The Long Winter #27

Sex, Lies, and Digital Video Uploads 2 part six

Things were going too well. Everyone liked Delaney. Bart and Annelise were charmed by her soft voice and pretty laugh. Clark gave her a high-five and congratulated her on dating one of the hottest girls at the Institute. Even Sandra was polite, giving her half a hug and giggling with her about how different things were up there compared to their suburban downstate homes. It was enough to make Penny's alcohol-tinged mind to ignore the fact that her roommate and her most trusted friend were absent.

“What’s going on out there?” Bart said, watching people filing for the back. Cheering erupted, drawing more curious eyes.

“Something fun and exciting,” Sandra said, grinning. “Maybe we should go out there, too!”

“But it’s cold,” Clark said. “I’m not prepared to go outside. Neither is Penny.”

“I could take a peek, at least,” Penny said. She reached over and grabbed Delaney’s hand. “Want to go see?”

“We should wait,” Bart said, his hand landing on their shoulders. “It looks like everyone is trying to go out that way.”

“Aw, we’re going to miss it now,” Sandra slumped against Clark’s shoulder, her state of inebriation exaggerating the motion.

“It’ll come back inside,” Annelise said. “We’re not supposed to let our parties spill out that way. Some of the sisters will get them all back inside.”

“Oh, good.” Sandra sighed with relief.

Penny shared a smile with Delaney but something inside her was telling her to run. It was not Marv, he had quietly faded away to let her enjoy Delaney, but something else. She glanced at Bart, saw his apprehension mirroring her own. She wanted to reach over for him, ask him what he felt, ask him to whisk them away from there, but the fervor grew around them, swallowed them up. She had no chance to ask him before a wave of people washed over them, sweeping them down the hall and into the MarioKart room where the menu screen played its cheerful music over and over again. Maddie burst into view. Her hair was disheveled and her smile was big and fake.

“There you are!” the blonde girl shouted, putting her arms around her. “I was missing you this whole time! I had no one but Ralph to keep me company!” She planted the beginnings of a passionate kiss right on Penny’s lips.

“Maddie!” she said tearing herself out of the former soccer player’s grip. “How drunk are you?”

“I’m sobering up.” Then she looked at Delaney. “I don’t recognize you, so you must be Penny’s fuck buddy!” She put her arms around Delaney and pressed up against her.

“I’m Delaney.” The redhead glanced at Penny, her eyes wide with bewilderment as Maddie leaned in to steal another kiss, but succeeded only in brushing her lips across Delaney’s cheek.

“Lovely.” Maddie released her and blinked in surprise when Sandra stepped into view.

“You should go back to the dorms. You should sleep this off.”

“Fuck you, Sandra. I’m sobering up. Ralph took me to the store up the street and got me water. Speaking of which, I have to pee again.”

“What is with you? You’ve always been a bitch, but this is out of line even for you.”

“Are you joking again? I can’t tell, you’re just not as funny as I am.”

“Bart, can you get her back to her room?”

“Sure—“

“No!” Maddie latched onto Penny’s arm. “I’m staying here! There’s going to be a huge surprise! Leah’s new boyfriend is bringing it in here, he’s going to put it on the TV.”

“Leah doesn’t have a boyfriend,” Penny said.

“Come on, Maddie, we should get you back—“

“No, Bart! You can go! Ralph will take me home! Get away from me, Penny!” Maddie shoved Penny aside and pulled Ralph into their circle. “You’ll get me back to the dorm.” She glared at her friends. “You can leave.”

“We were only going to help you,” Bart said. “We’ll stay if you’re staying, though.”

“Whatever, you do what you want.”

Maddie stayed beside Ralph but kept her hands to herself and her eyes on Clark. The fair-haired boy ignored her, if he even noticed, his attention on Sandra as she complained animatedly about Maddie’s unacceptable behavior. The room was too small, and Penny exchanged another anxious glance with Bart as Delaney closed the gap between them.

“When you told me about your roommate you made her sound a lot nicer,” she said.

“She is. I’ve never met this drunk version of her, but she was fighting with her fiancé again so maybe that has something to do with it.”

“She kissed you.”

“I didn’t like it.”

“I didn’t either.”

They glanced at Maddie. She was still looking in Clark’s direction. Commotion approached from the hall beyond her. She heard Braden’s mocking high-pitched laughter and her tender embrace of Delaney turned into the desperate grip on a lifesaver at sea. Before the senator’s son, however, appeared Leah on the arm of a handsome young man with dark hair in a fine black suit. Leah saw her and directed her young man in Penny’s direction and the shaking anxiety in Penny’s chest exploded into thundering fear.

