Part Two: Born Under a Bad Sign

Part Two: Born Under a Bad Sign

            Hollis Michael Day was born on February 26^th at 6:05AM.  His mother was a poor, beautiful 19-year-old waitress and his father was a 26-year-old plumber who took off once he found out about the pregnancy.  Feeling brave, his mother decided to keep and raise the baby.  She moved into her ill mother’s house but after six months of motherhood she ran off, feeling overcrowded by the responsibility a small baby brings.  Her ill mother, overwhelmed by doctors, therapy and medication sent the baby away with social services.  She was too old and sick to raise another baby.  A year later she died in the bath.  His mother never found out what happened to him. 

            Hollis found himself living from foster home to group housing to foster home to group housing to halfway house and so on until he was 14 years old.  He was following the lead of older, more troubled kids he was surrounded by, even though he was a bright, quiet boy.  Feeling alone in the world as a young boy he found it hard to resist peer pressure.

            When he was 13 and living in a group home an older girl, born half-white, half-Mexican successfully robbed him of his virginity.  She was a tall girl with dark skin and exotic features.  At age 14 a couple of older kids talked him into helping them rob an old couple in their home and for being an accomplice he received six months in juvenile hall where he learned once and for all not to trust anyone.

            He was released into a government halfway house after a year where he kept to himself, studying for his high school equivalency test.  Hollis knew he needed someway to make enough money to support himself.  Watching society and people around him he saw how everyone and everything revolved around cars.  Buying cars, having cars, fixing cars.  He studied any and every car he could get close to, reading books and magazines, going to car shows and talking to car enthusiasts.  By the time he was 16 he had his GED and by the time he was 17 he had a full-time mechanic job changing engine oil and tires.  When he was 18 he moved across the bay with a couple of his good friends from the orphanages for cheaper housing.  He got a job at Harrison Auto and bringing in a good paycheck plus tips by fixing any type of car that came into the shop.

            He grew up with girls crushing on him all the time.  As they got older and the girls began to develop they began to throw themselves at him and he didn’t know how to resist.  They would stick around him for a while, but then they would usually cheat on him with his friends so he never got serious with any girls.  He would purposely bring them around his friends because he could trust his friends to hit on his girls and he wanted to see if he could trust the girls to be faithful to him.  None of the girls he knew were faithful, and his friends would drop them like hot plates once they cheated on Hollis.  One girl he let get close to him when he was 17 and she stuck around for a year before she slept with his friend and then she broke up with him and left town.  Her name was Laura and she broke his heart.  She was a short, petite girl with big tits and a high, girly voice.  She bleached her blonde hair white and wore a lot of make-up, but she made Hollis feel special.  He didn’t want anything to do with girls after that and for a few months he used them like his friends used girls, taking advantage of them and then moving on to the next girl.  It got old for him fast so he stopped talking to girls.  He just stuck to drinking, doing drugs and working on cars.

            Claire Mona Escolar was born on February 26^th at 5:55AM in a hospital across town.  She was the third of six children born to her father, a dentist, and her mother, a young, aging beauty queen. 

            The first born was her older sister, Lisa, who was six years older than Claire.  The second oldest was her brother Donnie who was four years older than her.  Three years after she was born her sister Marie was born, and six years after Marie her mother gave birth to her twin baby brothers, Franklin and Luke.

            Her father was born of direct Spanish decent and her mother was an American teenage beauty queen.  At the age of 20 her mother was snagged up by her 28 year old father who was just making his real big bones as a dentist and orthodontist.  Both having tall, svelte bodies their own children grew into their own tall, svelte bodies.  She grew up in a large four bedroom townhouse where she shared a room with Marie.  The twins shared a room and Lisa had a bedroom to herself.  Donnie lived in the renovated attic.  Most of the time Claire would be found in Donnie’s room instead of her own.  Sometimes their other siblings were jealous of the bond she and Donnie shared.

            Claire learned to read at a young age and when she was six she and Donnie went to martial arts classes together, sparring with each other in their backyard whenever they could.
            In high school most of her friends were older than her.  She went out with a few boys but never for too long and never got physical enough to lose her virginity.  When she was 15, Lisa had her first baby at age 22.  A year later Donnie, at age 19 got his girlfriend pregnant.  Lisa had another child at 24.  Both of her older siblings had moved out of the house, having already started families of their own at an early age.  When Claire was 18 her 15 year old sister Marie had a baby.  Claire made sure she never had sex because she knew how fertile her large family was and she didn’t want a child of her own with a boy she didn’t like.

