Just When Things Are Going Right Part III by Rev Apoc

Judd loved the feeling of Mona’s hair in his hands. They’d been making out for a while, and he was in a good mood even though his beer buzz was fading away. A girl’s voice startled them as Judd realized another girl on the cheerleading squad was trying to get Mona’s attention.

“Mona, we gotta go! You told me you promised your parents you’d be home at midnight or they’ll ground you!”

Judd and Mona broke the kiss and looked at the girl. Mona looked at her watch and gasped. “Eleven forty-five! Shoot!” She looked at Judd apologetically and said, “I’m really sorry for stopping like this, okay?”

Judd, a bit put out by the end of the great make-out session he’d been having, tried to hide it as he gently squeezed Mona’s shoulder and said, “Yeah, you don’t want to get in trouble. Maybe next time.”

Mona smiled briefly, got off Judd and stood up to quickly straighten out her outfit and hair before retrieving her purse from her friend, saying, “Thanks, Rachel.” She rummaged around in her purse and scribbled something on a scrap of paper.

She turned to Judd and said, “I like you; maybe we can go out sometime, huh?”

He grinned and said, “Yeah. I live about a ten-minute walk from here. What about you?”

Mona replied, “Just at the house facing this cul-de-sac, actually. But I really have to go so I can get home in time, okay?”

Judd smiled. “Just leave the Bible alone next time, okay?”

Mona nodded sheepishly, handed the piece of paper she’d been holding to Judd, then waved goodbye as she rushed off with her friend.

After realizing Mona had given him her phone number, Judd found he was more tired than he expected. He looked around and noticed someone had turned down the music. As well, the lights had been turned down and there were people sprawled on the floor, either sleeping or cuddling with each other in their own little worlds.

He needed to go to the bathroom, so he struggled out of the easy chair and wended his way through the living room and found a bathroom in a little hallway just off the entry foyer. After he was finished, he yawned and looked at himself in the mirror; he noticed some of Mona’s lipstick was still on his lips. He tried scrubbing some of it off with a tissue and some water, but it was pretty tenacious.

Judd decided to return to the easy chair. He snuggled into the easy chair, deciding he just needed a few minutes of rest before he’d get up and go home.

He closed his eyes, and a few minutes turned into several hours.

===

Vicki was starting to feel tired, which she thought was unfair considering she and Shelley were having the time of their lives.

“Shel?” she asked softly.

Shelley stopped nuzzling Vicki’s neck and looked up. “Sorry, am I doing something wrong?”

Vicki smiled. “No, it’s okay. It’s just… I’m getting kinda tired. Are you?”

Shelley looked disappointed, but before she could answer, she yawned, provoking Vicki’s own yawn.

Shelley said, “I guess that’s our answer.” She hesitated, then put her hands on Vicki’s hips. “Look, I know I needed to get seriously liquored up to even tell you what I wanted, but I just… I didn’t know how to tell you any other way. Do you think less of me for it?”

Vicki kissed Shelley on the forehead and brushed her hand through her friend’s hair. “No, I don’t. Look, I’m happy you told me; that’s all that matters.”

Shelley sighed. “Well, now we’re kinda stuck. There’s no way we can get home at this hour. You wanna sleep here or try to find a bed?”

“Let’s sleep here. The carpet’s pretty soft. We can probably just stretch out and lie down if we’re careful.”

After a couple of minutes, the two girls had managed to get themselves in the right positions when Vicki rermembered the light. “Shit. Shel, I’ve gotta turn this off. You gonna be okay in the dark?”

“Yeah. I’m with you,” she replied.

Vicki snickered. “No pressure, then.” She scrambled up, yanked the chain, then carefully felt around the room to make sure she didn’t hit her friend as she laid down on the carpet next to Shelley, who cuddled into her arms to sleep.

It wasn’t long before Vicki also fell asleep, content with the world.

