"But you're thinking about it!" Brittany snapped back.
"Oh, you're such an ass Brittany," she replied, turning on the girl. "Okay, so what if he does pull it out? Are you going to run away?"
"I won't run away," Brittany replied. "But I'm not going to touch it either."
"I don't even want to get near that thing," Megan said with a grimace.
Angelique looked like she had just bit into a lemon.
"That's just like you, Megan. You think the only thing a boy does with his cock is pee with it. Get real!"
Brittany chuckled at my cousin's remark.
"Don't tell us you're thinking of giving him some hand action," she said, jerking her hand back and forth.
"I might," Angelique said coyly. "Why? Do you want to watch?"
"You mean like those girls in those movies you have, where the naked men have to jerk off for the clothed women?"
"Maybe," she replied with a wicked smile.
"Yes!" Brittany exclaimed. "That would be so unbelievable!"
"I'll watch," Megan said, not wanting to be left out. "But I'm not going to touch it."
"Of course not," Angelique said tersely. "I don't think your hands will ever touch a penis."
"You know what happens when you start playing around with a guy's dick."
"Yes,
I
know what happens, but you don't."
"I do too," she said. "They ejaculate."
"Oh my God!" Angelique said, mocking her. "Do you think?"
If my cousin had known that, only a week before, her own mother had given a strange man a handjob, she might have felt that genetics did indeed spell one's destiny.
"Okay," I said, interrupting their argument. "I'm in."
The two girls fell silent for a moment and then Angelique laughed.
"Yes!" she said happily. "This is going to be great!"
************
I never understood how Delvin came to be such good friends with my aunt Phoebe. Even Angelique was hazy on this issue when I asked her for details. From what I gleaned from her sketchy account, a few years ago Delvin and his parents were in Paris during a charity event hosted by my aunt and my uncle Pierre in which Delvin was the star performer. He was already a pop star in the United States, and now his fame was spreading quickly across Europe. It was during this fundraiser that he met my aunt, and the two of them soon became fast friends. My aunt, being the liberal-minded hedonist that she was, invited Delvin to visit her at her home in San Diego, where she spent most of the summer with her daughter and sometimes her husband. Delvin was a polite, easy-going, and friendly young man, and my aunt was captivated by his great warmth and charm. It was an unusual friendship that raised a few eyebrows among my own immediate family, but it was an attraction of spiritual equals, foregoing any hint of sexual interest, and made exemplary by its lack of it.
It was because of this great friendship that Delvin felt compelled to act the role of a gentleman with my aunt's daughter, rather than do anything to incur her displeasure. Yet, it seemed that his will to control himself around my sexy cousin was rapidly fading as of late. It was pretty obvious to me and everyone else that he was enamored of her, and she of him. And my aunt, being one of the most perspicacious people on earth, could not have failed to be cognizant of the situation, despite her preoccupation with Lenore and the Sisterhood. Although she chose to remain neutral in the whole affair, I could not help but believe that she felt Angelique was old enough to know what to do without her guidance. This attitude would have been consistent with my aunt's own hedonistic philosophy. How far that philosophy extended in regards to her daughter I didn't know. But judging by the fact that she thought nothing of setting the four of us up next to Delvin's bedroom indicated that she gave her daughter great latitude in making her own decisions.
In comparison to my own mother, or most mothers for that matter, my aunt's liaise faire attitude concerning Angelique's bold sexuality would have been seen as bordering on indifference. I did not believe this myself, however, because my aunt loved Angelique dearly, and she took an active interest in her daughter's life. But there is a big difference between love and possessiveness, and my aunt was anything but possessive. Therefore, my cousin grew up in an atmosphere wherein she felt comfortable about her own sexuality and could talk with her mother about sexual matters without the usual trepidation most young girls feel when discussing, what is to them, an uncomfortable subject. And being possessed of a bold and insightful personality made Angelique a natural leader among us, even though at times I felt she was a little too headstrong for her own good.
Delvin had agreed to meet with us in his bedroom just after midnight. The four of us tried to dress up such that we would be appealing to his sense of style, so we all wound up looking like carbon copies of his girlfriend Maria: high-heeled shoes; short, bright, neon skirts in four different colors; halter tops with midriff exposed; hair long and windblown; makeup to the max; approximately one ton of jewelry a piece; and Gucci shades. By the time we were finished, we looked like we had just popped out of some men's magazine, and we could have easily passed for a bunch of groupies.
"Wow!" Angelique remarked as I came out of the bathroom in my new apparel. "You look just like a whore!"
"Or a porno star!" Brittany suggested.
I took a long look at them and admitted that they, too, looked every bit the part as I did.
Megan, however, just stood next to them looking nervous. Out of all of us, I think she was the most hesitant to attend this "pot" party.
"I can't believe we're going to do this," she said anxiously as she took a look at herself in the hallway mirror.
"Jesus!" Angelique said. "You've got one of the greatest pop singers in the world in my house and you're complaining?"
