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Moon n Stars Morris nudged the sleeping body of Mike Munroe with her foot. She’d never spoken to the guy before tonight. All he’d said to her earlier was ‘aren’t you a little too warm under all those layers?’, winked, and then offered her a beer, which she had snatched out of his hand without a second thought. Now, he might as well be dead, the way he was lying there, and she was glad. She had had enough of all of these people tonight, already, and when they had started to fall asleep from an overload of alcohol, like fat drunk cats, she had never been happier. She wandered through the main room of the lodge, trying to figure out if she was the only one left awake. If so, she felt she might get an early night. She couldn’t exactly call her parents to come and get her. They didn’t know where she was. As far as her family was concerned, she was spending the weekend with her old friend Freddie in her dorm. Probably studying. That was the impression she hoped they kept, as she knew she would be in deep shit if they found out she had accepted an invitation up to the Washington’s mountain lodge.
And why had she accepted the invitation at all, she found herself wondering? Because of Josh, of course. The cute, if twitchy, boy from half her high school classes. Since he’d graduated, she hadn’t seen much of him. She tried to keep in contact with him online, as best she could, but it was always hard to think of things to say, and Josh wasn’t much of a talker. She had been surprised that he invited her up this weekend at all, but she reminded herself that a Facebook invitation wasn’t the same as a hand-written card. He’d probably invited a load of people. That, or too many of his real friends had cancelled when they heard where the lodge was, and she was on the back-up list. Either way, she was happy enough to be here. There was a chance, a very slim chance, that she might finally get to make a move on him. Or, there had been. Now, she felt she’d be lucky if she just found a bedroom to sleep in without someone passed out on the floor.
“Hey, you,” she heard suddenly over her shoulder. She spun around, and there he was. Josh Washington. Looking just as he had the last time she saw him, as far as she could tell. Short, dark hair, nervy smile, and arguably the exact same plaid shirt he’d been wearing to their last film studies class together, half-tucked into the back of his jeans.
“Hey again, Josh,” she mumbled, wishing for a moment that the scarf around her neck didn’t suddenly feel so snug. She shouldn’t be wearing it, it was warm enough inside with the fire. She was boiling. She would have ditched it ages ago if it weren’t for Mike’s smug comment.
“It is you, Star,” he said. He always managed to talk like he was excited about something and trying to keep it a secret. Some barely concealed anxious feeling. She tried to ignore it as a smile crossed her face. “Damn,” he went on. “Changed your hair.”
“Yeah, it’s… probably stupid,” she said, touching her bangs involuntarily. She forgot she had still had dark hair the last time they saw each other. It had been before she dyed it her current dusty pink.
“Naw, suits you,” Josh breezed, walking past her and expecting her to follow. “Are you taken care of in the brewski department?” he asked, going and taking up a seat on the empty sofa. He spread his shoulders and arms out over the back of it, smiling over at her in a detached way. She hurried to go and sit down near him. Not quite next to him, that might be too much, but on the same sofa at least.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I mean, I’ve had enough already.”
“Me too,” Josh agreed. “Don’t want to end up like all these catatonic fucks. I’m just glad my sisters aren’t here. They might still be impressionable.” He laughed to himself, amused by the idea.
“Oh. You’re a good big brother,” Star said weakly. She had forgotten that was what he called her. Sure, a lot of people did, but it felt different when he said it. Just a little more special, somehow. Like he had come up with it all on his own.
“I sure try!” he laughed. “No, but seriously. They can look after themselves by now. Can’t spend my whole life looking over their shoulders, can I?” Star nodded in agreement. She was an older sibling herself, though she couldn’t imagine the drain of having to watch her kid siblings all the time. Josh didn’t seem to mind so much. He’d always been close with his sisters, but she supposed they were nearer in age.
“So what brings you to…” Josh lifted his arms up wide into the air. “My mountain?”
“Your mountain…?” Star muttered sarcastically, but thought better of it. “Uh, the invitation. You sent me an invite online.”