-

Someone was shaking Judd’s shoulder. He half-heartedly batted the hand away, mumbling, “Lemme sleep s’more.”

“Come on, Judd! I need to clean up around here, okay? Your dad’s probably really pissed ‘cause you stayed out, too.” Jason’s anxious expression convinced Judd to acquiesce; it wasn’t like Jason had to know he didn’t really care.

Judd tried to get up, and moaned as he tried to open his eyes wider than a squint. He whined, “Light hurts, Jase.”

Jason muttered, “Shit. Be right back.” Within a minute, he shoved a couple tablets into one of Judd’s hands and in the other, forced him to grasp the cup of water tightly. Judd mechanically went through the routine of chasing down the Tylenol with the water. He handed the cup back after emptying it, and let Jason help drag him out of the chair so he could stand up.

Judd yawned, scratched his head, and tried to ignore the fact that he felt like he had a cold. He half-stumbled out of the living room, and ran into some of his teammates. They mumbled greetings to each other, and Daniel agreed to drop Judd off at his place. Daniel drove slowly in his expensive sedan, and Judd was thankful nobody felt like talking.

The first thing that struck Judd after he let himself inside his house, was that, for it being nine o’clock in the morning on a Saturday, the house was eerily quiet.

Usually his dad was up, getting the coffeemaker ready and making breakfast if his mother wasn’t downstairs first and making it.

Maybe they just slept in, thought Judd as he grabbed some cereal and a bowl, deciding he’d watch some TV.

===

Vicki’s first impression was of darkness with only a sliver of light coming from near her head. A human body was next to her, and the girl was breathing steadily. Startled, Vicki tried to sit up, only for her head to start pounding as memories began filtering back into her head.

She gasped, relieved, as she realized she’d just been sleeping in Shelley’s arms, and then a slow smile made its way across her face as she remembered how Shel had so nervously come out to her, and their mutual attraction had led to a pretty hot make-out session.

But now they had to find their way home, and she needed to get a light turned on in this damn closet.

Vicki carefully stood up and opened the closet door to let the daylight in. She squinted against the harsh light and her headache got worse. She reached down and shook Shelley’s shoulder. “Shel? Hey, wake up.”

Vicki helped her friend stand up, and she thought from Shelley’s pale appearance that she must be even more hung-over than Vicki was.

Shelley’s hand on her arm stopped her. “Vicki? Did we… y’know….” She couldn’t meet Vicki’s eyes.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ve never done anything with a girl before, either. We just made out, honestly. And kissed a lot.”

“Okay,” replied Shelley softly.

In an upbeat tone, Vicki said, “C’mon, let’s get outta here. Our purses are downstairs.”

They passed other people stirring and preparing to leave. Vicki snickered as two guys blanched upon exiting a room when they saw the girls, She just hissed, “Hurry! Get going!” to them, and they took off, adroitly avoiding the few people sprawled on the spiral staircase going down to the foyer. She murmured to Shelley, “See? There’s more people like us if you look.”

The two girls walked quietly to the closet they’d gone to before, and found their purses. Luckily, nothing had been stolen. As they passed by the kitchen, Shelley saw Jasmine starting up some breakfast and said, “Oh, God, that coffee smells so good. Jason’d better appreciate this!”

Jasmine winked and whispered, “Oh, he will.” She looked more closely at Shelley, then at Vicki, and said, “You two better get some water. You look kinda peaked.”

After getting the water and guzzling an entire glass, Vicki almost wanted to ask to stay, but realized if Jason was here, so was that Judd guy, and she didn’t really want to hang around some rich kid’s house being looked at like she might go wild and break something. She wasn’t a freaking rabid dog, for crying out loud. She put her water glass by the sink and tugged Shelley’s arm. “We better go.”

Just as the two girls were about to leave the house, a guy who Vicki figured for a soph rushed up to them and said, “Have you seen Amanda? She isn’t here! She was on the couch with me when we went to sleep.”

