Staying Over

I was a ball of frayed nerves as I followed Kaylee into the house. I’d been over here countless times over our years of friendship, yet I hadn’t felt so intimidated by it since I first came over. She had her arm linked with mine, practically pulling me through the hallway and into the kitchen. Her parents seemed surprised to see us.

“Oh, you are home early,” Mr. Webb said with surprise in his face. I remember seeing them at the game earlier. Made sense that they got home first since we stopped by the school. Both seemed to be relaxing in the kitchen, an open bottle of wine between them. “Didn’t stop for shakes after?”

“Didn’t feel like it,” Kaylee said as she marched us through the kitchen without slowing.

“Congrats on your victory, honey,” Mrs. Webb called out as we passed. “That was a great game!”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Going to join us? I’ll grab some extra glasses for you.” Her father was already moving to the cabinet. “We can have a victory toast.”

“Not tonight. I’m tired and want to get some sleep.” She finally released me, allowing me a moment to collect myself. She tossed her keys and bag on the counter on the far side of the kitchen.

“Does that mean we’ll have to take Scott home after?”

“I’ll take him home tomorrow,” she said, heading back over to where I was standing.

“Oh? Spending the night then?” Mrs. Webb asked. I could already feel my face heat as she smiled at me.

Mr. Webb seemed disappointed that we weren’t going to be joining them. That was fine with me. The current situation had killed Kaylee’s victory buzz. Not to mention Mrs. Webb staring at me was already making me more uncomfortable than I normally was.

“About time. You haven’t been over since you started dating,” her father said as he poured himself more wine. He stopped when his wife swatted at him, hissing something about how alcohol affected him in bed. He gave her an innocent smile before taking a big gulp, which she rolled her eyes at. Finished teasing his wife, he looked back at us. “I’ve been getting worried considering how many times Sean’s been over.”

“Mmm. I know why she has him over though,” Mrs. Webb said with a suggestive purr before taking a sip.

Mr. Webb gave his wife a disapproving scowl. “Dear…”

“Goodnight,” Kaylee said, tossing them both a glare before grabbing my arm and pulling at me after her.

I caught Mrs. Webb failing to suppress a smile. “Have fun you two!” she said with a wink at me.

Kaylee said nothing as she pulled me up the stairs and into her room. Only after she had the door closed did she let out an exhausted sigh. “Sorry about that. They’ve been nagging me about having you over since I told them we are dating.”

“It’s fine,” I said, looking around uncomfortably. Why was this so awkward now? I’d been in her room more times than I could count, yet now it seemed so foreign.

Walking over to me, I felt her take my hand. “I’m sorry about getting angry earlier.” Blinking in surprise, I was speechless. I never expected her to apologize to me. “I was just going to joke around at first and tease you, but when I saw you had an actual erection…” Her hand tightened against mine, head dipped forward so I couldn’t see her face. “The first thing I thought when I saw that was, ‘Oh, so Zoe can give you an erection, but I can’t?’ and that hurt. It hurt a lot.”

“Kaylee—”

She looked up at me before cutting me off with a kiss. One I happily returned. When she broke away, she maintained eye contact. “I know I said I don’t care if you sleep with other girls, but you absolutely can’t until we have sex. Understand?”

I ran my hand over her cheek. “You don’t have to worry about that. I have no interest in anyone but you.” She rolled her eyes in disbelief and backed away. Reaching up, she pulled her shirt off over her head. Shocked, I stood there with my mouth open as my eyes fell to the white bra she was wearing. A second later, I spun around, face heating as my heart hammered against my chest.

Her laughter quickly followed. “What are you doing?”

“You just… you just took that off in front of me!”

“Is that bad?” I didn’t answer, the mental image of her white skin echoing in my mind. “Come on, Scott. You’re my boyfriend. You don’t have to look away. This is all I’m taking off.” There was a slight pause. When she spoke again, her voice was soft, slightly above a whisper. “Besides, you’ve already seen me naked. Twice.”