“I know, I know,” he muttered, turning further towards her. “But I never saw you come up here before. Not even in high school. So why the change?” Star thought back desperately to try and remember if he had ever invited her up to the lodge before, or even implied it. She couldn’t remember, and she was sure she would. Even if her grandmother had locked her in her bedroom, she was sure she would have made it up here somehow if Josh had asked her. If she thought she liked him now, it was nothing compared to how badly she’d liked him the past couple of years, when she’d seen him every day at school.
“Uh… just felt like it, I guess,” she mumbled. “Didn’t have anything else going on.”
“And so you decided to paaar-taaay!” Josh crowed loudly, and Star looked around, hoping he wasn’t going to wake anyone up. The last thing she wanted was for Mike to join them over here. “Well, I can only hope to be a gracious host,” Josh laughed, carrying on completely ignorantly of how loud he was being. Star decided there was little point mentioning it. He was probably a bit drunk, and it was his lodge after all. If he wanted to be loud, he probably would be. He must be used to being loud. It wasn’t as if there were neighbours to disturb. No-one could hear them for miles.
“Yeah. Why not, right?” Star laughed. Josh shot her a crooked smile and she had to look down at her hands.
“We’re the party-est people here!” Josh announced proudly. “Everyone else is asleep. Or passed out, whatever! We’re the true heroes of the night!” He hammered a fist against his chest and grinned a wide, dark grin across at her, which she failed to match with anything but a weak smile.
“We sure are,” she agreed. Even if she had only had one and a half beers. Why not? If Josh was going to call her a hero then fuck, she was taking it.
“So, what does the lady of the hour want to do now?” Josh asked, his grin falling into a sly smile. “Where do we go from here?”
“Uhh…” Star tried to think of what they still had in common, now that complaints about their homework were out. She thought about all the shit that Josh tended to post online, weird as most of it was. “We could… watch a movie?” That would kill plenty of time, she thought. Time she could spend vaguely staring into his eyes.
“Sure, Star… if that’s what you want,” Josh said, sounding somewhat put out. She guessed she was boring him with her idea. He probably spent enough time watching movies when he was not at parties. Actually, wasn’t his dad a director? Shit. What a stupid idea. He must be sick of movies already.
Josh hopped up from the sofa and she followed after him as he went off to find the T.V. When they came up to it, a big widescreen mounted to the wall, he found the remote on top of a pile of DVD cases and picked it up without disrupting the solo cup half full of whiskey beside it.
“Voila!” he announced, flicking on the screen. A DVD menu popped into life. “You cool with Saw? I think this is the sixth one. Mind if I skip the opening scenes, they always bore me. Can’t wait to get to the good stuff!” Star shrugged. Why not, she thought, it wasn’t as if she had seen any of the others. And she wasn’t going to pay attention to this one either.
The sound of whirring and screaming began on the screen, but Star was preoccupied. She was staring at Josh, eyes low enough to not be too obvious, watching his chest rise and fall with breath and occasional sniggers as he watched the movie. She didn’t notice time passing, and suddenly Josh was staring straight back at her. She jumped.
“Are you checking me out?” he asked, sounding amused by the idea. Star looked down at the ground and cursed herself for zoning out.
“No,” she scoffed. “I was… bored. This movie is way too tame.”
“It is too tame!” Josh agreed gleefully. “But you were still looking preeeetty hard. I caught ya, Star. You were looking for something. Wait!” He gasped, and grabbed hold of her shoulders, a look of horror on his face.
“What? What?” she cried out. “Is something behind me? Is it a fucking spider? Josh, if it’s a spider, you need to get it!” Josh slowly shifted his gaze from over her shoulder to looking her dead in the eyes. He opened his mouth slowly.
“Don’t move…” he muttered. “But I think… I think…”
“Kill the fucking spider, Josh!”
“I think… you were looking… to take a trip straight into the bonezone.” His face broke into a self-satisfied grin, and for a second she wanted to kill him. She settled for shaking off his hands as he laughed loudly to himself.
“I did not,” she muttered.
“My mistake then,” he jeered. “Guess we won’t do that.” Star blinked. Surely, not what he had actually meant to imply.
