Separate Schools Page 6

  “Both,” he said, finally regaining his ability to speak now that she’d hidden away that beautiful part of her. “Good as in I really like what I see, bad as in everybody else is going to see it.”

  She sighed, seemed pleased with his answer.

  She walked on her tippy-toes to the bed and threw herself down next to him. “Don’t be such a problem,” she whispered, kissed him on the cheek and hugged an arm around his neck. His hand stroked at her elbow.

  He said, “We should go downstairs.” His voice was sterile and blank. “You should put on some shorts unless we’re, you know, down by the lake or something.”

  She giggled, said, “Okay, I will ... dad.”

  Part 2

  17

  Harrison wanted to hold her hand when they went downstairs to greet the new arrivals, but she got ahead of him on the stairs. At least she’d obliged him, putting her khaki shorts back on over top of the revealing thong bikini bottom. Still wore the tiny top that barely concealed her bouncy little breasts. She thumped down the steps ahead of him, hair tied back in a ponytail now, Wayfarers perched on her hairline.

  Ten minutes ago he’d just shared the most intimate and significant moment they could ever have—one they would each refer to forever—but here they were, moving on and looking to party. Part of him was offended, like he would appreciate if she’d like to take a long moment for reflection the way he did right now. Then again, maybe he saw her point made earlier in the bedroom when he’d pleaded for sex: perhaps waiting till the day was done and their schedule was clear would have been a better time for them to perform that sacred ritual. It was kind of her to accommodate him knowing his male brain wouldn’t survive till later. If only he could have lasted longer though…

  Six people were gathered in the kitchen—three grown college guys he didn’t know, plus Colt, Shelby Glass was there, and KC, too, who he hadn’t seen in almost eight months. The three college guys, Colt, and KC each had a beer bottle in their hands, leaning their butts on counters or their elbows on the kitchen island. Shelby talked close with one of the nameless college guys that arrived with KC; her eyes were shiny, her cheeks flushed. Next week she would be a college girl, but he couldn’t help thinking of her as a highschooler and it irked him to see one of his friends talking to much older boys.

  Taylor trotted ahead of him, going in to greet her brother. KC smiled with great affection when he saw her and held his arms out. Taylor jumped into him and hugged him, playing it up, he thought, because he knew she wanted something from him.

  “Oh Taylor, baby, look how grown-up you are.” He chuckled and groaned and held her. At times, when they were both young teens, their household relationship could be contentious. She’d once thrown a whole steaming cup of cocoa at him one winter and scalded his arm, but now they were both older, and KC was practically a grown man.

  “I missed you,” Taylor said and squeezed his thick neck tightly.

  KC was a big dude, and he played ball at State. From the looks of it, the guys he dragged up here for the weekend were ball players as well. Colt played football at Fraser High, and it figured he went away to school on scholarship. Similarly, the other three guys were beefy and well-built.

  When their embrace parted, Colt was there, sliding himself along the counter to lean against it beside KC. He said to Taylor: “I didn’t catch your name,” his smile was pulled lopsided, and in the bright, sunny kitchen, light danced in his pale blue eyes.

  “Taylor,” she said dryly, then to KC: “Tell your friend to knock on doors first before barging through them.”

  Colt looked her up and down, working his mouth around, then said, “Tell your sister to put some clothes on when company’s here.”

  “It’s my bedroom,” she said, on the verge of stomping her foot.

  Colt said, “I think she was fucking her boyfriend in there. He was naked, too.” His eyes never left Taylor, reluctant to take her almost-bare chest in while her brother was present, but kind of doing it, anyway.

  “Oh fuck, dude,” KC groaned and threw up a hand, turned to get away from the topic, coming toward Harrison. “I don’t want to hear anything about it,” he said, face scrunched like he’d smelled the worst fart imaginable.

  Harrison greeted him with a hand held out, saying, “Dude, we’ve never even had sex one time, I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

  “That’s what I want to hear, Harrison, you get it.” They shook hands and KC gripped his shoulder with a strong jock clasp. “Good to see you, bud.”

