Saturday Night School Ch. 13

He checked the time. Half an hour until things started to happen. "How're you doing?" Talia asked him. "Need another drink?"

"No," he said. "Do you? I can get you one."

"I'm good for now," she said. "Maybe in a few minutes."

He leaned towards her. "It seems like everything's cool here," he whispered. "You don't need to pretend to be my date anymore. Go and have fun."

"No way," she said. "Vanessa gave me my orders. She drove me from Linterna just for this mission. I'm going to see it through." She smiled. "Anyways, I am having fun."

"What do you get out of this, anyway?" Charlie muttered.

"A favor. Vanessa asked me to do this as a favor, so I get a favor in return. A favor from Vanessa is a valuable thing, trust me."

"I bet." Charlie took a long drink from his Sprite, nearly emptying it, then snuck another glance at Michelle. He was disturbed to see that Glenn was now standing right next to her. He was telling Michelle an anecdote, and when Charlie tried to listen, he couldn't hear anything but Talia talking next to him. A girl sitting near them had a sister who was a junior at Jefferson University, and suddenly, Charlie found himself drawn into a three-way conversation about the Jefferson University campus. He wanted to hear everything, and struggled to untangle the words being said to him from the words being said to Michelle a few feet away.

A stupid anecdote. That's all it was, a dumb childhood story about catching a big fish on Safira lake. Glenn was telling the story with that same confident smile that he used when posing for family pictures. A pointless, boring story. So why was Michelle smiling and laughing as she listened?

"Glenn!" Calvin Holtz called loudly from near the TV. Calvin was another football player, a wide receiver. He was beckoning everyone over. "Come on, bro! This is the part I was telling about! You gotta watch it! It's a classic scene!" On the screen, Nicholas Cage was dressed in a nun costume, trying to infiltrate the enemy lair.

Calvin was so loud and enthusiastic that he drew everyone's attention. People gathered by the TV. Some of them stood to get a better look. Charlie noticed Glenn walking quickly over to where Calvin was standing. He also noticed Michelle wasn't following.

Even Talia stood to try and see the TV. The gathering crowd formed a wall facing the screen, and everyone else had to stand and join the wall if they wanted to see anything. Charlie made a show of standing behind Talia, even bumping into her to reassure her of his presence, before stepping backwards and slipping away.

The crowd laughed at the scene unfolding in the movie, which reassured Charlie that no one paid attention to what was happening behind them. Michelle lingered towards the back of the room, standing by herself, facing away from the screen. She didn't see Charlie as he silently approached.

"Hello," he said softly, when he was close enough to smell the scent of her perfume.

"Hi," she whispered.

He leaned towards her and pressed a soft kiss against the little red heart drawn on her cheek. "That's one."

"One," she murmured. "You need to find five more."

He touched the strap on her right shoulder and pulled it to the side, checking underneath it. Nothing. But when he moved the strap on her left shoulder, he found a second red heart, just above the swell of her breast. "I should have known," he said, as he leaned forward and kissed this one. "Right where your real heart is, right?"

"Two," she said. "Keep going."

Whatever was happening in the movie was still happening. The crowd around the TV laughed at something, and the sound of gunfire came from the screen. No one was looking in their direction at the moment, but Charlie had no idea when the scene would finish. Still, he started to unbutton the front of Michelle's tank top. It had three buttons, to allow the woman to adjust the amount of cleavage she was showing. Michelle had kept them all buttoned, but Charlie swiftly had them all undone. He reached down the front of her tank top and found her left breast, pulling it free. No heart there, but when he pulled out her right breast, he found a red heart drawn just above the nipple.

"Talia is Vanessa's cousin," he said. His fingers stroked her breast, drawing circles around the heart.

"I know," she murmured. "Three."

He leaned forward to kiss this third heart. His mouth found her nipple, and he sucked on it. Michelle touched his hair with her fingers, sighing as his tongue swirled around the hard tip of her nipple. Charlie put his hand on her other breast, tugging on her left nipple with his fingers while he sucked on her right.

Some instinct warned him that he should pull away, that he would be testing his luck if he went any further. He stood up straight and took a step backwards, and a second later the crowd started to turn away from the TV screen. Charlie walked at an angle away from Michelle, to make it seem as if they had been standing a distance apart. He glanced at Michelle and could see that she was swiftly pulling up her top and refastening the buttons.

