Chapter Five: Bases

***

Melanie:

"So, have you fudged him yet?"

"Celine! Ohmygosh, no, stop it."

My ears prick and my feet come to a screeching halt in the corridor outside Ophelia's half-open bedroom door.

Is eavesdropping bad parenting?

"Girl, I need details. How far have you, you know...?"

"Celine, I don't..."

"Come on, Fee. Have you tickled his pickle? Has he met the twins? Third base maybe? A little dry hum—"

"Ssshhhhhhhhh, stop it, Celine! Oh my god, please."

I have the urge to rinse that girl's mouth out with some soap and that's how I know I'm getting old and uncool.

She is definitely Steph's daughter, no doubt about it.

"Alright Fee, just give me a number. Past first base?"

My stomach lurches. Do I want to hear this?

I can practically see the pink blush staining my daughter's pretty little cheeks. "Um... maybe? We, uh..."

She sounds as shy and embarrassed talking about it as I would expect from her. Hm...

"Please tell me you know the bases, Ophelia."

"Celine, I... know them. They had that thing in Looking for Alaska, remember?"

"Good, okay. So then, you should know: French, Feel, Finger, or Fu—"

"Okay, okay, shhh. You're so dramatic, God."

"Tell me and then I'll leave you alone. Please, Fee. I need the best-friend deets so I can live vicariously... I mean, Luke's pretty hot for a white boy, I'll admit..."

Teenagers. Was I ever this obnoxious? I certainly hope not.

"Um... first. Almost second? Oh my gosh, Celine, I don't wanna talk about it. Let's just say..." She trails off.

"Let's just say what? Say it, bitch!"

Ophelia's voice lowers to a loud whisper. I crane my head and quiet my breathing so I can hear her. "Um, on Wednesday..." She takes a breath to steady herself.

Wednesday... when she was at Luke's before dinner and not answering her cell-phone.

"Yes?"

"We were, uh... you know. And then, uh... well..."

"Spit it out, girl!"

"I'm trying! It's personal, okay? I don't wanna ruin it by talking about it."

"Okay, so you were making out. And then what?"

"And then, we... oh my God, this is so..." Another nervous exhale and then a breathless confession. "We were both... topless."

Oh my...

Celine squeals. "Damn, girl. Did he take off your bra?"

"No! No, definitely not. I mean, almost? Uncle Dylan interrupted us."

Thank you, Uncle Dylan.

I'm feeling light-headed, imagining.

That boy...

"Sounds hot, girl. Was it hot?"

"So hot, Celine, oh my gosh, it was like I was on fire. And I didn't want him to stop touching me, or kissing me..." Her voice is airy and wistful and I press my eyes shut, knowing.

Oh, Ophelia.

I almost wish I didn't know how far they've... oh. I don't even know what I expected.

All I know is that I certainly wasn't kissing any boys topless at the age of sixteen...

I think I need a drink.

***

Luke:

"Dude." Justin sets his bottle of beer onto the coffee table, sits up suddenly on his couch.

His parents go out to play Mahjong every Friday night, so his house kinda becomes the go to hang-out place, especially because they have a giant-ass TV in their living room that's perfect for watching sports.

"Do you remember last year, at the Science Olympics, we sat next to that team from Jenson Lakes High School, or whatever?"

Khaled snorts, tips back some of his Coke. He doesn't drink. Justin likes to joke that he's lucky not to have to waste his cash on alcohol. "You mean those guys we kept trashing? Didn't Jared swipe a couple of their nine-volts when they weren't looking?"

That makes me chuckle. "Yeah, I remember. What about it?"

A sly half-smile breaks across Justin's square-jawed face. "Remember that chick Sarah? The Korean girl? The one who called me a shit-head, or whatever?"

Soda nearly spews from Khaled's nose. He coughs a couple times before the laughter takes over. "Oh yeah, that was hilarious. I still remember your face, man. What about her?"

