"We'll go for a pizza later." Luke said from the doorway. We heard music coming from the living room. David had a radio turned on to an upbeat station.
"We better," Jenna said firmly, and walked back to the living room.
Luke and I followed. David was sprawled on the sofa, smoking a cigarette. He smiled up at Jenna.
"Come to Papa, baby," he said, reaching up for her.
She laughed and fell over him. Then they kissed. and David put his hand on her rear end and looked up at Luke and me.
"C'mon," Luke said. "Let's give them some privacy." he told me, and took my hand. He had the bottle of vodka in his other hand.
I let him pull me along.
"Where are we going?" I asked as he started up the steps.
"Upstairs, where we can talk and stuff," he said.
I hesitated, but his grip on my hand was tight. We went up the short stairway, and then he turned into a room, obviously knowing exactly where to go. I thought it was probably David's granddad's room. I saw a pair of pants and a shirt strewn aver a chair, a hair brush and a comb on the dresser, and a pair of shoes and some old slippers next to the bed. On the dresser was a picture
of a couple embracing under a tree, the woman looking small and frightened, as if she had been caught doing something illegal. It was taken years and years ago, because David's
grandfather looked not much older than David. There were some inexpensive prints of country scenes and a scene of mountains in frames on the walls.
The blanket on the bed was pulled down, the two pillows creased with the imprints of a head or heads. Luke sat on the bed, stared at the floor a moment, and then looked up at me. He smiled and handed me the bottle of vodka. I shook my head.
"I think I had enough," I said.
"No, you didn't. You didn't have more than a few shots. Believe me," he said, pumping the bag at me.
I took it and sipped some more. "See? No problem."
He looked at me hard and then took another long drink. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand.
"This is the first time you been with someone, right?" he asked.
"What do you mean. 'been with someone?"
He nodded. "It's the first time. You like being with boys, though, right?"
"Yes." I said, getting angry. "You don't have to ask me that."
"How do you know if you've never been with one like this?" he asked, and then laughed. "You have to experiment to learn what you like, don't you? If you never tasted butterscotch, you wouldn't know if you liked it or not. right? Huh?"
"I guess not." I said.
"Sure, it's only logical. No big deal. I'm an expert when it comes to experiments,"
He reached into his back pocket and produced his brown leather wallet. "See this?" he said, holding it out.
I looked down at it. There wasn't much to see. I thought, except for what looked like tiny slices in the leather.
"What?" I asked.
7: The Pam: Page 190
"What? Look closely," he said, holding up the wallet. "Count the marks. Fifteen. You'll be sixteen," he said, pointing the bottle at me and then taking another drink. "It's a service I provide to the female population."
I shook my head. The room was spinning a little, and I was now feeling a little nauseated.