Under My Skin - 7. Part I, chapter 7

- VII -

The next day I was almost dozing off during history class when the bell finally rang. I yawned and shoved my book into my backpack.

“Jake...”

I turned my head and felt like someone just knocked all air out of me. It was Alex who called my name.

“Hey,” I muttered, feeling like a complete idiot.

I couldn’t even look him in the eyes. Even after Christy was such a mess, I couldn’t stop loving this guy. I hated myself. He misinterpreted my uncomfortable shifting.

“I know that you probably hate me right now,” he said quietly, and I just blinked. “But can I talk to you? Please?”

“Sure,” I muttered and got up.

We went outside and Alex took a deep breath.

“Jake,” he said finally. “I need a favor from you...”

A favor, huh? It wouldn’t involve anything like making out with you for a couple of hours, huh?

“I need you to talk to Christy.”

Drat.

“Why?” I mumbled gloomily and he sighed.

“Jake, I am an idiot... I screwed up... Ever since Christy dumped me, I...” he closed his eyes. “Oh, Jesus... Jake, please... I just want to talk to her, but she wouldn’t even look my way now... She will listen to you, you are her best friend... Jake, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat...” he smirked bitterly. “Jumping off the bridge is vaguely becoming an attractive idea ...”

“Jesus...” I sighed and he shrugged.

“Please, Jake... Talk to her... I just want to...” he shook his head. “I don’t know.... I want her back.”

I felt like dropping on my knees and screaming obscenities at the sky.

“I’ll talk to her,” I said quietly and he blinked rapidly at me.

“Oh, God... Jake, thank you so...”

“Yeah,” I interrupted him. “See you around.”

I walked away from him, feeling so numb that I couldn’t even think. Suddenly, I bumped into someone.

“Sorry,” I muttered without even looking up.

“You okay?”

I lifted my head.

“Amber, hey... Yeah, I am fine. I just talked to Alex, he is...” I bit my tongue.

Amber looked at me with curiosity.

“He wants to get back with Christy, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah...”

She snorted.

“Landon is an idiot. What did you tell him?”

I shrugged.

“I said I’d talk to Christy.”

“Will you?”

“I will,” I sighed. “He messed up, it happens, right?”

Amber rolled her eyes.

“Guys,” she snorted again. “You are all the same!”

I blinked at her in confusion and she laughed.

“Never mind,” she shook her head and her auburn hair twinkled in sunlight. “Christy will probably forgive him until he screws someone else and she finds out about it...”

“He won’t...” I started to say and Amber looked at me darkly.

“He will,” she said softly. “All guys are the same.”

“Amber,” I said patiently. “I am a guy too, remember?”

“Yeah...” she looked away. “You are probably the same as everyone else, and I am just stupid for...” she stopped talking.

I sighed. I knew her story. Christy told me. Amber was head over heels in love with some guy who was older than her. I think Christy said he was in his early twenties. Amber was fifteen back then. She was madly in love with him, and then one day he just left town. Chris said that he stopped by Amber’s house, kissed her on the forehead, and said something like, “Gotta go see the world, babe! Have fun, see you in another life.” And just like that, he left. Christy said that Amber became completely different ever since that happened. I guess that was when she turned into the social moron that I was used to before we went out. Christy also told me that she was pretty sure that Amber tried killing herself.

“Come on,” I said and pulled her sleeve. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” she frowned but followed me.

I grinned.

“To the park.”

We spent the entire afternoon in the park, and I actually enjoyed myself. The weather was nice, I finally had my own money, and I could buy ice-cream and whatnot without thinking that I would have to pay Christy back, since I would always borrow money from her before I got a job. Amber was in a good mood, and life seemed pretty decent. I realized that it was getting pretty late and looked at my watch. I almost whistled when it read 10:20. Dear God! I knew it was late, but I didn’t know it was this late...

“Come on,” I said softly. “Let’s go back, I’ll drive you home.”

‘Drive’ is one of the sweetest words in English language. Yes, I finally had a car. Matt was able to find a really good deal on the 1994 Chevrolet Impala. The guy who was selling it happened to be the same roommate who was moving out of Sam’s apartment. I haven’t met Sam yet, but Matt said he’d introduce us soon. Andy, the moving roommate, was in a hurry to sell his stuff, and Matt was able to get him to agree to a lower price. Of course, I couldn’t come up with the entire amount right away, but Arthur – Christy’s dad – loaned me the money, and I was paying him back every two weeks after I got my paychecks.

