So I'm a Double Threat (Double Threat Series) (22 page)

Keesh just watches the striptease with a glare. She yells, “Hey Amy, what happened to your red suit?” She laughs, and turns away, not even waiting for a response from her.

She says it loud enough for everyone to hear. Everyone chuckles until Amy flashes us a devilish look. She continues her show by slicking herself up in sun tan oil and lying down on her back to toast.

Keesh just flips off her clothes and sits in a chair next to her. No show. No oils. No flashy bathing suit. Keesha is wearing a regular normal-looking suit today. It’s nice to see at least one of my friends still shows respect for their elders. Come on, does Amy really have to wear this suit in front of my parents?

Eric walks up dripping and gets a towel. He dries himself off a bit before saying, “Hey, Meg, can we get some drinks?”

“Sure.” I jump up out of my chair. “Wanna help me get some?”

He follows me inside to find a table full of women—my mom’s book club friends. Actually, they’re all her college buddies, but they use the book club as a way to stay connected.

“Oh. Hi, ladies.” I smile. “Nice to see you all again.”

“Hi, Megan,” one of them says, looking from me to Eric.

“Oh...everyone, this is my boyfriend, Eric.” I gesture to him. “And Eric, this is Teri, Shazia, Sarah, Stephanie, Ellen, Andrea, Edita, and Sylvie.” He shakes each one of their hands to greet them. He is so polite; it only makes him cuter.

“There’s gonna be a test later,” Sylvie jokes.

“Well, I’m sure I won’t forget you.” He winks at her. Is my boyfriend flirting with one of my mom’s friends?

“Come on.” I push him into the kitchen. “See ya later, ladies.”

We get out of earshot before Eric says, “Damn, those ladies are fine. I expected to see a bunch of old women with gray hair or something. Your mom’s got some hot friends.”

“Chill, Eric. Don’t get too excited.” I punch him in the arm. “Were you seriously flirting back there?”

He just laughs and kisses me on the cheek. We grab the drinks and stroll outside. The rest of the guys have gotten out of the pool. Josh jogs over to Keesh and Amy before shaking out his hair and body, like a shaggy dog, trying to get them wet. Keesh thinks it’s funny but Amy shoots him one of her evil glares.

“You guys gotta go in there and check out Meg’s mom’s friends.” Oh, my gosh...he’s still on this kick. “There has to be like ten MILFs in there right now.”

I stop him. “Calm down, Stiffler, before I punch you again.”

The boys laugh and Amy asks, “Who’s Stiffler and what’s a MILF?”

“Oh, my God, Amy, you’re whack.” Josh laughs at her.

Alex asks, surprised, “Haven’t you ever seen any of the American Pie movies?”

She shakes her head. Where in the hell has she been?

Keesh giggles. “Stiffler’s like this sex-crazed idiot who never gets any and a MILF is a... ,” she holds up her fingers to make quotes, “mother I’d like to...you know...use your imagination,” she explains.

The boys laugh hysterically, slapping hands, thrusting their hips, making humping gestures. Even Alex joins in this demonstration, which makes it even funnier.

“You guys are sick.” I punch Eric again, this time in the gut, and push Josh on my way to the pool. I would have socked them all if they were in reach. I take off my shirt, leave my shorts on, and sit at the edge of the pool with my feet in the water. Keesh and Amy stay put in their chairs, while the guys keep getting in and out of the water, taking turns going inside to get a look at the MILFs. Jerks.

I get sick of sitting there by myself. There are only so many crazy dives the guys can do before they all look the same. Boring. I get up and walk over to convince Keesh to keep me company.

“You know I just think it’s a little too much of a coincidence, Amy,” I hear Keesh say, as I get closer.

“What’s a coincidence?” I ask.

“Uhh. Nothing.” Keesh looks startled. She gets up and walks toward the pool. “I was just gonna go sit with you.”

“Oh. Okay.” I follow her back to the water. Uh-oh. What did Amy do to piss her off now?

“Heeeyyyy. I’m heeeere so let the partaaaay begin.” I know that voice anywhere. I turn my head quickly to see Dominic stripping off his shirt, throwing it to the ground, and running to a flying leap into the pool. Well...I don’t need to jump in the pool
now
. Dominic soaks both Keesh and me with his ginormous cannonball. He was so quick, there wasn’t anything we could do to get away.

