Dylan

Chapter 1 Skip

"Come on Dylan, you should really come with us. We'll go find something fun to do. Lori got to drive today so we can just drop you off at home later."

I raise an eyebrow and decide to give this some serious consideration. It's a pretty bold invitation especially coming from her. Jen and I have known each other forever but our relationship has always had the classmate feel to it. Aside from occasional greetings we don't really socialize outside of class. The invitation she offered this morning seemed to be a slightly friendlier version of that. I figured it for a -- let's hang out so I can get the scoop on your brother thing. It's happened before with other females who have used me specifically for that reason so it seemed like a likely scenario. The way she is looking at me now is telling me I got it all wrong this time.

There are four girls standing around me basically begging me to skip class with them for what appears to be a really unexpected reason. I'm pretty surprised and very curious. What could they be thinking? I'm sure they all know enough about me to know what I'm about. If their expectations are just about having a good time and keeping it temporary this could be great, strange and seemingly unlikely but great.

Why am I even standing here wasting time thinking about it? I should drop my stuff and go, how bad could it be? And besides, these odds are ridiculous. I am guaranteed a hook-up out of this thing no matter what. I shuffle my books around and give the group a scan. Every one of them seems eager and ready to get out of here while my brain is still in figure it out mode instead of expressing agreement and propelling my body forward. It's hard to pinpoint but there is some small part of me that feels reluctant about this and that makes no sense at all. I look to the floor and decide to push the feeling away while I contemplate the possibilities. The distraction would be good. Spending down some of the endless hours that I have no idea what to do with lately would be really good since the other option is probably insanity due to this strange anxiety that has descended on me recently. Craziness seems like something I should try to avoid for the time being so I look up at the four attractive, apparently willing females and wonder why I'm hesitant to proceed. Focus idiot – decide which way to take this thing and move.

I've never attempted to get close to Lori before. She is definitely hot and I have to admit that I have imagined spending time with her more than once in the past. She has this amazing long hair that swings almost to her waist. Every time I see that hair I follow it down. Yeah, she has an incredible body as well. The truth is, I basically check her out whenever she is walking in front of me, and it looks like this could very well be my chance to do more than stare at her. When I look up again her eyes are on me and she smiles a little and looks deliberately toward the exit. She is obviously okay with this thing and ready to go. That means I could make this happen fairly easily with her. She jingles her keys conspicuously and then gives me a doe eyed look and a little "come on" tilt of her head... suddenly any desire I thought I had for her evaporates. Everything that I thought was attractive about her unexpectedly seems fake and a lot less spectacular than I had originally thought. After a long moment of staring I find myself wondering what I could have been thinking before. She is plastic pretty and would probably be far more attractive if she didn't try so hard.

I move my gaze away from her to the most anxious individual in their group. Jenny meets my eyes with her normal confident expression but it changes before my eyes into something that is a degree more meaningful and has a note of shyness attached to it. Oh man, it looks like genuine interest that I can't believe I've never noticed until now. No way – what is she doing? I shake my head at myself for being so oblivious for what I hope hasn't been a really long time. How stupid can I be? Now my mouth is dry and my stomach is turning with dread. How did I do this to myself? I absolutely know that she is more than I can or want to deal with any time in the near future. I've been slow on the uptake, but I definitely get it now.