Senior Year Memories Ch. 23

The corners of her lips curled into the slightest ghost of a smile.

"Nice work, Ryan. I'll take a look at this. Now get the hell out of here, grab yourself some lunch and don't bother me while I try to make sure Nica doesn't fuck up our next issue," Nadia said.

"Get off my ass and nothing'll get messed up!" Nica shot back.

"Mr. Hopkins?" Nadia said with a raised voice.

The head of our faculty advisor stuck out of his office door briefly, as attentive to our dealings as ever. "Whatever she said, that's right!"

Nica grumbled. Nadia looked full of herself.

I was just happy to extricate myself from the situation, having made Nadia proud. It wasn't the most ostentatious of my Christmas gifts, but it was one of the ones I'd worked hardest for, and I was happy to see that it'd gotten the reaction I'd hoped for.

As I slinked out of the Puma Press office to the wondrous sounds of Nadia and Nica arguing, I pulled the list from my pocket and crossed off Nadia's name.

X - ADDISON - X

X - BROOKE - X

X - HALEY - X

X - HOPE - X

JADE

X - JOSIE - X

X - KAITLYN - X

X - MALLORY - X

X - MARIE - X

X - MRS. LYNN - X

X - MRS. MCNEIL - X

X - MRS. SULLIVAN - X

X - NADIA - X

X - NOA - X

X - RACHEL - X

X - ROSE - X

X - SARAH - X

SOPHIE

X - TORI - X

Seventeen down, two to go.

The next one would be one of the trickiest yet and would take something of a miracle to pull off.

Given that this was the season of miracles, however, I was getting hopeful.

***

I'd had a lot of unexpected girls spend some time in my bedroom since September, but after my new normal had been established I doubt there were few quite as unexpected as Sophie Cusack.

I'd been with plenty of popular girls and plenty of the more offbeat crowd, but a conservative, religious girl was not exactly at the top of my expectations list. She'd proven herself more than capable sexually back in October when Josie and I stumbled upon her extracurricular interests while trying to get her to cancel a planned Halloween protest, but seeing her actually in my room... that was something I never expected.

Especially at about mid-morning on Christmas Eve.

It was a cool, crisp morning, the air smelling of pine and feeling thick with good spirit and cheer. It was a morning when everyone should have been with their families enjoying holiday traditions, not... well, here. I had the excuse of Dad wanting to finish up a few last minute projects at the office before cutting off in the afternoon, but Sophie...

As if echoing my thoughts, Sophie said, "I shouldn't be here."

In my room of toys, games and posters for pop culture she'd probably never been exposed to, this assessment was spot on. At 5'2", she wore a plain sweater that wouldn't look out of place on a grandmother, a small gold cross that settled promisingly between her nice, large breasts and a long, loose skirt that might have been handmade. Her pretty, pale face had once seemed smug to me, but now looked vaguely worried, though since we'd last met her midback-length dirty blonde hair was no longer in a braid, but simply tied back in a loose ponytail. She still had some of that arrogance from before Halloween, but only a ghost of it.

I also couldn't help but notice she still wore her purity ring. She'd tossed it aside during our October encounter, so I had to imagine it was to keep up her image around her family and peers.

"You said you wanted to meet here," I said.

"You said you wanted to meet," she shot back.

"You said yes," I retorted.

"I did..." she trailed off. "I shouldn't be here, not in this den of..."

Sophie looked me up and down, her fingers toying with her purity ring before finishing, "...temptation."

I'll admit to smirking a little, if only because I was glad that I'd made an impact. Sophie had been an uptight virgin with a surprising interest in both art and pornography when Josie and I first met her, and by the time our meeting was done, Josie and I had exposed her to some pretty impressive depravity, I like to think. We didn't take advantage of her or anything like that, merely opening up something that was already inside of her, ready to burst. One of my big regrets of the year was not better following up with her, especially as she was wrestling with these new emotions we'd helped unlock.

I tried to ease her in with a joke. "Den of temptation? I honestly think that's the first time this room's ever been called that."

Sophie wasn't much in the mood for joking. "All appearances to the contrary, it's rather apt. You leave an impression, one that's been hard for me to shake."

