Girl Issues

"Whatcha doing?" Skye asked, peering over Newt's shoulder.

"Ahhhh!"

"Whoops, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she apologized after the teenager nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Scared? I'm not scared...you just startled me; that's all," Newt denied. "I didn't hear you come up behind me."

"I've been in and out of the kitchen a half dozen times," Skye revealed with a smile. "I guess I'm like a ninja, silent and deadly."

"You have?" Newt double-checked. The teen had been sitting at the dining room table with his back to the kitchen while he worked on an idea he had. Now, checking the kitchen clock, he felt guilty. "Oh, crap, I did what Peyton told me not to do and ignored you."

"That's okay. You seemed so focused that I didn't want to bother you. At least until my curiosity got the better of me," Skye admitted sheepishly.

"No, I'm the one that should apologize. I shouldn't have ignored you; it was rude of me," Newt responded. "I was studying both The Stinging Truth and Nosy Nectar. I thought there could be a possibility that the two websites are connected. Or maybe share some of the same writers."

"You thought that? Yeah, there's no way that Nosy Nectar has anything to do with The Stinging Truth. Double N has been around forever. I was about eight when it started. And it might be gossip, but it's legit gossip. Sometimes the rumors don't pan out, but no one would ever accuse them of posting false information on purpose. The Stinging Truth does that all the time. I, for one, don't read it, but I still read Nosy Nectar. I'm surprised you would even consider that they're connected."

"They are both internet-based tabloids that deal with non-factual items. It seemed a logical extension of a gossip site to branch out into false stories. And as Nosy Nectar is targeted at a younger age range, it seemed a possibility that The Stinging Truth might have been created as a natural progression for the same readers as they age," Newt attempted to explain.

"Newt, have you ever read Nosy Nectar?" Skye questioned.

"Um, well, not really. I mean...it's for girls," the teenage boy said with some embarrassment.

"Girls? Don't you think boys like gossip too?" Skye asked, half-amused and half-disappointed in his reasoning.

"Uh, not as much, I think."

"I can tell you that guys love gossip just as much as girls. In fact, I knew guys in high school who used the Nosy Nectar posts to decide who to date and who to steer clear of. Aren't you the least bit curious over what your classmates are up to? Hell, I knew who Whitney was before I met her this weekend because she's talked about on there."

"She is?!"

"Back in my day, Double N focused almost exclusively on high school and college gossip. It has branched out into reporting on older adults, but it's still mostly concerned with teens and young adults. So why wouldn't an attractive, rich cheerleader captain who dates college boys not be talked about on there?"

"I didn't know that. Maybe that's why people at school check it constantly," Newt replied, some of his confusion over his classmates' interest in the site dissipating.

"I'm betting a lot of boys and girls at your school study Nosy Nectar intently to learn everything they can about their crushes. I know they did when I was growing up," Skye stated, a smile forming as she remembered her school days.

"That does seem helpful. Girls can be..."

Skye waited for Newt to finish his comment, but it never came. Instead, the intelligent teen blushed, turned away from her, glanced at his tablet screen with Nosy Nectar on it before refreshing The Stinging Truth on Harvey's laptop. Watching him, Skye appraised Newt further. He seems like a brainiac, so why's it difficult for--oh, I'm a dummy. He's a teenage boy. I bet girls are still some mysterious alien creature to him. Unless...

"Newt," Skye said as she sat down on the seat next to him. "Do you like girls?"

"What?!"

"Well, I'm just saying if you don't, there's nothing wrong with that. I have many guy friends that like men."

"What are...why would...yes, I like girls! Just because I'm not...that I haven't...talk to...I like girls!" Newt sputtered in response to her suggestion.

"Okay, I thought you did."

"Then why would you ask me that?" Newt questioned. Skye hadn't been the first person to wonder that about him, and he found it irritating.

"Just to confirm that you were checking me out for that reason."

"Ch-checking you out?! I wasn't...I didn't..."

"Oh, it's not a big deal," Skye responded, waving his denial away with the flick of her hand. "Just like you, I wanted to remove that possibility before talking to you about girls."

Talking about girls? I don't want to talk about girls! Girls make no sense! That's what Newt wanted to say, but instead, his brain couldn't get his mouth to move.

"Have you ever dated a girl? Or been out on a date?" Skye inquired with a pleasant smile.

"Yes, I've been out on dates!" Newt defended himself rather forcefully.

"Okay, how many?"

"A few!"

"No, I meant the number of girls," Skye clarified.

"One," he mumbled.

"Were you a couple?"

"Not really. I don't think so," Newt responded. Were we a couple?

