Ed started singing the old Queen song, "Another One Bites The Dust."
"You got that right," Cassie laughed.
Lily leaned over and whispered in my ear, "This isn’t ‘friends with benefits’, is it?"
"Not by a long shot," I whispered back.
"Good!"
"And the program works its magic on another unsuspecting duo," Ed declared.
"Yup," I happily agreed. "So, who’s next? Maggie?"
"I doubt it," she grinned. "I think for me to find true love and all that gooey stuff, they’d have to pair me up with someone I’ve never been with. And that ain’t a long list."
"Well, there’s Dave Shiell," Jared said. Dave was a good friend of his.
"Dave’s sweet, but maybe a bit too sweet," Maggie grinned.
"Dave’s also terrified of girls," Cassie said. "We’ve been in band together for almost three years, and he still blushes when I say ‘hi’ to him. And if he’s terrified of girls in general, he’d be absolutely flummoxed by Maggie."
"Too true," Maggie grinned. "Too bad I didn’t go through this week, I’ve never been to bed with Frankie."
"And you never will," Cassie grinned. Maggie just grinned back. Me? I didn’t mind Cassie’s comment at all. A girl getting all possessive over me? I must admit, I liked it!
"Mark Dufor," Amanda said.
"No, I’ve been to bed with Mark Dufor. Freshman year. For all of the seven seconds that it took, mind you." We all laughed at that. "Hey, it was his first time. It happens. And I’m always willing to give someone a second go-round, especially a virgin that goes off too quickly-but he was so embarrassed he hasn’t talked to me in two years."
"There’s always Chuck Braden," Mike said with an evil grin.
"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Maggie proclaimed.
"Who’s Chuck Braden?" Lily asked.
"That’s right, I keep forgetting you’re new," Maggie giggled. "Chuck is the Mouth That Roared. Go to bed with him, and it’s practically posted on the bulletin board."
" You do that, though," I said.
"What I’ve found is that most guys don’t mind. Girls do. Especially when it never actually happened. And I know the guys that would mind, and my lips are sealed. There’s guys that I’ve been to bed with that even Amanda, who’s my best friend, doesn’t know about."
"Really?" Amanda said.
"There’s one, I won’t tell you who, but when we slept together, he had a girlfriend," Maggie said. "And things were getting to that point with the girlfriend, and they were both virgins, and he was terrified he wouldn’t be able to do it right. So I took him to bed and taught him how to do it right. He was very grateful, and, from what he told me, things with the girlfriend went swimmingly. But I’ll never say who, because the girlfriend probably wouldn’t understand-and they’re still together."
"So, those are the ones I keep secret, the ones that would really hurt someone. Chuck doesn’t care, though. You know Vicki Langham," she said to Cassie.
"Yeah. She’s my one good friend that’s still my good friend, because she supported me this week. And, yeah, I know what Chuck did to her." Cassie turned to Lily. "One date, nothing happened except a good kiss-and, Monday morning, it’s all over school that they did it. Vicki was still a virgin at the time. She was humiliated."
"Yeah, and there’s Tara Boucher, who’s a friend of mine," Maggie added. "They did go to bed together, and it was Tara’s first time, and she really liked him, and thought he liked her. Come to find out the next week that it was all over school that Chuck was in bed with three different girls that weekend. Tara was crushed."
"Oh, jeez," Lily said.
"So, now you know why Chuck Braden is at the top of my shit list. He’s at the top of a lot of people’s shit list." Maggie concluded.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO CASSIEAfter the Burger Hut, we headed back to our houses.
"You want to come in?" I asked him.
"Yes. I don’t want this day to end, honestly."
"Good point, I agree completely," she grinned.
We walked into the living room, and my parents and Tanya were sitting there.
"Hey," Mom smiled, "did Frankie’s mom read you the riot act?"
"Not exactly," Frankie grinned. "She congratulated us for not being idiots anymore."
"Well, you know I talk to Luisa all the time," she said, "and I think we’ve both been in agreement on that for some time." She smiled at us. "I knew what she said to you, actually. She called after you two left the house."
"Oh, Jesus," I said to Frankie with a smile, "we’ve been going out five hours, tops, and they’re planning the wedding already."
"Not quite, but it was close," Dad spoke up with a smile. "Do me a favor, you two. Go to college first, OK?"
"Exactly what we said," I laughed.
"I think we should break up," Frankie said, deadpan. "This is way too much pressure. What are they going to be doing when we’ve been going out a whole week, looking for baby furniture?"
" That had better come after college, too!" Dad said.
"Thank goodness there’s one sane person in the place," Frankie said. "You just keep talking, Mr. Vyshenko. Get Mrs. Vyshenko and my mother over once a week, and keep telling them this."
"Not to mention Rosa," I said, pointing to Tanya, "and this little brat over here."
"Who, me?" Tanya said.
"Yeah, you," I said.
"Well, it’s just that everyone here loves Frankie," Mom said, "and everyone there loves you, and we all know how perfect you are for each other, and always have been."
"Yeah. I can see that, now," I smiled.
"Me, too-and thank you for saying what you did," Frankie said to Mom. "However, I think I have to get me back over there before Mama has a coronary."
"Your mother’s not expecting you home tonight," Mom said.
"HUH?" I said, stunned. Frankie was just staring, open-mouthed.
"Well, you can’t be together at Frankie’s house," Mom said… "Here, well, Tanya’s old enough to know what’s going on-and she’s also old enough to give you privacy. Right, Tan?"
"Of course," she grinned.
"Good. And I’m sure Rosa is all those things, too-but your younger brother and sisters aren’t, Frankie. So you can’t go over there. We all know what’s going on. It’s no secret. I’m going to force my daughter and the guy she loves apart, when I know full well what’s going on? No, I’m not."
We just stared at her.
"Well? GIT!"
We got.
After we got up to my room, we sat down on the bed, leaning against each other, laughing hysterically.
"You know, this is just a plot," Frankie said. "A fiendish plot. To ensure we never break up. Think about it, if you ever dump me, you think you’ll be able to bring my replacement up here to spend the night?"
"Good point," I laughed. "Hey, you know how you said your mother is often right?" He nodded. "Mine is, too. If they are really so happy about us dating, who are we to argue?"
"I love you, you know," he said.
"I love you, too," I grinned back at him. "But now you need to show me."
"Insatiable."
"You bet your ass. And I just got free reign to bring you up here as often as I want. You sure you can handle me?"
"Watch me," he said, and he proceeded to handle me just fine, thank you very much. Then he used other parts besides his hands. And that was even better.
It didn’t take long after that until we fell into a deep sleep.
PART FIVE FRIDAY
I woke up with Cassie wrapped around me, snuggled into my chest. Now that is something I could get used to in a hurry.
"Hey," she said softly.
"I didn’t know you were up," I said.
"Just a couple minutes. I really liked waking up in your arms, so I was just lying here enjoying it."