Who’s a Good Boy: Dog in This Fight #1 Page 9

  “Oh yeah. What ever happened to chicks before dicks, huh?” she asked good-naturedly.

  I held up my hands. “Yeah… my fault. It’s just…”

  Ella’s eyebrow rose.

  “Well, things have been getting kind of… uh… serious with Jeff.”

  “Serious… how?” Ella’s eyebrow came back down, but her eyes narrowed.

  “Uh… well… y’know… like… for example, the other night we… uh… we went… all the way…”

  Ella gasped in a huge gulp of air, her mouth a big O of surprise. “You… slut!” She smiled and before I could react, she grabbed one of my pillows and swung it around to hit me square in the face.

  Whap!

  “Oof!”

  “Tell me! Tellmetellmetellmeeeee! Right now!”

  “OK, first of all, ouch.”

  “The first time always hurts.”

  “No… not… I mean the pillow!”

  Whap!

  “You mean this pillow? There’s more where that came from if you don’t start talking, Rivera.”

  I grabbed my other pillow and held it over my shoulder. “OK… mutually assured destruction… or peace, your choice!”

  “Don’t change the subject!”

  “Right, right… um… I don’t know where to start.”

  “Well, when?”

  “Saturday night. We went to a drive-in theatre they set up over in Shackleford. Did you hear about that?”

  “Um… no, I don’t think so.”

  “It was pretty cool. You get a Bluetooth speaker in your car so you can hear the movie.”

  Ella nodded with a tight-lipped smile, and refrained from hitting me with the pillow to get to the good part.

  “Afterwards we parked up on a hill where we could see the city lights.”

  “Yeah…”

  “It was so pretty… and just… he gave me that notebook for the trip and everything was perfect.”

  Ella held her hand out and spun it around in a forward motion. “Details, come on with the details.”

  “So… I moved over and sat on his lap, we just made out for a bit… uh, hands were wandering, you know.”

  Ella nodded.

  “After a while, we moved to the back seat… he went down on me.” I blushed.

  Ella’s jaw dropped and she pulled the pillow back as if for another swing, but she didn’t. “You filthy little… did he make you cum?”

  My blush deepened and I hid my face in my pillow. “Yes… oh… my… gosh, yes.”

  Whap!

  I didn’t even see that one coming.

  “Weren’t you worried about somebody… interrupting? Remember that time I was with Steve?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I remember, but… I don’t know, at the time I just… forgot about everything else. There was too much to think about.”

  “Aaahhhh, I can’t believe my little Hazy-wazy is all grown up. What happened next?”

  “Um… we stayed in the back seat-”

  “Well duh! You didn’t get out and hop on the hood!”

  “You said you wanted details, so I’m giving you details!”

  “I’m more about the juicy details.”

  I laughed. “Well, he moved over me and… yeah, we had sex. It hurt… but how good it felt waaaay overwhelmed the pain.”

  Ella dropped her weapon and hugged me, rocking me from side to side. Even though I couldn’t see it anymore, I could feel the smile on her face.

  “Took you long enough,” she said, pulling away again. “So did he finish in the condom, or have you been watching too much porn and let him cum all over your-”

  Whap!

  Payback.

  “Ella! What would my parents think if they walked by the door?”

  She brought her hand up to her face, stroking an imaginary beard. “Your mom would faint and your dad would… also faint. But tell me anyway.”

  I glanced towards my closed bedroom door and sighed before continuing in a hushed tone. “He came… in me. We didn’t use a condom.”

  Ella’s mouth went so wide, I thought it was going to do a hostile takeover of her entire face.

  “Hazel! Even I haven’t done that! And you kinda missed that juicy detail! How did that happen? Was it his idea?”

  “No… it was mine.”

  “Whaaaaat?”

  “He had one, I just didn’t want anything between us for my… our… first time. I said, ‘I want to feel you inside of me, not a piece of rubber,’ or something like that, he asked if I was sure, which I was, and… yeah. Off we went.”

