A Simple Plan, Part II

(If you haven't, read Part I first.)

By - Melissa

.....Sarah entered the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her body, her hair dripping on the rug. Justin laughed at her appearance and grabbed another towel, helping her dry her hair. “You are so beautiful, so sexy,” he murmured between kisses.

.....She giggled, “I am *not*.”

.....“Yes, you are,” he insisted. “The fact you don’t even know makes you more so.”

.....She took the towel from him, “Thanks, but I think I can manage myself.”

.....A hurt looked crossed his face for a second, then he pulled her close again, kissing her in a way that Sarah knows is leading somewhere. “Justin,” she protested. “There are people downstairs.”

.....“That’s good, because if they were here, we couldn’t have a private moment, could we?” He tugged lightly at her towel.

.....She swatted his hand away, “Jeez, Justin, is that all you can think about?”

..... “What, you never think about it?” He shot back. “Here I am, standing in front of you, wearing only a towel, and nothing dirty goes through your mind?”

..... “We’ve had this argument before, I don’t want to have it again. And new flash, bullying me won’t exactly get me in the mood.” She pushed him outside.

..... Justin sighed. He went back into the living room. Carrie was reading a magazine, Harry was watching television, and Wills and Katie were drinking red wine, getting along famously. “What’s the matter, mate?” Wills asked.

.....“Nothing. Everything.” Justin answered cryptically, heading to the basement. He stood by the dryer, waiting for the clothes to be done.

.....“Hey, stranger,” Katie called, walking down the steps. “Trouble in paradise?” The buzzer went off, and she opened the dryer, taking out her underwear surreptitiously, so Justin didn’t see it.

..... “As a matter of fact,” Justin began. “No, forget about it. This is too weird. I can’t talk about my problems with my new girlfriend with my old one. That’s callous, even for me.”

..... “Well, okay. But if you ever need to talk…”

..... “I’ll remember.” He walked over to the dryer to get his own clothes when she turned around abruptly. They crashed into each other, their faces almost bumping. They both laughed nervously, but neither tried to back up.

..... “Sorry,” Katie whispered. She looked down, noticing he was wearing nothing but a towel on his narrow hips.

..... “No, it’s my fault.” Katie leaned in closer, and they both closed their eyes. Their lips were about to touch, when Harry suddenly entered the basement.

..... “Hey, did I hear the dryer go off, or was it just my imagination?” Harry asked. Justin and Katie pulled away quickly, but it was too late. Harry saw them and stopped dead in his tracks. “Or is this a bad time?”

..... Justin turned away and pretended to be very interested in dryer sheets. Katie grabbed her clothes and ran up the steps, leaving Harry there, dumbfounded.

* * *

..... The gang sat in the living room like before, finishing an old movie. Even though nobody was talking, there was a definite feeling of tension in the room. Sarah sat on the far end of the couch, by Wills, refusing to be near Justin. Katie sat in the easy chair, the farthest place away from Justin, who sat on the floor. They avoided looking at each other throughout the movie. Harry sat on the other side of Wills, watching Katie and Justin secretly. Carrie and Wills were confused and uncomfortable, having no idea what was going on.

..... The movie ended, and Wills hit Rewind. “So what do you guys want to do?”

..... “I have a feeling Justin and Katie have done more than all of us,” Harry mumbled.

..... “What?”

..... “Hey, I have an idea,” Carrie announced. They all looked in her direction. “Let’s take this.” She handed her copy of Sugar to Harry.

..... ‘“How Pure Are You: The Hundred Question Purity Test’,” Harry read aloud. “Talk about a can of worms.”

..... “Let’s do it,” Justin said eagerly.

..... “Let’s not,” Sarah frowned, “And say we did.”

..... “C’mon, honey. It’ll be a ‘to-do’ list for us,” he murmured. She wanted to smack him across the face.

..... Wills and Katie didn’t notice the tension between the couple. “It looks pretty fun. What do you think, Katie?”

..... She shrugged, “Why not?”

..... Carrie played cruise director, and passed paper and pencils out. “Read a question and pass it on.” She gave it to Harry, “You first.”

..... “Number one. Have you engaged in definitely a sexual activity on the first date?”

..... “Number twelve. Have you seen a stripper?”

..... “Number thirty seven. Have you used alcohol to lower a member of the opposite sex’s resistance?”

..... “Number sixty eight. Have you had sexual intercourse outdoors?”

..... “Number seventy four. Have you been propositioned by a pimp or prostitute?”

..... “Number eighty nine. Have you had sexual intercourse in a public place?’

..... “One hundred. Have you visited an orgy parlor?”

..... Carrie collected the papers. “I’ll total up the scores for everybody. Then we’ll share.”

..... “Aren’t we a little to young for these things?” Sarah asked.

..... “Stop being such a stick in the mud,” Wills scolded.

..... Carrie announced, “With a total score of 93%, I am the most pure.”

..... Yes, it’s not me, Harry thought in relief. “Harry has a score of 90%, making him the second most pure. Wills and Katie, who both had a score of 84%, take third and fourth places. Justin brings us down a few notches with his score of 77%. And that’s it.”

