The Tribuo - 10. part II, chapter 3

- III -

I was amazed with myself when I actually managed to concentrate on the test the next day. I was actually capable of self-control, who would’ve thought! I even managed to finish it early. I saw that Ellie finished it early as well, and I was itching to just get out of there, but I knew that I would be throwing DeeDee to the lions if I did that. She would fail the damn test. So, I gritted my teeth, and waited for her to finish. When the bell finally rang, I almost laughed with relief.

“Okay, Lawrence,” I muttered. “See you later.”

“I will call you,” she sighed. “Thanks to you, I have to go home and hang out with my brother now!”

“Sorry,” I grinned. “You’ll be fine. You two are related.”

“Yeah,” she muttered. “That’s the problem.”

“Suck it up, Lawrence,” I laughed at her gloomy expression. “You’ll survive. Later!”

“See you,” she sighed in defeat, and I walked away.

Ellie was waiting for me outside.

“Took you a while,” she said seriously. “That test wasn’t even hard. I thought you were somewhat good at math!”

“Ha-ha,” I said with the same serious expression. “I had to make sure that DeeDee didn't drown. Do you wanna walk there or drive? I don’t care either way.”

“Let’s walk,” she said thoughtfully. “The weather is actually decent.”

She was right. It was surprisingly nice for the week before Halloween.

“So, how come you call her DeeDee?” Ellie asked after a while.

“Because those are her initials,” I said. “And because she doesn’t like the name Daisy. Says it makes her feel like she is five or something.”

“It’s a cool name,” Ellie shrugged. “So, are you guys together or something?”

I almost coughed at that. Seriously? She is actually interested?!

“She is my best friend,” I said finally.

“Oh,” Ellie said and I grinned when I heard relief in her voice. “That’s cool. What’s her middle name?”

“Danielle.”

“Oh, I see now… D.D.” she hemmed. “That’s neat.”

“What’s yours?” I asked with genuine curiosity and she snorted.

“Megan,” she sighed. “Pretty ordinary. I guess you can call me E.M. or something…”

“Nah,” I said lightly. “I’ll just stick with Ellie. Oh, by the way…”

We stopped by the traffic light and I pushed the crosswalk button. The WALK sign flashed green in a minute or so.

“So,” I continued after we crossed the road. “I did some research last night.”

“You did?” Ellie looked at me. “On what?”

“Emo people are depressed, it seems. So it’s like they want to suffer and die, so everyone feels sorry for them… Goths don’t give a crap about what anyone thinks, and they don’t want anybody to come to their funeral,” I finished.

Ellie laughed like it was the most hilarious thing she'd ever heard.

We spent several hours at that Starbucks and it was great. Finally, Ellie sighed and said that she had to go home. So, we walked back and I waited for her to get into her car when she muttered:

“It was really nice…”

“Yeah,” I said quietly, watching her throw her backpack in the car.

She straightened up and looked at me. I was about to say something, when all of a sudden, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed my mouth. I was so startled that I just stood there, blinking rapidly. She pressed against me, her lips warm and soft, and her tongue slowly traced the inside of my mouth. Well, that brought me back to life, and I immediately kissed her back, wrapping my arms around her. Then suddenly, she pushed me away, got into her car, and left without even looking at me.

Okay, what the hell just happened? I stood in the parking lot, unable to move. Ellie sure knew how to kiss, and she was good. Finally, I walked slowly towards my car, got in, and drove home. The entire way there, I was grinning like an idiot.

I called DeeDee as soon as I got home. She answered on the sixth or seventh ring, right when I was about to hang up.

“Hello,” she muttered and I frowned. Her voice sounded strained and heavy.

“You okay?” I asked and she cleared her throat.

“Yeah, I am fine,” she yawned. “I was sleeping, sorry.”

“Sleeping?” I looked at the clock. “Lawrence, it’s six in the evening.”

“I took a nap,” she said with slight annoyance. “That stupid test drained me.”

“Like you had to do any work,” I snorted.

“Whatever,” she sighed. “How was Miss Righteous?”

“Okay,” I sat on the windowsill. “Tell me what the hell this means…”

I told her what happened, and she didn’t sound sleepy anymore.

