He’s a one stop shop, makes my cherry pop
He’s a sweet-talkin’, sugar coated candy man oh
A sweet-talkin’, sugar coated candyman
Well by now I’m getting all bothered and hot
When he kissed my mouth he really hit the spot
He had lips like sugar cane
Good things come to boys who wait
“Hey Shorty, it’s your birthday! We’re gonna party like it’s your birthday!” Sophie sang Fiddy-style as she barged into my room on Friday morning. Hunter groaned and rolled over, still mostly asleep and I just threw a pillow at her.
“You’re lucky we put on underwear before we fell asleep last night,” I grumbled, pulling the blanket over my head.
“I peeked before I came in. I’m not that stupid,” she laughed, yanking the covers back down so my head was exposed again, “Now get your butts up! Gracie and I made you breakfast.”
“Fuck off. It’s my birthday. I’m not going to class,” I said, my eyes still shut.
“Yes you are! But not without a breakfast of pancakes, screwdrivers, and coffee with Bailey’s!” she grinned before sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“Alcohol? On a school morning? That’s so unlike you, Sophie,” I said, finally opening my eyes.
“Oh, it’s your 21st birthday! You deserve to spend the day in an alcohol-blurred haze!” she smiled, giving my leg a smack, “Now get up! Hunter, wake up.”
“No,” he said directly into his pillow.
“Come on, babe,” I said softly, turning over and spooning against his back, “Get up! It’s my birthday. You have to give me my present.”
“And this is my cue to leave,” Sophie said, “But be quick, the pancakes are almost done.” As soon as I heard my bedroom door close again, I pulled on Hunter’s shoulder until he was again flat on his back and I climbed onto his upper thighs.
“Wake up, you ass,” I saod, smacking his stomach lightly. He slowly opened his eyes.
“Why is it so bright in here?” he asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily. I sighed and felt my shoulders slump. He was cute and sweet but such a moron sometimes.
“It’s morning. It’s the morning of my birthday and I’m sitting on you. So just stop whining and wake up or I won’t have sex with you at all today, which will completely ruin what is supposed to be the most exciting birthday I will ever have.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just really groggy this morning,” he told me, sliding his hands up my thighs before resting them on my hips.
“Yeah, obviously,” I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair and putting on a big fake pout, “Well, you’ve just officially ruined my birthday morning. Worst boyfriend ever!”
“I think I have a way to make it up to you,” he smiled, finally looking like he was coherent, “But you have to get up first.” I smiled and slid back down to the mattress and watched him as he got up from the bed to dig around in his backpack. As much as I had wanted to ravage him that morning, I was just as content to watch him nervously fumble through the contents of his backpack. He came back to the bed a few moments later with a small wrapped package in his hands.
“What is it?” I asked him, taking the gift from his outstretched hand as he settled in next to me.
“A million dollar bill. I just thought that it would be nice to wrap it,” he grinned, leaning over to kiss me, “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you,” I said, “But you’re only saying that because you’re happy that I can buy you beer now.”
“You caught me! I only bought you a birthday present because I want you to make a beer run later today.” I just smiled at him before tearing open the paper. I’d never been one to be particularly patient when it came to unwrapping presents and didn’t see the point in delaying the inevitable. My mouth dropped open when I finally opened the small, flat box.
“Hunter! Oh my god!” I gasped, my fingers immediately taking hold of the necklace inside.
“I saw it and knew that I had to get it for you. Everything else was too flashy or girly, but this was just perfect,” he said, taking it from my hands so he could put in on me.
“Just perfect for your butch, boring girlfriend?” I teased, staring down at the Tiffany & Co. necklace with a single pearl end hooked through an open silver heart. It really was the perfect piece of jewelry for me.
“That is so not what I meant,” he said, fitting the pearl through the heart and sliding it in place before sitting back, “There. All done.”
“It’s great, I love it, Hunter. Thank you very much,” I stated, grabbing his face in my hands and kissing him deeply, immediately opening my mouth to him and pulling him closer.
