Nick finally emerged from his car after contemplating whether he even felt like being at school today. Part of him just wanted to curl up in bed and hope all of his problems would go away. Life would’ve been much easier if he had remained a virgin.

There would be no complicated relationship that he desperately wanted but was afraid to lose, no constant sexual desire, no contracting chlamydia and his relationships wouldn’t be as damaged as they are now. From Mitch, to his mother, to Danny; Nick was having a hard time getting along with anyone these days.

Was this all related to his unyielding sexual cravings? Nick wasn’t sure but he hoped Danny’s mother’s therapist could help him figure it out. That is, if Danny’s offer to help was still on the table.

He couldn’t believe that Danny felt like he was in love with Lizzy. It wasn’t like Danny to have those sorts of feelings, Nick thought. His friend was all about fucking as many girls as possible and having a good time doing it.

But maybe Nick didn’t know his best friend as well as he thought he did. He knew Danny’s home life wasn’t the best. He remembered occasionally going over to Danny’s house a few nights a week for dinner in middle school when his mother had to work late. This was before Mrs. Morgan morphed into a major crack addict.

Even then, the situation was tense at the dinner table. Mr. Morgan constantly yelled at Danny for every little thing he did wrong. Why weren’t you named captain of the football team? I dated much better looking girls in middle school, yada, yada, yada. Mrs. Morgan just stared into space half of the time and didn’t bother to tell her husband to stop berating their son.

Eventually, Nick stopped going to Danny’s for dinner and only went there to hang out, since his parents gave him the creeps. Nick started to understand why Danny felt lonely and unloved at home. Maybe he really felt strongly about Lizzy and it would make him happy to be in a relationship with her. But how would Mitch feel? Nick didn’t want his friends to be mad at each other again.

Rather than continuing to play amateur psychiatrist, Nick entered the school for another tough day. His mood was brightened when he saw a text on his phone from Stacy.

Stacy: Hey, how are you feeling this morning babe?

Nick: I feel a lot better after last night. Ha ha.

Stacy: I bet you do  Just wait until this weekend, I might have other surprises in store.

Nick’s heart leapt in his chest. Would Stacy really give in and have sex with him after the homecoming dance? He could only hope.

**
Danny was beyond pissed at what happened in the car on his ride to school this morning. How could Nick not see how selfish he was being by keeping his affliction with chlamydia to himself?

Not only did he likely pass it on to Tiffany but if he was getting sexually active with Stacy again, he could infect her as well before the antibiotics had enough time to kick in.

Then, Nick had the nerve to tell Danny that he was selfish for feeling affection for Lizzy. Yeah, Danny realized it wasn’t ideal since Mitch would surely be pissed at him if he ended up dating Lizzy or kept hooking up with her, but Danny had an answer for that. He was going to remind Mitch to ask out Lucille Hemingway, who had agreed to go with Mitch to the homecoming dance after some convincing by Danny.

Danny wasn’t sure if Mitch would like Lucille, but she was cute enough that he knew Mitch would at least find her attractive. If he was quick enough, he could catch Mitch by his locker before he went to class. Sure enough, there he was.

“Hey, Mitch, what’s up?” Danny asked.

“Not much. Just read a really good book about how our country is fucked.”

“Wow, you really are a nerd you know that? Have you asked Lucy to homecoming yet?”

“Lucy who?” Mitch asked.

“Damnit. Don’t you remember talking about this the other day? Lucy Hemingway.”

“Hemingway? Like Ernest Hemingway?”

“No, you fucking nerd. Lucy Hemingway. I’m pretty sure there’s no relation.”

“Oh her? Yeah, she’s pretty cute. What did you tell her about me again?”

“Nothing much. Just that you’re a nice guy and you’d really like to talk to her but haven’t worked up the nerve yet.”

“Damn, Danny, that’s going to make me sound lame.”

“Relax, just go with it. She told me she would go out with you as long as you asked. Besides, you don’t want to be the only person in our friend group without a date to homecoming do you?”

“No, I guess you’re right. I’ll ask her today,” Mitch said. “So who are you going with? I don’t think you ever said.”

Mitch was always the clever and observant one of their friend group. Danny avoided the question of who he was going to the dance with each time one of his friends asked. The only answer he gave was his fuck buddy, Michelle Jenner. He hadn’t told anyone that he actually planned to ask Lizzy Watkins to be his homecoming date and that he would go with her group of friends to the dance to avoid looking suspicious until the dance arrived. At that point, though, the cat would be let out of the bag.