“Sorry, what?” she asked. Josh was a little too busy, still laughing at his own prank, so she had to smack him lightly on the arm to break him out of it. “What the fuck did you say, Josh?” she asked again. He smirked back at her.
“I dunno. I guess I just thought, seeing as we’re the last two awake, and I always thought you were kind of cute, and now you’re here staring at me like you’re trying to burn a hole in my head. But hey. Why do that, right? Let’s get an early night instead.” He stage-whispered the next part. “Set a good example.” Star was not having that. He was being serious, or serious enough anyway. She had hoped there might be an opportunity, but hadn’t actually expected one. Here they were. If only he hadn’t called it the bonezone, it would be perfect.
“No! No, hey, you’re right,” she said, trying to sound smooth. “Let’s… why not, right?” She brushed her dusty pink hair out of her face and nudged her glasses up her nose, smirking back.
“Damn, all right. If you say so!” Josh turned the volume down on the T.V. and tossed the remote onto the ground, grabbing hold of Star’s shoulders and kissing her. He went straight in with the tongue, and Star let him suck her face, just glad it was happening at all. Maybe, she thought, there weren’t too many girls who actually let Josh kiss them. That, or he just wasn’t the type to learn from experience.
When he pulled back, Star noticed he began immediately trying to pry open the top of her jeans. She hoped he’d be careful. These were her favourite faded pink knock-off wranglers. He worked the button out of its hole and had his hand down the front a second later. Star felt him edge his fingers around the front of her underwear, looking for a way in without having to stop and get his bearings.
“Standing up?” she asked.
“Whatever, right?” he said, smirking. “If someone comes over, I can say I was just trying to kill a spider and got lost.” Star frowned at him, but it only lasted for a second. The smirk had already won her over, and before she could even think of a comeback, Josh had found his way through and was already slipping into her. Two fingers at once.
“Buy a lady a fucking drink first,” Star gasped, as he pushed his fingers in.
“Hey, I paid for the beer. I think I already did,” Josh argued, laughing to himself. Star wasn’t going to debate. Unromantic as it was, she guessed that counted. Sort of. She was more interested in focusing on Josh’s fingers pumping into her cunt for now. He was a much better fingerbanger than he was a kisser, she regretfully admitted to herself. Just as well. The disappointment if Josh Washington, crush of many years, turned out to be a bad lay would destroy her.
“Keep going, Josh,” Star breathed. She wanted to touch his hair. Dig her fingers into it. Would he mind? Fuck it, he was buried two knuckles deep inside her. Burying her hands in his hair was minor compared to that. She sunk her fingers into the dark hair and let out a whine as Josh gave her a hard thrust. She decided to dig her nails into his scalp a bit for good measure. He seemed to like it. Josh put his spare hand on the small of her back, easing her closer to him. He shot her another of his smirks, a look that was starting to set her off on its own, and went for another kiss. This time, less tongue. He bit her lower lip and pulled it out a little with his teeth before letting go.
“How do you like that? You like that?” he muttered thickly, pressing a couple of kisses hard on her lips in between words.
“Josh, no offence, but shut up,” Star whined. She just wanted to enjoy the moment and, while it was nice to be reminded that she was actually here with Josh Washington of all people, the mixture of vague screams from the T.V. and Josh’s idiot boy commentary were making it hard to focus.
Once he shut up for a while, something which he achieved by sticking his face close to her ear and breathing heavily into it, Star was able to concentrate. The motion of Josh’s fingers was steady and fairly rough, and just about what she needed. Soon, she was squirming in place and wishing they were lying down on the sofa. Her fault for mentioning they watch a movie, she supposed. Josh noticed she was getting close and supported her ass with his free hand, taking some of the weight off her legs. Star leant up a little, tightening her thighs around Josh’s hand as he sped up, mumbling something affectionate under her breath that she hoped he didn’t hear.
“You gonna…?” he began, but Star had just crossed the point of no return, and she wrapped her arms around his back and squeezed his fingers hard inside her to make the last thrust count. As she came, she let out a high whine, followed by a long sigh. She heard Josh hmm happily as he eased his fingers out. Once free, he shook them off in the air, and grinned.