“Huh,” she said when I was done. “Seriously? She is a good kisser?! Who would’ve thought… I mean, she is all right and proper… I always thought of her as… Well, Miss Righteous, you know?”

“Uh huh,” I nodded. “I thought the same. But seriously, what does it mean?”

“I don’t know,” she sounded thoughtful. “I guess, take her out again, and see what happens.”

“Well, duh,” I rolled my eyes. “Lawrence, of course, I am going to take her out again… I am just confused… She never even looked at me twice before.”

DeeDee yawned again.

“Okay,” she said finally. “Two things I can think of… One, she liked you before you had a crush on her, so when you finally came around and asked her out, she was, like, beyond ecstatic… And two…” she sighed. “She could be just a cock-tease.”

“Ellie?” I asked incredulously. “No way!”

“Well… You didn’t even think she knew how to kiss, did you? I mean, she is all Good-Girl on the outside, but who knows what else she can do, right?”

“Ugh,” I said, thinking that she had a point.

“Anyway…” DeeDee yawned again. “I gotta go do some homework and go back to bed. I am wiped. Keep me posted.”

“Right,” I said and hung up the phone.

It was a little before nine when I finished my homework and pulled up an internet window on my laptop. I checked my e-mail and thought of going to bed, but then decided to look for more pictures of Number Six. So, I looked at the pictures, thought of Ellie and her mouth, and things just sort of unraveled from there. I made sure I locked my door first though. I was pretty sure that my mother wouldn't burst into my room, but you never know, right? And I didn’t have a slightest desire to repeat the entire “Oh, God… Andrew, that will turn you blind!!” thing. Yeah, my mother had an interesting sense of humor…

****

I asked Ellie out the next day and she said yes. So we settled on Saturday evening, and I immediately -- well, almost immediately -- told DeeDee about it. She looked at me, her dark eyes twinkling, and she said, “Frey, I want to know every single detail, do you understand me?!” I just sighed at that. Right, like I would actually tell her… Well, maybe I would, who knows. Not every single detail of course, but some stuff.

On Saturday, I picked Ellie up around six or so, and we went to see a movie. I can’t even remember what it was. I don’t think we got further than previews. We sat in the very back of the theater, and by the end of the movie, I was pretty sure that I looked beyond wild. Ellie, on the other hand, looked as cool as ever. All she had to do was to run a brush over her hair a couple of times. Good God! She was unbelievable!

“The movie is almost over,” she said in a sly whisper. “Where do you wanna go now?”

“Umm,” I said. “I think I’ll just stay put for a couple of minutes… Going to read all of the credits.”

“Why?” She sounded genuinely surprised.

“I might get arrested if I go out in this condition,” I said patiently, and she laughed.

“Right…”

I almost groaned when she started running her hand down my thigh again.

“Stop it,” I muttered. “Seriously… Not kidding… Ellie, knock it off.”

I had enough self-control left in me -- surprised the hell out of me -- to push her away.

“Jesus,” I grumbled. “What is it with you and public places?”

She smiled and shrugged.

“I don’t know. The whole forbidden thing, I suppose.”

“Uh huh… You know, we could always go to my house and…”

“I don’t think so,” she grinned. “This is, like, our second time out, Andrew. I am not that easy! This…” she glanced in my lap and bit her lower lip to keep from smiling. “This is just making out.”

I sighed. Making out, right. I was wondering if DeeDee was right with the whole cock-tease theory.

****

Three weeks later, I was positive that DeeDee was right with the whole cock-tease theory. For some bizarre and ridiculous reason, I could not say, “Oh, screw this shit!” and dump Ellie for good. She was driving me crazy, I would all but beat my head on the wall every time she was done 'making out' with me, but I could not dump her.

It was the end of second week of November, and I felt like exploding. Literally.

“Jesus, Ellie…” I muttered after she pulled away again. “Do you realize that you can actually injure someone by doing this?”

She laughed like it was the funniest joke. I sighed and tried to calm down my heartbeat.

“Ellie, look… I can’t…”

She started nibbling on my earlobe again, and I groaned. Not again… Jesus, what is wrong with her?!

