The Pulitzer

Randall was downstairs with Mike, waiting patiently while Scarlet helped me with the finishing touches on my dress and makeup. I was more nervous than the first night in the motel when Mike had dyed my hair blonde and laid out his plan to hide me from Scaletti.

"Ok, baby sister. You're ready." Scarlet smiled behind me in the mirror, her hands on my bare shoulder. My dress was strapless red satin and hung down to my ankles with a slit up just past the knee. There were codes and restrictions, and the school wouldn't allow anything more risqué. Scarlet and I had spent an entire afternoon shopping for the perfect one.

My hair was up, exposing my shoulders. I had a simple choker with a heart charm dangling from it around my neck. My heels matched the dress, and on a whim, so did what I had on under it.

I talked to Mike about Randall. I really liked him, and I knew he liked me, but he was leaving right after graduation. He was a decent athlete, but not the best student. College probably wasn't an option. His dad had served in the army, and he was following in his footsteps.

My first boyfriend, I wanted him to remember me. Maybe it would work. Maybe he'd leave me by the side of the road and run away screaming nasty things at me. I was ready to accept either. Right now, I just wanted to see the look on his face when I appeared at the top of the stairs.

Damn, he was handsome. Classic black tux, his vest matched my dress. Red was the only thing I had told him. His eyes went wide, and he dropped my corsage as I smiled at him from the top of the steps. Now I knew where the term 'giddy as a schoolgirl' came from.

It was a good thing the stairs had a railing, or I wouldn't have made it.

My corsage went on my wrist. I pinned his boutonniere to his lapel. We did all the standard pictures, and with a flurry of butterflies in my stomach, I took his arm and let him lead me out to our limo. I'm sure Mike paid for most of it.

There was even sparkling cider in the back with two champagne flutes. I felt like Cinderella.

I could feel myself tearing up.

"Are you ok?" Randall took my hand in his.

"Yes. This is just so perfect. I just wish my mom and dad could have seen you and me." I squeezed his hand. "This is just so special to me."

"Me, too. You know that day at the ice cream parlor? Greg dared me to talk to you. I never thought I'd have a shot at a girl as pretty as you."

I laughed. "And I thought you were out of my league. You have so many friends. You're so popular."

We both laughed. Randall opened the cider and poured two glasses. "To taking chances." We clicked glasses and sipped. There was no way he could know how perfect that toast was.

The dance was magic. We hung out with our friends. I loved how that sounded, 'our.' We danced, well, we got out on the dance floor and moved around while the music blared through the speakers. Nobody cared how bad we were. I got so many compliments on my dress. It was more perfect than I could ever have imagined.

The last song ended. A chaperone called us out for kissing on the dance floor. I giggled. It wasn't like people had been sneaking out of the ballroom and finding corners to make out in all over the place.

Three other couples climbed in the limo with us, and we all went to I Hop for breakfast. After that, we took them back to the hotel so they could get their cars and head home.

"Are you ready to go home yet, Miss Benet?"

"Can we drive around for a while?" He smiled and closed the smoked glass window between him and me and Randall.

I nestled close to Randall and let him hold me, rubbing his leg with my hand. This was truly uncharted territory. I was clueless about how to let him know what I wanted. I hoped his male hormones would take over at some point. When he leaned down and kissed me, laying me down on the back seat, I figured he knew.

It didn't take long for my dress to be around my waist and his lips and hands to massage my pert breasts. My bra was on the floor somewhere. I'd find it later. When I took Randall's cock out of his pants and started licking and sucking on it, I knew I had to tell him.

"Randall, we have to stop. I'm sorry. I just can't, until... I have to tell you something."

"Really, now?" The exasperation in his voice was palpable.

"I have to. You need to know."

"I brought a condom, in case you're not on the pill." He was so damned cute. I could see the frustration on his face. I could feel the want in his eyes.

"That's what I need to tell you. Before I came here, I wasn't the same." Dammit, I should have told him before we started making out. "I really like you and I want to so bad, it's just that, well, this might be more appropriate." I opened my purse and pulled out a small bottle of lube. "Before I came here, I wasn't a girl. Please don't hate me for lying to you."

"Wait, you're a... You're not a girl?"

"I am a girl. I just have some different parts."

"But we, I..."

