Sound of Crickets

Shane had fallen asleep confused, feeling emasculated, listening to crickets. The trip to Derrick's parent's lake house had not gone so well for him. This was their last night before leaving this Podunk northern Wisconsin place, this place about which Derrick and his friend Dennis kept coolly commenting "so many memories." They would raise the remark when the conversation turned to something mundane, like the toilet clogging, or taboo, like the KKK presence in the area, and make everybody laugh, especially the girls. Especially Nadine. Shane's Nadine. The one who had made out with him days before the trip, and was now ignoring him, like everybody else. Shane listened to the crickets and relished the reality that at least they were way out in the woods and there were no street or car lights to keep him up; and told himself, one more day of this shit; and slept.

He woke up to different sounds entirely. He first heard footsteps down the hall, going past his room. A rap on the door of the room next to his -- Dennis' room. The door opening and several voices whispering. Dennis' and -- could it be? Was it really? -- Nadine's. You're just making that up because you're sad and pissed off at her, Shane told himself and turned around and focused on sleep. His focus was broken soon after by an,

Uhhah!

That was the best spelling approximation he would later come up with, pouring his emotions out into his journal, of the sharp, breathy female sound he heard through the wall.

Could be anything, anybody, he told himself. Why do you assume it's Nadine?

But who was he kidding? Of course, it was Nadine.

Shane lay on his back and listened some more. Just to be sure he wasn't hallucinating.

Several minutes later, another -- Uhhhhah!

This vocal sound -- which, having fumbled through sex with only one girl in his nineteen years, Shane had never really heard outside of porn -- came more frequently over the next few minutes. It became gradually sharper at the end.

Uhhah... uhhhhhahh...uhhhahhh!

He could no longer pretend it was his imagination, or divorce the sound from the source. It was Nadine, his cool, understanding red haired friend, then his crush, in his first year of college. It was her in a headspace he'd never heard or seen her in, though he very much wanted to.

And the other person involved in the experience was Dennis.

There were no other sounds. Just Nadine's voice. Shane thought it was peculiar. Where was the sound of the bed moving? Or Dennis making sounds? These noises had been omnipresent that one time he'd overheard his roommate and his roommate's girlfriend fucking. Was she just sitting there masturbating while Dennis watched (this was a fetish some people had, he knew)?

Or -- and he felt stupid for not thinking of this until Nadine was moaning steadily, in breath-induced waves of sound -- she was simply getting eaten out.

Shane loved a good blowjob (he'd received two) but still had trouble with the idea of reciprocating. The idea of putting your face down there felt icky to him. His friend had told him a story about his girlfriend farting in his face. Shane knew that girls apparently liked it, but he wasn't there quite yet.

Nadine made a couple lower, slower sounds,

Aaaahhhhh H-h-h-aaaaahhhhh

Followed by a short -- Uh!

Followed by something -- a sheet moving, or Dennis sitting up. Nadine laughed, unprompted. Dennis said,

"You taste immaculate."

Nadine laughed louder and said,

"Oh my God. Stop."

Shane thought, I guess I'd really better learn how to eat pussy.

He wondered if that might be it. Maybe that was the end of their sexual session. He'd hear Nadine walk back to her room in no time. It took him a moment to realize that his eyes were open and another moment to feel the self-hatred creep in.

When he and Nadine had arrived at the house, Derrick had come outside to meet them, and brought them inside to meet everybody else. Alyssa, Derrick's sister was on a call for work on her laptop. Candace, a mousy girl who was apparently Derrick's ex-girlfriend, but there anyway, had just come in from a swim. Dennis was laying on the couch, an open book on his chest. It was unclear if he was sleeping or not. A snake tattoo ran up his arm, which draped over the pillow.

When Shane thought about it, Nadine had seemed interested in Dennis even at that moment. She glanced at him for a while and said,

"Oh. Don't want to wake up this dude."

Derrick shook his head.

"I don't think he's even asleep," he said. "So anyway, upstairs are --"

"Hey," came Dennis' voice from the couch. "Dennis." He waved to them without opening his eyes or shifting his position.

Shane returned the hello and sat in an armchair. Nadine moved to the stairs with her duffel bag. Dennis opened his eyes and watched her move around the couch. It looked like Nadine saw him doing it.

"I'll go put my crap upstairs," she said.

"That's a beautiful necklace," Dennis said.

Nadine touched her thin silver necklace, as if remembering that it was there. Shane felt embarrassed for the first time that weekend; he had never even noticed it.

"Um, yeah, it's pretty nice isn't it?" She said flatly.

"A few months ago I had sex with this girl who wore a similar necklace," he said. "It didn't look right on her. Her neck was too wide for it. I had to stop before we were finished because I looked down at her neck and was like, wait, you're still wearing that awkward thing? Is it supposed to keep your head from falling off or something?" He looked to Derrick and Shane as he said this last bit, and laughed, and Derrick laughed with him. Dennis returned his gaze to Nadine, who had not yet gone upstairs.

"On you, it's very becoming, I've gotta say."

Nadine stood still for a moment and said, in what Shane thought was a sarcastic voice,

"Yeah...thanks, buddy."

"You're welcome." Dennis kept his gaze on her.

Shane wondered who the hell said these kinds of things immediately upon meeting someone, and who the hell had a massive tattoo of a black snake, and who the hell this guy, Dennis, thought he was.

