Unspoken Pleasure

Laura was thankful she'd decided to wear underwear. Otherwise, she would have had a big wet spot on her cords. And that could have been a little embarrassing as they came back out into the complex.

It was just after two in the afternoon, and the morning crowds had thinned. The fields were now open to walk-ons and practices and would remain so until later that night when the high school teams came to play.

"So what's the deal?" Chris asked her. "Are we eating here or going out or what?"

"I don't know. I told Rebecca we'd find her."

Chris's brow furrowed as he thought of something. "Where did you tell her you were going after the game?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm assuming you didn't tell her you were going into the locker room to surprise me." Laura laughed. "I told her I was going to the bathroom."

He nodded. "Good thinking. Tell you what. You find Rebecca, I'll find Simon, we'll meet at the arcade and go from there."

"Okay." And before she realized what she was doing, she leaned in and kissed him. As their lips touched, it occurred to her that this was their first time kissing in public.

When she pulled back, she half expected him to be embarrassed or uncomfortable, but he wasn't. He just smiled at her cutely. "One more." Relieved, she was only too happy to comply. "See you at the arcade, kiddo."

"Brat!" She playfully pushed him away. She hated that name. And then he disappeared into the sparse crowd.

As she milled around the complex, she found herself less interested in finding Rebecca and more preoccupied with her thoughts. She couldn't stop smiling. With every encounter she shared with Chris, she became more bold, more comfortable and secure with who she was.

Ever since she'd first met him, she'd secretly had a small crush. She knew that was why they'd gotten along so well. As far as stepsiblings go, they were probably two of the closest, even before their little interludes had begun.

But then, vesterday something had clicked.in her mind She knew most people would expect them to feel guilty or shameful about what they were doing, but she also knew there was nothing ugly or dirty about any of it.

Society imposed guidelines, and many of those guidelines were rooted in thousand- year-old dogma and beliefs. But humankind as a civilization is constantly progressing forward, evolving, bettering itself. Now, some of those guidelines and supposed "morals" were antiquated.

But her mind was wandering...

The simple truth was this: Laura and Chris were not related. And while some may have viewed their budding relationship as "taboo", Laura knew in her heart that for them to be attracted to each other was completely normal. It would be no different if he were a guy that lived down the street. He just happened to live in the room next to hers.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. Rebecca was there beside her. "Hey," Laura said, "I was just looking for you."

"Really? I've been following you since field 3 trying to get your attention."

"Sorry, I was zoning out."

"We still having lunch with Chris?"

Laura nodded and they started walking. "He went to find Simon."

Rebecca's face momentarily darkened. "Simon?"

Laura took her hand reassuringly. "You'll be fine."

They wove their way through the clusters of fans and players that milled around the common area. As they got nearer to the arcade, the crowd thickened with young adolescent boys cramming to change their parents' dollars into shiny tokens. When they reached the electronic forest, complete with its own cacophony of beeps, chirps and explosions, Chris and Simon were no where to be seen. Then Laura spied Simon through the throng of faces.

Laura knew Rebecca and Simon had dated for a year and half. It had been going great until about three months ago when he'd told her he wanted some time to himself. Rebecca hadn't understood, but her patience and compassion demanded she respect his wishes. So she had. And they hadn't really spoken since that night. They'd parted on very civil terms, but Rebecca had never found out the genesis of Simon's request for solitude. Laura knew there would be tension, but she also knew Rebecca couldn't avoid him forever.

As she watched Simon, she saw him talking with someone that she didn't recognize. Then Chris appeared and the three of them laughed about something. That was when it happened.

It was almost invisible, the casual shake of their hands, the edge of a plastic bag, the crumpled corners of bills. Chris and the stranger both stuffed their hands in their pockets, then the three parted ways, Chris and Simon heading toward the arcade, the stranger moving off toward the concession stand.

Laura couldn't believe it. Had Chris just scored?

The two guys came over and found the two girls. "Hello, ladies," Chris said pleasantly. "Who was that?" Laura asked.

