Chapter 21: Hunting and Praying

"Jeff hasn't asked me out yet." Sarah whispered.

Joey looked up from the book he was examining. The school's library was small and limited, nothing compared to the public library that Annie regularly took him to. Also, the books tended to focus on physics and history here, which made sense for the school's purposes, but it didn't really have enough art books. They were standing in the rows of bookshelves, far from the work tables. She clung to her notebook tightly and glared at him. "You told him, right?" she asked.

"Yesterday," he said, nodding.

"Well, what is he waiting for? Am I supposed to walk by him and drop a hankie or something?" She sighed heavily and scrutinized Joey. "Have you at least asked Lynne out yet?"

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves for the thirty-seventh time that day. Every time he saw Lynne his spine shrunk, his mouth went dry, and his stomach churned. He just couldn't approach her. Every time he tried, he faltered. He'd find himself unable to walk in her direction, always diverting at the last moment. He knew what he had to do, but just couldn't bring himself to do it. It was just too awkward. Jeff was always there, always guarding her, always watching over her. And because he couldn't do it, the answer he had to give Sarah was just as embarrassing. "No," he finally confessed.

She gaped at him in disgust. "Why not!?"

"Hey! It's not..." he whispered back a little too loudly, and quieted himself. "It's not that easy, okay?" He took in a shuddering breath. "It's a little ... nerve-wracking, all right?"

She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Boys!" she cursed. Then she rolled her eyes back to him and glared at him incredulously. "You both know we're going to say 'yes', so I don't see what the problem is."

Joey took another deep breath and sighed as he peeked over the line of books and across the library, where he could see Lynne and Jeff sitting and working at a table. As Jeff worked on a calculator, Joey watched Lynne as she wrote with one hand, and toyed with one long lock of chocolate-brown hair with the other. Her dark eyes darted across the page as she wrote, and Joey watched her intently, and he dropped his gaze down to her sumptuous body. She was incredible, irresistible. The full curves of her breasts, her hips, and her ass made his mouth water and his palms itch. She idly moved the long lock of hair to her lips, catching his attention, and as she absentmindedly chewed on her hair, Joey saw her pink tongue for the briefest second, and it sparked his imagination for the thirty-eighth time that day. He imagined himself with her, running his fingers over her voluptuous body and up through her long hair, kissing her and tasting her warm lips and tongue, holding her softness up against himself, pressing her full breasts into his chest, and sliding a hand down over her hip and ass, caressing and lifting her in a deep kiss. He wondered what her kisses were like. She was so quiet, so soft, so shy, yet her music and her singing were so passionate. And he had seen her temper flare to dangerous levels when she confronted Clyde last week. Were her kisses like that, soft and sensitive? Or did her quiet demeanor hide a tiger?

He knew he was only one question away from finding out, and his stomach twisted into a knot as he thought about it. His face flushed and his heart pounded hard in his chest, and he turned back to Sarah, who was still looking at him, expecting a response.

"Why is it that it's always up to the boy to ask the girl out, huh?" he asked her. "Why don't you ask him?"

She glared at him. "That's not the way this works, and you know that."

Joey flustered. "But that's not fair. It's not like boys have, like, training in this or something. It's not any easier for us. I don't know what you girls go through in Health class, but for us, we don't get a list of pick-up lines. We just hear about STDs and pregnancy, and put condoms on bananas."

"Boys ask girls out. That's the natural order of things."

"Don't talk to me about the natural order of things. Not in this school. I've seen the way you floss your teeth."

She shoved him. "Go ask her out!" she hissed at him. "And kick Jeff or something. Get him over here."

"Hey! Why don't you cast a love spell on him or something?"

Sarah opened her mouth to answer, and grimaced. "I..." She fell silent with an embarrassed look on her face.

Joey frowned at her. "What?"

"I um..." She blushed. "I already tried that," she confessed.

He gave her a bewildered stare. "You did?"

She shrugged. "It didn't work. And I can't figure out why. I think I don't know how to spell his middle name right."

"Well, what is his middle name?"

"According to the yearbook? 'Andrew'."

"'Andrew'? You don't know how to spell 'Andrew'?"

