Free Someone to Love by Addison Moore

calls from the
corner, and I spot Lauren and Ally waving me over. I remember them
from the Alpha Sigma Phi party. They’re the ones I wanted to go
home with, but fate stepped in and I ended up with Cruise instead.
Wait, did I just say fate? I so don’t believe in that. Fate is
bullshit people force-feed themselves when they’re too lazy to
carve out a destiny of their own.
    “How’s it going?” Ally chirps as I take a
seat.
    “It’s great. I meant to find you that night
at the party. I guess Pennington missed the housing deadline and
now I’m homeless.”
    “As in park bench action?” Lauren’s eyes
widen as if I’ve just introduced Small Pox to the vicinity.
    “No, as in Cruise Elton action. He’s letting
me crash at his place, but I can’t mooch off him forever.”
    They’re quick to exchange glances.
    “So you’re on Cruise control.” Ally sinks a
knowing smile. “How’s that working for you?”
    “I hear he’s hotter than a forest fire in
bed.” Lauren molests her necklace at thought of Cruise burning up
the sheets.
    “I hear his dick is the size of a telephone
pole.” Ally’s eyes expand the size of dinner plates as she awaits
confirmation of the supersized theory.
    Lauren points at me with her banana.
“Stephanie Banks slept with him a month ago and dubbed him ‘king of
the triple orgasm.’”
    Ally sucks in a breath and her face turns
colors like maybe she’s experiencing one herself at the moment.
“That is freaking insane . Melissa Warbeck says he can do
things with his tongue that qualifies him as criminally
insane.”
    The two of them look at me as if I were about
to verify every sexual rumor Cruise Elton ever sponsored, and add a
few unbelievable new ones to the mix.
    “Uh…” Dear God. A triple? My entire body
sighs at the thought of Cruise taking me down that unknowable path,
landing me in a sexual-based euphoria with his rock-hard body
pressed against mine. “Actually, we haven’t done anything like
that, yet.” Yet ? “Technically, we haven’t had a first time,
either,” I confess.
    “Really?” Ally’s lips droop with
disappointment. “So what’s the deal?” She flicks her layered mane
until it shags out around her face.
    “I asked him to instruct me in his wicked
ways.” A devious smile plays on my lips. “I told him I wanted to be
just as sleazy as he is when I grow up and asked him to teach me
the tricks of the trade.”
    “Which consist of?” Lauren seems nonplused by
my ability to enlist Cruise as my personal portal to
promiscuity.
    “I don’t know. It’s like my mouth started
moving without my permission, and before I knew it, I was asking
him to lead me through the deep, dark forest of debauchery. The
truth is—I sort of wanted to, you know, be with him, but I was too
embarrassed by the fact I’ve never been with anyone before.” I
shrug as though what just flew from my lips was morally sane. “I
believe I referred to it as a social experiment.”
    “A what?” Ally squints into me with a level
of distress, reserved for degenerate social scientists such as
myself.
    “Don’t you get it?” Lauren knocks an elbow
into her. “She’s a genius.” She diverts her attention back to me.
“You’re interested in him, aren’t you?”
    “Maybe a little.” Okay, a lot.
    “And you want more than a one-night stand.”
She asserts.
    “That would be nice.” True story.
    “And because you’re a slow learner, he’ll
have to do an awful lot of tutoring.” She nods into the brilliance
of my plan.
    “I am a slow learner.” I give a wicked grin.
“And practice makes perfect, right?”
    “Yeah, right.” Ally doesn’t look too
convinced of said brilliance. “But Cruise is a sexpert in the field
of moral depravity. You’re going to have to really wow him in order
for him to keep you around. Besides, do you really want him to
touch you between the resident skanks he pleasures nightly?”
    “He said he’d take a break for me.” And, I’m
not