“I’m bringing Michelle Jenner. You know her, right?”

“Oh yeah, I guess so. You seem to do a lot of stuff with her. Is she a girlfriend?”

“Nope, just friends with benefits,” Danny said. “We need to find you one of those.”

“You never know. Maybe this Lucy can be one.”

“Go get her, tiger.”

**

A few hours had passed since Danny told him to ask out the girl that agreed to be his homecoming date. Mitch was feeling nervous at the prospect of asking a girl out, especially since he didn’t know her.

Mitch realized he had never asked a girl out in his life. When he and Lizzy started dating, it was a natural evolution of their near lifelong friendship. There was no formal process of him asking her on a date or to become his girlfriend. It just kind of happened.

He knew he could find the girl on the way to lunch since he was pretty sure he saw her and her friends walking to the lunchroom at the same time he arrived there from his class.

Before he knew it, the bell signaling the lunch hour rang. A lump formed in Mitch’s throat as he got up to leave the classroom.

With a brisk pace, Mitch darted from his history class and down the maze of halls to the lunchroom. Maybe if he walked fast enough, he wouldn’t have to ask Lucy out and he could just say he forgot and spend the night of the homecoming dance depressed and lonely in his room.

Mitch nearly jumped out of his sandals when Jake walked up alongside of him.

“You’re going to ask that girl out, right?”

“Where did you come from? How did you know about that?”

“Who do you think?” Jake asked.

“Trent,” the friends said simultaneously. Apparently Danny told Trent about Mitch’s homecoming date situation and wanted Trent to spread the word to his other friends so Mitch actually followed through and asked the girl out.

“There she is,” Jake said. “Look, she’s really cute. She’s begging to be asked out. Don’t come to the lunch table unless you ask her.”

Jake walked off to the lunchroom to get a head start on finding lunch. Mitch swallowed hard and walked towards the other end of the hallway where Lucy was gathered with her friends.

Lucy was a very attractive girl. Mitch didn’t really know her too much since she was a year younger but she was on the gymnastics team, just like Lizzy. He always thought she was pretty cute but didn’t think of her in a sexual way since he was dating Lizzy at the time.

Just the memory of Lizzy in her tight blue spandex uniform made Mitch realize all he would be missing at homecoming this year. No more grinding against her fat ass. No more sneaking off to the fishing lagoon to have sex after the dance was over. It was enough to send him into a depressive state and nearly walk past Lucy without saying a word.

But deep down he knew he would have to move on from Lizzy at some point and now was as good of a time as any to do so. He noticed Lucy’s gaze was directly on him. Mitch initially looked away shyly, before squaring his gaze on her.

Lucy’s friends quickly dispersed as Mitch walked towards her, perhaps figuring he was there to ask her out. Mitch swore he heard them giggling as they walked away.

“Hey Lucy, I’m Mitch,” Mitch said, offering his hand for Lucy to shake.

Lucy reached out her small hand and shook Mitch’s. Mitch noticed how easily her hand fit inside of his own. It was as if he was Shaquille O’Neal and he was shaking a baby’s hand.

“Hi Mitch. Are you the mysterious man that Danny Morgan said would ask me to homecoming?” Lucy asked.

“Well, that Danny is a character. You can never really trust him,” Mitch joked nervously. “But yes, I was planning on asking you to homecoming as my date. That is, if you accept. I don’t want to force you to go with me by any means.”

He saw Lucy hesitate and shift her weight to her right leg as she crossed it over her left in a standing position. She was clearly going to make him work for this.

“Hmm, you don’t sound too enthusiastic about this. I was going to just go with my friends and I guess that option is still on the table.”

“No, believe me, Lucy, I’m very enthusiastic.”

He certainly didn’t feel enthusiastic. Still, he realized he’d better get enthusiastic really quick. He didn’t want to return to the lunch table having failed in his mission to ask Lucy out.

“I know we don’t know each other really well. But you’re a really cute girl and I’ve heard great things about you.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

Shit. She called him on it. Mitch really didn’t know anything about this girl at all. The least Danny could’ve done to help him was find out some more about this girl.

Suddenly, as if blessed with divine intervention, Mitch remembered a conversation he had with Lizzy last year during gymnastics season. Lizzy complained that she didn’t have enough friends on the gymnastics team. Mitch asked her if any of the girls had anything in common with her.

