Pinhole - Higher Learning
Fanlon
Bookapy User License
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to Bookapy.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
“Fanlon continues his very smart Pinhole series as Josh deals with a semester in college, made possible through his winning photo entry. In the midst of this, he must still balance his freshman year in high school and his first girlfriend. I’m impressed with the use of a pinhole camera, which demonstrates more than anything Josh’s skill at composing and lighting his
subjects. This series is well worth the read. Bravo!”
-Devon Layne-
https://devonlayne.com
Pinhole
Higher Learning
By Fanlon
2024
Copyright
Pinhole
Higher Learning
Copyright © 2024, Fanlon. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
Product names, brands, and other trademarks referred to within this book are the property of their respective trademark holders. Unless otherwise specified, no association between the author and any trademark holder is expressed or implied. Nor does it express any endorsement by them, or of them. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark, registered trademark, or service mark.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 1
Mom and Dad couldn’t stop smiling as we piled into the car to leave the Sheldon Art Museum Friday night. There was an excitement in the air that was nearly a physical presence. I was still a bit taken aback that I hadn’t gotten in trouble over my submission pictures. Most parents would have been livid, to say the least, if their son—who was in high school—had taken nude pictures of girls the way I had. Not only did I take their pictures, but I developed them and showed them off to the public!
They weren’t mad at all, and when the letter had come from Professor Peterson…well, my parents fully supported my art, so much so that Dad even joked we would have to talk seriously about building a darkroom at home. It wasn’t a joke to me. Whether he’d meant it that way or not, he’d opened a can of worms he couldn’t reseal. I would need a darkroom after all since I was no longer allowed to work on non-school projects in the high school darkroom.
I pestered my parents the whole weekend after the exhibit about building a dark room in the basement. Any chance I could, I would say something about when we could start, what all we might need and most importantly, that I would help with everything to make it easier on them.
“We’ll talk about it,” was the only answer Dad gave me on the subject.
The way he said it, it wasn’t like the old ‘we’ll see’ excuse parents gave their kids that really meant, ‘yeah right, in your dreams!’
Mom was more on my side, even if she didn’t come right out and say it. She gave me a warm smile that made me think she was going to work on him for me but wasn’t going to say a word now one way or the other.
We had the room downstairs. I had even borrowed Dad’s tape measure to check. The family room, which we never used, was long and slightly narrow. The far wall was almost thirty feet long, but it was only fourteen feet wide. It was a big room now, but I could easily see a wall being built so that it closed off some of it for a dark room and the rest I could use as a studio.
I wasn’t sure if people… and by people, I mean girls, would want to come to my house to have their pictures taken. At the same time, I didn’t think they would want me to take nudes of them at all before, so who knows what could potentially happen.
“Better to be safe than sorry…” Dana had explained.
She told me the basement was perfect. I wished I had Laura’s opinion, but she wasn’t allowed to see me, not after the whole debacle at the gallery with her mother.
Dana had come over on Saturday shortly after lunch and we started planning the whole thing together. I was just excited to have her there if I was honest. I wasn’t sure what her role would be now that I wouldn’t be taking photography in our high school. She made it clear though that we might need to secure models for my college projects, assuming I did indeed take classes at UNL.
“No one is going to pose for me, at least not from school,” I said, giving Dana a flat, knowing look.
After the whole ordeal with the sluts, no one was willing to pose for me. I wouldn’t have had the three submissions I needed for the exhibit if it weren’t for Laura agreeing to pose for me. That was a shock on a whole different level. Going from ‘don’t ever take my picture’ to ‘please take my picture naked’ was a mental whiplash of the highest degree. Still, I was thankful for Laura, and she was proud that she had done it, even if her mother had lost her ever-loving mind over the whole thing.
“You have no idea,” Dana smirked and even winked at me. “Trust me.”
I didn’t even flinch. In fact, I crossed my arms in front of my chest to emphasize that I didn’t believe her.
“When have I ever let you down or gotten you in trouble?” Dana asked, as if that question would be the pointed dagger in her argument.
“Let’s see, Stephanie…”
“That one doesn’t count!’ Dana hurriedly snapped to cut me off before I could recite the one evening that shifted everything down the wrong path and dried up the models for the rest of the semester… almost. “Just… you know, trust me. Please?”
My posture softened when Dana gave me her sad puppy dog look.
“Fine…”
“You’re not going to regret it, promise,” Dana rushed over to me and wrapped me into a tight hug and lifted me off the ground to boot in her excitement.
I couldn’t help but flush when she put me down. Not only was she bigger than me and strong enough to pick me up, but she had also just smashed me against her chest - her exceptionally soft, warm, wonderful chest.
“Don’t you ever wear a bra?” I asked confidently, looking right at the two points jutting out from the front of her shirt.
It was obvious she wasn’t wearing one. Dana did wear bras though. I had seen them firsthand on several occasions, but I couldn’t resist the chance to pick on her a bit.
“Are you complaining?” Dana responded, hands on hips, and I swear she jutted out her chest a bit more just to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt she wasn’t wearing a bra.
In the end, we both agreed that the whole basement was a bit much. I didn’t even need to take up half of the basement, which would be ridiculous. Not to say I wouldn’t have wanted that much room if it were offered to me. The only other areas were the utility room area that we used as a laundry room and a guest bathroom, which was only used occasionally. Using the main room would have been easier. The walls were covered in a fake wood paneling that all basements in split level houses like ours seemed to have. That stuff was easy to yank off and would expose the studs behind them with little effort.
“You have the measurements down here, right?” Dana asked.
“Yeah… why?”
“Let’s go upstairs and I'll put together a plan for us.”
I looked at her for a long moment before finally nodding my agreement. The two of us headed upstairs, Dana leading the way as if this were her house and not mine. When she got to the top of the stairs, she looked to the left. My room was in that direction, and it was obvious that’s where she had intended to go.
“Your room?”
I was surprised she even asked, and I was secretly thankful she did.
“Yeah right!” I smirked and flicked my eyes to the right. I knew Mom was going to be there sitting on the couch watching us and she indeed was.
“Why don’t you two use the dining room table for your project,” Mom said, making it clear she wasn’t cool with Dana going to my room but trying to offer an alternative. “I’ll get you some snacks. Chips and salsa, okay?”
“Sure, Mrs. Davis,” Dana answered, grinning proudly as if she hadn’t just been busted trying to go to my room.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said and shrugged as I followed Dana.
Dana was a flurry of scribbles the moment she sat in my usual seat at the table. How she managed to pick that particular spot, I have no idea. I pulled out the head chair and sat down.
“Okay, so these are the dimensions of the room,” Dana said, drawing a rectangle on a fresh sheet of paper in her notebook. “How much room do you think you need for the darkroom?”
“Well, I don’t know,” I answered, thinking about it for a minute. “The biggest thing I need is a table or something to use for developing the pictures.”
Dana nodded and started bisecting the drawing with other lines.
“Here you two go,” Mom said, placing a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of Pace salsa on the table. She looked over Dana’s shoulder to see what she was working on. “What’s this?”
“Oh this?” Dana asked, smirking as she looked up at my mom. “This is Josh's new darkroom.”
“His darkroom,” Mom murmured. “It looks to me like you want to take over the entire basement. These are the measurements?”
“Yeah, I borrowed Dad’s tape measure,” I gave Mom a cheesy grin and she just rolled her eyes.
“If you want any hope of your father actually doing this, you need to make it realistic,” Mom said, her tone serious but not so much as to dissuade Dana or me from continuing to plan it.
“Huh?” I questioned.
“Your father is not going to give up the whole basement just so you can have a darkroom.”
“But I need—”
That was how our three-way partnership was born. Mom started getting into the planning with as much enthusiasm and vigor as either Dana or I had. She mentioned things we hadn’t even thought about, things like outlets, light switches, and track lighting. It wouldn’t always be dark in the darkroom after all. Dana and Mom got to talking as if they were peers and not a teenager and a mother. It was weird, but neither one of them seemed to notice the strangeness like I did, and it really added to the weirdness.