Charlie found his spot behind Talia just before she turned around to look for him. "Weird movie, huh?" She grinned. She didn't seem to have noticed his absence at all.

"Yeah. I've never seen this one before," he said.

"Me, either." Talia leaned closer to him. "Do you still want to be here? Look over there." She nodded behind him.

Charlie glanced in that direction and saw that Glenn had returned to his place by Michelle. Michelle was leaning against the table and Glenn stood in front of her, telling her something which was making her smile. Glenn gestured broadly with his hands while he talked; Michelle wasn't saying much but she listened and nodded.

"You never said. Are they dating?" Talia asked.

"I don't know." Charlie shrugged, as if it didn't matter to him. "Maybe."

"You don't care? It seems like he's working his charms on her." Talia glanced at the couple again. "I like that heart on her cheek. So cute."

"Michelle and I are friends. That's all. So she can do whatever she wants."

"Sure," Talia said. She raised her empty cup. "Hey, let's get another drink."

"Now?"

"Yeah. Come on."

They went back to the kitchen. It was empty except for two blonde girls drinking White Claws. Talia grabbed the lemonade bottle and the vodka. "You want one?" she asked Charlie.

"No. I'm driving."

She poured him one anyway.

"You're not hard to read, Charlie," she said as she passed him the red cup. "I can see the way your face goes expressionless when you look at them. You don't like seeing them together."

Charlie took a sip. He could taste just the slightest hint of vodka; Talia hadn't made the drink very strong. "No," he admitted. "I don't."

"Has Michelle always said she just sees you as a friend?"

Charlie took a sip from his drink. "Vanessa really didn't tell you anything, huh?"

"No. She really didn't." Talia gazed at him with interest.

"I might've had a chance, at one point," Charlie said. He was thinking of the day that Michelle had confronted him in the cafeteria, in front of everyone. If Vanessa hadn't told Talia about that incident before, she would surely fill her in during the after-party debriefing.

"A chance with her?" Talia asked.

"Yeah. But I messed it up."

"What did you do to mess it up?"

Charlie could still smell the faint scent of Michelle's perfume, transferred from her skin to his mouth while he had been kissing her just a few minutes before. "I thought there was no way someone like her could like someone like me," he said to Talia. "I thought she was out of my league, just like we said. So when the opportunities came, I passed them up."

"And now it's too late?"

"You asked if they're dating," Charlie said. "Well, Glenn asked her to the prom and she said yes. So yeah, they're dating."

"Oh, that's rough." Talia bobbed her head thoughtfully. "Well, you know... everyone ends up having regrets. Sometimes you just have to move on. You can't dwell on the past."

"Yeah," Charlie said. His mind was on the other hearts hidden on Michelle's body. How he could get her alone, how he could search for them. "You're right."

"It's a party, right? We don't have to go back to where those two are. We could go somewhere else. It's a big house. Or we could go outside."

"I guess..."

"Charlie!" Talia gazed sternly at him. "Vanessa invited you here, right? And she asked me to keep an eye on you while you're here. Like it or not, she's your friend, and she wants to make sure you don't get yourself into any trouble. Don't do something crazy, something that'll start a fight. Just relax, have a good time. You shouldn't get hung up on what you can't control."

"I didn't seem relaxed in there?"

"No. You were tense. You had an eye on them the whole time. Every time she laughed, you wanted to check on her." Talia shrugged. "If it's hard to see them together, maybe the answer is to stop looking. Go somewhere else. That's all I'm saying."

Her words were like a cue. As soon as she said them, Glenn came through the kitchen door, followed by Michelle. He was saying, "... it usually has rum but I can make one without rum and it's just as good."

"Seriously?" Talia muttered under her breath.

"Hey, Glenn!" one of the blondes chirped, followed quickly by the other. They both seemed very happy to see him.

"Hey, Heather. Hey, Sloan," Glenn greeted them. He glanced at Charlie and Talia and nodded in their direction, acknowledging them. "I'm going to make some mint mojitos. Anyone interested?"

Heather and Sloan both immediately said yes. "That's two," Glenn said. He smiled at Michelle. "A virgin mojito for Michelle. What about you guys? You want a mint mojito?" He looked at Charlie and Talia.

"Sure!" Charlie said immediately. He glanced at Talia. "It's a party, right?"

