The Four Years: Year One Ch. 06

I had fucked Amy. She had fucked me. In a moment of sadness for me, she made it all go away with one simple act. I didn't care about Becky anymore, realizing she had made her decision about us.

The day after, things were w bit awkward between us. At least, they were for me.

"About last night," I said to Amy when I saw her during lunch.

"What about it?" she asked and then took a bite of her hamburger.

"Um... Well... I, uh," I stammered, not really sure what I should say.

"Marc, relax," she told me. "It was just sex."

"Just sex?" I said.

"Yeah... You were all depressed about what happened with Becky, I was feeling a bit guilty because of what happened, plus a little horny, so I killed three birds with one stone. It doesn't mean anything."

"What doesn't mean anything?" Andy asked as he sat down with a tray of food.

"Nothing," I blurted out.

"Marc and I had sex last night," Amy said nonchalantly.

I expected Andy to get mad and punch me for sleeping with his sister. I was his friend, and there are rules against that sort of thing.

"Nice one," Andy said with a bit of a smile. "Pass the ketchup."

Amy handed Andy a small bottle of ketchup, which he put on his burger before taking a bite.

"Am I the only one weirded out by this whole thing?" I asked.

"Yes," Amy and Andy said together.

"Look," Andy said after a minute. "If you're worried that I'm gonna be pissed at you for it, don't. My sister is a big girl. If she wanted to get stuffed with your sausage, that's her business."

"Thank you," Amy said, then looked at me and said, "Marc... I know last night was your first time and everything. And I got to say, not bad for a beginner. But it was just sex. It doesn't mean you and I are together or anything. That's not what I'm looking for. You should be happy. Guys go their whole life without meeting a girl who wants nothing but just a little casual sex without any strings attached. You got handed one on a silver platter."

As confused as I was by the whole thing, Amy did have a point. Not only did she help me to get over Becky, but she also fucked me. I was no longer a virgin. And I was free to go out and meet someone if I wanted to.

I suddenly felt a bit of power over myself. Looking around at all the women in the cafeteria, I didn't feel as awkward as I would have before. I felt like I could go up to any of them and at least get their phone number, if not a date.

"You're right," I said.

"Of course I am," Amy said. "Just remember, that was more than likely going to be a one time thing."

"More than likely?" I asked.

"Well, yeah," she said. "Who knows what might happen in the future. If I get that itch again and you're there, I might give you a jump. Then again, I might tell you to fuck off so I can take care of it myself. It all depends on what I'm in the mood for at the time."

"Sometimes you feel like a nut," Andy sang. "Sometimes you don't," Amy joined in and then they laughed.

"Surprise," someone said as they jumped on my back, knocking me hard into the table. I turned my head and it was Lisa with Jake standing a foot away.

"When the fuck did you guys get back?" I asked as they sat down with us.

"Just now," Jake said. "We got up early and decided to come back today instead of tomorrow."

"Mostly because Jake's parents weren't comfortable with us sharing a room," Lisa said.

"I spent the last two nights on the couch by myself," Jake said.

"Speaking of fucking," Andy said. "Marc and Amy did it."

The looks on Jake and Lisa's faces were priceless.

"That's a joke, right?" Lisa said. "What happened to Becky?"

"She dumped me," I said and then told them about what had happened.

"Pay up," Lisa said. Jake begrudgingly reached into his pocket, pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to Lisa. "Thank you."

"What was that about?" Amy asked.

"I bet Jake that Becky was one of those girls who's constantly paranoid that someone is going to hurt her in some way," Lisa said. "And would end up breaking up with Marc over something trivial or even made up in her head."

Lisa put her hand on my shoulder and added, "It's not your fault sweetie. She's just screwed up. If it didn't happen when it did, it would have eventually."

"And you know this how?" asked Amy.

"The signs were all there," Lisa said. "Her upbringing, mostly the fact that her dad left right before she was born. So obvious daddy issues as well as suspecting of any man she gets close to will one day abandon her."

"That's impossible," I said. "I saw a picture of her with her mom and dad."

"Step dad," said Lisa. "Number six, if I remember what she told me that day."

"How the hell did I not know about any of this?" I asked.

"Did you ever ask?" Jake said.

"She told me about her family," I said. "She never mentioned that her dad was actually her step dad, so I didn't think there was anything that I should have asked."

