Though answering Mr. Fish, Rebecca kept her eyes on Mallory’s dad. “He’s visiting his father this weekend.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Harry said, leaning toward Paul. “Rebecca is also divorced. A.K.A. available. You two have something in common on that front.”
Rebecca reddened. “He already knows that, Harry, but thank you.” Turning to Paul, she added, “In case you haven’t noticed, Harry’s taken it upon himself to be my personal matchmaker.”
Her dad nodded while the woman talked, clearly trying to keep his expression serious despite Mr. Fish’s elbow nudges.
“Tim should be back later this afternoon,” Rebecca said, once again speaking to Mallory. “I’m sure he’d love to show you around town and introduce you to some of the other kids. Should I tell him to stop by?”
“Sure,” Mallory answered, knowing her dad would argue the matter if she said no.
Mr. Fish clapped a hand on Paul’s back and ushered him into the pew beside Rebecca. “You two go ahead and have a seat together. I want to sit next to Mallory so I can fill her in on the high school she’ll be attending this fall.” He leaned in close and winked. “The Dean is a good friend of mine, and I can give you all the dirt there is to know about any teacher in the school.”
CHAPTER 8
Tim Fleming stared wide-eyed, his breath held at mid-draw. On screen the two girls embraced, coming together at the mouth for an open, tongue-touching kiss.
“This could be interesting,” he whispered.
The girls’ names were Mystie Valley and Lolita Libido, and they made up just two of the many stars in the adult movie Pokeherhotass, which his father had given him at the finale of their weekend visitation.
Tim swallowed, finding his mouth had gone dry during the opening scene. The film began in a rustic cabin with the two starlets dressed to resemble a scantily clad Indian squaw and an equally half-naked cowgirl with short blonde hair. After their initial bout of kissing and rubbing, the Indian girl (who was clearly Latino) climbed atop an old wooden table and allowed her costar to remove the top half of her costume. She wore a tan, buffalo hide skirt with fur tails and multicolored beads tied to the waistline, and those items fell over the dark patch of hair between her legs when she spread them for the camera.
Tim shifted the TV’s remote in his sweat-slick hand. His heart raced.
A turbulent mixture of excitement and shame pulled at his conscience with equal intensity.
He recalled the jaw-dropping moment when his dad first presented him with the DVD on the previous evening, having handed over the graphically decorated case the way one might recommend a documentary on colonial-age lifestyles. Tim had sat in a speechless stupor while his father explained how boys his age developed a natural curiosity about girls, soon realizing the gift constituted his father’s best shot at a man-to-man talk about the dynamics of sex. And if the video hadn’t been embarrassing enough, his dad went on to regale him with stories of his own sexual adventures as a teenager. The awkwardness of the whole ordeal gripped him like a hand around his throat, leaving him speechless, and it didn’t let up until his dad told him they needed to end the outing early.
Now, alone in the living room, with the moans and gasps of the girls on the screen, Tim felt a whole new kind of embarrassment dwelling on his mind.
Originally, he hadn’t intended to watch the movie at all. He knew that if he did, it might lead to other activities, and masturbating to a porno flick would be just another way of reminding himself that real girls weren’t interested in him. Nevertheless, when he arrived home and found the house empty, he couldn’t resist the temptation of playing the video, and the first sight of the women had produced an instantaneous erection.
He looked at the clock. At the drapes covering the front windows.
The cowgirl knelt over the Indian girl on the table now, practically sitting on her face, and when the camera moved around her back, she slipped aside a thin pair of black panties to reveal her hairless vagina.
Tim’s hands flew to the buttons of his fly while the girl being straddled kissed and nibbled at the pink skin that protruded from the bald cleft above her head.
He shucked off his pants, started to pull down his boxers.
And heard his mom’s car arrive in the driveway.
“Oh, shit!”
He staggered forward, hobbled by his own clothing, and nearly toppled headfirst into the television screen. Regaining his balance, he jabbed at the DVD controls, hitting PAUSE, FAST-FORWARD, PLAY, and then STOP in his frantic quest to eject the disc. Contrary to his panic-induced clumsiness, his boner had vanished with light-speed efficiency.
A car door creaked open. Then shut.
He yanked up his pants and redid the buttons.
A key turned in the lock.
Tim switched off the television with one hand and grabbed the movie from the DVD player with the other. He tossed the disc into its case and wedged it into the waistband at the back of his pants to the sound of the front door opening.
His mother walked in. “Tim. This is a surprise.”
“Hi, Mom.” He remained by the TV and waved like an idiot, too afraid to move.
She kicked off her shoes. “I didn’t expect you back this early. I thought you were going to Valleyfair for the afternoon?”
“You know Dad,” he replied. “Work came up, and he had to go early. He left me the tickets, though.”
She shook her head with obvious irritation and opened her mouth to say something when she stopped and refocused on him. “Are you okay?” she asked. “You’re all red and you look like you’re sweating.”
“Me?” he replied, and his voice cracked at the end of the word. He cleared his throat. “Fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. We went fishing Saturday, and I forgot the sun-block. Won’t do that again. How was your weekend?”
She left her shoes at the entry and walked past him, toward the kitchen. “All right, I guess. I had two open houses, but only a handful of people showed up.” She paused at the refrigerator and turned around. “Do you remember that man I told you about a while ago, the one who bought the house next to Harry’s?”
“I think so.”
“I saw him again at church today,” she said, smiling. “I think he likes me.”
Tim grinned, and his ridged posture melted to a more relaxed stance. Unlike his father, talking to his mom came easy; the divorce had bolstered their relationship in that way, allowing them to confide in one another on almost any topic.
“Does that mean I’ll be getting a new daddy?” he asked, using the most innocent voice he could muster.
“Shut up,” she replied, but her words dissolved into laughter. “Seriously. I like him, too, and… Well, you know I haven’t dated much since your father and I split up. It’s kind of scary, thinking about rejoining the singles scene. Cut me some slack.”
He nodded. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
Suddenly her eyes narrowed, and Tim found himself at the target end of a wily stare. “You know, he has a daughter your age. Her name’s Mallory.”
“Good for him.”
“She’s a very nice girl,” his mother continued. “And quite attractive.”
“So you have the hots for her, too, is that it?”
“Ha, ha, wise guy. Actually, I thought you might want to meet her. She’ll need someone to introduce her around, show her the town. Better yet, you have those passes to Valleyfair. You should ask her to go with you. That would be a nice welcome present.”
“Maybe,” he replied. “I’m not exactly Mr. Popularity, though.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, pal. I think she’d be thrilled if you asked her. You know what it’s like to be the new kid in town. Think about it. In the meantime, I’m starving. Do you want to help cook up some stir fry?”