Discoveries of a Young Man Pt. 07

"Killer team over here," Benny cheered, chugging his beer.

"We're gonna be sober if this keeps up," Hope said, grinning broadly.

"Let's take a break then, I need some air," I said. It was getting pretty warm in the kitchen, even as spacey it was.

We slipped out into the backyard, where I had my beer. We cracked one each. Hope sipped hers looking at me excitedly.

"We're fucking schooling them," Hope said, beaming with excitement.

"We are. You got some serious aim," I said, gulping down on my beer. I needed to cool down.

"All those people... they never knew what hit them," Hope laughed, smiling proudly.

We went back inside to play against Trent and Benny. Instead of trying our hardest, we started doing the most ridiculous trick shots. Trent threw his ball in the air and Benny tried to head it into one of the cups. The ball was way off target landing in the sink instead. In retaliation, Hope tried to throw it with her back turned. To our amazement, Hope nailed it too. Onlookers cheered as the ball flew effortlessly into the last cup. Trent immediately slammed the beer down, cursing loudly.

"Damn you to all the hells!" Trent yelled theatrically. Hope laughed at his antics. Benny then grabbed Trent by the shoulder and clotheslined him to the floor, shocking the onlookers.

"I wanted that!" Benny yelled, pointing at the empty cup. Trent laughed from the floor. Yep, they were starting to get drunk.

"God damn it, Benny. You could've just asked," Trent groaned, having the wind knocked out of him. I gave him a hand up. "I should be happy it wasn't Bran, else my head would be off."

"Your friends are nuts," Hope muttered to me. I chuckled. They absolutely were.

"Meh, he doesn't look that big," someone said from behind us. A few of us turned to see Jeremy entering the room. Trent shook his head, rubbing his chest where Benny had hit him.

"Jer, Bran would fucking level you," Trent said, shaking his head. I decided that it was time to find another activity. Jeremy seemed in an agitated mood and I didn't want to end up in a fight.

"Let's check out the pool," I said to Hope. She nodded, seeming to see where this might go.

"Where you guys heading?" Trent asked. He was still oblivious to the obvious tension towards Jeremy.

"We're checking out the pool," I said, glancing at Jeremy who was busy winning his own set of pong against Benny and some other girl. Trent lifted an eyebrow and followed us outside.

"Something wrong with Jer?" Trent asked as we got a new set of beers and walked out to the lit up pool area. It had a half-roof that we took cover under. Not that it rained or anything, it was just a bit away from the swarm of people around.

I looked at Hope. She gave a curt nod.

"Jeremy was kind of a dick towards Hope," I said.

"That why you're here with Hope?" Trent asked. He was sharp. "I wondered about that. But all cool. What he do?"

I briefly told the broad strokes of how Jeremy had tried to trick Hope last weekend. Trent was shaking his head almost the whole time.

"But I don't mind if you're friends with him, we'll just keep our distance," I concluded. Hope nodded. We were not about to control anyone's friendship. Hell, I was here based on 'the okay' from Mel myself.

"Nah fuck that guy," Trent said. "We could just throw him into the pool? It's freezing."

"Nah, we'll just have fun. Don't worry about it."

Then Benny came over and grabbed Trent by his shoulders.

"Jeremy fucked me in the beer pong. T, where is that fucking absinthe?" Benny asked aggressively like it was a life-or-death situation. "You guys have to join too," he added, more kindly.

Next thing I knew, a few shots of absinthe later, Hope and I were jumping around dancing wildly in the living room along with what seemed to be the whole party. The only ones who weren't jumping around like crazy were Trent and Benny, who were dancing a slow waltz.

Hope and I exchanged a look and laughed out loud. Trent seemed to notice. Without warning, without consideration for consent Trent grabbed me, Benny grabbed Hope, and voila, now the four of us were dancing waltz to the thumps of some dubstep tune. It was surreal.

As the songs progressed the waltz became wilder and more erratic. We exchanged partners between the four of us until we were all exhausted. People around us seemed thoroughly amused by how we partied without any conviction, some even joining in our ridiculous classic dancing. Maybe it was the absinthe. Or perhaps it was the company. Either way, eventually we stumbled away from the dancefloor, all of us sweaty from head to toe.

Trent slapped my ass.

"Good dancing, bud," he yelled through the loud music. I slapped his back.

"Not so bad yourself, darlin'," I yelled back. Hope laughed.