When Mom was satisfied with the plans we had drawn up, she wiped her hands together as if she were rubbing off dirt or some unseen debris. A proud look showed on her face. The thing about it was she had virtually taken over the whole layout design. Dana was still the one that did all the drawing, but Mom was right there telling her where to draw lines and what would be best for where things should be placed.
“I think this would be perfect, Mrs. Davis,” Dana said, rising from her chair to stand next to Mom. “I can’t believe I didn’t think about setting up a counter like that with the shelves below as well as a couple running along the wall up top.”
“Just glad I could help,” Mom grinned, her back straightening as she nodded proudly.
“Do you think Dad will say yes?” I asked. I tried to sound confident, but from the plans we had produced, I didn’t think there was a chance in hell he would agree.
“You leave your father to me, understand?”
###
Monday morning, Mom dropped me off in front of school, but Laura wasn’t there to meet me. I had gotten so used to having her there and it was like a repeated punch in my gut every morning when she wasn’t. Her mother was still furious about the whole photoshoot. I couldn’t blame her. It had only been two days, and to assume she would have let it go this early on was absurd. Still, it didn’t do me any good to dwell on the fact she wasn’t waiting for me. I hiked up my backpack on my shoulder and started walking towards the front door.
No sooner had I opened the door and taken one step inside than I was assaulted by a smiling, beautiful girl, Laura. She was wearing a black, back-to-back national champions T-shirt that celebrated the two national titles Nebraska had won in 1994 and 1995. One of the things I really liked about Laura was her love for the Huskers.
The Huskers had just won their third title in four years. It would have been four championships in five years if we hadn’t shanked that last second field goal to win against Florida State in 1993. That’s not including the fumble that was not a fumble at the goal line we recovered. This year’s championship was shared with Michigan, and if you asked anyone in the state of Nebraska, we would destroy them given the chance in a head-to-head match-up to decide the true champion. Heck, I would offer up my back yard if that would make a difference for the two teams to fight it out and settle things once and for all.
“Josh!” Laura squealed, taking me out of my revelry and giving me a brief kiss on the lips as she wrapped her thin but well-toned arms around me. “Dana said your parents are building you a darkroom in your basement!”
“I uh, well,” I cleared my throat trying to find the words I needed. “My mom said she was going to help. So far, Dad hasn’t said yes.”
“He hasn’t said no yet either though, has he?” Dana offered and I smiled at her.
“No, he hasn’t said no… yet.”
“He won’t, trust me,” Dana answered, watching Laura and me as we separated but remained with our hands intertwined together.
I didn’t know if Dana knew something I didn’t, but I didn’t question her. So far, she had always delivered when she told me to trust her. Some of those deliveries were quite something to behold. Laura’s photoshoot came to mind, though it wasn’t Dana’s doing that set it up, per se, but she was there, and she helped, that much was true. That night was… incredible. The dock, the water, Laura’s nude form, the way the moonlight seemed to make her hair glow ethereally. That scene was as perfect of a setup as one could dream up. It was like catching lightning in a bottle.
“Josh!” I felt something smack my arm. “Aren’t you listening?” Laura was glaring at me, not at all happy.
“Wha—?”
“I said, what’s the layout of the darkroom in your basement?” Laura asked again, a look of impatience on her face.
“Oh, you remember what the family room in the basement looks like right?” I asked, my mind again in the present. It was hard to keep the excitement off my face. “So, along the back wall, we are going to build some cabinets with a counter. Then there is going to be—”
“Joshua Davis,” A strong male voice boomed from my right. I looked in the direction of the voice and standing there in the doorway to the administration offices was Mr. Staderfeld, the vice principal. Shit! “My office, now!”
“Uh oh,” Dana whispered, her eyes flicking from me to Mr. Staderfeld and back.
“What do you think he wants?” Laura asked, her voice sounding concerned.
“I have no idea—”
“When I said now, I didn’t mean in five minutes. I mean right this second!” Mr. Staderfeld yelled.
The hall sounded deathly quiet just then. I envisioned everyone within earshot were all watching what was transpiring right in front of their eyes. I was in trouble. Deep, horrible trouble.
“You better go see what he wants,” Laura winced sympathetically.
“Ya, you better go. Good luck, see you at lunch,” Dana offered before pulling Laura after her and the two of them disappeared in the crowds down the main hall.
Chapter 2
Mr. Staderfeld stood in the doorway to the central office watching me as I said goodbye to Laura and Dana. I smiled at him when I turned to walk in his direction, but he didn’t return it. He looked angry, but that wasn’t abnormal. He had one of those faces that always looked pissed off. I did notice his eyes flicker to the girls as they hustled away before they again returned to me. He stepped to the side and ushered me inside where there was a long counter where the two receptionists handled most of the day-to-day things students, teachers, and parents needed taken care of.
Once I stepped into the main room, he hurried me back into his own little office and closed the door. He moved to sit down behind his desk as I just stood there waiting for whatever was to come.
“Sit,” Mr. Staderfeld said.
It was not an offer, but a command and I did what was asked of me. On instinct, I sat in one of the two chairs closest to the door.
“Do you know why I called you in here, Davis?”
“No sir?” I answered.
I had a good idea why I was here, but I wasn’t going to open my mouth just in case it wasn’t what I was thinking. I scanned the small room, trying to keep my nerves under control. Mr. Staderfeld didn’t say anything, instead he just watched me, studying me, as if I were a puzzle that he hadn’t quite figured out yet but would in time.
When I didn’t say anything else, he leaned back in his chair as it squeaked under his weight as it settled in. His elbows rested on the armrests and his fingers came together in front of his face.
“I have been informed that you will be leaving on Tuesdays and Thursdays after your fourth period classes to attend the university,” Mr. Staderfeld finally said, and I let out a sigh of relief.
“Yes sir,” I answered and even smiled a fraction. “My parents are still working out the transportation details.”
“I see. Well, you only have this week left before the spring semester starts on campus downtown. It’s not our responsibility to take care of that, you understand?”
“Yes sir, I understand.”
There was another long pause before Mr. Staderfeld leaned forward, his elbow now on his desk.
“Don’t think that I and Principal Williams aren’t aware of what happened last quarter.”
“Sir?” my voice squeaked.
My throat tightened and it felt like I was trying to swallow a huge cotton ball suddenly.
“Don’t act like you don’t know exactly what I am referring to.” Mr. Staderfeld’s hands fell onto the top of his desk and the sound made me jump. “Do you realize how much trouble you could have been in? How much trouble you should be in, frankly?”
“I didn’t—”
“Mr. Watts nearly lost his job when Mrs. Satori called in to complain about you taking advantage of girls here in our school. If it wasn’t for him, Mrs. Peterson, and her husband…” he said, cutting me off. “What are you doing hanging around with Mrs. Satori’s daughter, Laura? Are you looking for more trouble?”
“What? No!”
“Then answer the question,” Mr. Staderfeld demanded. “I will not abide one of our students taking advantage of other students in my school. Do you understand me?”
I gulped. I could feel my heart racing in my chest and my face felt like it was on fire. The bell signaling the start of the first period rang out and I looked towards the clock on the wall. If there was ever a time to be genuinely saved by the bell, this would be it, but Mr. Staderfeld didn’t even flinch as he waited for my answer.
“She’s… she’s, my friend. My um, girl, uh friend,” I managed to stammer out.
“And what about the other girls you took advantage of, are they your girlfriends too?”
The way he asked it sounded terrible. Like he was trying to catch me in a lie and accuse me of something. I just shook my head no quickly in response.
“If I hear of you doing anything like this again with one of my students, I will be the first one to report you to the authorities. If it were up to me, you would already be in jail.”
“I understand, sir.”
“You better,” Mr. Staderfeld snapped. “Now get out of my office and get to Mrs. Peterson’s class, you’re late.”