We all start busting up laughing. It’s hilarious. We must look like wet cats. It’s a good thing Amy wasn’t sitting with us ’cause she would’ve gone ape-shit on his ass for getting her wet.

“What are you guys doing here?” I squeal. “I thought you weren’t getting back till tomorrow.”

“Our parents decided to leave early to beat the traffic...I called you, but you didn’t answer your cell so I called your house. Your mom told me you were all here, so we thought we’d surprise you...Surprise,” she yells.

“Cool.” Steph kicks off her flip-flops and sits next to me. “So how did it go? Did you impress Dominic with your riding skills?”

“She means with your bike, Steph.” Keesh giggles, jokingly.

“Good one, Keesh,” Steph says, chuckling. “We had a good time. It was kind of weird being around our families, especially my dad. What dad wants to see some guy hugging on his daughter? But, he was pretty cool. We rode all day, had campfires, and we went for walks at night. It was sooooo fun.”

“So what did you do on those walks? Huuuhh Steeephhhh?” Keesh pushes.

“We held hands, cuddled in the sand, and watched the stars,” she says, all girly.

I can totally picture it. “Aww, how romantic.”

“That’s a bunch of crap,” Keesh tells her. “Dish all the dirty details. Come on, Stephie.”

“Dang, Keesha. You’re as bad as my boys over here,” Dominic jokes, as he swims over.

“Yeah, and like you didn’t spill your guts just now.” She rolls her eyes at him.

“Nope. Not a word,” he stands up, shakes out his hair, gives Steph a quick peck, then settles with his back to her. She repositions herself to let him rest his back against her, with her arms over his shoulders and on his chest. He smiles and turns his head back to kiss her on the cheek. They’re so cute together.

I look for Eric, wanting to cuddle, of course, after seeing Dominic and Steph, but he is sitting down next to Amy on the deck. Seriously...are they like BFFs now or what? I stare at them for awhile, trying not to lose track of the conversation with everyone else. I notice Alex is watching me stare at Amy and Eric.

He swims over to me. “So what’s up, Meg?” Alex asks, wiping the water from his face.

I lean toward him so only he can hear me. “Since when did
your
girlfriend and
my
boyfriend become best friends?” 

We both watch Amy and Eric sunbathing next to one another. They aren’t talking or anything, they’re just there, together.

“It’s no big deal.” He shrugs, his eyes never leaving them. “
We
actually hang out and talk more than they do.”

Yeah, but it’s different, kinda. The more I think about Alex and me, the more I think I might have something to worry about with Amy and Eric. There is definitely a piece of my heart still feeling something for Alex. I won’t act on it or even admit it out loud, but the feeling is definitely still there. Eric is much too nice for Amy, though. Well, so is Alex.

Ugh. Who cares? I’m probably making something out of nothing.

There is a big unexpected splash. Amy and Eric just jumped in the water. Everyone else joins them but I’m fine sitting with my feet in the water.

“Hey, let’s do a chicken fight,” Keesh yells.

“Yeah. I bet Meg and I could whoop all your asses,” Eric looks over at me, nodding his head.

“Nah. I’m good.” I’d probably snap his neck trying to get my big ass on his shoulders. “I’ve gotta go to the restroom. You guys play without me.”

I pull my feet out of the water and stand. I don’t have to go to the restroom but I need to act the part. I go inside and watch them from the window. Keesh and Jonathan have Alex and Amy beat every time. Amy has a fierce attitude, but physically, she’s weak. She probably doesn’t want to screw up her manicure. When they finally settle down, I casually walk back outside.

“Wanna play now?” Eric asks as soon as he sees me.

“No thanks. I’m gonna work on my tan over here.” I quickly make up an excuse.

I look around for Amy’s suntan oil and see it peeking out of her bag. I go over to pull it out and see a brown paper bag. Is that
the
brown paper bag, her lunch? OMG. I look around and no one is watching so I open the bag.

OMG. She’s had lunch. Like really
haaad
lunch.

Oh crap. She’s having sex with Alex. No wonder he doesn’t care about Eric, he
has
Amy. He is
having
Amy a lot by the looks of it. There are less than half the condoms we started with. We both got the same amount and I know exactly how many I have and there is definitely some missing from Amy’s bag.