            After the majority of her friends had graduated high school she didn’t want to go anymore so she studied, took a test and graduated halfway through her junior year.  She got a job at a local coffee lounge where several of her friends worked.  The coffee lounge was owned by a friend of Claire’s aunt and uncle, located in an area of the city where several used music shops, art stores and galleries, other clubs and coffee shops and hip hang outs were also located, all under small apartments for rent.  The coffee lounge, called the Lost Map, was filled with random couches, easy chairs and artistic furniture, including checker boarded tables, mirrors and maps and art done by local artists for sale on the walls.  Thursday through Sunday nights they would have local bands play, boosting attendance, popularity, and coffee and pastry sales.

            A year after taking her graduation exam Claire was accepted to the University across the bay during the year she was supposed to be a high school senior.  Claire left her job and moved to a dorm room.  Her roommate was a girl who spent all her time on the computer so they kept mostly to themselves.  Claire didn’t go around making friends and avoided college boys.  She got a job at the university library re-shelving books.  Her major was undecided until the end of her first semester, when that summer she chose a chemistry major focusing on earth sciences.

            After her first semester she moved back home for the summer and took a temporary job at the Lost Map, hanging out and partying with her friends.  A week before she moved back to school a couple of new people who she never met were hired to replace her job.  She moved back into a dorm and was matched with a roommate with who she actually got along with and they became good friends.  Claire didn’t study much.  She didn’t need to.  She still maintained a 4.0 GPA.  Her third semester she was given a new roommate who was never in their room so she virtually had her own room.  She spent her time working at the library, staying away from college boys and attending classes.  On the weekends she would take the bus back across the bay to hang out with her brother and her friends who still worked at the Lost Map.  Most of her friends had moved out of the city for school.

Part 2.2

It was a warm mach afternoon.  The clouds were few and far between.  Hollis parked his truck on the street and walked up the hill to the Lost Map.  A friend of his worked there and he wanted to say goodbye before he drove back across the bay to go home.  He had come over this weekend because he had some friends in a punk band and they had played there the night before.

            As he got close to the coffee lounge he saw that the outside patio tables were empty except for one girl.  She was sitting with a lidded paper take-out coffee cup, smoking a cigarette and reading a newspaper.  He passed her going in the door and she looked up at him, almost expressionless, but it shocked him anyway.  Her eyes pierced through his.  She had long straight brown hair falling down her back and tucked behind her ears.  She wore black pants and a plain green shirt under an open black button-up sweater.  He recognized her from the night before.  He had watched her from time to time from across the room.  She had been sitting on a big couch in the corner constantly surrounded by people who she all seemed to know, including some of the employees there.  She had been wearing the same clothes as today.

            As he passed by her to go inside, time seemed to slow down considerably.  It gave him chills.  He walked through the lounge past tables and couches holding a handful of people to the counter in the middle where his friend Mike was.  Time seemed to return to normal and he felt drunk from it.

            “Hollis, my man,” Mike greeted as Hollis approached the deserted counter.  “What brings you back this way?”  Mike was around the same height as Hollis who had black hair that was growing down past his ears and into his eyes.  He was half-asian and half-white.  He wore a plain white t-shirt under his work apron.  When Hollis was being transferred around group housing Mike was also being transferred to the same places and they became friends.

            “I’m about to head back, came to say bye,” Hollis told him.

            “Cool, cool.  You want a drink?”

            Hollis shrugged.  “Sure.  Just some coffee, I guess.”

            “That’s it?  You make it easy.”  Mike put a paper to-go cup under a coffee spout and pushed the drip button.  “Did you have a good time last night?  Get fucked up?  Get laid?”

            “It was a good show, yeah,” Hollis said.  “No girls, though.”  He thought about the girl sitting outside.

            “Yeah it was, and there was a ton of hot chicks here.  I must have gotten about seven phone numbers.”  Mike handed Hollis his coffee over the counter.

            “Nice work,” Hollis said, taking the cup.  “Thanks.”

            “Are you coming back next weekend?”  Mike asked.

            “I might,” Hollis replied, sipping his hot coffee.  Some trendy customers were approaching the counter and a girl was taking their orders.

            “Cool,” Mike said.  “Maybe I’ll see you then.”  They exchanged a handshake.

            “Take it easy, Mike.”

            “See ya,” Mike said, starting to prepare the new orders.

            Hollis turned and walked out the door and stopped next to the girl.  She was drawing on a picture of some people in the newspaper.  She didn’t notice him.

            “Hi,” Hollis said to her out of impulse.

            She looked up at him and stopped drawing.  He was tall, over six feet.  He wore a white t-shirt over a long sleeved black shirt and black cargo pants.  His hair was kept short and was dark blonde.  His eyebrows almost blended in with his dark skin.  He wore some black, rectangular framed glasses on his straight, pointed nose and he smiled, his lips kind of rounded in the corner above his square chin.