I scrambled to my feet and hurled my backpack over my shoulder and bolted from the office, not bothering to shut the door behind me as I ran right past the two ladies at the counter and into the halls.
###
When fourth period was finally over, I walked briskly to my locker and deposited my books.
“Hey, Josh,” I heard Dana’s voice say to my right on the other side of the locker door. “How did it go after we left this morning?”
“It wasn’t good,” I replied and closed the door, attaching the Master Lock and spinning the dial.
“What happened?”
“Mr. Staderfeld accused me of taking advantage of the girls in school.”
“What? Really?” Dana’s eyes were wide with surprise. I just nodded my reply. “What else did he say?”
“He told me to stop doing what we were doing, more or less,” I answered. “Are we going anywhere for lunch?”
That was my attempt at changing the topic and thankfully Dana let her line of questioning go.
“No, not today. My car is filthy.” If Dana claimed her car was filthy, then it must have been a complete and total disaster—even more so than usual, which was saying something. “Let’s get some pizza.”
“Sure, sounds good.”
The two of us walked side by side down the hall towards the old gym that had been converted into a lunchroom to accommodate the size of the student body. We moved quickly, weaving around clumps of people talking around their lockers or just in the middle of the hallway. We needed to get there early or else all the pizza would be gone. The local pizza joint that supplied the school with single slices and soda only brought so much each day and once they were gone, they were gone. It’s not like the crappy square pieces of pizza you would normally get from the school cafeteria. This pizza was actually good, pepperoni, hamburger, and cheese; those were the three options.
I saw Laura and Adam standing on the side of the hall in front of Mr. Watts’ photography classroom. That’s when the sluts, Stephanie, Claire, and Jennifer, walked past us, headed in the opposite direction. All three of them were seniors and all three of them were gorgeous—perfect hair, perfect makeup, perfect clothes, and even more perfect bodies, especially when they were naked. That was a sight to behold, trust me.
Those three were the reasons for me getting in trouble with Mr. Staderfeld. Jonathan, Claire’s little brother, had found the pictures I had taken of the three girls and started telling people about it. The rumors spread like wildfire and my days of taking pictures ended shortly thereafter. That was, until Laura agreed to pose for me, thankfully.
“Hey” I said and gave a subtle wave to the three as they marched past me, but not one of them even acknowledged I existed. I guess that was the best way to put the whole rumor mill to rest, act as if I didn’t know them and the pictures I took didn’t exist. That was fine with me. I was happy to leave that whole thing in the past.
“Bitches,” Dana grumbled low enough that I could hear her but those close by wouldn’t.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
###
“So, who’s going to be your first model now that you are getting your own darkroom and studio?” Adam asked, his mouth half full of pepperoni pizza.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, swallowing, and wiping my mouth with my sleeve.
“You know, the darkroom you’re building at your house,” Adam smiled, his eyes looking at me before shifting to a blushing Laura and then back at me. “She told me all about it.”
“Laura!” Dana hissed.
“What?” Laura said defensively. “I didn’t know it was supposed to be some big secret.”
“It’s not, not really,” I answered, feeling unsure how I felt about it. “But why did you tell Adam?” I turned to look at Adam. “No offense, but you’re the one who got me in trouble.”
“I said I was sorry about that!” Adam complained.
“Shut up, Adam,” Dana snapped, and Adam’s mouth shut enough for him to chew his food and not talk, thankfully.
“So, who’s it going to be?” Laura asked, looking right at Dana.
I guess there weren’t any secrets anymore between Dana, Laura, and me. Now Adam was a part of the little club. I didn’t really like that idea and frankly, it made me uncomfortable.
“I don’t have a dark room or studio… yet. Let’s not get too crazy here okay,” I said, trying to cut off the conversation before it got too out of control.
“I’ll do it, if we don’t find someone else,” Dana offered.
“I already took your picture,” I said.
“Wait, you took her pictures already?” Adam asked, his mouth surprisingly empty.
“Yeah, and no, you can’t see it,” Dana replied sharply, and Adam pouted.
“I would do it, but I can’t leave my house after school…” Laura said quietly.
“Thanks, but it's okay,” I told her, and she smiled but still looked embarrassed.
“Alright, class the bell is about to ring so those of you not in my photography class need to get going,” Mr. Watts announced as he walked into the room.
Dana hurried to clean up and grabbed her things.
“See you after school, Josh?”
“Sure, sounds good,” I replied and started picking up my own mess as well as Laura’s.
“Cool,” Dana said and left, leaving Adam, Laura, and me with Mr. Watts just as the bell rang signaling an end to lunch.
###
I rode the bus home with Laura. We got in a few kisses before the bus reached my stop. I said goodbye and watched the bus pull away from the curb and continue down the street before I turned to walk the short distance the rest of the way to my house. When I got there, Dana’s gold Beretta was just skidding to a stop. She jumped out of the car holding the notebook we had been using to design the layout of the darkroom.
“Hey, have fun on the bus?” Dana asked, waggling her eyebrows accusingly.
“Maybe,” I grinned. “We can’t do more than kiss and hold hands though, which sucks.”
“Oh, you could do a lot more than that,” she replied and winked.
“Not on the city bus!” I exclaimed, feeling my cheeks heat.
“Why not?”
“Because there are people on the bus,” I answered.
“I don’t think they would have complained.”
“Dana!” She started laughing as the color in my cheeks deepened even further at the thought.
“Come on, let’s go inside before your eyes pop out of your head.”
Dana grabbed my arm and physically pulled me up the steps to the front door and opened it.
“Hello, Mrs. Davis, we’re home!” Dana called out.
“Come on in, Dana,” Mom called from her spot in the living room. “How was school?”
“It was fine, Mom,” I answered as Dana’s and my feet pounded up the steps before we both turned and headed for the kitchen looking for a snack and something to drink.
Mom watched the two of us walk past her and into the kitchen. Dana sat down at the counter while I opened the fridge. I grabbed a can on Mountain Dew for myself and a Diet Coke for Dana, handing it to her.
“Thanks,” Dana smiled, cracked open the top and took a long drink, the guzzling noise loud enough I was sure Mom could hear her from the other room.
“Are you drinking my Diet Coke again, Dana?” Mom yelled from the living room.
Dana let out a loud belch and blushed, “No.” Mom laughed.
“Jesus, Dana.” I rolled my eyes at Dana’s antics. “Come on, let’s go downstairs.”
Thankfully, Dana followed me, and she managed to control her actions until we made it down the stairs where she let loose another belch even louder than the first one. She grinned and started laughing and I couldn’t help but join her. As hot as she was, and she really was gorgeous, she was just as goofy. That was one of the things I really liked about her, what made me want to be friends with her.
“I heard that!” Mom yelled from upstairs and that threw us both into a fit of laughter.
It took a while, but finally we managed to gather our wits and calm down. My cheeks hurt from all the laughing. I didn’t even look at Dana because every time I did, I started laughing all over again.
“What—” I cut off another chuckle that tried to burst forth. “What should we do for a door?”
“Well,” Dana cleared her throat and scanned the area and then opened her notebook. “I think it should go here,” she said, her finger pressed onto the page in front of her.
“That’s not what I meant, what kind of door?”
“Oh, hmm.” Dana paused, a thoughtful look on her face. “Do you think we can get one like in Mr. Watts’ classroom?”
I just shrugged. That was the type of door I was thinking of, but I had no idea where to get one of those or if I even could. I could probably use a regular door. I would have to make sure the lights were off before I opened it each time. I could put red lights in the main room as well, that way it wouldn’t expose the photopaper in the dark room if someone happened to open the door. I would still need regular light, assuming I used the main room as a studio.
“As long as the door seals out light, I don’t think it really matters. Right?” Dana asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah, as long as I can keep any unexposed paper or film protected.”
“Maybe we can go to the school early tomorrow and ask Mr. Watts if he has any ideas,” Dana offered.
“Sure, that’s a good idea.”
“Cool.”