“Stop it… Really…”

“Come on,” she murmured in my ear, and I blinked. Could it be?

She pulled my shirt out of my jeans and unbuckled my belt. Okay, this had better end the way it should end, dammit! She slowly ran her fingers down my thigh, and then her palm traveled to the left ever so slightly. Oh, God…

“Ellie, what… mmm… What are you doing?”

“Shhh,” she said, and her fingers did something indescribable.

“Oh, Jesus…” I breathed.

Her hand started slowly running up and down, squeezing just hard enough, and my back arched away from the back of the bench where she was doing it to me. Then she was nibbling on my ear again.

“Ellie… Mmm… Ellie, if you are… Oh, shit… Ellie, if you are going to stop again… Oh, God…”

Good Lord, did it feel good. I couldn't care less that we were in a public place. My breathing was beyond unsteady, and her tongue in my ear didn’t help. I was minutes away from exploding into her hand when she… Yup, you guessed it. She freaking stopped. She kissed my neck and grinned at me.

“Zip up your pants,” she said with laughter. “I need to get home.”

I just stared at her. Are you kidding me?! Okay, that was the last damn straw. I can’t handle this anymore. I closed my eyes and waited for my body to calm down somewhat. Finally, when I was sure that I wasn't going to look like some sex offender on the prowl, I zipped up my jeans, leaving my shirt untucked, and got up.

“You okay?” she frowned, and I just glanced at her.

“You need to get home, come on.”

I started walking without waiting for her, and she ran after me.

“Andrew, what’s wrong?”

“You seriously don’t know what the hell is wrong?!” I wanted to scream at her, but I just silently shrugged instead .

“Nothing. Let’s get you home.”

“Okay,” Ellie said in a small voice. “Are you mad at me?”

(“No. I am freaking livid!”)

“Nope.”

“Look,” she sighed. “I know I am a pain in the ass sometimes, but…”

(“Pain. Not in the ass though. And not sometimes.”)

“… but Andrew… I am a virgin, okay?”

Huh?! Okay, I can buy that. But what does it have to do with the whole driving me up the wall thing?

“So I guess, I am just not ready,” Ellie finished sheepishly.

“That’s cool,” I said indifferently, and I almost froze in my tracks when I realized that I really didn’t care anymore.

She misinterpreted my change of pace and immediately grabbed my hand. I shook my head and stopped.

“Okay,” I looked her in the eyes. “Ellie… I hate to say this, but this is so not working out anymore…”

“What?” she stared at me like I was speaking in Latin.

“I can’t go on like this,” I shrugged. “I am sorry.”

“Andrew…” she muttered. “Sex is not the most important thing… I mean…”

“Ellie,” I interrupted her. “We are finished, okay?”

“You breaking up with me because I won’t sleep with you?” her eyes immediately started to fill up with trembling tears. “Andrew, I am sorry, but I am just not…”

“No,” I said patiently. “I am not breaking up with you because you won’t sleep with me. That I can handle. I am breaking up with you because I am tired of living in the permanent blue balls condition. You are a virgin, that’s cool, I understand that. Hell, I even respect that! But what does it have to do with you constantly giving me a goddamn hard-on, and then stopping right before I am about to come?!”

She blinked. I guess she didn’t expect me to come out and say it. Oh, well.

“If you think that this is some sort of a game and it’s funny to you…” I shrugged. “Find someone else to play with, okay? I am done. Come on, let’s get you home.”

I pulled my hand away and started walking again. Finally, I realized that she wasn’t next to me anymore. I turned around and rolled my eyes. Oh, Jesus freaking Christ! She was standing where I left her, and she was silently crying. For some strange reason, tears never worked on me. No idea why. I sighed and walked back to her.

“Let’s go,” I said quietly. “You can do this in the car. I need to get home too.”

She looked at me like I just told her to go jump off the bridge. I was almost positive that she would start saying something again, but she didn’t. She just followed me to the car, silently, sniffling once in a while.

I drove her home, and she got out of the car without saying anything or even looking at me. I didn’t even wait for her to shut the door properly, and took off.