Kiss Me

Part I, chapter 7

- VII -

"They are gone!" Danny yelled from downstairs, and I walked out of his bedroom.

"Dear God..." I breathed when I saw his living room, and he grinned.

"Yeah, could've been worse. Last year someone ripped off my curtains. That was bad..."

I looked around with wide eyes. The place was a mess. There were empty bottles everywhere; the couch and the chairs were standing at some strange new angles; carton pizza boxes were all over the floor.

"You sure you wanna do this in your dress?" Danny asked me doubtfully, and I realized that he was right. "Go upstairs," he said. "Get one of my shirts. I'll get started here."

I went back upstairs and opened his closet. I grabbed one of his blue shirts and pulled off my dress. His shirt was so long that it went all the way down to my knees. I decided to leave my pantyhose on and walked downstairs. Danny was picking up the empty pizza boxes and shoving them into a big black garbage bag. He looked up at me and smiled.

"Cute," he said. "Very cute."

I laughed at that and ran down the stairs. I grabbed one of the garbage bags and started picking up empty beer bottles.

"Do you recycle those?" I asked, and he looked at me like I was crazy.

"I don't care," he said. "I am going to take these bags to the dumpster when this place looks somewhat decent..."

We were done in less than an hour, and I was really surprised at our efficiency. I looked around and nodded when everything seemed to be in order.

"Cool," Danny said. "Let me vacuum real quickly."

I watched him vacuum, and suddenly, wondered if I would be able to feel the same way about him as I felt about Tyler.

"There," he said finally and turned off the vacuum cleaner. "Done."

"You are good at it," I said with respect.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I can cook too. I am quite a catch."

I laughed and he came really close to me.

"This shirt..." he said softly.

"What about it?" I asked him in the same voice.

"You don't really need it..." he started unbuttoning my shirt, and I pressed my face against his bare chest, enjoying the way he smelled, when suddenly, I heard a loud gasp.

We froze on the spot. My first thought was, "Oh my God, it's his mother!!" Danny slowly turned his head, and I risked a quick glance above his shoulder. It wasn't his mother. It was Trisha. She looked at us with horror, her mouth open, face white.

"Trish..." I muttered. "You scared me..."

"Stephanie..." she muttered. "You... You..."

"I am fine, Trish," I said quickly.

"What do you want?" Danny asked in even voice.

"I can't find my car keys," she whispered.

"There is a set of somebody's car keys on top of the TV," he said unemotionally, and Trisha quickly walked across the room, trying not to gawk at us.

"Yup," she said. "These are mine..."

"Great," Danny said. "Go away now."

"Steph... Do you..." She coughed. "Do you need me to wait for you? I mean..." she turned beet-red. "Do you need a ride?"

"No," Danny said in the same calm, even voice. "I'll give her a ride. Please go away... And lock the door," he added when she started to walk away.

"Okay," she whispered.

"Trisha!" I called and she stopped without looking at me. "Don't say anything... Okay?"

She finally looked at me and smiled weakly.

"I would never say anything, Steph," she said, and I nodded, knowing that she wasn't lying.

"I'll call you, okay?"

"Yeah," she muttered. "You'd better..." and she walked out, making sure the door was locked.

Danny sighed.

"That was interesting," he muttered and I laughed weakly.

"Yeah... I'd better go," I said and he nodded.

"Okay."

He followed me to the bedroom and I didn't get to leave for several more hours.

"Danny..." I said around 3:30 in the afternoon.

"Mmm?" he asked without opening his eyes.

"I really should go..."

"Okay," he said and opened one eye. "You can go, I am not holding you or anything..." and he laughed when I tried to get off the bed.

"Danny!"

He pulled me closer and started kissing my neck again.

"Stop..." I tried to sound firm, but it didn't work. "Danny... I gotta..."

****

I finally left his house ten minutes before six. He drove me home and just looked at me when he pulled next to my house.

"See you Monday," he said, and I couldn't figure out why all of a sudden, he sounded so indifferent.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Monday..."

I started opening the door when he sighed and pulled me back inside the car.

"Jesus, Palmer," he grumbled. "You are really something," he said softly and kissed me so gently that I couldn't breathe for several seconds. "Get out now..." he said quietly without letting me go.

"Okay," I said, and this time, I kissed him first.

"Okay," he finally pulled away from me. "Either you want to go home or you don't..."

"I don't," I said with regret. "But I have to..."

"Go then," he said, and this time, he let me go.

"See you Monday..." I said and he shrugged.

"Monday-Schmonday... Later, Palmer!"

I got out of his car and he took off without even glancing at me. I took a deep breath before walking into my house. I was ready for the full interrogation, when to my surprise, the only person who greeted me was Eric.

"Finally," he said, shoving a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. "I thought you died."

"Where is everybody?" I looked around with a frown.

"Dad left at, like, ten in the morning," Eric said. "Someone called him from the office... And Mom left at noon. She said she needed to go do her nails..."

"Nails?" I frowned. "But we just..." I immediately bit my tongue.

"You just what?" Eric asked me suspiciously.

"We just talked about getting our nails done together," I said casually. "I thought we'd go tomorrow..."

Eric shrugged.

"I dunno," he said. "She said not to wait for her tonight."

"Okay..." I said and picked up the phone.

"Who are you calling?" Eric eyed me with curiosity.

"Trisha," I said, and he rolled his eyes.

"Didn't you just see her, like, five minutes ago?"

"No," I said absent-mindedly. "I haven't seen her since this morning..." I bit my tongue again, but now it was too late.