That night at dinner, Mom and Dad started talking about the darkroom and I couldn’t help but get excited. Dad still seemed reluctant. He kept bringing up the cost, who was going to do the work, what supplies I would need and finally, how I would get them.
Mom, who is the best mom ever, answered all his questions the best she could and started explaining everything she had in mind. The only thing no one had thought of was plumbing. Dad suggested using the utility room as the darkroom. It was no secret that he wanted to keep the family room just that, but the utility room was tiny, and already packed with the washer and dryer, not to mention the guest tub, vanity sink, and toilet.
“I will make a few calls tomorrow morning when I get to the office,” Dad finally announced, conceding the argument. “As long as we can afford it, I don’t see why we can’t figure something out.”
“Thanks, Dad!” I jumped out of my chair and raced to hug him as tightly as I could.
“Okay, Okay,” Dad laughed, gently pushing me away. Mom was beaming, sitting back in her chair looking proud of herself. “You’re welcome. Now go sit down and finish your dinner and we’ll see what happens.”
Chapter 3
I woke up just after six in the morning and rolled out of bed wide awake, eager for the day. The excitement from dinner the night before hadn’t lessened. If anything, it had increased. I had just finished dressing and was tying my shoes when I noticed the glow of headlights through the living room window signaling Dana was here.
“Dana’s here,” I called out to Mom and ran down the stairs two at a time, leaping down the last three. There was a loud thunk as both of my feet hit the landing at the same time. “See you after school.” The words were barely out of my mouth when I slammed the door and rushed down to the passenger door of the Beretta.
It was still completely dark outside, and I couldn’t see inside the car. I went for the handle, pulled, but the door didn’t open. I waited a second and tried it again, but it still didn’t open.
“Dana, open the door.” I rolled my eyes and groaned, tapping on the window for emphasis.
I heard the mechanical clank of the door locks and tried the handle again and success!
“Sorry,” Dana said as I got in and buckled my seatbelt. “It’s too early for me to be thinking clearly.”
“Ha, no big deal.” I turned and smiled at her. “I have some news.”
Dana turned to me, and I was sure I saw a spark of eagerness and interest flare to life in her eyes, but then she blinked and looked like she was about to fall back asleep. To further that point, she let out a massive yawn before shifting the car into reverse and we were off.
This morning, Dana was wearing a robe with a pair of soft, pink pajama pants underneath. I just rolled my eyes before shifting them forward. Her state of dress was normal, at least it was in comparison to what she usually wore when she picked me up in the mornings. Her car was still a disaster, and I could immediately see why she hadn’t wanted Laura and me to go to lunch with her yesterday. I had to shuffle empty Coke cans around so my feet could touch the floor. There wasn’t anything on the seat though when I got in, so that was a plus.
Dana kept her speed under control until we turned onto the main street. After that though, we were flying all the way until she approached her reserved spot in the school parking lot. She slammed on the breaks, and the tires screeched to halt just inside the lines.
“One of these days,” I said, trying to loosen my grip on the center console and armrest on the door.
“One of these days what?” Dana asked, turning her head towards me, grinning sweetly, innocently.
“You’re going to give me or some little old lady a heart attack,” I answered, trying to keep my face as even as possible but it didn’t work, and she started laughing.
“Well, at least I can get you to the hospital in a hurry when it happens.”
Dana turned and reached into the back seat and pulled out a pair of pants, a tank top, and a hoodie to change into. She took off her robe and then pulled off her pajama pants leaving her sitting in the driver’s seat in nothing but a cute little pair of white panties.
I had seen her do this every time she gave me a ride to school. You would think I was used to it by now, but that just wasn’t the case. My eyes looked at everything, scanning each curve, bump, and edge slowly.
“You’ve seen it all before, Josh,” Dana said nonchalantly, but still smirked in my direction as she unfolded her jeans.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Do you really have to stare? They are the same boobs as last time you saw them.”
“I wouldn’t, if you didn’t want me to,” I fired back smartly, as if I hadn’t just been busted and she laughed.
“That’s true,” Dana quipped with a wink. “It’s always fun to get a rise out of you.” Her eyes flashed down to my crotch, and I instinctively moved my hands to cover myself. “Works every time. You really should just empty the chamber in the mornings before I pick you up. Then you wouldn’t have to be so embarrassed.”
“I’m not embarrassed,” I sputtered, trying to defend myself, if even just a little.
“Yeah, uh huh right,” Dana chuckled, lifting her butt off the seat so she could button her jeans. They were as form fitting as a second layer of skin. “Here, take a good long look before I cover them up.” Dana squared her shoulders to me, pressed her chest out and smiled.
I undid my seat belt, grabbed my backpack from between my legs and got out of the car. When I closed the door and looked back, Dana was still sitting there, showing off her perfect breasts with her hard nipples that seemed to point right at me; she even shook them just enough to make them wiggle.
“Come on, just finish getting dressed already,” I complained as I rolled my eyes, turned, and then adjusted the front of my pants so I had a bit more room for things.
I kept my back to the car until I heard her door open and then close.
“Come on,” Dana called out as she started walking towards the building. “Let’s talk to Mr. Watts and see if he has any suggestions for your darkroom.”
###
As luck would have it, Mr. Watts was in his room sitting behind his desk going through various pictures from his classes. The wizened teacher looked beyond old enough to be retired as he slouched forward.
“Good morning,” Dana said as she and I walked into the classroom.
“Oh, uh, good morning you two,” Mr. Watts said, his voice sounding surprised.
“We have a couple questions we think you might be able to help us with.” Dana smiled and moved to place the notebook open in front of Mr. Watts on the desk.
She put it right down on top of what looked like a disorganized pile of pictures of all sorts of things. The only aspect they all had in common was they were all black and white. Other than that, they were all different. Some were of what looked like fruit, others were flowers, people, buildings, all sorts of stuff.
“What’s this?” Mr. Watts asked as he picked up the notebook.
“That’s what we had questions about,” Dana answered and pointed at the book. “Those are the plans for Josh’s new darkroom.”
“Darkroom?”
“Yeah, my parents are going to build me one in our basement,” I replied, smiling weakly.
“I guess that solves that potential problem, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I’m sorry you got in so much trouble. I didn’t mean for you—”
“Stop it right there,” Mr. Watts said, waving his arms and cutting me off mid-sentence. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Not one thing.”
“But—”
“No buts, you did nothing wrong; do you understand?” Mr. Watts’ tone was serious, and I knew I wasn’t going to convince him otherwise.
I just nodded my agreement, even though I didn’t genuinely believe what he was saying. I looked at Dana who was just standing there smiling like she agreed wholeheartedly with Mr. Watts. Still, Mr. Watts had almost lost his job because of me and those pictures I had taken. He hadn’t told me to; he hadn’t set anything up. The only thing he did was help me develop them and keep them secret—no thanks to Adam. That wasn’t really fair, it was the idiot little brother who showed a couple to Adam.
“Now, tell me about this darkroom. What questions do you have that you think I can help you with?” he asked, the normal kindness in his tone returning that put me at ease.
“First, we were hoping you could tell us where to find a door like that,” Dana quickly offered, pointing to the door that led back into the school’s darkroom.
“Why do you want a door like that?” Mr. Watts asked.
“Doesn’t he need one just like it?” Dana’s voice was hesitant and unsure. “Isn’t that the type of door you need to protect against the light?”
“Yes and no.” Mr. Watts smiled. “You do need a good door that you can seal off to protect from getting undeveloped film exposed, but you don’t need a revolving one exactly like that.”
“Then what can I use?” I asked, curiously.
“Honestly, just a normal door works. Haven’t you done any research on this? People use their own closets all the time at home. They aren’t very big, but they do the job.”
“He isn’t going to be using a closet,” Dana remarked, her hands on her hips.
“Who is going to be the one to build this for you?” Mr. Watts asked me.
“My Dad,” I answered quickly.
“Why don’t you have him give me a call and I will help him with what I can,” Mr. Watts offered.
