The Change of the Seasons: The Long Sweat

Chapter 2
School's out for summer

Chapter Description: A simple hangover can complicate the lives of everyone around you.

[size=2]James awoke to a hangover. It wasn’t like he hadn’t expected it; he had gotten pretty fucked up last night after all. But in the blissful netherworld between dreams and reality James couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss. Still, sleep beckoned to him and he couldn’t refuse such an alluring mistress. He dreamed of college and the goddess of a girl at that party that shouldn’t have given him the time of day but for some god forsaken reason did. He wasn’t into blondes, not usually, but this one was an exception…she had approached him.

It was an especially party filled weekend at the university and James’ friends had convinced him that as reserved as he was, he needed to experience at least one night of frat parties in his time at college, and despite himself he couldn’t help but agree. Thus began the Wilson St. Struggle. As ordained by generations upon generations of alcoholic college students, the drunk and stupid would bounce from fraternity from fraternity along Wilson St., drinking and fucking themselves into oblivion and beyond. This was the quintessential Sodom and Gomorrah, and it was all on a single street. The townies fucking hated it. James’ friend group comprised mostly of upperclassmen and so after pregaming with shots of shitty vodka, James set off with his closest friends into the wild green under.

As he quickly came to realize: the struggle was indeed real. They lost Greg at the third frat and Andy two houses later. By the end of it, it was just James and Broderick, an upperclassman and poster child of their group; if not its spiritual leader. James had come to learn several things that night going from frat party to frat party. For one, glasses really do make a difference in distinguishing Superman from Clark Kent. And two, his father Jacob, unlike Jor-El, had failed to tell him that he had inherited some sort of superpower from another world. That power was to down terrible tequila like it was nothing before an obnoxious audience and it ultimately led to his victory in the Wilson St. Struggle when Broderick announced his flight to the nearest toilet, which happened to be the back porch. At this point James was not at all sure at which fraternity he was in and frankly, he didn’t give much of a shit; before him stood a goddess.

“That was impressive,” she said, giving a slight nod of approval as she presented herself to him in her bright red dress, “You look like the kind of guy who would rather be playing videogames than drinking with frat boys,” motioning to his poorly hid glasses tucked away in his cargo pants. James was quick to assume that she was not as drunk as the frat boy that had let his nerdy ass into this place.

“Who says I can’t be both?” definitely letting the alcohol talk. “I was just playing some Smash before I started the Struggle with my friends.”

“Oh,” she said smiling, “My brother is obsessed with that game. My mom keeps bitching to me that he’s going to bomb all his classes.”

James was quick to come out of his stupor, “Fuck that sucks. What college does he go to?”

“…He’s in middle school.” she said flatly.

James’ thoughts were clear: Ouch.

Perhaps all that tequila gave him a sharper wit than he had anticipated, or far more likely it was the dreadful remembrances of his horrible middle school life, but he nonetheless retorted, “Are any of us adults here? College life is nothing more than playing at adulthood these days. If I’m no different from your brother, than what does that make the reckless party animals around us? What about you?”

The goddess in the red dress contemplated the remark with a gentle smugness that only reminded him of her superior social rank. Yet she engaged him, taking his ridiculous out of place debate with elegance. In the ensuing talks, he had learned her name: Rachel. And that she was also from Old Lake County, her cousins even lived in New Springs apparently. It was an awkwardly pleasant discussion in an environment of debauchery and EDM. And as the setting dictated, they soon were hitting 1st base in a dank hallway littered with used and half-used beers. It was glorious. James wasn’t normally interested in this kind of meet and fuck but…well….fuck it. Rachel’s tongue seemingly had a mind of its own and did things in his mouth that he didn’t think possible. He geared it up to 2nd base and that was when things got interesting. The groping, the squeezing, the flicking; it was incredible. Spurring ever onward, James went for 3rd; and that was when the goddess denied him.

“If we are indeed children, than we dare not go any farther. What will your mother think?” And she was gone. The goddess or…..was it just a woman? A girl? Clad in red and yet she was lost in the sea of grinding and humping.

God fucking dammit, he thought, I blew it. The guys aren’t going to let me live this down.

Dream once again meshed with reality and the young 20 year old man awoke with the bitter realization that he had more than just failed to hit a homerun, but that he was late for the one thing he had promised his mom that he would do today. Really fucking late.

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Jonathan Medlock sat lazily on a bench by the car pickup line in front of Edwardson Elementary School. His light brown hair was slightly ruffled by the occasion whisper of wind, though he paid it no mind. School had let out early for the final day of school and the last of the students had left well over an hour ago. Jonathan was used to taking the bus back home but apparently, standing up to a school bully on a bus ride home last fall meant that he was effectively banned from taking the bus again for the rest of his time at the elementary school. He wasn’t that concerned about waiting. His mom nearly killed him the last time he tried walking home by himself and at least he had his 3DS as company. If James wasn’t going to show up, than his mom surely will at some point; all the more time to get more gaming in from his usual two hour sessions enforced by his mom. That gaming session was sadly cut short by the appearance of his teacher Ms. Yong.

