Read Online Zipped by Laura McNeal - Free Book Online Page A

here’s what I want to know. Whose jacket is that, where’d you get it, and what’d it cost?”
    Mick said, “Mine, Plan B, and eighty bucks.”
    â€œCan I try it on?”
    She slipped it on and left it unbuttoned. Mick and Reece sat imprinting the image in their memories. Pam said, “God, Myra, you look like this year’s Harley calendar.”
    Myra smiled and began to take it off.
    Mick said quietly, “If you want it, you can have it.”
    Myra looked at him. She didn’t speak, but her look said, You mean it?
    He nodded. He meant it. He said, “Looks a lot better on you than me.” This was true, it did look pretty great on her, but it wasn’t just that. If she took the coat, she’d take the green disk, too, and maybe he could just forget it ever existed.
    But Myra was shrugging out of the coat. “Nope,” she said, and for the first time gave him such a thorough look that Mick thought he could feel it going through him. Then she said, “It’s incredibly sweet of you to offer, but nope.”
    Nobody said anything for a few seconds. Finally Mick said, “Well, it was nice of you guys to talk to us.” They didn’t say anything, so he said, “I guess we’d better go now.”
    He stood, and Foolish and Reece stood, too. They’d started to move away when Pam said, “You know, just so you could start getting in the habit of it, you should’ve asked us for our phone numbers.”
    They turned. Mick said, “Okay. Would you give us your phone numbers?”
    â€œNo,” Pam said, “but it was definitely worth a try.”
    They all laughed and then there was a strangely pleasant stillness among them that ended when Myra said, “But you know what? You guys could give us your e-mails just in case we might want to check up on your progress.”
    â€œReally?” Mick said.
    Myra found a ballpoint pen. “Here,” she said, “write them down on my hand so I won’t forget to log them when I get back to the dorm.”
    Mick knelt and held the back of her hand with his left hand while printing carefully with the other. Her hand was soft, and her body had the pleasant buttery smell of suntan lotion. After he was done, Reece wrote his e-mail address on Myra’s hand. He seemed to take his time. When he finally leaned away, his face was flushed. Everybody grinned at parting.
    â€œVaya con Dios,”
Myra said.
    Mick looked back. Myra was smiling. Pam was already putting her shirt back on.
    Mick, Reece, and Foolish walked across the grass without speaking until they were safely out of earshot, then Reece spoke in a low, excited voice. “Okay,” he said, “when you were writing your address did you see what I saw?”
    â€œDunno,” Mick said. “What’d you see?”
    â€œNipple! Or the aureole part of it or whatever that’s called. It was just barely peeking out of her top.”
    â€œLet’s consider for a moment your vivid imagination,” Mick said.
    â€œI didn’t imagine it. I saw. I saw plenty. I saw Myra Vidal’s nippleodeon up close and personal.”
    Mick noticed that Reece was walking faster than normal. He said, “You seem pretty hyped-up about this.”
    Reece grinned. “Oh, heck, yes. I mean, I was beamed to Bazongaville.” They walked a little farther, and he said, “You know what that was? I’m going to tell you what that was. That was the highlight of my sexual career up to now.”
    Mick said, “Reececake, unless you count certain onanistic practices, you’ve had no sexual career up to now.”
    â€œYeah, but now I do,” Reece said. “I was three inches from Myra Vidal’s partially exposed nipple.”
    Mick laughed. “It’s true, only a major stud could’ve peered into her bikini like you did.”
    Reece smiled serenely. “Rag all you want. I saw what I saw and I