

We walked in the kitchen and I was looking at her.

“I guess I need to explain. Go sit in the room where we were before and I’ll bring some more beer.”

I went and sat down, my head in my hands, where the fuck did I mess up? Jules came in and handed me 2 more beers, again the first one was gone in a flash. She had a reluctant look on her face, like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to say what was on her mind. There was an awkward silence, then I was surprised.

“I’m just not sure I can trust you. What I want to tell you could ruin someone’s life.”

I owed her, she could have said nothing and I would have been an unwitting cuckold. It would have been an ongoing thing, I’m sure of that. Jules did me a solid, so I’d keep her secret, it’s the least I could do.

“You helped me out, so whatever you tell me will stay between us. I owe you.”

“Well, I have a boyfriend, but don’t at the same time. Derrick is the co-captain of the Eagles Landing basketball team, he’s also gay.”

That was surprising, but not shocking. I mean middle Georgia wasn’t a big gay haven in 1994. Hell, it was probably extremely hostile at this time. Personally, I didn’t give a shit who somebody was fucking. Just don’t involve me in the act or back off if I think you’re overstepping with me and we’d be good. Having someone that could distract from unwanted attention was a good idea if you didn’t want to come out of the closet.

“So, you’re his beard?”

“Yeah, I’m surprised that you know what that is.”

“So, I’m guessing that from the way this conversation is going there’s something you want to talk to me about? I’m guessing it concerns you and I, a little bold seeing as what just happened.” “Yeah, well I’m known to be bold and take chances.”

“Well, I’m going to need to have a conversation with Derrick before we go any further. Not that I don’t believe you, but with what just happened out there, I feel it’s necessary.”

“I get it”

It was at that moment we were interrupted. I could hear Ellie yelling my name from somewhere in the house. I was going to have to deal with this, as much as I just wanted to let it all go. I started to get up and Jules put her hand on my arm.

“You could just stay in here with me. She’d go away eventually. Everyone knows to stay out of this room.”

“No, I need to deal with this. Like I said, I need to have a conversation with Derrick first. I’ll take this out of the house so as not to disturb the party.”

Walking into the kitchen, I could hear her yelling towards the front of the house. As I entered what looked to be a family room, Ellie was coming in from a hallway.

“Barnim, it wasn’t...”

“Stop, we’re not doing this here. You want to talk, then we’ll go out by the truck and talk.”

I walked out to the truck and lowered the tailgate. I could see Ellie, then Adriana and the douche bag a few feet behind as I sat down. I turned to look at them standing off to the side.