"Yes I do! But it doesn't work. I can't figure out his full legal name. Is it Jeff? Jeffery? Jefferson? Andy? Drew? I've tried them all, and they don't work." She sighed in frustration. "I can't tie a binding to him through his name. It would be so much easier if I had something else that associates with his passions, like his..." She gestured oddly. "You know," she said, hoping he knew.

Joey shook his head. "No. His what?"

"His..." She gestured again, only this time lower, near her crotch. "You know, his stuff?" Joey just frowned at her, and she tried again. "You remember? Strongly associated with passion? Makes a mess?"

"You mean his ... his sperm?" Joey said, silently mouthing the final word.

Sarah nodded.

"You want me to get a sperm sample from him for you?"

"No, dummy!" She huffed. "I'm just saying that with that stuff, I can make a really good love charm." She thought about it for a moment. "Of course, if I can get that stuff, I really don't NEED one. Kind of stupid if you think about it."

Joey just shook his head again in confusion, and turned around to peek at the twins again. "Remind me to visit you on your home planet someday."

"So I can't cast a love charm. So it's up to you." Sarah shoved him again. "So go out there."

He turned back to her. "Hey!" he whispered. "You remember when you told me that you weren't good at this?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I'm not good at it either."

She softened. "Joey. You asked me out, and it worked. I said 'yes'. It'll work again." She gave him an encouraging smile. "Just ... Go to a happy place and ask her out, okay? Think about motorboating her."

He gave the image a moment, and his mouth went dry again. "Believe me. That doesn't help." Her turned back and looked at the two again. "God, they're practically clinging to each other now. I think we scared them." He took a deep breath. "Well, here goes."

Joey tried to push all of the nervousness away, and walked out of the shelves and back to the tables. "Do it. Just do it. Just ask her out. Just tell Jeff to take a hike and ask her out. You can do it." He clenched his hands into fists and focused his eyes on Lynne as he approached. His heart pounded in his chest, and his skin shivered. "Just ask her out. Just do it. You can do it."

Lynne shifted in her seat and dropped the lock of hair she was chewing on, and concentrated on her writing. She pushed her tongue out slightly as she focused, and that tongue became the center of Joey's universe. He could see it glisten and slide across her lips, and he fantasized about kissing her, and licking that tongue.

She glanced up at him, and Joey instinctively chickened out. He averted his eyes, and felt this strong desire to get away as fast as possible. He continued walking, not breaking stride, and walked right past their table and over to another table. He sat down at his spot next to Simon in shame.

"Fucking coward," he told himself. "What the hell is wrong with me? I swear, I was going to ask her out!" He opened his book and just stared at the pages, not even reading or even remembering which book he picked up. He just tried to not look up. He tried to just vanish, just bury himself in a hole inside the book and disappear from the Earth. He didn't want to look at Lynne, didn't think he had the right to, and he certainly didn't want to look at Sarah right now.

Simon glanced up from his work and took in the scene. "Sarah looks pretty pissed at you," he whispered to Joey.

"I know," Joey mumbled and groaned, hiding in his book.

"Lover's spat?"

"Don't start that," he grunted back.

"Sorry. What's wrong?"

Joey gave Jeff and Lynne a quick glance. "I don't know. I just can't ... I keep trying to ask Lynne out, but I just ... I can't even get close to her." He sighed and sank into his seat. "I'm pathetic."

Simon looked back and forth between Joey and the twins. "Anything I can do to help? I am your wingman."

"Don't know. I need to talk to Jeff, get him to ask Sarah out. Can you think of a way to get Jeff away from Lynne?"

"Other than just walking up to him and asking him to leave?"

"Yeah," Joey mumbled.

"Text him?"

Joey brightened. "Why the hell didn't I think of that?"

Simon shrugged. "Probably because you didn't grow up with cell phones."

Joey pulled out his cell phone. "Do you have his number?"

Simon shook his head. "No." He gave him a grin. "But give me a moment."

Joey watched as Simon stared at the twins and concentrated, and he realized his friend was remotely scanning their electronics. Simon frowned. "Bad news," he reported. "They only have one cell phone, and it's in her bag."

"You're kidding."

"Old model too. Cheap, proprietary software. Battery is shot too."

"Why doesn't he have a cell phone?" Joey wondered.