“Are you all right?” Delaney whispered.

“I…”

Penny’s mouth clamped shut as Leah and her young man came into their midst.

“Who are your little friends, Leah?”

“This is my roommate Sandra and her boyfriend Clark, his friend Bart and his date Annelise, and my friend Penny and her roommate Maddie. I think you know Ralph.”

“Hi, Mason,” the boy said, extending his hand.

“Ralph, good to see you again.” He shook it and then stepped towards Penny. “And who is this you’re clinging to?”

“My…” Penny swallowed hard. Her mouth was suddenly so dry. Her voice trembled when she answered. “My girlfriend, Delaney.”

“Well, we’ll see if she still wants to be your girlfriend after what I’m about to show everyone.”

“What are you—“

“In here, Braden!” Mason turned and shouted. Braden and Geri and their hangers-on came in, hyena smiles on their drunken faces.

“Leah, what’s going on?” Penny reached out for Leah’s shoulder, but the moment her fingers touched Leah the cheer-girl-for-a-night stepped away.

“We should get out of here,” Bart said, his voice getting lost in the rising noise.

“What’s going on?” Delaney asked. “Are you all right?”

“No!”

Penny grabbed Bart's and Delaney's hands and turned to go, to run away, but there were so many people, the room was too crowded. Two young men Penny did not recognize wrenched her away from Delaney and Bart and hauled her across the crowded room to the TV where Mason stood. Leah still refused to look at her. Penny felt tears well up in her eyes. Everyone stared at her, no one hungrier or more predatory than Braden and Geri.

“And now here we are, surrounded by dear friends and family with our guest of honor in our midst, I’ll show you what you’re all here to see!”

He smiled, no, he sneered at Penny. She struggled to break free from the young men holding her, but for all her exercising, the boys' greater strength refused to give way to her. Penny's eyes darted around the room. Delaney was near the front of the crowd, held at bay by her own guards. Her friends were behind the redhead, a mixture of confusion and concern.

“Do your friends know just what a naughty girl you are?” Mason asked Penny.

“What are you talking about?”

“When I saw you at my dear friend Braden Garies’ party the other night I knew I had seen you somewhere before. He kept calling you Mexican and that threw me off. You don’t look Latina no matter how many times he says it. But you hate it so that’s fine for me.”

“What…” Penny stopped struggling. Her body was shaking too much, had she freed herself her legs would never be able to keep her upright.

“Yeah. You know what I’m about to show everyone.”

“No…”

“You see, what we have here is an actual, professional cam girl!” Mason shouted to the glee of nearly everyone present. “Perhaps not a cam girl, but she definitely had a few movies trend, not just on my websites, but a whole bunch of my competitors, too!”

“You can’t show them! I had those all taken down!”

“Ah, so you admit it. I thought after lying to all your friends for so long you’d lie to me about this, too.”

“I never lied to anyone about this. Someone thought he was getting revenge, but all it got him in the end was jail!”

“Well, no one’s going to jail tonight.” Mason turned from her and swiped his phone screen to the big TV in the room.

“Stop it!”

Penny began crying. The screen glowed with a view of her bedroom in Mt. Plains. She tried one last time to get away as people cheered when she and Ayumi tumbled into view.

“Yeah!” Someone shouted.

“Take it off!”

“Holy shit! Lesbians!”

“I didn’t know I had an Asian fetish until just now!”

“How about a live show?”

“Yeah! Strip her!”

Penny stared in horror at the flickering images of her and Ayumi having sex on her futon. She shook her head at the suggestion of a live show, then looked at Mason as he soaked up the cheers from the crowd gathered in the far-too-small room. And Leah stood there beside him, refusing to even glance at Penny.

She knew, Penny thought. She set this up, didn’t she?

You don’t know that.

But she did nothing to warn me. She’s not doing anything to stop this, to get me out of here! They want to strip me right here in front of everyone!

And the room cheered as her and Ayumi’s passion deepened. She could feel their eyes comb all over her body, feel the distant stares from the previous spring of all her high school classmates and teachers from the other side of the world, their eyes lasering through her fairy outfit right down to her skin. She squirmed again, lifting her shaking hands up in front of her chest even as everyone in the room ogled her nude form writhing with Ayumi on the TV, larger and brighter than anyone actually peeking into her bedroom window would have seen.