  “Off we went. That’s so romantic.”

  I laughed. “It was. It was so good.”

  Ella’s smile was huge and genuine. “I’m so happy for you. I can’t believe it. You’re crazy, but I love ya.”

  “Love ya too.”

  “This must be the first time you’ve had a boyfriend while I’ve been single.” Ella pouted.

  I looked up and to the left and pursed my lips for a moment. “Um… yeah, I think so too. Any potential boyfriends on the horizon?”

  “I kinda wanted to see if I could stay single for our trip, so I could sample all the fine men this great country of ours has to offer… but…”

  “But, what?”

  “But… I don’t think you’re gonna like this… I’ve been spending a little bit of time with James.”

  Now it was my turn gape at her. “Poppleton?”

  She nodded.

  “The third?”

  “No, the second.” She folded her arms and gave me a look that said, “Really?”

  “Ella… I don’t think that’s such a good idea…”

  She sighed. “I know you’ve always had a little thing for him, but, I mean, you’ve got Jeff now…”

  “I have not always had a little thing for him.”

  “Sure, sure. What’s not to like? He’s hot, he’s rich…”

  “Jeff’s told me some things about him. He’s-”

  “James has told me some things about Jeff too. Don’t you think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle? I thought maybe we could get these boys to stop being so stupid. You know, for us.”

  I smiled, but it may have looked closer to a grimace. “I don’t know…”

  Ella breathed in as if she was about to say something else, but then her phone beeped and she picked it up instead. “Aaahhh, I’m late. My mom is gonna kill me, I gotta go.”

  She stood and gathered her things, then I followed her out of my room and to the front door, where she turned for another hug.

  “I’m happy for you, I really am, babes. I think Jeff is a good guy, and I know you’re in the honeymoon phase and everything, but you have to realize he might not be perfect. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just keep an open mind about me and James, OK?”

  “That’s… fair. And very well thought out… for you,” I teased.

  “Shut up, you. Talk soon!”

  “Bye!”

  I watched her skip down the stairs to her car before shutting the door behind her. What could the middle ground be between what Jeff had told me and what James might have told Ella? On my way back to my room I knocked on the door of my dad’s office.

  “Come in.”

  I opened the door. “Hey, Dad.”

  He looked at me over countless bills scattered over the desk in front of him. “Hi there, Ella still here?”

  “No, she just left. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “Oh… I wonder what it could be,” he said with no curiosity in his voice.

  I walked over to his desk. “Yeah, that again. Summer’s flying by, Ella and I really need to start setting some plans in stone. I…” I took a deep breath. “I’m not going to stay here learning about the wine biz, Dad. It’s just not me. I’m going. I want you to be OK with it… I could use some help with it… but it’s going to happen either way.”

  I felt like my blood had drained from my face like an army abandoning a lost cause,
despite how hard my heart was pumping. Previously, I’d been much more diplomatic with my words, tiptoeing around what I so badly wanted.

  Now, with time slipping by and the prospect of Jeff coming along, I had to make a stand. I cringed inwardly, I still had to mention that to Ella.

  Instead of the anger I expected in the face of my insubordination, my dad leaned back in his chair as if he’d just put somebody in checkmate.

  “I’ve got a proposal for you,” he said.

  “Oh?”

  “Yep. You’re too young to know who you are, so let’s not kill the idea of you working your way up to taking over when I retire just yet. However… I remember what it’s like to be young. You want to rebel, carve your own path and everything.”

  I bit my tongue.

  My dad continued. “So, here’s the deal. I was out walking the fields with James earlier, and he let it slip that he wanted to ask you out on a date.”

  My eyes narrowed. “I have a boyfriend.”

  My dad’s mouth drew tight in a flat smile. “Well, you’re dating. I wouldn’t go that far. But that’s what kids do, it’s natural. You date, you figure out what you want out of life. It’s all part of growing up and finding out who you are. It’s been hard for me to accept, but I get it now.”

