HUGE 3D: Chapter 15

I’ve texted Falon before the triplets have a chance to take me school, and I go to sit out on the front porch, left alone to my thoughts. The dread sits heavy in my stomach, and if it were literally any other time during the semester, I would’ve probably just skipped, but with my exams, there’s just no way I can afford to do that.

I have to put on a brave face.

I have to face the music.

I imagine myself trying to ease my way onto campus, taking the least traveled shortcuts around to the building my finite mathematics class is in. There were only a few people outside of the Red Devil last night, so maybe I’m just blowing everything out of proportion. Though, rumors like the craziness that came from my mouth last night spread like wildfire around here. Hopefully, everyone was too drunk to realize what was going on, and maybe they’ve already forgotten about it.

A little red Honda pulls up in front of the house, and I scoop up my tote bag to hop into Falon’s car. Her expression is strained as she says hello. This is probably not a good sign.

“So, I’m just gonna come out and say it,” she says, before pulling away. “What is this crazy shit I heard about you from Jordon. He texts me first thing after I woke up, telling me he heard about you and the Mason triplets from one of his friends. Apparently, you were all fighting about it out in the parking lot at Red Devils last night.” Her eyebrows are almost hitting her hairline. She sounds worried but also pretty intrigued. I don’t blame her to be honest. If I heard a rumor like that about Falon, I’d be chomping at the bit to know the truth too.

I slump down in my seat. What the hell am I supposed to say here? If I deny it, Falon might find out the truth otherwise, and then I’ve lost my best friend’s trust. With the way the guys handled things last night with me, all the things they did and said, I’ll probably just blush and blow my cover anyway. It’ll be a dead giveaway. I put my face in my hands because admitting this out loud is going to be one of the most mortifying things that I’ve ever had to do, and even though Falon is my bestie, this is still some seriously personal shit. “Oh, god,” I say, groaning. “I can’t believe the rumors spread that fast.”

“Rumors based on lies or rumors based on truth?” she asks.

I can’t even bring myself to answer her directly. “Don’t be mad that I didn’t tell you before, it’s just that —” I say.

Her mouth opens with a loud pop. “Oh my God, Milly! It really happened?” I guess she hadn’t believed the rumors. I can only hope that might mean that others will think the same thing.

I nod, because what else can I do? “Yeah. It happened.”

She takes a moment before putting the car into drive, looking me over. “Well, you can’t just leave me hanging. What in the world…how the hell did you go there?” she asks, not in a disapproving tone, but more in awe of me being able to pull it off. Leave it to Falon to react this way.

“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t really thinking. That’s the problem, but with my mom and Richard gone this week, things just sort of happened. One minute we’re arguing and they’re bugging the shit out of me, the next…well…I guess one thing just led to another and, well…oh, god,” I groan, dropping my head in my hands again. “How am I gonna deal with this, Falon?”

“Wo there, girl…” Falon gasps, putting up a hand. “Back up!”

“What?”

“Be fair on your bestie. You can’t just drop a bomb shell like that, tell me none of the deets and then expect me to be passing out advice.”

I grimace. Details. I’m struggling to recall them without swooning and they are my memories.

“I don’t know what to say…”

Falon looks at me pointedly. “Well, you could start with if it was good. You’re not upset about it are you?”

I inhale deeply. “It was amazing,” I say, and I really mean it. “And I’m not upset it happened. Not really. If there were no damn consequences to deal with it would probably be one of my most treasured memories for life, but people have found out…my own stupid fault…and now I don’t know what to do. And the boys won’t listen to me when I tell them we need to stop.”

Falon glances at me. “You mean they’re wanting it to be a long term thing?”

I nod. “Yeah. Well, at least that’s what they said last night.”

“Wow.”

For the first time in our entire friendship, Falon seems lost for words.

“Yeah…wow. That just about sums it all up.”

Falon is quiet for at least a minute. I’m imagining what she’s thinking. Expecting, something profound and completely out of character.

Then she burst out laughing. “You are such a naughty girl, Milly! I would never have expected something like this of you.” She bangs her hand on the steering wheel. “You think you know people and then they shock the shit out of you.”