"What about me?" she yelled, feigning jealousy. Without thinking, I slapped her ass too. Hope looked shocked at first, but smiled wickedly still, then laughed her ass off.

"Great dancing. Let's go on a beer run down to my car, I think I'm out," I said loudly into her ear. Even up close it was hard to hear one another.

The whole walk down to the car we were laughing, thinking on how fucking stupid we had all looked.

"I think I've found a new place in my heart for partying," I said, leading the way down the driveway.

"I never knew it could be this fun!" Hope said, giggling. Her forehead shone with sweat, her chest heaving from our exhausted dancing. "So you don't regret getting dragged to a party with a bunch of lamos?"

"No way. Fuck all those people, we're doing our own thing," I said, laughing. We reached the car and I popped the car open, yanking out a new case of beer.

I felt arms wrapping around my waist. Hope had snuck up on me. I turned in her grasp and looked down at her, as she rested her head against my chest.

"Thank you so much, I'm having so much fun," she said and let go. Hope looked up at me, and after a brief moment, she winked at me and grabbed the bottle of vodka and mixer I had bought, and started skipping up the driveway.

I shook my head and headed after her.

The party was truly fun. After slowly making our way through each of our pina coladas, we danced some more, though no more of that silly waltz we did earlier. It was nice to do something so physically appealing, and without any care what others might think. We just did what was fun. Hope at least seemed to have a great time.

I also couldn't help but notice the envious looks from Jess and some others, and the annoyed stare from Jeremy.

After a good few songs of dancing, we moved back to the kitchen to see if there was anyone up for some more pong. That's when I saw Trent arguing with Jeremy. I could only imagine what that was all about. I decided to not care and took Hope by the shoulder to lead her out. My ears perked up just as we were about to exit the room.

I turned and saw Jeremy shove Trent away. Trent was much bigger, but also much drunker. He stumbled backward and fell over.

"Whatever man, fuck that midget and his slut. She was a shitty fuck either way," Jeremy yelled out loud, gesturing toward me and Hope. "She's all fucked out anyway. Fucking downer, her loser dad probably—"

Jeremy never finished that thought as I had made my way over and shoved him hard. Jeremy stumbled a bit, slightly taken aback.

"Shut your mouth!" I said through gritted teeth.

"Why don't you go kill yourself, you little fuck, after you've raped—"

Jeremy drew his right hand back to punch, but I slipped away. Jeremy punched out again, but I dodged again, then jabbed him hard in the solar plexus, knocking the wind right out of him. Jeremy fell backwards and crashed hard to the floor, only to be dragged back to his feet by a recovered Trent and Benny. They dragged Jeremy out, who was still struggling to regain his breath.

I stood there trembling, with people looking at me. In what way, I had no idea. It all happened so fast. I was so fucking emberassed, I just stormed out. I walked past the pool and up to the deck that was slightly elevated away from the whole party, and with the lights turned out. The adrenaline rush was subsiding, and I could feel myself shaking all over. My hand also hurt like crazy. I looked down at it. I guess I messed it up a bit.

I heard small steps on the wooden steps up onto the deck. I turned and saw Hope come towards me. What a fucking idiot I was, leaving her behind like that. And after I had let my anger get the best of me. Hope didn't say anything, she just came over next to me, and leaned against the fence, looking at me from a few feet away.

"Trent and Benny dumped Jeremy in the pool," she said after a bit, laughing slightly. I looked down to the pool and saw a wet figure struggle out of the water. I gave a half chuckle.

Hope slid a few inches closer.

"That was..." Hope began. I knew I was about to be scolded. Acting like such an idiot was... idiotic.

"... fucking incredible!"

I looked at Hope, shocked. She looked so mesmerized. Happy. A broken kind of happiness, like this was an evening she never wanted to be over. She smiled, reminiscent of the evening so far. Hope was moving closer, dragging her fingers along the fence.

"Nobody has ever stood up for me like you have. You should've seen the look on Jer's face! Many people were cheering so loud when he went down. Seems like people have come to realize what an idiot he is. You should've seen how some of the girls looked at you!" Hope said, still inching closer to me.

"And even if all that didn't happen, I had a great time. Bran, today was one of the best days of my life, and it was all thanks to you!"

Hope finally reached me. She picked up my aching hand and held it close with both of her smaller ones.

