Take it Easy – Chapter Five: Heterochromia Iridum – part 1E

Take it Easy – Chapter Five: Heterochromia Iridum – part 1E

“This dude didn’t believe me.” He pointed at some guy I didn’t recognize.

I spread my feet to about shoulder-width apart, bent my knees, and jumped into the air, rotating backward and tucking my knees before I extended my legs again and landed on my feet.

“Tada!” I took yet another bow.

Looking around while I walked back to my seat, I didn’t notice Nicole. She had been sitting sort of across the fire from me, but now I had no idea where she was. I got up again and looked over the heads of the crowd.

“I’ll be right back.” I told my friends.

They nodded and went back to their conversation.

“Nicooo-ole!” I shouted, searching for her in the dim light provided by the crescent moon. “Yo, Nicole!”

Lana appeared from out of the woods, her hair slightly disheveled and the button on her shorts undone.

“Lana, have you seen Nicole?”

“I haven’t, sorry.” She frowned apologetically.

“That’s fine. What were you doing back there?” I smirked.

“Well, I — um…” She stuttered hastily.

“Hey, Lana, where’d you go?” Ashton appeared behind her, buttoning up her own shorts. “Oh… There you are… Hi, Aaron!” She noticed my shocked face and tried to act normal.

“Were you two…?” I started, but trailed off.

“Yep!” Ashton replied unapologetically.

“And you’re both sober?”

“Hmm… Let me check.” Ashton sarcastically pretended to blow into her finger as if it were a breathalyzer. “100% sober!”

“Hmm.” I said, trying to process this turn of events.

“Do you have a problem with this?” She prompted, looking pointedly at me while she put an arm around Lana.

“Only that I didn’t get to watch.” I shot back in an attempt to recover my composure.

“Hah!” She scoffed at my raunchy comment.

“So how did this happen, anyway, Lana?” I asked her.

“I came up to her at the party and told her that I had a crush on her. Then, she led me over here and kissed me. And I guess you know what happened after that.”

“You bet I do.” I grinned. “By the way, Lana, your button is still undone.”

“Oops!” She reached down to button it. “I’ll go first so people don’t see us coming together.” She told Ashton.

Once she had left, I started speaking. “So, does this mean you’re a lezzie now, Ash?”

“Obviously not,” she rolled her eyes, “I did just let you stick your cock in my ass a couple days ago, so I guess I’m bisexual.”

“And that was wonderful.” I asserted. “But what does this mean for our little arrangement?”

“I don’t know,” she confessed, “I think it would hurt Lana if she found out about you and me. I don’t think this thing I have with her is all that serious, but who knows?”

“About that,” I winced, “she kinda already knows…”

“What?!” Ashton glared at me in cold fury. I didn’t expect her to react this harshly.

“When she told me that she had a crush on you, I may have let it slip that I think you’re gorgeous. Then she asked if I have a crush on you too, so I kinda had to explain the situation. I told her to go for you, though, so you sort of owe me in one way.”

“Why did you tell her? You were willing to throw away having sex with me that easily?”

I was sort of confused by her reaction; we weren’t a couple, so it wasn’t like we were breaking up or anything. “Well, yeah, to make you happy, I’d do pretty much anything; you know that.”

Ashton’s rage melted away and her face brightened into the sweetest, most genuine smile I had ever seen her give anyone. “That’s really sweet, Aaron. I’m sorry for blowing up at you. I was just scared that you had told everyone our secret.”

“What can I say? I’m just a big, sexy teddy bear who likes looking out for his friends.” I smiled back at her.

“Very true.” She pulled my head down to her for a soft kiss, but I noticed that this one was more softly passionate than hungrily lusty, unlike our usual kisses.

“By the way, Ash, have you seen Nicole?” I queried once we broke apart.

“Yeah, she went off that way just a few minutes ago.” She waved her hand in the direction of the part of the beach that was basically uninhabited at the time.