  “So, what’s the deal you were talking about?” I asked, ruing my decision to bring this to a head.

  “Simple. You give James a chance to take you out on a date and I’ll give you all the support you want for your trip with Ella.”

  “I don’t want to go on a date with James.”

  “Yeah, that’s why it’s a negotiation.” My dad smiled.

  My eyes narrowed. “What’s in it for you, then?”

  His smile widened. “That’s my girl. See? You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, you’d be great for the family business with the right experience. It’s simple. You go on a date with James, a good kid from a good family and see how well he treats you compared with… well, you’ll see how well he treats you. What father wouldn’t want that for his daughter? And then… maybe you like him and you’ve got a reason to stick around here instead of going who-knows-where and I don’t have to commit your mother to the mental institution when her empty-nest-syndrome gets a little too serious for it to be managed safely at home, you know what I mean?”

  “Hmmm.”

  “So I’ve got a potential upside in the deal, sure.”

  I sank to the chair on the opposite side of his desk, my eyes lowered as my thoughts swirled in my head.

  There was nothing James could do that would change my mind about Jeff and how I felt about him, I was sure of that. My dad may have been condescending about my relationship, calling it “just” dating, but he was right about one thing. People dated, not always exclusively.

  The thought crossed my mind about how I’d feel if Jeff went on a date with somebody else, and my heart suddenly jolted, leaving behind a hot flush on my skin, followed by angry pins and needles and then a sensation of coolness all in quick succession. I would hate it, no doubt.

  On the other hand, if a single date could solve this roadblock to my road trip, then ultimately the date would be for Jeff and me. My dad would stop meddling in my plans, and even help, maybe in the form of some tickets or something else we might need. Our trip would be that much more amazing and special.

  Maybe I could do it… for us. One evening, in James’ general vicinity, where nothing would happen, in return for my freedom to be with Jeff.

  “One date,” I said.

  “One date.”

  “And you will respect my decision either way.”

  He paused, then nodded.

  “OK,” I muttered, with a sinking feeling.

  “Great! You won’t regret this, you’ll see.”

  And what about Ella? I suddenly thought. Hadn’t she just finished telling me about how she was interested in James? How would she take all this?

  Ugh.

  What had I just agreed to and how could I tell Jeff and Ella? As much as I racked my brain, I couldn’t picture it going down any better than unbearably awkwardly. Maybe it would be best to tell them afterwards. Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission?

  Let’s Try That Again

  Jeff - After

  Before seeing Hazel again, I didn’t have much of an idea how the conversation might unfold. Something told me that even if I had time to envision a million versions of it, none of them would have been like what actually happened.

  At the very least, I expected her to be a little sheepish. Instead she blasted me with a scream that made me feel like I was trying to skydive onto the surface of the sun. I’d never seen anybody so angry, let alone Hazel.

  It caught me by surprise. I faltered and momentarily lost sight of the fact that she was the one in the wrong here. Then she slammed the door in my face and left me there with nothing to do but blink in disbelief a few times.

  I left in a daze and it wasn’t until later that night when I was packing up things at my dad’s place that the full force of my own resentment came back. If I was a cartoon, then a little storm cloud would have hovered over me as I carried a box of photo albums out to the garage to put in the bed of the pickup.

  With a grumpy growl, I slumped to the floor next to the rear tire and started working my way through the seemingly infinite number of keys on my dad’s key ring, testing them on the wheel clamp. Most of the fuckin’ keys on here must be for long-sold vehicles and padlocks that were rusting away in a landfill somewhere.

  The more keys that didn’t fit the wheel clamp, the darker that little storm cloud grew. For fuck’s sake. How could she do what she did and have the nerve to scream at me like that?

  No. No fucking way. If she could have kept herself together to answer a few questions, I could probably have been finished here by the next day and left Shippensburg in my rearview mirror forever.

