India laughed, she’d known this line of questioning was coming. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you like him?” the girl next to Tosha asked.
“Of course I like him. I wouldn’t be hanging out with him if I didn’t like him.” India replied.
“Did he get lucky?” Trevor asked from the back corner of the room.
India sent him her best glare, “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, he did not.”
“Yeah, right.”
“No, seriously. We kissed and that was it.” she said.
Tosha looked startled, “Are you crazy? He’s hot!”
“Yeah, he’s hotter than hell… but that doesn’t mean I’m going to get down with him right away.” India said.
“Typical woman.” Trevor muttered. “Playin’ hard to get and makin’ him work for it.”
“Damn straight.” India said, moving to sit on the front edge of her desk. “I don’t think you guys realize how much you give away when you’re just givin’ it up to anyone who wants it. Respect yourselves enough to be picky…. don’t do it unless you really want to.”
“You’re not gonna go and get all preachy on us are you?” Trevor asked, his voice full of disdain.
“Are you crazy? I’m just saying, be careful. And make sure that person is worth the risks. And I don’t mean STD’s and pregnancy… I mean broken hearts and having to deal with never being able to look at that person again without thinking ‘I know what you look like naked’ or ‘I know what you sound like during sex’. Those things are JUST as bad as all the statistics crap they throw at you in health class… and no one tells you about them.” India said, glancing across the classroom at the 24 teenage faces looking back at her, at least six of them nodding in agreement with what she was saying. “I know it seems like everyone is having sex… or at least everyone is talking about having sex… but you know what? If you’re not… you aren’t missing that much…”
Trevor interrupted her, “What are you talking about? Not missing much? You must be doing it with the wrong guys!”
India shook her head, the class giggling at Trevor’s comment. “Dude, really… think about the sex you’ve had… if you’ve had ANY…” She paused, letting the class get their giggles at Trevor’s expense as he blushed. “You can’t do it at home ‘cause your parents are there… so you do it in the back of your car.. all smashed up in the backseat or at a party in someone’s parents bed where they were doing the same thing the night before…” She had to laugh at the looks of horror on several faces as her statement registered with them. “And no matter where you’re doing it… it lasts what… two, three minutes at most ‘cause no teenage boy has figured out what they’re doing yet… they just know it’s better than hitting it solo at home… and the girl is going to go tell all her friends that he could barely even figure out where to put it…”
“Okay, okay, that’s enough!!” Trevor said, standing up. “You win.”
India smirked, “I know I do. But thank you Trevor, for introducing today’s lesson… which is on sex, by the way.”
“Hell yeah!” he said, jumping on the seat of his desk, arms raised as if he was victorious.
“But first, I’m going to give you drugs…” India said, walking back behind her desk to grab a basket.
“What??” a concerned, conservative looking girl in the first row asked.
India reached into the basket and began passing out poppy seed muffins she’d baked last night before making the blueberry muffins she and Nick had had for breakfast. “Now, if we were in an opium den… and I was letting you guys get the good stuff from those little black seeds… this class would be WAY more fun, I’m sure… but for now, just don’t take any drug tests, because you won’t pass…”
~~~
Nick sat at his kitchen table, trying to remember just what time India had walked out of the building when he’d gone to meet her on Friday. He wanted to call her as soon as he could… he’d been thinking about her all day and just wanted to talk to her, to hear her voice again. He couldn’t quite believe the way he was feeling… it was almost crazy.
He’d been thinking about her all day… since he’d gotten back home at 6:45 a.m… he’d stayed awake, and had done nothing really, except think about her. The things they’d talked about over breakfast… the way she’d looked, sitting on the beach, her hair getting ruffled by the ocean breeze, the early morning sun on her face… her grabbing his ass as she’d kissed him goodbye…
He thought he’d given her enough time to get home, and dialed the phone, waiting. When she picked up and said ‘hello’, he said, “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
India giggled, and set her stuff down on the table, having just walked in the door. “I planned on that.” she told him.
“You want to come over to my place tonight? You made breakfast… I’ll attempt to make dinner for you. If it doesn’t work out… I’ve got the pizza place on speed dial…”
India laughed again, “Yeah, I’d love that. Just let me change clothes and I’ll be over.”
“Why don’t you just wait ‘til you get over here to get out of those clothes?” Nick asked.
“You’re not going to give up are you?” she asked, an amused smile in her voice.
“Never hurts to keep trying.” Nick told her. “Come on over when you’re ready.”
