Julia Karr - Truth

I yanked my coat off the back of the chair, which clattered to the floor. Ignoring it, I stormed out. Enough was too much.

Sal and Wei followed me outside. Their faces reflected concern, but I wasn’t sure either of them really understood how insulted I’d felt.

“How can Chris stand to be with that… that… Gah!” I railed. “What a clueless… I’d expect something like that from Paulette, but not your brother’s girlfriend.”

Wei opened her mouth, but before the words came out, a voice behind me said, “Don’t judge what you don’t know.”

I spun around, face-to-face with Paulette.

My adrenaline was pumping, and I couldn’t have backed down if I’d wanted to. “I know you and your kind.”

“Trust me,” she said. “I wouldn’t be who I am if I were that kind.” A stretch trannie pulled up in front of us. The driver got out, came around, and opened the door for Paulette. She slid into the cavernous backseat. “See you.”

The three of us watched until the trannie turned the corner, out of sight. A cold blast of wind knocked any residual anger out of me. I yanked on my coat. “Guess I’ve ruined the evening for everyone. I’m heading home.”

“Me, too,” Wei said. “I’ll get my jacket.”

“No, you stay,” I insisted. “You and Derek should have some fun. Tell him I’m sorry.”

Sal grabbed my arm. “I’ll take you back to Wei’s house, Nina.”

“It’s her house, too.” Wei stuffed her hands in her pockets and turned to me. “You do know that Chris doesn’t feel the same as Martinique, right? She’s just some girl. He has lots. I don’t think he requires position statements before asking for a date.”

“Maybe he should,” I said.

“Well, I’ll suggest it.” She gave me a quick hug. “I’d better get back inside. I left Martinique in there with the girls. Brie’s only got Mag to keep an eye on her. She can get pretty wound up, since Dorrie’s a tier-three. I’ll see you at home.” She ducked back inside, and Sal and I started walking.

“You’re getting pretty good at making scenes.” Sal linked his arm into mine. “You know, I have some business coming up again tomorrow. But my brother took his wife out for a night on the town. How about we go to my house before I take you home?”

I’d never been to Sal’s place, and it seemed like light-years since we’d had any alone time. “Cool.” I chose to ignore my earlier irritation at his protective nature. We could talk that out another time.

Sal pulled up in front of a tall, skinny three-story house, squeezed between two taller apartment buildings. “This is it. I grew up here. Mom, Dad, and I moved into an apartment after John and Maeve got married. Dad deeded the house to John… just in case.”

“What do you mean about ‘just in case’? Did your dad know something would happen to him?”

“Come on inside.” Their entry was similar to the Jenkinses’, with a retinal scan rather than an auto-recognition pad. Sal closed the door behind us. “It’s a total dead zone here—like the Jenkinses’. Chris did it in exchange for the work on his trannie. So you know how my dad and my mother died, on assignment for the Global Times over in Scotland?”

“Uh-huh.” I squeezed his arm.

“The Governing Council was behind that trip, and Dad thought they were up to something. Mom insisted on going. She claimed it was because she’d never been to the Greater United Isles, but I think she had a premonition or something and wanted to be with my dad if anything happened.”

In the dim hall lighting, I saw Sal’s eyes glistening.

“They must have loved each other very much.”

His “yeah” came out strangled.

I knew how he felt. We’d both lost our parents to the GC. Well, granted, my dad was alive, but I still hadn’t met him, and he’d never been a part of my life. I had Gran and Pops, too, but that wasn’t the same as a parent. Sal and I had that loss in common. I put my arms around his neck and kissed him. We stood there, wrapped in each other, until we had to breathe.

“Come on.” He took my hand, leading me through the house to the stairs. “I’ve got the room on the top floor. You want a Sparkle or some water before we trek up there?”

“No,” I said. “Just another kiss, please.”

He obliged.

I wasn’t sure we were even going to make it to the stairs. The next time we came up for air, he lifted me onto the first step. “All the way up. Don’t stop till the stairs run out.”

The staircase was narrow, so we had to go one at a time. Sal said, “I’m right here to catch you if you fall,” and he touched my behind.

I play-swatted his hand away. “I think I’ll make it.”

It was so odd, being in Sal’s house, alone with him. A few weeks ago I would have been freaked out by the very idea. But now… Media insists that sixteen-year-old girls are sex-obsessed sex-teens, I know it’s not true. Not for me, and honestly, I think most girls are bullied into believing it’s true by zines like XVI Ways or all the verts that show girls tempting guys in their skimpy clothes and over-the-top sexual attitudes. With Sal, I found out that having a boyfriend isn’t at all the way they said it should be. I could have fun, mess around, be a teen. Just because we kissed and held each other didn’t mean we were going to have sex. Although it was also true that I did think about it. Especially at times like— Shut. Up. I told the thoughts racing around my brain.

“My room.” Sal threw open the door at the top of the stairs to reveal a sparsely furnished, but incredibly neat bedroom. There was a desk and chair on one wall. An older-model Family AV in the corner and a huge bed next to the window. A digi with, I guessed, his mother and father was on the desk, along with some random text chips. And a projection of a 260G Persides transport on the wall. It looked like Mike and Derek’s rooms—pretty guylike—to me.

“You could take your coat off.” He tossed his on the chair. Before I got mine unbuttoned, he was in front of me.

A smile spread across my face as he took over unbuttoning the remaining buttons, then threw my coat on top of his.

His hands slipped around my waist, touching the tiniest slice of skin. I quivered down to my toes. “I’m sorry I couldn’t talk when I was gone. We were… well, I can’t tell you, but I just couldn’t risk the signals getting intercepted. And the less you know—”

I put my arms over his shoulders. “I know.” My lips homed in on his, soft and warm. Our tongues gently prodding and pushing, and I felt the world disappear. We must have been floating up to the stars.

His hands worked their way up my body, under my sweater. With one hand he stroked my stomach while he cupped one of my breasts in the other. No one else had ever touched me like that, and it was thrilling. My whole body was thrumming with the sensations that pulsed through me. We backed over to the bed, and he lifted me onto the covers. The cool sheets sent shivers through me when my bare skin touched them. They were warmed in an instant because my body was on fire.

Sal pulled my sweater over my head, leaving me in just my bra. He lay down beside me, his hand on one breast, kissing across my chest to the other. My half-heart charm that he’d given to me fell into a spot between them.

This wasn’t what they taught in Sex Ed. And it wasn’t anything my mom and I had talked about. Definitely nothing like those awful sex vids that Ed had left at our house. It all felt so good and natural. I touched Sal’s face, and he rose. Struggling out of his shirt, he pressed his body against mine and kissed me, hungrily. My body took over my brain, knowing exactly what it wanted. His muscles rippled under my fingers as I ran my hands down his back. He ducked his head back down to my breasts, and a little moan escaped me. His hand went to my waist, unbuttoning the band of my jeans. Something inside my head clicked, and I pulled his hand away.