"Holy crap," said Amy. "Now I understand why she kept giving me that look on Halloween."

"What look?" I asked.

"Like she wanted to kick my ass," Amy said.

"Why the fuck didn't you guys ever tell me about any of this before now?"

"Would you have believed us if we did?" asked Lisa.

I thought about it for a minute before I answered, "Not really."

"Exactly," Lisa said. "You were blinded by the L and L."

"L and L?" asked Andy.

"Love and lust," said Jake. "All guys go through it during the first few months of a relationship. Especially if they haven't been laid in a long time, or even at all. Once you actually have sex with the person, then you start to see them for who they really are. Luckily, I was with someone who is just awesome."

Jake pulled Lisa to him and gave her a quick kiss on her lips.

"So," Lisa said after a moment. "Now that you two are together."

"We're not together," Amy said. "It was just sex to help him get over Becky. Like charity work... Really, really good charity work."

"For his first time?" asked Lisa and Amy nodded. "Lucky you. I remember the first guy I slept with. It was his first time as well... Wow, was it bad. Three seconds and it was over."

"It was five," Jake said. "And I thought we wouldn't talk about this to anyone."

"Oh, sweetie," Lisa said. "You're so cute when you get embarrassed. Just makes me want to take you up to your room, rip your clothes off, and make nasty monkey love to you."

"See you guys later," Jake said as he grabbed Lisa's hand and they ran off.

"Stay off my bed this time," I shouted to them as they ran out of the cafeteria.

"You know the first place they're gonna do it is on your bed, right?" asked Andy.

"Yeah, I know," I said.

That Monday, classes resumed and so did the beginning of the time leading up to midterms. The workload for each of my classes doubled, and some even tripled. I had three papers due all on the same day one week, and only had a few days to work on them. I spent most of my time in the library researching and going over all of my notes.

As for Becky, she and I didn't talk to each other anymore, which was fine with me. The one class we shared, she moved to an empty seat on the other side of the room. Then, after two weeks, she suddenly stopped coming to class. I would later find out that I wasn't the only one to have gotten lucky that night. The only difference is that while Amy was on the pill when I came in her, stopping any chance of her getting pregnant, Becky wasn't so lucky when creepy Carl unloaded his seed into her. When she found out, she told her overtly religious parents, who refused to pay her tuition anymore and demanded that she return home. And of course, when creepy Carl found out, he bolted for the hills.

I felt kind of bad for Becky, but I couldn't dwell on it because almost every free moment I had went to studying. To give you an idea how hectic everything was with our classes, Jake and Lisa barely had time for sex.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Lisa said one evening while she and I were studying in the library while Jake was in one of his evening classes.

"Come on," I said. "I know the work load is tough, but..."

"Fuck the work load," Lisa said. "I'm talking about the lack of sex. Jake and I barely get to see each other, and honestly... Mama needs it bad."

"Needs what bad?" asked Andy as he sat down with us, a huge pile of books with him.

"Damn it man," I said, looking at the pile. It was half as tall as I was. "What the hell are you studying?"

"You don't want to know," Andy said as he grabbed the first book from the pile, which was something about advanced space/time theory.

"BTW," Andy said a moment later as he looked up from his book. "My birthday is tomorrow." He looked at his watch, "Actually, make that in twenty minutes."

"Well happy fucking birthday," I said, patting him on the back. "Finally eighteen. Old enough to buy cigarettes, vote, and get sent by the government to kill people."

"Yeah," Andy said. "Anyways, don't make any plans for tomorrow night. We're going out celebrating."

"Count me in," Lisa said. "I could really use a night off."

"Yeah," I said I was really starting to feel burned out by all the studying and assignments I had to do. One night off was sounding like paradise to me at the moment. "Where are we going?"

"Keeping it simple," Andy said. "Bowling."

"Bowling?" I said.

"Yep," said Andy. "Just the five of us. A lane. Some balls."

Lisa let out a little moan.

"And lots and lots of beer," Andy continued. "Amy found a place not far from here that doesn't bother carding college students."

"Sounds good to me," I said.

The next day I only had one class before noon. When it was over, I dropped my books off at my room to find Jake going over some of his class notes.

"What are you up to right now?" I asked.

"Trying to figure out world peace," he said without looking up. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"I'm heading out to get a present for Andy's birthday tonight," I said. "You want to come?"

