After I got home from the mall the first thing I did was copy the video of Nikki from my phone to my computer, and then I deleted it off my phone. Seemed like the safest thing to do, given that Greg was supposed to be going to the party that night. It didn't seem like a good idea to bring an incriminating video of his girlfriend masturbating in the food court to the party with me.
I spent a couple of hours hanging around the house reading – and okay, daydreaming about our trip to the mall and all that. Eventually I got a text from Nikki. "On the way to your place, there in five minutes," it read.
I put on the new bathing suit and pulled some sweat pants on over it, grabbed my coat and went outside to wait for them.
Only it turned out not to be a 'them' at all. Almost exactly five minutes later – Nikki was nothing if not prompt – Greg's car pulled up in front of my place with Nikki driving and nobody else inside. She pointed to the passenger side door, so I opened it and got in.
"Change of plans?" I asked, shutting the door.
She looked for a second like she was going to say something, but then she leaned in and kissed me. It was a slow, lingering kiss and she was a great kisser. She had soft lips and she tasted like strawberries. Her tongue slipped gently into my mouth. I was so surprised I just kissed back.
Okay, even if I hadn't been surprised there's a good chance I would have kissed her back anyway.
We kissed for a long time. I think. I'm not actually sure, I lost track. She ran her fingers through my hair while we kissed, which I'm a huge sucker for. Honestly I'm like a dog, scratch my head and I'm yours.
Eventually she pulled back and we sat looking at each other.
"Well...um...hi?" I said.
"I broke up with Greg," she said. Then she made an embarrassed face. "I meant to tell you that first, but I've been wanting to kiss you for kind of a long time now, and I saw you and then it just kind of happened. I'm kind of a doofus sometimes in case you hadn't noticed."
"Well you're kind of a cute doofus," I said. She smiled at that. Then what she had said registered with me. "Wait, back up a second," I said. "You and Greg broke up? What happened?"
"His mom called me," she said. "Right after I got home from the mall. Apparently she'd been trying to call him all weekend but he hadn't been responding, so she was worried and wanted to make sure he was okay."
"Wasn't he supposed to be at home this weekend?" I said.
"That's what I thought," she said, nodding. "But then his mom asked when we were coming to visit for Christmas. She was really looking forward to it because she hadn't seen Greg all semester."
"But this is at least the second weekend you told me that he had gone home for," I said.
"And there was a third one that I didn't mention to you," she said.
"So where has he really been going?" I asked.
"Another girl's house," she said.
"Son of a bitch," I said. "He's been cheating on you?"
"For months now," she said. "Apparently he's in love with her. He told me all about it when he got home and I passed on his mom's message."
I put a hand on her shoulder. "He's an idiot," I said. "Are you okay?"
She put her hand on top of mine and squeezed it. "I am," she said.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
She nodded. "What you said earlier today is true, he and I have been growing apart for a while now. We want different things. When he told me what he'd been doing what I mostly felt was relief."
"Relief?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
She nodded again. "Yeah, I know that sounds weird. But that just made me realize how much I've fallen out of love with him. Having him tell me that he'd been cheating on me for so long makes me feel better about the stuff I've been doing around you lately. I had been thinking I'd have to tell him what was happening, but under the circumstances I decided to just call it even and tell him we were through."
"So it's a done deal?" I said.
"Yeah he and I are over," she said. Then she frowned. "We're still stuck in the lease though so we'll be roomies until the end of school in April. But knowing him he'll spend most of his time at the other girl's place anyway."
"Awkward," I said, "but I know you'll manage. It's only a few months anyway."
She leaned closer to me and put her head on my shoulder. "It's true. So I'm a little sad, but I'll get over it."
"You know we don't have to go tonight if you're not feeling up to it," I said.
"Oh no way, not after all the trouble we went to getting bathing suits for tonight," she said, and then she giggled. "Besides I bullied Greg into lending me his car anyway. I think he agreed to it as a peace offering, he was probably afraid I'd get violent when he confessed."
"But you're usually such a calm, quiet person," I said, barely managing to keep a straight face at such an obvious lie. "Plus you're too short to be a threat."
She sat back up and elbowed me in the stomach, although not hard. Then she turned to look me in the face again. "So...I kissed you," she said.