“Sure, I can do that,” I smiled.
With Mr. Watts' help, I would have a fully functioning darkroom, and there was no way he would forget something I needed, and I might not have even thought about.
“Good,” Mr. Watts said, getting to his feet. “You two go on, I have work to do before first period and you two really shouldn’t be in here.”
###
I met back up with Dana and Laura for lunch. Today we decided to go out, even though Dana’s car was a mess. No one was in the mood for pizza again and if that meant battling Dana’s empty Coke can collection, so be it. Laura was forced to sit in my lap, about which I would never complain. We headed to Burger King and the three of us went inside to sit down and eat.
“Have you figured out anything on who is going to be first to have their pictures taken in your new studio?” Laura asked.
“I have no clue,” I answered and shrugged. “That’s Dana’s job.” I turned to Dana. “Any clue?”
Her mouth was full of french-fries, and she held up a hand, holding us off while she finished chewing.
“I have a couple ideas,” Dana answered after she finished swallowing. “If those don’t work out, I think I’ll do it.”
“What, why?” Laura asked, dipping a fry of her own in the little paper cup filled with ketchup and then stuffing it in her mouth.
“Why not?” Dana asked, her eyes scanning from Laura’s and then to mine and back.
“I don’t know, I just figured it would be someone new, you know?” Laura smiled.
“Jealous?” Dana teased.
“Of course not, why would I be jealous?” Laura’s cheeks pinked a bit, giving her away.
“I don’t really care who it is honestly,” I jumped in, trying to cut off whatever was about to happen before it started. “I am just excited to have my own darkroom!”
“So, when do you think your mom’s going to let you off the leash?” Dana asked.
Laura signed and her shoulders slumped.
“I don’t know, she’s still pissed off,” Laura finally answered.
“What if I brought Josh over and he—”
“Are you crazy!” Laura cut Dana off. “My mom will kill him if she sees him. If he even comes up in conversation she freaks out. You should have seen her when Dad called last weekend…”
“Bad?” I asked, hesitantly.
I could only imagine how that conversation went…
‘Honey, our daughter let some stupid boy in school get her naked and take pictures of her. Naked pictures, and guess what else? He showed them off to everyone in Lincoln. The whole town and probably half of the state has seen our little girl as naked as the day she was born!’
Considering her father was in prison for killing the last person who was attempting something similar, and that was his brother—his family—I didn’t even want to think about what his reaction to the whole thing was. I was one hundred percent sure it wasn’t good, whatever it was. The situations were different, completely different. Her uncle had been molesting her and taking advantage of a little girl. I had done nothing of the sort, but still… I didn’t think those details really mattered when it came down to it.
“How do you think it went?” Laura answered. She gave me a ‘take a wild guess’ kind of look that told me I was absolutely right in my assumptions. I cringed and she nodded. “Yeah, like that.”
“Shit,” I cursed.
“Your dad isn’t going to send someone to kill Josh, is he?” Dana asked. I wasn’t sure if she was serious or not, but I definitely wanted to hear Laura’s answer.
“No, he would never do that to someone I cared about…” Laura answered quietly.
“Did you… you know, talk to him about it?” I asked, knowing it was none of my business, but I couldn’t help it.
“Yeah, he wasn’t happy,” Laura answered.
“It’s too bad he didn’t get to see the picture,” Dana chimed in, and both Laura’s and my eyes snapped over to look at Dana. “What? If he would’ve seen it, then maybe he would have been able to see how beautiful it was. That’s all.”
“Let’s not talk about my dad anymore, okay?” Laura said, and the way she said it made it clear it was in our best interests to drop it right then and there.
The three of us finished off our lunches and piled back into Dana’s car to return to school. The air was weird between us on the way. No one said anything. After Dana parked, the three of us walked inside, with Dana turning off to the right once we got to the main hall, while Laura and I headed towards the left where our lockers were located.
“Laura, are you okay?” I asked, squeezing her hand.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Laura gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I just don’t want to talk about my mom and dad.”
“I understand.”
I walked her to her locker, but it was still awkward between us.
“So, bus after school?” I asked.
“Sorry, Mom is picking me up after school.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Maybe Dana will give you a ride home.”
“Yeah maybe. I’ll ask.” I tried not to feel bummed out, but I couldn’t help it and she saw it written on my face plain as day.
The two of us walked down to Mr. Watts’ class but we didn’t say much. I don’t think we said more than two sentences the rest of the day and when the final bell rang, Laura left, and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that something was changing, and I didn’t like it. Not one bit.
Chapter 4
That night I couldn’t help the melancholic mood I was in. The whole thing with Laura had soured everything for me. Even the fact that Dad was starting on my new darkroom the next day was shrouded in shadow. To his credit, he tried to cheer me up and I tried to be excited, but it just didn’t take.
The next morning, Dad was still at home when it was time for Mom to take me to school. He had put on his leather tool belt and was busy loading its two huge pouches with nails and screws.
“Have a good day at school, Josh,” Dad called out from the garage. “You can come help out when you get home, okay?”
“Sure. Okay thanks,” I replied, not even turning my head to look in his direction. “You ready to go, Mom?”
“Yup, let’s hit the road so you aren’t late.” Mom smiled brightly as we got into her minivan.
###
When I got to school, something I hadn’t expected happened. Dana was there waiting for me, but Laura wasn’t.
“Where’s Laura?” I asked, looking down the hall past Dana, scanning the crowds for the beautiful tomboy.
“I don’t know,” Dana answered with a shrug. “I have been waiting for you for a bit and haven’t seen her.”
“Oh…”
“I’m sure she is here or on her way, don’t start getting all crazy on me now,” Dana told me. “Besides, that’s my job as a woman.” I think Dana expected me to laugh at that, but I didn’t, and I saw the silly grin on her face vanish just as quickly as it appeared. “Yeah, that wasn’t funny, sorry.”
“It’s fine, I just have a weird feeling,” I said. “After lunch yesterday, it feels like things changed, you know?”
“Not really, but I can see why you would think that.” Dana wrapped her arm around me. “I’m sure she is going to show up. If she isn’t at lunch, then we can start worrying.”
“Yeah, okay.”
When lunch started, I raced to Laura’s locker, but she wasn’t there. I had looked for her between classes but never found her. That in and of itself wasn’t strange, most days I didn’t see her. Our schedules were such that we rarely ran into each other in the hallways. That is, unless the two of us were looking for each other or had a plan to walk together.
I walked to where we usually met and saw Dana and Adam talking in the hallway in front of Mr. Watts’ classroom. I hadn’t even noticed, but the display case mounted on the wall still had the picture I had taken of Laura in the very center, proudly displayed for anyone to see. She still looked as beautiful in that picture as the ones I took of her for the competition.
“Hey, let’s get some burgers and a milkshake,” Dana said.
“You realize it's winter, right?” Adam replied, looking at Dana like she was out of her mind.
“So, does that make them any less delicious?” Dana snapped back.
“No, but—” Dana cut Adam off with a piercing look.
“Come on, let’s go,” Dana said, grabbing my arm.
“I guess,” I grumbled and allowed Dana to start pulling me down the hall.
“Josh!” I heard a voice yell from the throng of students in the hall. I turned and saw a hand bouncing above the heads of the students as they moved towards the parking lot or the cafeteria. “Josh, wait!”
That’s when I saw her, Laura’s face as she jumped, trying to see over the students in front of her.
“Well, well, well.” Dana smirked, releasing my arm, and pushing me forward slightly. “Look who’s here.”
Laura finally burst through the crowd, running as fast as she could while trying not to drop her books. She barely managed to slow down before she dropped her books on the floor and slammed into me. Her arms went around my neck as she jumped and wrapped her legs around my waist.
“Were you going to leave without me?” Laura asked, leaning back slightly so she could look me in the eye.
“We are going for burgers and shakes, you coming?” Dana asked, and Laura gave me a quick but at the same time enthusiastic kiss before wiggling out of my arms to stand on her own two feet.