Wordlessly, Vicki and Shelley looked at each other and shrugged. Vicki said, “We probably don’t know her, but what’s she look like?”

“Golden brown hair, um, kinda your height, I guess. She was wearing a party dress.”

Shelley said, “What color? ‘Party dress’ doesn’t tell us squat.”

The guy scratched his head and said, “Golden yellow.”

Vicki shook her head. “I think I saw her last night, probably when we were dancing. Didn’t see anyone like that this morning, though.”

The guy paled and moaned, “I must have really offended her or something. Oh, damn!”

He pushed past them and ran out the front door before the girls could find out more. Vicki rolled her eyes and said, “If I had a dime for how many people’ve walked out on each other after screwing I could buy one of these houses.”

The girls, walking slowly along the sidewalk in the early spring sun, only had the first inkling that something was wrong as they passed one of the large houses with a well-manicured lawn.

Just When Things Are Going Right Part II by Rev Apoc

Vicki and Shelley got off the bus and began making their way to Jason Devlin’s house. Not wanting to keep gawking at the well-lit nice houses and fancy grass lawns in the evening twilight, Vicki said, “How do you even know this guy anyway? They usually don’t like us trailer kids showing up, you know.”

Shelley waved her hand. “Oh, friend of a friend kinda thing. I know a girl who has a kind of off-and-on thing with him. She’s the one who told me about this party, actually.”

“We had to spend half an hour on that stupid bus stopping at like every intersection along the way here, Shel. I’m gonna be so choked if they don’t let us in to at least get a beer,” groused Vicki.

They were coming up to the large house which took up the entire end of a cul-de-sac. The windows blazed with light and the girls could see several shadows in them, showing that tha party was starting to get going. Shelley brushed Vicki’s hair back and said, “Don’t worry about it. With that red hair and that lipstick you’re a bombshell. Just flash your boobs or something.”

Vicki, stunned, burst out laughing. Shelley, after a moment, joined in and the two girls had to hold each other up as they got themselves under control.

Vicki studied Shelley’s outfit closely. Her friend was wearing the only high heels she owned, and she was dressed in a skin-tight one-piece black dress. Shelley had put on some make-up and brilliant red lipstick.

Shelley seemed to notice and said, “Is something wrong?”

Vicki stopped, looked at the house pensively and rubbed her hands on her shirt. “No. Just… how do I look? Okay?”

“You look great, honestly. I already told you that back at the trailer park. Just be careful, though; that white T-shirt looks like it might pop if you try buttoning it up all the way. And that skirt! I’d like to borrow it from you sometime. It shows off your legs.”

Vicki fleetingly wondered if that compliment was Shelley trying to tell Vicki something. Feeling a bit more fortified, she grinned and said, “Babe, this shirt? That’s the general idea. C’mon.”

She tugged at her friend’s arm and walked up to the outsized front door.

Luckily, nobody threw them out, and after pressing their way through the small groups of people that had formed in the hallways, Shelley and Vicki were able to grab two cups of beer from the guys manning a long table with a couple of kegs sitting on it.

“Woohoo!” yelled Vicki as she knocked her cup against Shelley’s. She took a healthy gulp, feeling the liquor going down her throat. Shelley, gasping from the cold beer herself, nodded and said, “Pretty good stuff this time.”

Vicki’s purse shifted, and she smacked her forehead. “Shit! What do we do with our purses?”

“Goddamnit,” swore Shelley as she looked around. Vicki followed her gaze as it locked onto a brown-haired guy standing next to a table with a lamp on it in the large living room. He was talking with a cute black-haired guy who she thought she remembered from the basketball team, but his name escaped her.

Shelley tugged her along, and when she was within talking distance, she said, “Jason! Remember me? Shelley? Jasmine’s friend?”

He blinked and nodded slowly. “Yeah. Um, whaddya need?”

“I’ve gotta put my purse somewhere safe, and so does my friend Vicki.”

