It Takes a Village Pt. 05

I looked up at him, finally meeting his gaze, and made my face shift into a neutral expression. I still had no words.

"You're upset that I didn't do something that you're used to, but in reality, you're the one breaking the general expectations. That's on you."

I nodded slowly, completely paralyzed by this mindfuck. I had never had anyone else comment on the way I kept my hair before. My mind went through my cerebral index of porn, and I realized that, indeed, almost every woman was completely bare. I always thought porn was unrealistic. Maybe that was true, but I guess is still had an impact on society.

"Okay." I said quietly, finding my jacket slung across the couch and pulling it on. "I have to go; I need to call Perry to tell them I won't be there tonight." I pushed past Austin and hurried down the attic steps, around the corner, down the first flight, and out his front door.

Chapter 15

I made my way back home, ready to forget everything with Ruth in order to gain the comfort of my best friend. However, when I finally unlocked my front door, I saw that her coat and keys were not in their places, and I knew she had left for the night.

I went right up to my room and took my clothes off, throwing them right in the dirty laundry hamper. I pulled on my robe and tip-toed across the cold floor, anxious to keep the majority of the soles of my feet away from the ground. I turned on the shower, turning the hot water all the way up, and hoped in. I began scrubbing myself; my legs, my arms, my pussy. I suddenly felt very dirty for someone who hadn't even broken a sweat.

As I laid on my bed, watching the little plastic blades of my space heater rotate, I thought more about what Austin had said. I knew that one of my sisters preferred to have no hair, and I knew that Ruth favored something between my sister's style and my own, but beyond that, I wasn't sure. That was a question I didn't have data to look at. My sample of three was biased, certainly not representative of the population. Maybe Austin had a point. I mean, I didn't necessarily love having my nose buried in a man's pubic hair when I sucked his cock, but it would also never deter me. I suppose comparing the two acts was like comparing apples and oranges, but it was the only thing I could come up with.

I had never actually fully removed all my pubic hair. I had once gotten a Brazilian, but the woman asked if I wanted to leave a small triangle of hair on my mons; I had said yes. If Austin was just telling me the truth, didn't I owe it to him—and myself—to get at least one real Brazilian? I pulled out my phone and googled, "Brazilian wax near me" and followed the link to the first result. They opened at 10 AM on Sunday morning, and their online booking service informed me that they had a spot open at 10:45 AM; I filled out my information and clicked "reserve."

Walking out of the salon the next morning, I was reminded why I hate waxing; it fucking hurts! Everything felt raw and sore, and I swear my undies were already chaffing.

Ruth hadn't come home the night before. I had texted her around 1 AM, just to ask if she was okay or to see if she needed me to pick her up. No reply. Thankfully, Perry thought to text me that Ruth would be spending the night at their house, along with a few other friends who did not want to walk back home in the freezing weather.

By the time I had driven home and started making myself a late breakfast, Austin had called, twice. It's not that I was ignoring him; I was ignoring everyone. My dad had called too, as well as my little sister. Knowing I would have to deal with all of them at some point, I decided to start with what promised to be the most difficult conversation, so I dialed my dad's number.

"Hi Dot, thanks for calling me back."

"Sure dad, what's up?"

"Well your mom is mad at me, and I don't totally understand where she is coming from."

"Dad, I don't think thi—" I was cut off before I could get myself out of the conversation.

"She came at me this morning with our credit card bills and kept questioning me about a few dinners I had and bars I'd gone to. It's ridiculous. She should know that I do have a life outside of her. Since when is it a crime to go out with your friends and coworkers every now and then!"

"Okay, dad, did she know about these dinners before you went to them?"

"Well I always mention when I won't be home for dinner."

"So, only sort of. Maybe you should try giving her a heads up that you'll be going out to eat with friends."

"I suppose I can give that a try. Thanks, Dot. And hey, if you talk to your mom, can you try to explain to her that I was just eating with friends?"

"Okay, dad. I gotta go, lots of homework. See ya."

I hung up, and dialed my sister.

"Hi Annie, why'd you call?" I asked cautiously.

"Mom and dad are fighting again."

"Yeah, sweetie, I know. Why don't you go on a little walk or something? Take Ellie and go to the park, maybe."

"But it's so cold! Why can't they be the ones to leave!"

"You're right, you're right. I'll call mom and tell her to move it outside or to the car or something next time they start yelling at each other, okay?

"Thanks, Dot. I love you. You should come visit soon."

"Hopefully when the semester settles down a little. Bye Annie, I love you."

I had successfully pushed back the dreaded call to Austin by adding a call to my mother. However, she didn't pick up her phone, so I just left her a message.

"Hey, mom, it's me. Um so I know you and dad are fighting and it's kind of freaking out Ann and El. So, maybe... I don't know, take it to the car or something next time. Okay, I'll talk to you soon, bye."

I took a deep breath, chugged about half of my water bottle, and dialed Austin.

"Hey, Dot, I'm glad you called." He said cheerfully.

"Yeah, what's up?" I wanted to get to the point.

"I'm sorry if what I said made you upset yesterday." My mouth dropped open. Was that an apology? When I didn't speak, he continued, "I think you're really cool and I'd like to hang out or something again, if you wanna give it another chance."

I thought for a moment, then remembered my biggest hookup rule of all: we both have to come. But maybe I was reading too much into this. "Like hang out, or hang out hang out?" I asked quietly.

"Both." He said.

"Well, I didn't exactly cross the finish line last night, Austin."

"Yeah, but I explained that to you. You'd definitely finish if I went down on you." "I'd definitely finish if I waxed", I thought to myself. "And besides, you were in kind of a weird mood last night. Most of the issue was probably in your head."

"Excuse me?" I scoffed.

"You know, a big part of coming is the mental game. Maybe you just weren't in the right headspace for it." There was another long pause before I decided to speak.

"You might be right." I relented with a sigh.

"Well, the old theater is showing all the Oscar nominations for best picture this week; we could go to a movie maybe? I'm totally free on Wednesdays." He wanted to... spend time together? That sounded promising.

"Okay, Wednesday it is." I mumbled.

"Great. I'll text you the details. Bye, Dot."

"Bye, Austin."