Chapter 32

“I can’t believe she acted like that, in public,” Mom said referring to Laura’s mom’s outburst in the gallery. We hadn’t been in the car for more than a few seconds before Mom started talking about what she had seen. “I mean, I was well, beyond shocked at your photographs, Josh. But to make a scene like that in front of everyone...”

“The poor girl,” Dad replied, shaking his head. “She had to be mortified.”

“I know,” Mom agreed adamantly. “I still can’t believe that happened.”

I zoned out at that point, worried about Laura and how she was doing. Her mom was furious, and I hoped she wouldn’t blame Laura for what I had done. Not that I forced her, quite the opposite in fact, but her mom didn’t know that. What was going to happen when they saw Laura’s dad? What would he say about it? Considering why he was in prison in the first place, it didn’t sound like it was going to go over well at all.

“We need to have a talk,” Mom said, watching me get out of the back seat. “Go on in and get changed. As soon as you are done, meet us in the living room.”

“Okay,” I hung my head and trudged inside, dragging my feet as I went.

I took my time getting changed. I wanted to delay the inevitable for as long as humanly possible. I still had my dress shirt and slacks on when I heard Dad and Mom leaving their bedroom and heading to the couch. I knew I couldn’t delay any longer. It was time to face the music and explain myself. I threw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and made my way to the living room where my parents were waiting, surprisingly patiently.

“Your Dad and I wanted to know if this is what you had been doing with Dana the whole time?” Mom asked seriously. “Taking pictures of naked girls?”

“Umm, yeah,” I nodded and answered, feeling incredibly embarrassed. Why did she have to say naked girls like that?

“Are you being safe?” Mom asked, her tone still serious and matter of fact.

“Of course, we are being safe!” I replied quickly, my eyes moved up and met hers. “We always make sure no one is around.”

Dad’s head dropped and I am pretty sure he was holding back a laugh on something, but I didn’t understand why. There was nothing funny about those photoshoots. We took them seriously. Mom’s eyes widened at my answer.

“No, are you being safe,” Mom asked again, still trying to control her surprise at my answer.

“Huh?” I asked, now I was really confused and had no idea what she was talking about. “Yes, I just told you. Dana and I made sure it was perfectly safe each time.”

Now Dad actually did laugh but tried to stifle it as soon as it came out. I just looked back and forth between my parents trying to figure out what the hell was going on. There was a long pause, it felt like hours but was no more than a minute. That’s when it hit me ... they weren’t talking about photography.

“Mom!” I exclaimed. She thought I was having sex with those girls. Holy fucking shit!

“Well, were you?” Mom asked, fighting against the smile that was tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“Mom, we weren’t having ... sex!” I argued. “Jeez, I can’t believe you would think that!”

“Why should we believe you?” Mom said, her eyes searching mine for the truth.

“Honey,” Dad spoke up, getting Mom’s attention. “Why would he lie about that?”

The look Mom gave him screamed ‘you know why!’ without having to say anything.

“Besides the obvious reason, why would he lie?”

“I don’t know,” Mom looked dumbfounded. “There was no way you would have kept your hands off those girls if you were Josh’s age.”

“Well...” Dad blushed.

“See, and you want me to believe Josh wasn’t doing the same thing?” Mom said. “Like father, like son?”

“Mom, no!” I whined, just wanting them to stop talking about this. “I didn’t touch the girls. Dana was the one to move them into the poses and stuff.”

That was mostly true. Dana was the one to help with the poses, the only one I actually posed was Laura, but they didn’t need to know that!

“What your mom was going to say before she got distracted was that we are disappointed in you,” Dad said. “Why did you feel you needed to hide what you were doing from us?”

“You could have talked to me and your dad,” Mom added.

“I’m sorry,” I replied, and felt a load of emotions threatening to take over.

“Why did you feel the need to hide everyone from us?” Mom asked, her tone was actually soft and almost comforting.

“What were you thinking?” Dad asked as well. “Did you think we would freak out?”

“Well, yeah...” I answered. I could feel the tears pooling in my eyes and I was fighting them back with everything I had. “I knew if I told you, you wouldn’t let me go with Dana.”

“Why would you think that Josh?” Mom asked as she moved over to the love seat where I was sitting and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “Look at me. Why did you think we wouldn’t let you take those pictures?”

“Because...” I sniffled. The dam was cracking. It was only a matter of time before it broke completely. “I don’t know.”

“Josh, we aren’t mad at you for the pictures themselves,” Dad said, his tone a lot more comforting now as well. “They were actually really amazing. Even though they were nudes, they weren’t scandalous. All three of those girls looked stunning. We are mad because you thought you needed to hide them from us. Then we learn about them in a situation like tonight! That was not right.”

“I’m really sorry!” I started crying, heaving sobs into my mom’s shoulder while she held me in her arms. When I finally started to calm down, I asked, “So, am I grounded now?”

“No, you’re not grounded,” Dad answered and smiled at me. “But you can’t hide stuff like this from us ever again.”

“Exactly,” Mom agreed with Dad. “Just be honest with us, okay?”

“Okay...” I replied, trying to smile back, but I am sure I looked like some sort of idiot with tears still running down my face and snot starting to run out my nose.

“Go get some sleep, you have to go back to school in the morning,” Mom said and gave me a quick, motherly kiss on the side of my head. I nodded, got to my feet, and started walking.

“Goodnight, Josh,” Dad called as I made my way down the hall towards my bedroom.

