Weekend Heat

Daybreak had come, but Zhou Zhuang still had dark circles under his eyes.

He had barely slept all night and was dragging himself along, pushing his bike to the apartment gate, when She Yujun was still waiting there for him.

"Did you not sleep well last night?" she asked, noticing that her boyfriend looked exhausted, with a pair of panda eyes, and spoke with obvious concern.

"Yeah. I got stuck on a problem yesterday and couldn’t figure it out, so I couldn’t sleep."

Emotional problems counted as problems too, right? That didn’t really count as lying to her. Zhou Zhuang added that to himself.

"Oh. Then take a nap during morning study hall later. I... I’ll go talk to the teacher about it." After she got onto the back seat, she suggested it with obvious concern.

"Okay, I’ll listen to you." Zhou Zhuang was a little surprised. She wasn’t afraid of the teacher finding out about their relationship anymore?

He didn’t really understand, but he went along with his girlfriend’s idea.

"Do you know what I’ve been doing here these past few days, waiting for you every morning?" She was massaging his head as she spoke, easing the headaches and fatigue from the sleepless night, and her voice was soft.

"What do you mean?" After everything that had happened these last two days, and with him still half-asleep, his brain was running in standby mode. If this had been normal, he would have caught on already.

She pinched his waist lightly, just enough to punish him for pretending not to know.

"I thought maybe I should ride you to school every morning?" That pinch finally booted his brain up, and he understood what she was hinting at.

"Mm. I promised you." Once she got the answer she wanted, She Yujun smiled and put her hands back on his head.

Ever since middle school, he had realized that his feelings for this childhood sweetheart, Yujun, were no longer just friendship.

As the girl grew up into a stunning young woman, she only became more and more the kind of beauty that other people openly coveted.

But he had never dared to show it too easily, afraid that if he failed, he wouldn’t even be able to stay friends with her.

When had he first been sure she felt the same way?

Zhou Zhuang wasn’t sure anymore. Was it when she stopped calling him Brother Zhou Zhuang and started just calling him Zhou Zhuang?

Or was it every time she received a love letter from someone else, she would shyly glance at him?

Or when they would always somehow run into each other on the way home from school?

This reserved girl was not very good at expressing her thoughts on her own, but every deepening of their relationship had traces of her hinting at it or encouraging him.

"What are you thinking about? Why aren’t you talking?" She Yujun’s gentle voice pulled him back from his memories.

"Thinking about you."

He told the truth. She gave a faint smile that said she didn’t believe him, her hands starting to ache a little, but she endured it and kept massaging his head to ease his discomfort.

Her hands, delicate as silk and fine as a work of art, swept away the aftereffects of a sleepless night. Holding hands, supporting each other, walking together into the rest of their lives - this gentle, water-like girl always gave him the warmth of home.

Growing up as a child left behind by his parents, without ever going astray, her companionship made up for the love that had been missing from his life. It was an incomparably important part of him.

Zhou Zhuang kept one hand on the bike and reached up with the other to take hold of the soft hand still massaging his head. He turned back toward the girl behind him and said firmly, "From now on, I’m your full-time driver. Forever."

……………………

For the next few days, Zhou Zhuang’s world seemed to return to normal.

Every day he picked up and dropped off his girlfriend. With a pretty girl sitting behind him on the bike, even if classmates saw them, it didn’t really stir up any discussion. Their relationship was already basically common knowledge, and people would rather talk about the hot new show Love Apartment 3, or whether the world was really ending this year and if Noah’s Ark had been built yet.

The teachers saw it too and just turned a blind eye. Both of them had top grades, and as long as they didn’t do anything too outrageous and make some scandal like a high school toilet pregnancy blow up, nobody cared.

Xie Kai dragged Zhou Zhuang and She Yujun into a long evening of questioning. After Zhou Zhuang repeatedly beat his chest and promised that dating would not affect his grades, and that he and Yujun would not do anything that would embarrass the class or the school, Xie Kai finally agreed not to pursue the matter any further, while She Yujun sat there with reddened cheeks, nervously rubbing her hands together.

Only later did Zhou Zhuang learn that Xie Kai had been classmates and friends with She Guowei all along, and his future father-in-law had already given him a heads-up on the first day of school. The evening talk had just been a formality, a way to confirm that the two of them really weren’t going to get stupid over romance.

Either way, their relationship was officially public now, and to Zhou Zhuang it felt like they had moved one step closer.

His odd deskmate was especially quiet these past few days. Aside from asking him a few tricky stereoscopic analytic geometry problems, she didn’t say a word to him.

