"The Party"
Christopher Gaelan and Brett Williams stood next to each other in the massive house of Congressman Roger Vanacor. It was three days after the class of 2009 graduated and twins Lana and Michael Vanacor were throwing a huge party while their parents were away. Chris was marveling at the random acts of drunkenness and debauchery that were running rampant.
"That's the ninth nipple I've seen tonight," Chris said as Kenna Rodgers ran past.
"Hey, I am all for huge, sex-driven parties like this. I'm not going home until I get laid!" Brett said.
"Aim for the sky, Brett," Chris took a drink of his beer. "I honestly don't know why I'm here. I should be home packing. I leave in two days."
"I can't believe we're gonna be separated for the first time since Kindergarten," Brett said.
"I'll be back to visit," Chris said.
"Ooh, Kenna's forming a line. I better get over there," Brett noticed and left Chris alone.
Chris continued standing where he was and looked on at the festivities. A tall girl appeared next to him. She had shoulder-length brown hair, glasses covering dark brown eyes but what she was wearing made her look frumpy.
"Hey," she said.
Chris glanced at her confusedly. "Hey..."
"Enjoying yourself?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess," he shrugged. They were silent again. "I'm sorry. Were you a senior?" he asked.
"I get this a lot. I'm Heather Marsh. Just because I chose to study and work hard at school and not do that..." she pointed to Kenna who was letting boys suck her nipples for a dime a piece, "I'm invisible to a majority of the student body."
"Sorry, Heather," Chris said. "I'm usually not so shallow."
"I know. That's why I like you even though we've never spoken before," Heather said.
"Are you going to college or...?"
"I am taking a year off. I'm leaving in August for eastern Europe to travel around then I'm off to New York in January then in the following August I'm starting at UCLA," Heather said.
"I'm going to the University of Massachusetts in Boston," Chris said, feeling deflated.
"At least you're leaving town. This place is a stinkhole. I feel so sorry for the people who are staying in this town. Sitting around, raising ten children with someone they don't really love and counting the minutes until the Grim Reaper takes them away."
Chris looked at Heather, taking a quick glance at what little cleavage was showing. "Great big ball of sunshine aren't you?"
The door next to where they were standing suddenly flung open and a guy wearing nothing but a condom and covering his mouth came running out. "Gotta vomit!" he said in a muffled voice.
"And on that note, I'm out of here," Heather said and began to walk away.
Chris bit his lip then went after her. "Heather, wait! This house has plenty of rooms. This may seem kind of forward but what do you say we take a bunch of beers to one of those rooms, lock the door and...see what happens?" Chris gambled.
Heather smiled at him. "You're on, Gaelan," she said.
An hour and six more beers had passed in the room where Chris and Heather took up residence. She was laying on her back and Chris was on his side with his arm across Heather's stomach.
"Do you remember when that hole was found in the wall between the locker rooms showers?" Heather asked.
"Of course. A week's worth of running the track. Worst week ever!" Chris giggled.
"What the higher-ups never revealed was that they brought in a forensic officer from the police to look at the hole and he discovered that it was made from the girl's side so that means..."
"A guy sneaked into the girl's locker room or..."
"A girl made the hole!" they both laughed.
Chris kept chuckling as he spoke. "How do you know that?" he asked.
"My best friend's dad was in the police force and was friends with the officer who did the investigating."
"God, I hate this school," Chris said and held Heather closer to him. "I'm glad it's over." He looked down at her, their faces close to each other.
"Me, too," she said hesitantly.
Chris slowly lowered his head and placed his lips on hers. Their eyes closed and Heather raised her hand and rested it on the back of his head. Within moments they were removing each others clothes. Heather found it odd that Chris still wore tighty-whiteys and Chris noticed that Heather was wearing a sports bra.
"Do you have a condom?" Chris asked.
"This is kind of a spur of the moment thing. It should be fine," Heather reassured, doing to counting in her head.
The two commenced making out and then making love while the party continued outside.
During the months Chris was gone, his parents, John and Kim, tried their best to stay the couple they were before Chris left. It wasn't really working out too well.
John was currently on the roof of a house he was contracted to patch and reshingle. John was almost finished when the wife of the owner of the house called him down.
"It's getting dark," she said. "You should quit for the day and just come back in the morning."
"I need to finish this by tomorrow at five, though," John said. "I'm trying to get as much of it done as I can."
"Well, how about this? You can either continue working and tomorrow I'll show you something else that needs nailing or you can stop right now and I can show you now and tomorrow you can do it over again," she said.
John blushed. "That's pretty graphic," he said. "Look, Brenda, I am really flattered by the offer but I am still married and there's still a chance it could work out. If you want, I can still keep your offer, though," he smiled at her.
"Okay," Brenda said.
"I'm gonna go now but I'll be back first thing in the morning," John said and climbed back on the roof to collect his stuff.
John drove home in a better mood then he had been in a long time. He pulled into the driveway and saw another car there besides Kim's. He didn't think much about it until he walked in the house and no one was in the front room or kitchen.
He quietly walked up the stairs to the master bedroom and threw open the door. Everything went silent as John witnessed his wife in mid-coitus with a stranger. They both looked at him in astonishment. John left the door open but went back down the stairs and sat at the kitchen table. Within five minutes, the man had left and Kim was at the table in her robe.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," she sighed. "I thought you'd be home later."
"Me too but the customer's wife hit on me so I left early," John said.
"She hit on you?" Kim questioned.
"So what do we do?" John asked. "Divorce?"
"I guess so. Both of us are clearly unhappy. The only thing is that Chris comes home in two weeks for winter break. We should let him know and do it gently."
"So we act as if everything is normal?" John asked.
"Yes," Kim said.
Chris returned to open arms with his parents. "It's a long drive from Boston to here," he said. "I'm gonna go take a shower. I got up this morning and just went out the door."
Chris got in the shower and was in for about ten minutes when his mom knocked on the door. "Chris? Heather Marsh is here to see you."
"Who?" Chris asked himself and he quickly finished and turned off the water. He dried off quickly and threw his clothes on. He bounded downstairs and saw Heather standing in the doorway. "Oh, yeah. What's up?"
"Can we talk outside for right now?" she asked.
Chris looked at her confused and shrugged. "I guess so," and they went outside, Chris closing the door behind them. "What's up?"
Heather unzipped her jacket to reveal a small but protruding stomach. "I'm pregnant," she said.
"Well, congratulations," Chris said. "But why are you...? Oh. Am I?"
"You were the first guy I slept with and the first in over a year and a half so I'm pretty sure," Heather faked chuckled. "Just so you know, I'm not here to make you take care of me or it or to make you feel guilty. I'm just telling you. I can take care of it myself. It's your choice if you want to be around for it."
"So you're gonna keep it?" he asked.
"I'm at seven months, I kind of have to now," she smiled.
"I wanna be there for him," Chris said.
"You sure?" Heather asked.
"Positive," he reassured and placed his hand on her stomach. "I won't go back to school when break is over. I'll be here you."
"Okay," Heather smiled, sniffed and started to cry. "Ooh, damn hormones," she cursed.
"Come here," Chris took Heather's hand and opened the front door. "Mom? Dad? I have something to tell you..."
Next:
Chris gets a job and he and Heather attempt a date.