It took him a while to withdraw any information from Lizzy but he eventually managed to get her to reveal information about one girl, a mysterious sophomore at the time named Lucy Hemingway. She had a strange obsession with eating a paleo diet. Mitch remembered Lizzy started eating paleo to maintain her excellent figure. He remembered Lizzy was thinking of abandoning the practice before she heard Lucy was having a lot of success with the diet.

Lucy ended up sharing a lot of delicious paleo recipes with Lizzy that she was able to bring home to her family for them to eat healthier together. As a result, Mitch remembered Lizzy’s mom and dad both losing 10 to 15 pounds each as a result of eating this way. He knew how happy Lizzy had been to see such a great health turnaround for her family.

“Well,” Mitch began. “I’ve heard great things about your cooking skills and ability to come up with good recipes. You really made a difference in my ex-girlfriend Lizzy’s family eating habits and health. They all lost a lot of weight by sticking with the paleo diet. I know Lizzy was thinking of giving up on that before she met you. You really inspired her.”

Lucy shifted her weight to her left leg and crossed the right leg over as she contemplated Mitch’s response.

“I’m glad I could help. Lizzy was actually a nice girl for a popular chick,” Lucy said. “How long did you two date?”

“Three years,” Mitch said. “We were good friends for a really long time before we started dating.”

“So what happened? Why did you break up?” Lucy asked.

Man, this girl was nosy, Mitch thought. Still, he felt a strange calmness as she talked to Lucy. It was as if his earlier fears in approaching her were completely unfounded.

“She just wanted different things than I did. She wanted to venture out more and take advantage of her beauty sexually I guess. I guess I wasn’t wild enough for her.”

“Hmm, I could see that being a problem,” Lucy said. “Both partners really need to be sexually compatible for any relationship to succeed. Forgive me but I want to study psychology in college and my mother jokes that I would be a good couples’ therapist.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal. It’s kind of cute actually,” Mitch said. “So do you want to continue this conversation Saturday night? We’re going to this really good Mexican place for dinner.”

“Sure. I’m always up for a good burrito. Where do you want to pick me up?”

**

Before they could enter the lunch line to discover the mystery food item of the day, Nick managed to catch Danny just outside of the cafeteria to talk to him about their tough conversation earlier on the car ride over to school.

He wasn’t looking forward to it, but Nick knew he needed to make some attempt to apologize to his friend about calling him selfish; though Danny technically said the same thing about him. Nick mostly just wanted to avoid any conflict before the dance.

“Hey, can we talk about this morning? I didn’t realize you felt so strongly about Lizzy and I guess I overreacted. Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier? I would’ve understood eventually,” Nick said.

“Jesus, man, not so loud,” Danny said. “Mitch could pop up at any minute and that’s the last thing he needs to hear right now since he has a homecoming date to focus on.”

“Sorry. So you’re not worried about Mitch finding out? It’ll come out eventually,” Nick warned.

“Yeah you don’t think I know that? I’m trying to do him a favor and show him that there’s other fish in the sea and for him to not focus on Lizzy as much.”

“So it’ll soften the blow once you start dating her,” Nick suggested.

“Man I don’t even know if I want to date her. I just have these strong feelings for her like love feelings. But men aren’t supposed to be that weak, you know what I mean?”

“It’s not being weak,” Nick said. “If that’s how you feel, I think you should go for it. I’m sure Mitch won’t like it but you’re right, you have to live your life without any regrets. And I think you’ll regret it if you don’t pursue this.”

Danny paused for a moment, lost in thought.

“Thanks, dude, I’m glad you understand now. I just have no idea how I should let her know how I feel. I think she likes having sex with me but maybe that’s it. Maybe I’m reading into it too much.”

“I wouldn’t think so much. You’re starting to turn into me with overanalyzing things. Maybe the next time you’re together, after you’ve had sex, bring it up. She’ll likely be on a post-sex high and will be more amicable to your suggestion.”

“Really?”

“Yeah dude, when people have sex, the hormone oxytocin gets released that serves as a feel-good hormone, like a love hormone. That’s why a lot of girls like to cuddle after sex, to try and keep that oxytocin flowing.”

“Wow, thank God my best friend is a nerd. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So are you trying to bring Lizzy to dinner and the dance? That might get a little awkward at first.”

“No, I’ll probably go with Lizzy’s group of friends if she says yes or just bring Michelle if she says no.”

“I see. Well let me know how that goes. Are we cool now? I know I’ve been a total dick lately.”

“Yeah, you have. I think we’re cool. I’m glad I don’t have to find a different ride after school.”

