Thorny Rose Ch. 01

Both of us grabbed beers and made small talk with the group of mostly guys, and a couple of girls, who were standing around. Tessa pressed herself against me, as if staking her claim, and I felt pretty good about things. I'd always thought that she was cute, but didn't know her that well, and I had heard some rumors that she was maybe a little slutty, so things were looking pretty good. We finished the beers and walked to the back of the house, where a few kids were hanging out, mostly talking. I led Tessa to a darker area by the garage, and we started making out again.

The taste of the beer on her breath, mixed with the smell of her long, flowing wavy light brown hair was very sexy, and we were soon panting and groping pretty seriously. I reached under her shirt and felt the silkiness of her bra, and the hardness of her nipple. My cock was hard, and pressing against Tessa's jeans, and she was kind of humping it. And then she pulled away.

"Dale, I always had a crush on you," she said, breathing hard, her dark eyes staring into mine. This was surprising to me, since I had never seen any evidence of it.

"I always thought you were cute," I said, which was true.

"Is there anywhere private we can go?" she asked, giving me a look of lust that was unlike anything I'd ever seen directed at me. I shook my head.

"It's kinda hard because it's my house and all, and my party. And my parents are around."

She looked surprised, and put her hand on my pants, right on my still hard cock. "Are you sure?"

It is never easy doing the right thing. And despite how much I literally ached to take her up on what I assumed she was offering, the time wasn't right. "My god, Tessa," I said, "I can't tonight. But can we go out sometime?"

She pressed her hot little body against me, leaned up and kissed me. "Sure, anytime." After fixing her hair and straightening out her clothing, she took my hand and we walked back into the house. The party was still going strong, and I scanned the room for Rose, just to make sure that she was doing O.K. I saw her, standing in the corner of the living room, talking animatedly to Erika. And then she turned and quickly walked out. I wanted to follow her, but even though I don't know much about women, I knew that Tessa would not find it at all amusing.

After that, the party continued, and people started to head home. Tessa got a ride home with Mario Kahn, who lived down the street from her, but not before I got a nice kiss goodbye and an accidental on purpose squeeze of my cock. As my parents, Larry, Albert and I started to clean up, I looked for Erika, to find out why Rose left so abruptly, but she had already gone. Eventually, the house was pretty clean, and it was just me and my parents.

"Thanks," I said, "it was a great party."

Mom smiled, "you looked like you were having fun." I blushed.

Dad asked, "Was that Phil and Angela's daughter that was hanging all over you?"

I shrugged, "Yeah, that was Tessa. We kind of hit it off tonight."

I noticed my parents look at each other, although they didn't think I saw it. "Good," said Mom. "They're nice people."

We turned off the lights and went to bed, where, thinking of Tessa, I quickly jerked off before falling asleep.

* * *

I was able to sleep in a bit the next morning, and when I finally checked my phone, there were a few "thank you" texts, which were nice, but also two stranger ones. The first was from Erika, which said, "call me," which, considering our lack of history since 8th grade, seemed odd. The second was from Sam Cruz, saying, "you have to call me asap!!!!," which really seemed over the top. I was hungry and needed coffee, so I went downstairs.

Mom was finishing up the cleanup and Dad was out in the yard picking up some stray trash. I poured myself some coffee and started making toast.

"Mom-do you need any help?" I asked, hoping that the answer would be "no."

"It's O.K.," she said to my relief, "I've got it. Consider it part of your birthday present."

I laughed and thanked her, taking another sip of coffee. As I ate my toast, I thought about the two calls that I apparently had to make, and also about the potential for something to happen with Tessa, by which, of course, I meant the potential for sex with Tessa, and the idea began to get me aroused. I finished my breakfast, then went back to my room.

I figured I'd start with Erika, so I texted her to make sure she was awake. In response, my phone rang.

"Dale?"

"Um, yeah, Erika. What's up?"

"Thanks for the party, it was fun."

"Yeah, thanks, it was." I knew there had to be more. "So, what's going on?"

"Um, did you see Rose last night?"

"Yeah. She looked incredible."

