“Where’s my girl?” I asked with a big grin as I sat down and grabbed my friend Dion in a headlock.
“Man, get your hands off me,” he said, a big smile on his face as we pushed and shoved at each other playfully. We were on the football team together and had been ever since we were in the PeeWee leagues.
When we were done messing with each other, I made brief eye contact with Tandy, Annika’s best friend. She bit her lip and looked away quickly. Was it my imagination or did she look guilty?
“Tandy, where’s Annika?”
The table got weirdly quiet. I looked around, but no one seemed to want to say anything.
“D?” I looked at Dion, but he shrugged.
“Don’t ask me. I walked in right before you did.”
Why was everyone acting strangely?
I scanned the faces and realized that Paulie wasn’t around, either. “Where’s Paulie?”
Silence.
“Okay, what the hell is going on? Why are y’all being weird? Just tell me where she is.”
Finally, Keela, a sweet girl in our grade, spoke up. “I think Paulie and Annika went for a quick walk together before the food gets here.”
I made a face, then shrugged. “Okay, then.” I waited for the waitress to come over, and Dion and I both put our order in.
Annika still wasn’t back after ten or so more minutes, and she wasn’t answering her texts. I finally stood up. “Guess I’m going to go catch up with them,” I said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Keela spoke up. “Don’t… don’t go out there,” she said, despite Tandy and some of the other girls giving her dirty looks.
“Why?”
No one would answer, and I started to feel a pit forming in my stomach.
With a sense of trepidation, I fought through the Saturday evening crowds of people waiting on a table. The line stretched out onto the sidewalk, and several friends called out to me as I walked by. I waved, smiled, and said a few words as I passed by them, keeping my eyes peeled the whole time for Annika, Paulie, or both.
No luck.
I couldn’t see them anywhere on either side of the street or down the block towards the town square and park.
I stopped at the end of the sidewalk and looked right and left before crossing the road to the next block of businesses. And that’s when I saw them.
Paulie had Annika pushed back against the brick wall of the restaurant. They were down close to the dumpsters where they wouldn’t likely be seen. Which was gross, but they clearly were too wrapped up in each other to care.
My mouth opened in shock and horror as I saw what was going on. Annika’s legs were wrapped around Paulie’s waist. He was very clearly fucking her. I watched as she rocked against him, moaning and crying out in ecstasy as she met him thrust for thrust. They were going at it like animals, like they couldn’t get enough of each other.
I closed my eyes, not wanting to see any more. But I could still hear them. Annika’s assurances that I was a great lover feltempty as I heard her screams and gasps of pleasure. She’d never sounded likethatwith me.
Jesus. How long had this been going on? I scrubbed a hand over my mouth as I forced myself to look at them. They looked like they were about ready to start up again even though I’d heard the unmistakable sounds of both of them coming.
I couldn’t bear standing and listening to that shit again. I started to say something, but then Paulie stopped things. “We should get back. Tim’s going to get suspicious.”
Annika laughed. “God. No, he won’t. I could do anything with anyone, and he wouldn’t have a clue. The guy’s that crazy about me.”
Paulie snorted. “Yeah, that’s for sure. You can do no wrong in his eyes.”
Annika laughed. It was a mean laugh I’d never heard from her before. “I’ve fucked all of his supposed friends.All of them. The guy’s clueless.”
“So why are you with him?”