"If you don't know, that means you weren't," Skye informed him. Seeing his frown, she swiftly worked to reassure him. "But there's nothing wrong with not having a serious girlfriend at your age. Plenty of people are late bloomers."

"I'm going to guess that you weren't a late bloomer," Newt remarked, feeling despondent over his lack of dating.

"No, I had a few boyfriends by your age," Skye downplayed. "So, how did your dates with that girl work out?"

Misunderstanding the breathtaking brunette's question, Newt stuttered. "N-not like th-that. It was, uh, just m-mostly st-study dates!"

"Study dates, huh? Yeah, I remember a few of those that got--that doesn't matter," Skye changed direction when she saw Newt appear to stop breathing. "You didn't take this girl out to a movie or dinner?"

"One time. Paige told me I had a poor taste in films," Newt embarrassingly admitted.

"That's wasn't nice of her. You can't let one girl sour you on others. Get out there and give it another try," Skye encouraged, patting him on the arm.

"I...I know," he replied, feeling a burning sensation on the spot where she touched him. "It's just that I don't know how to talk to girls."

With that confession, Newt lowered his head and studied the grains of wood on the dining room table. Feeling slightly guilty for bringing up a subject that upset the teenager, Skye decided to try and make it right. Sympathetic to his plight, the brunette had an idea to help.

"Hey, you're talking to me right now, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," Newt agreed, continuing to study the table, even running a finger along a slight groove.

"So how come you can talk to me and not other girls?"

"You're an adult, not a girl. It's not the same," Newt asserted.

"How so?" Skye further inquired.

"It's...when it's a girl my age, I either wonder what it would be like to date her, or I worry that she thinks that I like her," Newt explained, no longer staring at the table but out the glass doors.

"What happens when you think about those things?"

Newt hesitated to reveal his innermost thoughts. Embarrassed by his actions around girls, he never even admitted to Sean or JoJo what went on in his mind.

"Don't be embarrassed, Newt. Men, even older than you, can feel uncomfortable around women. Let me see if I can help," Skye warmly reassured him again.

"First, my heart starts to race, and my brain goes into overdrive. That causes my body to freeze up. Next, I start to imagine all the ways the conversation or situation can go wrong. Usually, the worst possible way pops into my head. By then, the girl feels weird by how I'm acting and walks away. If she doesn't and keeps on talking, I freak out and flee," Newt narrated a typical interaction for him.

"Alright," Skye responded, thinking over her next move. "The shy brunette, JoJo, she's your age, and you talk to her fine, don't you? Well, she's a girl."

"JoJo? JoJo's not a girl; she's...JoJo. She's one of the guys," the nerdy teen pointed out.

"Haven't you ever noticed that she's a pretty girl? Or her figure?" Skye pressed.

"No, JoJo's not like that," Newt maintained, either oblivious or in denial.

"Hmmm, what about the other girls staying at the cabin? Can you talk to any of them?" Skye quizzed. "What about Peyton?"

"Yeah, she's Sean's older sister, so I can talk to her," Newt said, finally facing Skye.

"Well, don't you find her attractive?" Skye inquired, noticing his face redden.

"She's...pretty, but she's Sean's sister! And she treats me like a little brother," Newt described their relationship. The older woman noticed that he looked ready to panic.

"Fine, I get it. Now, what about Lana? Can you talk to her?"

"Lana?! No!" Newt exclaimed. "Lana scares me the most."

"Ah, okay. Does Lacey scare you?" Skye pivoted.

"Not really. She's nice."

"Is it only that Lacey's nice, or don't you think she would be interested in you?" Skye queried.

"Lacey's dating Austin," Newt replied as if that explained everything.

"So, you can talk to your friend's sister and a girl with a boyfriend. Is it just single girls that frighten you?"

"I don't know. Every girl scares me in some way."

"What about someone like Ramsey?"

"She's not mine! I, uh, mean, that she's not an option," Newt said, hastily looking away from Skye.

That was odd. Why would he use the word mine? Whatever, it's not important.

"That leaves Whitney. I've seen you talking to her, and I assume she's intimidating to guys," Skye chuckled. "Tell me why you can talk to Whitney?"

"Because she makes me! If I don't, Whitney threatens me," Newt revealed, turning his head to show he really was frightened of Whitney.

"She threatens you?" Skye questioned.

"Yes! Whitney told me she's going to make me have a fun time on this trip or else," Newt recounted. He then lowered his voice. "And she's told me she's going to find me a girlfriend."

"Newt, that doesn't sound like a person threatening you. It sounds like someone who's being nice," Skye described how she saw Whitney's behavior.