Zhou Zhuang was happy to have the peace and didn’t bother asking her about the little doubts in his head. When you knew there was a tiger on the mountain, the smart move was not to go to the mountain. He wasn’t about to walk right into a trap.

The only thing was that every night he still got QQ reminders from her, telling him not to forget their bet. That was basically a half-hanging sword over his head.

Why only half? Because Zhou Zhuang felt that the bet’s conditions still depended on whether he agreed to them. He wasn’t worried she could pull any tricks; at worst he’d just roll his eyes and refuse.

Su Shiyi had been going to see She Yujun whenever she had free time these days. Watching the two of them become more and more natural about walking in and out together, hand in hand, if that vixen hadn’t gotten him once before and then made him into some baffling bet, Zhou Zhuang would almost have suspected she was a lesbian trying to hit on his girlfriend.

The friendship and tension between girls always came out of nowhere.

Zhou Zhuang couldn’t figure out why the two of them had gone from strangers to being as close as best friends of several years in just a few days. He asked his girlfriend privately, but her answer only made him more confused.

"I can’t really explain it. I just feel like she’s very close to me."

Zhou Zhuang could only chalk it up to chemistry and charm.

The quiet life ended after class on Saturday.

In senior year, they had three weeks with six days of classes each month, and one week with a full weekend off.

This Sunday’s free time had already been booked out by Zhou Zhuang’s earlier promise to take his girlfriend camping by the river.

"Zhou Zhuang, can we talk about something?" he was riding the bike, still thinking about what to bring tomorrow, when he heard the hesitant tone from the back seat. Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t good.

"Go ahead. As long as you’re not asking me to kill or burn something, anything goes."

"Um... could we maybe... take Shiyi with us when we go camping tomorrow?"

"Weren’t we supposed to go just the two of us?" His unhappiness was plain on his face. One reason was that he didn’t want a third wheel. The other was that just because that deskmate had been quiet for a few days didn’t mean she had suddenly turned over a new leaf.

"I was thinking it might be more fun with more people. We could chat, play cards, things like that..."

"Don’t try to fool me. Just tell the truth." He stopped the bike, put both hands on her shoulders, and stared at her face, trying to see what she was hiding.

"She just came here and doesn’t really have any friends yet, so weekends must be pretty boring for her. We only just met, so going out together would help us get to know each other better. And... I’m kind of worried..." She Yujun grew shy under his stare and lowered her head to speak softly.

"Worried about what? I’m not some monster."

"You are. Last time I went to your place, you were practically trying to eat me alive, and these last few days..." She met his eyes with her big ones and said very seriously.

Zhou Zhuang shrank his neck in guilt. She was telling the truth.

Ever since the last time his girlfriend had helped him with his hand, and then Su Shiyi had given him an orgasm in public, his solo releases had never felt quite right.

A young man’s body built up desire quickly, and once he had tasted it, it only got worse. At first he could still endure it for a day or two, but lately whenever he got a chance, he kept clinging to his girlfriend and wanting her to help him.

He really was hiding that in his plan for the camping trip. Just like last time at home, if the mood was right, he might be able to reach his goal with a little resistance and a little yielding.

He wasn’t going to tell her that, of course, but being seen through like this was still embarrassing, especially since his intentions had been so obvious lately. No wonder she was worried.

"Can we not bring an outsider? I promise I won’t bully you. Really, I swear." Zhou Zhuang thumped his chest and raised two fingers.

Compared with his little brother’s happiness, he still preferred not to get involved with that little witch. Worst case, he could just pick up the old family craft again.

"Do you really hate her that much?" Seeing him swear so solemnly, She Yujun thought she had misunderstood him and tilted her head, thinking of another possibility.

"Yeah, sort of."

"Did she do something to you?"

Zhou Zhuang didn’t know how to explain his relationship with Su Shiyi. If he were being honest, it was basically his body cheating, and that was not something he could easily confess to his girlfriend. After thinking for a while, inspiration struck.

"Didn’t she say I was flattering her before? I just want to avoid looking suspicious."

"Could you have a little more tolerance as a guy? She even promised to take me to do pottery with her next week, and I’ve never tried it before. I don’t want to owe other people favors, so just take it as helping me out, okay?" She Yujun thought he was still hung up on being misunderstood last time. Holding his hand, she tried to persuade him, and when that still didn’t seem like enough, she added, "I already explained it to her. She knows she misunderstood you. Changing schools hit her really hard, and she’s cried in front of me twice already. I get along really well with her, and I don’t want to see her keep being sad. Taking her out to clear her head should help. So, will you? Please?"