  Now he still held Harrison’s hand in a shake and pointed to each newcomer around the kitchen, saying, “Hey, that’s Colt, you know him from Fraser, that’s Stevie, you know Shelby, hey Shelby …”

  Shelby waved at them playfully, acting dumb and saying, “Nice to meet you.”

  KC continued, “… That’s Pontoon, and that’s Rick-Joe. Guy called Care Bear’s here, too. I think he’s out at the truck still.”

  All the guys waved, said hey, and KC said, “This is my little sister, Taylor, and this is her boyfriend, Harrison.”

  They all nodded, but their eyes mostly darted to the scantily clad Taylor, trying to get a look without her big brother catching them.

  The side door of the kitchen that led out near the garages burst inward and a giant walked in carrying three cases of twenty-four beer at his waist, his chin resting on the top case. He was massive, with big hairy arms, and the densest, blackest beard Harrison had ever seen. He didn’t look like any college guy; he looked like a man. He strode through the kitchen while everyone watched him and when his eyes fell on Taylor, his face lit up, and in a deep, booming voice, he said, “Holy shit, fucking look at you.”

  One of KC’s friends, maybe Rick-Joe, groaned, and the hairy guy kept walking, head on a swivel, eyes soaking up every bared inch of Taylor. She stayed still and let him, smiling, blushing.

  Colt said to the passing big man’s back, “That’s KC’s sister.”

  The guy kept walking, laughing now, realizing his fuck-up, heading down the hall toward the pantry where the Brooks’ kept a second fridge.

  Colt shouted clarification down the hall: “His little high school sister.”

  The guy roared with regret, “Ah-ho, ho boy, fu-uck me-ee.” Bottles clanked loudly as he set the cases down in the pantry.

  KC rubbed the heel of his hand in his eye socket.

  Taylor said to Colt, “I’m not in high school. I start college this week.”

  Colt shrugged and jabbed a thumb down the hall, saying, “Anyway, that was Care Bear.”

  18

  Somehow he became enlisted to aid in the unloading of the college guy’s stuff. They’d come up in two vehicles, both of them pickup trucks. An older Raptor blocked the Soob from behind, and the other truck, beside the Soob, dwarfing it, was a lifted F-250 crew cab with huge tires and dual exhaust.

  At least it was nice to be included in the male activities, and he took his turn as part of an assembly line, taking bags down from the beds of the trucks, handed to him by Colt who would stand up on the tailgate, then shuttling whatever was passed to Rick-Joe who stood at the door in the kitchen.

  One time, Colt handed him down a styrofoam cooler and asked him, “Did you go to Fraser?”

  He said, “Yeah. I was a freshman when you were a senior. What—you remember me?”

  Colt said, “Huh—no, I don’t remember you at all, bro,” and got back to working gear out of the pickup’s bed.

  When they were near done and the progress slowed, he drifted away, walking around the house and down to the deck that looked over the lake. At the dock, he could see his friends, Shelby, Roxie, Kelsey Kay, Mikey, and Brady, too. They were just hanging out, clutched in small groups and talking, but he couldn’t see Taylor down there. He took a few steps off the deck and down the stairs that led to the water, but looking back up at the house. Her bedroom window was open but he couldn’t see her there—it would be a coincidence anyway for her to be looking down at th
e same time as he was looking up.

  He walked counter-clockwise around the house now, coming up to the driveway on the far and opposite side of the house in time to see two more vehicles coming down the lane between the trees. Roxie’s Santa Fe was in the lead and behind her there was a grey muscle car with tinted windows, maybe a Charger.

  He doubled back now and headed down the hill toward the lake, coming down onto the deck that opened onto the bottom floor of the house. Hands cupped around his mouth he shouted down to the water, “Hey! Riley’s here now …”

  Kelsey Kay waved back at him, and Roxie shouted Okay.