Vicki locked eyes with the black-haired guy, and she noticed he had dark brown eyes, like her. Right now, though, he seemed to be regarding her a bit distantly.
. Damn it, just because I didn’t grow up in a fancy house like this, thought Vicki furiously.

She hid it all behind a fake smile and an insincere, “Hi.”

The black-haired guy nodded brusquely and Jason took the strain off the meeting by suddenly recalling a small closet in the back of the house. He led Vicki and Shelley away from the family room and through an extremely nice-looking dining room (which, luckily, had been cleared of anything breakable, Vicki noticed) and into a corridor. There, Jason stopped them and said, “If you keep going down this hallway, you’ll end up in the garage. Here, just put your purses in this closet here.”

He opened a closet which had a few coats in it, and had nothing on the floor. The two girls put their purses on the floor and then went back to rejoin the groups of people and see if they knew anyone from school they could hang out with.

===

Jason rejoined Judd and said, “Hey. You okay?”

“Why trailer chicks, Jase?” He gestured with his beer at the girls who’d just left. They were kind of cute, but dating one? Kiss of death at school.

Jason rolled his eyes. “Come on. Look, I’ve sort of known Shelley off and on and she’s all right. I mean,Jasminesays she’s a nice girl, and Jas isn’t trailer trash. You’d think she’d know if anyone from the trailer park was just a total skank, man.”

Judd waggled his eyebrows. “I’m sure between the sheets she’s nice, too.”

“Hey, shut up,” replied Jason, chuckling. “Look, I’m gonna put on some music and go find Jas. You find a girl to chat up or something, people see us hanging around all night they might start wonderin’ what’s up.”

Judd found a cluster of his basketball teammates; just as he did so, the music began loudly playing and they all had to bellow at each other to be understood. Judd began thinking the only worthwhile thing was the beer, which never seemed to stop flowing.

An impromptu dance floor had been created in the center of the living room, and Judd saw that Jason and Jasmine were dancing. He felt a bit jealous that he didn’t have a girlfriend with him at the moment, though he was pretty sure he’d seen a couple of girls at the party checking him out, one of them a blond cheerleader he spotted on the other side of the room.

Judd, concentrating on moving between the people to chat up the cheerleader, didn’t quite see where he was going and nearly bumped into the redheaded trailer girl, who had to steady herself by putting her hand on his chest for a moment. He flushed in embarrassment and bellowed, “Sorry!”

She nodded, gripped her fresh beer more carefully, and yelled back, “It’s fine!”

As she trailed her way through the crowd, Judd couldn’t help but follow her with his eyes. That red hair really made her stand out. And she knew how to show off what she had, that was for sure.

Shaking his head, he muttered, “Kiss of death, kiss of death…”

===

Shelley handed her back the cup of beer she’d just downed half the contents of, and Vicki took a sip, noticing with some concern that it was already getting harder to stand up straight.

Vicki had to admit the black-haired guy, whose name she learned was Judd Thompson, was pretty hot up close. He had a nice set of muscles under that shirt of his, that was for sure. But damn it, he’d never end up with her except for a quickie if he was super drunk and super horny. Shelley had told her of the Football Bastard, Geoff, who’d just looked right through her the day after they’d slept together.

So why did Vicki keep thinking there might be some hidden depths to that Judd guy?

She decided to quit wasting her time, and said, “C’mon, Shel, let’s dance! Who cares what the rest of these idiots think.”

Her friend’s grin prompted her to grin, too, as they made their way to the dance floor and began dancing to the pounding beat. Vicki loved seeing the way Shelley put her moves together, and she knew she could pull off moves just as good. Smirking as more and more boys started looking at her, she kept up the pace as the music kept playing.

===

The blond cheerleader’s name was Mona. Judd said, “So what’s that you’re wearing?” He wondered what the white blousy skirt thing was.

