He pulled away from a girl in his year – Phoebe, maybe – and gave me that grin again. I heard it was his panty-melter. You know, the one that’s supposed to get you all excited before he even lays a finger on you? Yeah, I didn’t see the appeal in it myself, given he shared it around as easily as an STD.
“If I don’t sample all life has to offer, how will I know what I like?” he shot back and Phoebe actually laughed as though he were hilarious and as if she didn’t actually get the implication of his words.
“You never fail to disgust me, Drake,” I replied with a pleasant smile.
“Can’t disappoint my main gal.” He gave me another wink.
It was a testament to–
Well, actually I had no idea what it was a testament to.
Either he was ridiculously good in bed and it made girls forgive him anything, or they thought he was just that charming. But, whatever it was, it had Phoebe gazing at him with childlike wonder. I dragged my eyes off her face and looked to Casper, who looked very smug. The wanking – although, how much actual wanking he needed to do was probably little – arsehole knew exactly what tune to play for each of the idiots he seduced.
I shook my head with more conviction than I usually had.
“Go and have a cold shower, you dipshit,” Bec called.
“You know you want me, Becca,” he replied, completely lecherously.
“You need to be fucking castrated,” she said, but I heard the slight flirtatiousness to her tone and I smiled ruefully. Even school bitch, tough girl Rebecca Attlesee couldn’t entirely refuse Casper Drake.
“And deny the women of the world his talents?” I scoffed sarcastically, linking my arm with Bec’s and starting to walk away. “How could we be so heartless?”
“Be nothing out of the ordinary for you, Granger,” Casper called teasingly and I flipped him off as we walked away. “Remember I’m driving you home, spaz!”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you in the car park!” I yelled back.
“Nah, all good. I’ll come with you now,” he called.
I sighed and we went through the routine of packing up our stuff. Bec left quickly so she didn’t keep her mum waiting, but I was more than happy to keep Casper waiting.
“Come on, hurry up!” I could feel him bouncing in impatience.
I groaned and slammed my locker. “You are the bane of my existence!”
“Yeah, but you wouldn’t have me any other way, Lei,” he said suavely as he dropped his arm around my waist.
“Get that off me,” I swatted at him. “How many girls has that touched today?”
“It’s not my cock, Lani,” he laughed.
“Oh, my God,” I gagged, but laughed a little. “Dude, so uncool.”
He hitched his bag over his shoulder. “So, what have we got for tonight?”
“You, on the other side of the room to me, if all goes well,” I replied, flippantly.
“When did we become this?” he asked dramatically, dipping me unexpectedly, as though we were some married couple who’d lost all the love.
I managed to get out from his hold without falling over and skirt around the car. “Well, at least you brought the car today.” I pulled the passenger door open and swung myself inside.
Casper got in the car and we were well out of the parking lot before he spoke again. “Em got all shitty with me for bringing the bike last week,” he muttered and I managed to pick up the annoyance in his tone, or was that just because I knew what he thought of the way Emma liked to take care of him?
I scoffed, “the one girl you do respect and you barely respect her.”
“I respect women!”
I glared at him and crossed my arms. “Since when?”
He looked over at me when we stopped at the lights. “What do you mean, since when? I’m all about respecting women.”
“Sex isn’t respect, Casper,” I sighed.
“I am well aware of that, Leilani.” Was I imagining things, or was that a hint of defensiveness?
But, did I ease up on him because there was also a tinge of regret? Ha! No.
“Are you though? You were making a move on Bec while you had your arms around Phoebe. Mind you, Phoebe, in her infinite stupidity, seemed not to notice–”
“So, what’s the problem? No harm, no foul.”
“God, really?” I huffed. “You’d do two girls at once if you could work out a way they wouldn’t notice, wouldn’t you?”
“I’d do two girls at once even if they did notice,” he said, flashing me a blinding smile I was hard-pressed not to return by instinct. “Assuming I haven’t already.”