            “Hi,” she said in return.  She snubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray on the table.

            Even though Hollis had his own pack he asked her, “Do you think I could steal one of your smokes?”

            Taking her eyes from him and breaking their eye contact she picked up her pack from the table, took one out and held it out to him.  Their eyes locked when he took it from her.  He sat down at her table and took the lighter she offered to him.  When he handed the lighter back to her she lit her own cigarette.

            “Didn’t I see you here last night for the show?”  He asked.

            “You might have,” she said blowing out smoke.  “I was here.  Though, I don’t remember much.”

            Hollis took a hit from his cigarette and chuckled.  “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

            She looked at him sideways.  “I was drunk,” she said.

            Hollis smiled.  His lips outlined his teeth charmingly with rounded corners.  She couldn’t help but return the smile.  When she smiled he was struck by her natural beauty.  His mouth felt dry so he sipped his coffee and ashed his cigarette on the ground.

            “I’m Hollis,” he said.

            “Hollis?”  She said.  He nodded.  “How old are you, 83?”

            “No, I’m 19,” Hollis chuckled.

            “Oh.  Me too,” she said.  “So what kind of superhero last name does Hollis have?”

            “Day,” he answered.

            “Hollis Day?”

            “Yeah.  Everyday is a Hollis Day.”

            The girl chuckled and reached her arm across the table, ashing her cigarette in the ashtray.  “Claire,” she said

            “Claire?”

            “Mmmhmm.”  She brought her cigarette to her lips and smoked it.

            “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Claire.”  Hollis held out his hand and she shook it firmly as she blew smoke from her nose.  At the touch of her soft hand Hollis felt himself getting excited.  He smoked his cigarette.

            From inside the Lost Map, Claire’s friend Amanda who was working with Mike said to him, “Look, your friend is talking to Claire.”  Mike looked outside and Amanda continued.  “He’s not going to get anywhere with her.”

            Mike chuckled.  He knew guys who had tried to get with her and get shot down.  “I dunno, Hollis doesn’t get interested in a lot of girls.  We’ll just have to see.”

            Outside Hollis asked Claire, “So what are you doing here by yourself?”

            “I’m waiting for one of my friends to get off work so I can bribe her for a ride home,” she told him, smoking.

            “Bribe her?  With what?”

            “Smoke,” she said.

            “Not cigarettes,” Hollis guessed.

            “That is correct,” Claire said smirking and ashing her cigarette.

            “I could tell because you have a Bic lighter.  People who smoke only cigs usually have those cheap, clear lighters,” Hollis said.

            “This is true,” she said.  “You’re very sharp.”

            “Why thank you,” he said, crushing his butt on the sidewalk under his shoe.

            Claire flicked her butt into the street, blowing out a cloud of smoke.  Hollis watched her.

            “Have you been waiting here long?”  He asked.

            “A couple of hours,” she told him.

            “Damn,” he remarked.

            “Yeah, and I’ve got a few hours left to wait.”

            “Oh,” he said.  “Where do you live?”

            “I go to the University across the bay.  I live in a dorm.”

            “Yeah?”

            “Yeah,” Claire said, looking at him.

            “I live nearby the University,” he said slowly.  “I’m heading back that was.  I could give you a ride.”

            She lowered her eyelids, examining him.  “I don’t know…” she started, “taking rides from someone I’ve just met… especially some guy named Hollis of all names…” she trailed off.

            “Hey, I’m perfectly safe,” he insisted.  “Convenient, too.  I’d also be up for your bribe.”

            “Ah,” Claire said.  “I see where this is going.”  She stretched her long body in her seat and put her hands behind her head.

            Hollis grinned.  “Well, you could sit here waiting for your friend, drawing in the paper like you were, or you could get going home much sooner.”

            “True,” she said.  She sat up and looked around, contemplating the offer.  She picked up the newspaper and folded it back together as he watched her.  He wanted her to go with him so they could be alone in his truck for forty minutes and get to know her.  He couldn’t think of a better way to spend his day.  It’s funny, he thought.  He’d only just met this girl but he didn’t want to leave her.  He drank his coffee as he watched her methodically fold the newspaper and set it on the table perfectly folded.

            She looked over at him and stood up.  “Well, let’s go then?”  She said.

            He blinked at her and stood up.  “Alright,” he said.  “I’m parked this way.”  She picked up her purse and put its long strap across her torso and followed him down the hill to his silver truck. 

Their friends saw them leave from inside the Lost Map.  Mike turned to Amanda and smirked and Amanda said, “He’s leaving with my friend, and my hook up!”  Mike laughed.  Mike and Amanda understood seeing them leave and were not surprised.