“Yum, sounds great.” Laura smiled big and bright.
###
The rest of the school day flew by. Dana and I had tried to figure out what happened to Laura the day before and this morning.
“I’ll tell you after school,” Laura answered between bites of food. She was all smiles so whatever it was she had to say it must have been good news, and I was ready for some good news.
When Laura and I made it to the bus stop a few blocks away from the school, we both sat down on the bench. No one said anything. I was smiling, and Laura was holding my hand, resting her head on my shoulder. In that moment, I knew I had let my imagination run wild and was blatantly thinking the worst.
“So, you want me to tell you what happened?” Laura asked me and I turned to look at her beautiful face. Her eyes were searching my own and she didn’t look quite so happy as she had a moment before. She actually looked worried and now my imagination was running triple time instead of double time.
“Yes! Err, okay, sure…” I stammered, trying to hold myself together.
“It’s not that big of a deal, I swear,” Laura laughed and pushed my shoulder playfully. I smiled, playing it off like it was no big deal, but it was very much a big deal, at least it was at the moment. “My mom thought it would be a good idea for me to go see my dad.”
“What!” I snapped; my eyes wide before I could rein in my emotions.
“I just told you it wasn’t that big of a deal,” Laura said, folding her arms in front of her chest and glaring at me. “Don’t you trust me?”
“What, of course I do. I—”
“Then trust me, Josh!”
“Sorry…” I lowered my eyes, looking at the ground and feeling incredibly stupid. As if I needed any help with that over the last twenty-four hours.
“Okay then, like I was saying…” I turned and looked her in the eye, feeling hopeful for some reason. “Mom thought I needed to talk to my dad about the whole posing for pictures thing. She got it in her mind that if I sat down with him, he would tell me how dumb I was.”
Laura paused there, a big grin spreading across her face as I searched for answers to unasked questions.
“My Dad wasn’t mad.”
“Seriously?” I questioned her and she glared at me again. “But I thought for sure he would—”
“Nope.” Laura smiled. “I explained everything to him.”
“You explained everything?” I asked, hesitantly. “Like, everything, everything?”
Laura just nodded, but the seriousness of the situation had no effect on the smile that still bloomed on her face.
“I told him all about you. I told him about your project and that you were trying to get into that contest. Everything.”
“So umm, what did he say?”
“He asked me if I…” Laura blushed. “He asked if I, umm, like you. As a boyfriend.”
I grinned; I couldn’t help it.
“What did you say?” I was fishing for an indirect compliment and Laura knew it, but she didn’t punch me or anything.
“I told him that you were different and that I liked you…”
“Just liked me?”
“Yes, liked you. You, doofus!” Laura punched my shoulder to emphasize what she was saying, I wasn’t expecting the move and fell off the bench. Laura’s hand covered her mouth, her eyes wide as she looked down at me on the ground. Then Laura started cackling as if me falling to the ground was the funniest thing she had ever seen. She got up and grabbed my arm, trying to pull me up to my feet. “Oh, get up, I didn’t hit you that hard.”
“You just…… caught me off guard,” I replied, allowing her to help me get back up and sitting down on the bench next to her again.
“Uh huh, sure,” Laura shot back with a smirk. “Anyways, so Mom took me to see Dad. We’re only allowed to see him one at a time and Mom told me she was going to talk to him first, and then it would be my turn.”
Laura explained how she had to wait in a waiting room that had armed guards posted at the doors. My heart started to race at the thought of being in that situation, but Laura told me that it wasn’t that big of a deal and that she was used to it.
“So, when it was my turn, I went in and sat down with Dad. It’s not really like it is in movies for everyone. My dad wasn’t behind the glass, and we didn’t have to use one of those phones. I’ve done that before, it sucks. We sat down at a table; he was on one side, and I was on the other. When I walked into the room, my dad had this angry look on his face. That changed though the moment I sat down, he smiled, and his voice was soft but excited to see me.”
“What did he say about the pictures?”
“A lot, he asked me a ton of questions. Mainly stuff about you and me.”
“And you’re sure he wasn’t mad at all?” I questioned again. “Not even a little bit?”
“Nope, when I answered all his questions, he even asked if he could see them some time.”
“Really, wow!”
“It’s so cool, right?” The joyful look on her face was a sight to see.
“Yeah, really cool.” I smiled back, nodding.
“Mom was pissed though when she found out he didn’t yell at me.”
Just then the bus pulled up and the two of us got on and took our usual seats in the back.
“Does that mean your mom is going to let me see you again?”
“God, I wish.” I made a sad face, but Laura gave me a quick kiss. “She’ll get over it, don’t worry about it. So, tell me about the darkroom. Has Dana found you a few new models yet? Who’s building the darkroom and when’s it going to be done? What about—”
“Hold on, sheesh.” I waved my arms, cutting Laura off and she giggled.
“Sorry, I’m just really excited.”
###
For the rest of the week, Laura and I spent more time than usual together. It wasn’t a conscious thing, it just… happened. After every bell, somehow one of us seemed to magically find the other in the halls only moments after we started walking. I loved it. We told each other about our classes. We asked each other questions about topics we didn’t quite grasp. When we weren’t doing that, we were horsing around, telling jokes, and just having fun.
Dana was there every day for lunch, but that was it. She kept telling me she was working on models for the new darkroom and studio that my dad was building in my house. Every time I inquired on who she had found or anything about them, she brushed me off saying, “You will find out soon enough, don’t worry.”
It was frustrating, but at the same time I understood that people weren’t lining up for me to take their portraits. After the whole situation with the sluts, I didn’t blame anyone for not wanting to subject themselves to the same scrutiny. Frankly, if I were one of those girls, I would say no, too.
After school every day, Laura and I rode the city bus home. It was finally Friday, and like every day this week, I asked her when I got off the bus if she wanted to come home with me. We could work on the new darkroom together, but she always told me her mom wouldn’t allow it. I knew that too, but I still asked just in case. You never know, she might just say yes. She would always just smile sadly, and I would return it knowing what it meant. We would share a quick, chaste kiss before I stepped off the bus and watched as it drove away with Laura sitting in the window waving as she disappeared into the distance.
I watched that bus drive away each time. I would stand there on the corner long after the bus had turned down the next street on its route, as if she could still see me. I knew she couldn’t, but it didn’t matter. When it was gone, I would walk the last few blocks home to find Dad and a two-man crew tearing apart our home for me.
“Hey, Josh,” James called out while he carried some two by fours over his shoulder towards the open garage door.
“Hey,” I waved in response but kept moving,
James was the helper for the two-man crew working on the basement. He was a few years older than me, turning nineteen this summer. From what I had heard, he graduated from Northeast High School last year and decided he wanted to work for his father instead of going to college. Phil was my dad’s friend and James’ father.
Phil was the one in charge of this project officially. He was the one who had been talking with Mr. Watts all week, trying to figure out exactly what I needed and what would be the most efficient layout for the new darkroom. My Dad didn’t seem to agree with everything Phil said, but at the end of the day, it was Phil’s and his and Mr. Watts’ knowledge combined that was getting everything done correctly and up to code. If it were up to Dad, some of those ‘so called codes’ as he put it, were a waste of time and would not have been followed.
I wasn’t sure if it was because they usually cost more to follow or if he really thought they were truly a waste of time. Either way, our project was going to be up to code. If by chance an inspector came by, we wouldn’t have anything to worry about. The last thing I needed was for the pipes to leak all over and the walls to suddenly fall because someone thought some rules didn’t need to be followed.
“Josh?” I heard my dad’s voice just as I opened the front door. “Is that you?”
“Yeah, Dad!” I yelled down the stairs. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was down in the basement helping Phil.
“Go put your stuff away and get down here and help.”
“Just a second!” I replied, running up the stairs and running into my bedroom to drop my backpack.