"I knew it!!" Eric shouted, his ice cream forgotten. "You were with a guy!"

"Eric," I grimaced. "Shut up and go away, okay?"

"No way!" he yelled, and I just sighed.

"Hello?" I finally heard Trisha's voice on the other end of the line.

"Trish, it's me," I said quickly, and she fell silent.

"Stephanie has a boyfriend...!" Eric yelled so loudly that I wanted to shove the phone down his throat. "Stephanie has a boyfriend!!"

"I'll come pick you up in ten minutes," Trisha said finally and hung up the phone.

****

I waited for her on the side of the road. She pulled her Mazda next to me and waited for me to get in. Then she silently started driving down the road.

"Where are we going?" I asked her in a small voice.

"Don't care," she muttered.

"Let's get coffee," I looked at her pleadingly. "Trish! Please let me buy you coffee!"

"Fine," she said, and to my relief, her voice sounded much better now.

...We sat outside the Starbucks and silently drank our identical black coffees.

"Fine," Trisha sighed finally. "I'll start... So... You and Danny?!" she looked at me with her huge eyes, and I sighed.

"Yeah," I said sheepishly.

"Good God..." she muttered. "How the hell did it happen? Were you drunk? He got you drunk, didn't he?"

"No, no, Trish," I shook my head. "He didn't... And I wasn't drunk. It just... happened..."

"Right," Trisha nodded energetically. "You just happened to end up in his bed..." She stopped talking and looked at me. "You were in his bed, right?" She asked, and I nodded silently. "That explains why I couldn't find you... Anyway, spill, Stephanie! Stuff like that doesn't just happen! I mean, you didn't even care about him before last night... What happened?"

I sighed and told her about Ashlee and Tyler, and how I felt, and how Danny was there, and how he turned out to be an incredibly good kisser.

"Really?" Trisha interrupted me. "He is a good kisser? Wow... Would've never guessed... Okay, go on."

"That's it," I shrugged, and she looked at me with reproach.

"No," she said. "That's not it. So you kissed him by the gas station, and then what?"

I sighed.

"Then we went back to his house and into his bedroom..." I said. "We didn't fall asleep until almost six," I finished with a small smile, and Trisha's mouth immediately shaped itself into an amazed O.

"So..." she stuttered. "So what now...? I mean, are you with Danny now?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I told him how I feel about Tyler..."

"You what?!" Trisha looked at me as if just told her that I escaped from an asylum. "You told that to Danny? Before or after you two..."

"After," I said. "Well, after the first time..."

"How many times were..." Trisha shook her head. "Never mind," she said quickly. "I don't wanna know... What did he say?"

"He said that as long as I didn't call him Tyler when we were together, he was fine," I shrugged. "To be honest, I think for him it was just s*x, Trish..."

"What about you?" she frowned.

"Me too," I said softly. "I think I am in love with Tyler, Trish..."

"God..." she moaned. "Will you just let Tyler be?!"

"I can't," I said simply and she closed her eyes.

"Steph..." she whispered and I interrupted her.

"Don't say anything, okay? Don't say anything about Tyler."

"What about Danny?" she looked at me slyly. "Can I say something about him?"

"Sure," I laughed.

"So..." she cleared her throat. "Was he your first?" she lowered her voice.

"Yeah," I nodded with a small smile.

"Wow," she breathed. "That's, like, so major... How was it?"

"It was really good," I said, feeling my cheeks burning. "Danny is an amazing kisser."

"And besides kissing? Is he... You know..." and she made a rude gesture with her hands.

"God, Trisha!" I almost spilled my coffee. "You are so dirty...!"

"Well, is he?"

"Yes!" I cried and hid my face in my hands. "He totally is!"

"God, Stephanie... You are, like, a slut now..." she said seriously, and I couldn't take it anymore.

I started laughing so hard that I almost cried. Trisha laughed as hysterically as I did.

"Oh my God... Oh God..." I tried to breathe. "Oh my God..."

"How many times did you say that last night, you slut, you?" Trisha said, her voice shaking from laughter.

I looked at her seriously.

"About fifteen," I said solemnly. "Maybe twenty..."

And then we laughed again for the next twenty minutes.

"So what about you?" I asked her finally, when I could speak.

"What about me?" Trisha looked at me with very honest and innocent eyes.

"What about you and Andy?"

She shrugged.

"Nothing. Andy and I are just friends..." She giggled before she finished her sentence. "Oh, man.... I can't even say it with a straight face," and she laughed again.

"Now who is the slut?" I said, frowning at her. "You did it with him, didn't you? Oh, Lordy, you totally did! Wait, wait, wait... Was he your first?"

Trisha finished her coffee in a hurry.

"Aww," she said with regret. "All out of coffee now..."

"No, no, no, missy! Get your butt back here!"

"I really need a refill!" she cried and ran off.

"Get me one too!" I called after her and she nodded.

She came back in five minutes.

"Here you go, my dear," she almost sang when she sat down.

"Trisha..." I said with a dangerous note in my voice. "Was Andy your first?"

"No, he wasn't..." she finally confessed. "But Andy is like..." she shrugged. "I don't know, he is different... Anyway, we are not here to talk about Andy."

She looked at me solemnly.

"What are you going to do, Steph?" she asked softly.

"I will just follow through with the rest of my story," I said with a smile. "Danny is just... You know..." I shrugged. "A f**k-buddy..."

Trisha coughed.

"Now who is dirty..." she muttered, wiping coffee off her mouth.