Hollis unlocked the passenger side door with his key and opened it for Claire.  Claire got into the truck and pulled a leg up close to her torso.  Hollis opened the driver side door and got in.  He started the engine and looked at her.  She was looking back at him with an expression on her face that he couldn’t quite place.  He pulled out into the street and started the trip with Claire in his truck.  On the way they smoked two joints she had in her purse.

“Where exactly am I taking you?”  He asked once he started driving.

            “Do you know the south entrance?” 

            “Yeah.  Actually I work a few blocks from there.”

            “Oh yeah?  Where at?”

            “Harrison Auto,” he told her, looking over at her.

            “You’re a mechanic?”  She asked, passing him a lit joint.

            “Yep.  Only the best in the city,” he said, grinning at her and taking a hit.

            “Good to know,” she said to him, taking the joint he passed back and looking around at the inside of the truck.  She smoked the joint and opened his glove compartment, finding a gaggle of cassette tapes.  He watched her in his peripheral vision as he drove, taking back the joint she passed to him.

            She  picked up each tape, reading the label and putting it back to pick up the next.  They were mostly old punk tapes; Bad Religion, Minor Threat, Agent Orange, Dead Kennedeys, The Ramones, Dag Nasty, Crass, Black Flag, Bad Brains, the Descendents, Flipper, the Cro-Mags, Suicidal Tendencies and the likes.  She picked up a random tape and put it in the tape deck, turning it on.  The Clash blared out with the Magnificent Seven.  He passed back the joint which was almost gone.  He smirked to himself, liking her initiative to play a tape without asking.

            They were crossing the bridge now, listening to the Clash.  She snubbed the joint out, put it away and lit a new one.  Hollis was digging on her.  He liked the tone of her voice, the words she chose to say and every movement of her body.

            Her body.  He loved her body.  She had curves and a really nice rack.  Not to mention her hips, legs, ass.  Her arms, back, and neck.  She was all curves and straight lines, probably 5 foot 8 inches stacked tall of beauty.  All his life he’d been around super skinny, malnourished, cracked-out girls who bleached their hair and wore layers of make-up and revealing clothes.  This girl was a natural, laid back beauty and he wanted to see more of her.  He hadn’t felt excited about a girl for a long time.

            He smirked at her as she passed him the new joint.  To his surprise she smirked back.  She pulled her other leg up into her seat and sat Indian style.  She knew what this guy was getting at.  She’d been in numerous situations like this one.  She couldn’t decide quite yet if she would give it to him.  She found herself attracted to him, which didn’t happen much to her.  Most guys she met were all alike, but this one was different.  He didn’t look like anyone else she’s met or seen before.  She felt drawn to him like a magnet.  She had to turn her head away from him and smoke the joint while looking out the window before he could read her thoughts.

            “So that’s a pretty good school you’re going to?”  Hollis asked.

            “Yeah, I guess.  It’s expensive, too.”

            “Yeah, no shit,” Hollis agreed.

            “My folks pay for it.  My dad’s a dentist and oral surgeon and makes mad bucks on people’s vanity,” Claire told him.

            Hollis chuckled.  “What are you studying?”

            “I’m a chemistry major,” she said passing him the joint.

            He took it.  He was impressed.  “Chemistry?  Sounds tough.”

            Claire shrugged, blowing out a cloud of smoke.  “It’s not too tough.”

            “What are you going to do with it?”

            “I dunno,” she said.  “There’s a lot I could do with it, I guess.”

            “Yeah, well, that’s still cool,” Hollis said to her.  She smiled at him and took the joint back, hitting it.  It was almost dead and they were almost at the university’s south entrance.

            “Do you live around here?” She asked.

            “Yeah, kind of.  A couple of miles away,” he told her.

            “Oh,” she said.  They had reached the entrance.  He parked in a red zone next to a fire hydrant across the street from the entrance.

            “Well, here we are,” Hollis said.

            “Yeah,” she said.  She unfolded her legs and left the roach in his ashtray.  “Thanks for the ride.”  She smiled at him.

            “Thanks for the smoke,” he smiled back at her.

            “Well, maybe I’ll see you around.”  She moved to get out.

            “Claire,” he said, stopping her.

            She took her hand off the door handle and turned her face to his.  She looked interested.

            “Do you,” he paused.  He knew what he wanted to ask but suddenly he was scared of her.  “Do you want to go out with me sometime?”  He finished.

            “What, like on a date?”  Claire inquired.

            “Yeah,” Hollis said.

            Claire looked at him.  She reached over and lifted his glasses from his eyes and looked into them.  They were gray.  She smirked at him.  “Alright,” she said into his eyes.  He smiled at her.  “When?”

