15. Chapter 15
Carter
“ W here were you last night?” Benny asked. He looked like he had just woken up even though it was the middle of the afternoon. He probably had. “I thought you were coming out with the boys.”
I shrugged. I had completely forgotten about telling them that I would catch up with them. Even when I said it, I knew it probably wasn’t happening after I walked into that library. “I had a date.”
Benny almost dropped the box of cereal he was pouring into a bowl.
“A date? With who?” As far as Benny was concerned, there wasn’t a better cure for a hangover than digging for details about my sex life.
I debated not telling him that I was out with Beth, knowing that he had taken her out already. Then I thought better of it.
“Beth.”
The longer Benny furrowed his brow and wracked his brain, like he was trying to remember who Beth was even though he had seen her more than once since he met her a couple weeks ago, the more frustrated I got. “Wait,” he finally said. “Like the virgin chick from the bar? Dude, why?”
“Don’t start,” I warned him. I knew the kinds of comments Benny usually made about women, and I wasn’t in the mood to hear any of them. I grabbed the finished tape I had spent the morning making for her off the counter, tucking it in my pocket and turning to leave the room.
“Wait, what’s that?” Benny set the bowl of cereal on the counter, suddenly more interested in the tape in my hands.
“It’s a tape.” I didn’t intend on explaining it to him, but his face widened in mixed shock and realization anyway.
Benny laughed, clapping his hands. “You made her a tape? Dude, you must be down bad.” Then he furrowed his brow and pursed his lips crookedly, like he was trying to look confused and bite back a laugh at the same time.
“But for a virgin? You could have any girl you want, and you go for a freshman with no experience?”
I shrugged, thinking about her hair spread across her bed. “I don’t know, man. I can’t explain it. There’s just something about her. She’s sweet, probably too sweet, and there’s just something in her stare that’s difficult to look away from. Oh, and she always tastes like cherry.”
“Cherry?”
“That’s what I said.” The more I talked about her, the more I ran my fingers over the tape in my pocket.
Benny shook his head, laughing as he put his bowl in the sink with the other dishes he would claim he promised to wash later. “Yeah, whatever dude. You have fun with that.”