Danny started to walk towards the lunch line. Feeling like tacos today, Nick joined Danny in the taco and burrito line.

“I was thinking more about what you said and how things have been going lately and I should probably go see the therapist sooner than later. I’m not sure I believe in that stuff but I guess I should give it a shot.”

“Alright, I don’t know if today will work but I have the lady’s number if you want it. I’ve thought about talking to her myself a few times but never have.”

“Hmm, maybe you could talk to her too, about this situation with Lizzy and how to reconcile it.”

“Reconcile what?” Danny asked.

“You know, how it must be hard on you when you have Mitch wondering what you’re thinking going after Lizzy so quickly,” Nick said.

Danny just shook his head and left his place in line.

“Where are you going?” Nick asked.

“You just don’t get it,” Danny said. “I’m not worried about Mitch right now. I think I might have found my one chance at love. I don’t have a loving family like you, Nick. So this might be it and I’m going for it. I’ll be sure to text you the therapist’s number. I really think you need it.”

Just when Nick thought he and his best friends had made amends, he went and fucked things up again. Maybe he should start keeping his thoughts to himself.

**

A different kind of tension was in the air at Stacy’s Catholic school several miles away. Friends Tiffany Larsen and Mari Rosales were seated on a curb in the parking lot, eating their lunch. They occasionally ate outside when the weather was especially nice, as it was today. A cool breeze ruffled their hair and the dark skirts they were wearing.

“So, Mari, I heard you’re going to the same dance as Stacy is this Saturday?”

“Si, I’m going with one of Nick’s friends, Trent. He seems like a really nice boy.”

“Where did you meet him again? One of your parties?”

“Yeah. I think it was the one that Stacy met Nick actually.”

“You never told her what happened I take it?”

“Oye, no. She would flip if she knew about it.”

“Well, maybe you’ll flip when I tell you about what else happened with Nick recently.”

“Oye, Tif, please tell me,” Mari squealed in excitement.

“Promise you won’t say anything to Stacy, at least not yet?”

“Si, si, I promise.”

“Well, the other day I went to the mall like I do every weekend. I really wanted this cute purple dress from Macy’s but I had to drag my brat sister around.”

“When will your parents let her go shopping on her own?”

“I know, that’s exactly what I said. Anyway, I’m waiting for her to try like 50 things on and it’s taking forever. I’m just standing around waiting and all of a sudden I see Nick.”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute. How did you know it was him? Did you meet him before?”

“No. I only found out after the fact when Stacy had us meet him at bowling last night. You should have seen the look on his face.”

Mari looked confused as she munched on her Oreo cookie and looked at Tiffany.

“What?” Tiffany asked.

“Why did he have a weird look on his face? Did something happen at the mall?”

“Oh yeah, of course,” Tiffany said. “I was getting to that part. So Nick just starts staring at me and calls me pretty. You know, stuff that boys just say if they want to get laid. He was pretty cute so I thought I’d go along with it. I told him I’m a bit of an exhibitionist and asked if he had ever done anything in a mall before.”

“Had he?”

“No, of course not. So I pull him into this empty dressing room and of course I’m wearing a dress for easy access and we just start having sex.”

“Wow, that’s crazy! How many guys have you done this with?”

“Oh he was probably the sixth or seventh guy, I’m not really sure. Anyway we’re going at it and he’s not a bad fuck so I can see why Stacy is seeing him and all of a sudden his mom knocks on the door and asks if he’s doing ok.”

“Wait, what? His mom was there with him.”

“Yeah, I know. That makes him a total loser, right?”

“Si, I wouldn’t take my mama anywhere with me to shop. I’m a grown woman.”

“Yeah it was bizarre. So we quiet down after she goes away and I tell him to hurry up and cum. So I got on my knees and swallowed it all.”

“Ooo, that’s kinky,” Mari said. “How did it taste?”

“Oh it was alright, nothing special. Anyway, flash forward to yesterday where he shows up at the bowling alley. He saw me and had a total deer in the headlights look on his face.”

“I bet he was scared you would rat him out to Stacy.”

“Of course he was and I held it over his head all night. I even took Stacy to the bathroom to act like I was going to spill the beans and she acted all mad when we got back but it was just because he didn’t ask her to be his girlfriend yet.”

“Aww, how cute. So he asked her?”

“Yes, he did and she obviously said yes. But that’s not the point. We both obviously want the best for Stacy, right?”

