Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
STELLA
When Lily and I get back to the room, we scurry around looking for something to wear to movie night.
We could just stay in what we’re wearing now, but it’s important to be comfortable, right?
Lily finds her gear and opts to put on her pajamas, if you can call them that.
She’s brought a tiny tank top and even smaller boy short bottoms. I recognize them.
They’re black and covered with kittens. The shorts are so short that they reveal some of her ass cheeks.
She’s got the body to pull them off and, like I said, this girl is dripping with confidence.
After dressing, she pulls her long hair back up into a messy bun and reapplies some of her makeup.
She looks really cute. That is until she pulls out the biggest, ugliest pair of slippers I’ve ever seen.
“No! Not the beavers, Lily. Those things are disgusting. I think they actually smell like a real beaver now. Plus, is that gum stuck to the side of Lefties head?” Yes, she named each of them.
“Stella, you know damn well they’re bears not beavers, as in Da Bearz, you know, Chicago Bears? I’ve had them forrrreeevvveeerrr, and they’re my favorite and they’re perfect. If you can’t handle them, then tough.”
“Whatever. You still look cute, Lily-kins, even with the roadkill on your feet,” I say in a little teasing tone.
“So, is that what you’re wearing over to Alex’s place?”
I show her my black yoga pants, my black tank top, and my white, oversized slouchy sweatshirt, a la Flashdance, circa 1983. “Yeah.” I look down at myself. “Is it okay?”
“Absolutely. It’s sexy yet demure. I like it,” she says, nodding. “It’s just loose enough for Alex to have access,” she says, raising her eyebrows up and down quickly.
“Oh, is it too loose? I don’t want Alex to get any ideas.”
Lily chokes out a laugh. “Why the hell not?”
“Because I’m not ready for anything like that.”
“Stella, you don’t need to hang on to that V-card so hard.”
“I know. I’m just not ready. Just because you lost yours at prom….”
I maybe could’ve lost mine at prom too, but I didn’t go to prom.
Bradley couldn’t get back home because he had some fraternity function to attend, so I stayed home and read a good book and ate a half gallon of double chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
The same was true with the homecoming dance, winter formal, Valentine’s Day, my birthday, my graduation, and my gallbladder surgery. Yeah, he was always too busy.
“Yeah, and it was very anticlimactic, let me tell you. That’s why I can’t wait to be with a real man. You know, someone who’s older, who knows what he’s doing,” Lily says, nodding.
“That’s what I said about Bradley, but he wanted to wait until I was ready.” The truth was, I was ready last summer. “I liked the idea that he’d know what he was doing.” I thought I was doing the right thing. Now, I’m definitely glad I didn’t give him that part of me.
Lily snorts. “You think he would have known what he was doing?” She rolls her eyes.
“I know he’s not a virgin.” Especially now after seeing him with Brooke. He was definitely more experienced than me.
Lily steps over to me and places her hand on my shoulder. “It wasn’t meant to be. He wasn’t the one who’s supposed to pop your cherry, but maybe Alex is.”
I roll my eyes. I can’t comment. I don’t think anyone is ever going to want to pop anything on me, to be honest. As we finish getting all dolled up, I get more and more nervous.
Lily seems to be buzzing with adrenaline while I’m sure I’m going to vomit.
This is a first for me. I’ve hung out with Bradley at my house, and I’ve been to Vicky’s house before just not to see Bradley so technically, I’ve never gone over to a boy’s house before.
I hope Alex doesn’t expect me to do sexy stuff with him tonight. I’m not ready for that.
We take the stairwell down two flights and enter onto the guys’ floor.
Our building has both coed floors and floors with just girls and floors with just boys.
My floor only has girls, and Alex’s only boys.
The floor between is coed. As we enter the hallway from the stairs, it feels strange.
It smells completely different than my floor too.
I wouldn’t say it’s an unpleasant smell, but I wouldn’t call it pleasant either.
It’s a mix of cologne, body odor, and other scents that shall not be named.
“Boys kind of stink.” Lily has her nose scrunched up as we walk down to the other end of the hall. When we reach the correct door, Lily knocks. I take a deep breath and the door is suddenly wrenched open by Hank.
“Ladies!” he says loudly. Raising his arm, he gestures toward his small living area. “Welcome to chez Hank and Alex.”
“Oooh, French. Do you speak fluently?” Lily giggles.
“Si,” says Hank.
“That’s Spanish, dingus,” jokes Lily.