"A good impression?" I asked.

Her face did not look like the face of someone who'd been left with a good impression.

"My parents would kill me if they knew I was alone with a boy," Sophie said. "I chose to meet you here because I have no other place where it's safe. I chose today because you said you wanted to meet before Christmas, and today is the only day I've got even a small window of free time away from the church for tonight's celebrations. I'm indulging you because... I'm not even fully sure why, but while I'm here, I'd like to know why you asked after me."

I was proud of how much progress I'd made on my Christmas Good Deeds list, but seeing the state I'd put Sophie in almost took it all away. What I was doing was supposed to be good for all the women I'd been with, not like this. Though it'd hurt my pride (and keep me from marking every name off the list), I knew what I had to say.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to get you in trouble. If you want to leave... that's up to you. I've got something for you, kind of a Christmas present, nothing you need to be worried about, but it can wait until we get back to school," I said.

Pride kept trying to stop me with every word, but I managed to get it all out.

Sophie seriously looked like she was considering leaving, but before she did, she let out a breath and said, "No. I've got the time. I need a break away from... I need to clear my head. If you want to talk, give me a present... I've got time."

Nervously, I walked over to my bedroom window. I should've had the curtains drawn completely, but curiosity made me keep them open a crack. I looked out out to the window of the house across the way, and though I was hopeful, once I saw the note I cracked a true smile.

'YOU'RE HAVING A BUSY WEEK'

I didn't even know the name of the new girl who'd moved in over there (which was, admittedly, part of the fun), but we'd been exchanging notes almost every day now. Nothing much, nothing major, but it was fun in its mysterious way.

Still smiling, I closed the curtains fully.

I walked back toward my desk. "If you're worried that I wanted to get you alone to seduce you, you needn't worry. That isn't my intent. I said I wanted to give you something for Christmas, and that's really the only thing I wanted to do."

Sifting through the papers on my desk, I found the red envelope and handed it over to her.

"I know it's cheesy, and I'm not really good at the whole Christmas card thing, but it's the best idea I had," I said.

Sophie looked at me and the card incredulously. "All of this... and you invited me over for a Christmas card?"

If looks could kill, I'd have been dead on my feet. Sophie had gone from abjectly terrified to being angry about being abjectly terrified so quickly, I could swear she was about to get whiplash.

Wanting to steer into the skid, I said, "It's what's inside the card that's important."

Still shaking with a mix of fear and anger, Sophie tore open the card and looked inside. Ignoring the pictures of the dancing snowmen looking for a lost carrot, her eyes quickly scanned the short message I'd written inside the card.

"A phone number?" Sophie asked, confused.

"For Rose Ferris," I said. "Do you know her?"

"Barely," Sophie said, still confused. "Why did you give me Rose Ferris' phone number?"

There was a chance that this next part would take a little time, and not wanting to make her uncomfortable I guided her to sit at my desk chair while I sat on the bed.

"You remember how this all started before Halloween, right?" I asked.

Sophie nodded. "You and Josie came by to view the Hell House, and then we..."

I stopped her. "Right before that, when we were in the Hell House. You'd been in charge of the Lust room, and Josie and I noticed the sketches you'd covered the room with. The ones you'd gotten from... you know."

I didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but it was hard getting around the fact that she'd made dozens, if not hundreds, of sketches of sex acts from some pretty hardcore pornography to decorate her Hell House room with.

"I do," she whispered, sounding embarrassed.

"Well, among other things, those drawings were good. Really good. Not even considering the subject matter, I could tell that you're a really good artist. It's something you have a passion for, isn't it?" I asked.

Her eyes looking down at the ground, she still only could barely manage a whisper, "It doesn't matter."

"What doesn't matter?" I asked.

"Drawing, sketching, art, whatever you want to call it," Sophie said, her voice rising with a sad strength. "It's only an idle hobby with no true meaning, no greater purpose than to tantalize the senses momentarily before greater concerns need be focused on."

She said the words almost mechanically, repeating them like a parrot would. Her parents words, no doubt, or the words of someone else with an influence in her life she wasn't fully on board with.

"Do you really believe that?" I asked.

For the way she looked at me, I might as well have slapped her in the face. "Do I have a choice?"