            “Are you free tomorrow night?”  He asked.  He wanted to see her again as soon as he could.

            She paused.  “Yes.”  She placed his glasses back on his nose.  He raised his hand and put them back into place, smiling at her.

            “I finish work around 5.  Uh,” he paused, thinking.  “Can I come get you at 6:30?”  Claire nodded her head yes.  “Should I find you at your room on campus?”

            “Um, it’s kind of confusing to get there.  Do you know the campus?”

            “Not really.”

            “Okay.  Why don’t I just meet you here, at this exact spot?”  Claire suggested.

            “Sounds good,” he said, their eyes still locked.

            Claire turned and opened the door.  The Clash tape had turned over and started again.

            “Well,” Hollis said to her, “see you tomorrow.”

            She turned to him, smiling.  “Bye,” she said and got out of the truck, shutting the door behind her and walking through the traffic.  Cars had to stop a swerve not to hit her.  Hollis sat watching her until he couldn’t see her anymore.  His truck felt empty now that she was gone.  He merged onto the street and drove home.

Part 2.3

            The next day Hollis had a lot of work to do, being Monday, but he talked his boss into letting him go at 5:30 so he could go home and shower before he was supposed to meet Claire.  It must have been the slowest day of his life.

            He jumped into his truck and rushed home.  He rented the bottom apartment of a two-apartment house with two friends of his he’d known most of his life, Will and Tyler.  Will worked in a lumber yard and Tyler was an electrician.  Both of them were two years older than Hollis.  Neither of them were home when he got there.  Hollis took a hot shower, washing the car grime off his body.  In his room he put on a fresh pair of jeans and a collared, button-up short sleeve black shirt.  When he left his room Will was sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette.

            “Shit, dude, I didn’t hear you come home,” Hollis said.

            “I just got home maybe ten minutes ago.”  Will looked up at him.  “What are you all dressed up for?”

            Hollis sat next to him.  “I got a date,” he said, lighting a cigarette.

            “Oh yeah?  Anyone I know?”

            “No, don’t think so,” Hollis said.

            “Oh,” Will said.  “Is she hot?”

            “Fuckin’ smoking,” Hollis grinned.

            “Nice,” Will said.

            Hollis got up from the couch and grabbed a beer from the fridge and drank it within two minutes.  He finished his cigarette standing up and grabbed his dark gray jacket.  “I’m outta here,” he told Will.  “I’ll see you later.”

            “Hey, see ya.  Have fun!  Be safe, man,” Will called out as Hollis left.

            Hollis got into his truck and drove to the meeting spot with twenty minutes to spare.  He sat in his truck next to the fire hydrant and within ten minutes Claire crossed the street and got into the truck, smiling at him.  She saw how his jacket was the same color as his eyes.  He smiled back at her.  Neither of them had spoken.  He thought she looked more beautiful than the day before.  She was wearing a pair of burgundy pants and a tight, long sleeved black shirt and the same black sweater, unbuttoned and the same purse strapped across her torso.

            “I brought party favors,” Claire said, pulling a small bottle of bourbon and a small sack of weed out of her purse.  Hollis could only keep smiling.  He wanted to lean over and kiss her but he knew it was too soon.  He pulled out into the street and found a safe place to park on a small tree-lined street next to a wall a few blocks away.  They passed the bottle of bourbon back and forth and smoked a bowl before getting out of the truck, talking about what they should do.  They were both hungry so they decided to walk around Telegraph St. until they saw someplace to go.

            Telegraph St. was only a couple blocks up the street where Hollis’ truck was parked.  Once they got there the crowds got thicker.  They’d have to squeeze through people at some points outside popular spots and eateries.  As the passed through, Hollis would sometimes feel Claire’s hand on his arm or back.  When they were walked next to each other he felt the urge to put his arm around her but he was also still too scared of her to touch her.

            They stopped inside a coffee shop that wasn’t too crowded.  Both of them ordered plain drip coffee, nothing fancy.  Both of them drank it black.  They sat at a small table in the corner, away from most of the people in there.

            “So you’re 19?” Claire asked him.  “I thought you were older.”

            Hollis chuckled.  “I thought you were older.”

            “What month were you born in?”

            “February,” he told her.

            She raised an eyebrow.  “Really?”  He nodded.  “What day?”

            “The 26^th,” he said, drinking his coffee.

            “You and I have the same birthday,” she told him.  She drank her coffee while staring into his eyes.

            Hollis drank his coffee so he wouldn’t have to say anything.  She obviously came from a good family and he was afraid of her finding out that he was an orphan.