She beamed. “This thing? A Jersey dress. You like it?” She winked.

“Yeah, I like it. So you’re the team captain, or what?” Judd fleetingly noticed the red-headed girl dancing with her friend, and several of his basketball teammates looking on with envy. He reluctantly turned his attention back to Mona.

Mona drank a bit of beer and said, “Nah, I’m co-captain. So me and Liz, we have to argue over what moves and dances we’ve got to put on and then choreograph it all for the rest of the team.”

Judd thought she looked good. She had cute hazel eyes and was fairly tanned, which spoke of many hours outside the gym, practicing cheerleading routines.

He looked around and spotted the easy chair someone had just vacated. “Hey, wanna sit down?”

Mona grasped Judd’s arm and said, “Okay, but I’m not sitting in your lap – yet.”

Judd sat in the chair while Mona sat on the arm. He thought it wasn’t too uncomfortable to look up at her, but wished she hadn’t put her butt so close to his arm. He fiddled with his beer cup in his lap as Mona took a large drink. She then put her empty cup on the nearby table, which already had several other plastic cups on it surrounding the lamp.

Mona’s hand on his shoulder surprised him. “So, Judd, what about you? Basketball, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I’m a power forward.”

“Cool. When’s the next game?”

Judd, intrigued, said, “I thought football cheerleaders didn’t go to basketball games.”

Mona giggled. “Oh, come on, Judd. Not like there’s a law against it, is there? Now tell me, when’s the next game? I’ll cheer for you specially.”

“Couple of weeks. We’re playing against the senior varsity team.”

“Isn’t that kind of out of your league? You guys’re JV, right?”

Judd nodded. “It’s kind of a warmup, but whoever wins kinda has bragging rights for a while, especially if it’s us ‘cause eighteen-year-olds are taller and stronger, usually.”

“Hmm.”

Judd hesitated, then put his arm around Mona’s waist. He said, “C’mon, have a seat now?”

She didn’t shake his hand off, which Judd thought was a good thing. Mona seemed to think for a few moments, then said, “Okay. But if you try anything—”

“I won’t, I promise,” replied Judd. “I just, um, think you’re cute.”

Mona carefully sat in Judd’s lap, shifting so she could see him. Luckily, the easy chair was wide enough to let her sit at an angle, and she put her arm around his shoulders.

She said into his ear, “I think you’re cute, too.”

Judd relaxed and tried not to focus too much on his hand now resting between Mona’s shoulder blades. She smelled nice, too.

A slow dance number came on, and Judd looked up, seeing the red-haired girl and her friend walk off the dance floor. They looked around furtively, and then left in the direction of the stairs. Judd knew there were several rooms on the second floor. He wondered if they were going to find some guys.

His attention came back to Mona as she said, “You go to church or anything like that?”

The music was just quiet enough that Judd and Mona could talk in low voices and be heard.

Judd laughed. “You’re asking that at this party?”

She shrugged. “Why not? The Bible tells us our ancestors drank beer and danced and still praised the Lord.”

“Not to hear my parents tell it, that’s for sure,” groaned Judd.

Mona gestured at the other people. “To be fair, this normally wouldn’t be the time or place. But…”

Her face grew pensive. “I’ve just got a feeling something’s going to happen tonight, and I thought I should at least try to reach out.”

Judd laughed and said a bit harshly, “Reaching out? So it’s flirt to convert, huh?”

Mona, distressed, shook her head and replied, “Heavens, no! Look, I… oh, this is coming out all wrong. I’m sorry. Please, forget about it.”

She looked so sincerely apologetic and flustered that Judd had a hard time staying upset.

“It’s okay. I just get it from my parents, too, so I probably was ruder than I should’ve been,” Judd conceded.

Mona seemed relieved. She said, “Now, believe it or not, but Christians do know how to have fun; lemme show you.”

She leaned over and kissed Judd, who gladly opened his mouth to lock lips with Mona. His free hand wandered to her leg, and she didn’t swat it away.