"There's always a choice," I said.

"Not for me," she said.

"For anyone," I replied.

"What makes you so sure?" Sophie asked.

"Because... when I started this year out, I was on a preordained path. Everybody knew where everything was going to be for me, everyone knew who I'd end the year as, and that was that. Opportunity came knocking for me, and I couldn't be more grateful. This year's been insane, and I've made mistakes, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's difficult, sometimes, stepping off the path that everyone expects, and if they can't handle it it's their problem, not yours," I said.

Sophie laughed humorlessly. "You say it as if it's just that simple. As if I haven't spent my whole life absolutely certain of who I was and where I'd end up? I'm supposed to graduate high school, if I'm lucky attend Regan Hills Community College to get a degree that will afford me a clerical job until I'm married with some boy from the Young Christian Purity Brigade. Then I'm supposed to lose my virginity on my wedding night, say goodbye to any aspirations and spend the rest of my life as a good Christian housewife cooking and cleaning and pumping out babies. That's the life I'm destined for. That is not a life of... art."

"Bullshit," I said, evenly.

"Bullshit?" she asked, scandalized.

"Yeah, bullshit. I get that you got people in your life who aren't exactly supportive, people who might even make it difficult for you to follow your dreams, but... if you don't follow your dreams while you've got them, you're going to end up resentful and regretting all of your choices. You'll lead that life that's expected of you, and you'll hate every minute of it because you'll know you could do so much more. Is that what you really want to do?" I asked.

Sophie wouldn't meet my eyes. I doubt this is how either of us expected Christmas Eve to go, but now that it had started, we both had something to think on. She tried and stopped herself a few times from saying something. I could see the battle raging on inside of her, and I only hoped that when it was won, it was by a side that she could be happy with.

She sighed, looking back down at the card. "I'll ask again: why did you give me Rose Ferris' phone number?"

"Two reasons. First, because she's one of the best artists I know and someone with a ton of resources and motivation. If anyone in this school can help you follow this as a passion, without judgment and with nothing but support, she's the girl you want to go to. The second... she's someone who knows what it's like to follow a different path than everyone around them. She's disappointed people, fought against the grain, and she's all the better for doing it. I think, on the surface, you two have pretty much nothing in common, but if you get the chance to actually talk with each other... I think you'll find that you two have a lot in common. I think the two of you might be able to help each other quite a bit, actually," I said.

Sophie pondered this. "I'm not going to turn my back on God."

"No one's asking you to," I said.

She continued. "I've had some questions, some serious internal debates, ever since Halloween, about who I am and what that means for me and my faith. I still choose to walk a path of righteousness in the light of Jesus. I also know now that I don't agree with much of what's been told to me over time by the people in my life, especially about who I am and... of sex."

"Oh?" I asked.

Sophie almost blushed. "I used to think the pleasures of the flesh were meant as a temptation, for us to be better people and rise above it, but when I experienced it with you and Josie, I saw only light. Anything that wonderful, that feels so good while hurting no one, that cannot be wicked... it must in some way be a gift granted to us by God."

While I was hardly a religious person who had much in the way of understanding, let alone interpretation of such issues, that wording made me smile. "Good. That's really good to hear you say that."

Now she was definitely blushing. "I know there are many people who would call what I did with you and Josie sinful, but I cannot agree with them. Nor with what I've done... since."

"Oh?" I repeated.

"I shouldn't say anything," she said, even though she clearly wanted to.

"Well, they say confession's good for the soul," I said.

"Wrong denomination," Sophie corrected.

"Sorry. I am a heathen after all, this is all new to me," I said.

"I never called you that... or did I?" she asked.

"Not that I remember, and if you did... well, it probably wouldn't be that inaccurate. Anyway, continue, this was sounding good," I said.

Sophie blushed. "I can't believe I'm admitting this to you, but I have to tell someone... I've been... naughty."

"Naughty how?" I asked.

Though still looking rather embarrassed, her eyes darted from the floor to me every so often, her smile curling into a look that might very well have been pride.

