Chapter 19

After that afternoon with Kiki and Dana, my little world quickly started to unravel. It began, as most disasters do, simply, with Dana telling Brenda about our little session with Kiki and Walter, and then bragging to her about how she had turned Kiki out to girls. Brenda couldn't wait to get on the telephone to tell Audrey all about it.

Audrey didn't exactly dump me right away. What she did was far worse. She started cheating on me. The worst part was that she did it all behind my back, and then, when people would tell me about it, and she'd deny it ever happened.

To all outward appearances, she treated me exactly as she had before. I became increasingly suspicious when she stopped using me for rides to and from school. She always gave plausible excuses, but, because of this, we were spending less and less time together in an intimate setting.

I started ditching one or two classes a day and spying on her. I finally caught her in the back seat of Ted Hunsaker's old Plymouth Duster, giving Ted a blow job on their lunch break. The three of us had a big shouting match that drew quite a crowd. I had really cared for Audrey, but she used my helping of Walter as an excuse to revert to her sluttish ways. She'd humiliated me, in front of half the school, so I broke off with her right there in the parking lot.

Walter went in and had his knee surgery. He had to go to physical therapy to rehab the knee, and his lawyer used that as an excuse to get several delays on the vehicular manslaughter charge. The assault with a deadly weapon charge got reduced after Walter's lawyer threatened to show that the victim's steroid use had created the tensions that led up to the altercation.

The University, and the victim, did not want to have to deal with the publicity of steroid allegations that would be sensationalized at the trial. After the victim told the District Attorney's team that he didn't want to testify at the trial, a deal was struck that allowed Walter to plead guilty to misdemeanor battery charges, receive three years of unsupervised probation, and a fine of several thousand dollars.

This plea bargain, in turn, cleared the way for a plea bargain in the vehicular manslaughter case. Walter would enter a guilty plea in return for a sentence of thirteen months in a minimum security prison for youthful offenders.

The lawyer told Walter that this was the best deal that he would be offered. It was either take that deal, or go to trial and risk much greater prison time. A deal was struck that would allow Walter to delay sentencing for ninety days, to complete the rehabilitation of his knee.

When Walter got home after entering his guilty plea, having decided to accept the deal, he and Carla were almost inseparable until the day he left for prison. Walter was very fearful of going to prison. We weren't raised in an environment where prison sentences were handed down routinely.

There were rumors of things that occurred inside prisons, but he knew nobody who had actually been to prison that we could ask for tips and pointers about how to survive the experience.

Breaking up with Audrey had really taken a toll on me, both emotionally, and from a self confidence perspective. I began to think that everyone was laughing at me behind my back. As a result, I kept mostly to myself, reverting to the lifestyle I had known prior to meeting Audrey.

I went without any female company for four months. I tried calling Cindy, but she hung up on me. Brenda, Kiki, and Dana ignored me whenever I tried to approach them at school. Carla was my only realistic hope, and she was with Walter whenever she wasn't in school. Twice I had spoken with her at school, but she threatened to tell Walter if I broke our agreement for me to leave her alone.

On the day that Walter went and turned himself in at the police station for transport to the prison, there was a lot of sadness in our house. I began to worry about Walter when I saw how nervous he was.

My father and I both tried to calm him down, telling him that his worry was making it more likely that he'd have trouble. I didn't go with my mother and father when they took him over to drop him off. I did give him a hug, and told him to stay out of trouble. He was crying when he left. I felt bad for him.

Carla lasted for about a month after Walter left. She finally broke down and went out on a date with Glen Carter. In a week's time, the two of them were openly appearing as a couple. I stayed away from the whole thing, waiting to see how Carla would play it.

She wound up writing to Walter, and explaining to him that she just couldn't wait for him for that long of a time. Walter called home several times a week. The news from Carla had really taken him by surprise. He was hurt. He asked to talk with me.

"Barry, go see Carla for me. Tell her that I still love her. Tell her I'll still marry her when I get out, if she'll stop going out with Glen Carter. Tell Glen that I'm going to really kick his ass the next time I see him."

"Walter, I'm not going to do it. She's a slut, let her go. Forget about Glen. The last thing you need after you get out is to go right back in for fighting with Glen. Forget about Carla. You just concentrate on doing your time and then coming home. After you are home, there's lots of girls for you to fall in love with. Girls who aren't out fucking around on you the day after you go somewhere."

"Barry, you don't understand, you've never been in love."

So, I hung up on him. He thought that what he felt for Carla was love? What I had felt for Audrey, that was so much more than what he and Carla had. Four months, and I still could smell her when I closed my eyes, could taste her breath on my tongue. I cried half the nights when I went to bed. I'd never been in love? It was then that I realized where I'd made my mistake with Audrey.

It was the same mistake that Walter wanted to make again with Carla. I'd been too nice, too conciliatory to her. I'd said some things that made it seem like I was weak, letting her dictate to me. Like when she made up all those excuses for me not giving her rides to and from school, I had just accepted them. I had reverted back to being too nice, and Audrey didn't want nice. She shit all over nice guys because they didn't ring her chimes.

"Hello?"

"Sasquatch, you nasty little slut! I've been thinking about you today."

"Barry?"

"That's right you little whore. I was thinking about coming over to your house and getting a blow job, and some of that nice pussy of yours."

"I'm going with Ted now Barry."

"That's okay Sasquatch, he can watch me fuck you. Why don't you call him and invite him over to watch?"

"I'm not like that anymore Barry. I like being treated nice now."

"Is that what you've been telling yourself Sasquatch? That you like being bored? That you like trying to pretend that you aren't a big slut who loves to be humiliated and used? When's the last time you had a really fantastic orgasm Sasquatch?"

"Barry I'm going to hang up on you."

"I'm coming over there Sasquatch, and when I do, you better open up your door and let me in. I'm going to fuck you inside your house, in private, or else I'm going to fuck you on the floor Monday, beside your locker at school. You get to decide which."

"You cheated on me Barry, with Kiki and Dana."

"So fucking what? You think I need to get your permission to fuck whoever I want to? I fucked Carla a few times too. You don't own me Sasquatch, I own you. I forgot that for a moment, and treated you like your feelings mattered to me. They don't. I treated you too nice. I won't make that mistake again. Now, what's it to be? On your sofa at home, or on the floor in front of your locker?"

"I'll call the police if you come near me."

"On the floor in front of your locker then, with half the school watching. I'll see you on Monday Sasquatch."

I hung up the phone. I was sweating, and as nervous as I'd ever been. Just hearing her voice again had gotten me rattled. I had tried, given it my best shot, and it just hadn't worked. I'd try something different later. I was still confident that I had hit on the truth with Audrey.