You're My Little Salamander

By Allie - May 15, 2013

The Night a Single Pair of Pants Changed My Entire Future

“Hello?” I asked as I answered my cell phone without even looking at who was calling. I was in the middle of blow drying my hair, so it couldn't have rang at a worse time.

“Hey, girl,” I heard Tara say on the other line.

“Oh Hey!”

“I'm all ready to go, so I was thinking I could swing by and pick you up and we could wait at my place until Raul is ready. He should probably carpool with us since the parking lot fills up fast.”

“Crap, I'm not completely ready yet. If you wanted to come over and wait inside for a bit while I finish up, that would be amazing!” I responded, as I quickly ran into my room and started to look through my tops.

“Yeah, that works for me. I'll text you when I'm there.”

“Thank you so much!” I said as I frantically pulled my black velvet, red-rose printed tank top off the hanger.

“No problem. See you soon.”

I was instantly in double-time mode. I ripped my silver paint-splattered denim shorts off the hanger with one hand, and grabbed my strapless bra with the other. As I ran into the bathroom to change, I thought about the night ahead. Tara, Raul, and I had finalized these plans while intoxicated at Denny's the night before. We had decided to eat there after the strip club closed, because of the cheap appetizers. We had to face it, we were broke. Unfortunately, the club we were going to had a five dollar cover charge. I managed to bum the money off of my brother, and Tara had found a way to round up three dollars worth of change. Raul would have to spot her the rest.

Our night would consist of drinking and dancing at Club Forever, the city's most popular gay club, followed by an after party at Tara's apartment. She had just received a new roommate, so we wanted to welcome him the only way we knew how, with alcohol. We had received an invite to this particular club from Tara's love interest the night before when we visited her at work. I didn't remember much of the conversation because of all the beer that had been running through my veins, however, I did remember that she really knew how to work the pole. Oh, did I forget to mention that she was a stripper?

I was excited to finally go to this club, though. My friends had attempted to take me there once, on my 21st birthday, but we had arrived only to quickly realize that none of us had enough to pay for the cover charge. It was unusually high on that particular night because of a Drag Queen Fashion Show.

I took off my sweats and hooked my strapless bra around my chest. It was starting to get stretched out from constant use. I slipped on my top, and as I reached to put on my shorts, my phone's text message tone blared from my bedroom.

“Shit! She's here already?” I muttered to myself, as I threw on the incredibly frayed shorts. I quickly exited the bathroom and ran to the front door to let her in.

“Hey girl, what's up?” Tara said as she made her way up to the front porch.

“Hey! I'm almost ready, I just have to put my shoes on.”

“No problem.”

“I am so ready to dance!” I said as I slid on my knee-high black socks.

“Same, dude! I can't wait to get down with Mikayla.” I zipped up my brand new, high-heeled brown leather boots, and stood up very slowly to catch my balance.

“Do I look like a hooker?” I asked while wobbling back and forth.

“Um,” Tara started as her eyes widened, “it might be a bit too much.” She was right, I looked like I walked right out of Pretty Woman.
After kicking off the boots and replacing them with much comfortable shoes, I smiled and looked up at Tara. “OK, I'm ready!”

“Awesome, we have to wait for Raul at my place, but he said it shouldn't be more than thirty minutes.”

We drove off and quickly began talking about the plan ahead of us. The night was quiet and the air was clear. We arrived at Tara's apartment complex, then walked up to the main entrance. The building was completely inclosed with an open courtyard and soared up four stories high. It was purposely made for student housing, and this couldn't have been more obvious with the giant pool and hot tub right smack in the middle. Tara's apartment was located on the top floor, which left me feeling extremely grateful for the elevator. We walked inside and sat down at her kitchen table, and quickly turned on the radio to drown out the silence.

“Do you think this outfit looks good?” she asked as she stood up and began examining herself in the sliding glass door. She was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with baggy jeans and a grey paperboy hat.

“Of course it does!” I told her, reassuringly. “But, if you're not feeling it, you're not feeling it. Trust me, I know the feeling.”