“Oh, Josh…” Star gasped. “Thanks, that was…”
“Don’t tell me!” he said cockily. “A sensation. I can tell.” Star sighed again, this time at his need to oversell everything. She shook her head faintly.
“It was good,” she countered. No reason for him to get too confident. Josh shrugged his shoulders. Without a word, he headed back towards the sofa, leaving the T.V. on in the background. Star went after him, eager for a chance to sit down. She collapsed onto the sofa just as he was taking up a seat next to her.
“You know what I always find funny?” Josh began. Apparently, they were back to small talk, already. “How come no-one ever asks to do really weird shit on first hook-ups, right? I mean, if you know you don’t have to see the person the next morning, why not… go nuts, am I right?” He grinned at her. “I mean, am I right?”
“Sure,” Star agreed, though she wasn’t listening. Then, after a second, it sunk in. “Wait, what? Like, what sort of thing? What are you talking about?” Josh shrugged, looking secretive and pleased with himself, his default expression.
“I dunno, I wasn’t thinking of anything special,” he said dismissively. “I just mean… you never hear one of your friends tell you a story about how their Tinder date asked them to dress up like a mermaid and suck their dick in the bath, do you?”
“Cause you’d never talk to them again if they said that…?!” Star scoffed in amazement. “Why, would you –”
“Hypothetical example!” Josh answered quickly, laughing it off. “I dunno. Why? What’s the weirdest thing you can think of? Test your imagination, Star.” He shot her a look with his eyes wide and curious, eager to hear what she might come up with.
“Uh…” Star tried to think. There was bound to be something. Something to impress weirdo Josh with her knowledge of what was off with the world. If she said anything too generic, he was bound to laugh at her. She scanned back through her memory. Difficult, as she was still coming down, but in the end, she thought of something. “Eye licking,” she said at last.
“Eye what-ing?” Josh asked, giving her a new, less certain expression. She may actually have out-weirdoed him. She felt pleased with herself, resisting a smirk of her own.
“Eye licking, I don’t know,” she said. “I read about it on some Japanese news site. It’s where you… well, obviously. You just…”
“Lick the eyeball…?” Josh finished. “Damn, Star. I didn’t realise you were one of us.” He stage-whispered the last words, then, laughing, added “You know. A freak.”
“Thanks,” Star muttered, though she was pretty sure he meant it as a compliment. “But yeah, that’s all I can think of.”
“So… do you want to try it?” Josh asked, catching her off guard. She jumped in place, staring at him.
“God, what?” she asked, stunned. She thought the two of them would just laugh it off. It was just a stupid joke, wasn’t it?
“Hey, come on…” Josh laughed. “Why not? It sounds… weird. Fun, maybe. And, need I remind you, we are the heroes of the party! What kind of hero turns down a challenge…?” Star stared blankly at him. She admitted the idea had seemed kind of interesting when she’d first read about it. But just as an idea. She wouldn’t really do it, right? It would be… “Staaar!” Josh purred. “Let’s live a little while we’re fucking alive, why don’t we?” With such a direct request, Star decided, she could hardly keep arguing. They might as well give it a try. The worst that would happen was they’d joke about it after. That, or an eye infection.
“Okay… if you want,” she said weakly. “Go ahead I guess?” She reached up to take off her glasses, and carefully placed them folded up in her lap. Josh went straight for it. He leant in and darted his tongue lightly towards the corner of her eye, barely tickling it. Star giggled. It just felt too surreal. Josh rested a hand on her shoulder and leant in again, running his tongue across the eye itself this time. Star twitched. It was an odd feeling, that was for sure. Like putting in a contact lens. After it had fallen into a glass of Pepsi.
“Is it working?” Josh asked. “I don’t know what’s meant to happen, like, is that right?”
“I dunno either, you were the one who wanted to try it!” Star sighed. As if she had any idea. Josh took his hand away, leaning back into the sofa.
“Okay, well, you try,” he said. “Come on. You do me.” Star winced.
“Really? You’d… let me do that to you?” she asked. There had to be a high chance of her screwing it up somehow. If she accidentally popped it out of the socket, she wasn’t going to explain the story to the paramedics.
