It all started one summer morning when we found out that our math tutor had ditched us for a weekend out with his girlfriend.
"Do you know how frustrating it is to ride the bike all this way just to find out it was all for nothing? Moreover, the heat..." I complained after finding the note from our impetuous tutor plastered to his door.
"It's not that far, Tau and it wasn't that hot today." Caily said who was walking beside me. Although she said that, sweat trickled down her olive skin. Her yellow summer dress at least looked comfortable on her petite frame. While I had on stuffy jeans and a black tee shirt, which was all I could find that were clean that morning.
"It's easy for you to say. You take a few steps and you are home." She eyed me through those big rounded Oakleys. I figured she was glaring. It might not have been that close but it was still closer than my house. It took me an hour just to reach her suburban neighbourhood.
"I know why you're so irritated and it has nothing to do with the heat or our math tutor. You just haven't jacked off to any decent porn for a while. Have you?" She said it with such assurance that I did not bother denying it.
"That is the last time I am telling you anything." I said, remembering what I let slip two nights back. I always tell her too much when I am on the phone with her. It has always been that way. We were born on the same day, in the same hospital. We went to the same schools until the 5th grade when I had to move away. There wasn't a day Caily missed calling me when I was away. It was the same even after I moved back last year. We were more comfortable on the phone than talking directly to each other. "Why am I still following you?" I started to turn my bike around, when she grabbed my arm.
"Come on, you can at least keep me company till I reach home. Besides it's not like you have anything better to do."
"What am I, your personal bodyguard?" I protested.
"You are my shinning knight, of course." She squeezed my arm tightly. "Happy?"
"I would be if a girl other than you thought of me that way... And meant it." I added. Caily's lips were twitching. "What?"
"Like Gena from history class?" She asked. I almost tripped. How did she find out about Gena? I hadn't gotten around to mentioning her to Caily yet. Actually, I was thinking of asking Caily advice on how to approach Gena. I feigned innocence, which did me no good. "You don't have to lie about it. I saw how you were staring at her during gym or more specifically a particular part of her." It was true. I couldn't help taking my eyes off Gena's assets. I didn't think anybody noticed let alone Caily. "So you like her?" She asked.
"Who wouldn't? I mean she's every boy's dream." My own fantasies involved a one on one steamy encounter in the gym shower, ending in the football field, both of us utterly naked and blissful.
"Any plans on making these dreams come true?" Caily asked as if she read my mind.
"Who knows? If the opportunity presents itself..."
"You know, we girls like men of action. Guys have to make the move; not wait for opportunities."
"So, is Chad a man of action?" I asked steering the subject away.
"Oh yes, he certainly is." She said which led me to ponder how far she had gone with chad. I wasn't completely oblivious to how they were in school. However, the tone of her voice suggested otherwise and her voice was a part of her I knew intimately.
"Did you guys have a fight?" Her surprised look gave it away.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"You looked so happy together at school."
She kept her silence. I didn't. "I knew that guy was a prick. I never did like him from the start. Too much hair. This is good. There are loads of better guys out there for you." She finally looked up at me.
"We didn't break up."
"Oh...okay. Maybe things will work out then." We stopped in front of her house. It was locked.
"Aren't your folks home?"
"They are visiting my sister's place. They will be back in the evening." She unlocked the door and disappeared before I could say goodbye. I waited but only her voice came out. "How long are you going to stand out there like a dummy?"
I dropped the bike on the yard and went in reluctantly. Last time I was here, I was around 4 feet and wearing pull up shorts. I heard Caily's voice and followed it. My whole house could fit into their living room. Hell, the place for their grand piano was enough for me to live in. I found Caily in the kitchen pulling something out the fridge.
"You still like turkey sandwich right?" She asked pulling out a knife from the shelf. Chopping the poor thing into two, she gave me one-half.
"Aren't you going to heat it?"
"Do I look like your wife? Heat it yourself if you want. I am going to change." She left biting into her half. "You know I could have warmed it for you too." It took me quite a while before I found the microwave hidden behind a wooden cupboard. I set the timer and waited, watching the sandwich slowly revolve.
"You're going to burn it if you keep it for that long."
"Not true, my mom heats it for twic..." I was left stuttering as I turned to find Caily in the shortest denim shorts. They left very little to the imagination. Her lose party top hung just above her waistline, swaying as she moved. She must have known I was checking her out. I even thought I saw a hint of a smile. She rushed over and turned off the oven. The sandwich was charred on the sides. "Must be a powerful oven."
"Come on genius, follow me." I bit into it as I
followed those curvy legs up the stairs. They were very appealing from my point of view.
"Where we going?" I asked.
"My room." She said. I gulped down the rest quickly. Five doors lined their upstairs hallway.
"Only your parents and you live here right?"
She led me inside, which was my first time inside a girl's room. It was quite normal, not the flowery pink I imagined. The colors and the setting fit. Posters of her favorite rock punk band covered the walls. There was a big stereo right next to her very comfortable bed. She
hopped onto it.
"It's like my room, just a lot bigger." I sat on the edge of her bed as Caily smirked. "It's true. If there was a computer on that table, this would be a bigger version of my room." She pointed behind the bag on her table. There was a laptop there. "Oh wow, do you mind if I check my mail.
It's been a week."
"Ya, sure." I powered the thing up. While I was logging on, Caily was fidgeting with her mobile and she was not at all happy. Maybe it was about chad. I gave her her space and went through my mail. It was all junk. That was when I realized that there was only one person I looked forward to receiving a mail from and that person was right there in the room with me.
"Your daily dose of sex ed!" Caily's voice startled me, right next to my ear. She was reading over my shoulder. I scrolled the page down quickly. "Oh, come on. I want to read that. Was that some penile enlargement scheme?"
"No! And do you mind. This is private."
"Now I really want to see it." She sat down right next to me almost pushing me off the chair. She scrolled back up the screen and started reading. I could have gotten up but something kept me rooted there. Maybe it was her bare legs touching mine or her silky black hair or the scent that reminded me of cherries and almond but I couldn't move. All I could do was hang on as she read my mail.
"What is this?" She asked half way through.
"Not what you expected was it?"
"Safe sex? Have you been hiding something?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at me. Her face was so close to mine, I could feel her breath on me.
"I am not having sex if that's what you are insinuating. I like to do research for the future."
