Entry 16: Preston's Body Count (Yep, you read that correctly)

Saturdays are usually pretty boring for me. I just lounge around the house until the evening when I go off to see Preston. I was planning on going to The Basement in the evening to watch the band but things played out a bit differently.

I was laying on the couch in the living room when my dad walked in. He saw me lying there and sighed as if lazing around the house on a Saturday afternoon was a crime. Fall cheer season is coming to an end soon and I probably could've spent my time practicing for winter try outs but there was no way I wouldn't make the squad again.

"Problem?" I peered up from my phone and glared at my father.

He folded his arms and opened his mouth as if he were about to say something. I sat up thinking he was finally going to talk to me. A million smart ass remarks were at the ready for whatever my dad was about to say. Fortunately, Mom sensed the impending argument and ran into the room.

"Parker, I could really use your help with decorating the foyer."

I rolled my eyes and got up at my mother's request. With Thanksgiving approaching, that meant decorating the whole house even more. It was already filled with so much autumn decor. Literally like Mother Nature threw up in this place.

I walked down the hallway to the foyer and started helping my mom with the staircase. She kept trying to bond with me which normally, I found uncomfortable but then she said something that was pleasantly surprising.

"Would you like to come with me to pick up Grandma in a couple weeks?"

"Grandma's coming for Thanksgiving?"

I asked excitedly. She usually only popped up in the summer or the occasional Christmas. I never would've foreseen my grandmother coming to town for Thanksgiving.

"Yep. We were talking about it last night."

"How long is she staying?" I smiled.

"Until New Year's Eve."

"NEW YEARS?!"

That's like a whole month of Grandma!

The fact that she would be staying for all of December was the most Heaven sent piece of information I could've received.

My paternal grandmother is my only living grandparent from my father's side. His dad died a couple years ago. I think it was the toughest time in his life aside from seeing his daughter's naked photos. That was the last time my grandma was here for nearly a month.

My grandma is the coolest person on the planet. She travels all the time, sends me loads of money for birthdays and stuff, and all of my best accessories came from her. She has the best style and the best personality. I'm totally certain I get my sense of humor from her because there's no way I inherited it from dad. He's dry and boring and mom just isn't nearly as funny as she thinks she is.

With Grandma here, maybe mom will lay off a bit. Also, Dad might come back out of his shell and be nice to me again. At least in front of her. To be honest, I think she might save this family from the emotional ruins I've crumbled us into.

Mom nodded her head smiling. I just know she thought she struck gold with that news. I'll give credit where it's due, she kind of did. I was pretty miserable all day until she told me about Grandma's pending arrival.

"So do you want to go to the airport with me and pick her up when she comes?"

I had to leverage my options. Was a two and a half hour car ride with mom worth the two and a half hour ride back with grandma. I guess so.

"Sure," I forced a smile because I just know she's already writing up things to talk about on the way there.

As I was leaning forward to hang the wreath, I looked out the window and saw Preston pulling in to my driveway. I was surprised to see him since he wasn't supposed to pick me up for a couple more hours.

"Parker, Preston's here!" My mom yelled a bit too excited.

"I can see him Mom!" I said in a panic.

I looked crazy!

It was 1:30 in the afternoon and I was wearing my pajama pants and a hoodie. My hair was lazily thrown up in a messy ponytail and my face was completely bare.

I was just about to tell mom to stall him so I could fix myself but she never gave me the chance. She swung the front door open, exposing the entire foyer...including me.

"Hi Preston!" She greeted him.

Preston smiled at her but I could tell he was forcing it. It wasn't hard for him to be polite so I knew something had to be wrong. He was upset and trying to hide it.

"Hey Mrs Lockwood," he looked past my mom to me. "Is it okay if Parker and I hangout for a little bit?"

I smiled and grabbed my phone off the table.

"Of course it's okay," I answered for her. "Let's go!"

I didn't even say goodbye to mom as I shoved Preston out of the entryway and shut the door behind us. I started walking to Preston's car as he trailed slowly behind me.

"Thank God you came. I was bored out of my mind. I almost started a fight with my dad just for entertainment."

Preston followed me to the passenger side of his car and when I reached for the door handle, he gently grabbed my wrist. He's always very insistent that he open my door for me. Preston is such a gentleman.

He turned the key in the ignition and backed out of the driveway.

"Thanks for hanging out with me," he said.

"Of course," I shrugged. "I love hanging out with you."

A small moment of silence passed before he spoke again.

"I really need someone to talk to..."

I didn't mean for my face to light up at this, as he was clearly upset. But if Preston was finally going to open up to me, of course I was going to be a little stoked.

"...I figured, since you're my girlfriend now... that 'someone' could be you?"

This was my chance! I had to prove to Preston that I was his person. He could open up and tell me anything. I had to be a good listener and potential problem solver. I couldn't blow this.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I just- I got into a fight with Alyssa. It was really bad..."

"Why?" I leaned forward, very curious. My mind couldn't wrap around the idea of Preston and Alyssa fighting. They're like the only pair of siblings I've ever seen that get along.

"Sometimes she steals my t shirts. It's super annoying so when I caught her today, I started yelling at her to stay out of my room. Things got heated when she backed up and knocked into my dresser."

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"She's fine," he sucked his teeth bitterly. "But my mom, she had these reading glasses ... Alyssa broke them. One of the last things I had of my mom and Alyssa just smashed them."

"Oh my God, Preston, I'm so sorry..." I frowned.

"I know it was an accident but I still totally lost it," he shook his head, gripping the steering wheel.

"Lost it, how?"

"I just started yelling at her, I was so mad. I'm such an asshole. The things I said and the things I called her. She probably hates me."