“Shut it off!” she said. “Please, stop!”

“Come on, bitch! Show us them titties!” Braden shouted to cheers and hoots.

“No!”

“Where’s her girlfriend? My $10,000 offer to lick each other’s assholes still stands!” Braden paused as the people cheered again. “Where’s that other slut?”

Penny's friends—Sandra was there, along with Clark and Bart and Annelise. Maddie stood beside Ralph behind them with her mouth hanging open and her eyes glued to the screen. Delaney cringed in their midst, her Batgirl mask back down over her eyes as she hid from the cries to find her. Penny wanted to be angry with her, but she was too scared to hold anything against her.

“Come on, Penny Stark! Give us a live show!”

Penny fought again, a surge of adrenaline slapping people’s hands away from her body, kicking to gain herself some space. Braden’s mocking laughter rang loud and clear over Penny’s verbal objections.

“Here’s another one, our little PMers fucked each other in a variety of places,” Mason said, switching the scene to Ayumi’s bedroom. “I have more than a dozen of these. We could spend the whole rest of the night watching them.” He stepped closer to Penny, casting her into his shadow as he towered over her. “Come now. Give us what we all want to see.”

“It was revenge,” Penny stammered. “It was her ex-boyfriend. This is illegal.”

“She’s a diplomat,” Leah said.

Mason looked at her, a placid look, but Penny could see the rage in his eyes.

“She has diplomatic immunity. I wouldn’t do any more than you already have.”

“Fine.” Mason smiled—sneered down at Penny. “I’ll just throw the bitch to the dogs, then.”

He took Penny’s arm away from the young men holding her up and yanked her out into the middle of the room. She tumbled to the floor as phones flashed, snapping pictures of her and of the screen behind her.

“Come on, you little Mexican slut! Show us them tetas!” Braden howled.

“No!” Penny struggled to her feet, turning to flee the room, but all around her were shouting people, their faces contorted with aggression and malice and unconstrained lust. They pawed at her, pushed her around, although they did not let her fall. Her friends were not there, not within her sight.

“What are you getting all hot and bothered for?” Geri appeared before her. “We just saw you bare everything!”

“Maybe she just needs to cool off!”

“Yeah, she needs to cool off!”

Geri poured her entire beer down on Penny's head. It ran over her face, stinging her eyes, and dripped into her costume.

“Here, have another!”

Braden poured his own on her head, and then everyone was laughing and cheering, more alcohol—beer, wine, liquor that bit when it hit her—splashed on her from all sides. It was cold, sticky, she was blind and she ran, her arms out ahead of her as she stumbled, anyone in front of her dodged out of her way, laughing as she passed.

“What the fuck!” Another voice, people out in the hall.

Her hand touched something, the doorway! And slid past and she ran face-first into it, bouncing backwards. Before she could hit the floor, hands were on her, kindly hands lifting her to her feet.

“Are you okay?” the girl helping her asked. “What the fuck is wrong with them?”

“I’m sorry,” Penny sobbed. “I’m sorry…”

“They’re the ones who should say sorry. Come on. I’ll help you get cleaned up. Samantha, keep everyone downstairs.”

“Righty-oh!”

Penny let the girl carry her away. She could not blink the alcohol out of her face, there was too much, it hurt too much. But not as much as seeing herself on that screen and seeing everyone’s reaction.

I can’t face anyone at school.

You can do it.

I can’t, not again. I thought I had taken care of all this.

You did it once, you can do it again.

But all she wanted was for it to end. The superficial pain in her eyes only served to emphasize the agony in her heart. Ayumi, far away on the other side of the world. Her friends, blocked from helping her. Her girlfriend, forced to watch. And Leah.

She was my friend.

I thought so, too.

She was helping him. Helping that monster!

Marv nodded his sympathy, and she felt like it was his hand on her back as she climbed the stairs, his strong body guiding her up and away from the party. She worked on bringing her sobs under control, but her eyes did not stop watering. The floor flattened before her and they turned two corners and then a door closed behind her.

“Here, get in the tub.”

“I’m sorry,” Penny said, struggling to lift her leaden legs up over the tub’s rim.

“Stop apologizing. You’re the victim here. Those fuckers, those fucking mother fuckers down there, they’re the ones who should be apologizing to you.”

“I’m—“ Penny swallowed her apology and tried to blink enough of the tears and alcohol from her eyes to see who had helped her. She could only squint, giving her a blurry outline of a taller blonde girl beside her.