“Maybe I should try what I was originally going to wear.” She opened her bedroom door and disappeared into the closet. I couldn't see much of her room, but it slightly resembled the cleanliness of her car's interior.

“Ooh, model it for me darling!” I shouted in a dramatic accent, as I got up to pour myself a glass of water.

“Ok,” she said, emerging from her room in a much-improved ensemble. The black long-sleeved undershirt and polo combination fit the occasion so much better.

“That's the one!” I said before slurping down my gigantic glass of water.

“Yeah, I'm feeling this one a lot more,” she said while examining herself once again. “Let me text Raul and see where he is.” As she picked up her phone to send the message, I closed my eyes and listened to the music that was blasting from the radio. I could feel it begin to take me away into my own world. All I wanted to do was dance.

“I wish he'd hurry up because I want to leave,” I uttered, while tapping my foot to the beat.

“He better not be fucking serious.”

“What do you mean?”

“Before I could ask him where he was, he sent me a text saying that he's taking a shit!”

“Um, what the fuck?” I screamed as I slammed my hand down on the table. “That's disgusting! He won't be here for like forty minutes now!”

“This is bullshit man,” she said as she reached over and turned the music up louder. “Fuck it, let's dance!” I joined her in the kitchen and began to start moving to the beat. We danced and laughed for what seemed like only ten minutes, until Tara received a message on her phone.

“Is it him?” I asked.

“Fuck yes!” she shouted as she shoved her phone into her pants pocket, and swung on her coat. “Let's get out of here.” I practically flew down all flour flights of stairs, because I couldn't contain my excitement. As we exited the building, we saw Raul's car pulled up against the curb.

“Hey man!” Tara shouted as she ran up to greet him. It was looking a lot less clear outside than it had been earlier.

“What's up yo? Where do I park?” Raul asked.

“Man, you're going to have to park in one of those parking lots over there,” she said as she pointed to some office buildings right across from her complex.

“Follow me then,” he demanded, before driving off toward the main road. Tara and I quickly walked over to her car and got in. On my way sitting down, I felt an extremely awkward lump in my shorts. I pulled out my expired license and a wad of one dollar bills, and temporarily placed them in the cup-holder. Expecting to feel immediate comfort, I was shocked to feel yet another object in my pocket.

“What's in there?” I asked myself as I dug into my pocket and pulled out a familiar object. “Oh my God, no way? Tara! I found my ID card!”

“What are you talking about girl?” she asked as she pulled up next to Raul's car in the office parking lot.

“My ID card! You know, the one that I lost. Well, the one I thought I lost. I could have sworn I dropped it at the strip club last night, but it was in this pocket the whole time!” All of my worries about not being able to get into the club vanished from my mind.

“Get in the back!”

“Huh?” I asked as I looked up to see Raul outside of the car.

“Not you Allie,” Tara laughed as Raul opened the car door and sat down in the back seat.

“So ladies, when's the threesome gonna start?” he asked as he buckled his seat belt.

“Are you sure you brought enough condoms for the whole night?” I shot back as I examined my ID.

“Just enough for us,” he retorted with a wink, as he pulled a silver flask out of his jacket. Normally hearing such things would make me want to punch the guy who said it. I rolled my eyes and placed my ID into the cup-holder with the rest of my things. “And, I also brought this for us.”

“Thank God,” I muttered. “I plan on getting wasted tonight. What's in there?”

“Tequila,” he responded as he unscrewed the top and took a huge swig. He immediately began to cough, and quickly asked Tara if she had any gum.

“You're in luck,” she laughed, as she reached down and pulled a stick of gum out of her pocket.

“Dude, you're a life saver!” he said as he shoved the gum in his mouth.

“Don't hog that thing all to yourself,” I said as I reached back to grab the flask from his lap.

“Bitch, did I say you could have some of that yet?” he joked.

“No, but I did,” I retorted, as I opened the top and took three large gulps of tequila. The burning sensation traveled down my throat and instantly warmed my chest. It was the perfect combination to such a cold night. The after taste on the other hand, knocked me out cold. “Gum, please!” I reached out to Tara as she placed a stick in my hand. The mint worked almost too well at kicking away the awful taste.

