Forever Mason, page 15
“You busy?” he looks at me, and his eyebrow raises. I’m a mess, covered in grass.
“Just got done mowing. What’s up?”
“There’s something I want to show you,” he tells me. “We can take my truck.”
“Okay, can I shower first?”
“Yeah, for sure.”
Liam follows me upstairs and hangs out in my room while I shower. I’m quick, probably five minutes, and find Liam looking at all my trophies. He has the same ones because we’ve been on the same team since we started.
“It’s funny, I never look at mine when I’m home, but here I am staring at yours. We’ve won a lot over the years.”
“Dynamic duo,” I say, repeating the line printed in the newspaper this morning. “The reporter from the Beaumont News says any college interested in one of us should take the other because we’ll never perform the same with someone else.”
Liam turns and looks at me. “Do you believe that?”
His question takes me off guard. I think it would be nice to play through college together and maybe the NFL, but perhaps I’m wrong. I shrug and change the subject. “Are you ready?”
Liam leads the way downstairs. I hear my dad in the kitchen and check in with him before I leave. Liam drives, and I think it’s weird. Other than riding with my parents or other adults, I’ve never had anyone drive me anywhere.
“Where are we going?”
“I want to show you something,” he says.
We pull up to a four-way stop. He signals to turn right, which I’m thankful for because if we go straight, we’ll head toward Liam’s, and honestly, I don’t want to hang at his house. We drive down the road. There are a few houses, but mostly it’s farmland on one side and a lot of trees on the other. We turn again and drive down a dirt road until the area opens up. Before us, there’s a massive water tower, with Beaumont spray-painted on it, which has long been defunct.
“What are we doing here?”
Liam doesn’t answer. He parks his truck and then gets out. “Follow me.”
If I didn’t trust Liam, I’d probably get out of the truck and run for the hills, but I follow because he asked me to. He climbs the metal ladder and walks along the grated walkway. I’m right behind him, sitting and hanging my legs over the edge as he has.
“How did you find this place?”
He shrugs. “I heard Sterling talking about it and thought I’d come and check it out. I guess the city is going to tear it down or something.” Liam sighs and rests against the wall behind us. “Anyway, I came out here, climbed up, and really like it here. It’s quiet.”
“We’ll probably get busted for being up here.”
Liam shrugs again. “You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to.”
“Nah, I like it.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Oh, you know what, we should make this our place. Like, our own hang out after a game or something. The juniors and seniors hang out at the Burger Barn, but this could be our place,” I say to him. “Our legacy.” It sounds stupid when I finally say it all, but I think it would be cool to create something others use when we’re no longer at Beaumont High.
Liam doesn’t say anything, but his lip rises a bit. I can’t tell if it’s a grimace or if he agrees with me.
“I got a fake,” he says.
“A fake what?”
He looks at me with no expression on his face. He is too serious and needs to relax. I wish Liam could come live with me so that the worst thing in his life would be my dad handing him condoms. “A fake ID. I got one, and the clerk at the convenience store took it even though she goes to school with us.”
“Oh, wow.”
“I bought a six-pack yesterday, sat up here, and drank it. I totally puked my guts out around two this morning, but it was worth it because when Sterling started in on me about not throwing yesterday, I was numb and didn’t give a shit about what he had to say.”
I don’t know what to say. Something tells me I just need to sit here and listen because that’s what he needs. I also feel like I should warn him about alcohol poisoning or drinking and driving, but he was in the same health class I was, and he’s learned all of this. The only thing I can think to say to Liam is, “Please, be careful.” The last thing I want is for Liam to get into trouble or end up hurt somehow. Or worse, hurt someone else.
It’s after eight at night and pouring down with rain. Katelyn calls and asks me to come to pick her up. We haven’t seen each other the past few days because she’s grounded for a less than stellar progress report, so I’m surprised to hear from her. When I arrive at her house, she’s running toward my truck. I barely pull up to the curb when she’s climbing inside. “Drive,” she says after slamming the door. I do as she asks, and the entire drive to the cliffs, I keep checking out her legs. She’s wearing a denim skirt, and her legs are dotted with raindrops. She’s quiet the entire drive. As soon as I park and shut the truck off, she starts crying.
“What’s wrong?”
“I hate my mom,” she says. “I can’t stand to be in the same room as her or hear her speak. Everything she says is so backhanded and mean, and just . . . I don’t get why she’s so hard on me.”
“Because she loves you.”
She shakes her head. “No, she doesn’t. If she did, she wouldn’t call me names or tell me I’m making mistake after mistake. She wouldn’t accuse me of doing things I’m not. If she loved me, she’d encourage me and want to be a positive part of my life.”
“I’m sorry.” I pull her into my arms, her clothes soaked from standing outside and waiting for me. I turn the heat on full blast to try and warm her up. “I don’t know what she’s calling you, but I’m sure you don’t deserve it.”
“According to her, I’m a whore because I have a boyfriend. She says I’m going to come home knocked up, and if I do, she says I won’t have a place to live. Like, what kind of parent says that?”
What in the hell?