“Shut up,” I say but this just makes her laugh even harder.

“Okay, so you know you owe me all the dirty details, don’t you? You keep something this huge from me…I deserve to know every juicy, sticky detail.” she says, waggling her eyebrows at me as we turned to the main road.

I can’t help but smile back at her. Falon is a good friend and somehow she’s managed to make me feel better about everything, despite the fact that we are getting closer to college and I’m getting nearer to finding out what people are saying about me. “You know I’m not the type to kiss and tell, Falon, and anyway, I’m sure everyone is going to have their own version of what happened once we get to school.”

“Well, there have been some pretty crazy rumors about what they get up to but who knows how much of that is true vs. speculation and over exaggeration.”

“I think a lot of it is probably true,” I say, blushing.

“Damn,” Falon shakes her head. “I thought you were telling me a few days ago that there’s more to life than sex.”

“I might have said that.”

“You are full of shit sometimes, my friend.”

I laugh. “I stand by what I said, Falon.”

“You’re bullshitting me, Mills. There are some pretty crazy rumors about the triplets going on out there, but they are all amazing. Only positive reviews, and if you’ve been getting down with them, then I know you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Maybe,” I concede. I can tell if I don’t I’m going to end up going into some serious conversation about my dad, and I have enough on my plate right now without having to dredge that all up too.

“They’ve got all these girls hanging around them all the time but they haven’t been seen with anyone for a while. Not since Amy.”

I shudder. “I think that girl put them all off dating altogether.”

“Until you…” Falon says, eyebrows around her hairline.

“It’s was just sex,” I say.

“Bullshit, and you know it. You think they’d be risking their home life for ‘just sex’. They can get ‘just sex’ any day of the week, Milly. They might like sex and be damn good at sex but to risk tag teaming your stepsister must be motivated by something else. And I saw them with you at the Red Devil. That didn’t look like ‘just sex’ to me.”

I stare out of the window, letting Falon’s words sink in. I kept thinking about the risk I was taking but giving into the triplets, but I hadn’t thought about it from their perspective. They love their dad just as much as I love my mom. They’ve seen him suffer too. I don’t think they’d be willing to mess things up at home just for the sake of a fling.

God, I’m so confused.

“So, what do you think?” I ask her.

“I think they must actually feel something for you, Milly. As odd as it is to think about them as a single unit. They say twins and triplets often end up having the same taste in the opposite sex. Aren’t there lots of cases where one set of twins marry another set of twins. There must be something behind that. They are genetically the same after all. But then again, it’s just my opinion and opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one.”

“I guess.”

“And I don’t know what kind of set up the four of you have going on, but I wouldn’t be so quick to write them off just yet. It just comes down to the fact that there’s three of them.” She giggles. “Damn girl, there are three of them.”

“I know, and they are big!”

Falon giggles again. “So I’ve heard.”

“That wasn’t what I meant, and you know it!”

“Yeah, yeah…whatever!” she says. “I’ve heard the rumors. I have some context.”

She flicks on the radio just as we’re getting close to school. My eyes are fixed out of the window, worry about what I’m about to walk into, but there’s also this tiny little flame of warmth in my chest as I think about Dane, Dylan, and Drew. Maybe I really did misunderstand them last night.

We part up and stroll to our Finite Mathematics class, Falon’s chatting openly about the new guy Jordan’s been seeing, while I’m half listening and half watching the people around us. It seems like everywhere I look, someone’s whispering behind their hands. It could just be me being paranoid but it doesn’t feel like it.

I slump down into my chair as far as I can, dropping my head down, avoiding anyone else’s eyes. It doesn’t matter though, because I’m going to be out there, amongst everyone as soon as I leave the exam.

The Professor holds up a copy of our paper, waiting around at the front of the class. “As you take your seats this morning, you will see that you all have a copy of the exam on your desk. Please get your pencils and your study guides out, and we will begin the exam in just a moment.”

For now, I will just have to try and concentrate, but later, I need to deal with what the hell I am doing with my life. There is damage to repair and I have no idea how to go about it.