“Best chaser in the world,” Raul remarked as he went on chewing.

We turned into a residential neighborhood and flew past the first stop sign. I had no idea where we were going, due to the fact that the one time I had been outside of Club Forever I was almost black- out drunk. My directional sense told me that we were heading South, but I had no time to read the street signs as we drove past them at a ridiculous speed. I popped my gum out and into my hand as I took another huge gulp from the flask. All I cared about, was getting tipsy before I entered the club.

“Dammit!” Tara screamed as we pulled into the parking lot of the huge nightclub. It was starting to look familiar now. “Excuse me sir? Are there anymore spots?” she asked as she pulled up next to a security guard.

“Not that I'm aware of,” he said, looking down at me strangely. It must have been because I was holding a chewed up piece of gum in my hand. I popped it back into my mouth and watched as his face cringed. “You could try parking in front of those houses over there,” he said as he pointed over to a neighborhood across the street. “Other people have started to do that.”

“Thanks,” she replied. We drove around toward the front of the building and observed the line of about twelve people waiting to get inside. Not too bad for a Friday night at almost eleven thirty.

“Should we take the flask in? Who has big pockets?” Raul excitedly asked, after grabbing it back from me and taking another large swig.

“Dude, Hell no. They pat you down in there!” Tara warned, as we pulled up in front of a random house.

“Fuck man,” he said as he threw the flask down on the seat. “Oh well, I have enough to buy a Heineken.”

I grabbed my ID and my cash, and followed Tara toward the club. Raul came up beside me, and I finally got a really good look at him. He was wearing khaki pants with a black shirt and a black leather jacket. He also had on a yellow and black checkered scarf, and a hat that slightly resembled Tara's. It was an interesting outfit, but it worked for him.
We waited in line for about five minutes, which was just enough time before I started to get too cold. As we walked in through the giant doors, I noticed how huge the place was. There were three separate rooms all divided by glass walls. The first section had a giant bar that extended from one side of the room to the other. The middle section had TV screens with a live video stream of people dancing, and about five pool tables. The last section was nothing but a huge dance floor with some tables and chairs and wall-to-wall mirrors. Instantly, a man wearing a patent zebra-printed jacket, who slightly resembled Adam Lambert, caught my attention. He was dancing with three other guys, yet all he could do was check out his own reflection in the giant mirror. I thought it was a bit narcissistic, but I guess if I looked that fabulous, I'd check myself out too.

“Yo,” Raul whispered as he pulled me over toward him. “Does this outfit make me look gay?”

“Um, no?” I replied with a slight question in my voice. Did he want to look gay or something?

“Good, cuz, I don't want no guys tryin to pick me up, ya know?”

“I think that's unavoidable,” I said, examining his scarf. “You have the pretty face that gay men just swoon over.” I winked at him, then walked over toward the counter to pay and get my hand stamped.

“If any of them try to hit on me, can you pretend to be my girl?” he asked, as he once again tugged my arm to pull me close.

“Of course I'll be your fake girlfriend, Raul,” I joked. I arrived at the counter and handed the man my wad of money. He gave me a dirty look as he pulled apart the wrinkled dollars and counted them one by one. After forcefully shoving them into the cash register, he took my left hand and stamped it with what looked like a deformed happy face. I entered the room with the bar behind Tara, and we exchanged smiles as we waited for Raul to order his Heineken. Almost immediately, an extremely flamboyant man appeared out of nowhere, and placed his hand around Raul's side.

“Hey daddy,” the man hissed as he leaned in close. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Nah man, I'm good,” Raul said as he jerked back uncomfortably. The mystery man appeared quite offended, and quickly walked away. “What the Hell yo? You're the worst fake girlfriend ever,” he shouted, staring at me in shock.

“Sorry, I was just enjoying that too much!” I laughed. With a horrified look still on his face, Raul managed to order his beer, then followed us into the room with the dance floor. It was so crowded, I didn't know if there would be any room to squeeze in.