Simon squinted as he scanned her bag. "She's also got a simple MP3 player, and a..." Simon frowned. "What the hell is that?"

Joey briefly remembered an electronic device of Tricia's that caused some awkwardness when he discovered it. "That's probably personal," he said. "Just get out of her stuff."

"No. No. I want to..."

"Seriously. Stop it."

"I'm intrigued now."

"Simon. Do NOT turn it on."

"I can't. It's a hard switch. And it's not what you think," Simon defended. "It feels like an oscilloscope."

"I don't care what they're calling them these days. Just leave it alone."

"It doesn't have a motor," Simon explained. "It feels simple, like some sort of signal analyzer."

"Well ... then it doesn't matter. Just forget about it, okay?"

Simon turned to Joey and gave him a serious look. "Dude. It may be an E-meter," he whispered gravely.

"A what?"

"It's like a volt meter, but like two hundred times more expensive for no fucking good reason."

"And what's an E-..."

"Scientologists use them."

Joey stared at Simon for a couple seconds, and just blinked. "They're not Scientologists," he whispered back harshly.

"How do you know?"

"I don't..." Joey faltered. "Look, they're just not, okay? Don't be ridiculous. If they could afford that ... that E-thing, then they could afford a couple decent cell phones, don't you think?"

"I don't think you know how Scientology works. That's an expensive hobby."

"Just drop it, will you?"

"You know," Simon pondered. "I never really considered it before, but that would explain a lot about them. Always spaced out. Kind of weird. Never really mix with the others. Poor. Thrift-shop clothes."

Joey buried his face in his hands and moaned. "Oy, vey."

"And the church actually targets musicians and actors, you know? People with talent? Just in case they become celebrities."

"They're not Scientologists," Joey moaned.

"Dude, I'm warning you," Simon said, putting a hand on Joey's shoulder. "If you find out she's a Scientologist, run, don't walk. Get away from her. She will be completely brain-dead and she will suck you in, and suck you dry."

Joey glared at Simon. "Which part of 'drop it' did you not understand? And stop talking about her like that."

Simon smiled. "Ah. You're pissed." He poked him in the shoulder. "You're defending your woman's honor. So, still feeling nervous?"

He blinked as he thought about it. "No."

"Good. Now ask her out."

Joey looked about. Simon was smiling to him, and Lynne worked steadily on her homework next to her brother. Sarah caught his eye from across the library and glared at him from the bookshelves, pointed at him, and silently mouthed something which he was glad he couldn't hear.

"I..." He sighed. The nervousness built up again. "I can't just do that here. I need to talk to her alone. And I need to talk to Jeff."

Simon pondered this, and watched Jeff as he worked. A slight grin came over his face as he saw Jeff's calculator. "Okay, I've got an idea," he said, and he turned to a blank sheet of paper in his notebook. He started drawing symbols and doing calculations.

Joey frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Calculating hex codes for some seven-segment patterns." He looked up and saw Joey squinting at him in bafflement. "It's technical," he offered as an explanation.

Joey watched him as Simon worked out details for eight patterns, and then arranged the numbers into a sequence. "Got it," he announced when he finished. "Okay, now go wait for him in the shelves. I'll send him to you."

"Thanks, wingman," Joey whispered, and he got up and headed back to the shelves. He wandered the aisles of books, peeking between the shelves, and keeping a close eye on the tables.

He saw Simon concentrate.

And a moment later, he saw Jeff blink and flinch as he worked on the calculator. Lynne stopped working for a moment, apparently sensing something amiss, but then continued working.

And Jeff, without a word to his sister, stood up, took his calculator, and looked about the library. Joey peered around the books and waited until Jeff caught his eye, and he waved the boy over.

As he approached, Jeff held out his calculator, showing it to Joey. It clearly showed the words "JEFF.SEE.JOEY" written in the digital display. "You know anything about this?" he asked.

"Yeah," Joey whispered back. "What the hell are you doing, man?"

Jeff paused. "Um ... math?"

Joey held up his fingers indicating an inch. "Sarah is about this close to freaking out because you haven't asked her out yet. What are you waiting for?"