Slowly, I turned around and faced the most beautiful girl on the planet. She was standing there with a shy smile. When I wasn’t looking, she’d taken off her jeans too. She still had her bra and panties on. For some reason, that made the situation more erotic in my mind. I had to review some physics problems in my head to keep myself under control. With the grace only an athlete could obtain, she closed the distance between us and gave me another quick kiss.

“I’m going to go brush my teeth and get ready for bed. Why don’t you get comfortable?” she said, gesturing to the bed. I watched as she left, admiring the view. Right before she turned out of view, she glanced over her shoulder to catch me staring. She seemed pleased, smiling as she disappeared out the door. In a way, I was glad she left. It gave me a moment to collect myself and get my thoughts under control.

Shit. She wasn’t planning on us… Oh no. What if she was? The signs were there. If she tried anything, there was no way I was going to be able to keep myself from getting an erection. Just seeing her in bra and panties was enough to get some movement down there. It didn’t help that I wanted to do something more than anything in the world.

Yet again, I cursed my fate. Of all the guys in the world, why did I have to be born fertile?

Tearing my mind off implications of tonight, I turned to face her bed. Had it always been so small? It looked like barely two people could fit on it. Staring at it, unpleasant memories bubbled to the surface of her and Sean. I suppose I should be thankful for pushing her call to Sean. For watching so brazenly as they went at it. Without that, I don’t think Kaylee and I would be together.

Depressing sadness rushed over me as I stared at the bed. Were we even together? This wasn’t the first time that soul-crushing question gut-punched me the past weeks since she asked me out. Had anything changed between us? I mean, we kissed, held hands, and some other things, but what really changed between us? Sean wasn’t here, but as I stared down at the bed, I realized I was still in that god-damned chair, watching as he took the place I should be. How many times had she texted me, asking if she could invite Sean over? Three? Four? Not to mention that other guy she spent twenty minutes with inside the Couples Room at school. I’d even waited outside for her to finish with him so we could go study together at the library.

I’d been wrong this entire time. For the last two weeks, I’d been afraid of something drastically changing between us when I should have been afraid of things staying the same.

“Something wrong?” I jerked as her voice startled me out of my vortex of depression. I forced a smile.

“Nope.”

She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes as if she didn’t believe me. Strutting past me, she ran her hand against my chest before turning and taking a seat on the bed. It wasn’t fair how easily she got my heart racing. “Come on,” she said, patting the mattress beside her.

I remained stationary. “Seems a bit small.”

She giggled. “Oh, it can fit two people just fine. I’ve had plenty of experience with that.” When her joke didn’t land, her smile faded. “Scott?”

I felt myself take a step back. In the end, I couldn’t. Not with clips of Sean and her on that bed playing endlessly on repeat. No matter how enticing she was, it just hurt too much. “Maybe I should sleep in the guest—”

She jumped off the bed and had a hold of my hand before I could finish. There was a pleading look in her eye. “Scott, please. I know we said we would take things slow and I respect that… but I need this. I swear, nothing sexual. I just… I need to be close to you. We are dating, and yet I’m struggling with the feeling that this isn’t anything more than what we had before. If it makes you more comfortable, I can put on some sleepwear I have.”

Staring down at her, I was slow to recover from my shock. So she’d been feeling what I’d come to fear. Looking at her now, I saw a frightened and insecure girl; a far cry from the confident smiling girl I cared deeply about. Seeing her like this made me realize how stupid I was for being afraid of this. Wasn’t this a perfect opportunity? It wasn’t sex, but it was something new. Something that pushed our relationship past the stagnation it had been stuck at for years.

I smiled. A genuine smile. It felt good and the tension I’d been carrying since the bus ride home began to unknot itself from my shoulders and back. “Sorry. Just a bit nervous. Never actually slept in the same bed with a girl before.”

