Disclaimer: All characters engaging in sexual activity are 18 years of age or older
*****************
A couple of days later in the evening, my phone alerted me that I'd received a text from a number I didn't recognize.
'Poke'
Hmm. I didn't remember giving Sandy my number, but she seemed the most likely explanation, so I checked the slip of paper she gave me. Sure enough...
Well, she's resourceful, I'll give her that.
I stared at the phone, undecided as to whether I should finally call her. What was I going to say? It still hadn't resonated that she wanted to out with me on Friday. I probably should have at least asked what the plan was.
A moment later, I got another text.
'Hey'
, and then a second later,
'Poke'
I got the sense that this was going to go on until I responded, so I sent back
'Poke??'
'Yeah. Poke. Like, u need to call me'
Okay, weird... I sighed inwardly. Here goes nothing...
I punched the call button, scrambling for something to say, but would learn soon enough that I needn't have bothered.
She answered before the first ring was done. "Finally! I swear, Adam Connor, you've been ghosting me for three days! Why haven't you called?"
"Sorry! I had a lot of stuff going on tonight"
"Stuff? What stuff?" Was that a hint of suspicion?
"Yeah, like homework and stuff?"
Her voice lifted. "Oohhh, yeah, okay.
That
stuff."
"Hey, I forgot to ask you earlier -- where are we going on Friday? Should I plan on getting dressed up?
"And by the way, how did you get my number? I don't think I gave it to you."
"Don't worry about that. Yeah, you definitely need to look nice. We're going to this sick club downtown. Stephanie's big sister is dating the bouncer there. He gets us in."
"Ohh, okay. Yeah, that sounds cool."
Clubbing? Really? I hated clubbing. Expensive, noisy as fuck, and I'd have to dance. Not exactly my idea of a good time. It'd be hot and sweaty. A huge crowd of people all pressing in on one another. Well now... On second thought, maybe this wouldn't be all bad with someone like Sandy. I pictured her curves in one of those strapless mini dresses with a long slit up one side, showing off miles of supple thigh.
"Aaaaa-daaam... Helloo? Are you paying attention to me?"
I wasn't.
"Sorry, my...Mom asked me something."
"Well, I was
ask
-ing if you saw my insta post this afternoon."
"I haven't. I don't do the whole social media thing. I mean, I have accounts, but I don't post anything."
"Oh, well, you should check it out. I...hope...you...like...it." she sing-songed, then immediately bulled on. "So, guess what Amy told me yesterday? It's so crazy. I can't believe it."
I paused, expecting her to tell me the big news, but she just waited, apparently serious about wanting me to guess. Really? Why the hell would she think I would want to guess about something someone I didn't even know would say?
"Uh, I don't know." I said, but realized after a split second that I sounded irritated, quickly adding, "what?" in a higher pitch.
"Oh-em-gee, she told me that her Dad was going to buy her a car! Isn't that lit?"
Sigh, I was quickly learning the reality that possibly dating (
were
we dating?) the hottest cheerleader in our school could be. She was still talking as my thoughts rolled on, but it no longer appeared to matter that I wasn't paying attention because she pretty much held the conversation by herself.
"So then he says..."
I tuned her out, figuring that I'd distract myself from her adolescent rambling about which actors she thinks are hot and the latest annoying and disgusting thing her brother did. I pictured her on the dance floor, giving me a sultry look over her shoulder as she dipped and swayed. That gorgeous ass a prominent curve from her back down to her slender thighs. A hefty bulge in her top peeking at me from the side as she lured me in with a sinuous finger.
As my mental peep show played out, I'd occasionally gift her with an "uh-huh" or an emphatic "ohhh, yeah" to acknowledge something or other she was saying, but I clearly wasn't doing it flawlessly. She had to re-ask more than a few questions.
I wanted to steer us back to the topic she claimed to want to talk about before school this morning -- those feelings she got when I looked at her. But I needed her to bring it up. Asking about it myself would make me sound pretty skeezy, like I'm only talking to her because of her smoking hot body. Which, come to think of it, might not have been entirely untrue.
Twenty minutes later, I just couldn't take any more of the gossip mill churning about people I didn't even know, so I lied and told her that my Dad was kicking me off the phone until I work on my college applications, but it only enticed her to talk about her own aspirations.
"Oh, I want to get into Barnard next year. I think I want to live in the city. Shelly says she thinks I will get in. She knows this girl that got in last year and I have
way
better credentials than she did."
I cut her off a few seconds later.
"-Oh, nice. Well, sorry Sandy, I really gotta go. I'll talk to you later."