Jeff paused for a moment to think about it, and Joey got the distinct impression that he really didn't have a good answer. He just took in a very deep breath, apparently giving himself time to come up with an explanation, but his lungs weren't large enough to give him all the time he really needed. He reached saturation point, exhaled heavily, and started taking another deep breath.

Joey just gave up waiting for him. "And why are you hovering on your sister, man? You told me you would clear away and give me a shot."

He just shook his head. "Look, Joey. I'm..." He flexed his fingers, trying to find the words. "It's really..." He looked frightened.

Joey took his shoulder, and Jeff startled at the touch. "Hey," he said. "It's okay. I'm nervous too."

Jeff thought about it and nodded. "Yeah," he said. The tone was strange. It was either a question or an agreement.

"You like her, don't you?" Joey asked.

"Oh. Yeah." He nodded, and smiled.

"Cause she's crazy about you, man."

Jeff gave that a moment, and chuckled and grinned to himself.

"Plus, she really likes your butt."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Well, it is nice." he admitted.

Joey squinted at him. "Yeah. Well. Glad we're all in agreement about that." He grabbed his arm and pushed him. "Now get that gorgeous butt over there and ask her out."

Jeff resisted. "Hold it. Wait. Joey."

"What?"

Jeff was flustered, and he looked around, breathing heavily, and looked like he was trying to collect his thoughts. "When I talk to Sarah, are you going to..." He stopped.

"What?"

He sighed. "Look, Lynne's not in the best of moods right now."

Joey frowned. "What do you mean?"

Jeff shrugged. "She had a rough night. Didn't get much sleep. She got a headache, and she had some cramps, and she skipped her meds, and um..."

"Jeff?" Joey interrupted. "You're focusing on the wrong woman here."

He blinked as he processed this. "Yeah, I guess I am," he admitted.

Joey turned him in the aisle and pointed him to Sarah. "She's over there." He slapped him on the arm. "Now go get her."

He watched Jeff as he cautiously made his way over to Sarah, and Joey smiled to himself as he saw them meet and finally start talking. Sarah was flushed with excitement, and she swayed on her hips as she listened to him. Joey couldn't hear any words from this distance, but he didn't really need to. Jeff nervously said something, and she giddily smiled and said something back. He smiled and spoke, and she eagerly nodded. Joey felt a strange mix of feelings. He was proud of his friends, proud of Jeff for facing his fears, and happy for Sarah for finding her happiness. But he also envied Jeff for what he was going to eventually experience, remembering the sweet feel and taste of Sarah's skin and lips. He could see them holding hands, and Jeff caressing her fingers, apparently sensing the magical essence that permeated her body.

"Good job, man. Now, it's my turn," he told himself.

He swallowed hard, trying to clear the lump from his throat and turned back to the tables. "I can do it. It's just her now. Just walk up to her and talk to her. Just..."

Joey stopped as he reached the section of tables, and his jaw dropped. He looked around.

"Now where the fuck did Lynne go?"

She was gone. She wasn't at the table. The table still held their books, and her bag was still there, but she was gone. Joey stood there and blinked in bafflement, and looked at Simon questioningly. Simon knew what his question was, and he gently tilted his head, indicating a direction, and then continued working. Joey nodded to him in thanks, and headed in that direction, to the far side of the library.

Joey carefully searched the entire length of the other side of the library, keeping quiet and listening carefully. He walked the entire back row, checking every aisle of bookshelves. She wasn't in any of them. He doubled back, and checked again, but she still wasn't there. He turned around and considered the row of individual study rooms along the back wall, and carefully peered through the windows, looking for her.

He found her, and he found himself just staring at her. He blinked in bafflement at what he saw, and his heart sank.

Lynne was alone in the room, kneeling, and apparently speaking to someone. She wasn't on the phone, and she wasn't facing the window, and Joey just stood for a moment and watched this beautiful girl as she whispered and held her hands together tightly.

He felt himself backing away in shock and respect.

Joey slowly made his way back to his spot next to Simon. In the distance he could see Sarah and Jeff whispering to each other animatedly, filled with joy and excitement, and he felt nothing. He took his seat and just quietly sank next to Simon.

"Well?" Simon asked. "Did you find her?"

He nodded. His face was blank with confusion.

"Did you talk to her?"

He shook his head.

"Well, what happened?"