"She always complains," Brittany said dully.
"I don't always complain, Brittany," Megan retorted. "It's just...you know...it's a little weird with the four of us and...him."
"Do you want me to hold your hand," Angelique said, sarcastically.
"No, it's not that. I just feel... I just think it's...wrong."
The three of us looked at her as though at any minute she was going to run out of the room and head for home.
"Why do you think it's wrong, Megan?" I asked.
She looked at me as though I should have guessed the answer.
"He's had lots of women...you know...like groupies and stuff. He's like a man already."
"We're not going to have sex with him. We're just going to play some music and smoke a little pot."
"But Angelique wants to do other things with him."
At this point my cousin lost her patience with the timid girl.
"Oh, fuck Megan! If he puts his hands on my tits and you start freaking out, you can leave all right? No one will stop you."
"What if he tries to put his hands on
my
tits?" Brittany teased.
"I don't care," Megan said. "Just don't let him treat you like Maria, like you're his girlfriend or something."
"Why?" my cousin replied. "Because you think he'll want to fuck me?"
"Yes."
Angelique laughed. "He'd have an easier time trying to fuck Holly than he would me. He's not going anywhere near me. Not until
I
say so."
We made a pact there and then that none of us would have sex with Delvin, although that did not preclude what Angelique called "fooling around."
"Well, we have to have a little fun," she said when Megan's face registered dismay. "It's Delvin Wade for Christ's sake!"
None of us knew exactly what she meant by "fun," but we all knew that it meant more than just listening to his latest hit song or getting high on pot. Just before we got ready to head for his room, we gave each other a quick once-over to make sure everything was in place.
"Jesus, you're beautiful, Holly," Angelique said as she adjusted my barrettes.
"Yeah, but Delvin likes you the best."
"Are you jealous?"
"No, but if I'm so beautiful why do I have so much trouble keeping boyfriends?"
Angelique suddenly grabbed my by the shoulders and spun me around.
"I told you," she said in a serious tone. "You've got to loosen up a little bit. You can have fun with a guy but you have to know when to stop."
"But when a boy gets carried away..."
"You stop him!" she said. "I mean if he's doing something you don't like. Or else get a new boyfriend. The thing is, Holly, you're the one in control.
You
tell him what to do, not the other way around."
"That's my problem. I'm too nice."
Angelique kissed me on the cheek.
"With the way you look, you can afford to be a bitch sometimes."
"Come on, you guys," Brittany said impatiently. "Let's go."
We could smell the pot emanating from Delvin's room even before he opened the door. Megan still looked a bit apprehensive, but seeing how excited the rest of us were seemed to improve her mood somewhat.
"Looks like he started without us," she said dourly. "God! That stuff wreaks!"
The smell was quite strong, but it was nothing compared to the overwhelming cloud of smoke that greeted us as he opened the door. Wearing only a pair of black bathing trunks and a matching tee shirt, he welcomed us into his room with his usual captivating charm.
A smoky mist hung over the entire room and I immediately asked for a glass of water. He happily complied with my request and invited us all to sit down on a large, black, leather sofa a few feet away from an armchair upon which he had been sitting. He was thrilled to see us, and complimented us highly on our choice of apparel, more than once using words like "sexy" and "hot" to describe our appearance. I was a bit disappointed that he didn't think enough of us to dress up a little nicer. But, he was, after all, a star, and we were his guests.
"Man, it looks like I'm seeing the colors of the rainbow!" he exclaimed, as we sat down next to him.
Angelique sat closest to him, followed by Megan, Brittany, and me: four iridescent songbirds all in a row, paying homage to their hero.
"You ladies ready to join me in a little weed?" he asked us.
Without waiting for a response, he pulled out a small, leather pouch containing several joints and began to light one up.
I had never been in this particular room before and I had to admit that it was quite large—about the size of a spacious one-bedroom apartment. Some of his music was playing softly in the background, and upon his bed were strewn dozens of CDs and music trade papers. Surveying the room, I noticed that it contained a full kitchen and bath, with every amenity possible. There were two windows that looked out onto the garden, and a door just outside the hallway, which had proved a handy entrance for his late-night trysts with Maria.
"I can't believe I'm sitting here with four beautiful women!" Delvin said as he passed a lit joint to Angelique. "And you look so...mature."
"That's the makeup," Brittany said.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you girls were working the streets in downtown LA."
Angelique took a long drag and held her breath, passing the joint to Megan.
"This isn't going to make me sick, is it?" Megan asked him.
"No babe. No way. Just inhale a little bit and hold your breath for a while. You'll be fine."
"Go ahead, Megan," Brittany said. "Don't be such a baby!"
Megan put the joint to her lips and took a drag, but she ended up coughing and begged me for a sip of my water. On the second try she did much better, managing to hold her breath for a full ten seconds before exhaling. She then handed the joint to Brittany.