For the next two working hours, the four of us—me, my dad, Phil, and James—worked… hard. When Mom called down the stairs that it was time for dinner, everything was ready for drywall. The plumbing and wires were already run through the rough openings and in place. All that was going to be left of the big stuff was the actual hanging of the drywall. My dad had sworn that he and I could manage it but from the look Phil was giving us when my dad’s back was turned, he didn’t believe it.
“Let’s go James,” Phil said, patting James on the shoulder. “We need to go before your mom thinks we’ve run off and joined the circus.”
Phil and James both laughed. There must have been some kind of inside joke in that statement that I didn’t understand. They both packed up their things and left while Dad and I did the same and then headed upstairs where dinner was waiting. This weekend was going to be interesting, that much I knew for certain, but I was looking forward to it nonetheless, now that everything was right in the world when it came to my life.
Chapter 5
At breakfast Saturday morning, Dad was pushing me to finish my food so we could get to work hanging the drywall downstairs. He made it a race to see who could polish off their plate first and I wasn’t one to back down from a food challenge with my dad. Countless times we had eating contests at tailgates when we went to Husker games. Those were usually with hot dogs, or sometimes chicken wings. On extremely rare occasions, we’d score slow cooked baby back pork ribs. Just the thought of Larry’s ribs made my mouth water.
I shoveled my scrambled eggs into my mouth as fast as I could. I started choking when I then stuffed an entire slice of toast on top of all the eggs already there.
Dad started laughing, his mouth just as full of food as mine, making his cheeks bulge outwards like a squirrel hoarding nuts. He had to slam a hand over his mouth to keep his food in. He didn’t see any imminent danger to my life, but Mom was on her feet, behind me, and banging her fist against my back so fast that I didn’t even see her get up.
“I know you two boys are excited to get to build stuff down there,” Mom complained, her voice laced with unveiled sarcasm and anger. “I don’t think you two even know what your food tasted like. Honestly, you two are ridiculous. Not everything has to be a competition.”
I blinked the tears out of my eyes from my choking and sudden coughing fit. I could just make out the blurry image of my dad who looked thoroughly chastened. I gave Mom a weak smile and she just rolled her eyes. She wasn’t at all impressed with me, or her husband, at that moment.
“Now, finish your food and try actually chewing instead of inhaling it this time,” Mom suggested, but it sounded more like an order than anything.
I picked up my fork, swallowing what was left of the chewed food I was holding in my mouth. She watched me, her eyes hard, but when I only scooped a small portion of eggs she nodded and started eating her own eggs again.
Dad finished off his plate first and smiled triumphantly at me as he set his fork down. He at least had the wherewithal to not mention his supposed victory. Mom’s eyes were locked on him, and his smile vanished the instant he noticed her.
“Seeing as how you’re done first, does that mean you’re the one who has to do the dishes?” Mom asked.
“Nope, that’s why we decided to have kids,” Dad countered. grinning cheerily. “They get to do the dishes, take out the trash, and mow the lawn so we don’t have to.”
“Oh really?” Mom replied, one eyebrow raised in question. “I seem to remember you saying something about always wanting a—”
“Fine, fine, fine.” Dad exclaimed, waving his arms, and cutting Mom off mid-sentence. “I’ll do the dishes.”
“Thanks honey.” Mom grinned, her voice soft and innocent, as if she hadn’t manipulated Dad just then.
Dad got up, cleared his place, and turned into the kitchen. Seconds later, we heard the water running in the sink and Mom looked at me, winked and I chuckled. She looked awfully proud of herself, and I had to admit I was always impressed when she flexed those particular muscles, so to speak. She was a master at getting what she wanted, whenever she wanted it from Dad. Regardless of how it happened, I didn’t have to do the dishes and that’s all I cared about.
###
Come Sunday morning, we had made shockingly substantial progress. All the drywall was hung and ready for the finishing touches. To my utter delight, a black, rotating door Dad had found was also installed and ready to use. It was just like the one from school. I don’t know why, but that one thing had me excited, made it feel… perfect. I was going to have a real, full-fledged darkroom all to myself.
Aside from the mudding and taping of the drywall, we needed to finish installing the industrial sinks—two of them, side by side. Then there was the lighting. For that, there were two different switches, one for normal white light and one for red light, the same setup from Mr. Watts’ darkroom at school. That would be installed on Monday when Phil and his son came back to finish the job.
“All we have left to finish is the dirty work,” Dad said, a proud smile on his face.
“Dirty work?” I asked, not sure what he was referring to. The whole project had been dirty. There was saw dust, scraps of wood and all sorts of other trash strewn around the basement.
“Taping and mudding the seams,” Dad answered. “Trust me, this is going to be the dirty work. The grunt work and we,” he said, pointing to me and then to himself, “we are the grunts.”
I started laughing and he just smiled.
“We should be all done with that today,” Dad said proudly, his arm wrapping around my shoulder as he squeezed me in tightly. “There’s more after that, but we will have to wait for the mud to dry before we can sand it all down so it's smooth and doesn’t show any seams.”
The doorbell rang just as Dad said seams and both of our heads jerked in the direction of the door. When it opened a second later, I had a good feeling of who it was: Dana.
“Hello!” Dana called out as she closed the door behind her. “Josh?”
“Down here!” I yelled and heard feet hammering the stairs as Dana raced down them, coming in our direction.
“Hello young lady,” Dad said, smirking. Dana stopped mid step, her eyes scanning the area feeling that she had just walked into a trap. Dad bent down and picked up a mud knife, offering it to her handle first. “You’re just in time.”
For the next few hours, Dana and I were mudding the new drywall. It sounded easy when Dad explained how to do it to the both of us. It wasn’t. We covered every screw and where all the drywall butted together in a thick layer of the whitish mud stuff. During the process, Dana got globs of the stuff in her hair and then she must have gotten an itch on her cheek which deposited a large smear from the edge of her eye all the way down to her neck. I knew better than to make fun of her about it, I knew I had a few smudges of my own on my face.
When Mom came down and told us it was time for lunch, both Dana and I were thoroughly covered in mud. The room was done, for the moment. Now we just needed to wait for everything to dry.
“Oh wow, all done?” Mom asked, her eyes scanning the unfinished walls.
“Yup, we did decent work,” Dad answered. Dana and I grumbled at the we comment.
“I don’t know what you two were doing exactly, but you both look more like painters than mudders,” Mom grinned, and then laughed at her own joke.
It wasn’t funny, not to us anyway. Dana and I just rolled our eyes at my mom. I didn’t think ‘mudders’ was really a word, and if it was, it didn’t do the job Dana and I had been doing all morning any justice. Dad just chuckled. He, on the other hand, was spotlessly clean. Which wasn’t surprising, seeing how he was the one who was overseeing the job.
“Go upstairs and get cleaned up, lunch is on the table,” Mom said, and turned to head back upstairs shaking her head, still giggling to herself.
Dana and I headed upstairs after we snapped the lid back on the five-gallon bucket of premixed mud. I was first to the sink. I turned on the water, feeling it run over my hands as I waited for the temperature to warm up. It didn’t take long, but long enough for Dana to come into the room next to me.
As soon as the water was warm enough, I cupped my hands under the faucet and then started splashing my face, scrubbing my fingers into my skin to clean off any mud still streaked across it. I cupped my hands back under the faucet again and then used the water in an attempt to rinse off my face.
“Do you have a shirt I can borrow?” Dana asked.
“Huh?” I asked, confused. “Why do you want one of my shirts?”
I held my eyes closed and reached for one of the hand towels that hung off to the side of the vanity. I grabbed it, and then started drying my face. It wasn’t until I was done that, I noticed Dana was standing there topless, patiently waiting for me to move so she would get her turn at the sink.
I tried not to react to the sight, but it was no use. You never really get used to seeing a pair of breasts in all their glory as a teenage boy, no matter how many times you saw that same set.
“Move over,’ Dana chided, slamming her hip into mine and pushing me away from the sink. “It’s my turn.” She then leaned over, using the water to wash her own face. When I looked into the mirror, she saw me standing there, staring. “Seriously?”