"No, she's making me do something I don't want to do," he insisted. "She even wants to make me dance with a girl tomorrow night. I just know she will."

"And that's a bad thing? Wait, I can see how it can be to you," Skye said. "Have you ever danced with a girl? Dancing is a great way to get to know one."

"No, no, no! I don't dance!"

After trying to be patient with Newt, Skye finally had enough. Talking through his girl issues didn't seem to be working. It's time to take action! Jumping up, Skye marched around the Christmas tree and over to the stereo next to the fireplace. Quickly, she found some preset playlists of Harvey's and selected one that appeared to be slow songs. Returning to the dining room, she found Newt looking puzzled and a tad bit concerned.

"I'm going to teach you to dance," announced the wannabe model.

Newt flinched, twitched, swung his head in each direction, and finally exploded from his chair. Taken aback at first, Skye recovered in moments. She grabbed his arm, halting him from fleeing out the French doors.

"Oh, no, you don't! You will learn to dance!" she commanded as the teen squirmed to get away. "Stop that, right this minute."

"Let me go; I don't want to do this!" Newt complained.

"It's not going to kill you. And if you don't dance with me, I'll ask Lana for help later tonight. I'll also tell Whitney," Skye warned with threats of her own.

Resigned to being tortured, the teen lowered his head and sighed/sobbed. "Fine."

"Great! Come on; we'll dance over by the fireplace." Keeping a firm grip on his arm, Skye led Newt over to the spot. "Move that coffee table while I find a good song."

Groaning, Newt followed her command. Finished, he stood there, estimating his chances to flee and avoid any other girls on the trip. Then, realizing the odds were dismal, he stood there and waited for his humiliation to start.

"Oh, don't look so afraid. I'm only going to teach you to slow dance. I realize fast dancing isn't an option right now. So, all you need to do is put your arms around me and sway to the music."

Put my arms around her?! I have to touch her?

"At some point, you will have to touch a woman in your life," Skye remarked, almost as if she could read his mind.

Through a dozen love ballads from the 1990s, Skye battled with Newt's natural survival instincts. She struggled to keep him from backing away every time she pulled him closer. His hands refused to touch her waist for the first two songs, hovering as if an invisible **** field surrounded the sexy model. Eventually, her constant badgering of him paid off.

"Hands on my lower back," the brunette ordered again, moving to wrap her arms around his neck. At least he's stopped flinching after accidentally touching my ass. "See, you're getting the hang of it. Now move closer."

Newt shook his head forcefully. Three songs ago, his body had finally stopped trembling in fear and started reacting like a typical teenager's body would while holding a hot girl.

"Newt, I said not to worry about that. It's a normal reaction. And even one a girl might take as a compliment. Stop pulling your waist away. That's not how you dance."

"Please don't make me," he pleaded.

"If the girl you're dancing with says it's fine, then it's fine," Skye sternly pointed out. "I've had countless guys react like that to me. I'm perfectly fine with it. Now, move forward!"

Closing his eyes, Newt inched his way forward until his erection touched her body. Fighting every urge to pull back and run, the teen began to realize that having his dick up against a girl's--no, a woman's body didn't feel so bad. Perhaps I can try to dance with a girl tomorrow night. Just one girl!

DING DONG

Newt's bravery fell apart as he jumped backward, nearly pulling Skye with him. Luckily, she managed to let go of his neck in time.

"Are we supposed to be expecting anyone?" Skye asked as Newt scrambled to sit down on the couch.

"I, uh, don't think so," the teen responded, leaning forward to hide his hard cock.

"Why are you hiding...nevermind," Skye said in exasperation. "I guess I'll get the door."

DING DONG

"Hold your horses," she remarked near the front door.

Newt could hear the heavy door swing open, and seconds later, a blast of cold air reached his spot on the couch.

"Hello," a man's voice greeted. "I was going to ask if this was Diamond Cabin, but from the looks of you, I'm at the right place."

Curious over the sound of the man's voice, Newt raised himself up and off the couch. Walking over to the hall, he heard Skye's response.

"Yes, this is Diamond Cabin, and just who might you be?"

"It's frigging cold out here. Let me inside, and I'll tell you," he replied.

"I don't think so. I'm not letting anyone in that I don't know," Skye stated.

Moving down the hall a few steps, Newt couldn't see the man's face as Skye's head blocked his view.

"Then go find someone else to let me in. It's really damn cold out--Newt? Is that you? Oh, hey, it's Newt the Dragon! Tell this sweetheart who I am," the man called down the hall to him.

"Oh, crap," Newt muttered, seeing his day go further down the toilet.