Frozen Barriers (4 page)

Suzanne seemed to be the most assertive of the three; she was slightly older than me and went to Tewksbury High School. Being seventeen, she was just finishing up her senior year. After free skate one day, I was packing up my gear when she approached me. Suzanne was preparing for her senior prom and had come up to me in the locker room to ask me if I wanted to head out for a bit to shop around for her prom dress and maybe grab some lunch. I’d never been approached much about spending time away from the rink with friends. To say I was stunned would have been an understatement.

I went to find my mother outside, and she wasn’t immediately convinced I should go; however, once Suzanne was at my side trying to get my mother to agree, she finally conceded. Clearly, my mother knew she had an audience and didn’t want rumors to spread about her inability to allow her only daughter to enjoy herself once in a while. My mother took my bag from my shoulder and leaned in to give me one of her fake hugs, only to quickly whisper into my ear, “Do not disappoint me, Emily.”
Well, yes, Mother, that’s exactly my goal in life. To spend a few hours outside of your grasp only to attempt to maliciously scar the family name.
She really did think so little of me as a human, let alone her own flesh and blood.

After Mother left, Suzanne dragged me by my arm to her car. I’d never been more excited and scared to have “girl” time in my life. I wasn’t exactly sure how to just be normal since I’d never had an opportunity to have a social life. Suzanne, on the other hand, was a social butterfly.

Once we were in the car, I asked her where we were headed to find her prom dress. She turned down her radio and said that we were going to a small dress shop in Tewksbury. I found a bold curiosity, and asked, “Who are you going to prom with?” I was almost certain she was about to burst out of her skin she was so excited.

“His name is Josh Page. He’s a few years older than me, but we have been dating for about a year now.”

I was unaware of dating or boys in general. Yeah, we had a few guys who were in the skating club, but none of them were exactly looking for a
female
to date, if you catch my drift. This was a whole new territory for me, and my mother had never been forthcoming on dating advice, so I decided to approach the subject with Suzanne without making me appear too eager or ill-informed.

“Are you planning on having sex with him after prom?” She began laughing hysterically at me. I knew I should have curled into a ball and just kept quiet.

“Oh my gosh, Emily! I’m not a virgin. Josh and I have certainly had sex long before this.”

“Really?” I said, more of a question than a statement.

“Yeah, hold on. Are you saying you haven’t had sex yet?” Wait. No. Now, I want to crawl into a hole and never come out!

Suzanne turned her head to look at me and said, “Oh, Emily, don’t worry. I’m sure you and your boyfriend will get there soon. I was fifteen when I first had sex.” My gaping mouth must have been quite the image.

“Suzanne, I don’t have a boyfriend. I’ve never even been on a date or kissed a boy.”

It was then that I think Suzanne may have finally realized the error of her assumption and just how inexperienced I really was. “Emily, how have you never been kissed yet? I mean, look at you! You are stunning, and you have boobs that I would kill to have. You are every guy’s wet dream!”

I knew I might regret it, but I wasn’t going to learn
anything
from my mother, so it was either ask Suzanne or Google it later. “What’s a wet dream?”

Suzanne quickly responded, “Oh my God! You are too funny!! Clearly, you haven’t had Sex Ed at school, or your mother hasn’t given you all the details needed yet, so I’m going to help you out with a little Sex Ed 101.”

2005

I had just finished hockey practice when my brother came to pick me up at the rink. Josh had gotten fitted for his tux for his second prom. I still couldn’t believe the idiot fell for that smitten kitten Suzanne. Nice girl, but those two together scream trouble. I already had my measurements for prom ready to go. With my senior hockey season over, I was still trying to stay conditioned for when I began college hockey in the fall with BU, so prom was the last thing on my mind. I probably wouldn’t have even been going if it hadn’t been for Josh. He said if he had to endure all the pain associated with being a college freshman at a high school prom, then I was going to have to suffer, too.