“I do not need to know these things, Drake.” I winced and held up a hand like it could protect me against his insanity.
“What, you can’t handle picturing me naked?” he teased.
“Oh, so you do manage to get your clothes off? I didn’t think you’d make time. I mean, what? You really only need to whip it out.”
“I’ll show you sometime, if you really like?” he teased.
“Yeah, because I beg you for it on a daily basis,” I scoffed.
“You may as well,” he replied with a wink.
“And, how do you figure that?” I asked, my tone sultry, as I ran my finger around the top of the gear stick between his finger and thumb.
Casper laughed, but it sounded strained. His thumb grazed over my hand. Had we not been in the car and I was worried about making him crash, I may well have continued our fake flirtation and amusedly watched the result.
We stopped at another traffic light and he leant towards me. I felt his nose just-not-touching the spot below my earlobe. Weirdly, that one not-even-touch did more for me than… Well, any other touch in my life. But, Casper and I had accidentally found ourselves in more compromising situations, so I wasn’t going to shy away just because my body got an odd ripple off him.
“Your touch tells me,” he whispered in my ear and his breath against my skin gave me goose bumps.
And, this is what happened when you let yourself get sexually frustrated. You end up getting ripples and goose bumps from a guy you’d rather not touch with a ten-foot pole. Casper rippling me wasn’t unheard of, but I’d thankfully never felt the urge to follow those ripples back to their source.
“Yeah, I imagine a girl’s touch tells you whatever you want it to,” I said. I took my hand off the gear stick and ran it up his leg.
“See, now that tells me you’re making a play for my cock,” he said with a lop-sided smile, but I knew he believed it as much as I did.
I considered grabbing it just to show him how wrong he was. But, it was Casper; I wasn’t grabbing Casper’s crotch just to prove I wasn’t awkward around him or afraid of being as crass as him.
“Yeah, to rip off your nuts maybe, do the world a favour,” I muttered, sliding my hand up a little higher, then dragging it back.
Casper laughed as we pulled into the driveway. “You’re a saint, Lei.”
“You tell yourself whatever you need, Drake,” I replied, raising my eyebrows quickly then biting my lip cheekily.
“God, if you were anyone else,” he groaned lewdly.
I laughed. “Yeah, maybe if I was the only girl in the world.”
“And, I were the only boy?” he asked, mock-coy and -hopeful as though wanting me to make such a promise, and got out of the car.
I took one look at his pouting face and we both laughed.
“You’re such an arsehat,” I giggled meeting him at the boot.
“Thank you,” he replied as if he was genuinely flattered and I shook my head at him.
“Shame Brett didn’t take your room.” He looked up at our houses as though he could see our adjoining balconies. But, there was plenty of privacy, I guarantee. “But, I can always come and visit you, Lei,” he said, meaning nothing pure.
“Because that’s the best part of my life, Casper. You, with the ability to walk right into my
room from yours,” I retorted. Not that he did…every day. And, usually, he was just passing through.
“You might enjoy it if you let yourself,” he said softly, but he was still joking.
“Oh, I’m sure I would,” I purred, leaning into him. He smirked at me, his green eyes flashing as he waited to see how far I was going to go. I ran my finger over his chest. “My body, naked against yours. Your hands on my hips. My lips on your neck. My leg pulling you closer to me. You buried deep inside me. Moving together until you had me screaming your name in pleasure.” I ran my hand back up his chest and looked into his eyes.
For once, the great Casper Drake was speechless. My cheeks felt flushed, but the look on his face was too priceless to wonder if I’d pushed the joke too far. The ripple felt more like a pull and my body hummed to a tune I knew he could play if I let him, but I wouldn’t step away from him yet.
“Fuck, yes, please,” he whispered, which made the pull and the hum even stronger. But, I ignored them as he continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “Seriously, Lei, if only you were literally any other girl. Fuck, that’d be hot.”
