Sixteen: Zachary Mason

She propped up her chin with one hand, spun her pen on the other. She was done with her exam and was waiting for the announcement that time was up. All the other students were still deep in thoughts, you can hear a pin dropped in the classroom. Out from the corner of her eye, she saw a figure outside the window. When she took a glance, Preston was waving at her with both arms up high.

His hair was long enough to be tied back in a tiny pony tail. He was wearing a worn-out T-shirt, the collar was loose, his necklace hung out, the top of his chest was visible. He was mouthing something that she couldn't made out. It didn't take long for the other students to notice him, and the girls were starting to murmured, "It's Preston Hicks." There were giggling sound. Preston pointed to the cafeteria, his mouth was moving, "I'll wait for you at the cafeteria."

Julie nodded, but then he was mouthing something else that was harder to understand. The classroom was buzzing. The girls waved at him, he smiled and winked at them, he was chewing a bubble gum. And then they were giggling some more.

"Okay ... can somebody tell Jim Morrison there to not disturb the classroom? We are still in exam," the professor said. Everyone turned to look at Julie. She waved at him to tell him to go away.

Preston realized he was disrupting the peace, he lifted his arms in a V and pressed himself against the window. His belly button was bulging above his black leather pants. Everyone was laughing. The Professor was not too happy about it, "Ms. Greene ... will you please tell your friend to stop distracting my class, or I will have to report this to the Dean."

"Yes, Sir, sorry about that," she stood up and gestured Preston to leave.

He laughed, stuck his bubble gum on the window glass, and licked it back in a slow seducing way.

"Oh God," Julie muttered to herself and covered her face with one hand.

He winked at her as he walked away, serenaded with the girls sigh of admiration.

"I'm really sorry about that Professor Cane."

The Professor stared stiff at her, he wasn't the least bit amused. "I haven't the faintest idea why you are friends with that eccentric gentleman ... please make sure that that will never happen again."

"I will, Sir," she sat down and all the girls were whispering.

He was leaning against a beam, playing with his bubble gum when she arrived at the cafeteria 20 minutes later. She took a tissue from her backpack and snatched the bubble gum from his mouth. "Do you know when the last time anybody cleaned that window? That's disgusting, Preston." She threw the tissue to the bin.

He jumped off and hugged her, "I just did, with my humping, didn't you see?"

"Don't ever do that again, I don't want to get notices from the Dean over your little stunts," she warned him. "What was so urgent anyways?"

He put his arm over her shoulder and walked with her toward the parking lot. "I need you to come back to my place, I want to take some videos before you leave."

She was leaving in two weeks. Preston had made a couple of new songs that he wanted to record, and a couple of cover songs for his youtube channel. So they went to his car and drove to his house.

When they entered, his mom was in the pantry. "Julie! How nice to see you, dear. I was wondering when Preston was going to come home and bring you around?" she greeted her with a peck on the cheeks.

"Hi, Mrs. H. how are you?"

"Oh, I'm alright, how are you? I heard you're taking an internship in Bhorma for three months? That's an excellent location you've chosen, Bhorma is absolutely gorgeous! I wonder when Preston is going to do the same and graduate, since he's always busy with his bandmates and his music," she gave her son a sharp look. "Your dad's company is not going to run itself, you know?"

Preston was munching on some cupcakes her mom made, dismissing her satire entirely. "Julie's pretty good with business, mom, she'll run the company when we get married one day," he joked. There was a satisfied glow on his mom's face. She had always believed that Julie was Preston's steady girlfriend. Even though he brought many dates every now and then, Julie was a constant face and she's the kind of girl any parent would love to see with their sons.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to take my girlfriend upstairs and have some quality time," he spoke into his mom's ear.

Julie blushed, "Oh we're just gonna make some videos ... and I'm not his girlfriend."

"Of course, honey, don't mind me, I'll be baking cakes down here all day for the charity event ... you kids go upstairs and have fun," she believed her son.

"We will ... thanks mom," Preston looped his arm around Julie's and escorted her upstairs.

