"You sound like Fran. Aren't small-town girls supposed to have a higher sense of morals or something?"
"Honey, it's Sunday. Do you see me at any kind of church? Nope. My lack of morals was exposed many years ago. That and the fact that I may or may not have corrupted some of the boys when I was younger may have me on the 'we need to pray for her soul' list at all three churches in town. Seriously though, they act like skinny-dipping in the baptism pool is frowned upon," she quipped, winking at me outrageously.
"Nuh-uh, please tell me you didn't," I asked, torn between laughter and horror. I wasn't a churchgoer, but I'm sure that pretty much ranked up there with peeing in holy water or something like that.
"Only a couple of times."
"A couple of times?" I said, finally giving in to the urge of laughing.
"Okay, more like five times, but seriously, it was spread out at all three churches. So, really it was closer to one-and-a-half times at each church. No biggie," she said defensively.
"Well, that's one way to look at it, I guess. At least you were spreading the love, or boobies more accurately," I teased, pointedly eyeing her large chest that never seemed to want to stay confined beneath the material of her shirts.
"Truth. These babies deserve to be shared," she answered, cupping her breasts for emphasis.
"Does that mean you've decided to break it off with Jackson again?" I asked, naming her on-again, off-again boyfriend who drove me more than a little batty.
"Yeah," she said, looking guilty. "I just couldn't take it anymore. His dumb-ass mom is forever feeding his head with stories about how a good girl should act. She has him convinced he's going to go to hell for sticking it in me before marriage. She's always telling him we're too young for sex and not mature enough to handle it. I swear I feel like I'm back in high school rather than my senior year of college. I like him and all, but he seriously needs to figure out the kind of man he wants to be. Either he's a man that has his own mind, or he's a mama's boy. Regardless, I'm sick of holding his hands through his guilt. He gets all excited during the whole act, but after it's over, he acts like he's run over a dog or something."
"His mom would shit if she knew how many teens were sexually active at my old high school, and it was even worse at college. She should be happy you two are at least adults. Are you going to drop him for good this time?"
"I think so. There's a guy in my Psych II class who's been asking me out since the semester started."
"Good for you," I said, not admitting that I'd always questioned her and Jackson's relationship. I'd seen his wishy-washy attitude about things firsthand. Plus, he was a total douche about letting Tressa do certain things, like attend parties closer to her college. He had once commented that she was lucky he allowed her to make the forty-five minute commute to her campus each day. I had to fight the urge not to punch him in the throat for that one.
"You think so?" she asked, sounding insecure for the first time since we'd become friends.
"Absolutely. You totally deserve someone who's not constantly belittling you when he's not trying to sex you up."
"It feels scary," she admitted. "We've been on a break before, but we've never dated other people, and we've been together practically since we were freshman in high school."
I nodded my head, already knowing everything she was saying. As far as I was concerned, seven years of bullshit was seven years too many. "I think you're making the right decision. You deserve way more than that mama's boy is willing to give you," I reassured her. "When are you going out with the guy from your class?"
"His name is Michael, and next Saturday. We're going to go listen to some new band everyone's been raving about. They're supposed to be uh-fuc-king-mazing. You and Britt should come check them out."
"Right, because having you're two best friends tag along with you on your first date isn't a buzzkill. Besides, Brittni leaves in the morning for the internship training thing."
"Don't be a smart-ass. I meant you guys should go and check it out too. Maybe we could go check them out tonight before Britt heads out."
"Can't tonight," I said around a mouthful of pizza.
"Why not?"
"I kind of told Nathan I'd go out with him tonight."
"Are you fucking with me? You've known this whole time I've been here that you're going out with make-me-wet stranger and you're just now mentioning it?" she yelled, whacking me with the remote again.
"So help me god, if you hit me with that remote again, you'll find it shoved somewhere you don't want it."
"Oh, you flirt. Now, stop coming on to me and spill it," Tressa demanded, muting the TV as if my news required absolute silence to be revealed.
"It's really no biggie. I think Nathan and I have tentatively agreed to date with a possibility of it turning into an affair with no attachments," I squawked out. Our deal suddenly seemed utterly ridiculous when steam and heat weren't clouding my judgment.
"Holy shit, you slut," she joked as I glared at her. "Kidding."
"I must be insane, right?" I moaned, covering my face with my hands.
"If that's insanity, break me off a piece. I'll take a no-strings kind of arrangement with him any day. So, where's he taking you?"