"I never knew it could be this good. Being cared for. Being taken care of. And for the record... I never slept with him... I'm still... I'm still a virgin," Hope admitted, looking down at our hands. Hope slid her hands around me and pulled us together, resting her head at my chest. "I am being silly, aren't I?"

"Don't worry about that, Hope, truly. Nothing of that is important. And you're not being silly, you're just... yourself, y'know. Honest," I said. Hope smiled at that.

"I don't think I would be so depressed and shitty all the time if I knew something like this could happen to someone like me. Thank you, Bran. I hope we can have fun like this more often," Hope said. She looked up at me. We had been drinking a bit, but she was steady as she held my gaze. No flickering of her eyes. Hell, I felt myself sobering up quite a bit myself.

"I am happy for you. I wanted you to have fun. And the night isn't over yet, still plenty of fun to be had," I said, smiling down at her.

We shared a few moments looking at each other. I saw her eyes dart back and forth between my eyes. Hope smiled warmly up at me.

"That stupid tik tok song..." Hope mumbled. We could still hear the music from down at the pool. Holding her eyes, I listened to the lyrics as a slowed version of Heat Waves played.

'... I don't wanna be alone,

you know it hurts me too,

you look so broken when you cry

one more then I'll say goodbye

Sometimes all I think about is you...'

As the song sang the chorus Hope reached up and kissed me. It took me a mere moment to kiss back. It was a slow and tender kiss, just holding us tightly against each other. One kiss led to more, pressing our lips together passionately. It was nothing but kisses, but it didn't need to be anything more. It was kisses filled with yearning, the accumulation of our evening together. We stood softly kissing each other through 'Human' by the Killers and halfway through the first chorus of 'Tiny Dancer'.

As the kissing ended, we leaned back, slightly out of breath looking at each other. I pulled Hope into my chest, holding her around the waist. Hope was slightly trembling against me. It took me a minute to realize she was crying.

"Hope? What's the matter?" I asked, concerned.

"You're so gentle with me... I never thought how good it could be," Hope said, smiling up at me teary-eyed. "I'm not sad... I'm just so fucking happy."

I hugged her tightly. Holding her closer. It was such a huge compliment it almost had me going too.

"Come on now, it's not all me. You were here too, the whole way," I said. Hope smiled, wiping her tears away.

"We should get back to the party, shouldn't we?" Hope said,

"Not if you don't want to, we can just chill."

"No... we've had so much fun. Let's go party some more. You... you go ahead, I need to fix my face first. I'll be right behind you."

*

"Where you guys been?" Trent asked as I got back.

"Erh, my hand is fucked, I think."

"You should've seen the other guy. Wait, you did!" Trent said and laughed heartily. I joined him.

Benny came over, slamming another shot of absinthe into my hand, probably my last one. He held one up as if studying it.

"I have this extra shot of absinthe here. Like it had a greater purpose in life. You know, Bran, this shot of absinthe grew up aspiring for a bit of Hope!"

I laughed at his stupid theatrics. Benny loved dramatics when he was shitfaced. He abruptly reached the shot across my shoulder, more or less shoving me out of the way. Apparently, Hope had come up behind me.

"Cheers!" we said in unison and downed the poison. Fucking hell it burned. I was pretty impressed by how well Hope took it as well. Better than I did. I coughed harshly while Hope smiled at my weak tolerance.

"Fine. Let's get oiled up and wrestle!" Benny exclaimed.

Luckily there was no actual oil. I got floored by Benny immediately as we tried to drunkenly grapple, to everyone's great amusement. My hand shot with pain, but I tried to ignore it. In the end, I had to sit out the rest as Benny and Trent took on any and all. Hope and I relaxed on the couch as we watched on, laughing at the stumbling, clumsy display of man on man machismo.

After regrouping a bit on the couch, Hope dragged me back to dance some more. The evening was starting to slow down a bit, despite Trent and Benny's best efforts. Hope was swaying her hips side to side, resting her hands on my shoulders, smiling up at me, moving to the music like nobody's business. It was fucking hot seeing how she enjoyed moving around, smiling so cutely. Singing along to the tunes of famous singalongs, looking up at me, happy as can be. Like she was singing to me personally, dancing for me.

Slower songs started to play, and the dance floor moved accordingly. Hope pulled closer to me. Closer, slower. Swaying back and forth to the tunes of soft ballads. It was another kind of euphoria than I had experienced before. It was more timid, delicate even. The faint prospect of making every move last forever, not wanting it to end.