"Can't," Jake said as he looked up from his notes. "I have my first midterm tomorrow, and if I want to be able to go tonight, I need to spend the rest of the day studying."

"Alright," I said and then left the room.

I walked around the small shopping district near campus as I looked for something to get Andy. I stopped in a video game store and after looking around for a few minutes, picked out a couple games for him.

By the time I got back to the dorms, I had just enough time to shower and get ready before meeting everyone downstairs. I threw on a pair of jeans and an old Snoopy shirt I found at a yard sale during the summer right before coming to college. After checking myself in the mirror real quick, I grabbed my wallet, keys, and games for Andy and headed downstairs.

"PRESENTS!" Andy shouted as he saw me walk outside. He and Amy where sitting on the low wall near the front of the dorm. He jumped down and came running up to me.

"Thanks Marc," he said as I handed him the games and he looked through them. A few moments later, Jake and Lisa came walking out. Lisa had a little gift bag in her hands, and Andy happily took it from her.

"Holy crap, it's full of condoms," Andy said.

"Yeah," said Jake. "I wanted to get you a twelve inch robber cock... As a joke. But Lisa talked me into those instead, saying you'd be more likely to use them."

"Hah," laughed Amy.

"Bite me," Andy shot back at her. "Thanks guys. Give me a minute to dump these in my room, and then we'll get going."

Andy ran back inside to put away his gifts. The four of us chatted about this and that as we waited for the birthday boy to return. The whole time, I noticed Amy had her hands behind her back, like she was hiding something.

"Alright," Andy said as he walked up. "Let's get rolling."

"Not so fast," Amy said as she hopped down from the wall, still keeping her hands behind her back. "Before we go, there's something we must do."

"What?" asked Jake. "I want to get drunk, bowl, and ravage my girl in a bathroom stall."

"Such a romantic," Lisa said before giving Jake a quick kiss on the lips.

"We have a tradition in our family," Amy said.

"No," Andy said, and Amy just smiled.

"That whoever has a birthday must make it know to all that it's their special day."

"I swear, if you do this, I'll never fucking forgive you."

"I can live with that," Amy said. "You honestly didn't think that because we're away from home, we wouldn't be doing this?"

"Doing what?" I asked.

Amy pulled her hands out from behind her back to show she was holding a cheaply made paper crown made out of purple construction paper.

"Come on Aims," Andy said. "You know how much I loathe that stupid tradition."

"Exactly why I remembered to make one," she said. "Assume the position."

Andy let out a disgruntled sigh ad he kneeled down in front of his sister. She placed the purple crown on her brothers head and said, "I dub thee... The birthday bitch."

We all chuckled and laughed as Andy stood up, clearly embarrassed. A few people looked at him like he was crazy or something.

"Ok," Amy said. "Now we can go."

We walked across campus and a few blocks down the street till we reached the bowling alley. Once inside, we went to the counter.

"Hi," Amy said. "I called and reserved a lane for the night."

"Name," the bored teen behind the counter said.

"Seymour," she said with a grin. The bored teen looked at sheet of paper in front of him, then up at Amy.

"Butz?" he said suspiciously.

"It's pronounced Bootz," she said. The bored teen eyed her for a moment and then handed her a plastic card and set five pairs of bowling shoes on the counter.

"Lane sixteen," the bored teen said, and the five of us headed to our lane.

"Seymour buts?" I asked, and Amy just smiled and said, "Just wait till later. You'll understand."

When we got to our lane, we tucked the rental shoes away because none of us wanted to wear smelly old shoes that a billion other feet have been in.

"Go ahead and get the game set up," Jake said. "I'm gonna get the first round."

Jake walked over to the bar area while we set up the order of the game. First was the birthday boy, Andy. Followed by Amy. Then me, Lisa, and Jake was last since he was off getting the first round of beers.

After we picked out our balls, Andy took his position and was about to roll it when Jake walked up with five bottles of Corona. Andy came over and we all thanked Jake for the drinks. We wished Andy a happy birthday, and the night began.

Andy set his drink down and rolled his ball right down the gutter.

"Son of a..." Andy said. He waited for his ball to return and then threw it down the lane. Another gutter ball.

"You do know you're supposed to knock the pins down, right?" asked Amy and Andy gave her the finger as he sat down.

"You're up Amy," Lisa said. Amy got up, grabbed her ball and held it up as she lined up her roll. Once she was ready, she let the ball go and got a strike.

