Ninth Grade
CARTER
Dear Arizona,
You owe me twenty dollars.
Sincerely,
Carter
Dear Carter,
Could you at least TRY to look like you’re paying attention in class? And why are you passing me a note, when we both have cell phones?
Annoyed,
Arizona
Dear Arizona,
I didn’t see the twenty dollars you owe me in your last note. Please respond with the appropriate funds. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Carter
Dear Carter,
The only way I could possibly owe you twenty dollars is if you had sex/lost your virginity this weekend. And since we both know you didn’t, you can stop pretending like you did. You can, however, send me twenty dollars for putting up with this note writing bullshit.
Grow up and use your cell phone,
Arizona
Dear Arizona,
Like I said … You owe me twenty dollars :-)
Sincerely,
Carter
She gasped as she read my final note, looking over her shoulder and shaking her head. She sent me a text right before the bell rang.
Arizona
I’ll see you after my Home-Economics class? Your place?
Yours. My mom is having her therapist over later. If you guys bake brownies again, bring me one.
Done deal.
I floated through the rest of my day at school, not paying any attention to anything that was happening around me. I even spent an extra hour at test-prep tutoring—something I never did, unless I was bored out of my mind.
I walked the long way to Ari’s house—stopping every minute to look around at nothing in particular, but when I arrived, she wasn’t there.
“Hey, there, Carter!” Her older sister, Ariana, ushered me inside. “You want something to drink?”
“Water, please.”
“Coming right up,” she said, quickly pressing a cold bottle into my hand. “You can go wait for Ari upstairs in her room, if you want. She should be home in a few minutes.”
“No, thanks.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I’ll wait here until she gets back. Thanks to you, your mom thought we were up there having sex last time I was here. Or do you not recall lying to her about that?”
“It was a joke.” She laughed. “I honestly think we’ve all accepted that you two are just friends. Weird, strange, and way too damn close friends, but just friends.”
“Not trusting it.” I plopped onto the couch. “I’ve been scarred for life. Sorry.”
She smiled and crossed her arms. “You know, I was just telling one of my friends about you two. I was telling her that although I think it’s nearly impossible to be strictly friends with a guy, that I think you and Arizona are the rare boy and girl friends that will always remain strictly platonic. ”
“Thank you for your random thoughts,” I said. “I was hoping that you would throw some my way today.”
“Well, smartass, between you and me, have you ever had any non-friendly thoughts about Arizona? Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe one day, she’ll be your girlfriend? Or maybe—”
“You know what? I’m going to take you up on that room-pass now.” I immediately stood up and walked up the stairs, ignoring her cackling laughter. I shut the door and sat by the window, resorting back to far more entertaining thoughts of sex.
It was ten times better than I thought it would be, and I couldn’t wait to tell someone else about it. I wasn’t sure how I was going to focus on anything else at school this week because I was going to need to have sex in my life a lot more often to cling to this current feeling.
“Can you stop smiling like that?” Arizona threw a pillow at my face. “You’re giving it all away.”
“So, you believe me now?”
“After seeing you sit there with that dumbass grin on your face for over five minutes?” She plopped onto her bed. “Yeah. I have no choice.”
“Sorry, I can’t help it.” I walked over and plopped down right next to her. “It was so great.”
“Who was it? Erica? Adriane?”
“Amber,” I said. “We did it at her place Sunday afternoon while her parents were at a BBQ.”
“How classy.”
“We did it more than once, too.”
“You’re lying! There’s no way!”
“Oh, young and unworldly, Ari. When thou hast experienced the wonder of the body, thou shall be able to effortlessly relate to the need and insatiability of bodily desires.”
“So, you do pay attention in Literature class?” She laughed and placed a wrapped brownie onto my chest. “I knew she was a pedophile.”
“She’s only three years older than us.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “Who else knows?”
“No one.” I hadn’t told any of my guy friends yet—Josh was still serving out a suspension for skipping school last week, so Ari was my first call.
“What did it feel like?” she asked.
“Apple pie.”
“I’m being serious.” She rolled over on her side. “What did it feel like?”
“Good.” I swallowed. “Really, really good. But—”
“But what?”
“You know how in all those dumbass chick-flicks you make me watch, when the actors have sex and they look into each other’s eyes and act like their world has just changed forever?”
“Yeah?”
“It wasn’t like that at all.”
“Really?”
“Really.” I shrugged. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s like the best feeling ever in life—especially when I first thrust inside of her and felt how tight her—”
“Ugh. Please spare me the grisly details.”
“Okay, okay.” I laughed and turned on my side to face her. “It’s really, really amazing, Ari. But if it’s supposed to be anything like the movies, then I must be missing something.”
“Or maybe you did it wrong?”
“No.” I laughed harder. “I definitely didn’t do it wrong.”
“What about in the pornos then? Was it anything like that?”
“You watch porn? Since when?”
“Since a while ago.” She pulled out her phone. “.”
“No, no, no.” I took her phone and shook my head. “You have to use . It links to all the best sites, and its way better organized.” I typed up the website. “What category do you normally watch? Amateur?”
“Hardcore, actually.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“I’m not.” She looked genuine. “We watched a ton of them at Lisa Jane’s party last month. I watch them like twice a week now. I think I might be addicted.”
“A virgin addicted to porn?” I rolled my eyes. “I think I’ve heard it all now. You’re just going through a phase.”
She scooted close to me as I hit play on a video: “Double D Lila Gets Pounded by Huge Cock.”
“Of all the videos you could’ve picked.” She sighed.
“This was under the hardcore category, thank you very much.” I turned up the volume.
Onscreen, there was no attempt to even create a storyline. The blond model stripped out of her white T-shirt and spread her legs atop a desk as a guy wearing a “Vitamin D” shirt stroked his cock a few times.
“Can’t wait to pound that pussy, babe,” he said, winking at the camera. “You have such a beautiful and slick pussy.”
Ari and I laughed.
Vitamin D grabbed Lila’s hips and bent her over a chair, slapping her ass a few times before slipping his cock inside of her.
“Do you think her boobs are real?” Ari tilted her head to the side as Lila’s breasts bounced up and down, as Vitamin D pounded into her again and again.
“Nope. They’re silicone. See how the skin around the boob doesn’t move? How they keep their perfect too-good-to-be-true shape? It’s definitely silicone.”
“That is hands-down, the worst explanation I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s the truth. Next time you take a shower just jump up and down in the mirror and compare how your boobs—what little you have of them anyway, move compared to hers.”
“I’ll definitely let you know. What about her butt?”
“Arizona! Carter!” Her mom called up the steps and I exited the site, handing the phone back to Arizona. “Both of you come down here and help me put up the groceries! And yes, Carter, you’re required to help, since you eat your fair share of them every week!”
I rolled out of bed and pulled her up.
“Okay, wait. I have a confession,” Ari said, crossing her arms. “I’m insanely jealous that you had sex before me. There. I said it.”
“I’d be jealous, too.” I laughed. “But you want that whole Prince Charming-stars-in-your-eyes fantasy for your first time, remember?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Just keep watching porn until you find the right guy in real life, and you better tell me when it happens.”
“I will.” She opened the door. “Always.”
“But if it doesn’t happen, I can always give you a sympathy fuck. That’s what a true best friend would do.”
She slapped the back of my head and pushed me out of the room. “If we ever did sleep together, I would be the one giving you a sympathy fuck.”