“Si, I think she should have a nice man in her life. We both know she’s had plenty of bad ones.”

“Yes. And I think that’s where you going to the homecoming dance can really test him to see if he’s truly faithful to her with all of those other pretty girls around.”

“Oye, I don’t know, Tiff. I just want to go to the dance and have fun. I don’t want to think about a master plan.”

Ugh. Tiffany couldn’t believe how ditzy her friend Mari could be at times. Tiffany had many reasons for wanting to test Nick and it went beyond their encounter at the mall and the fact that Nick chose to fuck her behind Stacy’s back while they were at least casually seeing each other. That shit didn’t even matter to Tiffany.

Tiffany was not only a sexual vixen when it came to her exhibitionism and fucking multiple guys in public but she also lived to please her own sex as well. She has had several sexual encounters with women in her life and had managed to seduce them all. All except for one person, her best friend Stacy.

Tiffany wanted Stacy all to herself but knew Stacy would never give up boys for a relationship with her. Just maybe if Stacy felt Nick was “the one” and had her heart broken, would she realize that being with a woman who could not only emotionally support her but be there for her physically as well would be the ultimate pleasure. It would be far too big of a gamble to just admit that she slept with Nick before he and Stacy were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. That would damage the trust her and Stacy had in their own relationship.

But if she could use Mari to seduce Nick at the homecoming dance, or any other girl, really, she might be closer to having Stacy for herself. Tiffany had one other nasty trick up her sleeve, though, but she wanted to save that for last.

Given her many years of being sexually active, she knew the risks of unprotected sex. She discovered a burning sensation during urination the day after hooking up with Nick and realized that she had contracted chlamydia. Since this was the third such occurrence for Tiffany, she fortunately still had some antibiotics lying around to rid combat the infection. She could simply share her diagnosis with Stacy and provide even further evidence that Nick was nothing but a cheating man-whore, but only if her other ideas didn’t work.

“Are you sure? He’s a pretty cute boy,” Tiffany said. “I think you’d like him. Just play with him a little bit.”

Tiffany scooted closer to Mari on the curb, to the point where their bare legs were touching. Tiffany was able to seduce Mari before. Could she do something similar again to convince her friend to give in to her wishes?

“He’s a pretty good kisser,” Tiffany said, leaning in closer to Mari’s sexy Latina face. “He can’t kiss you like this, though.”

Tiffany puckered her bright pink lips and leaned in to kiss Mari’s full luscious lips. Her lips were so bright red that Mari didn’t even have to wear lipstick. Mari initially pulled back from Tiffany’s advance, likely afraid that the nuns or a member of the staff would see them, but eventually she acquiesced to Tiffany’s desires. They all did.

The two teens moaned into each other’s mouths as they kissed. Mari’s tongue tasted of a sweet blend of Oreo cookies and the fresh red grapes she had for lunch. How a mouth could taste as sweet as the words it produced in her sexy Spanish accent, Tiffany did not know.

She wrapped a soft hand around Mari’s head, brushing her soft black hair as she did so. She thought of caressing her hair but didn’t want to treat Mari like a horse. Mari added tongue to the kiss, signaling she was more into their make out session than Tiffany originally thought.

Their tongues intertwined like the braids in the back of Tiffany’s hair as they explored each other’s mouths. Tiffany sensed she was getting what she wanted from Mari and knew she could talk her into anything in that moment.

“Take your panties off,” Tiffany said. “I want to taste something other than your tongue.”

“Mmm, you’re a kinky conchita,” Mari said. “Are you sure we should be doing this? What if one of the sisters sees us?”

“Relax, Our Lady of Guadalupe. I’m pretty sure no one comes out here.”

Before Mari could utter another protest, Tiffany yanked down Mari’s polka dot white panties and immediately attacked her clit with her moist tongue.

“Ohhh, baby, that’s nice,” Mari cooed as Tiffany licked her clit and labia.

Tiffany loved oral sex. She loved it more so for the pleasure she could provide her partner, whether it was a man or a woman. Hearing her partner’s moans and seeing the look of ecstasy on their face nearly made Tiffany cream her panties every time she engaged in the act.

Mari continued to moan with each gentle lick at her twat. Tiffany reached her left hand underneath her black skirt and between her lacy red panties, instantly noticing how wet she was in arousal.

“Ahh, you’re fingering yourself playing with me?” Mari asked. “I guess I turn you on that much, huh?”

“Yeah you sure do,” Tiffany responded.