I close Amy’s lunch, her bag, and plop myself down in my chair. Thankfully, she doesn’t notice me in her stuff. I spray the oil all over my body. I’m practically dripping by the time I realize what I’m doing. I stop spraying and try to rub in as much as possible. Screw it. I grab a towel and start wiping the shit off. I stop suddenly and just observe my friends in the pool. I study Amy and Alex.

Seriously. My best friend had sex with
Alex
.

I spring to my feet and make a mad dash for the flowerbed.

There, I toss my cookies. I throw up my breakfast, my Gatorade, my chips, and I yak up...my heart.

––––––––

I
miss all the parties the last weekend of spring break. After puking my guts out at my own pool party, I can’t show my face. Actually, I don’t know if it’s the fact I vomited chewed-up strawberries and chips in front of my friends or that I don’t want to be around Amy and Alex. I don’t want to be around Eric, either. I feel so guilty the whole sex thing bothers me so much. I can’t believe I have a sweetheart for a boyfriend and I’m trippin’ over some other guy. And not just any guy...my best friend’s boyfriend.

Getting back to school is exactly what I need to take my mind off things. All the teachers are going nuts trying to cram in review before state testing. As if it matters, there are few students who pay attention to these stupid tests anyway.

Most of the time, we don’t even find out how we score or what the scores really mean. My dad thinks it’s a conspiracy. He believes politicians are making money off the testing companies, so as long as this high-stakes testing crap is around, the politicians will just get richer. It doesn’t help he’s a math guy, either. He’s always going on about how not all kids can pass if they’re scored on a bell curve. I get that part. Come on now, I’m in Algebra two. Any lame-o can figure out half of the students have to score below average and half have to score above on a bell curve. I’m only in ninth grade for crying out loud, why can’t the people who make up these dumb laws figure this out?

The only test I care about is the high school exit exam, but I don’t have to take it till next year. Testing has even taken over ASB. They have us sharpening pencils like crazy. I guess our school leaders are not aware of the fundamental rule of test taking: use a dull pencil. It takes less time to fill in the bubble that way.

In sixth period, Ms. Gelson lets us work with a partner to work on some study questions. Eric and I scoot our desks next to each other. This is a bad idea...we won’t get anything done.

“What are you doing after school?” Eric asks.

I pretend to read a passage as Ms. Gelson walks by, “Nothing. Wanna come over?”

“Yeah. I’ll walk you home.”

We stare at our papers but don’t do anything. Eric sits with his knee bouncing up and down like he is nervous about something.

“Is everything okay?” I put my hand on his leg. “What’s up?” He is obviously worried about something.

“Uh. Meg. Don’t you think everything’s a little different lately?” He looks down, pulling a piece of loose skin on his thumb.

Everything. Different. What exactly is he talking about?

“What do you mean? Can you be a little more specific please?” I’m worried now.

Everyone looks over at us. I get closer to him so we can whisper.

“I’m talking about us. Things seem different lately, don’t you think?” he says, crinkling the skin between his eyes, as if he’s hurt.

“Yeah, I kinda know what you’re talking about. It seems like we’re more like friends than a couple.” It’s nice to get this off my chest.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Is it because I’m not ready to have sex? ’Cause I think that’s when things started to change.” I can’t believe I asked that.

“No. Come on, Meg. No,” he says, angrily.

“Don’t act all surprised. After New Year’s, you couldn’t stop talking about it. Then, all of a sudden, you just gave up. You don’t even kiss me the same.”

Ms. Gelson makes another round and we look down at our papers.

When she passes us, Eric gets defensive. “What? And you weren’t different? You’ve barely even touched me after that night. It’s like I have a disease.”

“So why didn’t we just break up then?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should’ve, but I kinda think our friends keep us together.”

I finish his thought. “It’s like we just act like a couple so it won’t be weird with all our friends. Like a couple who doesn’t get divorced for the sake of the kids. We go out and kiss and stuff, but it just isn’t the same.”

“Weird, huh. Now when we kiss, I feel weird. Like I’m kissing my sister.” He chuckles.

Some girls would’ve been pissed at that comment, but I’m okay with it.

“So, what do we do then? I don’t want to stop hanging out with you, or Josh, or Jonathan. And I don’t think Keesh, Steph, or Amy would like that either. We created a little family here and I don’t want to lose that.” I tear up.

“No. I don’t want to lose it either. I think I can still hang out. We can still be friends. We just won’t have any other...privileges.”