“Oh gee, Sophie! I hope that we don’t have to drink all of Cam’s screwdrivers by ourselves!” Grace said over-exaggeratedly from outside my door. Hunter and I pulled apart reluctantly and stood to finish dressing.
“Do you think my new necklace goes with your boxers and this old, ratty t-shirt?” I asked him as we walked down the hall.
“That’s exactly what I imagined you wearing when I bought it,” he laughed just as we turned the corner.
“Finally!” Sophie exclaimed from her place at the table which was crowded with six place settings. Grace, David, and Trevor were already seated and halfway through their meals, “I tried to get them to wait, but they wouldn’t.”
“It’s okay. Hunter was just giving me my birthday present,” I explained, sitting down next to Trevor.
“We don’t need to know about that,” Sophie said, putting a plate and a glass full of orange juice and vodka in front of me.
“It’s a necklace, you filthy-minded pirate hooker,” I retorted, throwing an entire pancake at her as she sat back down.
“She spent all morning making those!” David scolded, throwing the pancake back at me. I took it and put it back on my plate before covering it in syrup and digging in.
An hour later, they sent me off to class with three screwdrivers already in me and a travel coffee mug full of coffee and Bailey’s. I had never imagined that I would go to class under the influence of alcohol, but I justified it by telling myself that it was only because it was my 21st birthday and that it would never happen again. I actually only wound up going to my first two classes and spent the time I would have normally been in my history class fooling around with Hunter in his bedroom while Zac was at the library.
At ten that night, Hunter and I were hanging out in my bedroom while I was finishing getting ready to officially go out for my birthday.
“You know, all I would have to do is untie this little knot right up here,” he said, running his fingers lightly over the tie of my dark gray halter top at the nape of my neck.
“You’d better not. Well, unless you want everyone at the bars seeing these,” I stated, cupping my breasts in my hands and pushing them together, “Man, I wish they looked like this.”
He put his hands over mine and pulled them away from my body. “I think they look great just the way they are. If they looked like that, they’d be fake, and I’m not into that.” I just ignored him, because I knew that he was only saying that to be nice because he was my boyfriend. I handed him the necklace he had given me that morning. He carefully fastened it before placing a kiss to the side of my neck.
“All ready to go,” I said, releasing my hair from its ponytail and shaking my hair, “Are you ready?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, “Do I look okay to go out to the bars? It’s my first time.”
“Aww., an Iowa City bar virgin! To think, I’m actually taking your virginity in some way,” I teased. He poked me in the side before following me out towards the kitchen where everyone else was pre-partying.
“Don’t act like I was a big slut, because I wasn’t,” he said. Without warning, I just pushed him against the wall and practically mauled him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him immediately hard against me.
“Cameron Leigh Carsen, we can hear you two. Now get out here!” Sophie yelled from the kitchen. Hunter tried to pull away, but I held him in place for a few more kisses before releasing my grip on him.
“Okay, now you can go,” I told him, pushing him ahead of me down the hall.
“You’re ridiculous today,” he laughed, “But I’m not complaining.”
“It’s my birthday! I get whatever I want, whenever I want it,” I explained before sitting down at the table where they were playing Circle of Death.
“You want in?” David asked me. I shook my head vigorously.
“I think I’m going to get plenty of alcohol at the bars, so I’ll pass for now,” I said. Hunter and I sat there watching them play for a few minutes before a series of loud and obnoxious knocks began to sound at the front door.
“Cameron, open the door!” Taylor screamed from the other side.
“Your giant taxivan of fun has arrived, m’lady!” Jackson joined in.
I sighed and stood to answer the door while Hunter stayed to watch everyone else do a waterfall, which Grace was dominating much to Trevor’s dismay. My hand grabbed the knob and I braced myself for the onslaught of noise and action that was going to force its way into the room as soon as I turned my hand. Once the door was open far enough for me to see them, Jackson was latched on to me in a tight hug.
“Happy birthday!” Chris yelled, throwing a handful of beer bottle caps in the air as if they were confetti. Taylor stepped forward and pressed a brushed metal flask into my hand.
