Page 118 of Hard Hitter
“I’m sure you guys will have a party somewhere, but feel free to come over when you get back,” she offered.
God, how did she sound so cool about this? Like she hadn’t just made out with her best friend?
“Oh, right,” Quinn glanced at the team still celebrating. “You could come. I mean, the guys like you. You know how to fit right in.”
Rae smiled up at him. “Go celebrate with your team, Quinn. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Ho-lyshit!”Jett exclaimed, plopping into the seat across from Quinn and Chris’s bus seat.
The bus ride home was going to be loud and rowdy, buzzing with the excitement of this final win. Everyone was on cloud nine, high on the feeling of winning a major game, and Quinn was high on the lingering taste of cinnamon and frosting Rae had left on his tongue.
“You finally did it!” Jett threw his hands in the air. “You finally fucking did it! How was it? Everything you hoped for? Is it weird to say you guys look good together? I thought it would be weird, and, well, it kind of was, because you’re two of my best friends, but...holy shit! Good for you!”
Quinn hadn’t been able to wipe the dopey, love-struck grin off his face. “It was...fuck, it was amazing! Guys...that happened. I can’t believe it happened. She told me to come over after we get done partying and I feel like I’m going to get there and kiss her and she’ll be like ‘what are ya doin there, Case?’ like it never happened. But it did! I was there and it happened.”
“You being there is sort of an essential part of the equation,” Chris chortled. “Does this mean you guys are gonna be...a thing? You gonna do the long distance thing from Michigan to Arizona in the fall, or what?”
“Whoa, whoa!” Jett put his hands up. “Don’t be a downer, Chris. Come on, let him enjoy this. They still have the whole summer to be together. Dude, her parents are never home. It’s gonna be so easy to fool around and not get caught. You guys can make out and have sex all summer.” He paused and made a near-horrified face. “Oh, God, this is Rae! Why are we talking about having sex with her?”
“Wewill not be having sex with her, first of all,” Quinn said pointedly, “and on that note...I wonder if this changes things.”
“Of course it changes things, Case,” said Chris, as though explaining to someone particularly idiotic that fire is hot. “You guys have been best friends for eleven years and now you’re going to start developing deep love feelings and getting physical and touching. That’s how relationships work, dude.”
“No, not that,” Quinn waved a hand dismissively. “No, I mean the pact that we made at the beginning of the year.”
“We made a pact?” Jett asked curiously. “About Rae?”
Rolling his eyes, Quinn replied, “No, me and Rae made one. About...having sex.”
Chris and Jett both went wide-eyed and their eyebrows shot upward. Chris leaned his head in closer, “I’m sorry, you guys made a sex pact? What the- Why didn’t you tell us?”
Quinn shrugged. “It was just supposed to be between us, I think. I don’t think she told anyone. But it might not even matter now. We can just have sex on our own terms, when it feels like a good time in the relationship.”
“Explain, please,” Jett said, looking thoroughly confused, as well as a little concerned. “What were the terms of this sex pact?”
“Well,” Quinn nodded his head from side to side, feeling awkward at discussing this private arrangement, “Rae has this thing about not wanting to be a virgin her first day of college, I guess. I told her it wasdumb and that no one would care or know, but she has it in her head that college is just like sex and parties and more sex and study partners that you have sex with. So she wants to be prepared.”
Jett chuckled, “That sounds like Rae.”
Chris nodded his agreement, “Always thinkin’ ahead, that girl. Even if her view is a little distorted by that TV drama shit she watches.”
“Well, basically, that’s it. She just said if she hadn’t had sex by the end of the year, that I would be her first.” Quinn gave another lame and awkward shrug.
“And...you agreed to that?” Chris quirked an eyebrow skeptically.
“Yeah, so?”
“Quinn, you’re crazy about this girl. You don’t just want sex with her, you want tobewith her,” said Chris, again using his Explaining Obvious Shit to a Simpleton voice. “You’re telling me you agreed to have no-strings-attached sex with her? You were gonna just blow your load, pat her on the ass and say ‘Go get ‘em, Tiger’ and send her off to a sea of horny college dudes?”
Quinn narrowed his eyes into a glare. “That was unnecessarily crass, andno, that’s not what I was going to do.”
“Wait, wait,” Jett held a hand up to pause the conversation. “Rae was completely fine with you hooking up with whoever you wanted all year...and as long asshehadn’t had sex, it didn’t matter how many chicks you’d been with, she still wanted to do it?”
Ahh, shit. I was hoping they wouldn’t get to this part.
“Um...well, not...not exactly, no,” said Quinn, feeling the heat rise from his neck up into his face. He knew they’d have a problem with this part. He’d struggled with it himself but had tried his best to glaze over it and not give it too much thought. “Okay, um...the thing is...this is supposed to be more like avirginitypact.”
“But you’re not a virgin,” Chris stated, eyes darkening even in the limited light. Even Jett’s always-friendly face looked incredulous and mildly threatening.