            As they sat in the corner Hollis glanced around the room and noticed people looking at them.  Well, they were mostly looking at Claire.  He felt a little possessive.  He didn’t want anyone checking her out.  She was with him.  She was there for him to look at.  He suggested leaving.  He also felt hungry.  He had eaten a burrito 5 hours ago, that was all for the day.  Claire downed the rest of her coffee real quick and under the table she filled her cup halfway with some bourbon.  Her long hair was blocking the view of her face from everyone except Hollis, who she was facing.  When the bourbon bottle was put away she agreed to go.

            He led her away from the crowded street.  They passed the cup of bourbon back and forth.  Once it was empty they threw the cup away in a public trashcan.  Hollis pulled out a pack of cigarettes, offering her one before taking one himself.  He held out a flame for her and she steadied his hand with hers as she lit up.  He lit his own and walked down the street close to each other until they ended up in front of a small Ethiopian restaurant.

            “Have you ever been here before?” Claire asked Hollis.

            “No, but I’ve heard its good,” he said, telling her the truth.

            “Same here,” Claire said.

            “Do you want to try it?” Hollis asked.

            “Yeah, why not?”  They stood outside until their cigarettes were gone and they went inside.  Hollis felt Claire’s hand on his elbow while they were escorted to their table.  They were given a small private table where they sat on pillows on the floor surrounded by thin wooden walls.  The menu offered finger foods cooked in curry that you ate with freshly made flat bread.

            After they ordered they sat reclining on the floor facing each other over the table.  They both had a good buzz going on.  Hollis wanted to ask her questions about herself but he knew she’d ask him the same questions in return so he didn’t speak much and sat looking at her.  She was checking out the décor of the room.  She took off her purse and sweater and he saw how her shirt was molded around her body.  It showed no skin but was the sexiest shirt he’d ever seen.  It left him wanting to see what was under the shirt.  He followed her example and removed his jacket.  When he looked back up at he she saw her looking at him.

            “So,” she began, “are you from around here?”

            “Yeah,” he said, not wanting to reveal too much about himself.  “I grew up in ‘Frisco.”

            “Me too.”  She paused.  “What high school did you go to?”

            “Uh, I didn’t really go to high school.”

            “You didn’t?”

            “No.”  He paused.  “I was kind of privately tutored and I passed my G.E.D. when I was 16.”

            “Oh,” she said.  “I graduated early, around the time I turned 17.”  She picked up her water glass and sipped it, staring at his eyes.  “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

            Hollis exhaled.  “Yes and no.”  Claire raised an eyebrow at him and he continued.  “I have some friends who are like brothers.  But I don’t have any… blood brothers.”  Claire nodded, understanding him and he changed the subject to her.  “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

            “Yeah.  I’ve got five.”

            Hollis blinked at her.  “Five?”

            “Yeah.  My oldest sister is 25.  She has two kids.  My older brother is 23, he has a son.  My younger sister is 16, she has a baby, and my twin brothers are almost 10.”

            “That’s a big family.”

            “Yeah,” Claire agreed.  Just then their food was brought to them and they started to eat.

            “So if your brothers and sisters all have kids at young ages, why didn’t you?” Hollis asked.

            Claire shrugged.  “I didn’t want to have a kid or get tied down to someone I don’t like, like them, so I never had sex with anyone.  I’m the first to go to college, after my dad of course.”

            “You never had sex?” He asked.

            Claire shook her head from side to side and fed herself some food.  Hollis was looking at her.  “You don’t believe me?”  She asked.

            “Well, you’re just so pretty…”

            Claire chuckled.  “What, pretty girls can’t not have sex?”

            “Well, no, I mean, no one’s tried to get you in bed?”

            “Oh, they’re tried.  And, I have been sexual before, I just never went the whole mile, you know?  I didn’t want my life to turn out like my sisters’, stuck with a high school boyfriend she’s not into, or raising a baby at home, by herself, in her teens.”

            “I see,” Hollis said between bites.  “That makes sense.  You were around it and you didn’t want the consequences so you avoided it.”

            “Exactly.  It’s not that weird, at least, not to me.”  She ate some food and watched him eat and on an impulse she asked, “How many girls have you had sex with?”

            “Um,” Hollis chuckled and ate a bite, thinking about it.  “Nine, I think.”

            “That’s quite a tally you have there.”

            Hollis shrugged.  “Most of those girls kind of talked me into it.”  He drank some water.  “I only really liked one or two.  Anyway, that’s nothing compared to my friends.”  He stopped talking, wondering if he had said too much.  He felt awkward and wasn’t looking at her anymore.  If he had been looking at her he would have seen her smiling at him.  She didn’t care if he’s been with a bunch of girls.  It made sense, he was hot.  It’s rare to find virgins in this day of people their age.  She knew she was an anomaly.  She also didn’t want to touch most of the guys who tried to get her in bed.  She didn’t want to be some guy’s number 30^th lay.