Amber looked at me and let out a tiny sigh.

“Okay,” she said quietly.

And then all of a sudden, I started thinking of Alex again, and about the fact that he was probably in love with Christy, and that they would get back together – I was sure about that – and then they would finally sleep together... I had an impossibly bright image of the slowly-stripping Alex in my head, and then I just stopped thinking. I pulled Amber towards myself and closed my eyes. I didn’t even care that we were in a public place. The entire park seemed dark and deserted. I pulled Amber down on one of the benches without interrupting my kiss.

She mounted me and buried her hands in my hair just like Alex did that one night when he was kissing Christy. I wasn’t completely ignorant about the whole sex thing. Christy taught me a lot of theory by now, and I mean, a lot. I’ve just never done it. I remembered how Christy said once, “Jake, the longer you can last, the better.” I figured that it shouldn’t be a problem. I mean, all I had to do was open my eyes and not think of Alex for a while.

Amber unbuttoned my jeans and ran her hand down my inner thigh. It felt good and I moaned quietly. She was muttering something very softly, and I couldn’t understand her. Then after a while, she got out of her pantyhose and underwear, and slid on top of me. I immediately opened my eyes, feeling like I was about to explode from the inside. It was harder than I thought, no pun intended. I bit my lip and looked at her, thinking, “Amber, this is Amber... It’s just Amber...” That helped a little. She moaned when I kissed her neck, and kept moving slowly up and down, her fingers never leaving my hair. Jesus, it was so weird. On one hand, I couldn’t care less about her sliding on top of me, and on the other hand, my body was reacting so wildly that I couldn’t breathe. Then suddenly, Amber pulled my hair so hard that I almost cried out in pain. She was whispering something, and I heard her say my name. She gasped and her body went rigid. I closed my eyes and immediately saw Alex. And then I almost howled when I came so hard that I almost fell off that bench.

Amber laughed softly and kissed my face.

“Pretty good, huh?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah,” I muttered, my heart beating insanely fast. “Yeah.”

When I got home that night, Christy was waiting for me in my room, her eyes filled with suspicion.

“What did he want?” she demanded the minute I walked inside. “I saw you talking to him. What did he...”

Suddenly, she stopped talking and just started at me. My first thought was that my zipper was undone. I checked it quickly. No, it was fine.

“What?” I asked and she kept staring. “Bailey, what are you staring at?!”

“You had sex,” she said quietly.

I blinked.

“What, do I have a sign on my forehead or something?”

“Oh my God,” she started to laugh. “You totally did! Jake, you did, didn’t you?”

“Bah,” I growled. “Chris, this is...”

“Tell me!” she almost squealed. “Tell me all about it!”

I threw her a dark look.

“I don’t think so,” I snorted.

“Well, did you like it...?” she shook her head. “Never mind that question... Duh... How long did you last? Who came first?”

“Jesus,” I moaned. “You are worse than Amber!”

“Tell me!” she was all but jumping up and down with excitement.

“No,” I said and she growled.

“Summers, you came first, didn’t you?”

“Shut up.”

“Oh my God! You did!”

I threw a book at her and she caught it with laughter.

“No,” I said finally. “Amber did.”

“Wow,” she said with respect.

“Uh huh,” I muttered and took off my jacket. “We did it in the park,” I added and Christy just silently moved her lips. “On the bench.”

“No way!”

“Way!”

“God, Jake...” she started to laugh. “Seriously...? Oh, God...!”

“Hey, Landon said that he was thinking about jumping off the bridge if you wouldn’t talk to him,” I said and she stopped laughing.

“What...?”

“Uh huh,” I nodded. “He said he couldn’t eat or sleep. Talk to him, Chris.”

“After what he did?” her eyes narrowed and I sighed.

“Chris, he made out with a slutty girl... Is it really that big of a deal?”

She stared at me.

“Unbelievable,” she said finally.

“What?” I shrugged. “Really, it’s not like he cheated on you... Well, I guess he did...”

“Hell yeah, he did!” she was angry now. “Jake, I can’t believe that you are on his side!”

“I am on your side, moron,” I said patiently. “And I know that you cry every night before you go to sleep.”

Christy blushed.

“How do you know?” she muttered.

“I can hear you through the wall,” I said and rolled my eyes. “Jesus, Chris! Just talk to him! What’s the worst thing that can happen? You’ll make up?”

“Shut up,” she muttered, and I immediately knew that she and Alex would be back together before the end of the week.