“Happy birthday, Cams,” he said to me over Jackson’s shoulder, “Come on, man. Let her breathe.” When Jackson had finally relinquished his grip on me, I looked down at the flask and saw that it was engraved with a C and I couldn’t help but smile. Zac stepped hesitantly into the room.
“I’m sorry they’re so drunk already,” he said, “I tried to get them to slow down, but you know how they are.”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it,” I replied, looking over to see that they were now playing along by standing in between chairs at the table.
“Happy birthday, by the way,” Zac said before heading over to join the rest of the group. I twisted open the lid and sniffed the contents, finding myself overwhelmed with the sent of mint.
“What’s in here, Taylor?” I asked, “Scope?”
“It’s Dr. McGillicuddy’s. Doesn’t even taste like alcohol. Plus, you won’t smell like a total booze hound,” he said, pushing the flask in my direction, “Now hurry and drink some. The van is only waiting five minutes, so we need to get a move on.”
“I thought I was driving,” Hunter said.
“Don’t worry about it. Jackson and Chris offered to pay for the van as their birthday present to Cams,” Taylor explained.
“That means you can get drunk, our little protégé!” Jackson said, standing behind Hutner and putting his hands on his shoulders.
“I’m your protégé?” Hunter laughed, “Since when?”
“Yeah, I don’t think I like the sound of that. At all,” I stated.
“Don’t worry, Cams. We’ll take really good care of him,” Chris said, and Hunter looked up at me with a glint of fear in his eyes.
“We need to go or the van’s going to leave,” Jackson said, “Mush everybody!”
“We’re coming. Calm down,” Sophie laughed.
Everyone stood and left the table in its current state of disarray before grabbing any necessary items and heading out. The van was only supposed to seat six, but we managed to cram the ten of us in with only minimal discomfort and inappropriate groping. I found myself squeezed in the far back corner on Hunter’s lap, trying my hardest not to squash him, but killing my thighs straining in the process.
“Just sit down,” he laughed, wrapping his arms around me and trying to force my body down.
“I’m fine,” I said, bracing myself further as the driver took a corner a little too quickly. Only when Chris grabbed my foot and yanked it out from under me did I do as requested. “What’d you do that for, you jackass?”
He shrugged from right next to us before his attention got taken away by Jackson telling an incredibly off-color joke. I spent the rest of the car ride just soaking in the moment. It was my 21st birthday. I could finally legally purchase and imbibe alcohol, even though I’d been doing it since my junior year of high school. But it was something more than that.
This birthday finally made it clear that I was an adult, that I could make any decisions that I wanted all for myself. I finally let myself relax back into Hunter and tried my best to ignore his fingers as they lightly traced shapes over the sides of my legs.
“We’re here!” Chris exclaimed, pushing his way over Jackson’s legs and out the sliding door as soon as Taylor had pushed it open.
“Ready to get your cherry popped?” I grinned at Hunter. He wiggled his eyebrows at me and we followed everyone else out of the van.
“Come, protégé!” Jackson yelled at Hunter. Hunter shrugged at me before following them up to the front door of the bar.
“Are you ready to get sloshed?” Grace asked me as I fell into step between her and Trevor.
“Oh yeah. I need to play catch up with those morons,” I sighed, watching Chris and Jackson giving Hunter some kind of prep talk while Zac tried to keep Taylor from drinking from the flask in his back pocket, “I appreciate you guys coming out with these crazies. I know that they wouldn’t be your choice of crowd, but-”
“Don’t even, it’s fine. It’s your birthday and you should spend it with all of your friends. And plus, they’re good entertainment, and once I’m more drunk I’ll completely forget about all of the many reasons why I hate Taylor and everything will be fine!” she said before linking her arm with Trevor’s and handing her ID to the bouncer at the door. I faked a big smile and did the same.
“Oh! We’ve got a birthday girl here!” he announced, giving me a big smile, “Make sure you go see the bartender and show him this for your free shot.”
“I’m on it,” I replied before following everyone else inside. They were all gathered at the bar ordering a ridiculous amount of alcohol.
“Oh Cam! I’ve got three shot glasses worth of fun ready for you over here!” Sophie called out to me. The smile on her face was catching and before I knew it, I had downed four shots in about three minutes with more on the way.