"After everything we did before Halloween... you and Josie left an impression. I thought at first, that it was a moment of weakness, that it was something I could ignore and then it would go away, but then the carnal thoughts wouldn't go away. At first I could put them at bay by... touching myself... finding release... but after a time, that wasn't sufficient anymore. I needed more. So I went to my friends at the Brigade..." she trailed off.

"And they're not quite so pure anymore?" I finished.

She nodded. "The boys fumbled, they didn't know what they were doing. The girls were better, but everyone seemed to lack a certain amount of imagination. I thought it would be a challenge, but either they weren't as devoted as I initially thought, or I'm more persuasive than I expected."

From experience, knowing her amazing ass and her insane F-cup tits, I said, "Persuasive is one way of putting it."

Briefly, I saw a look of her old anger flash across her face, but it became a smile quicker than I think even she expected. "So, you think I'm... attractive?"

"Attractive doesn't even begin to scratch the surface when I think of you," I said. "Why is that even a question?"

"Well, you've a reputation with some very beautiful girls..." Sophie trailed off.

"And you don't think that you're one of them?" I asked.

"I... I don't know. There's a lot I don't know anymore. I used to know everything, but now there's so much uncertainty. Some is exciting. Too much is frightening," she said. It looked like she was stuck in thought, but biting her lip, I could see her screwing up her courage. "There's one thing I'm not uncertain of."

"What's that?" I asked.

Her breathing was slightly heavier, the swell of her breasts pronounced as she leaned forward, almost conspiratorially. "Ever since the three of us met, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you and your..."

She'd trailed off, the word she wanted to say clearly uncomfortable. Taking a stab at it, I finished for her, "...cock?"

Licking her lips slightly, Sophie nodded.

"It leaves quite an impression," she said.

"It seemed to," I replied.

"The other boys... they didn't know what they were doing, and none of them could match up to you. I can't stop thinking about being your 'cumslut' again, because it was so much fun last time," she said, putting special emphasis on the title Josie had thrown at her while she shuffled uncomfortably in her seat.

Though I wasn't fully sure she really understood what that term meant and kind of wanted to talk to her about it, I couldn't help but look down at her shifting. I had a fair guess as to why she was moving this way. "You're wet, aren't you?"

"Quite," Sophie replied.

"Do you want to do something about that?" I asked.

"Yes..." she whimpered softly. "Do you?"

I glanced down at my pants, beckoning her to do the same. Though the jeans I wore weren't the best at showing it off, my straining erection was still quite visible.

"What do you think?" I asked.

Nervously, Sophie smiled shyly, standing up from the desk chair. She shuffled out of her shoes and tossed her purse on my bed. She approached me slowly, each step done with the greatest hesitation and anticipation.

This was probably why I yelped in surprise when she practically launched herself at me, knocking me flat on the bed as she fell next to me. Even with the wind knocked out of me, it was easy to start laughing along with her.

It was even easier to start kissing her when she went in for it. Sophie may still have had more enthusiasm than experience, but she was a lot better than she was when we first got together. Fooling around had done her well, and with her luscious lips now crushed against mine, her tongue playfully dancing with mine as they ran up against each other, I had to admit that she was much improved.

With a body like hers, I couldn't keep my hands off of her, cupping her massive tits through her sweater with one hand while my other reached down and squeezed her beautiful, round ass. Her hands explored me in equal measure, with one rubbing up against my chest and the other reaching down for my cock.

"Oh my goodness... I've been wanting this again for so long," Sophie moaned.

"All you had to do was ask," I said, kissing her back passionately.

"I've been in torment, fighting with myself and everyone else, but I know who I am and I know what I want now," she said. Sophie hiked up her skirt just enough to let her swing one leg over mine, then rotated her entire body so she was straddling my hips. Looking up at her in her conservative clothes, that little gold cross still prominent between her breasts, her face a look of pure serenity... I had to say she seemed about as close to angelic as I've ever experienced.

"What's that?" I asked.

She pulled off her purity ring and set it on my nightstand. "I want you to keep that so I can stop lying to myself. I want to be righteous and good with God, but I want to follow my own path. I want to be a good person without denying myself the pleasures this world has to offer."

Sophie leaned over, pressing her massive breasts against my chest so she could whisper into my ear. "I want to be a slut. Won't you help me?"