Talia must have expected some tension in the room between Charlie and Glenn. She grinned, relieved that he had accepted Glenn's offer. "I'll have one, too," she said.

"Five mint mojitos," Glenn said. "And one virgin mojito." He smiled at Michelle. "Michelle doesn't drink." Heather and Sloan both giggled as if this was a joke.

Charlie peeked at Michelle out of the corner of his eye. She wasn't giggling or even smiling. She hadn't said a word to anyone since entering the kitchen, and she was putting on a show of ignoring Charlie, as if things were cold between them. Charlie noted with interest the location where she had chosen to stand, on the other side of the kitchen island from Glenn, almost directly behind the tall football player. A spot where Glenn couldn't see her easily unless he turned completely around. "Anything we can do to help?" Charlie asked.

"Sure," Glenn said. "Do you want to cut some limes?" He was pulling out ingredients. The limes were large and he set them on a white cutting board.

"Okay." Charlie moved towards the counter by Glenn, and Talia followed his lead, moving in the same direction. To Charlie, it felt like he was directing the scene, blocking it out for his actors, putting everyone in the right place for what would happen next. He had his red cup in his hand, and he pretended to carelessly set it on the island, intentionally perching it on the edge. It fell. The cup didn't have much left in it, but what was there splashed over the kitchen tiles and the cup rolled away. "Aw, shit!" Charlie exclaimed. "Sorry, I'll clean it up."

"No big deal," Glenn said. "Paper towels are right next to you."

Some of the lemonade had spattered on Michelle's boots. She even had a few droplets on her leg, just above her knee. She acted as if she wasn't aware of it; her attention was directed towards Glenn and his mojito preparation.

Charlie dropped down next to Michelle with the roll of paper towels. He pulled off a few sheets and placed them on the floor over the spill, letting them absorb the small puddle of lemonade. Then he pulled off another paper towel and began to clean Michelle's boots. Michelle didn't acknowledge his actions; her only reaction was to cross her arms and lean against the kitchen island.

He moved higher up Michelle's leg, cleaning the tiny drops of lemonade from around her knees. Then higher still, up under her skirt, pretending to wipe away drops of lemonade up there. She wore a black thong underneath her skirt, which Charlie glimpsed as he raised the skirt higher. He moved the paper towel to his left hand, and pretended to be cleaning the floor while his right hand slipped up Michelle's skirt to press against her ass.

Glenn was drawing all the attention in the room to himself, talking through his mint mojito process like he was the star of a cooking show. It seemed like he enjoyed being at the center of things, particularly when his audience consisted of four attractive girls. No one paid any attention to Charlie as he squeezed and stroked Michelle's ass under her skirt. His fingers explored between her legs, finding the shape of her pussy beneath the skimpy fabric of the thong. Heat radiated from this part of her, and her arousal had already dampened the fabric.

Lifting up part of her skirt, Charlie glimpsed a tiny heart drawn on her left thigh. That made four. He lifted her skirt and kissed the heart to let her know he had found it. A slight smile was Michelle's only reaction.

Charlie stood and tossed the wet paper towels into a nearby trashcan. He was still in a good position, standing behind Glenn and Talia but close enough to Michelle that he could keep his hand under her skirt. Both of them put on a show of being aloof with each other; Charlie only spoke to Talia and Glenn, and Michelle barely talked at all. Every so often, they would exchange a cold glance. No one suspected that under Michelle's skirt, Charlie's hand was busy squeezing and fondling her.

Talia took six glasses out of the cupboard. "Weak or strong?" Glenn asked Talia. He held a bottle of white rum.

"Umm... medium," she said, smiling.

The same question was presented to Heather and Sloan, and they both asked for a strong drink. "I'll go with medium, too," Charlie said.

"And Michelle is our virgin," Glenn said, to more giggles from the two blondes. Charlie kept his face carefully neutral. Michelle's drink might be a virgin, but Michelle herself currently had her thong peeled down to her upper thighs and Charlie's hand between her legs stroking her slick pussy.

The final step in Glenn's drink preparation required mixing the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. "You're first," Glenn told Talia, and carefully filled the shaker with the ingredients. He cradled the shaker as if he was holding a football and bounced it precisely and vigorously back and forth.

Charlie turned to look at Michelle's profile. Despite his manipulations between her legs, she was maintaining an expression of polite interest on her face, hiding all evidence of her arousal. Charlie felt a desire to test her composure. He wanted to do something that would startle her. Shock her.