As Cornelia Jakobs reached the climax of 'Hold Me Closer', Hope once again took the opportune moment of music to move up to me. She hesitated tenderly for a mere instance, hovering her face in front of mine, a small moment of yearning, before moving for another soft kiss. We held like that for the remainder of the song, and then some. Clutching at my shirt, Hope then reached up on her toes and planted a kiss on my cheek before whispering in my ear.

"Can you call an uber?"

*

We were sitting in her dark bedroom, only lit by the light in the hallway sneaking in through the open door. Me at the desk in her office chair, Hope sitting on the bed. It was a first. Going home with a girl, sitting in her room wondering what was next. With Mel, there was little doubt. Now it was more like a feeling-out situation.

"You had a good time today?" I asked. Hope just sat staring at me.

"The best..." she muttered, then fixed her eyes down on the floor. "Can you... can you stay here tonight?"

I hesitated for a brief moment. I knew this was something that could happen.

"Hope... I love your mom... I can't..." I started. But Hope wasn't deterred.

I sat looking at Hope. How she sat so innocently on her bed, staring at me with a mix of hope and fire in her eyes. Hope truly was pretty. She had her dark blue eyes, lips slightly bottom-heavy, Somehow most of her make-up was still intact. The goth girl I had met in the dark of night, now sitting timidly hoping, almost begging for me to love her. Love. Something she had been robbed from her whole life. Something she wanted from me.

"Can't you love us both?" Hope asked, hopeful. "She said it was okay. She said you could..."

Hope moved to the side, inviting me to sit next to her. I moved over and sat next to her. She turned slightly towards me and looked at me.

"We don't have to, we can just sit here for a bit," I suggested. Hope gave me one of her crooked half-smiles.

"As if. I finally got the one I wanted," Hope muttered sensually, grabbing me by the front of my shirt and pulling me into her kiss.

Hope leaned back, dragging me with her. I quickly turned around so I could get better on top of her. For the first time, I let my hands explore Hope properly. I tried to be careful, only stroking along her sides, gently caressing her strong arms. Her petite frame felt small under me like Hope was like this fragile thing I had to tread carefully with. And I did my best to do so.

"You're so hot," Hope moaned after a series of kisses.

"You're pretty good-looking yourself."

"No, I mean your hands. Of course, you're hot looking too, but you're so warm," Hope said.

I looked down at her, stroking her hair to the side.

"I really like your new hair," I said.

"I wanted to make it special," Hope replied.

"You are special, Hope," I said, earnestly.

Hope looked up at me, hesitating for a little bit.

"I liked you the whole time... don't know if you could tell... Even when I found you almost naked in the kitchen," Hope admitted, looking up at me for my reaction.

"I may have had an inkling. Not only me though."

"I guess I'm not very discreet," Hope mumbled. Hope then moved my face down to hers again, pulling me into another series of soft kisses.

Hope was a way more nervous partner, so I decided to take it slow and keep it at her pace. But as we were kissing, Hope became more brazen. I could feel her nervously flicking her tongue against my lips. Happily, I invited her in and we started to passionately make out. I felt her moan against me as our tongues met. Her responses started to get me going as well.

"Oh shit," Hope moaned as I was kissing her neck. No doubt did she feel me growing against her. I pushed up again.

"It's okay if you don't—"

Hope shut me up by pulling me into her neck again. She got goosebumps all over. She seemed to particularly like her neck attended to, as she squirmed delightfully as I softly kissed it. Hope started to feel my arms, around to my back and even down to my ass, as she pressed me towards her. She then grabbed the bottom of my shirt, trying to pull it off of me. I helped her by sitting up slightly.

"Fuck, you really do work out," Hope moaned looking at my torso. Her hands felt my abs and up my chest.

"You know when you were sleeping in the living room..." Hope began.

"Yeah, you're not very discreet," I teased. Hope bit her lip.

She traced her eyes from my chest, back down to my abs, then to the fly of my pants. Hope abruptly darted her hands to it, trying a bit too fast to get them off of me.

"Slow down, Hope," I chuckled. Hope giggled in response. "I'll do it. If you do yours."

"Fair is fair," Hope replied.

I watched as she hurriedly pulled her tank top over her head, revealing her ample breast clothed in her bra, extenuated by her slender, petite frame. She then reached back and unhooked her bra, revealing her full breasts. I immediately bent down and started kissing them softly, making her squirm. Her tits were so hot, I just had to feel them.