..... “No it isn’t,” Justin said. “You didn’t read Sarah’s.”

..... “That’s because I didn’t turn it in.” Sarah held up a sheet of notebook paper. “This is stupid and lame.”

..... “Give it to me,” Carrie said. “I’ll add it for you.”

..... “I’m not turning it in.” Sarah started to ball it up, but Wills ripped it from her fingers. “No!” He tossed it to Carrie.

..... “C’mon, you can’t be more pure than Harry,” Justin teased.

..... “Thanks,” Harry mumbled.

..... She took a step towards Carrie as if to grab it back. He took her by her arms, “No, that’s not fair. We shared with you.”

..... “Guys, give it back to her.” Katie reached for the test sheet, but Wills blocked her.

..... “I totaled it up,” Carrie said, her eyes shining with excitement. “Drum roll, please. Miss Sarah Speedman has a purity score of…63%”

..... “Well, my jaw drops,” Katie said.

..... “63%?” Justin let his arms drop. “You can’t have that score unless you’ve had sex…”

..... “Good observation,” Harry said, still miffed over Justin’s last remark.

..... Wills elbowed him in the ribs, “Shut up.”

..... “You said you were a virgin, Sarah,” Justin said in disbelief. “You lied to me.” Shaking his head, he left the room. Sarah followed him into the kitchen.

..... “Okay, what the hell just went on there?” Katie demanded as soon as the couple left the room.

..... Wills shook his head. “Just some sh*t that should’ve been resolved long ago.”

..... “Are we going to talk about this?” Sarah asked quietly, watching Justin pace back and forth.

..... He kept his back turned towards her. “Sarah, six months ago, at the beginning of our relationship, I asked you if you were a virgin. You said yes. Now that means one of two things: either you were lying to me from the beginning, or you’ve cheated on me in the last few months. Which is it?”

..... “Oh, what do you think, Justin? Yes, I lied. I’m sorry. Do you really think I’d cheat on you?”

..... “What am I supposed to think? I didn’t think you would lie to me, either. How am I supposed to trust you now?”

..... “Justin, I apologized already. What more do you want? I made a mistake. Don’t blow it out of proportion.”

..... “No, don’t do that to me. Don’t use who I am against me. You screwed up, not me. Why couldn’t you tell me earlier, without the audience principle?” He ran his hand through his thick brown hair. “You must’ve had a good laugh. I, the virgin, making all these dirty suggestions, thinking I was some big shot. But you already have done most of that stuff, right?”

..... “I just said I wasn’t ready to have sex with you.”

..... “How could you not be ready? I mean, since you have all this vast experience and all…” The blood drained out of her face and Sarah’s head reeled, as if she had been slapped. Justin instantly regretted his remark. “Listen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it…Listen, I’m going to go before I say something that really screws us up…No pun intended.”

* * *

..... “Sarah?” Katie knocked on the door. “Do you plan on coming out sometime tonight? Remember, the party starts in an hour.”

..... Sarah opened the door, her face covered with dried tears. “Do I look up to going to a party?”

..... “Do you want to talk about it?”

..... “I’d rather not. So, are you going to the party?”

..... Katie couldn’t bring herself to say, ‘You and Justin will work everything out. Don’t worry.’ Instead, she comforted, “I think I’ll stay home with you. It looks like you need a friend tonight.”

..... Sarah jerked away. “I don’t want your pity.”

..... “It’s not pity.”

..... “Go to the party. Dance. Drink. Have fun. You haven’t had a free moment with Wills since you got here this.”

..... “I didn’t come over to hook up with Wills. I came because you, my friend, invited me. Besides,” Katie added, smiling, “I don’t have a dress.”

..... Sarah walked over to her closet and pulled out a pale pink dress with spaghetti straps. “Problem solved.”

..... The Windsor brothers sat on the stairs, waiting for the girls to come down. Carrie had left a few minutes before. “Wills,” Harry asked. “What was that about?”

..... “I’m not sure,” Wills said. “I know Justin and I know Sarah. And from what I can tell, Justin’s little fantasy about Sarah’s first was shattered. Justin had been going on for weeks and weeks-” he broke off when he heard footsteps on the stairs.

..... “Hey, guys,” Sarah said, walking down the stairs. “Where’s Carrie?”

..... “She left a little while ago,” Harry answered. He looked at her closely; she looked fine for the most part, with the exception of the watery eyes and the reddened nose. “Are you coming to the party with us? We’re going to stop for some Chinese on the way there.”

..... “No. I think I’ll rent some movies and make it a Blockbuster night.” She noticed their concerned expressions. “You guys are sweet, but there’s no need to be worried.”

..... “Are you sure? I’ll stay home with you tonight, if you want,” Wills offered.

..... Sarah shook her head emphatically. “Absolutely not. I just got Katie dolled up and there’s no way she is going to stay in, and not show off my hard work.”

..... As if on cue, Katie walked down the stairs. She was stunning. Even though Katie was pretty enough the way she usually was; the transformation was mind-blowing. It wasn’t just the dress; hair or make up, it was in her stance and the way she carried herself. She walked like a queen…then she stumbled.

PART TWO