"Oh ... and Preston ... " They turned to hear what she had to say. "Don't forget to use protection," she smiled.

"Mrs. H. we're not ..."

Preston put his hand over Julie's mouth, "Of course, mom, I stocked up on that every week," he said, half laughing.

"Good, see you later kids."

Julie slapped Preston on his butt as they climbed the stairs. "Preston! I can't believe you let her think we're dating!"

"No, I let her think we're fucking ... everyone knows we're dating ..." he burst out laughing.

He pulled his shirt off as soon as they went into his bedroom, then he pulled down his leather pants. Usually he wouldn't be wearing anything underneath, he was wearing super tight boxers that day. And that was how Preston always want to be in his bedroom, in the nude, the boxers were for Julie's benefit.

"Why do you like to be naked so much? Do you always take off your clothes around all your friends?" she asked.

Preston looked at her casually, "Yeah, I'm only wearing the boxers for you ... you might be the only girl I know that doesn't want to see what's underneath it." He chuckled obnoxiously. She rolled her eyes and threw a pillow to his face. "And usually ... everyone else are naked too," he was referring to his orgies. "Sometimes ..."

Julie put her palm on his face, "Forget I ask ... I don't wanna know." She sat on the edge of the bed, "Kelsey's like that too ... I'm so lucky to have best friends who loves to be naked around me," her tone was bitter.

"Do you take your clothes off with her?" he had a naughty look on his face.

"No ... I like wearing clothes ... well, unless I'm being intimate with someone," she wrapped her arms around herself and stretched in her cardigan.

Preston pressed his lips, the image of her being intimate with someone was unnerving. He started to strum his guitar. "You can't have two best friends, though, it wouldn't be 'best', who do you consider closest? Me or Kelsey?"

"That's ridiculous," she threw herself on the bed. "You're both my best friends, she's the girl and you're the guy, I can have one of each and still can call you both 'best'."

"Did she tell you she was hooking up with Zachary Mason the other night?"

Julie jolted up from the bed, "What? No, she didn't, how do you know that?"

"I saw her making out with him at The Den, his hands were right up her ass, pheew ..." Preston shook his head. "They were really going at it, and then they went to his car and disappeared."

Julie was gaping, she was lost for words.

"I guess she didn't tell you that ... don't tell her I told you that, there must be a reason why she didn't say anything."

Julie covered her face with both hands, "Because I'll be working with her boyfriend in two weeks ... what the hell was she thinking?"

"I'm sure it was just a harmless hook up, she wanted to have sex ... I think it's understandable," he said lightly.

Julie glared at him, they both really do have a lot in common.

"What? Some people need more sex than others, it doesn't mean they don't love the person they choose to be with ... it's just sex," he defended his point of view.

"If your girlfriend is having sex with someone else, you'd be okay with it?"

Preston stared at her while thinking of his answer, "If I had a long distance relationship, I would understand if she slipped up ... but it depends on the girl, if the girl is you than ... you're not the kind of person that would do that, so if that happens with you, that means the relationship is basically over."

"What? How does that even ... you know forget it ... I don't even know why I asked you that," she sulked.

"Why are you so upset about it? It's not like she's never done anything like this before, you know how she is."

"Nathan is my friend, he's going to be my employer, and he's a good person ... he doesn't deserve this," she replied.

"If he doesn't know, it wouldn't hurt him." It sounded like the kind of solution Kelsey would resort to.

"If he doesn't know, it doesn't mean it didn't happened ... you see the distinction?" She was on her feet and started pacing back and forth. "Are you sure it was her?" She wanted it to be untrue.

Preston threw a dismissive hand, "Maybe it wasn't her ... can we just forget that I ever mentioned it? I didn't think you'd be so worked up about it." Preston grabbed her hand and stopped her pacing. "Can we just do what we came here for? And not talk about Kelsey's sex life?"

Julie closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, "You're right, fine, as long as I didn't see it for myself, I'd consider this to not be true ... right?"

Preston smiled and nodded, "Right."