“Hey, Mikayla's friends are over there,” Tara said as she pointed toward a table of familiar faces. I had met them all the night before, but I couldn't remember any of their names. We walked over and exchanged friendly greetings before dropping off our jackets, and heading toward the dance floor. We managed to push our way through the large crowd after leaving Raul behind, and eventually ended up in the middle of the floor. The music was absolutely terrible, but I wasn't about to complain. Booze would make it tolerable.

“Where's Mikayla?” I shouted to Tara, barely audible over the loud stereo.

“I don't know. I'm gonna go look.” She turned around and made her way to the opposite side of the dance floor. Raul was awkwardly leaning against the wall drinking his beer, in fear that another man would try to hit on him.

“Aren't you going to dance?” I asked him before grabbing his beer and stealing a sip.

“Maybe after I have a few more of these,” he laughed. I joined in the laughter, and handed him back his beer. I stood next to him and looked over at the crowd. Tara had managed to find Mikayla, and at this point, they were dancing and smiling in their own little world right there on the dance floor.

“They're so cute,” I remarked.

“Word. That's love right there yo,” he responded, before finishing up his beer. Just as quickly as I could admire them, they stopped dancing and walked away in different directions. Tara came over to the table, and quickly pulled me onto the dance floor with her.

“What is it?” I asked.

“She's fucking that tall chick,” she shouted while holding back tears, pointing toward the girl who was now by Mikayla. “Can you believe that? Why'd she even invite me here?”

“Whoa, what are you talking about?”

“Mikayla, she's hooking up with that tall chick. You know, the one who was at the strip club last night?”

“What the Hell?” I shouted. “What a bitch!”

“I need a drink, now,” she demanded, as we headed back toward Raul.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Mikayla is hooking up with another girl. I'm fucking pissed, and I need a drink now."

Before Raul even had time to respond, she led us into the room with the bar and stopped right behind the counter. “Too bad I don't have money to spend on expensive ass bar alcohol.”

“Man, I got you,” Raul said as he pulled out his wallet. “What do you guys want?”

“Me too?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he smiled. “Can't leave ya hangin.”

“Shoot, thanks man,” Tara said as her face started to light up. “Get us two Red-Headed Sluts.”

Raul patiently waited behind the large crowd of drunk gay men, until he could finally get the bartender's attention. He ordered our drinks and handed them to us with a look of satisfaction. I was so thankful to get some more alcohol in my system.

“Thanks so much Raul,” I smiled, before taking my first sip. It had a hint of cinnamon, which burned my throat in the best possible way.

“Yeah, thanks man,” Tara said as she gulped down her entire drink. I stared at mine for a second, then did the same thing. Almost instantly I felt a rush of inebriation, and all I wanted to do was dance.

“Let's go!” I said as I tugged Tara's arm and motioned toward the room with the dance floor.

“Hold up girl, we gotta wait for Raul!” He appeared to be buying another Heineken. Thank God, maybe he would finally loosen up. He turned from the bar with his beer in hand, and followed the very eager Tara and I to the dance floor. We managed to push our way into the middle of the large crowd, and I instantly felt all of my inhibitions go out the window. I had somehow accumulated my jacket, even though I clearly remembered placing it down at the table with Mikayla's friends. I didn't question it though, because at least I had it on me with no possible way of losing it. Too bad it was becoming increasingly hot with every song that passed. The crowd got bigger, and the dancing didn't slow down one bit. I felt beads of sweat dripping from my forehead, but I wasn't embarrassed. After all, who was I trying to impress, the Adam Lambert wannabe?

“Have some,” Raul shouted over the loud music, as he handed me his beer. I grabbed it and gulped down as much as I could without choking. I handed it back to him while trying to keep my balance, but the room began to spin uncontrollably. “Come here,” he laughed, as he grabbed my hand and pulled me in close. I fed off the motion of his hips as I swayed back and forth against him. The heat from our two bodies made my jacket so unbearable, that I ripped it off and threw it to my feet. His hand grazed against my side and slowly moved down toward my hip. His touch felt so natural, I craved more. "You seem to have your balance back." I could barely hear what he had said, so I turned my head to the side, and looked up into his big green eyes. His forehead met mine, as he whispered "never mind." As he smiled down at me, a sudden urge to grab him and kiss him swept over me like a tidal wave.