Simon answered. "Friend of mine from school." He saw Rebecca. "Hey, Beck."

"Hey," she said, smiling pleasantly.

Laura hadn't known what to expect when the ex's saw each other. If she hadn't known better, though, she would've thought they were just two regular friends.

"So we were thinking we'd grab a bite at Lorenzo's," Chris said. He seemed eager to leave. Laura couldn't tell if it was her imagination.

"Sounds good to me," Rebecca said.

Chris turned to Laura. "You okay with that?"

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He seemed different from when they'd parted ways by the locker room only a few minutes earlier. He was too happy, too excited. Her stare probed his face, but he just smiled. She nodded.

"Great." He looked at Rebecca. "You need a ride?"

"Yeah, my folks left with Kyle." Kyle was her little brother.

Simon said, "I can take her."noveldrama

All three of them looked at him with obvious surprise. Chris looked at Rebecca and shrugged. "You okay with that?" She nodded. "Okay. We'll meet you there."

Chris knew Laura was upset.

All during the ride to Lorenzo's, he'd tried coaxing conversation out of her, but she just sat there beside him, staring at her camera or out the window or sometimes taking pictures out the window. When she would, he'd ask to see them on her preview screen. She'd show him, he'd say it was nice, and she'd thank him, then go back to silently staring.

He knew she'd seen him with Jason, Simon's friend. And he also knew he shouldn't deny it, either. After a prolonged uncomfortable silence, he finally asked her, "You're upset with me, aren't you?"

She turned and looked at him. Her gaze was direct. "Did you and Simon pick up?" He sighed and looked back out at the road. "I thought you'd quit."

"And I didn't think you cared this much."

"I don't, I just..." She trailed off then looked back out the window. "... don't agree." "Have you ever tried it?"

"No."

Personally, he didn't think she had any right to tell him not to do it then. He was the med student, after all. But he kept that opinion to himself. "You ever wanted to?" She didn't answer.

He looked over at her. She was still staring out the window, doing her best to ignore him. He wanted to reach over and touch her but decided against it. Instead, he dug into his pocket and produced a small plastic bag and dropped it in her lap.

It wasn't filled with oregano.

She looked down at it, just staring.

"Throw it out," he said. When he saw the look she gave him, he had to laugh. "You

know you want to. Don't look at me like I'm crazy."

"But you paid for this, didn't you?"

"Simon and I split it, yeah. But if you don't want me doing it, then throw it out."

"What about Simon?"

"I'll give him his money back."

She tilted her head at him. He did his best to stare straight ahead. "Why would you do

that?"

He was quiet for a minute, then shrugged. "It's not worth you being upset with me."

Laura just continued staring at him incredulously. "You're joking, right? There's more, right? Something like that?"

He took a breath. Now he was getting upset. "Look, Laura, if you don't want me getting high, here's your chance. I'm not gonna piss you off for pot. Now either get rid

of it or shut the fuck up about it." A moment passed, then he said, "I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that."

She held the bag up, peering at its contents. He quickly grabbed her hand and forced

it down below the window. She glanced around quickly at the cars around them, then looked back at the bag. "You'd actually let me throw all this out?"

He nodded silently. They drove a few more miles in silence, the bag still out in the open on her lap. They were approaching a red light. Chris worried about being stopped and someone seeing the bag. But before they reached the intersection, he felt her stuffing it back into his pocket.

"What are you doing?"

She answered quietly, calmly. "Just because I don't like something you do doesn't mean you don't have to do it anymore." She met his eyes and her gaze was soft.

He braked for the red light and they rocked back gently as the car came to rest. "You're sure?"

She nodded her head yes.

"Well... you wanna smoke with us tonight?"

She shook her head no.

"Would you... would you want to smoke with me tonight?"

She stared at the gear shifter between them for a moment. "You?" "Me."

"Just you?" She seemed to perk up as she said it.

"If you want to."