“Well let me give you a tongue bath now,” Mari said as she and Tiffany switched places. It was Tiffany’s turn to have her panties pulled down as Mari tongued at her clit.

“Put a finger in me,” Tiffany commanded. She enjoyed the pleasure Mari was giving her but demanded more.

What started as trying to make Mari feel good to convince her to do Tiffany’s bidding at Nick’s homecoming dance that weekend turned into Tiffany desperately wanting to get off. A few more minutes subsided before Tiffany begged for more.

“Put another one in me.”

Mari followed suit and now had her index and middle fingers inside of Tiffany’s pussy. Tiffany felt her secretions continuously flowing out of her pussy. It was like an oil spill in the ocean. The liquid just kept spreading further and further.

“Damn, baby, you’re so wet,” Mari said. “We should lift this skirt off of you before you completely soak it.”

“Fuck it, I don’t give a damn,” Tiffany said.

Tiffany lifted her torso off of the grass and started making out with Mari again. It was at this point, like the few other instances in which they had hooked up before, where Tiffany wished Mari had a dick. She really wanted to feel something inside of her.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Mari asked. She had noticed Tiffany’s desire.

“Oh, nothing. I just really want something inside of me.”

“Si, I know what you mean. I can’t wait to get Trent’s big dick inside of me Saturday night. It’s been so long.”

Tiffany just stared back at Mari. This is probably why she could never be a full-on lesbian. She craved cock too much.

“But forget about that,” Mari said. “I’m going to make you cum right now.”

Playing the role of aggressor, Mari pushed Tiffany back into the grass and made her way back down to Tiffany’s pussy and licked her clit with full force. Tiffany felt not one, not two, but three fingers slip inside her pussy while Mari tongued her clit. She couldn’t help but moan in delight, not caring if the nuns heard her.

“Ugggh, ugggh fuck, that feels soooooo goooooodddd!”

“Oh yeah, you like that, huh? You’re so fucking sexy when you moan like that.”

Tiffany knew that Mari would make her cum if she kept licking and fingering her the way she was. Before she knew it, her legs were shaking and she felt the waves of pleasure roll over her body.

Tiffany looked up and noticed Father Joe was watching them from across the street. But it didn’t scare her because he had his thick cock out of his black trousers and was jerking off watching the scene unfold. Pervert!

Seeing how turned on the old priest was at watching the two females teens go at it was enough to push Tiffany over the edge. The pleasure she felt rushing over her earlier multiplied tenfold as Mari munched her pussy like it was the Last Supper.

“Oh fuck I’m cumming! I’m cuuummmiiinnnggg,” Tiffany moaned.

“Oh yeah, cum for me,” Mari said, trying to contain all of the juices that flooded out of Tiffany pussy. It was an insurmountable challenge to taste all of the liquid gold.

“Damn, you ate me better than last time,” Tiffany said as she came up for breath. “Father Joe got a good show.”

Mari spun around to look at the old man who was running back inside of the small church where his tiny office was held.

“Damn perv.”

“Forget that. Now it’s your turn.”

**

Nick found himself waiting in a small, dingy parlor room that was more suited to a 1950’s aristocrat than the tiny woman who occupied the home working as an independent psychiatrist. It was an old Victorian home. Not quite reminiscent of San Francisco’s Painted Ladies, the house appeared to have some character with its’ crown molding, 18th century artwork, and the mural adorning the ceiling in the foyer, but the room he sat in felt too depressing for the home to hold any real value in his eyes.

The room was painted completely red and other than a few war paintings that lined the three walls (a large set of glass double doors led into the foyer), everything else was red also. The couch he sat on and the matching couch across from him were both red. The throw pillows atop the couch were red. The rug covering the cherry oak hardwood floor was also red.

Perhaps a patient had offed themselves in here and the red matched the blood that spilled from the body.

Nick thought back to why he even bothered to show up for the therapy session in the first place. He wasn’t sure if this woman was a sex therapist, a drug addiction therapist, or even a couples’ therapist, but he trusted Danny’s judgment in suggesting he come here.

He really wanted to conquer his overpowering sexual desire. It would mean better things in all areas of his life. No more sleeping with random girls and risking sexual diseases, no more having to hide things from Stacy, and hopefully no more strained relationships with his mother, Danny and his other friends.

Today had been his worst day on that front. He totally blew off his mother’s concerns this morning, even if he felt she was unreasonable. And when Danny tried to confide in him about his feelings for Lizzy, Nick was only worried about how Mitch would feel because of Danny’s interest instead of listening to Danny and offering him support.