“What can I say, I’m multilingual.” Hank shrugs.
Lily and I both laugh at that.
“Here, let me show you to our theater room.” He points to the small lounge area again.
Their suite is just like mine. It’s the exact layout since it’s on the same side of the building.
The only difference is the way they have their lounge area set up.
Instead of one big sofa, they have two smaller love seats.
I guess that’s so they each have a place to sit.
They aren’t long enough for either of them to lie on, but I suppose it’s better than trying to sit two big guys that size on one couch.
The rest of the suite is the same, though.
On the right is a bedroom that must be Hank’s.
The center has the lounge area and the kitchenette, and on the right is a bedroom across from the bathroom.
The door to the room that would be mine opens up.
Alex walks out wearing those loose athletic shorts and a tight black T-shirt with the word LANY printed in simple white letters on it. He looks so damn good.
“What’s LANY?” I ask, approaching him.
“Oh, it’s a great band out of California.”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
“Well, I’ll have to play some of their music for you later. One song in particular.”
We just stand there smiling at each other like idiots until Hank breaks us out of our spell, telling us to pick a movie. He gathers snacks together for us while keeping an eye on Lily. I’m surprised he can function. He seems to be fixated on her bottom in her tiny shorts.
My thoughts are interrupted when Alex whispers, “You look beautiful, Stella.”
“Thanks, so do you.”
“Can I get you something to drink? Want a beer? Soda?” asks Alex.
“Soda please.”
Alex heads to the fridge and lists out their drink options.
“We have Pepsi, Diet Coke, Mountain Dew, Diet 7Up, Dr. Pepper, and Snapple.”
“Wow, you guys must like a variety,” I say.
“Well, no, we typically don’t, but I wanted to be sure I had something that you would like, Stella. I figured you’d probably ask for diet soda because regular soda would have too many calories, but I picked up regular too so you could choose one of those instead.”
That is such a sweet thing for him to do.
I smile and request a Dr. Pepper. He grabs a Mountain Dew along with a can of soda for Lily and Hank, then takes my hand and leads me to one of the love seats.
He plops down onto the couch, grabs me by the waist, and pulls me down onto his lap.
I stiffen up because I know I’m going to break his legs. But he doesn’t seem to mind.
He pulls me back until my shoulder is up against his chest, his arms still wrapped around me.
I turn my head and smile at him. I’ve got the urge to kiss him, but I can’t do it.
What happened earlier was probably just a fluke––the heat of the moment after my little tantrum over the blonde girl. No, I need to just play it safe.
“Well, ladies, what would you like to watch first?” asks Alex.
“I’ll defer to Lily. I told her she could choose,” I reply.
“In that case, I pick, drum roll please, Paranormal Activity!” Lily exclaims.
I groan.
“Don’t worry, Pix, I’ll protect you.” Alex’s breath tickles my ear. I close my eyes, lost in the sensation. Then he squeezes me tightly around my middle, and I almost moan in response to being so closely pressed into his body.
From the kitchen, Hank says, “Go ahead and start up the movie, I’ll make us some popcorn. Who wants butter?”
“Me!” yells Lily.
I remain quiet.
“Don’t you like a little butter on your popcorn, Stella?” Alex is still practically whispering in my ear. It’s giving me chills. The good kind.
“If you want it, sure,” I say, shrugging.
“Well, I’m fine either way. I really want to know if you want butter.”
I agree to the butter, surprising myself a little bit. My mom would die on the spot if she knew I was going to have butter on my popcorn. But Alex wants butter, so we’ll have butter. If I gain a little weight, I’ll have cut back on things next week.
“We’ll have some butter on our popcorn, Hank,” yells Alex.
“Coming right up.”
Alex lifts me up off of his lap and sets me down so he can start the movie.
I mean, he literally lifts me up. He didn’t even grunt in pain when he did it.
I’m shocked. He returns to the seat, and we’re both squeezed onto the love seat side by side now.
He reaches his big arm over my shoulders and scoots me closer.
I rest my head on that spot between his shoulder and his chest. My head fits there perfectly.
He smiles down at me, and I look up and smile back.
It’s so cozy, I snuggle up even closer to him.
From this spot, I can smell him. My gosh, he smells amazing. I inhale deeply.
“Are you sniffing me, Pixie?” whispers Alex.
“Maybe. You smell good.”
He leans his head down and inhales deeply. “You do too, Pix. You smell like sweetness and summer.”