A part of me felt like I should be insulted, but I honestly wasn’t. I saw the lust in his eyes as well as the humour. Casper and I had never actually hooked up. But, this sort of situation wasn’t uncommon, though perhaps not to that degree. And those compromising situations? Yeah, well, when you spent the amount of time around each other that we did, walking in on each other in the bathroom or something equally awkward happened way too often. If I hadn’t known better, I’d think we did it on purpose.
Who knew?
Maybe we did; just another weird version of our joke flirtation.
“Any other girl isn’t me, Cas. The way we fight? Just think of all the making up we’d end up doing,” I whispered in his ear and I felt him tense. I knew he was picturing the same thing I was; hard, fast, hot, great, angry sex.
It wasn’t fair, and I knew it, but shit if it wasn’t hilarious to watch him squirm.
“How are you still a virg–”
“Yo, there you two are!” I heard Brett call, cutting Casper off.
I pulled away from Casper slowly, my grin spreading, and looked up into his eyes. I licked my lip and he noticeably gulped, his eyes practically bugging out of his stupidly gorgeous face. He ran a hand through his shaggy dark hair while those gorgeous green eyes shone brightly. He gave a shaky laugh and shook his head.
Brett stopped next to us and looked between us questioningly. “What’s up?”
“Your sister fights dirty, man,” he laughed.
Brett put an arm around me and clapped Casper on the arm. “Taught her everything she knows,” he replied proudly.
Casper and I shared a look, both knowing Brett wasn’t the one who’d taught me those particular moves. But, neither of us was going to say anything. Brett hated the way we fought. Though, whether that was because we tried to out-flirt each other all the time or he just hated seeing his two favourite people at each other’s throats, I didn’t know.
“Why do you think I beat her so easily,” Casper said with an easy laugh.
“Oh!” Brett cried and the two had a companionable tussle while I grabbed a case of beer out of Casper’s trunk and went inside shaking my head.
I slid the beer onto the kitchen counter – Mum and Dad didn’t care if the boys drank, especially if it was at home; they were eighteen already – and headed up to my room, dropping my bag on the floor by the desk and starting to get undressed.
As I pulled off my school shirt, I heard the boys come up the stairs, still laughing. I shook my head and went to my door. Casper looked towards me, giving me that supposed panty-wetting smile and an appreciative once over in my skirt and bra. I gave him a wry grin as I started to unzip my skirt. I let it fall over my hips, but kicked the door closed before it hit the floor.
I chuckled, glad Brett hadn’t seen me, or he would have had a fit. Why that boy had such an aversion to the idea of Casper and me flirting was beyond me. Nothing was ever going to happen. Evidenced in our mothers’ wistful voices every time they skated past the idea when they thought we weren’t listening. I didn’t know why they seemed so hot on the idea, either. Maybe they’d given up matching Brett and Emma?
I had hours until we’d be dropped at the party, so I decided to pull on my robe instead of jumping straight in the shower and take my book out to the balcony, where I conveniently stashed my smokes. I didn’t smoke often, but it had a calming influence and helped me get relaxed before a party. You might have liquid courage? I had vaporous courage.
As I read and whirled an as-yet unlit cigarette in my hand, there was a knock on the door. I hastily dropped the cigarette in time to look innocently at the person in the doorway.
“Ugh, what do you want?” I asked, lying back down on the deck chair.
Casper grinned at me from his position in the doorway. “Less clothes, optimally.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled the robe over from where it had exposed my bra, as he walked through my room like he owned the damn place. He was already changed in jeans, a bright blue woollen jumper with the sleeves pushed up, and sneakers. He’d styled his hair a little messier than he wore it to school and he grinned like he’d found his favourite thing.
At least he’d used the door this time. I supposed I should act thankful.
“In my room, Casper. What do you want in my room?”
“Same thing I want everywhere,” he replied, leaning against the door to the balcony.