  Instead, the next day found me sitting in my borrowed car outside her house again after knocking on the door but nobody answering. After an hour of waiting, I got restless and decided to have a look at the gate that had pretty much disintegrated when I touched it yesterday. I couldn’t leave it like that. There might be nails or screws left on the ground her daughter might step on, or their dog might get out. Whatever, they shouldn’t pay because Hazel and I were angry at each other.

  With Chopper watching me, his whole head out the window, I picked up the gate from where I’d left it leaning against the fence and moved it back into position. It was worse than I hoped for, not just a few loose screws that I could replace and tighten up. The fencepost the gate was supposed to be attached to looked to be rotten, so even if I moved the hinges a little, the gate would just fall off again soon.

  Refraining from trying to set a new discus world record with the detached gate, I leaned it against the fence again and drove to the hardware store, picked up some paint, pickets and various suitable cuts of wood, swung by my dad’s place to pick up some tools and returned to Hazel’s. By this time, the day was starting to heat up, so I left the door open and poured some water into a bowl so Chopper could wander around and take advantage of any shade he might find.

  Sometimes I saw the curtains twitch, so I knew she was home. Sometimes Sienna stood completely on the window sill, much less stealthy than her mother, until Hazel pulled her away.

  It was hot work, so after an hour or so, I took off my shirt. The next time the curtain twitched, I smirked. It did my heart good to think of Hazel stomping around in there, all pissed off but nowhere to go, looking out the window and being reminded of how much she used to love running her hands over this body. She’d have to come out and face the music some time. I’d get my answers.

  I was letting the first coat of paint dry when Hazel and her entourage emerged from the house. Sienna was skipping obliviously and the dog, the name escaped me, was looking around cautiously, maybe smelling Chopper under the aroma of fresh paint.

  “We’re going to the
playground!” said Sienna.

  “Not that you need to know,” said Hazel, who obviously hadn’t prepped Sienna on the need to be extremely unfriendly to me.

  “Great, I’ll come along,” I said. “Can I fill up my water bottle?”

  “You should have brought more if you were going to loiter here all day,” said Hazel without breaking stride as she passed through the open gate on to the sidewalk.

  I held my hands out to my side and then let them slap limply against my thighs as she walked off. Turning on the spot, I looked for Chopper, but couldn’t immediately see him.

  “Chopper!” I whistled.

  I had to call a few more times before he padded around the corner of the house, then wait another few seconds for him to lap up some water as I put my shirt back on. Hazel had put some good distance between us by the time we were out of the gate.

  This might work out OK, if Sienna could play on the playground and I could sit with Hazel out of earshot. I didn’t need much time. If Hazel could keep her shit together and speak English to me, I could do the same and then get the fuck out of here.

  Hazel turned a corner up ahead and by the time I got there, I couldn’t see her anymore. It was an anxious couple minutes until I spotted a walkway between two houses and took a wild guess that turned out to be correct.

  I emerged from the walkway onto a field, and at the other end was a big brightly-colored playground that Hazel had already arrived at. She must have been power-walking to get there so quickly.

  Chopper raced ahead and by the time I arrived, he’d moved on from his old buddy Hazel to Sienna and the fluffy white dog, who had mustered up the courage to stay on its feet. I plunked myself down on the bench with Hazel, just out of range in case she took a swing at me, and waited a while to see if the banshee-yell would make another appearance.

  Thankfully, it didn’t, but from what I could see from a few stolen glances, Hazel was still on edge, big time. I sat back and watched the two dogs and Sienna scamper around the playground for a while. Sienna was lucky she looked more like Hazel than James, in my humble opinion. Even if she had ripped my heart out and stomped on it, I had to admit, Hazel had become even more beautiful than when she was in her teens. It hurt in ways I didn’t expect it to, to see that the animosity she’d had in her eyes before we really knew each other was back and stronger than ever. Life was better when those eyes were filled with love.