“Well you could wear your boxers?” she suggested.
“I don’t think so – then I’d have a forty minute drive home going commando. Maybe you haven’t noticed all the snow outside.”
“So get naked then,” she told me impatiently.
“What?”
“Get naked and in the pool. If you don’t want to wear your boxers, just get naked.”
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Alexa,” I said, suspicions flooding my brain once more.
“Well, what do you want to do? It’s not like I haven’t seen a naked guy before,” she laughed at me.
“That’s not the point and you know it,” I responded.
“Well, would it help if I got naked too?”
“Alexa,” I began, before being interrupted.
“Shut up, Rob. Before Emily got back in town, you were fucking anything that walked. Like twenty percent of the girls in our grade have seen you naked.”
“So?”
“So what’s one more,” she laughed at me.
“You’re my girlfriend’s best friend,” I calmly said. “Why are you pushing so hard?”
“Well, I’m getting in the pool, so you can either join me, hang out and be bored, or go home.”
All I could think was this girl obviously wanted me to take her virginity. On the one hand, something I was absolutely willing to do. On the other hand, this was the one person who my girlfriend shared absolutely everything with. If I did anything, this could bite me in the ass so hard.
“Maybe I’ll stay for a bit, but there’s no chance I’m getting in the pool,” I told her.
“Suit yourself,” she responded, before pulling her shirt and pants off.
“Whoa, Alexa, what are you doing?” I began to freak out again.
“My bathing suit is all the way upstairs. This is easier,” she replied, undoing her bra, and letting her rather large breasts free.
I stood there for a few seconds just staring, my mouth hanging open, much like her chest.
“Look, Em isn’t going to find out about anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Alexa tried to reassure me.
“You’re her best friend,” I managed to choke out.
“Ya, and she hasn’t exactly been the best friend over the years, Rob.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well the fact that before you came along, she slept with pretty much half the boys I liked, after I told her that I was interested in them.”
“So this is some kind of revenge thing for you?” I asked, still trying to understand what she was talking about.
“If you want to look at it that way, sure. I think it’s more like me putting my foot down to stop getting shit on.”
“She hasn’t done anything to you since you got home, though… has she?” I was quite certain Emily wouldn’t do something like that.
“I have no idea. Are you with her all the time? I’m with her even less often than you are, and a lot of the time with you at the same time. It wouldn’t be the first time she fucked around on a guy, Rob.” She was looking at the floor, probably feeling somewhat bad for ratting on her best friend, despite the claims they were wrought from.
“There’s no way, Alexa,” I couldn’t believe what she was saying.
“I’m not saying she’s cheated on you, Rob, but realistically, she probably will eventually. You’ve only been back together like five months. In junior high, she ended up with a different guy every two months.”
I sat down on the tiled floor, suddenly feeling a little dizzy. I wasn’t the best boyfriend – hell, I was probably a pretty bad boyfriend if you just looked at my infidelity. I cheated on my girlfriend a couple times a week. Outside of that, though, and it’s a pretty big ‘that’ to look beyond, I was a rather standup boyfriend. I chauffeured Emily everywhere, I paid for our lunches most of the time, and I was exceedingly polite and caring. Yes, we fucked like animals, but I was a pretty good guy for the most part. Was it possible that she would eventually cheat on me, like I was doing for months now? Did I really have a leg to stand on in this situation? If she cheated on me, it would only be fair in a way… but the idea enraged me. Was she already cheating on me? Who cares if I’m fucking around on her? In a way, my relationship with Mrs. Curtis had been going on for two years now. Emily and I had only been together for less than a year between stints. But with Mrs. Curtis, it was purely physical. Emotionally, I felt very little for the woman – she got me off in the best way, and that was it. But Emily… I cared about her. I was pretty bummed when she had left, and it was like a dagger through my everything to even think that she could treat me like that.
“Are you ok, Rob?” Alexa had put her shirt back on.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“You’ve been sitting here for like fifteen minutes in silence.”
I had no idea it had been that long – it felt like only a few moments at most.
“Look, Rob. I’m sorry I said any of that. Do you want something to drink?”
“To drink? Or to ‘drink’ drink?” I asked her.
“Whatever. My dad’s got some beer in the fridge and won’t even notice if a few are missing.
“I dunno. I should probably be getting home soon – it’s already pretty late,” I told her, looking at my watch.