“I’m sorry,” I tell her again. I don’t know what else to say. I’m thankful my parents aren’t like this. I can’t imagine my mom or dad turning their back on me if I got Katelyn or anyone else pregnant. My mom would be sad and disappointed, but she’d never kick me out of the house. I suppose it’s a lot different for boys than girls.
“We’re not even having sex,” she says as if I need a reminder.
“I know,” because what else can I say?
Katelyn looks at me. “Do you want to?”
“Do I want to what?”
“Have sex with me?”
“Uh . . .” Katelyn scoots away from me, but I stop her. “You caught me off guard with that question,” I tell her.
“I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just that everyone is doing it, and the squad thinks we are. Every time one of the girls brings it up, I blush because I’m embarrassed. They’re talking about something private between us, and they start teasing me and asking me questions. Sometimes I want to tell them we’ve done stuff, but I don’t want everyone knowing my business.”
“Girls gossip a lot.”
“Yeah, we do. It’s an everyday thing. Don’t you and Liam and the guys on the team talk about this stuff?”
I shake my head. “Liam and I talk about football and college, and how he hates his piece of crap dad. Some guys talk about chicks, but they don’t ask if we’re doing it or anything. The older guys just talk about the chicks they banged.”
“Oh,” she says. She places her hand on my leg, dangerously close to my dick. I’m not sure this is the right time to make out or not, but we’re also at the cliffs, and it’s sort of implied people come here to mess around.
“Do you like the stuff we’ve tried?” I don’t know why I need to know this. It’s not like there’s a book out there I can read that’ll show me how to do things right. And the magazines I’ve found in the garage . . . well, the stories get pretty detailed, but they’re not an instruction manual.
Katelyn nods.
“Did I make you feel good?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After homecoming. I was so happy your dad took us back to your house first so you could get your truck. Before you took me home, we stopped at the park and you put your fingers in me.”
I smile at the memory. “And what did you do for me?”
“Put you in my mouth,” she says as if she’s trying to tell me a secret.
“I really liked that,” I tell her as I move her hair behind her ear. “And I really liked what I did to you.”
“Yeah.” She’s back to gazing out the window again, almost as if she’s embarrassed to look at me.
“My dad gave me condoms today.” I don’t know what possesses me to tell her this. She turns slowly and stares. “What are you thinking?” I ask, needing to know what’s going on in her mind.
Katelyn shrugs. “Can I see?”
I reach into my back pocket and pull the blue foil-wrapped rubber out and hand it to her. She turns the package over in her hand and tries to read the fine print. “How is anyone supposed to know what this says?”
“Dunno. I think we’re just supposed to know.”
“Miss Richter says our bodies know what to do, that our hormones will guide us.”
Dad said something about hormones taking over.
Katelyn hands the condom back to me, and I go to put it in my pocket, but her hand stops me. I look into her eyes and see excitement? Curiosity? I’m not sure which. “What?”
“Do you want to try?”
“Try what?”
Her eyes go wide, and they move toward the packet in my hand. “To use it.”
“Do you want to try?”
She nods quickly and without hesitation. Before I can form a coherent response, she’s maneuvering her way onto my lap and kissing me. I slide away from the steering wheel to give us more space, and Katelyn takes advantage of this by grinding against me. My mind is telling me to stop her and have her slow down, but every other part of me is encouraging her because of how she makes me feel. She tries to get her hand into my jeans, but the button and zipper prevent her from doing so. I help her get them undone, and once they are, she has her hand wrapped around my cock.
“Shit,” I mutter as I try to put my hands everywhere I can. I have one between her legs with my thumb rubbing the outside of her lace panties. They’re wet, which she told me last time is normal because I’m turning her on.
I move the fabric aside and slip my finger into her, and she whispers, “Yes,” into my ear.
My other hand tries to undo her bra, but these things were made by the devil, and I can’t find the clasp. I give up, cup her breast, and pull her bra down to feel her nipple with my fingers.
“Do you think it’s time?” she asks.
How in the hell am I supposed to know?
“I don’t know.”
“I think you put the condom on now.” Katelyn moves off my lap and toward the passenger side. She keeps her skirt above her hips and slips her panties off. Holy fuck, we are going to do this. She turns away when I start to put the rubber over my cock. “That smells,” she says.
“Yeah, sort of gross.” I push my jeans down to my knees and look at her. “Now what?”
“In the movies, the woman is lying down, and the man is on top of her.”
This isn’t the movies, Katelyn!
Katelyn lays down and spreads her legs. For the first time in my life, I’m staring at a real-life vagina, and hers looks nothing like the ones I’ve seen in the magazines. I move to get on top of her and say, “I might be heavy.”
“It’ll be fine.”
I try to keep most of my weight on my elbows, which sucks because now I can’t touch her. There has to be an easier way. I’m about to tell her we shouldn’t do this when my dick feels her and becomes harder than I ever thought possible.
“I don’t know what I’m doing, Katie.”
She glares at me. “Don’t ever call me that again,” she says, and I nod.
“I’m sorry, Katelyn.”
She smiles and kisses me deeply. My hips start to move on their own accord. It’s like my dick is guiding me to where I’m supposed to be. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Push it in,” she says. I don’t know what’s going on between our bodies, but she raises her hips, and it’s like she’s calling me. My body reacts. I try to push into her but all I’m doing is sliding against her.
