The Autumn Prince

14. Goat Rodeo

"Nice try, but I'm not turning around until you're on the other side of the door and down the hall."

"Spoilsport," She pouted, "tell you what, I'll hurry and get out of your hair if you sit down and face me like a real person."

"I'm not going to—"

She sighed heavily, "Oh, I promise I'm not naked. Come on, Tom, you know I love the attention. Tit for tat."

Knowing she'd just keep pushing, I peeked over my shoulder. True to her word she wasn't nude, but only if you accepted the word's most literal meaning. She was slipping her long, narrow legs into her shorts and wore a thin, lacy bra that revealed almost as much as it covered.

"See? Not so bad, is it?" She grinned at me as she buttoned up her fly.

"Why do you have to be difficult?" I asked, sitting down on Katherine's bed, "It's like all you want to do is to get me in trouble with Kath."

"That's so not true, Tom." She winked. "If you were a cheater it wouldn't be near as much fun. Come on, are you really trying to tell me you don't like it?" She struck a pose that pushed out her chest.

"I like a lot of things that are bad for me," I said seriously, and that made her laugh again.

"Ooh, that's a good one, it makes me feel like candy."

I groaned and hid my face in my hands.

"Uh uh, Tommy, you have to watch, that was our deal."

I looked up again and she was pulling a t-shirt out of a drawer, "The deal was that I face you like a real person."

"Real people get dressed every day." She shrugged into her shirt, "Some of us are more entertained by it than others."

The points of light that manifested when I ran into Gloria had never completely gone, but they were brightening again, swarming as Penny slipped her feet into a pair of sandals.

"There," I said, "you had your fun. Katherine is waiting."

"Are you asking me to leave my own room?"

"No."

"Because that makes me think you're up to something, and I don't know if I can let a suspicious boy stay here unattended." She pulled open a drawer in her desk. "There's no telling what you might find." Her hand disappeared inside, and a loud buzzing began within, something vibrating on the wood. I wanted to beat my head against a wall, but there wasn't one close enough.

She laughed openly and shut the drawer again, "Okay, Tom, I'm done with you. I don't think there's any part left that isn't blushing. Unless you want to show me otherwise."

"Penny!" I almost shouted, annoyed and frustrated.

She picked up a bag and swung it over her shoulder. "Sorry to leave you hanging like this, tiger," she sighed with mock sympathy, "but I'm already late to class."

I watched her approach the door, taking her time, and working her hips like a model on a runway. Her narrow frame and long limbs made me think of a spider. A hyper-sexualized, tantalizing spider.

"Yes," I told her.

She hesitated in the doorway, "Yes what?"

"Those shorts are too revealing for class."

She looked behind her, eyes cast down as if checking herself out, and grinned diabolically.

"Good."

Then she was gone, and I fell back on Katherine's bed, trying hard to imagine what being set on fire would feel like.

Katherine's pink and teal sports bag was in the bottom of her closet like she said, and I started filling it, beginning with specific requests like underwear, socks, casual and workout clothes, and a selection of feminine products from her little nightstand, then added whatever else would fit as per her instruction. At the bottom of one of her drawers, a pink lacy thing caught my attention, and without thinking I held it up. It was a set of slinky babydoll lingerie with the tags still attached.