“It stings, doesn’t it?”

“Yes…”

“Here. I’ll help you take this off. I’ll get you some clothes to wear and we’ll sneak you out if we have to.”

“Thank you.”

“Here, here’s the water—“

Cold water spurted down onto her face and she winced but stood her ground as it warmed. She and whoever that was worked her costume off over her shoulders and then her hips and down her legs. It reeked of alcohol. She winced as the water turned scalding.

“Too hot?”

“Just a little.”

The knob squeaked.

“How about now?”

“It’s fine. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome—“

Someone pounded on the door.

“Penny, is that you in there?” Bart’s voice.

“Yes—“ Penny croaked.

“Hold on.” the blonde girl took Penny’s costume from around her ankles. “I’ll be right back.”

Penny bowed her head under the spray and let the water wash the alcohol from her hair and face. She heard the door open.

“Hey Bart, I got her. I’ll bring some clothes. You mind hanging out here to make sure no one tries any shit while I’m gone?”

“Yeah, I’ll hang out. Your sisters are working on evacuating the rabble.”

“Tough job. Some of those fuckers just gave us a shit ton of money.”

Then the door closed and Penny heard no more. Once her eyes were finally clear she glanced around and borrowed a little shampoo to get the stickiness out of her hair. As she began rinsing the door opened again.

“Thanks, Bart.”

“I’ll hang out here until you two are ready.”

“Thanks.”

With her hair rinsed Penny shut off the water and peaked half her face out around the edge of the shower curtain. Standing before her was a blonde angel, tall and slim and strong with a shining halo over her beautiful face and great, fuzzy wings attached to her back. The angel held the makings of an outfit in her hands.

“I hope you don’t mind going commando from here on out,” the angel said. “I don’t know how you feel about borrowing someone else’s underwear, and I’m not sure my sisters would want to lend out any of theirs…”

“Oh, it’s okay. I’m so thankful you helped me.”

“I can’t believe I was the only one. I can’t believe those fuckers, what they did to you.”

Penny started to tear up again and she retreated behind the curtain.

“I’m sorry, I won’t bring it up again.”

“No. There’s nothing I can do. My life is over.”

“It’s not, don’t say that. Here, here’s a towel, let’s get you dried off and dressed. I promise I won’t take advantage of you.”

Penny snorted a mirthless laugh and accepted the towel. She dried her hair and dabbed her body and wrapped it around herself before opening the curtain.

“Thank you again for helping me,” Penny said.

“You’re welcome, seriously. I can’t believe those fuckers…”

“Me neither,” Penny accepted the pants, thick and warm fleece with “HARDEN” written up the left leg in block letters, and slid them on under her towel.

“They were blocking your friends from helping and leaving. Bart said he almost fought them right there.”

“He’s dressed for it.”

“Yeah. Bad odds, though. Shit, it almost became a fucking riot.”

Penny nodded, letting the towel drop as she pulled a plain white t-shirt over her head. The angel handed her a dark blue Harden University Warriors sweatshirt.

“I would like, uh, to know your number. So I can get Tabby’s clothes back.”

“Right, of course.” Penny looked up at the girl and stifled a gasp. The angel was biting her lip, almost able to hold Penny’s eyes as she glanced around. “And I suppose your interest in me is strictly business.”

“Well, if you want me to be honest it’s not. I know you have a girlfriend, or whatever, but I figure if it doesn’t work out between you two…”

Penny giggled. “I don’t even know your name.”

“Right! I forgot! I’m Becca Ford.”

“Stark. Penny Stark.”

“Nice to meet you, Stark, Penny Stark.”

Penny giggled again. Becca the Angel smiled at her and they exchanged numbers. Becca giggled and then turned and tapped on the door.

“We’re coming out, Bart.”

“Are you, now?” He had a sly smile on his face as Becca led a dressed-down Penny from the bathroom.

“I’ll get her clothes washed and we’ll exchange them once she’s cleaned Tabby’s.”

“Sounds good. We’re planning on getting home.” Bart gestured at his phone.

“Yes, please.”

“All right.” Becca stopped to smile at Penny. “I’ll see you again someday.”

“I’m sure. Bye, Becca.”

Bart took Penny’s hand and led her down the stairs. Penny looked back up to see Becca watching them go. She gave her a shy wave and then took a deep breath to prepare to face reality.

Follow The Long Winter into #28 Sex, Lies, and Digital Video Uploads 2 part seven here.