open window.
“Sure is,” another girl answered. “Let’s go watch. He is so fine.”
Diana scrunched farther down in her seat, straining to hear
them.
“You don’t know the half of it.” The first girl giggled.
Diana willed them away from her, but wanted to hear more
somehow, to confirm how stupid she’d been to trust him when he claimed they
were, together, you know ‘like’ boyfriend and girlfriend.
“I thought he was dating that what’s-her-name, from the
tobacco farm? The skinny one with those ridiculous braids?”
“Huh. Well, maybe she thinks so. But she’s just a kid. Dom
told me so last night.”
“Renee Reese, you lying slut,” the second girl squealed.
“What happened? You told me you were staying home ’cause you had cramps.”
“Well, I could hardly tell him ‘no,’ now could I?”
The girls tittered again. Rage expanded in Diana’s chest.
She tugged on her braids before realizing she was doing that and sat on her
hands, heart in her throat.
“He slipped me a note in chemistry class. Asked if we could
meet up. So you know my mama was gone all weekend….”
“Oh, my Lord. You didn’t!”
“I surely did. Twice. And I am here to tell you that he’s
all you think he is…and a bag of chips.”
“So, you….”
“Well, he brought over some of his daddy’s beer and we got
all stupid-drunk, at least I did. I think he made me drink most of it. But I
didn’t care.”
Diana put a palm over her pounding heart, recalling that Dom
had claimed he’d been camping with his brothers the night before. She’d
actually enjoyed the time alone, contemplating her happiness and the soreness
due to the UTI from Dom’s near-constant enthusiasm for screwing since she’d
opened that particular door. Apparently he’d not been satisfied with it,
however.
“Did it…hurt?”
“Well, no actually. Probably because I was stupid-drunk, but
Dom was pretty good…with his mouth, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh my God, ewwww.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised. I know I was.” The girls tittered
again. “He is fine, indeed.”
“But what about, you know, that girl. His girlfriend?”
“Oh, her.”
Diana ground her teeth so hard her jaw ached.
“He’s breaking up with her. He told me so. She can’t go to
prom, you know. Her Daddy won’t let her or some such thing. Probably can’t
afford a dress anyway.”
“Yeah, she’d look funny in her overalls, bless her heart.”
Renee laughed. A whoosh-whooshing noise filled Diana’s head.
Her throat closed up.
“Yeah, well, he told me she’s sorta, you know, flat up top
anyways. He likes these.” Her friend burst out laughing, and the sound filled
all the voids in Diana’s soul.
“Well, that’ll make two of you.”
“Now, now, don’t be jealous just ’cause you don’t have a
fine set like I do.”
“Spare me, you bitch.”
“And now you can just line up with all the other jealous
sluts ’cause I got myself the prize: Dominic Sean Love. He’s smitten, I assure
you. Little Miss Flat-Chested Farm Girl will be history soon. I know how to
make my man happy.”
“Did you…you know?”
“Of course. You’da thought I’d given him the keys to the
bank vault when I got down on my knees. Sweet boy.” The tone of Renee’s voice
shifted from teasing to serious.
Diana blinked and touched her face, feeling the tears
flowing, like a braid-wearing, poor, farm-girl loser. She lurched up out of the
ratty driver’s seat of the junker Chevy and cranked the key, forcing a horrible
noise from under the hood. Wincing, she gripped the wheel, threw the thing into
gear and peeled out, hoping to God she’d managed to spray pebbles all over the
skanky whore and her stupid friend.
She screeched to a halt at the street, chest heaving, mind
spinning.
“Hey! Di! Wait up!”
She spotted the cheating jerk in the rearview, waving and
running toward her car. She leaned halfway out the window. “Stay away