We drove around and talked. Since all good lies hold a kernel of truth, I used the misery of my childhood, my depression, all of it as a cover for always knowing I should have been a girl. It helped that as I had made the changes; they had felt right. Sure, they moved me closer to being able to get my revenge, but well, maybe I wasn't lying as much as I thought I was. My life was so much better than it had ever been. I was just so much better as a girl.

As I talked, the confusion on his face slowly faded. I might need to do a little extra to get him excited again. Maybe he was at least willing to consider the idea his girlfriend was a little different from other girls.

"I really like you, too. I thought tonight, maybe..."

"But now, you're not sure?" he nodded at me.

"My boobs are real." I took his hand and placed it on my breast. He squeezed gently and smiled. "And I do have a place you can use this." I left his hand on y breast and reached down to caress his cock.

"But you'll need this." I dangled the lube from my fingers.

"I don't know how to do that."

"Me either, but we can still try. If you still want to." It was a blatant lie, but he didn't need to know that. "I want you to think about me when you're in the army."

I didn't wait for him to answer. Dropping to my knees and took him back into my mouth.

"Oh, fuck." Randall moaned.

"I'll take that as a yes." I smiled at him. "Maybe I should be on top." I pulled his pants to his ankles and shimmied out of my dress.

"Ok." He couldn't keep his eyes off my skimpy red panties, garter belt, and stockings. He was so gone.

I slowly slipped my panties down my legs, letting him see my small erection. "Are you sure?" I reached over and started stroking him again. It was totally unfair. There was no way he was making rational decisions. He just nodded.

The slick liquid coated my fingers and then his cock. I climbed on top of him, kissing him hard as I guided him to my door, sliding slowly down his shaft until I had him all the way inside me. His eyes literally rolled back in his head as I started riding him.

It wasn't epic or even great, but it was wonderful in its own way. We kissed, and I moved up and down on top of him. He lasted maybe five minutes before he let out a massive moan and pulsed inside me. I smiled and stayed where I was, kissing him passionately.

"That was..." He pulled me close against his chest and kissed me back.

"It was. I'm glad it was you." Another lie he didn't need to know about.

Fuck, he gently laid me back on the seat and started thrusting. Teenage hormones were wonderful things. This time, he lasted a lot longer. It was my turn to moan and cry out. I knew the driver knew exactly what we were doing. Cars we passed as we drove around probably knew as my screams got louder and louder. Mike had probably given him instructions to ignore it. It probably wasn't even his first time to have hormone fueled teenagers fuck in the back of his limo.

"Are you alright?" Randall collapsed next to me, pulling me on top of him as his third climax faded.

"I think so." I laughed and pulled his lips to mine. "You came three times. How?"

"Inspired by a beautiful girl that I care about a lot, I guess."

"So, we're, ok?"

"More than ok, I think. I'm going to miss you. I'm glad it was you, too."

"There are wipes in the console, Miss Benet." The fucking driver... Randall and I burst out laughing.

After I cleaned Randall off, I took care of myself while he did his best to get his tux back on. We had ruined my lingerie. I took off my stockings and my garter belt and stuffed them in my purse, taking out a clean pair of panties and pulling them on. I had to dig my bra from under the seat to put it back on, too. My dress was back on, sort of, but there was no hiding what I had done.

"You are home, Miss Benet." The limo stopped, and the driver got out to open my door. Randall walked me to the door and kissed me so hard. I was going to miss him, too.

"I'll call you tomorrow." Randall kissed me one more time before turning and climbing back into the limo. He would or wouldn't. I hoped he would. I smiled as I watched him ride away.

"You had a good time?" I could see from the look on Mike's face he knew exactly what kind of 'time' I had.

"You better tip that driver extra." I smiled and kissed him on the forehead.

When I saw myself in the mirror, all I could do was laugh. My dress was on crooked, my makeup was a mess, and my hair looked like two squirrels had had sex in it. The worst of it was, when I dug my ruined lingerie out of my purse, I couldn't find my panties.

My phone pinged. "Missing something?" It was Randall.

"Besides you?"

"Maybe." He sent me a picture of my panties.

"What would it cost to get them back?"

"We can negotiate. You free for lunch tomorrow?"

"Hang by the pool after?"

