“Pretend Boyfriend” (Story 11, Excerpt 2)

The following excerpt is the second part of “Pretend Boyfriend”. You can read the first part here.

“First, I screw up my chances with that guy,” said Ashley. ” Now I’m going to ruin your night.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. How could she ruin my night with Pretend Boyfriend if I didn’t know what kind of night we were supposed to have? I let Pretend Boyfriend respond.

“You’re not ruining anything. We’re all friends here,” he said. “And you need to be safe.”

Part of me wished that Pretend Boyfriend would tell her to take a cab home or fend for herself, but letting Ashley stay with us was the right thing to do. Pretend Boyfriend was a good guy.

On our way out, Pretend Boyfriend was no longer the stud with a girl on each arm. This time, Pretend Boyfriend and I were holding Ashley, even though all three of us were drunk. She was hysterical and thrashing like a panicked bird.

She would not stop talking about how she had ruined our night, and her words made me more and more uncomfortable each time she said them. But Pretend Boyfriend didn’t seem to take it personally or think anything of it. He just kept looking at me and shaking his head.

In the hotel room, Ashley remained awake long enough to watch Pretend Boyfriend perform a show for us. In an effort to distract her, Pretend Boyfriend stripped down to his boxers and button-down shirt and danced nonsensically to the top 40 station playing on the radio he had brought.

But the dancing made him cough violently. I was surprised we both held up for as long as we did because neither of us had felt well at the beginning of the trip. My head hurt a little, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the alcohol or because I was still coming down with something. Pretend Boyfriend’s coughing fit signaled the end of the night.

Ashley slept in one bed. Pretend Boyfriend and I slept together in the other bed, but he rolled far to one side. He kissed me on the cheek and turned away.

“I don’t want you to get sick, Veda,” he said.

But I was sure I was already sick.

In the morning, I heard Ashley leave, but I was still drunk and too tired to say goodbye. I heard Pretend Boyfriend get up to help her with her things and then fell asleep again.

When I woke up, more awake this time, I realized that Pretend Boyfriend and I were alone, in bed together in an empty room. I also noticed that I wasn’t wearing any pants; they were thrown on the floor next to me. I must have been too hot in the middle of the night and took them off. Now, I was simply wearing my panties and a black camisole tank top.

Pretend Boyfriend was sleeping or at least he was pretending to sleep. I started to rub his leg with my foot, hoping he would come closer to me, at least. He was still on the other side of the bed with his face turned away. Finally, he moved, and I touched his shoulder.

“Come closer, I’m cold,” I said.

I was practically begging him to take advantage of me. How pathetic.

Shouldn’t a guy with a pretty, half-clothed young woman in his bed be the one making the moves? Shouldn’t I be the one fighting him off?

I thought about the night before and the way he couldn’t keep his hands off me on the dance floor. Presented with an opportunity, why wasn’t he taking advantage of it? He moved closer, but he didn’t try to kiss me.

“I’m sick, Veda. It’s better if I stay over here.”

I moved his hand to my butt so he could see that I wasn’t wearing any pants. He seemed more startled and scared by this action than aroused or interested. I climbed on top of him, kissing his forehead and his cheeks, trying to get him to realize that I wanted something to happen, but he dodged my kisses and avoided my mouth.

“Don’t you want me?” I asked. “We finally have some privacy. We should take advantage of it.”

“I really don’t feel well,” said Pretend Boyfriend. “And, to be honest, I don’t want anything to be complicated between us.”

“But I want this, can’t you see that?” I said.

“I don’t want to be the jerk when I move away at the end of the summer. I know you’re a good girl, and I don’t want to be responsible for making you sad,” he said.

“Are you really going to turn me down? I’m ready to go.”

“I don’t have condoms, anyway,” he said.

“I brought some,” I said.

I felt really embarrassed then. What kind of girl has such high expectations of a night in an Atlantic City hotel room that she brings condoms? I felt dirty and slutty and reconsidered everything, but I had already pushed the matter so far. I started to cry but didn’t let him see by turning away.

“Are you absolutely sure?”

I nodded, even though I knew the sex couldn’t be good or fulfilling, not now. But I had been waiting for the chance to have sex with Pretend Boyfriend, to affirm the hunches I had about the way he perform in bed, to finally meet someone who might help me get my mind off Theo.

Pretend Boyfriend finally agreed to have sex with me.

We had our eyes closed the whole time, and he seemed to be somewhere else. I knew that we would never have sex again.

I didn’t even try to get off. When he finished, I was grateful. Neither of us was feeling well anyway. Pretend Boyfriend started coughing again, and my throat burned so badly I could hardly swallow. I put my pants on because I was cold.

When we got out of bed for good, the day seemed to start the way it should have started, if I hadn’t been so demanding. We both dressed, got our things together, took showers, and went downstairs for breakfast. We ordered coffee and eggs, and the only time that whole day that either of us mentioned the sex was when Pretend Boyfriend asked me if I was using birth control.

I nodded, and he nodded in return. While we ate, we talked about Ashley and laughed about the night before.

After breakfast, we used the rest of the money that we had budgeted for our trip at slot machines and roulette. Pretend Boyfriend had never played roulette before so I taught him what I knew. We were sitting close to one another, whispering comments about the other people at the table. We actually won a few hundred dollars together, and he let me use his chips when I ran out of my own.

“I love this game,” said Pretend Boyfriend. “Thanks so much for teaching me how to play. I would never have come here on my own.”

The dealer kept yelling at us because we were talking too loudly and forgetting to remove our hands from the table between bets. We could sense that she wanted us to leave. We placed the last of our chips on red, which hit, but the dealer pushed our chips off the red space, along with the other losing chips.

“Hey! We bet on red.” I said.

“Nope! I already moved the chips. You lose.”

“But she’s right, you moved our chips,” said Pretend Boyfriend.

The dealer called for a security guard to check the casino camera, and we were sure we would be able to get our money back. But the security guard returned from the camera, accused us of cheating, and told us to leave.

Angry and broke, Pretend Boyfriend and I decided that our trip was over. We checked out of the hotel and waited for the valet to retrieve our cars while I began to cough violently. I pressed my fingers into my forehead because my sinuses burned.

Pretend Boyfriend hugged me. He pulled a small tin of cough drops from his pocket and offered me a cherry-flavored lozenge. The sweet, melting medicine quenched the dry taste in my mouth and relieved the pain in my throat.

“I was worried this would happen,” he said.

(Photo by tamakisono)