She turned back to look at us with a smile on her face and said, "That's how it's done."

I was up next and managed to knock down a total of six pins. Lisa got herself a spare, and Jake bowled himself a strike.

"Should we get the buffers out so you can hit something this time?" Amy jokingly asked as Andy took a sip of his beer and got up.

"Buffer this," he said as he rolled his ball. It was a strike. He took off his purple paper crown and gave us a bow.

"Yeah, yeah," said Amy as she stood up. "Even the sun shines on a dogs ass some days." Amy threw her ball and got another strike.

I got up for my turn and knocked down only one pin. "I hope you didn't strain yourself there," Amy said to me with a smile as I sat down. She then reached over and rubbed my back for a second as Lisa got up for her turn. She knocked down nine pins and Jake got a spare on his turn.

That game went on pretty much the same. Everyone did pretty well, while I stunk.

"Ok," said Amy after Jake took his last turn, another strike. "Let's tally up the score. With a very impressive forty two... Marc."

"What can I say," I said. "It's not easy sucking that much." We all chuckled and Andy patted me on the shoulder.

"In forth... Lisa with a one twenty six."

"I would've done better if Jake hadn't grabbed my ass three frames in a row," Lisa said and Jake grabbed her ass again. She giggled and playfully slapped his chest before giving him a kiss.

"In third... The birthday boy with a score of one ninety one."

Andy smiled and drained the last of his beer.

"Second goes to Jake with a two fifty three."

Jake was too busy kissing Lisa to say anything.

"And me... The winner with two fifty eight. All bow down before my awesomeness."

"Booooo," Andy said and his sister stuck her tongue out at him.

"Congratulations," Jake said. "And as the winner, it's your turn to buy the next round."

"What?" said Amy.

"Those are the rules," he said.

"Since when?"

"Since three seconds ago."

"You guys are just sore losers," Amy said as she got up. "Come on Lisa, you can help me carry."

Amy and Lisa walked off towards the bar. Jake, Andy, and I talked and joked around for a bit, and when the girls returned with the next round, we started a new game. This time, Amy seemed to try and not play as good as she had before. I did a little better, ending the game with close to a hundred points, while everyone else were about the same.

Jake won this time, but Lisa said she'd buy the next round of drinks. She and Jake walked over to the bar and Amy stood up and stretched.

"I'll be right back," she said and headed towards the restrooms. Andy and I started talking when someone called out my name. I looked around and saw this short little brunette Latin girl walking over to me. She looked familiar, but for some reason, I couldn't remember where I had seen her before.

"Hey Marc," she said, sitting down next to me. "What are you doing here?"

"Um... It's Andy's birthday," I said.

"That's me," said Andy.

"Happy birthday," she said, leaning over and giving him a hug.

"Thank you," said Andy. "Oh, friendly with the hugging. Okay," he added awkwardly.

I had to cover my mouth at Andy being uncomfortable. That kid might be a genius, but he still was awkward when around most females.

"So," the girl said, looking back at me. "I was supposed to meet a friend here tonight, but she had to cancel at the last minute. I was about to leave when I saw you and thought I'd mosey on over and see if you wanted to hang out."

"Mosey," said Andy. "That's a very under rated word that I don't think gets enough usage anymore."

"Right, huh," the girl said with a hint of a smile.

I still couldn't remember who she was, or why she seemed so familiar to me. "Okay," I said. "This might make me sound like an ass, but I'm trying to remember where I know you from, but I just can't seem to place it."

"Rosa," she said. "Econ 101 on Wednesdays."

"Oh yeah," I said, remembering her. She sat on the other side of the room, but we had never really talked to each other. Maybe once or twice we said hello to each other, and I think I she borrowed a pen from me one time, but that's about it.

Just then, Jake and Lisa walked up with our drinks.

"Hey," said Jake, looking at Rosa. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Rosa," she said. "I came over to say hi to Marc."

Jake gave me a funny look, which was cut short when Lisa pinched his butt.

"You didn't tell us you were seeing anyone," Lisa said to me.

"I'm not," I said.

"We just have a class together," Rosa said. "I got stood up by a friend, and when I saw Marc, I just popped over to see if he wanted to hang out. But you guys are celebrating, and I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Please," Lisa said. "Intrude away. The more the merrier, right."