Justin reaches for another slice of pizza from the box on the coffee table and drops it into his plate. "Found her on Facebook a couple weeks ago. Apparently she's first year eng at U of T, too. Never seen her around, but whatever." He takes a huge bite from his pizza, chews it sloppily and then continues, "We texted over Messenger for a while. It was weird, we talked about that assignment due in eng-comp in a couple weeks. And then, uh..."

I raise an eyebrow, watching a bit of redness flood into his cheeks. Oh. I see. "And then what?"

He wipes a napkin across his mouth and slowly confesses, "She's wild, man. We met up last Sunday for drinks and then she fucking... jumped me." He leans back against the couch, stifling back a dirty smile. "Zero to third base all in one night..."

Khaled whistles. "Damn, bro..."

"Are you seeing her again?" I ask. It's been a little while since Justin's talked about a girl. His girlfriend in high-school, Mataia, dumped him before she left town to go to Queens for college. It wasn't pretty.

"Tomorrow night," he grins.

"Don't forget to buy condoms," Khaled advises dryly, rolling his eyes. Khaled also doesn't date, in the traditional sense, but he still teases Justin about not getting any STIs.

Justin snickers. "Already did."

A couple more ads roll across the screen during the half-time break of the Raptor's game.

I snatch the last slice of pizza just as Justin asks, "How about you, Luke. What's going on with Ophelia?"

I shrug. Justin used to tell us one too many details about him and Mataia. For some reason, I really don't like to talk about Feelz and I, about how far we've gone and stuff. It's just, private, I guess.

"She's good," I reply. I flush faintly, thinking about Wednesday, about us on my bed, seeing her in her bra, nearly taking it off... "Finished her last exam today, so."

Justin studies me sideways before asking, "Are you guys fucking yet?"

My mouth opens, a little taken aback. I'm about to awkwardly explain that we're definitely not having sex except Khaled scoffs and wryly explains, "Some of us know how to keep it in our pants, right Luke?"

"Exactly." I tip back some beer and say, "We're... taking it slow, you know? She's never dated anyone before." Or kissed anyone, except me, and, not gonna lie, it makes me oddly satisfied.

"He doesn't know," Khaled snickers. He tosses a pillow across the living room. Justin dodges, nearly spills his beer in the process.

"Whatever," Justin grumbles. "Just know that the fact that I of all people am the most sexually-experienced person in the room says something about how lame you two are, I hope you know that."

"Got more important things to worry about," Khaled dismisses, "Than getting laid."

I mean, sure. But I can't pretend that second base doesn't sound really fricking good these days.

***

"Damn, we're getting old," Dad complains, whacking Uncle Gavin's shoulder with a sweaty towel.

I take a swig from my water bottle and wipe my forehead with the back of my hand, collapsing onto the bench at the side of the court, exhausted.

Every couple weeks since I was... sixteen, I think, Darcy, Jason and I play three-on-three with the dads at the basketball court at the local rec centre, Saturday morning before it gets too busy.

We used to mix up the teams to keep things fair. But since Jason turned fourteen a little while ago, he's bulked up and so we do fathers against sons, and today we kicked their fifty-something year-old asses and they're whining about it like a bunch of teenagers.

"Good game, man." Darcy falls onto the seat beside me, tossing back some bright-blue Gatorade. "I think we're getting too good for them."

"Except they'd never admit it."

We rehydrate in silence for a couple moments before he casually comments, "So, just for the record, you aren't screwing my sister, right?"

I choke on some of my water and spend a couple moments coughing and sputtering. "Christ, Darcy. No."

"Good. Because she's only sixteen, Luke. She's still a kid."

Now I'm thinking back to what happened on my bed earlier this week, the way she was kissing me, the way I was kissing her. Pulling her dress off and pressing our bare stomachs together, feeling her skin against mine, listening to her whimpers of pleasure as I kissed a path down her body, nearly took off her bra.