Korean, twenty-something, and only taller to Jonny by just over a foot; Ms. Yong looked more like a big sister to her 4th grade class than an actual teacher. She surprisingly took this reputation with exceptional grace, perhaps because God had at least granted her womanly proportions to make up for her childish size, though to Jonny and most other kids in his grade she was just really cool and approachable. She sat next to her student and wrapped the distracted boy into a half hug.

“Having fun Jonny?” she asked.

“Sort of,” he said nonchalantly. “I’m just power training this Pokémon. Hopefully I can kick Daniel’s butt over the summer.”

This brought a small laugh from Ms. Yong, “I hope it pays off.” She surveyed the surrounding courtyard, not an approaching car in sight, “How many weeks has your brother been picking you up now?” she asked.

“Four, ever since he came back from college.” Jonny replied, lazily pressing away at his handheld.

Nodding in a sense of acknowledgment she said, “I figured. You’ve been being picked up later and later recently. That must be really annoying right?” she asked.

“What?” Jonny pulled away from his 3DS in surprise, “I think he’s just helping me out, our mom has been refusing to allow me to play videogames lately and he’s just been giving me extra gaming time before I do my homework and chores so I can cream Daniel with my awesome team.”

That logic did not compute with Ms. Yong. “Jonny, I haven’t given you any homework at all this week and your mom has assured me your chores are rather easy. I think your brother…..”

Ms. Yong was cut off by the screech of tires turning all too sharply into the school grounds, coming to an abrupt halt in front of the duo. The shotgun door opened up to reveal a rather nerdy looking college kid with a minuscule but noticeable beer belly. Under the dirty blonde hair and his dark rimmed glasses was a fairly handsome face. The kind of guy she would have dated back in college probably. It was a shame, because she was already dead-set on giving him hell.

“Where have you been? I have been incredibly patient with you these last few weeks and yet here you are over an hour late picking up your little brother. On summer break! How could you?” she stammered.

“Look, well, ummmm I’m sorry. I guess all the stress from school has been affecting my sleep habits. I’m really sorry,” James stumbled to lightened the mood, “But hey! This is literally the last time I could mess this up with you. It’s summer break after all!”

Ms. Yong was not amused.

“I’m not going to let this go sir. Jonny’s mother, your mother, will hear about this. I’ll be sure of it! You’re irresponsible and you know it, your brother has shown more responsibility than you probably ever have when he defended a Special Needs child from a bully on his bus! Have you done anything as commendable as that?”

Maybe it was the hangover or the broken prospect of his month long intention to ask this cute Asian girl out on a date but bitterly he said, “Get in Jonny let’s just get out of here.”

Jonny took the cue and they sped off. Leaving Ms. Yong alone in the school yard and disappointed that she just told off yet another datable guy in New Springs in her age range.

I really need to get laid this summer, she told herself.

The car ride back had been a fairly awkward affair. James was not at all sure what to say, but when they hit a stoplight he felt compelled to speak up.

“I’m really sorry Jonny,” he said, “I really screwed up today. I should have remembered to set my alarm. Mom is going to kill me.”

Jonny shrugged continuing away at his 3DS. “Like I told Ms. Yong it’s not a big deal…”

Jonny felt weird just then, he hadn’t really cared at all but now he felt compelled to protect his big brother.

Closing his 3DS he said reassuringly, “I’ll make sure mom doesn’t punish you. I’ll fess up that I wanted you to pick me up late so I could have extra gaming sessions.”

A sudden relief came over James, a feeling of giddy exuberance like he just got scot free out of trouble from mom. It did more to relieve his hangover than the aspirin he had taken thirty minutes ago; that thought was what brought him back to reality. What the hell, he brooded, why would mom take anything Jonny said in my defense seriously? James was deeply troubled by this feeling and in an effort to reassert himself in his apparent voided authority; James took his right hand and messed up his little brother’s hair.

“Thanks buddy,” he said.

He always loved doing this to his younger family members, he didn’t particularly remember if anyone had done it to himself as a kid but it comforted him now and Jonny perked up with a smile. When the light turned green, he pressed on the pedal and put the strange ordeal behind them.

James treated Jonathan to a late lunch at the local burger chain, Small Frys, and the two brothers found themselves bonding far more than they had been in the four weeks James had already been at home. Despite the ten year age difference, James had no problem talking with Jonny about a wide variety of topics like the new Marvel movie that had recently come out.

Jonny was excitedly talking about all the actions scenes from the movie that James had already saw himself, he kept along and even talked about his own favorite scenes; taking special care to audit out his usual vocabulary of shit, ass, and fuck that he was so used to saying back at his university amongst his friends. Getting ahead of himself, James started ranting about how he liked the way a certain scene was shot but quickly realized he already lost the attention of the rambunctious 10 year old boy. Luckily their double bacon cheeseburgers and oversized cheesy fries had arrived, allowing the conversation to end naturally.

By the time they had returned home it was close to three in the afternoon. James got himself a beer from his hidden stash and gave his brother free reign of the family room while he retreated to the comforts of his room. Maybe it was Ms. Yong’s cute face or perhaps it was the feeling of imminent containment of his adult activities by his enraged mother, but James decided he needed to rub one out.

He had the feeling he wasn’t going to get the chance to do it again in quite a while.

The Long Sweat continues in Chapter 3: The Lioness Lays down the Law[/size]