===

Vicki wasn’t sure how long they’d been dancing when they finished, but she’d been wanting a drink for a while. She grabbed another beer – this time, a cold bottle – and took a healthy slug from it as she followed Shelley upstairs. She had seemed a little nervous when trying to get away from the dance, and this had made Vicki look around too, but she hadn’t seen anything wrong; she was pretty sure Shelley didn’t have any creepy stalker exes.

They found the stairs leading to the second floor of the large house, passing by other people coming downstairs who had satisfied looks on their faces. It didn’t take a genius, Vicki thought, to realize what was happening on the upstairs floor as she and Shelley carefully made their way up the steps, trying not to overbalance due to the alcohol running through their veins.

Passing by the first room in the long hallway certainly proved that making out (and probably more) was a popular sport as there were couples sprawled over the couches and even one couple on the floor.

Shelley seemed to be hunting for an empty room; Vicki rolled her eyes and said, “Shel? There areno empty rooms. There’ve been people on the beds in the last two rooms, and I bet the next room’ll have people, too.”

Vicki looked on, astonished, as Shelley grabbed the beer out of her hand and drank off nearly a quarter of the bottle. She grabbed Shelley’s shoulder and steadied her friend as she said, “What? What’s wrong?”

Her friend licked her lips and slurred, “Need to find a room, okay?”

They lucked out as they finally spotted a small walk-in closet just off a bedroom that, in the light briefly thrown into the room, showed two human-sized lumps on the bed. Inside the closet, Vicki reached up, felt the thin metal beads jangling against her hand and pulled, turning the light on inside the closet as Shelley closed the door and took another sip of beer before handing the bottle to Vicki, who carefully set it in a corner of the closet where she wouldn’t knock it over.

It was just large enough for two people to walk into, but they would have to leave single-file. The wall opposite the door was behind Vicki, as she’d walked in first.

Shelley’s hands shook. She nervously said slowly and carefully, “Would you be mad if… uh, I told you something?”

Vicki knew, from being fairly drunk herself, that when you talked like that, you were concentrating entirely just on thinking about the one thing you were discussing. This must be super-important, thought Vicki as she wondered what her friend had needed all that beer for in order to loosen her tongue.

“No, Shel. I… I promise,” Vicki said, enunciating her own words carefully.

Shelley’s hand moved to Vicki’s hair, and she began fiddling with the ends. “I—just—Ikindoflikeyou,” she blurted.

Vicki chuckled in disbelief as she swayed, trying to regain her balance. This couldn’t be happening, could it? Her friend – her very attractive friend – was lesbian or bisexual?

Vicki wondered if that was just the beer talking, but hoped it was more than that. She tried to steady her breathing as her heart hammered against her chest. She suddenly realized how wide Shelley’s eyes were, and how she seemed to be readying for a bad reaction as she tried to stay steady on her feet. Maybe, just
maybe...

Vicki said soothingly, “Look, it’s okay. I like you too, Shel.”

She put her hands on Shelley’s shoulders to try and calm her. She could feel her friend’s shoulders shaking slightly. Shelley gasped, “Oh wow! You’re… a lesbian, Vick?”

“Bi, actually.”

Shelley’s tension vanished as she grinned drunkenly. “Oh, this is so awesome!”

She hugged Vicki, who smiled into Shelley’s shoulder as she returned the embrace. The words began spilling out of Shelley’s mouth. “Oh God, I was so terrified of telling you, because we’ve been friends for like forever and I was afraid you weren’t into girls like I was and you wouldn’t like me.”

“Hey. Shh, it’s okay.” Vicki rubbed her friend’s back, easing the tension out of Shelley as the other girl relaxed.

Shelley leaned back, and Vicki was never quite sure afterwards how it happened, but suddenly, both seemed drawn to each other and the two friends began kissing. Their hands soon started roaming, as well.