“Thanks. And if you ever need any lessons on eating pussy, call me.” I winked and resumed my search for Nicole.

She was lying on the sand next to some random guy, alternating between kissing him and drinking from the bottle of what looked like rum that she was holding.

“Nicole!” I growled. “Get over here, now. And you,” I turned my gaze to the stranger, “fuck off.”

“Hey, man, we were just having fun.” He got up, stumbled a little, and held up his hands as a peace offering.

I grabbed his collar, twisted it in my hand, and lifted him up off of the ground so I could see eye-to-eye with him.

“Go. Now.” I commanded, savoring the fear in his eyes as I threw him backward onto the sand. He scrambled to his feet and ran away.

“Nicole, what did I tell you?” I lifted her onto my shoulder as I had done many times before.

“You’re not my dad.” She burped.

Once again, I took away a bottle of liquor from her and tossed it away.

“We’re going home. Let’s see how long it takes you to get ungrounded this time.” I snarled.

I carried her past the campfire to tell everyone that I had to go. “Sorry, guys, but this one’s been acting like an idiot.” I shook Nicole’s limp-ish body and waved goodbye.

We arrived at the car; I dumped Nicole into the passenger seat and buckled her in.

“Mom is not going to be happy with you, dumbass.” I told her sternly.

“Fuck you!” She mumbled. “I’m not the one that made a fuckin’… Mozart cocktail…”

“Molotov cocktail,” I corrected her, “and you had one damn rule to follow: be responsible. How simple is that? But no, you had to drink yourself into a stupor and make out with a random dude.”

“You’ve done way more bad stuff than me!” She protested. “You’ve had sex with half the girls on the cheer, soccer, and volleyball teams! You’ve…” She burped loudly. “…gotten naked pictures from more girls than that–!”

I cut her off. “I stopped doing that; I was hurting people and I realized that it needed to end. I was being immature and selfish, like you are right now.” Actually, it was Ashton that made me realize the error of my ways, but I saw no reason to tell Nicole that at the time.

“Hmmph!” She crossed her arms and legs in an obvious display of defiance.

It was only around 11:00 when we got home, so our mom was still awake. I had to pick up Nicole again and drop her onto the couch.

“This one couldn’t control herself.” I said angrily to mom, who was checking to see if Nicole was alright. “I caught her making out with some stranger on the quiet part of the beach, drinking rum or something.”

“Thank you for bringing her straight here.” She hugged me. “And you, young lady, are in a heap of trouble. No parties or friends’ houses for a month. For a start.”

“Mom!” She gasped.

“You’re lucky I’m going this easy on you.” She growled with the intensity that only a mother can muster.

“I’m going to bed, mom.” I sighed.

“Take Nicky up there with you, would you? And make sure she stays in the house this time.”

I nodded and hoisted Nicole like I used to when she was just a little kid: with my arm around her waist, balancing her on my hip. She rested her head on my shoulder and was almost asleep by the time I got her upstairs.

“Nicky, you have to get out of those clothes.” I said softly; her clothes were covered in sand and alcohol.

“Mmm.” She mumbled, presumably in mild protest.

“It’s okay, I’ve seen you without clothes before.” I assured her.

She dutifully raised her arms above her head so I could pull her lacy tank top off of her. I did the same for her miniskirt, doing my best to ignore her underwear-clad body. She was compact and had very little body fat, like most cheerleaders.

I helped her put on an old t-shirt of mine and kissed her on the forehead.

“Night.” I whispered as she pulled the covers up around herself and shut her eyes.

My easel was calling to me; I flipped on some lights in my room and examined my drawing of Ashton. I looked at her features: the curve of her jaw; the way her hair floated, feather-like, in the wind; the subtle contours of her face; and wondered if I had made a mistake in letting her go so easily. I mean, I know we weren’t together, but I still felt like my life was missing something.

After a few minutes of staring at the pencil drawing, I turned out the lights and got into bed; I didn’t really feel like working on my painting of Ashton that night.