I didn’t have much time for girls in high school, but that didn’t stop any of them from hounding me to take them to the fuckin’ event. They wouldn’t relent until I finally picked one to go with me. Suzanne was spending an afternoon at the house with Josh when she cornered me and said if I didn’t choose a prom date soon, she was going to pick one for me. I laughed in her face, except for the fact she was dead serious. Once I stopped laughing at her, Josh looked at me and then back at Suzanne and shook his head.

Suzanne picked up her phone, and I heard her say, “Hey, Morgan! Just wondering if you are busy May 15
th
? ...No, you say?...How about you join me at my prom?...No, I know you don’t swing that way, girl! I meant, tag along with me, but be Josh’s brother’s date… I don’t know, 6’1’’, 210 pounds, brown hair, decent… No, you don’t have to sleep with him, unless you want to… Okay, yeah, sounds good. Later.” She hung up and stared at me with evident anger showing over my face.

“What the fuck was that?” I screamed.

“Jeremy!” I heard my mom scold from the kitchen. “What have I told you about your language? Just because your father can’t control his profanities is no reason for you to follow in his footsteps.”

“Sorry, Mom,” I cowardly said.

“Suzanne, how could you possibly set me up with someone I’ve never met?”

“Oh, c’mon, Jeremy. You know Morgan. She’s at the rink with me all the time,” Suzanne said nonchalantly.

I tried to think of all the girls I’d seen with Suzanne at the rink. I never usually paid much attention to any of them, simply because they brought nothing but drama. There was one girl I remembered from years ago and thought maybe it was her, so I asked, “She’s not the one whose mom always yells at her when she’s on the ice, is it?” Suzanne gave me a look and a smirk like she knew exactly who I was talking about.

“That’s Emily, but unless you want your ass handed to you on a platter, you’ll steer clear of her. Her mother is the devil incarnate! I’ve been trying to get that poor girl to hang out with us for years, but her mother won’t allow her out, for whatever reason. It’s as though until she’s an Olympic medalist she’ll never let her have any fun, so she trains and competes. That’s it. Rumor is, she’s changing skating clubs soon too, because to have Olympic backing, you’ve got to have a big name club attached to your name.”

“Is she really that good?” I asked, not sure why.

“She’s the shit, but she never seems to love the fun in all of it like Morgan, Lily and I do,” Suzanne said with a look of curiosity as she bounced her head between Josh and me.

“Okay, so clearly, we’ve sidetracked here to talking about this Emily, who the fu…heck is Morgan?” I summoned.

“Don’t worry. You can meet her after I go pick out my dress next weekend. Josh and I are going to grab some lunch afterwards.”

“Fine, but if you set me up with some bimbo who will not shut up all night, I will make sure my mom and dad know what you and Josh are up to in the hot tub out back at night. They wouldn’t want their little Courtney walking outside to a sex session on full display, now would they?”

Josh stood right up and hugged Suzanne into his side. “Don’t get your panties in a ruffle, Jeremy. You know once I’m done at the police academy, I’m out of here anyway.”

My brother was about to complete the police academy in New Braintree and would soon be the newest patrolman on the Massachusetts State Police force, which meant he’d be moving out of the house just about the same time I would be trekking off to start my freshman year at Boston University. College life was not for him. As much as my parents would have loved for him to finish his education, his heart was only interested in going into the police force.

I was sitting in Josh’s car, heading to lunch to meet Morgan, my set-up date for the prom, and feeling nothing but dread. Was it wrong to not want to attend your own prom?

Josh glanced over at me and punched my shoulder. “Hey, stop sulking! If Suzanne is friends with her, she’ll be fine. Plus, it’s not like you have to date her or anything. She’ll probably spend most of the night with Suzanne anyway, so I guess you can dance with me.” Josh winked at me and chuckled.

“Fuck off, asshole!” I spouted at him.

We pulled up to Margaritas, a local Mexican restaurant. “Guess we beat the girls,” Josh said. “I’m going in and grabbing a table and let Sue know to meet us inside.”

“Fine,” I said, making my way toward the front door.