“Hey… I’m up for anything,” Josh said, leering. “Once.” He leant back firmly and decidedly, opening his eyes wide and waiting. He had always had slightly bugged eyes, Star remembered. She had thought that at school. Not a lot, but just a touch, maybe. It might be easier this way, and, well, he had said he was up for anything. She couldn’t argue with that. Much like the one to his lodge, it was an invitation she couldn’t turn down.
Star pressed her face close to Josh’s. Close enough to feel the warmth of his skin. The sort of position one normally moves into a kiss from, but not now, not for her. Instead, she poked the tip of her tongue out between her lips, nervously approaching Josh’s right eye with it. The little pink tip moved closer to the edge. He blinked once, before opening his eyes wide again. She went for it. Star touched her tongue to the body of Josh’s eye and cast it across in a tender, tentative lick. He squirmed and laughed, but didn’t pull away. Inspired, she brought her tongue out and across again, further this time. The eyeball put up weak resistance, and she decided the texture was a little like jabbing her tongue at a pickled egg.
“That feels so weird,” Josh muttered, trying his best not to move. “Keep going, this is freaky.”
Encouraged by his apparent enjoyment, Star placed her fingers either side of the eye and carefully stretched open the skin around the socket, just wide enough to get some more purchase. She prodded the eyeball with her tongue, running it over the slick surface and feeling Josh try to blink. She decided it was kind of fun, actually. Intimate. Weirdly, weirdly intimate. Even if this was just a one-time hook-up, she felt fairly confident she would remain the only person to ever lick Josh Washington’s eyeball. And that felt pretty good in itself. She slid her tongue back and forth, licking across the white of the eye, wondering if it was a bad idea to try and taste the green of the iris as well.
“God that’s… yeah, okay, I never felt anything like that,” Josh said on an outbreath. Then suddenly, Star found he gripped his hands around her waist, holding onto her tightly. She took the chance to stroke his hair again. It was almost like making out. And missing.
She was beginning to figure out what she was doing now. Too gentle and it would tickle, too hard and it would hurt. She let her tongue shift across the surface of Josh’s eye, occasionally poking into the corner or prodding his eyelashes, while she held it open. He was beginning to tear up, naturally, she supposed, but he didn’t protest. In fact, she thought he was grinning. Josh the weirdo, she thought. Well. Reputations like that didn’t come from nowhere.
“Just let me blink a sec…” Josh started to say, when he suddenly flung her back onto the sofa cushions. He was looking off behind her, and Star turned to see, of all the people in the world, Mike Munroe standing behind them, sleepily wiping at his own eyes with a vague look of disbelief.
“The fuck were you two doing?” he asked, in that voice often used by half-awake and half-sober people in the middle of the night. Star froze. She didn’t want all her friends to hear about this, and Mike was not the shy and retiring sort. It was going to spread through the group like a fire.
“We were making out, what did it look like?” Josh laughed it off, as if lying was as natural as drinking water, and Star breathed a sigh of relief. “The real question is, why were you watching us, pervert? Didn’t get any yourself tonight so you had to settle for spying?”
“Fuck off!” Mike called out cheerfully, and turned around to disappear the way he’d come. Star pressed a fist to her forehead and waited for the rush of panic to fade away. When she was calm, she looked back at Josh, who seemed as happy as ever. A sly, knowing smirk played across his lips. Just for her, she thought.
“Well, that was an experience,” he said. “And there’s no such thing as a bad experience!”
“Yeah, I don’t know that that’s true,” Star said. She got to her feet. The moment was lost, and she didn’t want to risk getting caught again anyway. “Do you have any Gatorade in this place?” she asked, trying to remember the way to the kitchen.
“Didn’t suck enough juice out of my eye, then?” Josh whispered darkly in her ear, following it up by loudly sucking his teeth. Star twitched, and then descended into laughter. “I’ll find you some,” he said, over his shoulder, as he was already walking off. Star watched him go.
“Well,” she whispered under her breath. “This was worth whatever punishment I get when my family find out where I really was this weekend.”