Two hours later, I had lost count of the drinks and shots I had drank and was only vaguely aware of my surroundings as I sat perched on a bar stool in a club I’d never heard of before, talking to Sophie.
“How drunk are you right now?” she laughed. I shrugged.
“I’m 21st birthday drunk! Woo!” I said, noticing out of the corner of my eye Jackson and Chris sneakily hand Hunter and Zac two shots. They both shoved their marked hands in their pockets before downing the alcohol, trying their hardest to hide the fact that they were drinking underage.
“The music in here blows,” Taylor announced as he plopped down on the stool next to me and handed me a glass full of something orange.
“It’s karaoke, you dumbfuck,” I said, shaking my head at him before taking a sip of what I then determined to be an Amaretto Stone Sour.
“Oh,” he said, “You should sing something! You’re awesome at karaoke!” I shook my head vehemently.
“No way. Not happening,” I said as Hunter came over to stand between my legs.
“What’s not happening?” he asked, and even though I was beyond drunk, I could tell that he was getting there as well.
“Cameron thinks she’s not doing karaoke tonight, but she’s wrong,” Taylor explained. Hunter frowned at him and leaned forward to wrap his arms possessively around me in a hug.
“If she doesn’t want to do karaoke, then she doesn’t have to,” he said. I looked up at him and tried not to laugh. He was really cute when he tried to be so serious, I decided.
“Actually, either she goes up and picks a song on her own, or I pick one for her that will embarrass the shit out of her. And I really don’t want to have to do that to little Cammy on her birthday,” Taylor teased, pinching my cheek much harder in his drunken state than was necessary. I could feel Hunter tense against me at that contact and I immediately turned my face up to him so I could kiss him.
“Will you keep my stool warm for me while I go sing?” I asked, somehow quickly working out a plan. He sighed and leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“You don’t have to go sing. I won’t let him embarrass you,” he said sincerely. I pulled back and kissed him again before sliding off the stool.
“I know you wouldn’t. But it’s okay,” I told him, “You just sit here and save my seat.”
I sipped my drink the whole way up to the books full of the available songs, trying to avoid bumping into people and also trying not to trip in my tall heels. I knew that Hunter was still worried about myself and Taylor, so I knew that I needed to do something, or rather to sing something, that would let him know that he was all I wanted.
A few songs had immediately come to mind, but when I brought my face down to the page that had fallen open when my fingers jerked open the binder, one song caught my eye and I knew that it was perfect. I squinted my eyes to phase out the blur that was not being helped any by the fact that I was continually downing my drink through a small red straw. I scribbled the songs number and my name down on a piece of paper before slapping it playfully into the man behind the table’s hand.
“You can go up now if you want,” he told me. I couldn’t find the ability to do anything other than nod as my body continued to become more and more numb by the second, so I did just that before tossing my hair and climbing up the stairs onto the stage.
“Go Cam!” I heard Sophie yell over the crowd and I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the increasingly bright lights shining down on me.
As the familiar big-band style strains of “Candyman” came pouring through the speakers, I dramatically grabbed the microphone and went to town. There under the hot lights, I forgot all about how drunk I was, and how shy I typically felt when it came to singing in front of other people and just belted out the perverted lyrics as much like Christina Aguilera as I was able. All I had to do was pretend that I could see Hunter watching me sing and all of my nerves melted away, a thought that excited me almost as much as it scared me. But, it was all I needed to get me through the song and back to the bar.
“That was awesome!” Grace and Sophie said in unison they rushed up to me once I had reached everyone.
“See! I told you she was a karaoke superstar!” Taylor said, coming up beside me and slinging his arm tight around my neck, “Too bad your nipple was showing the whole time, though. That was pretty awkward.”
“It was not!” I gasped, more in a question than an accusation.
“No it was not,” Hunter said, coming up to stand in front of me. I smacked Taylor as hard as I could in the arm before hugging Hunter.
“I didn’t know you could sing like that,” he smiled at me.
