Sean's Problem

One thing that wasn’t going well was Paige. I think we adopted a, ‘never acknowledge what happened, happened’ stance. If she never wanted to talk about it again, I was perfectly fine with that. The easy thing would be for me to continue like I knew nothing and let her deal with it on her own. But I did know, and something didn’t sit right with me leaving it alone. This was out of character for me. What possessed me to want to get involved in this mess was a mystery.

I’d noticed she was more irritable than normal, which suggested in the week or so since we’d talked, nothing had changed. I don’t know if she had always been like that or if it took that awkward conversation to wake me up to it, but she wasn’t the normal annoying goblin she normally was. I debated leaving it well enough alone. It was her relationship after all. Sadly, this newfound side of me also included some sort of older brother mode. Even if I was only a dozen or so minutes ‘older’ than her, she was still my little sister.

That meant maybe it was time for me to finally have a chat with her boyfriend.

It took me a few days to work up the courage to do it, but I knew today was the day after listening to her muffled argument over the phone last night. The closer reckoning hour came, I had been reduced to a frayed ball of nerves.

“—tonight?”

My mind snapped back to the present too late to hear Kaylee’s question. She looked up at me expectantly. “What?”

Frowning, she planted her hands on her hips. “Have you been zoned out this entire time?” I didn’t answer, giving her my best innocent expression I could muster as knots formed in my stomach. She let out a huff. “Forget it.”

Placing my hands over hers, I scooted closer to her. She tried to take a step back, but I didn’t let her. I could tell she was trying to pretend she was angry, but that was hard when you were trying to hide a smile.

The moment was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Hey you two!” I swallowed a sigh as I let Kaylee go. Sean was standing there with his ridiculously good looks lit up by his charming smile. “Been a while,” he said with a glance at Kaylee. A flicker of something passed over her. Desire? It vanished as quickly as it appeared, but it was undeniable. I expected that though. What I didn’t expect was the faint blush on her cheeks.

“It has.”

“So, yeah. Can we talk for a moment?”

My heart hammered. Was he seriously trying to rekindle things with Kaylee? The dude had all sorts of women fighting for his time. I get that Kaylee and Sean had wicked chemistry, but that was in the past. Kaylee’s reaction to all this wasn’t helping.

“Uh, sure,” she said.

“Actually, I was hoping to talk to Scott.”

“Me?”

“Scott?” Kaylee asked at the same time.

“Yeah,” he said looking sheepish. “It’s a guy thing.”

Kaylee frowned. Did she have to look so dejected?

“I have to do some things after. Talk later?”

She looked from me to Sean, then back to me. “Okay. So you don’t need a ride?”

“Catching a ride from Liam.”

She nodded, giving an unsure glance at Sean. I moved in to give her a quick kiss before watching her walk off. Sean and I shared a moment of silence to watch. It seemed to me Kaylee was getting better at mimicking her mother’s movements. I wasn’t even mad Sean was overtly gawking at my girlfriend. If I got pissed off every time she attracted a man’s gaze, I’d be angry every waking moment.

With Kaylee gone, I turned to Sean. “What’s up?”

Two hands landed on my shoulder. “Scott. I need your help.”

Taken back by his earnest plea, I stood mute for a few seconds. Eventually, my brain rebooted. “What?”

“Your help. So, uh, look.” He shifted nervously. “Last Saturday, I was having this fantastic threesome. They were girls I’d been with before, but never at the same time. Fantastic alone, but when you put them together? Holy shit. Magic man. So glad I convinced them to give it a try.” I did not understand people’s obsession with telling me details of their sex life. Was it my face? Was there something about me that screamed, ‘please tell me all the sordid details of your most recent intimate experience?’ I couldn’t say anything because Sean was already moving on. “So we get done and we’re lying there trying to catch our breath and just enjoying the afterglow. Normally I’d bounce, but these two really drained me dry so it’s taken me a bit to get the motivation to move. Then we start talking. I don’t normally do the whole pillow talk thing, but I decide, ‘why not? I got time to kill.’ We ended up talking for hours.”

Trying to follow his story was a bit difficult and I had yet to learn what he needed my help with. If I didn’t already have an idea of what he was like, I’d have thought he was bragging.

