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A Short Story

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Dahlia’s staggering around like a drunk person. She hugs a tree for support. When I ask Mom if she’ll be okay, Mom only shrugs her shoulders. Dahlia yells at me to join her, “Have some drinks!” she says, staggering over to where we stand. Mom says, “She doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to.” Dahlia says, “Jesus, mom, isn’t passed your bedtime?” Mom looks at her watch. “It is,” she says. “Are you girls okay here by yourself?” I want to tell her not to go, but I’m tired of looking weak in front of Dahlia. I nod, and Mom says, “Our tent is back by where we did embroidery. They’ve got a bunch of lanterns set up, its really nice.” “Ok,” I say, “I don’t think we’ll be too long.” Dahlia throws her arm around me, “I’ll look after …show more content…

“You smoke?” he asks, offering me a cigarette. “No,” I say. “You come to these sort of things often?” he asks. “Nope,” I say, “never.” “Yeah,” he says, “you don’t look like the type.” “What does that mean?” I ask. “No tattoos, you’ve got a full head of hair,” he says, leaning against a tree. He motions for me to come stand next to him. He rests his hand on my thigh, and then he lets it slide down to my knee, “your legs are shaved.” “Yeah, well–” I can’t think of how to finish the sentence. My armpits prickle. My throat is making weird sounds that I can’t control. I look over at Peter who doesn’t seem to hear, thank God. He isn’t looking at me, but his hand keeps inching up to my upper thigh. It must be around forty degrees. Suddenly, all I want is to be back in the tent. I say “I’m going to go–” Peter looks over his shoulder, he says, “I’m going to kiss you now.” And then he does. Before Peter, I’d only kissed Erik Han during a game of Spin-the-Bottle, and last year Jessica Clemming’s brother Ethan shot-gunned a Tall Boy, and then he stuck his hands down my shirt when nobody was looking. I don’t hate the kiss. Before it happened, I probably would have said I wanted it, but now I’m thinking about how my breath must stink, and how I haven’t had a shower in two days and– how long are kisses supposed to go on anyway? I’m sort of petting the back of Peter’s neck, wondering about if I should be putting my tongue in Peter’s mouth more when I start to feel

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