Snowflakes In Autumn, 2d

Today concludes Chapter Two of Snowflakes In Autumn. Next week, I’ll stick to the same schedule and we’ll work our way through Chapter Three, followed by Chapter Four the week after. And then, The Big Change.

In the meantime, I’ll be helping Brittany construct Trey’s fantabulous Super Mario Birthday cake, complete with marshmallow fondant and plenty of hopping rotund plumbers. I hope it turns out well, which will be mostly Brittany’s doing if it does. I’ll just take credit for it later.

Enjoy the conclusion of the chapter, and I’ll see you next week!

Snowflakes In Autumn
Chapter Two, Part Four

(click here to start at Chapter One, Part One)

The next afternoon, I was back at my place and in the shower, scrubbing myself like a rape victim. It’s not that I’d never worn beer goggles before, but this had been Rebecca. We all knew where she’d been, and what floppy, wrinkled men had taken her there. I felt cheap and dirty, and not in good ways. I’d left the party in the wee hours of the morning, after faking my way through a condom-concealed nongasm and “regretfully” saying my goodbyes to Rebecca. I drove home in a daze, trying to drown out conscious thought with loud music and dangerous driving.

Mitch called me later that evening, after my Silkwood shower and before I got online.

“About last night,” he started.

“Don’t,” I said.

“Don’t what?” he asked.

“Whatever it is that you’re about to say, just don’t say it.”

“But I —”

“No. Stop it. Whatever you think happened, didn’t happen. Nothing happened. And, even if it something did happen, it didn’t. Nothing. Happened. Ever. I came home, I took a shower, and I don’t ever want to think about what didn’t happen, ever again.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“But how was it?”

“How was what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Fine,” he said, “be that way. I was just curious, because we all kind of heard her—”

“STOP!” I shouted.

Mitch laughed. “Ha! Ok, nothing happened. I wanted to say thanks anyway, though.”

“For what?”

“For what you didn’t do.”

“Huh?”

“With Rebecca. For what you didn’t do with Rebecca…”

I gritted my teeth. “I. Don’t. Know. What. You’re. Talking. About.”

“Right,” he said. “I guess not. Go take another shower, man. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Later, Mitch.” I paused for a second. “You’re welcome.”

I put down the phone and walked into my bedroom. I flipped on the light switch, sat down at my desk and switched on the computer. It beeped and whirred to life, dropping me into the warm glow of the monitor. After a few minutes, I loaded up AOL and signed in. Julie was logged on, but wasn’t answering my messages. I lingered online for a little while, checking a few web pages and sending some e-mail before eventually giving up on her for the night. I decided to log off and head to bed, but as I was reaching for the power switch, I heard a familiar sound.

Bleep-a-bloop-bleep!

BayouKitty78: You seem like a jerk.

Continued in Chapter Three, Part One

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