Before Nick could continue digging a bigger hole to bury his thoughts into, the therapist trudged into the parlor room, ready for their session.

“Hello, Nicholas,” the woman said. “Follow me, darling, right this way.”

Nick followed the therapist out into the foyer and up the narrow staircase. She was a rather short woman. Nick guessed she was around 5’3’’ or 5’4’’. She wore an olive green skirt that clung tightly around her firm ass and nearly reached the top of her tan boots. She wore an orange vest around her white turtleneck. Nick noticed her breasts were still perky through her top, despite the fact she was probably in her upper 50’s. He needed to stop thinking about every woman as a sexual object.

The woman opened one of the brown oak doors in the hall atop staircase. Nick wondered if the other closed doors housed other therapists or if they served as bedrooms of the home. He couldn’t tell if this was a completely commercial or residential establishment, or a mixture of both.

Stepping inside, the woman strode over to a small desk in the far corner of the room. Behind her, was a ten foot tall bookshelf, with various self-help books and research journals stacked lazily on the shelves. Nick watched as the therapist played with her hair band, which neatly matched her vest.

“Oh, you can close the door and sit down, honey,” she said.

Nick walked over to the door, peered out of it, as if to hope no one would creep outside of the door to listen to his problems, and finally closed it.

Nick took one of the two seats across from the therapist’s desk. He could see from the nameplate facing him that her name was Sheila Davis.

“Hi, I’m Ms. Davis,” she said, extending her hand. “But you can call me Sheila.”

“Hi, Sheila,” Nick said, accepting the handshake. “Can I ask you a quick question?”

“Sure. You can ask me anything you like.”

“Danny, my friend who referred me here, never said what kind of therapist you were. I don’t want you to think I have a drug problem or anything, like his mom.”

“Do you have a drug problem?”

“No, I don’t. I have different problems.”

“What sort of problems?”

“Well I…I guess I’m not sure where to start. See there could be a lot of things that are wrong with me. It’s hard to pick just one.”

“That’s fine. We have a whole hour to talk about this. Mrs. Morgan has three more sessions paid in full that I don’t think she’s going to use, so you have some more time with me after today. That is, if you want to see me again and I think you can benefit from the help.”

“Tell me,” Ms. Davis began after a short pause. “When you see your perfect life in front of you, all your hopes and dreams realized. What do you see?”

Nick thought that was a weird question to start the session. But she was the therapist and he was just a dumb teenager looking for help.

“I mean, I guess I’d like to stay with my girlfriend..”

“Great, let’s start there,” Sheila interjected. “How long have you been dating your girlfriend?”

“I just asked her out yesterday but we’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks.”

“So if you’ve only been seeing her for a few weeks, how do you know you want to be dating her? What makes you think this isn’t some fling?”

“I feel like I can be myself around her. I feel like I don’t have to be perfect and that I have to play everything super cool and macho. I can just be the fun and slightly quirky, slightly nerdy guy that I am. Plus, she’s super cute and I just love the way she laughs and plays along with me. She doesn’t take herself too seriously.”

Sheila tapped her long maroon nails on the desk back and forth. Nick swore he heard her tapping out the Addams Family theme.

“I see,” Sheila said. “So this is the first time you’ve been in love, I take it?”

Nick was taken aback by Sheila’s question. Nick certainly liked Stacy but he wouldn’t say he loved her. Love was such a strong word and he had never been in love before so he didn’t just want to throw the word around lightly. Upon saying such to Sheila, she just threw her head back and laughed.

“Just because you’ve never been in love before, doesn’t mean that you can’t feel love. People all fall in love eventually, right? It starts with a feeling of ‘strong like’ as you just put it to me, but it evolves into something more than that. Something where you always want to please that person because you like how they make you feel and you just enjoy being in their presence and can’t imagine another day without that person. Would you say you feel that way about your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, a little bit,” Nick said. “I just feel that because I’m so young that adults will say that I’m too young to know what love is and it’s just my hormones or lust talking.”

“Well, is it your hormones? Is it lust?”

Nick swallowed hard, feeling his Adams apple inching towards the bottom of his esophagus. He thought he could get away with just talking about how he felt about Stacy at this session and that he wouldn’t have to dive into his unquenchable sexual thirst. But that was the real reason he was here, so he might as well dive into it.

“I mean, I’m a teenage guy, so I guess that could be a part of it. If I see a pretty girl, I’m bound to think sexually about her.”