  Between the barbecues, he opened the French double doors that led into the basement. It was quiet and cold on the lowest floor, and there was nobody down there. He made his way to the stairs and then up so that he came out at the kitchen. Pontoon was there with the one called Stevie and they both were drinking beers and talking. They stopped as he walked by and looked at him. He nodded his head and kept moving, and they resumed talking as he headed up the stairs to the second floor.

  As he made it to the landing, the bedroom door at the very top opened and Care Bear came out, closing the door behind him. This guy, up close, had to be six-and-a-half feet tall. Harrison could feel the damp body heat coming off him, and they weren’t even standing that close. He wore a Michigan State T-shirt in triple X and the sleeves had been torn off; he had shorts with pockets on the sides and wore flip-flops. When he turned, they were face-to-face now, and the guy regarded him blankly. Nothing else to say, and feeling uncomfortable, Harrison said, “Have you seen Taylor?”

  He said, “Yeah, in there,” as he jerked a thumb behind him to the door that he’d just closed.

  That was a bedroom in there and it made Harrison’s eyes flinch and blink rapidly, staring at the closed door. This guy was in a bedroom with Taylor?

  “Maybe don’t go in there,” Care Bear said and began trotting down the steps, old wood creaking and groaning under his weight.

  Funny cold dread whirled up inside him. His eyes continued to stare at the closed door.

  That was a bedroom. Care Bear had just come from in there. Taylor was in there.

  The possibilities worked through him, and it tightened and tugged at his core. Stomach muscles flinching, his eyes narrowed until his squinted vision warbled with wet. His heart pounded in his chest and he could feel his pulse in his neck. What the fuck? How is this even possible?

  He lifted a hand and felt a breeze against his skin, the motion of the air tickling the sweat on his palms. He opened his hands and looked at both of them. Now he opened and closed them. How had his hands got so sweaty, so fast? God, his heart was still racing.

  It would be so easy—just reach forward, turn the lever and find out what Taylor was doing in the bedroom. Instead, he stood there, his body racing with crazy emotion, adrenaline coursing through his system. It felt like he’d walked to the edge of the Grand Canyon and just decided to jump off. The electric excitement that worked through him was like what he imagined you would feel as you plummeted to your death. Intense thrill before certain death.

  Now he stepped forward and rested his hand on the door’s lever. It was cold and hard and brass. Just fucking turn it. Couldn’t—it really felt like he would pass out.

  His mind raced. What would he find when he opened this door?

  He could picture it like it was real. Taylor lying in bed as he’d seen her do many times before. She was naked, and she was slick with sweat. He could see, as if watching through his own eyes, tumbling to the bed and falling on his knees before her, his vision filled with tears. As he looked close, he could see her body peppered with thick curling hairs stuck to her damp skin. All over her body, all over those perfect breasts and down those long legs.

  With a sharp intake of breath, he snapped the lever down and shoved the door open ...

  19

  Taylor stood with KC while her brother looked like he was trying to unpack. She had her arms folded, still in her shorts, and she’d put on a loose white T-shirt. They both darted their faces toward him.

  Pulse still whooshing in his ears, he said, “Riley’s here.” His voice sounded distant, frail and faraway.

  KC said, “Okay,” and Taylor turned back to face him, continuing her conversation.

  She said, “Then let me just have some of yours.”

  KC seemed to consider it then said, “No.”

  “Why not?” she whined.

  “Because you’re my little sister.”

  “I’m not your little little sister.”

  “You’re only nineteen, Taylor.”

  “So what?”

  “So you’re not of age.”

  “You were drinking when you were my age.”

  “I didn’t ask my brother to get it for me.”

  “You don’t have a brother.”

  “Exactly. I had to figure it out myself. Listen, I don’t want you drinking. I don’t want you drinking and I’m not going to be the one to get you the alcohol, for sure. Last thing I need is getting my final year scholarship revoked because I got my sister drunk and she got a spinal injury jumping off the swimming dock, or fell off the roof, or whatever. You know what Mom would say if you ended up in the hospital up here in the middle of nowhere and they had to pump your stomach? That’s the last thing I need.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” she scoffed.

  He chuckled heartily, holding a bundle of folded T-shirts and looking at the ceiling, shaking his head. “Taylor, I’m looking out for you.”