Once we were seated, it was about twenty minutes before Suzanne walked in with a cute little blonde chick with an incredible rack and small frame for her height. If this was Morgan, I had zero complaints, and would even hug Suzanne for the set up. Once the blonde looked over to us after stopping her conversation with Suzanne, raising her sunglasses on top of her head, her eyes met mine.

“Fuck me,” I whispered. Josh took it upon himself to jab me in the side, clearly hearing my murmured words.

Suzanne came over to the table and sat down after giving Josh a little more than affectionate kiss in public. She looked at me as I gestured with my eyes to perhaps introduce me to the girl she set me up to take to prom.

“Oh!” she said. “Let me introduce you guys. Josh, Jeremy, this is Emily. She skates with me at the rink.”
Hold the phone! Did she just say ‘Emily’? Where the fuck was Morgan?
Not that I was complaining, because seriously, this girl was smokin’ hot, but didn’t Suzanne just say a few weeks ago how much baggage she had going on with her life?

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. Suzanne has been talking about this prom all afternoon. You guys must be excited to be going,” Emily said, trying to avoid eye contact with me by glancing down to her lap as she turned a sweet shade of red.

“Emily, you might know Jeremy. He skates at the Valley Forum sometimes. Not so much anymore, now that he’s out of the Pee Wee League, but he grew up there basically with all of us,” Suzanne declared.

Emily peered up at me and quickly said, “I’m not sure I remember seeing you, but it’s very possible I might have run into you in passing.”

“Barbie.” It slipped out of my mouth before I knew I said it out loud. Shit! Emily gave me a look of not only confusion but also recognition, but at least she couldn’t place where she’d heard that before.

The waitress came over with chips and salsa and took our drink and food order. Emily ordered a side salad with no dressing. All three of us looked at her as if she had three heads, maybe because we all ordered enough food to feed a small city and this girl ordered a side salad and water. I mean, I got the need to stay in shape, but Emily clearly didn’t need to watch her figure. She was maybe 110 pounds soaking wet. It was at this moment I was staring at her body, and most notably her C-cups, that she caught me gawking. Her mouth dropped open, and her teeth pulled at her lower lip. I swear my cock sprung to life. I needed a distraction and fast, so I said to Suzanne, “I thought you were supposed to be bringing Morgan with you?”

Shifting in her seat, Emily looked at Suzanne and asked, “Was Morgan supposed to come here, too?”

Suzanne answered, “Well, see, I set her up to go to prom with Jeremy because he didn’t want to go, and Josh didn’t want to not have a wingman all night. But, I never mentioned to her about the lunch, and then when I saw you at the rink, I asked you to tag along instead.”

Emily looked taken aback. “So, you didn’t really need my help today dress shopping? You were supposed to bring Morgan instead for your double date?”

Suzanne appeared as though she just ripped the poor girl’s heart out. “Oh, Emily, no! Morgan already had her dress from her own prom at her high school, and she couldn’t care less about Jeremy. She’s just going with us so the dicks don’t outnumber the cupcakes.”

Emily appeared utterly confused, so I piped in, “What she means is Morgan and I don’t even know each other. Suzanne just doesn’t want to be outnumbered by the guys all night. Isn’t that right, Sue?” Suzanne nodded and smiled at Emily, and things seemed to be cool again with the group.

Josh and Suzanne were feeding each other some of their lunch while Emily kept picking at her salad until she finally said, “Suzanne, I really think I ought to get going. My mother is going to be upset if I’m not back soon to take care of my class work.”

Not ready to leave, Suzanne responded, “It’s still early, Em. What’s another half an hour? It will only take us ten minutes to get you home.” Emily scratched her head, visibly despondent for some reason. I’d seen her mom at work years ago, so I had an idea why she wanted to get home, and yet I couldn’t fathom living with such an overbearing parent.

Without thinking, I spoke up, “I can take you home if you want.” Emily looked up, and I saw both relief and fear in her eyes. “I can take Josh’s car, and Suzanne can take him home when they’re ready.”