“Guys, lets get out of here!” Tara shouted above the blaring music. “I'm not feeling this. Let's head to Fever.” The high I had been feeling was immediately crushed, as I snapped back to reality. What was I thinking dancing with Raul like that? I had a boyfriend, who I was going to be living with.

“Word!” Raul replied, as he reached down to pick up my jacket.

“Thanks,” I said, as he handed it to me and smiled with his seductive eyes. We pushed our way through the crowd and left the club.

“Shotgun!” Raul shouted as he ran up to the passenger car door.

“I'll be fine with that, as long as you let me have that flask.” I reached over and picked it up, before taking three large gulps. At this point, I didn't even need a gum chaser. As we drove off toward the new club, Raul and I continuously passed the flask back and forth between the two of us. By the time we arrived in the parking lot and got out of the car, I could barely walk on my own. Tara ran in front of me and signaled for me to hop on her back. I jumped up on top of her, and started giggling uncontrollably. Raul trailed behind us, laughing at the sight of our ridiculous piggyback ride. We managed to stumble across the street to the club, and walked inside without creating too big of a scene.

Fever was a small bar located in downtown, that became popular only after 12am. Luckily, it was about twelve fifteen when we arrived. Raul and Tara instantly recognized a girl who was sitting down at a table in the corner with some friends. We joined them, and started the typical meet and greets where no one was really paying attention to the names being said. I only remember the name of the girl who they already knew. Her name was Nikki, and she was extremely attractive, with gorgeous curly hair. After exchanging names with everyone, Raul and Tara got up to move some of the other tables around. They cleared just enough space to create a small dance floor. As soon as they were out of the way, Raul started warming up to dance. I had been out dancing with him millions of times before, but I had still never seen him really dance. He taught at multiple schools around town, so I knew he had to be good. My buzz was still going strong, so I joined him on the floor and signaled for Tara to come dance with me. Before she could, a short, middle-aged Asian man appeared in front of my chest.

“You like Sushi?” he asked, with an extremely thick accent. I could barely understand if that was in fact what he had asked.

“Sushi? Yeah, I like it, I guess,” I reluctantly answered, with a confused look on my face.

“My name Mr. Sushi!” he exclaimed. “You want me to buy you drink?”

“Sure,” I replied.

“What you want girl?”

“Um, an AMF,” I said while continuing to dance in place. His eyes narrowed. “What is AMF?”

“Adios Motherfucker!”

“Ok, I will get you an Adios Motherfucker,” he laughed, as he walked over to the bar. I was ecstatic that I was getting a free drink, however, I was not ecstatic about who was getting it for me.

I looked over at Tara, who was laughing hysterically over the whole situation, and shot her a sarcastic thumbs up. “At least it's a drink!”

“Here you go lady,” Mr. Sushi said, as he handed me the blue drink. I took a sip before looking up to thank him, but when I did, he started to walk away.

“Well that was weird,” I said, joining Tara. “He just handed me the drink and left.”

“Maybe it's Roofied!” Raul shouted from the dance floor.

“Don't say that! I won't want to drink it now!” Who was I kidding though? I definitely wanted to drink it. Pretty soon, our small corner was overloaded with drunk people all attempting to “get down.” It was definitely the night of creepers. One in particular caught my attention when he came up behind me, and proceeded to grind on my ass. I immediately turned around and started to dance backwards in order to escape him. When he tried to follow me, he lost his balance and stumbled onto the ground.

“Oh my God! Are you Ok?” I asked as I kneeled down next to him on the floor.

“Oh yeah, I'm all good,” he embarrassingly responded, as he attempted to get up before falling again. His ankle definitely looked twisted.

“Maybe you should go home,” I uttered, before finishing the rest of my drink. As soon as I did, all of the lights came on and the music stopped. Was it really one thirty already?