Shit, I better stop thinking about it or else I'm gonna get hard and now is not the time.

So yeah, she's, uh, not really a kid.

"Uh... she's... damn, Darcy. Not really your business, dude."

"She's my little sister, you prick. And it's fucking weird, okay? You're like... my brother. Except you're probably thinking about getting her naked and so I'm just saying, you better watch it."

I don't know whether to be mortified or pissed, but I mean I get where he's coming from, I guess. "I'm not gonna hurt her, Darcy. I'd never..." I run a frazzled hand through my damp hair, letting out a heavy breath. Damn, this is awkward. "We're not..."

"So if you think you're gonna get past second base before she's finished high-school..."

"Jesus Christ, Darcy. Can we not?"

"I'm serious, Luke. You better treat her like a fricking... I dunno. Princess or something."

"Why does it sound like you think I'm some kinda asshole?"

"Because I know for a fact that you're thinking more with your dick than your brain these days, dipshit. Just know that if you do anything to hurt her—"

"You'll kick my ass. Got it."

"Good."

And then he passes me the Gatorade and I accept it, take a chug and then hand it back to him wordlessly.

"Quick round of HORSE?"

"You're on."

***

Ophelia:

"Darcy, can I borrow the car tonight?"

It's Saturday afternoon the day after my math exam, and I'm ecstatic because now I have a break until second semester starts on Wednesday.

Darcy's plopped on the couch in the living room with his eyes glued to the TV. He barely glances up at me. "For what?"

"Going to Luke's to watch a movie."

He presses pause on the remote, looks up at me, narrows his eyes. "A movie, huh?"

I nod, suddenly self-conscious. "Yep."

"What movie?"

"Uh... don't know yet. Something on Netflix, I guess."

He studies me, raises a dry, unimpressed eyebrow. "You know I wasn't born yesterday, right?"

"Excuse me?"

He sighs, runs his fingers through his hair. "Nothing. Fine. Just be back by eleven okay?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Watch the sass, kid." I stick my tongue out at him and he rolls his eyes at me. "Keys are on the rack."

"Thanks."

What I didn't mention is that, um, Uncle Dylan and Aunt Vicky are going out for date-night, so technically Luke and I will be home alone.

Why does that suddenly make the pit of my gut flood with warmth? After Wednesday...

Oh my God. Wednesday.

Even thinking about it makes me blush.

We still haven't, uh, talked about it. I mean, I was busy studying and then I didn't see him except yesterday after my test, when we went to get frozen yogurt to celebrate me being officially half-way done grade eleven.

I remember everything. All of it. The things he said, the things we did. It's like I couldn't stop myself from touching him, kissing him. I felt so hot and uncomfortable and the space between my legs got all achy and tingly and...

And. I noticed as I was driving, and when I came home that, well... My panties were a little... well, more than a little damp. Which is kinda terrifying and weird but also, I've heard about it in books and stuff but it's never happened to me before, at least, not so much.

And so I've been busy wondering and imagining what would have happened if we hadn't been interrupted. Would he have... tried to take off my bra? Would I have let him? Did I want to?

I think I really, really wanted to. Even if that's really crazy to think about. It just... felt so good, you know? And he was looking at me like that, like... like he couldn't stop looking at me, like I was all he could see, and then he was holding me close like that and touching my bare skin like that and kissing me like that...

Yeah, it was hot.

And I wanna do it again. And again, and...

This is bad, I think. Second base? Isn't that like... too far? I don't know. I don't think anyone knows.

I mean, obviously I don't want to have sex or, other things that are, um... You know. Maybe not past second base.

Yeah, I think that's... a good plan. Luke and I can talk about it, later.

We should talk about it, right?

Yeah, I think so.

***

A/N:

For today's question we're getting personal, y'all. How old were you when you lost the big V?

Spoiler alert/breaking news: would you believe me if I told you I was a virgin?

XOXO Ami

***
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