            “Well,” she said, getting his attention.  “I can see why so many girls went after you.”  He looked up at her as she put her lips around some food.  He gave her a crooked smile and at some of his own food.  She excited him.

            Claire had finished most of her food and was done eating.  She brought out the bourbon bottle that was mostly gone too.  She took a swig and gave the rest to Hollis.  The food they ate had absorbed most of their buzz.  Hollis drank the last swig and gave the empty bottle back to Claire who put it away in her purse just in time before their server returned to take away their plates and ask about dessert.  The two declined and the server left and returned with their check.

            Claire and Hollis sat studying each other.  They were both at a loss for something to say.  They both reminded each other of themselves.  They had only just met and barely knew each other, but they both wanted the same thing, which was each other.  When Hollis moved she could see the shape of his body moving under his shirt.  At times he caught her staring at his shoulders.  She glanced into his eyes and smiled.

            “Ready to go?”  Hollis asked.

            “Yeah, I guess.  Where do you want to go now?”

            Hollis shrugged.  He didn’t want to take her to his place around his friends yet, but he didn’t want their night to end.

            “Do you want to go to my room?  I’ve got more drinks there,” she suggested.  “Also more smoke.”

            “That sounds good,” Hollis said, leaving a $20 bill with their check which was more than enough for their meal.  They stood up and put their jacket and sweater on respectively.  On the way out Hollis was brave enough to put his hand on Claire’s back.

            Outside they both lit up a cigarette.  They strolled back the way they came and Claire hooked a finger through one on Hollis’ belt loops.  He glanced down at her and they smiled at each other.  She finished her cigarette and dropped it on the sidewalk.  He did the same.  Before they got back to the crowded streets Claire tossed the empty bourbon bottle in a trashcan.  As they got closer to the university and the streets got more and more crowded Hollis casually swung his arm around Claire’s shoulders.  She fit perfectly into his arm and next to his body.  He liked feeling the movement of her body against his.

            “Do you want to leave you truck where it is, or park it closer to the school or something?” Claire asked him, her fingers tugging a little on the hem of his shirt.

            “I think its fine where it is.  I didn’t see any signs around where we parked.”

            “Okay,” Claire said casually.  He could feel her fingers travelling around his torso to his back and holding onto his shirt.  His hand squeezed her far shoulder.  “So you like to work on cars, huh?”  Claire asked.

            Hollis shrugged.  “Yeah, I guess.  It’s a job.  It has a high demand.  I’m pretty good with tools and machines.”

            “Is your dad a mechanic?”

            Hollis hesitated.  He didn’t know what to say.  He didn’t want to lie but he didn’t want to tell the truth.  He didn’t know why he was scared to tell her the truth about himself.  “Uh,” he started.  She looked up at him.  He was looking off ahead of them.  “I don’t know what my dad does,” he finally said.  Saying that, he decided to get it all out into the open.  He didn’t want to lie and keep things from her, and if she didn’t like his life and he never saw her again he’d be sad, but it wouldn’t hurt him as much as it would have if he’d waited to tell her.  “I don’t have any parents,” he confessed.  “I’m an orphan.  I was abandoned before I was one year old.”

            “Really?”  She asked, looking at his face.

            He turned his face down to hers.  They’d stopped walking.  They were somewhere on the campus now.  “Yeah.  I don’t know who my family is.”  He felt her fingers kind of scratching his back.  He liked it.  He wanted to bend down and kiss her.  Then he noticed all the people walking around them and he didn’t move.  He was also unsure of how she felt.  He didn’t want to push himself on her.

            “So you’ve been alone your whole life?”  She asked.  They were standing facing each other.

            “Pretty much.”  He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

            “Wow, you’ve done pretty good for yourself, huh?”

            Hollis smiled.  “Yeah,” he said, “yeah, I have.”

            Claire smiled back at him and took his hand from his pocket.  She led him to a side door of a tall building.  Out of her purse she took her wallet and held it up to a small box with a red light next to the door.  They heard a beep, the red light turned green and there was a click.  She pulled it open and led Hollis inside into a white stairwell leading up with blue doors and windows at each floor.  He followed her up the stairs.  From below her he had a great view of her ass walking up the stairs.  She kept walking up, passing floors 2, 3, 4, and finally stopped at 5.  She opened the door up there the same way she opened the first door.  She led him through hallways past doors plastered with pictures, names, and white dry-erase boards with messages written on them.  There were banners hanging from the ceiling with words like “Go Bears” written in blue and yellow.  From behind the doors he heard people talking loudly and loud music of a type he would never listen to himself.  From what he saw, the whole college scene looked a little super-fiscal.

