After the Calling

“My parents won’t be home for another couple of hours,” he said, leading Mercer down the stairs to the basement. “We can hang out down here.”

“Cool,” Mercer said nonchalantly. Although she would have preferred to go to a movie or to the mall instead hanging out in a drafty basement, she figured she would just go with the flow. She rarely ever went on dates, or hung out after school with anyone, especially not guys. They either always got the wrong idea, or came on too strong. But this guy was nice, and treated her like she was more than just a pair of legs. As the captain of the football team, he kept the other players off her case. He carried her books and walked her to class. When the girls’ were snotty to her in the lunch room, he sat with her. So when he asked her if she wanted to hang out on Friday night, she jumped at the chance.

“It’s really junky down here,” he said with an embarrassed grin. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s just… lived in,” she said reassuringly, looking around. “That’s a cool looking pool table.”

“Me and my brother broke the sticks a long time ago. Now we just kind of roll the balls across the table.”

“Oh,” Mercer laughed. She noticed a guitar leaning against an old record player. “Hey, who plays guitar?”

“My dad mostly. He tried to teach me to play once, but I fail miserable at anything musical,” the boy shrugged. “Hey, you want a soda or something?”

“No, I’m okay. Thanks,” Mercer answered, sitting on the beat up couch. She laughed at how quickly he sat down to join her. “You think there’s anything on TV?” she asked, as he moved to put his arm around her.

“Well, that old TV hasn’t worked since I was 12,” he said, “but even if it did, there’s nothing I’d rather look at more than you.”

Mercer chuckled nervously, but leaned back towards him, enjoying the feeling of his muscular arm wrapping around her shoulders. She was a little surprise when he maneuvered his calves under hers and scooted her onto his lap, but she just continued to grin timidly.

“I really like you, Mercer,” he said, looking up into her eyes. “Like, a lot. I’ve liked you a lot for a really long time.

Mercer nearly snorted with nervous laughter. “I like you a lot too, James.”

“No, no, you don’t understand,” he continued. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to ask you out, but I just couldn’t get up the nerve. You’re so beautiful, and I get this feeling around you. It’s almost like… I’m drawn to you. I can’t… I can’t explain it.”

Mercer giggled again. “That’s really sweet. No one’s ever said anything like that to me.”

“And your smell…” she almost jumped when he buried his face in her neck, pulling her close to him.

She hugged him back in return, enjoying the feeling on his chest against her’s. She felt him breathe in deep, and run his hand down her back. She had never been this close to a guy before, but she liked it.

He pulled back and looked into her eyes again. “Mercer, can I please kiss you?”

Mercer felt like her grin was glued in place. “Um… sure, James, you can kiss me.”

He looked down at her lips, as if making sure they were still there, before leaning forward and kissing her softly. Still very close to her face, she felt him smile before leaning in and kissing her again, harder this time. She leaned back a little bit, but he had a firm hand on her back, keeping her pressed against him.

He continued to kiss her with increasing intensity, when she felt his hand moving slowly up her thigh.

“Hey!” Mercer said firmly, pulling back forcefully from the kiss. She pushed his hand off her thigh. “Watch where you put your hands.”

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t – I mean, I’m trying to – I just… I can’t help myself. You’re just so beautiful. I – I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” she replied. “Sorry, for freaking out. I don’t really do this… ever.”

“Yeah,” The boy smiled, “Are you having fun though?”

“Mercer grinned back, “Yeah, I guess.”

“Can I kiss you again?”

Mercer paused, but only for a beat. “Sure,” she said.

He pulled her back towards him and pressed his lips to hers. He kept his hands in safe areas for a few minutes, but to Mercer’s surprise, she felt his fingers moving up her thigh again. She jumped when she felt a tug on her underwear.

She pushed him away from her as hard as she could. “James!”

“What?!” he asked. “What’s your problem?”

“I told you I didn’t want you touching me like that!” she exclaimed, climbing off his lap.

“You just said you were having fun!” the boy replied, trying to maneuver her legs back over his. “I’m just trying to loosen things up a bit.”

She pushed his hands away. “I don’t want things loosened up. I told you that.”

“Hey, hey, why don’t you just relax? We were having a good time.”

“I was relaxed until you started being a jerk.”

“Now, wait a minute. I thought we were having fun?”

“Maybe you and I have different definitions of fun.”

She felt the shift in mood even before his face contorted into a nasty scowl.

“You fucking tease,” he said. “You act all innocent like you don’t know what you’re doing. Like you don’t see the way that guys and even some girls look at you. You fucking love it.”

“James, don’t be like that.” Mercer said, disappointment in her voice. She had had many conversations very similar to this one in the past. “I liked you because you weren’t like that. You weren’t like everyone else.”

“Oh fuck you,” the boy spat. “I see your game. You play dumb just so you can come out on top while you’re fucking with people’s feelings.”

“You know what? It’s not my fault if you can’t control yourself.” She tried to stand up to leave, but he grabbed her arm.

“You’re not leaving me,” he said, pushing his body weight over her.

“Brian, let me go right this instant.” Mercer tried to hide the panic in her voice, as he forcefully pressed her back. “Stop it!”

“Why don’t you stop it?” Grabbing her other arm he pushed her back against the cushions and climbed on top of her.

“GET OFF OF ME!” she screamed, trying to free herself. “LET ME GO!” She pushed against him as hard as she could, but he had her pinned.

“Shut up!” he yelled back. She could feel his free hand making its way back up her thigh, pulling at her underwear.

“STOP IT! LET ME GO!” She pushed against him with all the strength she had in her body, pressing against him until it hurt.

Suddenly the boy flew off of her, his body careening across the room. She heard a loud snap as his back collided with the wooden shelf that decorated the wall. His body fell limply onto the washing machine and then dropped to the floor with a crack as his skull hit the cold concrete.

“Jam – James?” Mercer stared down at his limp from the couch body, watching in horror as a pool of blood formed underneath his head.

——————————————————————————————————————

*Outside Info: Mercer is a psychokinetic, a psychic who can manipulate energy.  Many other types of psychics are really just specialized psychokinetics that can manipulate energy to cause a specific result.  Example, a pyrokinetic manipulates energy to start a fire, or to extiguish a fire, or move fire, etc. Mercer has no specialization, she can simply move energy.  People are made of energy, which is why she was able to toss a boy like he was a twig. She is different from a telekinetic in that she cannot move innanimate objects. When Mercer gets older she gains some slight control over the weather.  Unspecialized psychics are generally weak. Mercer is an exception.

Mercer is also a Siren. This is a psychic who has an overwhelming ability to attract or seduce others.  Many times this ability is subconscious, but most Sirens learn how to control it.  Sirens are always redheads.

Nyxon Alexander is a fellow psychokinetic and siren.

*Writer’s note:  Sims are ugly when the make out in slow motion.  Sim boy, James,  is a close in-game relative of a certain character. He’s wearing contacts in this, but think of him with big psychic eyes. Can you guess? He’s also so wrong for the part because he’s maxed out on nice points. I totally need to start playing sims again and breed more extras.  Everyone is freaking related.