He pulled his hand out from under her skirt. Pretending to rub his nose, he inhaled the scent of Michelle on his fingers. It was a wonderful scent, bringing with it a flood of memories; memories of passionate encounters, of danger, of desire. Leaning forward so that the lower half of his body was hidden by the kitchen island, Charlie reached down and tugged his zipper down. His cock was already hard, and it took some careful manipulation before he was able to pull it out through the zipper hole. It pressed against the cool tile of the kitchen island. No one noticed, not even Michelle.

Charlie slowly stepped sideways and behind Michelle. He lifted up the edge of her skirt and let his cock bob underneath it. The head of it touched her leg, and he received the reaction he had been hoping for; Michelle turned her head to look at him in wide-eyed astonishment. But she recovered quickly, adjusting her skirt so that it draped over his jutting erection. She leaned forward again, resting on the island, and Charlie let his cock settle against the crack of her ass. The feel of his swollen prick resting against the silky skin of her bare ass, knowing that they dared such a lewd and intimate contact in a room full of people, made him feel like he was on the verge of cumming.

Charlie knew that if what he was doing was discovered, Cody and his football friends would be on him in seconds. They would beat him to a pulp and throw him out of the party. Maybe that was part of what made it so exciting.

Loud voices came from near the back door, giving them a few seconds warning before a line of large guys entered the kitchen. Michelle reacted immediately, stepping backwards, pushing Charlie behind her until his back touched the wall. His erection, previously pressed against her ass, slid into the gap between her thong and her pussy and nestled between her thighs. To the line of men entering the party, it probably appeared that she was just giving them space to pass.

"What's up, Glenn!" an enormous man hailed their host. Charlie didn't recognize any of the four men, although they looked like football players. Maybe they were college boys. They made the kitchen seem smaller, which was a good thing; it allowed Charlie and Michelle to press together, Charlie's front to Michelle's back, without it seeming conspicuous.

Michelle started to slowly move her hips back and forth, sliding over Charlie's cock. The pleasure was incredible. He didn't want to get carried away, he didn't want to bend her over and start fucking her in front of everyone. But he loved the feel of her warmth wrapped around his cock, the slick desire of her pussy kissing him each time she pushed against him.

If I don't cum now, he thought deliriously, we're going to have some incredible sex later on. The thought of cumming between Michelle's legs in the crowded kitchen was both extremely hot and utterly terrifying. If that happened, how could they possibly hide it?

The four big men stood around for several minutes like bulls in a holding pen, bumping into each other, bumping into Charlie and Michelle. Each took a turn greeting Glenn before finally the group proceeded deeper into the house. As soon as the men left, Michelle was in motion, stepping back towards the kitchen island. Charlie had to step with her or his erection would pull free and be exposed. Michelle leaned against the island, and Charlie managed to extract himself. He bent over, pretending to pick up something from the floor, and quickly shoved his cock back into his pants.

Michelle murmured something that he couldn't hear.

"What?" he whispered as he stood up. No one appeared to have noticed his odd behavior.

"Four," she repeated softly. "Two left."

"Medium strength mojito, for Charlie Tucker!" Glenn proclaimed loudly, pouring the contents of the shaker into a glass. He delivered the glass to Charlie. Charlie picked it up; he could see that his hand was quivering with nervous energy as he lifted the glass to his mouth.

"Well?" Glenn asked.

Charlie took a sip. It tasted strong. "Best mint mojito I've ever had," he proclaimed. Actually, it was the only one he'd ever had. But Glenn was happy to accept the compliment.

As Glenn turned back to make the next mojito, Charlie leaned towards Michelle. "When the Thai food comes," he whispered, "go to the backyard."

"Thai food?" She looked puzzled.

"Soon," he said. He couldn't explain his plan beyond that, because Glenn turned around and presented Michelle with her drink. "Here you go," he said, smiling widely. "One mint mojito. No alcohol." He had even put a little umbrella in it.

Talia tugged at Charlie's arm. "Come on, Charlie," she said. "Let's go find Vanessa." She had her own mojito in her hand. Charlie reluctantly let her lead him away from Michelle, out of the kitchen and into the hallway. But instead of turning towards the room where Vanessa was, Talia led him towards the front room.