The last few words were spoken while she shook his hand and coaxed him. She had already said it that far, and even though Zhou Zhuang still felt something was off, he really couldn’t find another reason to refuse. Before giving up resistance, he thought he might as well get some interest out of it.

"Then tomorrow after we get back, you help me..." He leaned close to her and whispered a few words in her ear.

"Why are you always thinking about that?" She Yujun blushed, feeling like she was digging a hole for herself, and pushed him away with a coy huff.

No objection meant there was a chance. Zhou Zhuang raised an eyebrow. "What can I say? I like you. Come on, give your brother a kiss."

She dodged the arms he spread to pull her into a hug, twisted her hips, and sat back down on the bike seat.

"Full-time driver, let’s go home. We’ll talk about it tomorrow."

Zhou Zhuang wasn’t angry either. He just pedaled on.

If there was no road over the mountain, then there would be one after the bike got there. One step at a time.

The next day, Zhou Zhuang brought a big backpack full of camping gear and waited with She Yujun at the bus stop.

The riverside spot where they camped was far from the county town, in a place with almost no foot traffic. Zhou Zhuang had stumbled across it by chance and treated it like a free place to kill time. He and his classmates and friends would occasionally go there to set up a rough stove and roast things to eat, and, while they were at it, fish some fish and shrimp straight from the river beside it. Free always tasted best.

"Sorry I’m late." Su Shiyi’s slightly breathless voice came from behind them. Her neatly combed bangs were faintly curled, dotted with tiny beads of sweat. Her long lashes were lifted, her pink eye shadow was vivid, and the glossy red on her lips all but announced that she had been tidying herself up, which was why she’d arrived late.

Zhou Zhuang was struck by how good she looked today. A black blouse accented with a white bow tie, a flat stomach and full, perky hips hidden under a deep-blue high-waisted short skirt, her long slender legs wrapped in sheer black stockings, and round-toed Mary Janes on her feet with a small schoolbag on her back - the result was a look that was both pure and sensual, the kind of outfit you rarely saw on a senior-year girl.

He couldn’t help glancing sideways at his girlfriend beside him for comparison. A white hoodie with a plaid skirt, topped by a butterfly hair clip, gave off a fresh, clean vibe. Their clothing tastes and personalities were so different that he had no idea how the two of them found common ground to talk for so long.

"Shiyi, you look even prettier today!" She Yujun praised her without hiding it, and she also felt a little envious. Pretty outfits had an eternal appeal to girls.

"Thanks. Want to learn? I can teach you later." Su Shiyi intimately hooked her arm through the girl’s and greeted her with a smile. Then her gaze slid over to Zhou Zhuang again, making his heart give an inexplicable jolt. He had no idea what this little witch was planning today.

"Sure, it’s a deal. I’ve wanted to learn makeup for a long time, but my mom wouldn’t let me." She Yujun also turned her gaze toward Zhou Zhuang, thinking that maybe in the future she could give her boyfriend a different kind of surprise.

Being stared at by the two of them with such different meanings made Zhou Zhuang a little self-conscious, so he pretended to check the gear in his backpack. Today he was just here to help his girlfriend finish her task. When in doubt, say less. The less you said, the less you could get wrong. No speaking, no mistakes.

Luckily, the bus arrived just in time to rescue him from the awkwardness.

There weren’t many people commuting by bus on the weekend, and even fewer headed out toward the outskirts of town. There were only three or five people in the old vehicle, and the handrails creaked every now and then as the bus jolted along the road.

Su Shiyi and Zhou Zhuang picked two empty window seats in the back, and just as She Yujun was about to sit beside Su Shiyi, she was stopped by a hand.

"Go keep your boyfriend company. I can play on my phone." Su Shiyi teased her and pushed She Yujun down beside Zhou Zhuang, then pulled an iPhone 4 out of her little schoolbag and waved it at her to prove she wasn’t lying.

She Yujun had wanted to sit with her boyfriend anyway, but she was worried her best friend would be bored alone, and when her mind was seen through like that, she didn’t refuse.

What intrigued Zhou Zhuang, though, was Su Shiyi. In this small county town, even having your own mobile phone was a luxury for a high school student, and the school didn’t allow them to be brought to class so everyone could focus on studying. He and She Yujun hadn’t even asked their parents for one.

Wang Liyang, that little rich second-generation brat, had once been given a Nokia N97 by his family for his birthday and had bragged in front of Zhou Zhuang for ages, saying that with a phone in hand he owned the world, and without it, he had no soul.