I grabbed a cushion and threw it at him. “Right, well, you can take that back out onto the streets where it belongs, thank you.”
“Tell me, Lei, if it was warmer would you be wearing less?”
“What can I tell you, Casper? I fully intend to lie out here naked and just soak up the sun. I’ll even leave the blinds up so you get a good view.”
“I…” He cleared his throat and I smiled at him. But, he recovered well. “I look forward to it.”
“Are you here for a reason?”
“Yes,” he answered too quickly; so, not quite as recovered as he wanted to look. “John…your dad,” like I didn’t know who my dad was? “asked what time we wanted to leave?”
I picked up my phone and looked at the time. It was already six, the party started at seven, and we still had to get Bec. I didn’t realise I’d been reading so long.
“Give me a half hour, forty-five minutes tops, and we can go,” I replied, hopping up and walking past him as I undid my robe.
Obviously, I’d decided it was an attempt-to-torment-Casper-as-much-as-possible night. I pulled off my robe and laid it on the bed, leaving me in my underwear. As I walked to my bathroom, I unclipped my bra, held it against my chest with my upper arms, and dragged the straps slowly down my shoulders. I looked back at him over my shoulder with an innocently quizzical look.
“You mind, Cas?”
He blinked twice, pointed at the door, shook his head and started moving towards it without saying anything. His face told me a lot though. His face told me I got another point on the scoreboard.
I smiled at him winningly as he pulled the door closed behind him.
Chapter Five
Casper
I’d seen her in nothing but a skimpy bikini basically every day of summer for I didn’t even know how many years. I’d accidentally walked in on her getting out of the shower a couple of times. Basically, I’d literally seen it all. But, something about her undressing in front of me had my head all fucked up. Especially after the weird ramped-up sexual innuendo that had come out of her that afternoon.
I was still thinking about that body, her naked back, when she came down the stairs and found us in the kitchen having a pre-party beer with John.
“You look nice, Lani,” John said and I turned around.
She was hardly wearing anything John would consider nice. But, unlike her mum, he was happy to let her wear anything she liked. A black stud
ded belt wound around the short, denim shorts that were almost met by the over-knee black socks she wore with chunky-heeled ankle boots covered in chains. She hadn’t even tried to hide the strap of her black bra with a one-shouldered purple top. Her dark brown hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders and her eyes were smoky. I thought she looked more than nice, but knew better than even joking about it in front of her brother and dad.
I was practically family, but even I had a line when it came to Lani.
“Diplomatic, Dad, I like it.” She smiled. “You guys ready?” Although, when she said ‘guys’ I heard ‘arseholes’ and threw her a smile.
“Want a beer before you go, sweet?” John asked.
She shook her head. “Nah, not tonight, thanks. I’ll just grab a coat.”
The three of us drained our beers and headed for the garage, where she soon joined us. Brett had called shotgun and was in the front with John, while I waited outside the car for her.
“Get a good enough look?” Lani asked with a grin.
“Haven’t left much easy access.” I retorted and her hazel eyes flashed with humour as she shook her head at me and slid into the car.
“We picking anyone up?” John asked as he backed out of the garage.
“Bec,” Brett answered before anyone else could reply. Lani and I shared a knowing look and a stifled snort.
Bec was about the only girl Brett had ever looked twice at but made no progress with. He told me constantly how he was smitten with the tall, leggy, raven-haired beauty, and he tried to win her over at every possible opportunity. But, by all accounts, the woman had the willpower and stubbornness of a donkey. She returned his flirtation with a vengeance and she danced with him if he pleaded hard enough. But, that was all he’d ever got. I always meant to ask Lani why that was, but I never remembered. Well, I had now. But, I could hardly ask her why her best friend wouldn’t sleep with mine while said best friend and his father were in the car.
When we got to Bec’s, she was waiting for us and slid in beside Lani, forcing Lani to squeeze up beside me.
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