Zac heard the door open but it didn't register in his mind right away. Then he remembered that it was Ricki. He broke apart from Susan breathlessly. He was shocked to see Ricki standing open mouth and disgusted in the doorway with Ashton.
Susan's giggling brought him back to reality.
"ULgh....Sorry you had to see that." Ricki said, taking Ashton's hand.
"That's okay." Ashton said, obviously very uncomfortable. He and Zac met eyes for a second, then both looked away.
"They insist on doing that in here all the time..." Ricki said, putting her purse down.
"You silly!" Susan said, kissing Zac's neck. Zac watched as Ashton helped her take off her coat, and she hung it in her closet. She turned to him.
"I had a really good time." She said.
"I did too. We'll do it again sometime." Ashton said with a goofy grin.
I wonder what they did.... Zac thought.
"Yeah." Ricki replied, smiling back.
"Well, I gotta go. You take care." Ashton said, his southern accent strong.
"Yeah." Ricki said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears as she watched him leave.
"Bye."
"Bye." She said, giving a small wave. Soon after, the door shut and the room was quiet except for Susan kissing Zac. Zac watched as Ricki went into the bathroom with her bathrobe and slammed the door behind her but not before giving him a dirty look.
Two days later, Ricki came home to an unusually empty room. She looked around, enjoying the peace and set her bookbag down. She kicked off her shoes and hung up her coat, then went over to the table with thier phone to check the answering machine they shared. There was ususally a slew of messages on it from Mary Anne and Zac's brothers. Today there were seven messages.
Ricki was about to listen to them when Mary Anne knocked on her door.
"Come on in." Ricki said, opening it for her.
"This place is a pigsty." Mary Anne said.
"Look closer." Ricki said, rummaging for her after school clothes.
"Oh...I take that back; Zac's side is a pigsty."
The girls laughed. "I'll be right back to study, I'm gonna braid my hair first."
"Okay." Mary Anne said. Ricki went into the bathroom to braid her hair.
"Have you listened to your messages? You have like, a million." Mary Anne said, flopping into Ricki's desk chair.
Ricki poked her head out of the bathroom. "Yeah, go ahead and play them. Most of them aren't for me."
"Okay." Mary Anne said, pushing the button.
Two were from Mary Anne herself, one was Zac's mother, one was from Zac's oldest brother, two were business calls for Zac, one was Ashton, and the last one was from Susan. Ricki was in the bathroom putting her hair into a french braid when Susan's message came on.
"I can't forget about what you said to me the other night....Now I'm so excited."
Ricki rolled her eyes as Susan's sickeningly sweet message droned on.
"Well...I guess what I'm saying is...I want it to be soon. Tonight, maybe. I think we're both ready."
The last statement caused Ricki to poke her head out of the bathroom and look at first the machine, then wide-eyed Mary Anne.
"I mean, we've been going out for like, a month and a half...and I think that's a really long time to know someone. I really want to do this...so the next time we see each other...well, be ready."
With that, Susan hung up, and the room was silent. Ricki walked out of the bathroom and sat on the bed agcross from Mary Anne. The two looked at each other with shocked eyes for a few moments.
"Sick!"
"Oh my god!"
"He's banging that slut!"
"Ew!" They exploded.
"That is disgusting."
"I know!" Mary Anne said.
"I mean, I knew she was a slut-"
"Of course."
"-But I wasnsn't sure about him."
"I was."
"You were?"
"Yeah."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, Zac told me a long time ago he's a virgin."
Ricki's jaw dropped open. "You're kidding."
"Nope." Mary Anne said, shaking her head.
"Wow." Ricki said, who was genuinely surprised. "I didn't know that."
"Yup." Mary Anne said. "He told me one time when we were studying for Calculus."
"That's odd."
"Yeah."
"But that means either he was lying of this is going to be his first time and she just doesn't know it yet."
The two girls looked at each other blankly, then burst into giggles. Boy was Susan in for a surprise.