“You just got pretty heated, Rob. You weren’t saying anything, but your face was really red, and you were breathing pretty hard. Maybe just hang out for a bit and relax. I promise that’s all. Let’s go watch some TV or a movie or something,” she suggested.
I agreed that was possibly for the best, and we made our way up the few step to the basement, crossing the hall into the theater room.
“So do you want something to drink?” she pressed me again.
“I mean some water and a beer would be good,” I replied.
Sitting down, I flipped through the channels – not much good TV on at four in the morning. Getting bored with flipping through infomercials, I was looking through the DVDs sitting on the shelf as Alexa returned with my beverages.
“Hey, thanks. There’s nothing on TV – any movies you want to watch?” I asked.
“Uhh, I’ve probably seen most of them, whatever you want is good with me.”
“You ok with The Ring?” I grabbed it from the shelf.
“It’s scary as fuck, but as long as you protect me, I think I’ll be ok,” she laughed.
The last time I’d seen this movie, I didn’t remember it being very scary, but Seth and I had been talking throughout most of the movie, as we were kind of stoned and not really interested.
I popped the movie in and saw that Alexa had placed my beverages on the side table beside the couch. I was intending on laying back in one of the reclining leather chairs, but I reasoned that I would be less likely to fall asleep sitting upright.
Grabbing a blanket, Alexa joined me on the couch.
“Is it ok if I sit kind of close to you? I wasn’t kidding when I said it’s scary as fuck and I’m going to need to hold your arm or something to get through this.”
I chuckled dryly, ignoring what had happened earlier tonight, and acknowledging that this movie might be a little scarier than I thought earlier. I held my arm out to allow her to sit comfortably with my protection.
As the movie got under way, I excused myself a couple times, grabbing another beer each time. On the last trip to the kitchen, I was just cracking open a cold one when I heard a scream from the basement. I ran back down the stairs and into the room, to see Alexa cowering under the blanket like a little girl.
“Are you alright?” I asked, trying not to laugh to hard.
“I told you this movie was fucking scary!” she yelled at me, tears in her eyes.
I didn’t realize she was actually that scared of a movie – it never really occurred to me that people could be legitimately afraid of something that wasn’t real.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to laugh. Come here,” I said, holding out my arms to hug her and reassure her that everything was ok.
With the blanket still wrapped around her, she got up and allowed me to hold her tightly; whispering like you would to a baby that everything was all right. Looking down at her, I smiled into her eyes, and led her back over to the couch.
“Maybe we should watch something funny for a bit before I leave you here in this giant house… all alone,” I paused for effect, laughing again.
“You taking a cab?” She asked.
“Nah, I’m good to go, I only had a couple,” I responded.
“You can’t drive for a bit, Rob. My uncle died after getting hit by a drunk driver. I can’t let people do it with my knowledge.”
“I didn’t know that, ‘Lexa. I’ll wait it out for an hour then, if that’s cool? We’ll watch Austin Powers or something.” I reassured her.
Changing the movie, we settled back on the couch, this time no need for the lack of space between us. Glancing down, I noticed her hugging my arm with both of her hands, her head on my shoulder. Before long I had fallen asleep.
—–
When I woke up, I looked at my watch. It was almost noon. Alexa had fallen asleep with her head in my lap, so I tried to shake her gently awake.
“What time is it?” she moaned groggily.
“Noon,” I answered, rubbing my eyes. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. You fell asleep like ten or fifteen minutes into the movie and I don’t remember much after that. I think I fell asleep a little bit later, but not very long.”
“Man, my parents are probably a little worried,” I stood up, stretching and getting my phone out of my pocket.
“I doubt it – they probably thing you’re at Emily’s or Bill’s as usual.”
“Hopefully that’s true,” I mumbled, quickly shooting a text off to let my mom know I was alive – I had broken curfew so many times that my mom finally just agreed to my suggestion of sending a text or calling at least every day.
“I’m really glad you didn’t drive home, Rob. You’d only had a few beers, but it’s a really irresponsible thing to do.”
“I know, sorry. I just never really thought much of it. I don’t drive drunk, but one or two beers don’t really phase me. That’s a big part of why I took the seats out of the minivan. It’s not comfy, but it’s better than winding up in jail or something.” I explained.
“Either way, just try not to at all. If you’d left here and passed out while driving like you did ten minutes later, I’d have to blame myself.”
Pausing to let the guilt sink in, I thanked her with a big hug for not letting me make such a dumb decision, promising to never do it again.
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