"K. Thanks for tonight."

"You, too. See you tomorrow."

I jumped in the shower and washed the rest of the evidence of my night from my body, pulled on a big T-shirt I had stolen from Mike, and went downstairs. The lights were all off, so I went into his room and climbed into bed with him.

"Thank you for everything." I laid my head on his shoulder. He didn't even try anything.

"Anytime." He pulled me close and went to sleep. I was right behind him.

I had created a monster. Lunch with Randall turned into an afternoon snack up in my room. Mike didn't say a word. How could he? He had fucked me in this house, too.

We had a week of school left and two days after that before Randall left for Ft. Benning. He took advantage of every opportunity that presented itself, and I made sure there were plenty of them.

Mostly at my house. I didn't think we needed to let his parents know what was going on since, to them, I was only sixteen. Mike and I knew the truth, and Randall didn't care. He was almost nineteen, going into the army, and getting all the sex he could handle.

I craved the attention and loved the sex. I had never felt so accepted.

For the first time in my academic career, I got straight A's. My counselor talked me into AP classes for the fall, and I had the confidence to say yes.

I cried my eyes out when Randall got on the bus to Georgia. Mike just held me. Randall's parents took us all out to lunch, thanking me for what I had done for him.

"What he did for me, you mean." I started crying again.

My new friends still came over to hang out at the pool. I was still Randall's girl, so no one asked me out, and I was ok with that. I missed him more than I thought I would.

There's only so much hanging out by the pool and driving in the desert you can do, especially when it all reminds you of how much you miss someone. I got a job at Burger King. Why not? It would keep me busy for the summer.

I took two weeks off to go to a friend of Mike's place on the beach in Mexico to lie in the sun while Mike did whatever he and his friends did.

We got home, and I had a much better tan. Other than that, things went on as before. I hung out with my friends and asked people if they wanted fries with their Whopper.

I got home one day, and Mike called me into his room. "Check this out." He pointed to his computer.

"Missing Tribune reporter found in Lake Michigan. Scaletti under investigation." It was a half-page headline. I had let myself get so wrapped up in my fairytale, I had almost forgotten about Scaletti.

I sat down and read the story three times. The date the reporter disappeared was familiar, too familiar. Someone had shot him in the head twice, and then dumped him in the lake.

"No way." I half screamed, getting up and running to my room, digging in my drawers, trying to find the flash drive from my camera.

"What are you looking for?" Mike found me. I had destroyed my room. My clothes were everywhere. I had dumped my purse on the floor.

"The memory card from my camera. I think I know what this is all about. I have to find it."

An hour later, the entire house looked like the police had raided us. It was nowhere to be found.

It was almost a weekly ritual. Mile would come home, and I would have torn my room apart again. It had to be here, it just had to.

School was starting in a couple of weeks, so my friends and I went camping in the desert. One of them knew where we could find a small natural spring. "We can all go skinny dipping." The guys laughed; the girls didn't think it was so funny. I was terrified he was serious.

We had a great time. One guy brought his guitar. He would play and we would all sing. The stars were amazing. I wished I had my camera. Maybe when I got home, I'd ask Mike if I could buy one. He didn't really watch what I spent money on, and I rarely went overboard, unless it was for shoes. The camera I wanted though was not cheap, and I figured I should at last ask.

We had stripped my Jeep down, taken the doors and rag top off and gone four wheeling. I was lucky I didn't flip it. Unfortunately, it was now full of sand.

Everybody followed me to the car wash, where we took the seats out and vacuumed everything three times.

"What's this?" It was Greg, the guy that had been with Randall the day they met me at the ice cream parlor.

I screamed and kissed him full on the lips, grabbing the drive and doing a dance. They all thought I was crazy. I think Greg thought he was going to take his best friend's place.

Maybe. He was cute, and I hadn't heard from Randall in a couple of weeks. I knew he was probably busy with army training, but still. I was his girl, and he should have called me.

We got my Jeep back together, and I went straight home. I sequestered myself in my room, plugging the flash drive into the slot on my Mac, and scouring the pictures from that night. It had to be here, it just had to. I just had to keep looking. Unfortunately, I didn't know what I was looking for. There was a possibility there was just nothing to find.