Joey turned to his friend, looking for answers. He paused as he thought about what he had just seen.

"Well?" Simon asked.

"She was praying," Joey finally said.

"Attention all travellers," said the woman's voice over the loudspeakers. "American Airlines flight 263 to Los Angeles has been delayed for an unscheduled minor maintenance." A chorus of groans erupted from the gate. "We expect the delay to take no more than one hour. We apologize for the inconvenience, and will be boarding as soon as maintenance is completed. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask at the information desk, and we thank you for choosing American Airlines."

"Jesus Christ!" Clifford Sutton cursed as he pried himself out of the seat and shouldered his travel bag. Gate 16 was crowded with frustrated travellers, many of whom were storming the information desk where a harried woman in a uniform plastered on a smile and bravely repeated her talking points of apologies and promises with little effect. "Why does this always happen to me?" he griped, and he pulled out his cell phone, stomping angrily out of the gate and down the causeway. "Hey babe," he said into the phone as she answered. "It's me. Guess what? They're delaying my flight, so I'll be late ... No, they say it's minor maintenance. Probably something stupid like they have to replace a light bulb in an exit sign, which means calling in a damned union team for three hours minimum. I know how they work." He strode through the airport, searching and scanning. "Where can a guy get a drink around here?"

He paused as he found a Baltimore Orioles themed sports bar, and peered inside. "No, don't," he responded. "I'll just get a cab. Don't wait up for me ... Damn!"

His curse wasn't out of anger, but of surprise and admiration. For while he was on the phone with his wife, Clifford locked his eyes on an exotic beauty sitting alone at the bar. The sultry vixen practically oozed sex as she sat alone, sipping a drink. She had a wild, wavy blond hair, dark eyes, flawless olive skin, pouting lips, and killer curves. Full breasts and hips stretched a tight black dress that must have been sprayed on her, and her long, shapely legs wrapped about the barstool with the grip of a stripper.

Her feet were bare. He licked his lips in raw hunger at the sight of her toes and saw her eye him through the window. His heart skipped a beat and his dick twinged with life as their eyes met.

"No hon," he responded to his wife. "No, they just ... They just made another announcement." His eyes traversed her body, taking in the succulent curves and shadows, shapes and movement as she shifted on the stool. Her deep cleavage and rounded ass beckoned to him. Dark eyes pierced him from across the room and through the window, and as she sipped her drink, her moist tongue touched the edge of her glass. Her lips became everything to him, those soft, full lips. He imagined kissing those lips, biting them, sucking them into his mouth, and then later on watching them wrap around his cock.

She lifted an eyebrow, and then one corner of her mouth as she stared at him, inviting him, as if reading his mind.

"Yeah, it's turned out that..." he continued on the phone. " ... it's going to take longer. Look, I'm going to have to get another flight ... No, I don't know ... Yeah, I'll give you a call when I do ... Yeah ... Take care, babe ... Love you too ... Bye."

He ended the call and dropped his phone into his pocket. The woman smiled at him and turned back to the bar. Clifford quickly checked his breath, pulled his wedding ring off his finger, and headed in.

He sidled up next to her, watching her smirk as she eyed him. He could feel her body heat already.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she answered. Her voice was sultry and breathy.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

She crinkled her nose in disappointment, and sighed. "Well, it's not the best of pick-up lines, but at least it's an old standard."

Clifford frowned. "Sorry." He thought about it. "How about ... Where are you headed?"

She lifted an eyebrow and glanced down his body. "South. You?"

He saw her eye his groin, and wasn't sure whether she was being literal or figurative. "West," he replied. "But would it be too much to say I'd follow you to the ends of the Earth?"

She chewed on that for a moment, and he got a smile from her. She chuckled and gave him a rewarding hair flip, giving him a chance to check out her full breasts. They sloshed and jiggled in her tight dress in reaction to the motion.

He leaned in closer to her. "My name is..."

"I really don't care," she interrupted.

He stopped in bafflement, and a cold shiver ran up his spine. She stared at him deeply. "What?" he managed.

"I don't care what your name is," she said simply. It wasn't said as an insult, just as a statement of fact. "Don't really need to know." She leaned her face on one hand and just stared at him. Her face softened to a look of simple desire. "Do you know what the best pick-up line I've ever heard was?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No."