~~~~
India leaned back in the chair at the table, contentedly rubbing her stomach. “That was awesome!”
Nick smiled, pleased with himself that he’d managed to pull off an edible dinner. They’d eaten outside, on the patio near the water, the gentle breeze making the palm tree leaves sway above them. “Thanks.”
“I’ve never dated a guy who could cook before.” she said.
“I wouldn’t really call it cooking.. I can make a few things, that’s about it.” Nick told her.
“Whatever… I’m impressed.” she praised. “Just offhand, I don’t think some of my students were impressed with my evaluation of teen sex today.” she said.
“Oh? The sex and drugs didn’t go over so well?” he asked, wishing he’d have been there to see the lesson… he’d been curious about how exactly something like that would be taught.
“The lesson was fine… it was my little rant about them being too preoccupied with sex and just doing it with anyone that they didn’t like.” she sighed. “You try to tell them, like, I know what I’m talking about… there’s a reason I’m telling you these things! But they don’t want anything to do with it. I guess everyone is like that at some point… I know I was.”
Nick looked at her, confused. “What are you talking about? I thought you said you’d only been with Logan.”
“I did. I was. I was talking about the other stuff I said… the things that having sex with someone fucks up… that I know from experience, not the doing it with everyone part.” India said, trying to clarify.
“So, what did happen with those guys? What got fucked up? And what were the issues you said that other guy had?” Nick asked, curious since the topic had come up again.
“After sex with Logan, like, I could just never look at him the same. He had this expression when he’d laugh and I’d be like “that looks just like his orgasm face”… or I’d see him without his shirt on and think “he looks so much better with clothes on”… and those things started to get to me eventually… because I just wasn’t attracted to him that way. He’s an awesome guy… but it was more like a brotherly thing.. not someone I should have been having sex with… but I wanted it at the time and he was the one I was with… so we did it. A few times.” India said, then paused to take a drink. “And then Brandon… the girlfriend he had before me had gotten pregnant and had an abortion without telling him about it until after it was done.. and he freaked out and refused to have sex again for a loooonnng time… I really liked him, but he had some serious issues… and eventually broke up with me because of them.”
Nick sorted through everything she’d just told him, and ended up back on the “few times” part. “So, really… you’re, uh… “ he had no idea how to finish his thought without coming off as sounding rude.
“I’m what?” India asked, figuring she probably knew what he was about to ask, but wanted to wait to see if she was right, and how he was going to ask.
“Like, you didn’t… do it much with Logan?”
“I’m still fairly inexperienced? Is that what you’re going for?”
“Uh, yeah.” Nick averted his eyes from her, unsure if that’d been too nosey.
“Probably, yes. Like the actual number of times I’ve had sex is probably less than 10, truth be told…” India said, and stopped talking when Nick looked at her, a little surprised. “BUT that by does not mean that I don’t know what I like…”
He arched his eyebrow, curious at her insinuation.
“Oh please… just because I haven’t had tons of sex doesn’t mean I don’t know what feels good, where I liked to be touched, or what gets me off.” she said. “You don’t have to have a partner to figure everything out.”
“Shit…” Nick mumbled under his breath. As if things hadn’t been bad enough already… she looked amazing tonight… jeans that fit her just right, a tight t-shirt… hair in a messy braid and eyes sparkling… he’d been turned on all day… then seeing her completely wired him up and NOW she’s talking about touching herself? She was going to kill him before he ever got to see her naked.
India saw Nick reach under table and shift in his seat, aware of what he was most likely doing. She wasn’t really intentionally trying to torture him… it just sort of seemed to keep working out that way. She licked her lips when his eyes met hers again… okay, maybe she WAS trying to torture him a little bit.
“I’ll be right back.” Nick said, grabbing the plates of the table and going back inside the house.
India was fairly sure clearing the table wasn’t his only order of business. She liked trying to get a rise of him… and it wasn’t like he didn’t do the same thing to her… she just didn’t show it like he did. And she knew… she’d known since the first time she’d kissed him… that she wanted to be with him… eventually when she knew it was right for them. And when that time came, it would be unbelievable… but for now, she was content to just keep playing the continuous teasing game. And though Nick may protest, she knew on some level, he was enjoying it, too… or he wouldn’t keep coming back, wouldn’t keep playing to her, inviting her to turn him down again and again… just in hopes that one day her answer would change.
Nick returned a few minutes later, with two bowls of lime sorbet. He set one at his seat and the other in front of India, then leaned down to kiss her. “You taste tangy.”
She laughed, “Cocktail sauce.”