“Of course,” Sheila said. “Many guys do, and not just guys your age. I see the same thing with my older male clients. Of course, I can’t get into specifics about that.”

“Yeah, but it’s not just the sexual thoughts. It’s the desire to take action. Not just with my girlfriend but a lot of other girls.”

“I see,” Sheila said again. “So you feel like you can’t just acknowledge a pretty girl for being pretty or thinking about having sex with the girl. But you actually have to have sex with the girl, as in a physical manifestation of the imagined act?

“Yeah, exactly like that,” Nick admitted sheepishly.

“Well, I’m very interested to learn more about that. But I’m afraid our time is almost up for today.”

Nick wanted to protest. Looking at the clock on the wall to his left, he realized the appointment was almost over. He couldn’t help but feel slighted since he was about to spill his guts to the therapist only to have her shut him down.

Nick stood up from his chair and started his walk towards the door.

“Wait a second, Nick. I want to leave you with something. Remember when you talked about how your girlfriend made you feel? You like how you feel when you are around her, right?”

“Yeah I do. She makes me feel like I’m ten feet tall,” Nick said.

“Just think about how you would feel if you didn’t have her by your side. I’m sure you wouldn’t feel as good would you?”

“No, I guess not.”

“So think about that, Nicholas. Think about whatever it is that is causing you trouble. If doing that thing will hurt that feeling you have with your girlfriend, you have to do all you can to make sure that doesn’t happen. You got that?”

Nick thought for a moment. It was like the gears were turning in his brain but he needed more lubricant before they hummed like a well oiled machine. It was a shame he could solve a college level calculus problem faster than he could make the connection with what Sheila was trying to say.

“Yeah, I think so,” Nick said. “I’ll come back next week.”

“Ok, Nicholas. I look forward to seeing you then.”

**

Danny picked at his dinner in silence. Unlike most parents who asked their children how their day was at school and showed interest in their lives, Danny’s father’s eyes were transfixed on the Lakers game on television in the other room and Danny’s mother was staring off into space.

It was another typical night in the Morgan household.

“Mommy?” Danny’s sister Leslie asked, breaking the silence. “Can we go to the zoo on Saturday? My friend Marsha’s parents are taking her and I really want to see the turtles again.”

“See if her parents will take you with ‘em,” Steve Morgan responded, eyes glued to the television.

“But daddy, I want you guys to take me,” Leslie said.

Danny saw a frown form on his sister’s face. His poor little sister. She was too young to remember when his parents weren’t both complete pricks. That had to be when he was 12 years old. His mother had just completed rehab after her battle with alcoholism and she hadn’t started cocaine or marijuana yet. Now, she was addicted to all three.

His father hadn’t been promoted with regularity until recently and still managed to find time to play catch with Danny or join a tea party with a 3 or 4 year old Leslie, but all of that changed once he started chasing every last corporate dollar. The richer he got, the poorer his relationship with his kids became.

“Maybe you guys should take her,” Danny offered. “Like when we used to go when I was a kid.”

His mother finally shook out of her daze and just glared at him. She ran her hand through her thick jet black hair all the way down to the middle of her black, until her hands had no more hair to sift through.

“Times are different, Danny. I’m not able to give to your sister what I was able to give you. I’m a very sick woman.”

Danny just rolled his eyes and laughed. Had his father seen the eye roll, he would have let Danny have it.

“You can’t take one trip to the zoo with your daughter? I thought you were going to therapy and trying to get better?”

“Daniel, not in front of your sister,” his mother pleaded.

“How dare you talk that way to your mother,” Steve yelled. “After all the hard work she has put in to raise you. Give her a break.”

Danny just snickered to himself. His mom wasn’t doing any hard work at all. She was busy staying at home doing lines of coke on the days she managed to stay in the house and away from the bingo hall.

“But why can’t she do the same for Leslie? Don’t you care about her?”

“You have crossed the line, young man. I ought to have you pack up your things and leave.”

“Maybe I fucking will,” Danny yelled.

Both Danny and his father’s voices were rising. Leslie began to sob uncontrollably next to him.

“I don’t want to go to the zoo anymore,” she cried.

Danny got up from the table and headed out the door, not sure if he would return to the chaotic home he had occupied for the last 18 years.

He knew he couldn’t keep living in a home filled with hatred like this. He had one chance to feel like he truly mattered to someone. He needed to tell Lizzy how he felt.

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