"Have you ever just fucked a total stranger?"

Clifford gaped at her and dropped his jaw.

She cocked her head at him. "Total stranger. No names. No past. No future. No drama. No cost. No rules. Just fuck." She breathed in deeply, filling her chest. "Just a moment of pure, impulsive, anonymous passion. Just getting your cock sucked in an airport bathroom and never seeing each other again."

He stared at her in astonishment for a good long moment. "That's a good pick-up line," he finally admitted.

"You should try it," she whispered, and she oozed off the barstool and sauntered out into the causeway.

Clifford swallowed and watched her fine ass and legs as she headed towards the Men's room across the causeway. There was a sign on the door that read "Out of Order", and she slipped inside. "Thank you, God!" Clifford breathed, and he grabbed his bag and eagerly followed her across and inside the restroom.

She was waiting for him, pulling one dress strap down her creamy shoulder. Clifford dropped his bag and glanced at the stalls. "Are we alone?" he asked.

The blond woman stepped up to him, roughly grabbed his shirt, and pulled him to her, mashing her full breasts into his chest. "I put the sign up an hour ago," she whispered, her breath warming his face. "We're alone."

Then she attacked him with a sudden, hard kiss. She smashed her full lips against his and quickly wrapped her arms about his neck, locking him in a tight embrace. She tilted her head to one side and obscenely started grinding her mouth into his, grunting, groaning, and hungrily licking and sucking his lips as she pressed her voluptuous body forward. Clifford staggered from the attack and then grabbed her body and held her tight, kissing her back, diving into her mouth and tasting her. He pushed his tongue into her mouth, and she moaned and sucked hard on it

They were desperately pulling and pushing each other, struggling for balance as they grasped and clawed each other, mouthing, kissing, licking, and rubbing each other. Her strong hands mauled his body as she grabbed him, and Clifford surged forward, kissing her back hard, sucking on her hot tongue and her sweet lips. The woman was a deluge of power and sex, very strong for her size, but he was larger and had more leverage, and he pushed her back against the counter. She grunted and moaned through the kiss, pawing him, spreading her legs, enjoying his roughness and urging him on. His fingers squeezed into her soft and round ass, lifting her up onto the sinks as she grasped his head in her hands. Her tongue was hot in his mouth, snaking across his, and her soft body pressed into his. His cock was soon alive and demanding, pushing painfully against his underwear.

She held his head with both hands and cravenly attacked his mouth, grunting and gasping as she devoured his mouth, his lips, and his cheeks. She was past kissing, and was now biting him softly, pulling and chewing his skin with her teeth, and Clifford desperately squeezed her hot body up against his. His hands roamed her back, and he could feel her large, soft breasts press up to his chest. Her legs wrapped around him, her body undulated, and she pushed her crotch up against his.

Clifford thrust into her instinctively, and she threw her head back, exposing her neck to him and grinding her pussy into his cock. "Yes," she hissed at him. He moved his mouth down to her neck, biting and chewing her skin. She moaned and writhed under him, clawing his back and squeezing his hips with her strong thighs. He could see her fat tits bulging out of the top of her tight dress, and he reached for the zipper in the back. He opened her dress and roughly pulled the straps over her shoulders, exposing her bare breasts.

He pulled back off her body long enough to admire her. "God damn!" he exclaimed, and he grabbed her ample breasts with both hands and plunged his face into her cleavage. The blond gasped and writhed and cradled his head to her bosom as he mauled and devoured her breasts. He lifted one fat tit to his mouth and clamped on her erect nipple, and she gasped and squirmed under his attentions. He suckled her, and she arched her back and moaned with pleasure, and ground her pussy into his cock. Clifford squeezed the woman's breasts together, licking and sucking her nipples and burying his face and tongue into her deep cleavage, continuously coaxed by her heavy panting and thrusting.

She slipped her hand down and rubbed his hard cock through his pants. He shuddered, and pushed forward, giving her more access. As he bit and chewed on her neck and mauled her beautiful breasts, she opened his pants, reached in, and grabbed ahold of his swollen shaft. Clifford shuddered as she squeezed him, and with one free hand she pushed his head away from her and stared into his eyes, holding his attention.