"Can I get a bigger monitor?" I asked Mike at breakfast the next morning. I hadn't showered or slept since I got home, and I looked like shit.

"Why don't you go clean up, and we'll talk about it."

"K." I knew I needed it. "I found the memory card in my Jeep." I stumbled upstairs and got in the shower.

When I got out, I found Mike at my computer looking at the same pictures I had been searching through all night.

"These are incredible. Have you found anything yet?"

"I need more room." I shook my head no.

"Then, let's go."

I got the new monitor set up and started the installation for Photoshop, laying down to take a nap while it did its thing. It was after midnight when I woke up to go to the bathroom, so I changed into my sleep shirt and went back to bed. I'd work better rested, anyway.

I had hundreds of pictures to go through. There was resizing, zooming in, changing filters to remove shadows or emphasize anything I thought might be interesting. It was painstakingly tedious, but I was driven.

I looked forward to going to work, letting my mind relax in the simplicity of taking orders and giving change.

School started. I quit Burger King and still hadn't found what I was looking for in those pictures, but I wasn't even halfway through the ones I needed to review.

Getting to my first class was actually exciting for a change. I was looking forward to the regular schedule and having things to do other than scan one picture after another. It didn't matter, though. I knew I wouldn't stop until I found it. Whatever it was.

Several people asked me how Randall was doing. All surprised that I couldn't tell them more than, fine. At lunch, Greg gave me an odd look, a kind of worried, expectant leer, almost, but not quite. No one asked me anything about Randall. When I got home, I found out why. There was an envelope on my desk, postmarked Fort Benning, GA 31905. I knew what it was before I opened it.

"Dear Toni,

I tried to call so many times, and to write this letter at least half a dozen. I miss you so much,

and you mean so much to me..."

It went on for six pages. Randall telling me about his training and then apologizing again for not calling me himself, telling me again and again how he missed me. To be honest, he kind of rambled, but that was Randall. They had tapped him for Ranger School when he finished OSUT. I'd have to call his dad to ask what that was, but I knew Rangers was a big deal. I was as proud as I was sad.

Toward the end, he told me he had talked to Greg. Fucking asshole called Greg, but not me. I was mad, but sort of understood.

"Greg's my best friend. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have met you. I'm not coming home after training. There's just so much I need to do to get ready for Ranger School. I know he likes you, maybe as much as I do. Just give him a chance.

Love,

Randall"

Fuck him, why did he have to sign it 'Love?' The asshole wanted to dump me and pawn me off on someone else and couldn't even do it in person.

"What the hell does this even mean?" I tossed the letter at Mike, venting part of my anger, or was it just frustration, on him?

Mike read the letter three times. I'd only read it once and for most of that, I was so pissed, I just skimmed what he said, never even considering reading beyond the words.

"Just guessing, but I think it means he loves you and wants to make sure you're taken care of, that he trusts this Greg to do it where he can't. I'll bet his heart is just as broken as yours, maybe more."

That wasn't what I wanted to hear. I snatched the letter out of Mike's hand and stormed back upstairs to read it again. The fourth or fifth time, I saw it, too. I thought that fat removal stuff hurt, a broken heart is way worse.

Mike called the school for me and told them I'd caught a 24-hour bug or something. I stayed in bed re-reading that damned letter and crying. Mike brought me a sandwich for lunch and forced me to come downstairs to eat pizza and watch Fury with him. How a movie about Tanks was going to help me get over Randall, I couldn't tell you? But somehow, when it was over, I felt better.

Maybe it was me realizing what Randall was really sacrificing. Maybe it was my understanding that sometimes you lose the people you love and there's not a thing you can do about it but honor them by moving on. Damn him, Mike was a smart man.

"I'm sleeping with you tonight. You know that, right?"

"Well, come on then. I've got an early day and you, little sister, have school. No more playing hooky."

Funny thing was, I loved Mike, too. It was just different.

The next day, I sat next to Greg at lunch. "Randall got Ranger School." I smiled at everybody else and then at Greg. He was kind of cute.

Greg was smarter than Randall and funnier, too. A little quirky, but that had its own charm. At first, we just hung out with the gang. We'd adopted a few new members, as Randall wasn't the only one to graduate. Life was good. I went to school, hung out with my friends, searched those damned pictures for any kind of clue about why Scaletti was after me.