“I just need the right motivation,” I explained, finding that standing was much easier when holding onto him, “And now, I need to take my motivation home and rip his pants off.”
“Is that right?” he laughed. I just smiled sexily at him and nodded before kissing him.
“I take it that you two are leaving, then?” Sophie asked from beside me.
“I guess we are,” Hunter said before turning back to me, “Do you want to say good-bye to everyone?”
“Bye everyone!” I yelled immediately, “There, now we can go!”
“Bye!” everyone who heard me said back. Taylor grabbed Hunter’s arm as we turned to leave.
“Does Zac have his keys? It looks like I’m going to have to put his lame ass in bed,” Taylor asked, gesturing over at Zac who was sitting on the edge of a pool table, hardly able to hold himself up as Jackson and Chris talked to him.
“Yeah. We both knew that I was going to end up at Cammy’s, so I made sure he had his keys,” Hunter explained.
“Do you have enough money for a cab, Cams?” Taylor asked me, “I want to make sure you two get home okay.”
“We’re fine,” Hunter said, “Have fun.”
“You, too,” Taylor laughed as I started attempting to pull Hunter towards the door by his belt loops.
The cab ride home went incredibly quickly and I’m sure we gave the driver quite a show since in my inebriated state I couldn’t manage to keep my hands off Hunter for longer than two seconds.
“God I want you,” I groaned as his hand slipped its way under the back of my shirt.
“Just a few more minutes,” he whispered, capturing my mouth again.
“I can’t wait that long,” I whimpered.
“Um, here we are,” the driver said, obviously trying not to laugh at us as he pulled up in front of my building. I tossed a ten dollar bill into the front seat before getting out of the car as fast as I could. Immediately, I grasped for Hunter because I found that the world had suddenly taken to spinning very quickly.
“Are you okay?” Hunter asked me as we made our way inside to the elevator.
“I’m fine,” I lied, pressing against him once the doors slid shut.
“You are just ravenous tonight,” he grinned.
“You don’t know the half of it yet,” I stated, stumbling backwards through the doors as they opened on my floor before somehow managing to find our door and unlocking it with only a minimal struggle. Once we were inside, I considered grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge in the hopes that it would stop the room from spinning, but thought better of it when I felt Hunter’s fingers untie my halter top from behind.
“I told you that was all I’d have to do,” he said in my ear before pulling on the bottom hem of my shirt until it came over my head.
I heard my shirt drop onto the kitchen floor before I spun around to divest him of his own. My jeans got left somewhere in the hallway, and even though in the back of my mind I knew that my roommates were going to be none too pleased to find them when they got home, I was so horny and intoxicated by that point, nothing seemed to matter but getting Hunter naked and as close to me as humanly possible as soon as I could. He pushed me gently down onto the bed before climbing to rest his weight on me.
“You still have too many clothes on,” I told him before snaking my hand down the front of his jeans that I had already managed to unbutton and unzip on our way down the hallway. I heard him exhale a shaky breath before standing back up. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back,” he smiled before heading over to his backpack on the floor, digging around inside for a few seconds before coming back to me. I closed my eyes and willed the room around me to stop swirling uncontrollably as Hunter pushed his pants and boxer briefs to the floor. And that’s when everything went black.
I woke up a few hours later and barely had time to pull on my robe and get across the hall before I emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet. After I had flushed and closed the lid, I turned to see Hunter kneeling next to me with a glass of water.
“You okay, babe?” he asked, smoothing a hand over my hair as I gulped down the water like a person dying of thirst.
“No, and I don’t remember anything after you went over to your backpack. What happened?” I asked.
“Well, I was about to rock your world, but you passed out,” he laughed lightly, “So I just tucked you under the covers and we went to sleep.”
“You’re the best boyfriend ever,” I managed, finding that I was still stumbling over my words and was definitely still drunk. He chuckled and helped me back across the hall. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
“I’ll always take care of you,” he told me before climbing in bed next to me.
“No matter what?”
“No matter what.”
“Even if I throw up again?”
“Especially if you throw up again,” he said, “Now just go back to sleep, birthday girl.”
And I did just that.