“After party time!” Tara shouted, as she came over and put her arm around me.

“Should we stop by the store to get more stuff to drink?” I asked while trying to catch my footing.

“Girl, I think you've had enough!” she laughed. She was probably right.

On the way back to the car, I managed to wave and say hello to at least five different strangers. At least I could start to walk on my own! “Shotgun!” I shouted as I ran up to the front seat.

“Good, now I get to sit in the back with Raul,” Nikki joked as she climbed in the back seat. She was coming to join us at the after party, since she didn't have work the next day. I could definitely understand that reasoning.

We drove off toward Tara's apartment, and by this time of night the fog had rolled in making it nearly impossible to see. I asked her if she was OK to drive, and she said she was. Maybe if I wasn't so intoxicated myself, I would have noticed her swerving. However, her driving looked fine in my state of mind.

All of the front parking spaces were taken up by the time we had arrived at her place, so we were forced to park behind the gated part of the complex. This meant only one thing, more walking. I stumbled getting out of the car, which led to Raul and Tara having to prop me up between them. We carried on walking like this for only a few minutes, until I received a sudden burst of drunk energy and galloped ahead of the group. I made it to the main entrance before everyone else, so I began to twirl around and dance to amuse myself.

“You're crazy,” Raul laughed, as the group made their way up to the door. Tara slid her key card through the card slot, and pushed the door open to let us inside. I wanted to take the stairs, but they insisted on taking the elevator. I couldn't stop moving, it was ridiculous. The elevator ride up to the forth floor seemed like an eternity as we stood in silence. When we finally made it to the apartment, we didn't hear the loud music we were expecting. We made our way inside, only to find one guy passed out on Tara's couch, and a random girl sitting in a chair, staring out the sliding glass door.

“Some party,” Nikki whispered.

“What the Hell is this?” Tara demanded. The guy who appeared to be unconscious on the couch, suddenly woke up to the sound of our loud voices.

“Hey!” he shouted from under his blanket. “You guys missed it! Oh man it was awesome.”

“We missed the party?” I asked as I examined him. He looked really familiar, but I couldn't put a face to the name.

“Yeah, everyone else is asleep. It's just us now.”

“There any booze left, man?” Raul asked, as he walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.

“Nah, we had a little too much fun, if you know what I...”

“I know you!” I interrupted, as his name finally clicked in my head. “Jesse, right?”

“Yep! I totally recognize you dude. I thought you looked familiar,” he responded, as he took off his blanket. “ I don't remember your name though.”

“Allie,” I replied. Normally I would have be offended by someone not remembering my name, but when it came to people I only knew from high school, I didn't want them to remember it.

“That's right, Allison!” he shouted, as a huge smile came across his face.

“Yep! So no booze, huh?” I asked, as I walked over to join Raul in the kitchen. I slowly unwrapped the scarf from around his neck and drunkenly placed it over my shoulders. “I like scarves.”

“I can see that,” he smiled, as he grabbed one end of the dangling scarf and pulled me in close. I stared at him for a few seconds and examined his face. He was absolutely gorgeous. I tried to think of something to say to break up the silence, but nothing came out. Instead, I continued to stare. Our eyes only left each other to blink. I knew it was a bad idea, but I desperately wanted to kiss him. Before I could convince myself not to, he leaned in and kissed me, right there in the kitchen, right there in front of everyone. For a moment, I was completely oblivious to anything else in the entire world. I was lost in his soft and wonderful lips. I was lost in his amazing kiss.

“Woo hoo!” Tara shouted, completely ruining the moment. I quickly realized that everyone in the apartment was watching us. My cheeks turned bright red as I took off the scarf and placed it back around Raul's neck. “Oh no, don't let us stop you!” she joked. I repositioned myself against the counter and folded my arms against my chest. Sure, I felt a little awkward, but I wasn't going to let everyone else know it.