"I know. I hadn't seen her all dressed up before."

"Yeah." I had no idea where this was going.

"Well, uh, she left early--"

"I saw that. Do you know why?"

"She saw you pawing that Tessa girl."

"And?"

"Are you really that thick, Dale?" she asked, with exasperation in her voice.

"What?" I asked, because apparently I am that thick.

"Dale, she likes you. She came to your party, dressed like that for you. And you had your tongue down that little girl's throat."

I was a bit stunned. In all the time that I had spent with Rose, the last thing that I thought was that she had any interest in me. We were friends, and nothing more.

"Um, I had no idea," I said. "None."

"Well, I always thought you were a little dense. Look, Dale, you need to choose. But remember how fragile Rose is, so if you choose to stay with Tessa, be gentle." She hung up before I could say anything else.

And that really was the issue. I mean, Tessa was cute, and she clearly liked me, and seemed willing to do stuff with me. And she seemed kind of normal. Rose, though, she was well out of my league, and older, but I was worried about trying to be with her. The mystery. The fragility, and the way she freaked out when Stan touched her. I had to really think this through, and I fully expected that whatever choice I made would end up badly, knowing my luck with girls.

I was laying on my bed, thinking of my theoretically happy, but practically dangerous, dilemma, when I remembered that Sam urgently wanted me to call him, so I did.

"Hey, Dale."

"Hey."

"Great party, man."

"Thanks. What's so important?"

"O.K. Here's the deal. When I saw Rose last night, all dressed up like she was, she seemed familiar."

"Familiar how?"

"Um, just familiar, O.K.?"

"Yeah."

"So, anyway, look, I'm going to text you a link. You gotta watch it in private and call me back."

"Why the fucking mystery?"

"Just do it." He hung up. A few seconds later, I got a text with a link. I closed the door to my bedroom softly, then clicked the link. A video started to load. It was called "Aubrey Angel Goes Down." When the video loaded, it was an amateurish looking film of a young, naked girl giving a guy a blowjob. It looked like a million other porn videos I had seen since I discovered Internet porn.

Then, it struck me. Aubrey Angel looked a hell of a lot like Rose, maybe a few years younger. I watched, trying to be sure, until the guy shot his load all over her face. It really looked like Rose, and as turned on as I was, I felt a little sick. But it couldn't be Rose. I watched it again, and it looked more and more like her. I Googled Aubrey Angel, and a bunch of videos came up. Some were like the one that Sam had sent—they were either amateurish, or meant to look like them. A few were from what looked like real porn movies. I watched them only long enough to feel pretty sure that the girl was either Rose—or looked just like her.

Then, I checked the search results, and read a few articles. I picked up my phone and texted Sam, "Thanks. DO NOT TELL ANYONE ELSE ABOUT THIS."

I started to dial Rose, when Sam replied, "You can't tell me what to do."

I stopped calling Rose and called Sam instead.

"That's got to be her," he said. "But I think she is using a fake name."

"No shit, genius. Did you read the articles?"

"Of course. This is an incredible story."

"It's not a 'story,' Sam—it is one of our friends' lives. Remember what Mr. G said."

"That's exactly why it's a story, Dale. And I have an obligation to tell it."

"Obligation to who, exactly? The Farston Bugle isn't exactly the New York fucking Times."

"Doesn't matter. This is news, and I have to report it."

I knew that Sam, while a good guy, had always had this crazy attitude about being a "reporter." But I needed time.

"Look, Sam, don't tell anyone until we go back to school on Monday. I want to talk to Rose, so she knows what is going on."

"I'm going to want to ask her for a comment, you know."

His journalistic ethics actually were working to my benefit now. "Fine. Let me speak to her and I will get back to you."

"Fine, but don't waste too much time," he said.

"O.K." He disconnected.

I immediately dialed Rose. Trying not to spook her, I said, "Rose, can you meet me in Founder's Park by the fountain, in like 15 minutes?"

"Uh, sure, Dale. What's going on?"

"We need to talk," I said, hoping that she would think that it was just about me and Tessa.

"Sure, Dale. See you there."