“Mason . . .” the way she says my name, breathless and wanting, wakes me up. I slip my hand between us and grab hold of my dick and guide it to her opening. She gasps and wraps her arms around me.
“Do you want me to stop?”
She shakes her head. I push a little more, and she cries out. I’m fearful that I’m hurting her, but she tells me to keep going. I do, pushing in a little more each time until I’m afraid to push anymore. Something in the back of my head tells me this isn’t right. This isn’t how we should be having sex for the first time, but I can’t stop. I don’t want to, now that I’m inside of her.
Move your hips, you idiot.
My hips rise and then go down. Repeat. Katelyn lets out these little sounds. They’re encouraging, but I’m losing focus. I’m about to blow and imagine her hand on my hard dick, pumping me. I groan and jerk, filling the rubber. When the spasms have stopped, I lay there, wondering what I’m supposed to do. My hard-on disappears, and I have no option but to sit up.
“Um . . .” I look down at my crotch and wonder what just happened.
Katelyn sits up and puts her panties back on. “We just had sex,” she says as if she needs to say it out loud to validate what we just did.
“I guess we did.” Katelyn has the keen sense of mind to hand me a tissue which I use to take the condom off, wad it up, and put it under my seat.
“We should do it again.”
I glance at her, but she’s looking out the window.
“After we go to the library and read up on how to do it right.”
Ouch.
“Tomorrow?”
“Sure,” I say because I have nothing better to do on a Sunday.
“Perfect, because I want to do that again.”
“Me, too.” I reach for her and pull her toward me. Cupping her cheek, I look into her eyes. “I love you, Katelyn.”
“I love you too, Mason.”
Twenty-Three
The sociology teacher paces in front of the chalkboard. She’s animated and talks with her hands. There are times when I’m more focused on what they are doing rather than what she’s saying, and I have to ask Katelyn what the assignment is. She’s the reason I’m in this class—Katelyn, not the teacher. Katelyn is one credit shy from graduation and needed an easy class—something to boost her GPA. When she found out I’d have a free period during this time, she convinced me to take this class with her, with the promise that she’d help me with the homework. So far, it’s an okay class. I’d much rather sit in the senior lounge, but I’m with my girl and I can’t ask for anything more.
Katelyn pokes me in my side and motions toward the teacher. She knows when I’m not paying attention and does everything she can to keep me on task. As much as I’d love to slack off, I can’t. While I have some decent offers from colleges, they’re not schools I can really see myself at, and I’m still waiting for my number one pick. Liam is too, according to him. We have a pact to go to the University of Nebraska together. Granted, we made it when we were young, but I haven’t forgotten. I don’t like to think that this could be our last season together. In fact, the thought hurts. I’ve been on his left since I was five years old and didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. I don’t want to think about what next fall could be like if I’m on the line of scrimmage and he’s not there.
I pick up my pen—well it’s really Katelyn’s because I forgot mine—and start writing the assignment. This teacher wants at least a one-page essay of our best life experience or the moment that changed our lives. Really? How do I sum up a high point in my extraordinary life? I’m eighteen and have no complaints. My life has been amazing. Others my age often complain about things. Their home life sucks—much like Katelyn’s—or they ended up hurt and missed a season of playing. At the end of the day, I’m grateful for my family, my friends, and for my girl. She’s literally the best part of my life.
If I go with the moment that changed my life, it might have to be the first time Katelyn and I had sex. Well, not the real first time because we had no freaking idea what the hell we were doing, “just put it in,” I think is what she told me. I did because why not. Peer pressure is a very real thing, especially when she’s batting her eyes at me. She knows I will never say no to her. After the most awkward moment of my life, we spent a week at the library, reading every book we could, and tried again. This time it was at her house, in the pool shed. She made me park down the road, just in case her mother came home early, and Katelyn made us a bed in the pool house with beach towels and pillows. It definitely wasn’t the best place, but when you’re sixteen and horny, you do it wherever you can. This time around, we had lots of foreplay, took our clothes off, and put in some effort. This is when we also discovered that Katelyn is a screamer, which makes it hard to have sex when my parents are watching television downstairs, or we’re at the cliffs. The thing about public sex is you need to stay as quiet as possible otherwise you’ll draw a crowd or even the police, and no one wants that.
There is also the time when the condom broke, and I didn’t tell her. I was scared and didn’t want her to freak out for weeks until she got her period. So, I waited and silently rejoiced when she told me her aunt was in town. Honestly, each time her aunt came I was relieved. We had talked about her going on birth control, but her mother would’ve lost her mind and made Katelyn’s life hell. When she turned eighteen, we went to the clinic together and she got on the pill. I guess I could say one of the best moments of my life was being with Katelyn and not using a condom. At first, I wasn’t on board, but she assured me we’d be fine. So far, she’s been right, and the feeling of being inside of her with nothing between us is hands down the best sensation ever. The doctor at the clinic told us it wasn’t safe, but since I plan on marrying Katelyn, I’ve got nothing to lose. If she ends up pregnant, I’m not going anywhere.