"You were just angry in the moment. I'm sure she understands. She'll forgive you." I insisted. "Just apologize when you go home and give her the chance to apologize to you about the glasses."

I reached out to Preston's hand. I placed mine over his and gave him a reassuring smile. Preston stared at our hands for a second and then looked at me.

"I hope you're right. I feel really bad about laying into her like that."

"Even though it was wrong for you to lash out, you're still entitled to your feelings. You were hurt too. And who know's, maybe we can take the glasses to get fixed."

Preston smiled, now in a seemingly better mood.

"You know... you're surprisingly easy to talk to."

I couldn't help but form a huge grin across my face when he said that.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" I laughed.

"I don't know. You talk alot. I never really expected you to be such a good listener."

"There's a lot you don't know about me," I teased him with a shove.

"Like what?" He asked seriously.

"What do you want to know?"

Preston shrugged, "Anything..."

I began to think about what I could share about myself. He never really seemed interested in the trivial things about me. We always just talked about our day as it was happening or about things in the near future. When I thought about it, I realized we had been dating for nearly 2 months and hadn't actually gotten to know each other.

"Well my favorite color is pink."

"I could've guessed that." He laughed.

I rolled my eyes and continued.

"My birthday is July 15th so I'm a Cancer. I'm a dog person even though I've never had one. My dad says they're just another mouth to feed. I love cheerleading, obviously but before I streamlined into year round cheer, I played tennis and did ballet. My mom was devastated when I quit ballet. I'm pretty good at cooking but I can't bake for shit, unless it's cookies. My grandma has the best recipe for cookies. I love riding my bike in the summertime and going to the beach. Summer is my favorite season because my favorite holiday is my birthday."

Preston scoffed.

"Your birthday isn't a holiday."

"It is to me," I shrugged.

"Whatever," he dismissed it. "Tell me something you've never told anyone before."

"Like a secret?"

He nodded his head.

I thought about a secret I had. It was hard to come up with one since I live very openly with everyone. But there was this one time I lied to Leah...

"Well, I told Leah I had my first kiss in 5th grade but it was really in 8th grade with Drake."

"Your first kiss was with Drake?" Preston furrowed his eyebrows confused. "So.. you never kissed anyone else besides him?"

"Well yeah, he was my only boyfriend up until last year."

"So that would make me ..."

"My second kiss, yes," I finished his sentence for him.

He looked shocked. Honestly, more shocked than when I told him about the naked photos. It was like his brain couldn't wrap itself around the idea that I had only kissed one other boy besides him.

"How many girls have you kissed?" I asked.

Preston began to think really hard but only for a second.

"I don't even know. I stopped counting."

I wanted to ask him how many girls he had slept with but I was afraid of the answer. He definitely knew I was a virgin and I didn't want to get into that conversation. Sure, we made out and I wanted to do a lot more than that but I didn't know if Preston was right to be my first. I must've been thinking about it too hard because before I knew it, I was blurting out,

"How many girls have you had sex with?"

Preston looked like a deer in headlights. He was not prepared for the question. It was his turn for the hot seat and I was turning up the heat. He rubbed the back of his head and cleared his throat.

"I don't know- like...five."

"FIVE?!"

I wish I hadn't asked.

"How could you sleep with five girls!?"

"Do you want a demonstration or something?" He asked sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, trying to think about potentially being next.

"So I would just be number six..." I thought aloud.

"Whoa," Preston took his eyes off the road and shot me a disapproving look. "You're my girlfriend. Not some number."

"How many of those girls were your girlfriend?" I asked.

"Three," he sighed.

My boyfriend had at least three other girlfriends before me and had hooked up with 2 randoms.

And here, he was only my second kiss.

I took a deep breath, not trying to shame him or anything. I was just feeling super insecure. How could I measure up to five other girls. Girls I knew nothing about. Girls that were most likely older than me, possibly better looking and definitely better at sex than I could hope to be.

I guess the insecurities were written all over my face because Preston spoke up.

"Don't even worry about it. It's not like we're having sex any time soon so just relax."

"We're not?" I asked. "You don't want to?"

Did he not want to?

"I mean, of course I want to..." he laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "But look, we just started dating and I'm not going to try to get you to do anything you're not ready for."

So he did want to! This was not something I was prepared to hear. I always held Preston on this pedestal above Drake and his horniness. It was weird seeing him in this new light of being...well... a guy. Sex being on his mind was normal but we had never discussed it before. Did he think about it often? Did he think about sex with me every time we were together?

"You want to have sex with me?" I asked very confused.

"Isn't it natural that I would?"

"I- I guess. I just didn't think I appealed to you in that way."

Preston sported a curious look.

"You're my girlfriend. You're pretty. I like you. Why wouldn't you appeal to me that way?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. " I'm not your type. I'm not older, I don't have big boobs or any type of body for that matter. I just didn't think you saw me as a...sexual being."

Preston laughed. Like a real laugh. Not a scoff or a snort or a sarcastic chuckle. A really real laugh.

"Of course I do," he smiled. "You're hot. I'd be crazy not to."

I smiled to myself and was about to speak up when he said something else.

"But I also see you as so much more than that."

We continued driving around until we ended up back at my house. Preston parked at the end of the drive way and I turned to face him.

"Are you going to come back for me tonight?" I asked.

"Of course," Preston said.

I put my hand up to his face and leaned in. I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and got out of the car and came inside.

I'm not really sure how I feel about his sexual history. It's kind of intimidating to think about.

Despite never feeling pressured by Preston, this new information was doing all the pressuring for him. Now that I know he wants to have sex and has had sex with other girls before, it feels like that's what I have to do in order to keep him around.

I hope that's not true and that his feelings are sincere. I mean, I think I might want to have sex with him but I just need him to be a little bit more patient with me.