            After following her past doors and around corners she stopped in front of a door with nothing on it except the numbers 2522.  She opened the door with a key and found a folded piece of paper on the floor inside the room.  She picked it up and opened it.  It was a note saying: “C- come see me, M.”  Claire folded it back up and led him inside her room.  He followed her inside and she shut the door.

            The room shot out in front of them in a rectangle.  To the left was a bathroom and to their right was a bed, a desk and a dresser that all looked plain un-used.  Hollis saw a couple of pictures taped to the wall where he recognized some of the girls.  He couldn’t tell which one the bed belonged to.

            “This is my roommate’s stuff,” she told him.

            “You have a roommate?”

            “Yeah, but she’s never here.  I might have seen her four or five times this semester.”

            “Ah,” Hollis said, a little relieved they wouldn’t be interrupted.

            She walked towards the back of the room and opened a window.  He stood watching her.  The room seemed to jut out in an L-shape.  She turned to him.

            “You can make yourself comfortable.  I have to use the restroom,” she said to him.

            “Okay,” he said as she disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door.  He walked around the corner and saw her bed.  She had a couple of pillows in pillowcases with small purple flowers on them and a big quilted blanket.  Above her bed was her only poster which boasted the words “Iggy and the Stooges, Sonic Youth and Mudhoney, May 3^rd,” and had a weird collage of pictures of people on it.  Her desk and dresser were along the walls, littered with small toys and trinkets and personal belongings.  He stood around until she came out of the bathroom, then went in himself.

            When he emerged he went around the corner and she was sitting crossed-legged on her bed packing a bong.  He grinned at her and sat next to her on the bed.  They sat smoking the bong and she pulled out some vodka and orange juice from a small refrigerator next to her desk, almost hidden, and made them some drinks.  Hollis drank his quickly and set the empty cup on the carpet.  He rubbed his hands on his thighs and looked over at her.  She was finishing her drink and set her empty cup on the windowsill.  They sat staring at each other.

            “Do you want another drink?  She asked.  “More pot?” 

He shook his head no.  What he wanted was to kiss her.  Being around her relaxed him.  Claire stretched hey legs out to the floor.  She turned her head to look at Hollis.  He smiled slightly and raised his hand to her face.  She glanced at it and then to his face.  Before she could blink he leaned to her and his lips pressed gently on hers.  She closed her eyes and her hand raised and hovered it in front of his shoulder.  He pulled his face a few inches from hers.  Their eyes locked and her hand fell onto his shoulder.  The only sound was the sound of them breathing.  He leaned back towards her and she met him halfway.  Their lips locked passionately and her arms crept around his neck.  Hollis put his arms around her back and they pressed their bodies together.

            He laid her on the bed and brushed the hair from her face.  He lay over her and their legs stretched out on the bed.  He kissed her again, trailing his hand down the length of her hair.  She pulled away from him, looking at his face.  He blinked at her, afraid he did something wrong.  He was about to pull away from her and sit up but she raised her hand and took off his glasses, folding them in her hand.  Her arms went around his neck again and she kissed him, caressing his lips.  He returned her kiss and trailed his hand down her body to her leg and back up.

            They began to make-out heavily, breathing hard and pressing their bodies together.  Claire groped at his arms, shoulders, put her hands up his shirt and felt his hard chest and abs.  Every single part of his body was hard and firm.  Especially his erection which she felt pressed against her body.

            While her free hand was feeling his body his hand travelled over hers.  She felt soft and smooth.  She smelled soft and smooth.  Their legs tangled together.  He took his glasses from her hand and reached over to set them on the windowsill.  He kissed her face down to her neck and she tore his jacket off his body, letting it fall to the floor.  They shifted and she was leaning over him.  As they kissed his hands went up her shirt and he felt lace on her breasts.  Her hand crept up his shirt again while the other slowly unbuttoned it.  Her lips went down his neck and kissed his chest.

            Hollis’ breath became shallow and his hand pulled her shirt up.  He felt her fingernails trailing along his chest and he pulled her shirt over her head.  He saw her breasts through her lace bra and flipped her back underneath him, kissing her newly exposed skin.  Her breasts were beautiful with dark nipples and perfectly round, dark areolas the same color.  They filled his hand perfectly.  He kissed them through the lace and he tilted his head up and looked at her.  Her eyes met his and he brought his lips up to hers.  Her fingers trailed through his short hair and dug into his neck.

            They continued touching each other and bonding throughout the night.  Eventually they both ended up topless, only in their underwear, touching every inch of each other’s bodies.  Hollis fell asleep on her twin bed halfway through the night with Claire sleeping in his arm, resting her head on his chest, rising and falling as he breathed in and out.