The next hour at the apartment consisted of me drunkenly trapping myself in Tara's bathroom multiple times, Jesse falling asleep and reawakening over and over again (each time seeming more confused to why there were people over), Tara filling Nikki in on the whole Mikayla situation, and Raul and I sneaking into the hallway every few minutes that I wasn't trapped in the bathroom, to continue doing what we had been doing in the kitchen before Tara's interruption. Our hallway affair quickly became the best part of my night.

“Well, I'm sorry to bail so early but I'm so exhausted,” Nikki said as she stood up from the table and stretched her arms above her head.

“No worries girl. You gotta talk to Raul though, he's the one driving you home,” Tara replied. At the sound of his name, Raul quickly turned his attention to the front room.

“You ready to take me home, Raul? That is, if you two can separate for more than a minute!”

“Word” he replied, while turning back and smiling at me. For a moment, I started to drift back into my passionate haze, until I realized that I didn't have my car because Tara had picked me up from my house.

“Um, you wanna give me a ride home too?” I asked.

“Most definitely yo.”

“Awesome, I just have to use the bathroom real quick,” I said as I stumbled down the hallway.

“Don't lock yourself in again!” Tara shouted.

I walked in the bathroom and shut the door. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. The alcohol running through my veins was blocking all common sense from reaching my brain. I had one thing on my mind, and it was Raul. I opened a blank text message and began typing. “You should take Nikki home first, just sayin.” I sent the message to Raul, then slowly made my way back to the kitchen. When I walked up to him, he shot me a look that instantly confirmed his agreement with my idea. We exchanged hugs with Tara, then made our way out to the parking lot.

The drive back to Nikki's apartment seemed like only minutes. We dropped her off, and said our goodbyes. I drunkenly thanked her for being “such an awesome person,” then took over her place in the passenger seat. As Raul and I drove off in the direction of my house, I proceeded to tell him numerous ridiculous stories that I thought were absolutely hilarious. At least he was kind enough to laugh at all of them. Soon enough, though, we pulled up in front of my house, and a heavy, awkward silence fell over the car.

“Um, do you want to come in?” I asked shyly.

“Sure,” he smiled. He followed me up the walkway and waited patiently as I struggled to unlock the door. I warned him to be quiet, because I knew my dad would be waking up at any minute. He had this terrible habit of getting up around five AM every saturday morning.

We made it to my room without making too much noise, and instantly plopped down on the bed. We began exchanging light conversation, but that quickly became a big problem because of my inability to contain my volume.

“Yo, you gotta be quiet,” Raul whispered.

“Oops!” I giggled. I rolled my body over into the fetal position. “I'm sooooo cold. I swear I'm cold-blooded. I'm like, a salamander.”

“What the fuck is a salamander?” he laughed.

“You don't know what a salamander is?” Was he serious?

“I honestly have no clue yo.”

“Well, it looks kind of like a slimy lizard,” I said while holding up my hands to mimic the size.

“So, it's a lizard?”

“No! It's an amphibian!” I retorted angrily. “It's like a frog, with a tail.”

“You're crazy dude,” he replied.

“I'm not crazy!”

“You're right, you're not. You're my little salamander,” he whispered, as he pulled me in close. Without even thinking twice, I leaned in and kissed him. It was a sloppy drunk kiss, but that didn't make it any less amazing. As I continued to kiss him, I felt his hand reach down and tug on my shirt. I sat up and quickly pulled it up and over my head. As soon as it landed on the floor, I reached over and began to slowly lift up his shirt, exposing his chiseled chest. My heart nearly stopped.

Before I could become too distracted by his perfect body, he leaned on top of me and started to kiss me. He started at my neck, and slowly moved up to my lips. His touch felt like pure ecstasy, as his hands moved all around my body. Every stroke of his fingertips sent thousands of tingles down my spine. I knew it was wrong, but I knew I had to have him, right then and there. Begging for more, I reached my hand up and tried to unbutton his pants. I could tell by the look in his big green eyes, that he wanted me just as much as I wanted him.

“Here," he whispered, in between deep breaths, "let me help you with that.” I removed my hand, and placed it on his smooth, muscular back. Slowly, he lifted his hand off my thigh, and began to pull down his zipper.