The next morning just so happened to be the first day back to school after Christmas break. I woke up wanting to get to school early. I hadn’t gotten to talk to Laura last night before I went to bed, and I was worried about her. My idea was if I got there early, I would be able to wait for her to show up, to make sure she was doing okay, especially after everything that had happened the night before.

My plans were for nothing, because Mom and I were not on the same page. I was actually late to school. Needless to say, Laura wasn’t out front waiting for me. No one was. The bell had already rung five minutes ago, and the halls were empty, minus the three or four slackers who for whatever reason were late, like me.

Dejected, I put my stuff in my locker and hurried to Mrs. Peterson’s classroom. I tried to slip in unnoticed, but that was a lost cause. The door was shut and when I pulled it open in the middle of whatever Mrs. Peterson was saying, all eyes moved to me. Damnit!

“Josh, I’m glad you could make it,” Mrs. Peterson announced sarcastically, which was quickly followed by chuckles from my fellow students.

I ignored everyone and quickly slipped into my seat. I hoped Mrs. Peterson would give me a pass. She had seen first-hand what had happened last night and maybe, hopefully, she would give me a little slack. Nope! The very next question she asked, she called on me to answer, and every single question after that until the class was over. I want to say I took my medicine without protest, but that would not be true. By the end of the class, I was frustrated and angry. Not really at Mrs. Peterson, but at the whole situation going on since last night. I needed to talk to Laura, and now!

What I wanted and what life gave me were two vastly different things. No Laura, not even a glimpse of her back in the halls. I didn’t run into Dana either. Not seeing Dana wasn’t strange, she was usually on the other side of the school from me, but I would almost always at least see Laura.

By the time the lunch bell rang, I had accepted the reality of the situation: Laura was mad at me and was actively avoiding me. That was the only thing that made any sense. She and her mom had talked last night when they got home, and Laura came to the conclusion that I had somehow manipulated her into posing for me. Worse, she had disgraced not only herself, but her family. More than likely, some huge, tattooed monster of a man was going to be waiting for me after school, no doubt some friend of her father’s from prison sent to kill me.

I made my way to Mr. Watts’ classroom for lunch. When I walked in the door, Mr. Watts was there talking to Dana, Laura, and Adam.

“Laura!” I yelled. “You’re here!”

“Hey, what happened to you today?” Laura asked, turning, and smiling at me warmly. “I was waiting for you this morning, but you never showed up.”

“You were waiting ... for me?” I replied, not believing what I had just heard.

“Duh, of course I was,” Laura answered and gave me a funny look. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I just thought that maybe—”

“For fuck sakes, Josh,” Dana cut in, rolling her eyes, and putting her arm across Laura’s shoulders. “Just because her mom is an idiot, doesn’t mean Laura here is.”

Adam laughed at that, and I glared at him.

“Shut up, Adam,” I growled. “I’m still mad at you.”

“I’m sorry,” Adam replied, holding his hands up. “I’m so sorry.”

“You should be,” I answered.

That was the best I could come up with at the time. He should be sorry, but he should be a lot more things than that. Fortunately for him, my thoughts were overwhelmed by Laura’s lips meeting mine.

“I hate to interrupt,” Mr. Watts announced. “Josh, I need to talk to you after class today for a minute.”

“Oh, uhh. Okay?” I replied, not sure what Mr. Watts was referring to.

I was already on my back foot after finding out Laura was here and not at all mad at me, even though everything in my body told me she was.

“Good,” Mr. Watts nodded. “I’m going to go get some lunch.”

That left the four of us all alone in the classroom. Laura was standing next to me, her arms holding me as we looked at Dana and Adam.

“So, what happened to Jonathan?” Dana asked Adam, her voice sounding as rigid as well forged steel.

“What do you mean?” Adam asked, taking an involuntary step back.

“Knock it off, Adam,” Dana said, glaring at Adam with her hands on her hips. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I am talking about. I heard he isn’t in school today.”

“Oh, he uhh ... kind of got beat up,” Adam really struggled to get that out, his voice getting shakier and more worried with each word.

“What?” I asked, shocked. “Did those guys get him?”

Adam just shook his head, a grave look on his face.

“Then who?” Dana prodded.

“Claire and her cheerleader friends ... the ones from the pictures,” Adam answered.

“No way!” Dana and Laura chorused at the same time.

“Yeah, I thought they were going to kill him,” Adam explained. I had no idea what to think of all that. Sure, that asshole Jonathan deserved to get what was coming to him, but the thought of those three girls attacking him ... I would rather have been punched by the whole varsity football team than face those girls’ wrath. “So, I’m starving. Does anyone want some pizza?”

“Of course you’re hungry, Adam,” Dana joked and that got Laura snickering.

“Hey!” Adam protested. “Do you want any or not?”

“Sure, bring us a few slices,” I answered. “If that’s cool?”

“Okay, be right back,” Adam smiled and ran from the room. He was a big guy, but he could really move when he wanted to.

“So, are you going to go see my submission at the gallery?” I asked Dana now that Adam had left the room. If he didn’t know about it, I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him.

“I was there last night,” Dana replied and smiled.

“What, really?” I asked. “When? I never saw you there?”

“We got there late,” Dana answered. “It was a little after 10:00, I think. Mr. Watts was there, too.”

“That makes more sense,” Laura said, her voice sounding frustrated and a bit depressed. “My mom made us leave early.”

“There were a lot of people standing around in front of your portraits. It seemed like everyone in the black and white exhibit was talking about your works. A lot of them were trying to figure out if you were a grad-student or an undergrad.”