Carroll MacGregor sipped his beer and stared out over the party crowd. He had no idea what he was doing here. He normally didn't attend these parties thrown by the jocks. The only reason he was here was his friend Steven had talked him into coming.
There were a few of reasons why he didn't like coming to these parties. One was that he just wasn't much of a joiner. He spent most of his time alone or with a few close friends. His buddy Steven was one of those. Steven was the left tackle on the football team. He knew everyone of the jocks in school so got invited to all the parties. He also worried about his friend Carroll being alone so much. And he knew Carroll was headed for the induction station the next day to be processed into the army. He wanted his friend to have a fun time before he left, that was why he talked him into coming to this party.
The second reason was his name. Carroll had been fighting since first grade because of his name. All the cool guys thought it hilarious to make fun of it. Most only did it once. When Carroll asked them not to they either acquiesced or pushed it to a fight. Carroll seldom lost so as the years went by the fights got fewer and fewer since most had heard of his fierceness in a fight. At first Carroll hated his name and tried to hide it, using his middle name of William instead. But as the years went by he began to like it as the marker of individuality. Now in high school he loved it. His friends knew him as a funny, loyal friend and would never think about making fun of his name. Everyone else knew his reputation and steered clear of doing so because of it. Deep down though he was very sensitive about it and avoided places, like a party where everyone was getting buzzed, that it might cause a problem.
So Carroll sat in the corner, sipped his beer and watched the others party. He finished his beer and decided he needed to pee. He worked his way through the crowd to the bathroom. Someone was already using it because the door was closed. He knew there was another bathroom on the second floor so he made his way through the crowd and up the stairs. The bathroom door was open so he stepped in locked the door and relieved himself.
As he was making his way down the hall he heard a cry then heard"...please stop! Don't...I don't want to!" coming from one of the bedrooms.
He stopped and stood next to the door.
A moment later he heard what sounded like a slap, then he heard a male voice rasp, "Shut up! You came up here with me so you must want it. You're going to fuck or else!"
A moment more Carroll heard a female voice, fear plain in her reply as she whimpered, "Please don't! I don't want to!"
Carroll pushed open the door and stepped into the room to find Frank Cormly, the center for the football team, laying on top of a red haired girl, holding her down on the bed. He had her jeans off one leg and was working to pull her panties down and already had them pulled to her knees.
"Please don't!" The red haired girl cried again.
"Let her up." Carroll said quietly.
Frank looked up and growled,"This ain't none of your business MacGregor!"
"Maybe, but she doesn't want to be with you. Let...her...up." Carroll said emphasizing the last three words.
Frank stood and turned to face Carroll. As he did Carroll realized that Frank was at least a third larger then himself. He'd fought guys that big a couple of times, but both times he had taken a lot of punishment. He glanced at the bed and saw the girls face. She was a pretty girl with large blue eyes and red hair. Now though her face was contorted in fear.
Frank grinned, a toothy evil looking smirk as he said, "I've heard about you. You think you're so damned tough. I'll show you tough if you don't get the hell out of here."
"You let her go and I'll be happy to leave." Carroll replied coldly, trying to keep his voice form quavering and his nervousness in check.
"Fuck you!" Frank snarled as he swung a ham-sized fist at Carroll's head.
Carroll sidestepped, then kicked hard at the side of Franks knee. Frank screamed in pain and fell as Carroll's foot came up in a hard kick. The toe of Carroll's boot caught Frank right below the left eye, snapping his head back. Frank landed face down on the floor, unconscious.
Carroll stared at the bigger man laying on the floor, then turned to the bed. He glanced down at the girl, catching a glimpse of the red tangle of her pubic hair before he turned away as he stammered, "Aw...I think...aw.. You should pull your pants on."
She pulled her pants up, fastened them then said, "Okay, I'm done."
Carroll turned and found his eyes locked to her startling blue ones as he said, "Come on. I'll see you out of here before he wakes up."
He lead the way out the door.
As they made their way through the party crowd one of the football players called out over the music, "Hey you! The red head. Did you give Frank a good time?"
The guy pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed her arm as he said, "Hey, I'm talking to you! Did you give him a good time? Maybe you'd like to give me one too?"
Carroll looked over his shoulder and saw the expression of fear that had been in her eyes earlier, was back.
Carroll turned and stepped back until he was close to them, then leaned in so no one else could hear as he said, " Frank is upstairs unconscious. Unless you want to be in the same condition, I'd let go of her arm."
When the player holding her arm recognized Carroll his face paled.
He released the girl and took a step back as he said, "Yea, okay."
Carroll lead the way on through the crowd until they made their way out the front door.
As they stood on the front lawn Carroll asked,"You got a car?"
"No," She replied," I came with my friend Crystal. Her car is right over there."
As she pointed a,"That god damned bitch!" exploded form her mouth.
"What?" Carroll asked.
"Her car's gone! She left me here!" The girl spat out.
Carroll took a breath and said, "If you want I could help you go back into the house and use the phone to call some one to come get you."
"No, no, that's ok. My parents would kill me if they knew I was at a party like this." The girl replied in a soft sweet voice.
"Well, if you're not afraid to ride with me I could give you a lift home." He offered.
She looked up at him, her eyes locked on his and she smiled as she replied, "I'm not afraid of you."
"How do you know I won't try the same thing that Frank tried?" He asked.
"I don't think you will." She said still staring into his eyes.
"Don't be so sure. I've got a rep of being a bad ass." He growled, starting to get a bit angry at her.
"You're not." She said softly.
"How the hell do you know?" He snarled.
"Because if you were you would have taken me back there in that bedroom when you had the chance."
Carroll stared into her eyes and felt like he was being drawn into them. He finally shook his head to break the spell, turned and lead the way to his car. He opened the door for her, then got in the drivers side.
As he started the car he said, "Listen, I'm kind of hungry. Would you like to stop by the burger shop and grab a bite before I take you home?"
"Sure." She replied with a smiled.
Carroll pulled out of the driveway as he said, "My name's Carroll by the way."