“What?” I managed to say without too much of a stutter in my voice. My eyes were still focused on those glorious smooth mounds on her chest capped with perfectly hard nipples.
“How many times have you seen my tits?” Dana asked, standing up and facing me, pushing her chest out in my direction. She was making it obvious where I was looking. She rolled her eyes when I didn’t look at her face. “Can I pretty please borrow a t-shirt or something to wear before we go have lunch with your mom and dad?”
“Oh…” I turned, looking around the bathroom as if there were a shirt somewhere she could borrow, my body moving a full two steps ahead of my brain. “I… uh, might have something…”
“Can you go and get it?”
“Yeah, sure,” I grinned and answered. “Be right back.”
When I closed the bathroom door behind me on my way to my bedroom, I could have sworn I heard Dana say, “Yup, I still got it.”
###
When Dana and I sat down for lunch, she was wearing one of my oversized Cornhusker jerseys. The neck was big enough that it even hung off her shoulder just slightly. Not enough for it to show more than she should, but it also clearly let anyone know that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Mom had cocked an eyebrow at me and then her eyes flicked to Dana and then back to me. I just shrugged and tried to ignore the feeling of nervousness in my stomach. If my dad had noticed what had happened, he didn’t mention it, thankfully.
We spent the whole afternoon checking on the mud we had slapped and smeared all over the walls of the darkroom. It didn’t dry, not fast enough anyway for us to use the sanding blocks to smooth it all down. It wasn’t until after dinner that Dana thought to read the label on the side of the bucket.
“We aren’t going to be doing any sanding today,” Dana laughed.
“What? Why?” Dad asked, looking at her with a confused look on his face. “What are you talking about?”
“It says right here,” Dana replied, hefting the bucket, and pointing at the label on the side. “It takes twenty-four hours to dry.”
“Well shit!” Dad cursed.
“Now what?” I asked.
“Nothing, I guess we are done,” Dad answered.
“Oh no you’re not,” Mom said, appearing in the basement. “You three are going to clean up this mess. That’s what you’re going to do.”
My eyes widened at the thought. The basement was a total disaster. You know the saying ‘it looks like a tornado hit,’ well, it was definitely that, mixed with a bomb or two. Dana looked like she was ready to try to slink away but Mom stood there, blocking the way to the stairs and our exit.
“Your mom’s right, get to work,” Dad said, his voice even and then turned to walk to stand next to Mom.
She crossed her arms and didn’t move, just giving her husband an appraising look.
“Don’t think you are getting out of helping,” she said, and Dad froze for a moment before I saw his shoulders slump slightly.
“I’ll get the shop vac from the garage,” Dad announced, and Mom nodded, watching him go down the hall and out into the garage.
“Alright, let’s get to work,” Mom said, rolling up her sleeves.
It was late when we finally called it a night. The basement wasn’t clean, not to Mom’s standards, but it was a lot better than it was. The four of us working together had made a significant dent in the job. Dana said her goodbyes and offered to give me a ride to school in the morning, which I eagerly accepted. Mom chuckled softly as she watched the interaction between me and Dana.
I headed upstairs to take a shower. I was covered in dust, grit, and sweat and there was no way I was going to climb into my bed like that. I took my time, the hot water soothing my muscles. I had to scrub my hair three times to get all of the drywall mud out of it. I then scrubbed my face, my arms, everything with a washcloth. When I was finally clean, I stood there under the water, my arms out, palms pressed against the wall, letting the heat pound in my head and shoulders, run down my body and then, ultimately, down the drain.
When the water got cold, I quickly shut it off, got out, and dried off. I wrapped the towel around my waist, grabbed my dirty clothes as well as Dana’s shirt and bra she had left. I walked down the hall to my bedroom. After throwing the clothes in the hamper, I grabbed a pair of pajama pants and pulled them on. Just as I did, there was a knock at the door, and it opened just a crack.
“Are you decent?” I heard Mom’s voice. She didn’t peek in, thankfully.
“Yeah, Mom.”
“So, it looks like you have two girlfriends.”
“What?” I gasped, my eyes widening in shock. “No, I don’t.”
“You sure about that?”
“Of course, why would you say something like that?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Mom spoke softly, a subtle smile on her face. “A beautiful girl, wearing your favorite jersey.”
“It’s not what you think, we’re just friends. That’s all.” Mom just watched me, not saying anything. “I’m serious, honest.”
“If you say so, but I think there is more there than you are telling me.”
“There’s not,” I replied. “I like Laura.”
“Anyway, are you ready for tomorrow?”
“What about tomorrow?” I was confused, not understanding her meaning.
“You have your first class at the University tomorrow, Josh.”
“Oh!”
“Are you ready?”
I nodded, a big smile blossoming on my face.
“Good, goodnight, Josh.”
She left, closing the door behind her and I just stood there. I am going to college tomorrow. I was going to be a Husker.
I laid in bed for what seemed like hours, not able to keep my mind from whirling. Finally, sleep came, and I dreamed of Laura, college, and Dana’s magnificent tits.
Chapter 6
I woke up excited to start the day. Today was the first day of my new life. Not really a new life, but it was the first day of my new photography class at the University of Nebraska. I couldn’t wait to find out what that was going to be like. What I was going to learn and more importantly, what and who, I was going to be taking pictures of—college girls! I couldn’t wait! I am not ashamed to say I might have dreamt about several scenarios that were incredibly stimulating involving sorority girls, lots of them, and each one of them wanted me.
In my anxiousness to start the day, I realized I woke up much earlier than I had intended. I took my time getting ready, showering, and getting dressed. I did all the normal things a high school kid did in the mornings before heading off to school. I had a bowl of Captain Crunch for breakfast and still ended up sitting on the couch for twenty minutes before Dana finally showed up.
When I saw the headlights of her Beretta, I jumped to my feet, slung my backpack over my shoulders and raced out the door.
“You need to calm down,” Dana complained, sounding still half asleep as I flopped down into the passenger seat and shut her door with a little more gusto than was traditionally required. “There is no reason to be moving that fast this early in the morning.”
“Yes, there is. Today’s my first day of my new photography class.” I smiled brightly but Dana wasn’t impressed.
“Whatever, it’s still too damned early,” Dana grumbled, putting the car in reverse, and backing out the driveway.
Dana, wearing her customary pajamas, changed in the parking lot of the high school when we got there. I am proud to say that I didn’t even look, not once.
“You didn’t even look!” Dana complained and protruded her lower lip in a childlike pout. I was confused by her reaction and gave her a look that showed as much.
“Like you said, I’ve seen it all before,” I answered matter-of-factly when she didn’t make a smart-ass comment about my sudden confusion.
“No, you have not!” Dana snapped.
“I’ve seen your…” I pointed at the first one and then the other of her now covered breasts.
“My tits?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen them before. No big deal.” I even smirked, which didn’t get the reaction I was expecting.
“Are you saying my tits are ‘no big deal?’” Dana demanded, her voice hard, and accusing.
“They… well, they’re uh… you know they’re—"
“That’s what I thought,” Dana cut me off and smirked. She started giggling, her chin raised high as if she were proud about getting me tongue tied and started walking towards the doors. “It’s okay to look, Josh. Just don’t stare like a creep. At least this time you don’t have to adjust your jeans.”
I blushed and sneaked a look down at my jeans. I knew nothing was happening down there, not enough for it to show anyways, but I still checked, just to be sure.
###
The school day started like any other day. The halls filled with students, some in a hurry to get where they were going while others procrastinated for as long as possible at their lockers or in groups before heading off to the classrooms. I went to Mrs. Peterson’s classroom like normal. She smiled and gave me a nod as I entered but didn’t say anything else to me directly for the rest of the period.
After the bell rang, that’s when everything changed. All my core classes had moved, starting with my second period. They had to so I could still take the required coursework before lunch and then head to campus every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon for the rest of the school year.