The device in Su Shiyi’s hand looked even more high-end than Wang Liyang’s. It was obviously more expensive.

Zhou Zhuang remembered that right now she only had one relative, her uncle. It looked like this older family member must have bought it for her, so why had she said she didn’t get along with her uncle?

"How are we planning this today, Tour Guide Zhou?" She Yujun asked as she held her boyfriend’s hand. Usually Zhou Zhuang was responsible for the schedule and activities, and today was no exception.

"Same as always. Since there are only three of us, we didn’t bring Catan or Monopoly or anything like that. We’ll just sunbathe and play cards. Around noon we’ll build a fire and roast some potatoes, sweet potatoes, sausages and the like. If you’re interested, you can come down to the river with me. It’s getting cooler, so the water’s pretty cold, and the fish may be a little hard to catch..."

When he said "fish," Zhou Zhuang felt like there was suddenly some slippery, fish-like thing brushing the back of his lower leg too, like a pianist’s fingers constantly hopping over the keys, sometimes tapping lightly in rhythm, sometimes pressing and stroking against him.

There was no one behind him. It had to be Su Shiyi’s foot!

"I’m very interested, Zhou classmate. Teach me, okay?" When he frowned and turned around to glare at her, she showed no change in expression and answered his previous sentence with a smile, but her foot slid upward at the same time, and the tip of her dainty toe brushed the inside of his thigh.

Zhou Zhuang froze in shock, instinctively clamping his legs around that restless "fish," cold sweat breaking out down his back.

This girl was way too bold. She actually dared to play like this right in front of his girlfriend? Wasn’t she afraid of being caught?

Wasn’t she afraid he’d expose her?

Her flawless, tender foot, together with the smooth, soft feel of her stockings, gave off a faint, seductive sheen.

Zhou Zhuang could even feel the slight pulse of blood in the veins of her foot, and it all seemed to surge together with the blood in his own heart toward the giant beast below.

The tension in his mind couldn’t suppress his body’s reaction. At the most inappropriate possible moment, he got hard, and through his pants he was already pressing against her foot...

He couldn’t do this. If Yujun found out, it would be over. What would she think? That her best friend of only one week was seducing her boyfriend right in front of her? Or that he was rubbing his girlfriend’s best friend’s foot in front of her and getting hard from it?

"Shiyi, you’d better not go. Last time I went down to the river with him too, and a fish suddenly jumped out and startled me. I slipped and got my pants all wet. It sucked having nothing to change into." She Yujun turned back to give Su Shiyi a kind warning, not noticing the embarrassed, flushed expression on her boyfriend’s face beside her.

"Mm, I just want to experience it. Things I’ve never tried always make you curious, you know, eep..." The sudden itch and sting in her foot made Su Shiyi unable to finish her sentence. Zhou Zhuang had pinched the sole of her foot.

He didn’t feel any better either. Just now, that little witch had deliberately used her toe to tease and rub the most sensitive part of his glans while his girlfriend was talking.

To stop her from doing anything even worse, he endured the rush of pleasure and pinched her, making her pull her foot back. Under his fingers there was that same slick, slippery feel, and a seed called stealing started breaking through the soil in his heart.

"What’s wrong, Shiyi?" She Yujun was startled by her sudden cry of pain.

"Nothing. A mosquito bit my foot." She bent down and rubbed it, stressing the words heavily, as if she were complaining about Zhou Zhuang.

"I brought mosquito repellent. Do you want some?"

"No, no, the mosquito already flew off. I’m kindhearted, so I’ll let him off for now." She joked, with a clear double meaning, and Zhou Zhuang felt a shiver run through him as he listened.

Zhou Zhuang took the opportunity to shove his hands into his pockets and deal with the tent pitched in his pants, making sure his girlfriend didn’t notice anything unusual.

That burst of stimulation had quietly opened an unknown door in his mind. Years of education made him realize that beyond that door there were only untamed beasts and fallen demons, and through the dark crack came a scent called cheating.

He took a deep breath and forced that crack shut.

Zhou Zhuang turned his head and looked at Su Shiyi’s reflection in the bus window, where she had already returned to her calm, phone-staring self.

He barely heard a word of what She Yujun was chattering about beside him, only giving automatic replies.

He really needed to have a proper talk with her and find out what on earth was going on in that woman’s head. How could she pull off such ridiculous things?

Don’t stare into the abyss, and don’t talk to the abyss. What had just happened made him abandon the mood he’d set for the day entirely. Curiosity didn’t just kill cats.