Kaylee instantly relaxed, her lovely good-natured smile returning. “More a fuck and fly guy, huh?” she said with a teasing elbow. “Usually I’d see that as a positive. For you though, I hope I can break that habit of yours.” With a gentle tug, she backed towards her bed. I followed her willingly, taking a seat beside her. With me sitting, Kaylee suddenly looked nervous. She ran a hand through her hair, tucking some blue and blond strands behind her ear. “I uh… I notice you get a bit uncomfortable when I mention me and other guys.” I looked over at her as she glanced my way. “Does that bother you?”

“Not really.” That was a half-truth. It did make me uncomfortable, but it wasn’t anything I wasn’t already used to.

She slid down the bed away from me. Reaching for her desk, she grabbed her phone before scooting back. She got a lot closer this time, her warm skin pressing against me. Oddly enough, my body wasn’t freaking out at her closeness or the state of her dress anymore. Instead, I felt… calm. The comfortable calm. That wasn’t to say she didn’t excite me still, but I was in far more control of my thoughts and emotions right now. “Get your phone out,” she said as she pressed her finger against the screen. It unlocked, revealing a photo of her and Zoe. Zoe was kissing her cheek while she smiled happily. Seeing me notice it, her cheeks reddened. “I’ll change it.”

“I’m get it,” I said, managing to get the phone out of my pocket. “She’s important to you.”

Kaylee looked down at the picture on her phone. “She is.” Looking up, she met my eyes. “But you are too, and the one I’m with. The one I want to be with.” I smiled as she kissed me on the cheek. “We’ll need to get a photo of us. Preferably with clothes on.”

“You’re the one half-naked.”

“Yeah…” she said with a wistful sigh.

“You want me to undress too, don’t you?”

“God yes,” she said with a force I wasn’t expecting. A blush blossomed fully on her face. “I-I mean… it’s only fair. You’ve seen me naked twice now and I haven’t even seen you with your shirt off.”

A teasing smile formed. “Oh? Just the shirt? Easy enough,” I said as I leaned away to give me enough room to pull off my shirt. While I tried to act as if it were the most natural thing in the world, I was freaking out. I knew some of the guys Kaylee had slept with, and I was not them. I wasn’t hideous by any measure, but on the bell curve of body confidence, I was sitting right at the top. Nothing great, but not bad either.

Letting my shirt fall to the floor, I anxiously looked over at Kaylee to see her reaction. She gave me an appraising look before smiling. I think that was the moment my heart started beating again. I knew I wouldn’t get her salivating or anything crazy like that. I was happy she wasn’t disappointed.

With a teasing smile of her own, she leaned against me. This was the first time so much of our skin was touching at once. Forget calm and collected. I think I was going to have a heart attack before I hit thirty at this rate. Craning her neck, I could feel her hot breath against my ear as she gave me a husky whisper. “What do I need to do to convince you to lose the pants?”

“Hundred bucks.”

Pulling away, she clicked her tongue. “Too expensive,” she said with a playful shove.

“Then I get to keep my dignity.”

She gave me a fake shocked look, mouth open in a big ‘O.’ “Are you saying I have no dignity?”

“First thing you did the moment we were alone was toss away your clothes.” My mouth hurt from smiling so much. “Then again, I tend to have that effect on girls.”

Laughing, she slapped my arm. “Shut up.”

“Or maybe just you,” I said as I leaned forward to kiss her. After a few seconds, I felt her hand against my chest, pushing me away.

Her blue eyes sparkled innocence as she stared up at me. “That will be two hundred dollars.”

“For kissing you?”

She nodded. “You’re lucky I’ve been letting you do it for free these past two weeks. No more! You pay like everyone else!”

“You take credit cards?”

“Nope. Cash only. Or pants.”

“What’s the conversion rate on that?”

“One pair of pants will get you unlimited kisses for… one minute.”

“You are expensive!”

“And worth every penny. Or stitch, if you are paying in pants.”

I pretended to think about it, really laying it on with the hemming and hawing. “Very well,” I said, standing up. She clapped happily, the smile lighting up her eyes as she scooted to the edge of the bed. Damn, she was really anticipating it.