  “If you’re looking out for me, you would get the alcohol.”

  “No, I’m looking out for you because I know what you’re like.”

  “I’m a good girl—aren’t I a good girl, Harrison?” She darted a glance to him, brow lowered meanly.

  He said, “She’s a good girl.”

  KC said, “Riley was a good girl, then she went to college.” He put the shirts in a drawer and closed it, turned and rested a forearm on the top of the dresser. “You know she ended up in the hospital?”

  “No,” Taylor said sulkily, but her mouth twitched.

  “First year. Boom, right in the hospital from drinking too much. Poisoned herself. I knew Mom didn’t tell you but I thought Riley might’ve told you by now. Yeah, she went wild when she went to school. It would be nice if you didn’t do that.”

  “What do you think I’m going to do with a couple beers?”

  “You’re too young, Taylor.”

  “I’m not a high school kid, for crying out loud, KC, I’m a college girl now. A woman. An adult. I go to California this week, you know.”

  “Cool. You need a ride to the airport?”

  Now she was sullen again, arms folded, looking at her toes and her pretty mouth turned in an upside down U. “No,” she said glumly.

  “This is how it starts,” he laughed. “You should see all these good girls when they get to first year. You wouldn’t even recognize them, the shit they do. It’s shameful. Everyone complains about college boys. They ought to take a look at what’s happening with these girls out there.”

  “Just forget it, anyway,” she mumbled and stormed past Harrison to get out of the room.

  KC called after her as she went out in the hall, “And don’t ask any of my fucking friends, Taylor.”

  20

  Twelve burgers sizzled on each of the grills, twenty-four total; twelve already served, twelve were ready to go in about seven more minutes, twelve were ready almost now, and Harrison was counting down to serve. Sure, Mom had made the patties, but he was pretty good on the grill so this was his show—his secret was a basting glaze he’d made with melted butter and brown sugar that he liberally brushed on while they cooked. He was at command central, in the middle between the two opposing stainless Weber gas grills. Steve Cisco was working as his sous, doing the dogs on a small charcoal-burning kettle grill behind him.

  They had spectators. Taylor, of course, Roxie, too, and Pontoon, Care Bear, a
nd Stevie were on deck for their burgers. The girls were talking with them.

  Roxie stood looking up at Care Bear and said, “How tall are you?”

  He shook his head like he was tired and this question had been asked of him thousands of times. “Six-six,” he grumbled out of that thick black beard.

  “Here, turn around,” Roxie said, and she stepped behind him while Taylor watched and laughed. Roxie was tall, but back to back with Care Bear she looked tiny, not even as high as his shoulders.

  “Hey, Chef, how’s them burgers coming?” Stevie asked. He and Pontoon sat on a low ledge with their backs against the screen of the open window.

  Roxie handed her phone to Taylor and asked her to take a picture. Taylor still wore her T-shirt and shorts, but Harrison knew she would be down to that tiny bikini soon and the anticipation was tightening his stomach again.

  Harrison said to Stevie, “Coming up in just one minute.”

  Stevie gave him a hang-ten sign and went back to talking with Pontoon, both of them shirtless, wearing only swim shorts and flip-flops. Pontoon was a real big boy, probably as big as KC, but he was on the chunkier side. On his left shoulder he had a tattoo of a fierce looking viking. Stevie, though, was ripped. Lots of muscle, and well-defined, and he flexed a lot, making his muscles jump around even when he wasn’t really doing anything.

  “Take our picture,” Roxie said to Taylor, “but crop his head out, you know, to make him look super-tall.” She took Care Bear’s huge, hairy forearms and guided them to cross over his chest like an intimidating bouncer. Then Roxie flipped around real fast and sassy, and made a pouting face, flashing imitation gang signs for the camera while Taylor giggled and took pictures.

  Taylor said, “It doesn’t even look like you guys are the same species.”

  Care Bear glanced over at his buddies and rolled his eyes around as if he were saying Kids these days. They laughed and swigged beer.