It was another couple minutes before Shane realized he was wrong; it wasn't just oral sex. He heard the repositioning of bodies, the shifting of sheets, the low, soft smack of what sounded like lips parting. Dennis muttered something too low for him to make out. Nadine hummed,

"Mmhmm."

He heard a body -- her body -- recline and Dennis' moving around the mattress in what sounded like walking footsteps. Then some quiet.

Nadine inhaled. She exhaled. She inhaled louder and this inhale ended in a whimper. At the same time, the mattress crunched with Dennis' body sliding against it. Another kiss sound, this time with more of a smack to it.

And it all went both downhill (for Shane's self-worth) and uphill (for his dick) from there.

Nadine had remarked to him that Dennis was "a little gross." Shane assumed that, after her experience with that cheating asshole Greg from the past school year, she would definitely be steering clear of Dennis this long summer weekend. He pictured himself standing up for her, calling Dennis on his bullshit and his stupid tattoo, and Dennis backing off for the rest of the visit.

That was until they were around a campfire, smoking pot, and he noticed Dennis lean into Nadine to whisper something in her ear before handing her the joint. She made a face, but looked somehow amused, too, and Shane was not sure what was happening in her mind, or how it could happen. He tried to say something at that moment. He cleared his throat and said to Dennis,

"Hey man, what..." But he couldn't finish. He just felt himself unable to finish.

Dennis looked at him.

"Yes, Shane? What what?"

Shane searched for words. There were none to be found.

"I dunno, man. Never mind. Nothing." This was what he settled on.

"Is there a what-what I can get?" Dennis said, mock-politely. The girls snorted. Including Nadine.

The next afternoon, after they'd all gone swimming, he thought he saw Nadine whisper something to Dennis. They were behind the rest of the party. Shane put it out of his head. He was just being paranoid. It was a total coincidence that they were walking side by side.

"UH UH UH UH...yeah...UH"

This was what Nadine was now whispering. Except to Shane, it wasn't a whisper. It was piercing. There was only one person, he was sure, who could hear her better than he could. That person was Dennis.

The mattress-moving had commenced. It squeaked ever thirty or so seconds, from what he could tell. He thought he could make out the breathing of the other participant in the sex -- that is, Dennis' slimy, douchebag breaths. But neither him nor the mattress were as audible, or as consistent, as Nadine.

But they did come close. After a pause that sounded like some bodily readjustment, the mattress movements came more rapidly, and Dennis started saying occasional things. Nadine did another long inhale and released sharper UHs. Ultimately, she was still the loudest thing in that room.

"UHHHhhhhh UHHhhhhhh AHHhhhhh..."

Dennis muttered,

"Look at me."

"AHHHhhhh AHhhhhh AHH hhhh..." (Shane pictured her looking at him).

"I'm gonna make you cum on my cock."

That was the last audible thing Dennis muttered, and it was all Shane needed to hear. He was done. Dennis needed to shut the fuck up now.

Shane squeezed both sides of his pillow over his ears. He removed it after less than thirty seconds. He was in this for the full scenario. For better and most definitely for worse. His dick, he could feel, was erect, pushing against his long johns.

"Fuck...FUCK..."

Wow. She said shit a lot, she called people dude and bro, but she never said fuck.

A whapping sound barked from the midst of all the motion. Shane was not sure where the whapping was coming from and he both did and did not want to know.

Nadine gasped,

"FUCK...I can't take it anymore...FUCK!"

Dennis joined in,

"Jesus Shit!" He grunted. They both let out a simultaneous shriek and groan that destroyed Shane's soul.

Shane wasn't sure why he did it, but he got out of bed and opened his door. He stood in the wall space between his bedroom and Dennis'. He wasn't sure what he intended to do. He slumped down against the wall. The hall was pitch dark, and only the logs from which the cabin was built etched out from the blackness, barely. Shane realized that he should go back to bed.

The door to Dennis' room opened. Dennis stepped out, completely naked, and shut the door. Shane had a small seizure against the wall and tried to make it look like he was just coming back to his room.

Dennis snickered.

"Damn dude," he said. Shane looked at him. Dennis' face was blanked out by darkness, but he could guess his expression. "Didn't think you would stoop this low, I gotta say."

Dennis rubbed his shaft. He stuck his fingers under Shane's nose.

"Here. Smell that shit."

Shane inadvertently took a whiff. He had never smelled a pussy before, so he did not know, at first, that was what he was smelling. He did not know that Dennis had "hit it raw" (though he knew the expression). He assumed they had been using a condom, because didn't everybody use condoms? All he knew was that it smelled like body odor and something else. Something other than semen.

Dennis walked on to the bathroom, clicking on a mini flashlight as he walked. Shane's heart raced. He went back to his room and shut the door.

His door opened a few moments later. It was Nadine. She stood in the doorway, her red hair looser than he'd ever seen it, all of nineteen. She was not as darkness-shrouded as Dennis. Her breasts had red imprints on them. The triangle between her legs sported a tuft of pubic hair. Her eyes were a touch bloodshot.

She stood there for some moments and let him look. For the first time, Shane did not get the wrong idea from her.

Nadine said on an exhale,

"Okay, buddy." She turned and shut the door.

Shane lay on his pillow, his eyes squeezed as tight as he could squeeze them. The crickets were done. The view from his window was so vast that he could even sense the sun just barely beginning its ascent, way out there in the distance.