“Turns out we have a lot in common and I had a lot of fun talking with her. These past couple days though, that’s all I can think about.”

I stared up at him. This was starting to sound like Sean had a crush on someone, or at least was interested in someone. Good for him. Still didn’t understand why he was talking to me about it.

“So…?”

He looked uncomfortable. “I was hoping to ask her out.”

And there it was. I bet half the school’s heart just broke. Sean was super popular. Kaylee and her little group of friends got a lot of hate for ‘hogging’ him. I could only imagine the hate concentrated on a single person. Poor girl.

“Um…”

“I was pulling my hair out thinking about how to do it when I remembered you.”

“Me? What did I ever do?”

Sean looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “Dude. You’re Scott fucking Hoffman. The man who conquered the unconquerable. You’re a legend, man.”

I rubbed my temple. I swear the rumors were getting worse. I don’t even know why people were spreading them. Gossip I could understand, but this was out of control. I wasn’t even doing anything. I got that Kaylee was a popular girl, but didn’t people have better things to do?

“Anyways,” he continued. “I figured the best person to ask about these things is the guy who managed to grab Kaylee’s heart.”

I struggled to think of a way to answer him. He had a major misunderstanding about things. Kaylee was the one to ask me out, not the other way around. The ironic thing was Sean was the one who started the domino of events that led to Kaylee and me dating. Without that fateful night in Kaylee’s room, I wasn’t confident we’d be dating now.

It was hard to pin down why I wanted to help him out. Even though he had slept with Kaylee a lot when she and I started dating, it was hard to hold it against him. In all my interactions with him, he seemed like a genuine guy. It made him a hard guy to hate. Maybe that’s why he got away with so much. Seeing him now reminded me of a lost puppy. He legitimately had no idea what to do—not that I had a better idea.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I took a deep breath. “Not sure how I can help you, but I can give it a shot.”

“Dude, you are awesome!”

“Who’s the girl?”

“Sarah.”

I was shocked to recognize the name. “Sarah from the basketball team, Sarah?”

He nodded quickly, brightening at her name. “That’s the one!”

I wasn’t sure what I was more surprised at, that Sarah and Sean had a conversation that lasted more than a dozen or so words, or that she agreed to the threesome. I knew she’d slept with Sean a few times, but she always seemed to be the most conservative of the group. “Who was the other girl?” I asked without thinking. It wasn’t any of my business, but it was too late to take the words back.

“Abby.” A mental image of Abby and Sarah formed, but I quickly shook that away. Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised Sean scored with the two beauties. If there was anyone who could tempt two hot girls into bed with him at the same time, it was him. “Honestly, she’s the better fuck between the two, but for some reason, I don’t care. I can’t get Sarah out of my mind.”

Reaching over, I put my hand on his shoulder. “First piece of advice? Probably want to keep that to yourself.” Sean looked confused. “A girl isn’t going to like being compared to another one—especially if you are saying the other girl is better.”

He frowned. “Girls do it with me all the time.”

“Well sure, but are they telling you the other guy was better?”

Understanding dawned as he nodded slowly. “Oh, that’s a really good point. They usually tell me I’m the best they’ve ever had.”

The statement was made in a pure, matter-of-fact way without a trace of arrogance or smug superiority. This was probably why I hated the rumors about me. It made me feel like a phony, not a person of adoration. Sean on the other hand, earned his reputation. I’d seen him in action too. Even with all the good times I’d had with Kaylee so far, I had yet to reproduce what I saw in her room.

“Kaylee is friends with her, so I’ll ask her about it later. Can’t promise much, but I can probably find out if she is single and interested in dating.”

“Really? Dude, that is awesome!” Before I could react, he had me in a bear hug. I saw spots as the muscular guy gave me a squeeze. Air rushed back into me after he released me. “I owe you big time, Scott.”

Catching my breath, I waved him off as he headed down the hall away from me. Checking my phone, I found Kaylee had texted me asking what he wanted. From the time stamp, she must have texted me as soon as she turned the corner. I would answer her later.

For now, I had a meeting with my sister’s boyfriend.